Christmas Countdown Wrap-up!

Hi Everyone

Well - if you are anything like me you are completely over the indulgence of Christmas and are now looking forward to being able to relax a little! It's usually the women in the household who bear the brunt of the organizing, cooking and all the other Christmassy jobs - so ladies - I think you deserve a break!


Weekly Special

All Christmas Stock - 40% discount

We are continuing to offer our Christmas stock at a 40% discount so now is a great time to either stock up for next year or even scrap some of those Christmas photos you took last week!  Stock will be selling out very fast, so please bear with us if we need a little extra time to check if items are available when you place an order!

Final Challenge Winners
Here are our entries for the final Challenge!

Christine

Dallas Turner

Dallas Turner

Karen

Sue Oliver

Sue Oliver

Sue Oliver

Tania - with her kids making awesome T-shirts!

First prize winner is Karen for her gorgeous little boxes and second prize goes to Dallas!
Congratulations Ladies - please email info@artfullcrafts.co.nz with your mailing address and we will get some goodies out to you! I am just about to load all the entries for Weeks 6 and 7 onto our Competition Gallery too.

Thank you to EVERYBODY who sent their entries in over the weeks. It was great fun to see them all and they offered us some great inspiration.

Stay tuned as over the next day or so - NEW KAISERCRAFT COLLECTIONS!!!

Lowri :-)

Lowri - Christmas Tags

Hi Everyone – Lowri here again with a few easy ideas for gift tags to share today using the Holly Jolly Christmas Collection from Echo Park. 

Secret Santa Tag

I really enjoyed creating this quick and easy little Secret Santa tag. First of all I highlighted the Santa from the Holly Jolly Christmas Element Stickers with some glitter-glue and then punched a hole in the sticker and tag using a very small hole punch.

On the back of the tag is an element cut from the Journaling Cards patterned paper and a little gingerbread man who was hiding on the stickers sheet!
This fun idea would be great for jazzing up an otherwise plain Secret Santa gift

Gift Tag for Wine Bottle

You'll have to excuse me doing another wine-tag - but I do live on a vineyard so hopefully I am forgiven! This time I have created a tag using some of the patterned paper backed with cardboard to give some added weight.

To decorate the wooden stars I used Glimmermist in the Chalkboard and Mel's Diner colors and added a small rhinestone to the center. The combination of the element cut from the paper and the journaling tag is a fun way to let the recipient know when they should be opening in the wine. I hope my father-in-law can wait that long!

Tiny Tags

I made these mini tags with some of the spare stickers I had from the Element Stickers Sheet. They co-ordinate with a similar set of Christmas cards I made – you can see those on my blog here. I have used the Postage Stamps Spellbinders to create these tags - making sure that one edge of the card was inside the die - leaving a seam to create a hinge for the tag. Throw on a sticker and that’s it!
Please post a comment with any questions
Lowri :-)

Lisa with a Christmas Pudding & Bon Bon using My Mind's Eye - Lost & Found Christmas...

Hi Everyone. Lisa here. Today I am sharing some Christmas projects I have made using "Lost & Found - Christmas" range from My Mind's eye. This is another one of my favourite Christmas ranges this year. It is made up of lovely warm traditional colours & also has some beautifully glittered components.

My projects are a Christmas Pudding & a Bon Bon.

Here are some close ups of the detail & a top view of the pudding for you.

The pudding is made using the same principal as the cupcakes you will see in my Gallery. Some time next year I will get to making a tutorial of this project for you. The pudding is basically a foam ball partially covered in sequins, then decorated with a patterned paper patty pan, gathered ribbon & embellishments. I used elements from the pack in this range.  Every time I make one of these, the next one becomes my favourite....this one is definitely my favourite to date! It seriously looks good enough to eat!

This is a really quick & easy bon - bon to make using a paper napkin, cardboard & scrap paper. Here are some simple instructions.

For the insert cut a piece of recycled cardboard  approx 10 x 14cm rectangle (I used a cereal box). Roll the piece of cardboard & join with tape to form a cylinder.You can use an empty toilet paper roll, but I prefer not to. Fill your cylinder with your small gift or chocolates. Open out the paper napkin so you have a rectangle. Lay the cylinder on one edge (the untidy seam edge of the napkin) gently roll the napkin up around the cylinder & tape the join. Tie the ends off with ribbon.

I have used two co-ordinating papers, so I have two layers. I cut the base patterned paper 9x15cm then the top layer at 7x15cm.  Adhere the smaller rectangle to the top of the larger rectangle of patterned paper using glue or tape. Wrap around the bon-bon and tape seam/join ensuring the join is on the underside of the bon-bon. Decorate to suit, using co-ordinating embellishments. I made a tag using one of my punches, this can double as a table place card for your guest.

These Bon-bons are so quick & easy to make. You still have time! This is perfect project to do the night before...lol....depending how many you need of course!

This is my last post before the BIG DAY...so I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy spending time with your loved ones.

Lisa :)

Christine - Christmas Stocking Fillers

Hi Christine here- today I have some little Kraft boxes I made to put 2 Whittakers Peanut Slabs into to dress them up. I used this tutorial from Splitcoast Stampers- but I have adapted it to fit x2 peanut slabs. Again I have used Kraft card stock and combined it with the Simple Stories 25 days of Christmas 6x6 paper pad. In it there are miniature labels/ATC cards- so cute!

 I widen the card to 8 x 6 1/4 inches to fit the peanut slabs - I then just scored on the short side 1 1/2 inches in from each side and down the long side the score lines were at 1 3/4, 3 1/4, 5, & 6 1/2. Follow the same directions for scoring, cutting & putting together.
They are held shut with the Bakers twine.
Two of these are for my 2 sons who are now in their early 20s but still like having their stocking filled to open on Christmas morning. I started the stockings for them when they were little so that they had something to open while hubby and I had to milk - they then had to wait until we got back and we had had breakfast to open presents that were under the tree. Now these 2 wonderful boys milk for us on Christmas morning and we get to have a sleep in!!
Wishing you all a lovely Christmas!

TFL

Christine

Sandy - Liz Mini Book

Hi, it's Sandy sharing a gift I made for Liz. It's a mini-book created from one piece of A4 size paper. The accordian-folds in the spine gives the pages good separation so you can include chucky embellishments like chipboard and buttons.

Tutorial :

• divide your paper into 16 rectangles.
• cut along the solid lines and crease on the dotted ones
  
  
• fold according to the photos
• glue together the accordian folds of the spine
  
  

Hope you like this fun, little project idea and be inspired to try your hand at making one. It's perfectly sized to slip into those Christmas stockings. This is my final Christmas project but the other designers will be posting their projects for the rest of the week.   

Lowri - Christmas Journal

Hi Everyone – Today I am sharing my "December Daily" album, created using a combination of the Echo Park Season's Greetings paper and digital collections. First of all I should tell you I had to google to find out what a December Daily was – and then when I saw some of the amazing examples online – I was totally intimidated at the thought of creating one!

What I decided to do was take a little album I had started working on (seen here) and expand it into a Daily Journal.

December this year is going to be exceptionally busy so I have decided to just have a little space where I can write each day and easily just slot a photograph in when I take one of something special.

To expand my existing book, I created some numbers from the Season’s Greetings Alphas and Borders and added them to each page. To create additional pages I printed some journaling tags from the Season’s Greetings Element Pack.

I decided to create a few fold out pages within the book to allow for a series of photos to be added. This page with the Santa is for Christmas Eve where I hope to get some great photos of the kids leaving snacks for Santa!

At the beginning of the book I have added in a few of my favorite photos from the last couple of years to get me started and to show how the pages fold out.

I hope this shows that a December Daily album can be really simply put together. I see mine as a personal and intimate record of the month – just for me to look at and remember in the future.

Here are a few more pages ready and waiting to go!

I hope this inspires you to create an album for yourself. You can always just make a simple little book and write it it each day.
Check my post here for a tutorial on how to quickly make the journals below using scraps of scrapbook paper and regular copier paper like these shown below using Holly Jolly Christmas.

Please leave a comment with any questions :-)
Lowri

Christmas Countdown - FINAL WEEK

Hi Everyone and a HUGE Welcome to our final week of our Christmas Countdown. We have seen some simply amazing projects from the Design Team as well as heaps of fabulous entries from our customers and blog-readers.

Weekly Round-Up
Here are some of the great projects posted this week (click on the name to go to the post!)


Lowri

Lisa 

Christine

Louise

Betsy

Design Team Focus
Today, more of the Design Team share their Christmas thoughts!

BETSY
1)What is your favorite holiday album or song?
 I just love Susan Boyle singing O Holy Night. Mind you I love her singing full stop!
2) What is your favorite holiday tradition? 
I made our 10 grandkids BIG Christmas stockings and just watching their faces as they delve into the bottom of them to retrieve the last perssie, is gorgeous.Upon reflection, I could have made them much smaller- would have been less expensive to fill!! Even the older ones still comment that it's the best part of Christmas. It's great to see their enjoyment.
3) What was your most memorable gift? 
Last year I managed to get a new right hip- the disadvantages of getting older!!Maybe Santa will present me with a new left one this year! No harm in hoping!!
4) What does Christmas mean to you? 
What a wonderful time to remember the birth of our Saviour. I absolutely love hearing Grandad read the Christmas story to the kids- what a responsibility we have as grandparents to pass on what has become precious to us. Having all our family round is just great- it happens every second year as we have to share them all with their in-laws. We are so thankful for each one.
5) What would you love to find under the tree this year? 
Maybe an exercise machine to help the weight problem! One of course, that doesn't use any time or energy, as I haven't any spare of either!!

This is one of Betsy's fabulous Christmas creations!

LISA

1)What is your favorite holiday album or song?
Away in a manger is one of my fave songs of all time...I have lots of compilation CDs of Christmas carols old faves sung traditionally by Bing Crosby etc also some sung by Delta Goodrem, Michael Buble easy to listen to.
2) What is your favorite holiday tradition? 
I love to catch up with family & friends, exchange gifts etc. My kids still go along with the santa theory (well my daughter does for her brothers sake - and Im sure she thinks she will get more gifts if she goes a long with it!) so - I love the element of surprise with gifts etc. We still leave out milk, chocolate- treats & carrot for reindeer etc too.
3) What was your most memorable gift? 
Hmmm as a child we were quite spoilt...funny how you dont always realise that until your an adult yourself! One Christmas I got a typewriter....I was very happy comes in very handy as a kid playing offices, shops etc. Many a doll a barbie bus to name a few
4) What does Christmas mean to you? 
Cacthing up with family & friends, making special food to share,a few drinks, giving of gifts. I love the joy, the magic the kids look forward to, the anticipation. The chance to reflect on the year & look forward to what the next one brings
5) What would you love to find under the tree this year? Jewelry for example Pandora ..lol...Chocolates (always good) but really any surprise is good, I love something that my husband & children choose for me & that thought has gone in to it. Not a roadmaps book that one year my husband suggested!

Here is one of Lisa's amazing creations

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN
WEEK EIGHT
Stocking Stuffers

We are going to be sharing some ideas this week for Stocking Stuffers. This covers SUCH a wide variety of ideas - it will be great to see what the Design Team and YOU can come up with! This will be our last Challenge - and you may submit ANY Christmas project.

Challenges
Don't forget you can see ALL the Challenge entries in our Gallery.

Weeks Seven and Eight Challenge

We are combining these weeks and you may enter ANY Christmas themed project!!
PLEASE SEND IT TO US BY DECEMBER 23rd.
We will be giving away a prize for every 5 entries we receive so you have a great chance!
Email us a picture of your project and PLEASE name the file you send with your full name as this makes it a lot easier for us to administer the competition! Send your entry to entries@artfullcrafts.co.nz


Here are the entries for the Week 6 Challenge.

Dawn

Jenny

Krithika

Morgan

Pat

Sandra

And the winner is - Morgan Southgate!

Congratulations Morgan and thanks for joining in the fun!
Please email info@artfullcrafts.co.nz with your delivery details.

Heaps more to come this week!

Lowri :-)

Lowri - Christmas Gift Idea

Hi Everyone - Lowri here.

Well - I have to say that the fabulous Design Team have been so busy with posting that I haven't even had a CHANCE to squeeze some of my stuff in - but given Sunday is my dedicated day for posting Sunday Scrapping I thought I would you show you a few of the projects I have created for Echo Park this Christmas!

Quick Christmas Gift Idea
First of all - a quick and easy gift - It’s really two gifts in one as the decoration for the main gift serves as a mini-gift too!

First of all I have taken some of the Fa-La-La-La-La paper from the Holly Jolly Christmas Collection and used it to cover the lid of my jar.
You can see a tutorial on how to do that on my blog HERE.
I have also used some of the Element Stickers to add some extra detail around the edge.

I filled the jar with my Christmas bark and for decoration I created a few blank tags that could then be used be the recipient to decorate their Christmas gifts.

I used a few of the digital journal tags, printed them onto matte photo paper, and used double sided adhesive chipboard to give them some weight and add a plain paper backing so they can be written on. I secured them round the treat jar with a generous length of bakers twine that can be used to attach the tags to gifts.

To make the Christmas Bark – melt some white chocolate, throw on some crushed green and red M&M’s, a few smashed Candy Canes and try and hide until December starts!!

More from me later on today!

Lowri

Christine - Christmas Bags & Tags

Hi there - Christine here to show you how I am going to wrap some of my Christmas presents this year- In a Paper Bag!  I have got a couple of sizes of brown paper bags and using left overs from my Christmas card making session I have decorated my bags.

Here are a couple of them-

I have also made Gift tags and have attached them to the bags with a decorated peg.
Here are a few more I have made - Haven't added the names on yet.

I have used Simple Stories-25 Days of Christmas as I did with my Christmas cards. Love how this goes with Kraft cardstock. The Flash cards make it a quick & easy way to put things together.


TFL
Have a good day and happy crafting!

Christine

Supplies used: Simple Stories-25 Days of Christmas,  Bakers twine,  
                      Holly Punch,   Rhinestones,