Graphic 45 Bohemian Bazaar Exploding box

Hi there and Happy New Year from design elf Katrina. Now the festivities are over and everything and every one is back to normal again I have been able to get back into my craft room.

   I don't know about you but I always like something colourful to play with after Christmas and the Graphic 45 Bohemian Bazaar is just the thing!

    A while ago I was asked for an exploding box so I decided to make one using this colourful collection.

For the lid I used the 12x12 Bohemian Bazaar paper and then added a punched strip using some of the left over strips

As the papers are double sided I used the left over pieces for the photo mounts

So here is how I made my exploding box -

1. Take the 12x12 Bohemian Bazaar kaleidoscope  ( this will be the outside of your box ) and score at 4" on all 4 sides so you have a H shape. Then cut out the 4 corner squares and put them aside for later.

2.  Then take the 12x12 Bohemian Bazaar vivid splendour and cut it down to 11x11". Then score at 3 3/4" on all 4 sides so you have the H shape and again cut out the 4 corner squares and put aside.

3. For the last layer take 12x12 Bohemian Bazaar Opulent sunset and cut it to 10x10" . Then score at 3 1/2" on all 4 sides and again cut out the 4 corner squares.

4. For the lid cut the 12x12 Bohemian Bazaar and cut an 8x8 square. Then score at 1 7/8" on all 4 sides and cut one side of the square on the corner. Fold the lines and glue the small squares to the sides to form a lid.

5. Fold your layers and then pile them on top of each other and stick together at the base.

6. Add the squares we cut out before as your photo mats and decorate.

Hope you will try this collection, it is so bright and breezy, just the thing to brighten up these dull days!

                                                                                             Love Katrina x

Reindeer Tag

Hi, Christmas design elf Katrina here with a very quick Tag idea using the Creative Express Reindeer duo stamps.

I just cut a tag using the Alterations tiny tags die, stamped the reindeer as slightly darker tone than the card and added a red gem for his nose and some of the Creative Expressions bakers twine to attach the tag to the gift.

Sometimes the simple things work the best!

                                                        Love Katrina

Reindeer glass charms

Ho ho ho, its design elf Katrina here with a little crafty project that will impress all you friends and family on Christmas day or at your Christmas cocktail party!!   A cute set of glass charms made using the lovely new reindeer stamps, wire and some shrink plastic.

    If you have never used them the way they work is you choose a charm and then hook it around the bottom of your wine glass. That way you know which glass is yours!

The first thing you need to do is stamp the Creative Expressions Duo Reindeer stamps onto some of the Judikins shrink Plastic using a Black archival ink and leave them to dry.

Once dry colour in. I chose a permanent ink pen but you can use all sorts of things like coloured pencils, Alcohol inks and chalks. You need to make sure they are all different so you know which one is yours.

You then need to punch a hole in the top, remember these will get quite a bit smaller so make a larger hole then you need.

Then its time to shrink them down. You can either do it in the oven or the way I prefer, using your heat tool. Instructions will be on the packaging of your shrink plastic.

Now you can make them into glass charms, cut a piece of wire long enough to go around the stem of the glass and also to make the hook and eye. Find something around the house to use as a form ( I used the wooden pole thing I put the kitchen paper on ). So make a loop, wrap the wire around the form. Repeat as many times as you want charms.

Take a jump ring and put through the hole in the top of your shrink plastic reindeer, then add another jump ring and thread onto the wire along with some beads to make it pretty!  Form a hook at the end to go through the loop, this will secure the charm around the stem of the glass.

Repeat until they are all made up into charms and you are ready to go!

I chose to do red, green and gold. A standing and jumping reindeer for each colour.

Have fun

                      Love Katrina 

Steampunk Christmas Card

Hello, design Elf Katrina here with a slightly different Christmas card today.

 I have been playing with a couple of the new U-Mount Christmas stamp sets, Steampunk and Newspaper Holly. The Steampunk Christmas is such a different Christmas stamp set and although it is aimed at Christmas there are plenty of stamps that could be used all year around. The newspaper Holly is just so easy to use and is just that little bit different.

 Of course being a bird lover I was instantly drawn to the metal bird, a bit more red wing than robin I think but what a great image! So smart in his top hat!

So, I stamped out onto the PaperArtsy smoothy paper the bird, light bulb flowers, small gear, merry Christmas and 25 and coloured them in using distress ink and cut them all out

I then stamped out the U-Mount newspaper Holly in Distress ink, Pine needle, and then used the same colour to colour in the background using blending foam.

The background holly was then cut using the PaperArtsy small oak leaf, twice.

The card was then put together, I stamped the background pattern from the Steampunk Christmas a couple of times in the same red as I used to colour in the flowers, now Poinsettias. The Poinsettias were layered up using some glue gel to give them a bit of hight.

There we have it a slightly different card for the festive season, hope you like it.

                  Love Katrina 

Owl Christmas card

Hello, me again, design Elf Katrina. Today I have another fun card using the new owl Christmas stamp from Crafty individuals, along with the U-Mount newspaper holly background stamp.

 I stamped both images with pine needles distress ink and coloured the letters in with my jellyroll pens. The owl himself was coloured with distress inks but the crown and bow tie had to be sparkly so they were coloured with the Jellyrolls too.

I then covered a 5x5 square card with the background and inked the edges with the same pine needles ink, mounted the owl stamped image onto a piece of the Core dinations Kraft core nostalgic ( the smaller 

4.25 x 5.5 is perfect for matting and layering ) and popped it onto the front of the card.

     Have fun

                       Love Katrina