Button Ball

Hi Design elf Katrina here again with a cute project using buttons.

      The Fruit Pixie has, in my opinion, the best button packs out there and so I wanted to make something using them. Here is what I made, a button ball!

Now this is so easy to make, it takes a little time but it is something you can do in front of the TV.

You will need the buttons of your choice, a polystyrene ball, some short pins and some seed beads. 

Then all you need to do is place a button on the ball, take a pin and add a bead then push the pin through the button and repeat untill the ball is covered. Just a little tip - don't push the pins in straight, push them in at a angle an they will stay in.

The ribbon is also just pinned to the ball.

I chose to use the cream collection but any of the button collection would work a treat!

I hope you like my button ball and will give it a go yourself

                                                                       Love Katrina

Music sheet Rosette

Hi Design elf Katrina here with another quick Christmas project. I am not in my craft nook at the moment but in Austria absorbing the Christmas atmosphere.

  I have wanted to make one of these big rosette Christmas decorations for a while and they look amazing on the tree. I think I will be making some more.

I made mine using the music paper pack. Cut them into strips along the music, I used 4 strips for this one. Then I used the Christmas washi tape and stuck it along the outside edge of each strip. I then used my ever useful Hougie board and scored the strips every cm. I then joined them all together with wet glue and formed them into a circle and pushed the middle down to form the rosette. Have a circle of card ready to stick to the back of the rosette. That will stop it popping back up again.

For the image in the middle I used  the Craft UK collage topper sheets that I have punched out with a circle punch and then backed it with some of the card in the pack. I added some bakers twine to the back to hang it on the tree.

You can make these as big or small as you like, they are quick and easy to make and look very vintage on the tree.

Don't forget to visit the design team section in the shop for the shopping list for this project.

Have fun with them

                   Love Katrina

IndigoBlu snow tag

Hi Design Elf Katrina here again with a lovely tag project for you.

   I used the wonderful new Christmas stamps from Indigoblu and as I am some what of a snow nut I just had to use the beautiful snow background Snowflake lace.

To make the background I cut a tag shape from a scrap of while card and then used my Woodware  magic anti-static bag to prevent the embossing powder from sticking to any where other than where I want it just by rubbing it over the card. I then stamped with my embossing pad and sprinkled over my white embossing powder and melted it with my heat gun.

I then went over the whole thing with a pale blue water colour and before it was dry wiped it off the embossed image.

I then stamped and embossed the IndigoBlu Merry Christmas circle this time in gold embossing powder, went over it with red water colour, wiped it off of the embossed image and cut it out. I then made up one of the Tim Holtz 3D snowflake using the die from my collection, edged everything with Fire brick red distress ink to tie it all together.

Then all it needed is a ribbon and a snowflake charm to finish it off.

IndigoBlu have a wonderful collection of Christmas stamps, I just wish I had time to play with them all. Do go and have a look at them all.

The shopping list for my tag will be in the Design team section in the shop.

Happy Crafting

                                 Love Katrina

Washi tape angel

Hi there, design elf Katrina here to show you what I have been up too in my craft nook.

   For this project I have been dabbling in one of my favourite crafts, altered art. Some might say its a bit weird, so please alter the project to your own taste, but I love the look.

   I saw the basic shape blanks on the internet but they were in the USA and so I thought I would make my own. So I fired up the computer and came up with this shape.

As a little Christmas gift I have given you the template I used at the end of this post so you can have a go yourself.

You will need to print the template out onto card.

I then cut out her body on its own and using all the wonderful Christmas washi tape I covered it. I used greenery, stockings, Noel, snowflake and stripe.

I wanted her wings and halo to glow so I decided to glid them using the Cosmic shimmer gliding flakes. I applied the glue and added the flakes to the back of the card where the wings are printed, rubbed excess flakes off then cut them out. I actually added the flakes to the front then couldn't see the heart shape!! So I had to trace the wings and draw then over the gilded card and cut them out. so learn by my mistake.

I then backed the assembled angel onto some stiff card and cut her out. Then add the decorated parts onto the body, wings first, halo and then the body. I then added her bottle top face and a punched crown, punched from card covered with washi tape. added some gems.

Her head is a squashed beer bottle cap, I am married to a real ale fan so we have the odd one or 2 hanging around the house. I squash mine in my Cuttlebug, you might have to squash a few before you get one that squashes evenly, it depends on how the bottle top was taken off but its worth the work.

The face I used was from one of my digital kits I have but you could get one from a magazine or even use a family photo. There are also lots of free vintage images on the internet too. Or if children are making them they could draw one.

I then punched holes in her wings and added wire and beads to finish her off.

This is the template I made for this project. To save it to your computer hover over it and right click, click save image as and choose where you want to save it too, I use photos, then click OK. You should then be able to go to your photos or where ever you chose to save it and it should be there ready to print out.

Hope you enjoy making this project as much as I did. Don't forget to have a look in the Design team section of the shop to find the shopping list for her.

Happy Christmas crafting

                                   love Katrina

Spool wreath card

Design elf Katrina signing in again to show you another project with the wreath idea. This time using the Creative Expression spools but the half ones. You get loads in the pack and this project only took 9!

So I covered the half spools with the assorted music paper from the Assorted music paper pack and some of the book pages from the vintage book paper pack. Colouring the book page strips with Firebrick red distress ink.

I cut a doughnut shape using my dies and a scrap of green card. This gave me a base shape to attach my half spools too.

 I then used the same green card to cover the base card, a 5x5 square card blank, and to cut the Crafty Individuals Starry frame die.

I also cut a piece of the Bo Bunny Snowy Serenade Overture to place behind the die cut frame and as a second mat on the card. All the mats edges were edged with Firebrick red distress ink.

Then add a bow for the wreath and a Merry Christmas die cut. Add some glitter touches to finish the card off.

Just another way you can use the spool wreath idea to make a quick but impressive card.

Happy Crafting

                         Love Katrina

Spool wreath Christmas decorations

Hello, Design elf Katrina here with the latest from my craft nook!

    Well to quote one of my favourite Christmas song it getting to look a lot like Christmas!! So I thought I would show you an super idea for a quick and easy Christmas decoration that can use up all those little scraps of Christmas paper you have, don't try to hide them, I know there are there :) Only because I have the same pile beside me!!

    For this decoration I used the whole wooden spools from Creative Expressions, the assorted music sheet pack and the vintage book pages pack too, both from the Fruit pixie. You will also need some wire and ribbon, the new Christmas ribbon would also be perfect for this project, and of course a bell or something for the middle.

So, how did I do it? First I cut a strip of the book paper to fit the inside of the spools and coloured it with some distress ink. I used Firebrick red but you can use whatever colour fits your Christmas colour scheme. 

Then just add wet glue to the spool sparingly and roll the paper around, add a dab of glue to the end and stick down. 

TIP - If you are having trouble getting the paper around the spool smoothly, curl the paper strip first with your scissors, like you would to curl ribbon, and it will help.

Repeat for 9 spools, I did 5 in the music and 4 in the book page. Cut a piece of wire long enough to go through your spools with some extra to form 2 small loops.

Make a small loop at one end of your wire and thread you spools on in the order you want. Thread the other end of the wire through the loop you have made and loop it back through finishing the end down inside the last spool.

Use these loops to attach your bell, I used a piece of bakers twine. Add a ribbon bow and something to hang it from your tree and you are done.

You can get 2 little wreaths from 1 packet of Creative Expressions whole wooden spools, so here is my other wreath, a little bit more fun perhaps. I used some Christmas paper scraps this time and of course that cute Father Christmas bells I have been keeping for just the right project, well I think this was it!!

I hope you like my little projects and will have a go yourself.

For a full shopping list visit the new Design team section on the Fruit Pixie website.

                               Happy Crafting!

                                                         Love Katrina