Christmas Cutie Tags

Today I'm sharing some Christmas tags I made with the cuties from the Christmas Cuties SVG Collection. 

These tags were totally inspired by the ones Brigit Mann made for Christmas in July.  They are so cute and I just had to make some of my own.  You can see Brigit's blog post here. 

 

I also made mine using print and cut but I also cut out a few additional pieces here and there to adhere on top.  You can see how I did this with the little angel's dress in the screen shot below.

I used digital paper from the Christmas Day Collection by CartaBella and I carefully selected the right paper for each clothing piece as well as for the tag backgrounds.

Once I was done cutting and assembling, I added some stickles or dimensional paint to each cutie and finally gave them a bit of life with googly eyes (you know how much I love them...) 

I liked how these turned out so much that I ended up making a whole bunch of different ones.  There are so many cuties to pick from in this collection and I just HAD to make a tag with each of them.  I think I'm addicted to these... just can't stop...

Thanks for stopping by!

 

   

Getting ready for Christmas!

I realised this morning that it's just over 8 weeks until Christmas! This year has flown by way to quickly, don't you think?

 

Christmas is my absolute favourite time of the year! I love everything about it... the sounds, the food, the smells and of course, the cheer!   People just seem more happy and carefree around Christmas time.  But mostly, it's the excitement that gets me - I still find it hard to sleep the night before Christmas!  The anticipation of a day spent with loved ones, gift giving and eating until you feel you're about to explode, is just the best ever!

 

But unfortunately, Christmas has been a lot quieter for my husband and I since we immigrated to Australia almost 6 years ago.  We now find ourselves thousands of kilometres away from friends and family back in South Africa, the USA and Canada.  We have wonderful friends who always share the day with us but it's never quite been the same...

 

That said, we haven't let it put a damper on our enthusiasm around Christmas time.  We are like two big kids who decorate the house from top to toe, inside and out and spoil each other rotten with presents.  We still cook as if we're expecting a hundred people too!   

 

The only thing is, I have to start thinking about Christmas a lot sooner than most to ensure that everyone receives their gifts and cards in time for the big day.  I usually start at least two months in advance and in looking at the date... it appears it's that time again. 

 

So in the spirit of preparing for Christmas, I thought I would share this cute Santa Card today.  It's from the Christmas Open House SVGCuts Kit and it is just so adorable!   

I used AC cardstock for the hat, beard and face and ran the white bits through the Big Shot to give Santa's beard and moustache a few curls.  I cut the white bits for Santa's hat out of glitter card stock for a bit of bling and then added a brad and ribbon from my stash. 

 

I just love this card!  It's so quick and easy to make - and I think it is super cute! 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

   

 

Birthday Bass

Just sharing a quick gift card holder I made for my friend for his birthday.  He loves fishing so I thought this bass would be quite suited...
The bass gift card holder cut file is from the Forest Country SVG Collection from SVGCuts.  It's so quick and easy to put together - and perfect for a guy! 

I Inked the edges of his fins with Tim Holtz Broken China distress ink and then added some Turquoise Perfect Pearls to give it a shimmer.  I then stamped the dotted background with some clear versamark Ink and again dusted it with Perfect Pearls.   

Finally, I added a little googly eye and then finished it off with a gift card from his favourite store...

Thanks for stopping by!

 

  

Clown Diaper Cake

So I finally got around to finishing the diaper cake for which I made the clown topper a few weeks ago.  I made it for a baby shower we hosted for a co-worker.

I folded a blankie to make one long strip and then pinned it in a circle to form the bottom tier of the cake.  I then commenced with the task of individually rolling up an entire box of new born diapers to arrange inside the circle. 

I used the print and cut feature on my Cameo to make the scalloped stip.   The digital paper is the same as what I used for the clown - Big Top Birthday by Samantha Walker.

I did the same thing for the smaller top tier and then glued the clown on top with my hot gun.  Originally, that was all I had planned and it did look nice - but after I was done, I thought it looked a bit bland and definitely needed something else... 

So  I went to SVGCuts to see what I could find - and there I found the cutest little collection of animals in a great little collection called Wild Child.  I just knew these guys would be perfect for my cake...  

After I cut them out, I ran a couple of pieces through my Big Shot for texture and then added little googly eyes to finish them off...

I just LOVE googly eyes - I think it really gives the little guys a bit of life...

The baby shower was a lot of fun and I'm pleased to say that the mommy-to-be was so very happy with the diaper cake too.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Decorating for Halloween!

Hi there,

We don't really celebrate Halloween in Australia which is why I was super excited to read about the SVGCuts Halloween Challenge... I finally had a good reason to decorate my house for this cool holiday! 

As this was my one chance to play, I wanted to use as many files as possible!  So, I wanted to make something where I could incorporate a bunch of flat and 3D elements.  I'm so happy that I can finally share my finished project with you today.  This is what I came up with...

I made a Halloween Shadow Box and the finished project measures about 24"x24".  It sits proudly on my mantel in our entrance way and on its own, makes for a pretty cool decoration.    

It consists of 11 boxes (I used the gift box from the Catacomb Manor kit and scaled it to different sizes), glued together and mounted on two stands.  These were made from the lid of the tall apothecary jar from the Toil and Trouble kit.

I used one of my all time favourite paper collections - the Bewitched stack from DCWV.  I think that it's the same stack Mary from SVGCuts used when she created the Gimme Candy Boxes Kit.  It's super fun with bright oranges, purples and greens.  But there are so many cute Halloween files to choose from at SVGCuts, I didn't know where to start... So I decided to take it one box at a time. 

I knew I wanted to make the cute witches shoe from Toil and Trouble, so that's where I began. I made a tiny one which is only about 1.5".  I then added the Double Double sign with a cute element from the paper. Whilst I was at it, I cut out the Toil and trouble sign too as I knew I would use it somewhere on the project.  It wasn't long before I knew where that one would go...

I've always thought the three witches from the Hazel's Wicked Witch Crafts Collection were pretty cool, so I just had to create a scene with them too. That said, I wasn't happy with them on their own.  I wanted to create a bit of depth in my boxes and the flat elements just didn't do the trick.  So I made half of the cauldron from the Party on Elm Street Kit and stuffed it with some fluffy white stuff to make it look like the cauldron is boiling.  It looks great with the LED light on - as if Cassandra, Gwendolyn and Hazel are boiling up a witches brew or some other magic concoction...

I had the same problem with the haunted house silhouette from  the Spooky Silhouette's collection though.  It just looked too flat in the back of the box - even with pop dots.  So I placed a fence, a tree silhouette and the pumpkin from the card in the Toil and Trouble Kit in the front of the box to make it look like the haunted house is far in the background. 

The fun part about this project was scaling everything down to miniature size.  This jointed skeleton from the Spooky Soiree Kit was scaled down to about 5" tall (or should I say short) and fits perfectly into the coffin box from the Elmurst Hollow Kit. 

I made the lantern from the Sooky Soiree Kit too.  I stamped the velum with a spiderweb stamp and added a glittery spider on top.  I used a bit of bathtub wire to "hang" the lantern from the top of the little box and put a little LED tealight inside.  

I must admit, I couldn't get enough of the elements from the newest kit - Catacomb Manor.  So many great files!  So I made designated one of the boxes to skull from the Catacomb Gift card and made a tiny witch hat topiary to fill in the gap between two boxes.

I cut the spiderweb rosette out in different sizes and placed a large one around the edge of the Shadow Box and another around the K from the "EEK" sign (which is also from the same kit). 

Once I was done decorating each of the eleven boxes separately, I shuffled them around until I thought the order looked right and then I glued them together.  I then proceeded to cut out a whole bunch of other elements such as spiders, spiderwebs, pumpkins and Jack  o' Lanterns from various kits and collections and glued them all over the Shadow Box.  I also made a miniature version of the banner from the Midnight Jamboree Kit.  It really ties everything together so nicely.

 
Well, that's it for the close ups.  But here are some pictures with the lights off... I just love how it comes to life with the LED tea lights in the cauldron, the lantern, behind the pumpkin and behind the flying witch..

Finally, here's a list of all the kits I used to create my Halloween shadow box:

Gimme Candy Boxes SVG Kit

Catacomb Manor SVG Kit

Elmurst Hollow SVG Kit

Halloween SVG Collection

Haunted Hemlock Cards SVG Kit

Maple Manor SVG Kit

Midnight Jamboree SVG Kit

Party on Elm Street SVG Kit

Hazel’s Wicked Witch Crafts SVG Collection

Salazar's Scary Squares SVG Collection

Spooky Silhouettes SVG Collection

Spooky Soiree SVG Kit

Toil and Trouble SVG Kit

This was by far the biggest project I have ever taken on - and BOY WAS IT FUN!  Hope you enjoyed looking through the pictures.  Please leave a comment, sign up to my blog or "like" my Facebook page - I would love to hear from you.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Happiness is not a destination...

My friend's (very crafty) daughter received an invitation to a "Paris" party the other day.  Whilst shopping around for a birthday gift, they came across one of those inspirational hanging plaques with a beautiful picture of the Eiffel Tower on it.

When I saw the picture, I just new that we needed to make the Eiffel Tower box from the Amelie's Accessories SVGCuts Kit to go with it. 

So, my crafty little helper (Keyra) and I set out to put something together for the birthday girl quickly.  This is what we came up with...

The paper is from a Kaisercraft stack I have in my stash.  I think Keyra did an amazing job at inking all the edges to match the colours in the plaque.  It was also the first time she had a go at using the Big Shot to dry emboss, which was very exciting!

The little birthday tag with  baker's twine was Keyra's idea - the perfect touch to finish it off nicely, don't you think?

I just love this little box. I was really surprised how quick it was so assemble - and everything was done in no time (especially as there were 4 hands instead of 2 thanks to my crafty friend)!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Purple, Orange and Black Witch's Hat

Today I'm sharing my Halloween card I made for the monthly challenge at Scrapbook Boutique.   This month's challenge is to submit a project using the theme 'Halloween' or using the colours Purple, Orange and Black. 

 

I decided to do both...  So for my entry, I made this cute Witch's Hat card from the Haunted Hemlock Cards SVG Kit.  I was pleased with how my card turned out so I decided to enter it in the Halloween Hootery challenge over at Paper Issues as well...  

I used papers from the Bewitched stack from DCWV (which I picked up at Spotlight for half price!) as well as some black AC Cardstock for the main part of the hat.  

I inked the edges of all the individual pieces to give the final product a bit of a distressed look. I then added the flower (which I built up using Pop-Dots for added dimension) and then added a few pearls from Kaisercraft.

 

This is the picture that Scrapbook Boutique posted as inspiration for the challenge ... Aren't these cupcakes just the cutest?

Thanks for stopping by!