Party Like it's 1922!

I have been a fan of Hero Arts since I started stamping and when they came out with their My Monthly Hero kit I HAD to subscribe!! I've been crafting for a long time and the value of these kits amazes me every month!  With moving {again!} and helping my friend pack his home and prepare for his move cross country, plus all the fun things life throws at you {like needing a new car and a kitty with tooth issues!} I haven't been able to play with the kits as much as I'd like to, but I did manage to make a cool retro card with the kit from February {the stencil in this kit is calling my name!} I think this card is especially relevant since we have all been inside all winter and now it's getting warmer; puts me in the mood to PAR TAY! 

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Black Cardstock
Gold Card
Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Kit, February 2019
Hero Arts Gold Embossing Powder, #PW100
Wink of Stella Clear
Die-Namics Stitched Fishtail Sentiment Strips
Krylon Gold Leafing Pen
Dimensional Dots

I glued the sized, black card to the base, then attached the background piece which I cut out of gold card.  I kept the largest piece from the background cut and glued that back into the center of the card.  The dancers were embossed with the gold embossing powder, as was the sentiment on the banner.  I cut the banner and dancers and attached them to the card, using dimensional dots for the banner.  It was then I decided to add some sparkle with the Wink of Stella pen in clear.  

I learned something - don't start with an old pen and finish with a new pen! The difference between the sparkle was very evident, so I went over the spaces with the new pen.  Honestly, it would have been easier if I had gone over the black panel before putting the background die cut on, but I rarely do things the easy way!  When inspiration strikes, you need to listen!  I also decided to lightly edge the banner in gold after it was attached to the card - not the brightest move, but it came out better than expected.  Leafing pens used to be all the rage and that is what we used to use to make alcohol ink backgrounds {called Polished Stone back in the day} before companies released all the cool mix ins formulated specially for alcohol inks.  The pens can be costly, I've seen them up to $10 apiece {I've also seen them for under $6}, but they last such a very long time I feel they are worth the price.  Plus, I use them for other things than just art - I've used my silver leafing pen to touch up jewellery {the leafing pen is duller than polished silver, but I've put clear coat on the touched up spots and it blends in fine} and many other uses that escape me at the moment.  

Anyway, this card is so festive and while it is traditionally a birthday card, I think I could send it out to anyone needing a lift.  I hope you like it as much as I do!  Are you on social media?  I am and I would love it of you'd give me a follow.  If you do decide to subscribe to me, please leave me a comment so I can return the favor!  Thanks so much for reading,and have a fabulous day!  Fondly, Christi

 

I am entering my card in the following challenges:
TTCRD - Anything Goes
Pammie's Inky Pinkies, #2114 - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Layer It
A Place to Start, #4 - Anything Goes & Make it Elegant
Crazy for Challenges, #578 - Party Themed Card

Thanks for reading all of this and stay safe & healthy!!

Week 3 of Janis' Birthday ATCs {Adorable Teapot Collection}

You can read all about Janis' birthday celebration here and see my week one All Those Cats ATCs here, my And The Chickens ATC here, and for the current week, Adorable Teapot Collection, you are in the perfect spot; just read on! If you missed week 1, or even week 2, no worries as you have ALL month to whip up some ATCs and enter {the challenge and celebration end March 3, 2018}! 

What are ATC's? ATC stands for Artist Trading Cards.  There are no requirements to make them {unless you are participating in a swap or, in this case, Janis' third theme is Adorable Teapot Collection} EXCEPT they must be 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", the same size as a standard playing card or trading card.

For this week, Janis choose Adorable Teapot Collection. Seems that she's been collecting teapots {and some adorable cat mugs - she even beats my collection of cat mugs, which is still in the box from my move} due to her love for herbal teas.  Here I thought chickens was a tough theme; well, teapots just had me about ready to throw in the tea towel {ha ha, see what I did there?}  As luck would have it, I used to belong to this awesome kit club and along with the coolest papers and such, they'd send you charms.  Back in the day we used to put charms on our cards, long before CAS was a thing. I have all my charms in a little 6 drawer storage tower, neatly categorized and labeled, so I had no trouble finding my teapot, coffee, and cups charms.  I picked out a teapot and a teabag; I figured I'd use tea cups as my stamped background.  The charms were gold, as most of my charms are, but that was remedied with a few swipes of my silver leafing pen.  Once the charms were dry from the leafing, off I went.

I'm not going to go into detail about how I made each one; it's fairly self explanatory but if you have any questions, just ask! 

Tea ATC

What I Used to make my Teapot ATC:
White Heavy Card
STAMPlorations Sketchy Coffee Cups
Distress Ink in Tea Dye 
Teapot & Teabag Charms
Krylon Silver Leafing Pen
Round Letter Beads
E6000 adhesive 

I almost ruined the whole thing, but I think I did OK saving it. I'm not even go into why or how I almost ruined it; you'll have to trust me as I'm still a bit
skittish about the incident.  Let's just say it involves glue, a few cats, and a paper cutter.

I hope you join the birthday celebration over at Her Peaceful Garden; get out those scraps and make some ATCs! They really are addicting and I think limiting yourself to the tiny canvas stretches your creativeness.  I appreciate your stopping by and stay tuned for more fabulous ATCs. Thanks! Christi



I am entering my Adorable Teapot Collection ATC in the following challenges:
Her Peaceful Garden - Adorable Teapot Collection
Pile it On - #139, 3D embellishments and/or stickers, washi tape
PDE - #7, Anything Goes
Inspiration Destination - #144, Anything Goes, TWIST: Use a Real Stamp

Shaker Stars of the Season

My favorite part of the winter holiday season is all the lights, sparkle, and bling! Because I have the Fabulous Feline Four, it's been ages since I've put out any decorations; this year I've decided to make my cards extra festive!  This card not only sparkles, it uses nesting dies to make a very easy shaker card.

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
White Card 
Authentique Paper, Wintery, 12 x 12, #WIN011
Die-Versions Whispers Stitched Nesting Stars, #DV-571
Die-Versions Sweet Wordlets, Season's Greetings, #DVSW-013
White Glitter Paper
Silver Glitter Paper
Acetate 
Sequins - Darice Clear-Crystal, 5 mm, #10043-8
              Darice Iridescent White, 5 mm, #10043-17
Twinklets Diamond Dust {manufactured by FloraCraft}
Thin Cardboard {if desired}
Krylon Leafing Pen in Silver {if desired}

I had gotten the Authentique paper a while back and I am so glad I did! There are all kinds of frosty patterned papers and I couldn't resist using one of them for this card.  I glued the paper on to my card base and set it under my drying tile for overnight.  

Meanwhile, I set about making the shaker.  I use temporary tape on many of my cutting dies as I don't have the magnetic platform that is supposed to make the dies stay where you put them {do you have one? Does it work? Please leave me a comment!} so I just set the nesting stars up so I'd get a "frame."  The only thing I have to watch is the tape un-sticking which can result in the dies moving.  That can cause an uneven frame, but in this case, even when the I had to line the dies up again, the margin of error is fairly tiny.  Once the die was run through the machine, I used a toothpick to poke out the frame. 

I die cut a bunch of frames out of white card and added a few cardboard frames as well,  to get the frame higher faster. It's not a must, but the cardboard also gives the design a bit more sturdiness than using plain card.  I layered a few of the card frames, then added a cardboard one and repeated the sequence a few times, leaving out one white frame.  Since I did use cardboard, once the frame was dry, I edged the sides with a silver leafing pen to cover up the cardboard.  

Finally, I used the two stars not used in making the frame, {using white glitter

card} cut them out and placed them on the card.  I used silver glitter card to die cut the sentiment.  I cut the window out of some acetate packaging, attached that to the frame tower and adhered the frame of white card I had set aside.  I didn't want the shaker to be too full, so I carefully added some sequins and Twinklets Diamond Dust.  Honestly, that Diamond Dust has got to be 15 years old and I had forgotten I even had it! I was surprised to see they still made it; the cool thing is that the dust is shard shaped {and according to the website has actual glass in it, but I didn't have any issue using my fingers} and that just makes it sparkle like crazy!

Another Look

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and may you find some forgotten goodies in your stash! 

Don't forget to join in on all the fun at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog.  

There's  a new challenge theme offered on the 1st and 15th of each month

 and one lucky  randomly drawn winner will receive a gift voucher prize to 

the Dies R Us Store.  For your convenience, all the important Dies R Us 

links are provided below.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  

Fondly,

Christi

click below for:

STORE
CHALLENGE BLOG
FACEBOOK
INSPIRATION BLOG

FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

I am entering my Shaker Stars of the Season card in the following challenges:

Crafty Girlz Challenges - M, Nov, Anything Goes - optional Christmas

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Always Anything Christmas Goes

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge - M, Anything Goes - optional Tag

Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes w/ Dies - M, Anything Goes

Stemplegartden - #67, It's Almost Christmas

Allsorts - #442, Glitter (card)

Modsquad - Merry & Bright

The Sisterhood of Crafters - M, Let the Sparkle Fly!

a2z Scrapbooking - M, Winter

Creative Inspiration Blog - #283, Sparkle

Tim's 12 Tags of 2015 - January Tag

I have decided I am going to participate in the Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2015 and make a tag every month for this year. I will be doing a fair amount of substituting, mostly due to the fact while I have a lot of Tim Holtz products, I am far from having everything, and frankly, I can't keep up!  CHA just ended and I already have a wish list a mile long - he is just so darn creative and I want everything! Anyway, here is my January 2015 tag:

This is What I Used on my Tag:
8" x 4" Manila Tag 
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Gold Tissue Paper
Ticket Alphabet by MaVinci's Reliquary numbers 1-8 (the shop is closed, but you can still get awesome alphabet sets from MaVinci on her eBay page - and ask her if she has any of this set left if you want it!)
Stamps from the following Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous sets: (stamped on the gold tissue - I don't have any of Tim's Tissue Paper)
Train Ticket & Clock Face from The Journey, Paris Postale from French Market, Type Block from Lost & Found, Ticket Strip from Life's Possibilities
Distress Paint in Chipped Sapphire, Broken China & Stormy Sky
Chipboard #5 from 7 Gypsies "Gypsy Mart" 
Gold Glitter from the Art Institute
Tim Holtz Alpha Parts/Numeric
Adirondack Dauber Paint in Metallic Gold
Distress Marker in Soot
Dylusions Ink Spray in White Linen
Various Stashed Trinkets
Krylon Leafing Pen in Silver
Ranger Glue 'n Seal
Gold Sheer Ribbon 

Stamping on the tissue

 You can go to Tim's blog and read about how he made his tag and what products he used - just click HERE.  The very first thing I did was get out the gold tissue and chose the stamps that I felt matched the tissue on the tag.  I stamped my heart out and it was SO much fun - back to the basics; stamps, ink and paper.  While the stamping dried I moved on to figure out the 5 (ok, I had the Alpha Parts/Numeric on order but I didn't w- it's a fairly focal part of the tag so I found a large chipboard 5 in my stash and covered it with gold glitter from my stash.  Some of you recall that me and glitter don't really get along, but this time things went fine.  So the glittered five went to dry - out of reach of the cats.  I adhered the stamped gold tissue on the tag and set that aside to dry also, overnight and under a book because my tag was curling. 

Wet Paint

Dry Paint

Then it was time to play with 
the Distress Paints. I pounced my paints on the craft sheet, spritzed them with water and dragged my tag through the paint.  I dabbed some areas with my finger so I could get the look I wanted.  Then I used my heat gun to dry and set the paint.

Once the painting was done I cut out my twenty and one from the Alpha Parts/Numeric and since I don't have the Distress gold paint, I used the Adirondack Gold paint - it wasn't as easy to paint the twenty and the one as it looked on Tim's blog, but I did the best I could with what I had. I daubed the paint on and wiped some of it offand then heat what was left with my heat gun (I have a Weller Heat Gun which is sold to be used in industrial situations, so I had to be EXTRA careful that the plastic didn't melt).  

Chit Chat Time!

Then I placed my focal pieces on the tag to get the idea where my Chit Chat stickers should go - I used both the regular stickers and the Holiday version, mostly so I didn't use up all my precious Chit Chat stickers.   Here is where I got a tad carried away and forgot to take pictures of the process.  Honestly, I did just what Tim did, put all my stickers in place, coated the tag with Glue 'n Seal, waited for it to dry (it dries fast since you only need a thin coat) and then outlined all my stickers with the Distress Marker in Soot.  I smudged away (have the black fingers to prove it) and messed around a bit to get the proper amount of smudge and non-smudge. Then, since I didn't have the splatter brush, I used Dylusions Spray Ink in White Linen and gave the tag a few light spritzes.  I began looking for embellishments to use on the tag and I was really wanting toput an arrow on the tag like Tim, but I had no arrow.  But I did have an old game spinner and a Krylon Silver leaf pen, so I inked the spinner up and cut the back piece off (yes, I saved it) and viola! I now had an arrow!

Not bad if I do say so myself.  Then I pulled a few other trinkets I had in my stash that I felt would at least try to get the look of the original tag. I glued everything down onto the tag and let it sit overnight again (mostly because the metal star I used is open on the other side and I wanted to give the glue enough time to drip down from the star to the tag).  I skipped splattering the tag with the Krylon Gold Leafing Pen because I can't find my brand new Distress Spritzer - I am thinking someone borrowed it to use on a model they are building, but I'm not naming names.  I cut a legnth of gold sheer ribbon that I have had since my demonstrator days and tied it onto the hole of the tag.  My ribbon refused to hang as nicely as Tim's so I fixed it by tying it into a bow.  There you have it - my first tag of 2015! 

Another look at the finished tag

I truly enjoyed myself (and I will probably say that each month) and I urge you to break out those tags and play along with Tim!

I am entering my January Tag into the following challenges:
Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2015 - January Tag Challenge
Papertake Weekly - It's All New (some of the embellishments are new) 
Fashionable Stamping Challenges -#89, Something New (some of the embellishments are new)
Order of the Opus Gleui - #200, Anything But a Card

Christmas Decorations at Craft-Room Challenges!

For challenge #90 at the Craft-Room Challenge, Hazel has chosen to inspire us to make Christmas Decorations - no cards. I have been intending to make ornaments for the three cats that I had to let go last year (they all lived to a ripe old age; Baby was 19, Spike was 19 and Boo was 17) and I know I did what was needed to for their sake.  What made it so much harder was I lost Spike on December 5th and then Boo on December 6th.  I truly intended on making all 3 ornaments, but, I only got to make one ornament because I got just too emotional to make all three.  I chose to make one for Boo first (and you can read a bit about him here).  Letting go of my furbabies is the worst part of being a pet parent, but the unconditional love, joy and laughter I get from my pets is priceless to me. And, I do have a houseful of five cats, so I am certainly never lonely for cat company. 

Big fat, happy Boo :)

What I Used to Make my Project:
Chipboard Ornament, 2  (I can't for the life of me recall where I got these, but they are about 4" at their widest spot)
Folk Art Acrylic Paint in Metallic Champagne, #675
Ribbon (the metallic gold ribbon was about 1 1/2" wide)
3D Enamel Gel in Satin Gold  (Mine came from Globecraft & Piccolo)
Embellishments
Krylon 18kt Gold Leafing Pen
Bulldog Clips (to hold it together while drying)
Your choice of picture

When I bought these round ornaments, I bought 6 of them so I could make 3 ornaments.  My goal was to cut out a portion of the center on 3 of them, and then use the other three as the backs of the ornament.  That was a great plan, except I have a terrible time cutting in circles - just another one of those things.  I enlisted help and got 3 of the ornaments cut & left three intact.  It helped that they didn't need to be smoothly cut.

 Once they were cut, I picked a pair and brainstormed how I was going to cover the chipboard - I wanted to use paper initially, but after conferring with my teamies, I chose to use ribbon.  So I cut a length of ribbon about as long as my arm (I never measure those kinds of things) and began wrapping it around the ornament with the hole in the center (I'm going to call that ornament the front piece and the back the back piece).  I liked the way the wrapped ribbon came out, and I did try some other ribbons on the other front pieces I had, but the gold looked the best to me. 

The Ribbon I used

I did have to re-wrap the end, up by the hanging piece a few times, but all in all I am satisfied with the results.   Before I glued the ribbon to the front, I colored the area where you put the hook with the Krylon Leafing Pen in case any of it showed.  Then I decided to use the 3D gel on the very top just to give some pop to it.  Once the 3D gel dried (I left it overnight) I glued the ribbon and moved on.

While the ribbon was drying I decided to paint the back portion in a nice, soft gold - Metallic champagne is the perfect name for this color - so the ornament would look finished, plus I think I am going to write a bit about Boo eventually on the back.  I edged the back piece with the Krylon Leafing Pen so all of the chipboard was now covered with something.  I set the back aside to dry.

It dried nicer than this - all the brush marks settled in.

Deciding what picture to use was another issue.  I have no children and I take LOTS of pictures of my cats.  But I found one where Boo is on "his table" (it really wasn't his table, but he adopted it and it became his table), where he'd hang out with me in Connecticut while I was in my art room.  He is fat and healthy in the picture and I felt it was a beautiful representation of him.  I printed out the picture on 4" x 6" photo paper, cut it to size, and sandwiched the 2 pieces of the ornament around the picture.  A bit of glue has seeped onto the top of his picture, and I am sure it would have been fine IF I left it alone, but no - I had to try to wipe it off. 

The red circle shows were the glue is peeking out

I found out what happens when you use a baby wipe on a photo printed picture - it takes the color off.  Yup.  I tried to color in where the color was rubbed off, but the photo paper kept resisting every marker I tried to use.  Mortified that the ornament wasn't going to be perfect, I ripped it apart and printed another picture.  Glued that picture over the ruined picture and sandwiched the ornament again.  I found that the back piece warped a bit so I needed to use some bulldog clips, spaced around the circle, to hold the ornament all together while it dried.

Lastly, I took an old embellishment from my stash (I think it is a part of an earring) and placed that at the top of the ornament.  All the emotion and trouble was worth it because I adore this creation of mine.  I think Boo looks like the handsome kitty he was and this was a fantastic way to remember him.  Maybe I'll be able to make the other 2 ornaments after all.  We'll see. 

Another view - this one is a bit more sparkly

Thank you SO much for reading all of this - I know I over shared, but sometimes that's what I have to do.  I hope you will share your creations with us at Craft-Room Challenge (PLEASE read our pesky rules!) – you have two whole weeks to enter, so get going!  Fondly, Christi

I would like to enter my ornament in the following challenges: 
Crafty Ribbons (w) - Challenge #107,  Animals at Christmas plus Ribbon
CCEE Stampers (w) - Photos & Photography 
The Mirror Crack'd (m) - #3, Christmas Decorations
Unruly PaperArts (m) - RAQ - Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Naughty or Nice Challenges (November) - #9, Festive Furballs
Fairy Tale Challenge - #105, Animal Christmas

Happy Winter Card and a G&P GIVEAWAY!!

Hi all you Happy Crafters!  It’s Christi again with another fun card using products from Globecraft & Piccolo. Before I get into my newest creation, I want to let you all know that this is the LAST day to enter for a $10 gift certificate to Globecraft & Piccolo.  How do you enter? 

• Leave a comment on daily posts Sunday, February 2nd through Saturday, February 8th, 2014
• You must be a Follower of the Globecraft Piccolo blog
• You must like us on Facebook (click on the Facebook tab at the top of the blog)
• Only 1 comment per day per person
• If you refer a friend and your name is mentioned in their comment, you will get a second entry to the drawing for that day
• Winners will be chosen by Random.org and announced on Sunday February 9th, 2014

You can win on multiple days so be sure to visit each day - I hope you all have been commenting & I wish you luck!
OK on with the show! 
Here is my finished card.  Read on and you will learn how to make this cute card.

My finished card

This is the second project I have made using just one set of Bejeweled Snowflakes Accents!! After I had removed all the beautiful snowflakes from the board I noticed that there was a stencil possibility hiding within the “scrap” (really, is anything ever scrap to a crafter?) or the negative left after removing the snowflakes.  I carefully cut off the parts I didn’t want and was thrilled to see a snowflake stencil ready for me to use.

The chipboard is very sturdy & flexible

I decided I wanted to make a card. I love shades of blue with silver.  Especially brilliant blues.  And what goes better for a shivery winter card than blue and silver?  I had already made the background paper using Distress Paints for another project (I used Distress Paints in Chipped Sapphire, Stormy Sky & Brushed Pewter and a piece of watercolor paper – the paints were pounced on the craft mat, sprayed with water and the paper was smooshed into the paper), so I just built off of that.

 

Items I used:

3D EnamelGel in Satin Silver  

Stencil Imade from Bejewled Snowflakes  
Crafters Pick Adhesive (I use this glue ALL the time!)

Stampin’ Up! Everyday Flexible Phrases Rubber Stamp set

Base card in Cream

Piece of Background Paper, already prepared (see description above)

Piece of Gray cardstock

Piece of gray/blue cardstock

Dylusions Spray Ink in London Blue

Krylon Leafing Pen in Silver

Robin’s Nest Drops

Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Removable Tape (to hold the stencil down. I used blue painters tape)

First step in making this card was I took my background paper, laid the stencil over it and spritzed it with Dylusions in London Blue.  Lifted off the stencil and chose where I was going to trim the paper down. 

You can see the tape marks

Once it was dry, I trimmed it and in the middle of the full snowflakes I added a wee dot of 3D Enamel Gel in Satin Silver. The gel looks blue in some pictures and I am not sure if it picked up some of the spray ink or it is the reflection of the blue in the metallic – makes no difference to me either way – I set the panel aside so I would not smoosh the dots as they dried (and yes, I have smooshed many a drying dot!). 

I took a spare piece of cream cardstock and stamped my little sentiment, Happy Winter, with the Jet Black ink – this was a test since the stamps I used are the old fashioned, can’t see through the wooden block type of stamps, which I had hand mounted.  After a bazillion tries, I think I got it straight enough.  Or, let’s just say it IS straight enough. I mounted that on a piece of grayish blue cardstock & then again on a piece of cream because at this point I was vacillating between a cream or blue card base. 

Back to the panel where I used the snowflake stencil.  I swiped my Krylon Leafing Pen in Silver around the sides of the paper and mounted it on a gray piece of cardstock.  Then I mounted the whole shebang on the card base, which as you can see was decided to be cream and added the three little dots.

The 3DEnamel Gel also works when you want a cute little dot on your card or project, but I haven’t gotten the hang of making them even remotely the same size, so I cheated and used pre-made dots.  I am practicing though & hope my dots will debut soon.

Stay tuned for my third project still using only one set of the Bejeweled Snowflakes set – if that isn’t a good deal, I don’t know what is!  I hope your weather is settling down a bit and that you & yours have a wonderful week!

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Frosted Designs - Winter Blues
Craft Hoarders Anonymous - Challenge 1, Your Signature Style (I love using Distress paints & using products in an unconventional way, ex: the "stencil")
Addicted to Stamps & More - Challenge 81, Anything Goes

Crafting by Design - February Anything Goes

Rhedd & Rosies Challenge Blog - Challenge 25, Anything Goes

Next week is my finale using the same set of Bejeweled Snowflakes - woo hoo!

Snowflake Votive Holder

I have wanted to do a 3D project since I got my Silhouette CAMEO and I thought this was a perfect opportunity.  I also get to showcase one of my absolute favorite accents sets from Globecraft & Piccolo - Bejeweled Snowflakes!

This post is a little photo heavy but I really wanted to showcase how I made the project.

Globecraft & Piccolo Items Used:

1 set of Bejeweled Snowflakes Accents, LA100 

Enamel & Embossing Powder Adhesive Fluid 

Embossing Enamel in Aged White 

3D Enamel Gel in Satin Gold

Other Items:

1 piece heavy cardstock, 12 x 12, white

1 piece heavy cardstock, approx 7 x 7, white (for top)

2 pieces of Denami Design Colored Cardstock in Iridescent Gold

4 pieces of regular Vellum, 2 ½” x 2 ½”

Krylon Gold Leafing Pen

Double Stick Tape

Glue

5 Gold Beads

Cutfile for a 4” x 4” box, with top (I put the 1 ¾” x 1 ¾” windows on myself)

Cutfile for the frame

1 Battery Operated Votive**

**DO NOT USE A Candle – it will burn & cause a fire!

The votive holder all cut and ready to go!

First thing I did was search for a lantern/votive holder cutfile that was fairly small knowing I wanted to use the Large Snowflakes in the Bejeweled Snowflakes Accents set as the focal point, but I couldn’t find any that suited my vision, so I made my own!  I used a regular cutfile of a small box with a lid and just added the windows to it.  Sounds easy but I am new at playing with files and it actually took me longer to get the right sized windows, and many, many votive holders cut, before I hit upon the right size.  Once I had the votive holder body and top cut out the real fun began.

Coloring the Snowflake Strips

I started by coloring the snowflake strips (after I cut them in two, 5 snowflakes each strip) with the Krylon Gold Leafing Pen.  After they dried, I dotted them with the 3D Enamel Gel in Satin Gold in the center of each snowflake. 

Adding the 3D Enamel Gel in Satin Gold

Then I turned my attention to the 4 large Snowflakes.  I coated them with the Enamel & EmbossingPowder Adhesive Fluid (IMPORTANT!! Do NOT Squeeze The Fluid – this will cause the top to pop off and you will create an amazing mess! All you need is to tap the fluid onto whatever you wish to emboss, the little dauber thing will refill naturally – and I am PROUD to say I haven’t popped my top!) and embossed them using Aged White Embossing Enamel (don’t forget to roll your enamel before you use it – that will ensure the colors are mixed properly). NOTE: Since the Snowflakes are very detailed the embossing enamel may clog some of the holes – just use a toothpick and poke it out!  

 

A close up of the Snowflake embossed

Showing some bling!

This color is fantastic! It has little bits of metallic goodness mixed in with the white powder and it really sparkles! I put the Large Snowflakes aside to cool.

I then cut my vellum and attached it to the inside of the windows in the box.  Since vellum is tricky to use glue with I used double stick tape, just the regular red kind.  It’s very important that nothing gets on the vellum because you will see it when the holder is lit (and I am sure if I tried to use glue I would get it on the vellum.  In fact, I even washed my hands and used a clean piece of scrap paper to ensure the vellum would stay clean).

 

The windows taped with the double stick tape

And the windows covered with the vellum

Then I attached the Large Snowflakes to the outside of the windows.  I lined them up so they would be the same no matter what window was looked at.

All the Embossed Snowflakes attached to the holder

 

Close Up of the attached Snowflake

The next step was to figure out what I wanted to add to the sides of the box, around the windows, because it looked very plain to me.  I used another cutfile to make frames out of thin (lightweight) metallic paper. Once I had the four frames cut I glued them to the sides using them to frame the snowflakes.  Be sure to keep one of the insides of the frame you use!  

The frame framing a Snowflake

I assembled the top and gathered my colored & dotted Snowflake Strips.  I put one strip on each side of the top and used one of the innies from the frame cutfile on the very top.  

Assembling the top

The Top with the Filled in Gold Bead and "innie"

I also used one of the gold beads to serve as a handle so you can open the holder without having to touch the top.  The bead I used had a hole in the center, which will be fine for the feet, but I didn’t like the look of it on the top since you could see the hole.  I solved this issue by putting a few drops of the 3D Enamel Gel in Satin Gold, letting it dry, then adding more.  I did this about four times to “fill” in the hole.

The final step is to assemble to actual box.  I used glue and hinge clips to hold the sides together and I put 2 sides together at a time. The same steps I used to put together the top.

**REMEMBER – DO NOT USE a candle in your creation – it WILL cause a fire.  Use a battery operated votive!

The bottom of the holder & the top

I put my battery operated votive in the holder and lit it up.  I think this came out amazingly well for my first 3D project and makes a lovely winter centerpiece or decoration.

 

The Finished Holder

   

All lit up!

A close up, lit but it's hard to tell

This reminds me of the paper bag luminaries that people would put out on their walkways and such back in the day.  I know people still use them, but I think the old ones were so beautiful!

 

I have 2 other projects to share that used the same Bejeweled Snowflake Accents set – three projects out of ONE set! Be on the look out!

Thanks for stopping by!  Don’t forget to bookmark the Globecraft & Piccolo blog and stop in daily to see more creative ways to use the Globecraft & Piccolo products!  Also, check out our sister company, Sweet Stamps, for some fabulous rubber stamps!

And here is a really good look at what the votive holder would look in the dark - I couldn't resist sharing this picture :)

 If you would like the cutfile I will happily send it to you - just leave a note in the comments section with your email.  The files will be sent to you in .STUDIO form as I don't know how to change files back to .SVG yet.

I would like to enter my Votive Holder into the following challenges:

Brown Sugar Challenge - #78, Embossing

Craftitude - #57, Anything Goes or I See Fluffy

Challenges and Candies - #26, Monochromatic

It's All About The Vintage - #60, Embossing

4 Crafty Chicks - #178, Bling 

Silhouette Challenges - #9, Anything Goes

Thank you for sticking with me on this longer than usual post ~ blessings to you & yours!