Christmas Krafting (Part 2)

I'm back with part two of my kraft card/Sizzix Extravaganza. If you remember, I created two cards last week to add to my display at the Hobbycrafts show in Birmingham. In truth, I started with one card and another one quickly followed at which point I was having so much fun..... you know the story!!

To complete my little vignette I decided to design a couple of Christmas packaging ideas using dies from the new Tim Holtz Christmas range.

Here is a list of the dies that I used, all of which are designed by Tim, and you can see each set by clicking on the links.

• Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 4PK - Holiday Greens
• Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 17PK - Holiday Words: Block
• Sizzix Bigz Die - Jumbo Tattered Pinecone
• Sizzix Bigz L Die - Stacked Snowflakes
• Sizzix Movers & Shapers L Die - Pillow Box w/Labels
• Sizzix Framelits die Set 8PK - Tag Collection

I started by die-cutting a pillow box from craft card before using one of the Holiday Words dies to create the aperture cut. I applied a little acrylic gesso to my craft sheet before spreading with my brayer, it's important not to have too much gesso on the roller when you apply it to the gift box as we are looking for a random effect rather than a total white-out! Before assembling the boxI attached a rectangle of clear acetate film to the inside of the box behind the aperture word. At this point you can insert your gift (diamonds are always a safe bet in my experience!)

It's time to create our pine cone. I die- cut the pine cone together with some Christmas foliage from kraft card. the pine cone starts off as a spiral of card and the first thing I wanted to do was apply the gesso as above. I used a scrap piece of card as a mask and once complete I applied a little Walnut Stain Distress Ink to the edges. As I said last week, Walnut Stain is a very dark dye so be very careful!!

The next task is to flip the pine cone over and grip the edge between a pair of straight tweezers. Start to roll the tweezers towards the centre until you have gathered up all the separate 'petals' and secure with a glue gun 

Apply a little gesso to the foliage and ink the tips. Once they are dry you can gently curl the edges to add a little more dimension. Cut a strip of hessian/burlap and wrap it around the pillow box secured with a length of knotted raffia.
Use a glue gun to attach the foliage followed by the pine cone. For the finishing touches, add a couple of frosted berries and a raffia bow. The berries can be found in many good craft shops or garden centres this time of year. 

The end result is so effective and those berries set it off perfectly.

I wanted to add just one more thing to give a little visual balance once all the projects were placed together. The box I used has a 7.5 cm square base and is 15 cm tall. I started by wrapping it in parcel paper before adding a band of hessian followed by a length of knotted raffia. Next, I die-cut a small tag and aperture cut the word believe before following up with a little gesso.

I Die-cut three of the four snowflakes from the magnificent Stacked Snowflakes die before applying a little gesso and Walnut Stain ink to the tips of each die-cut. I layered the snowflakes together using adhesive foam pads before adding a sparky crystal to the centre.

I attached the tag with a length of raffia before adding the assembled snowflake with a glue gun.... Simple!!!

Here is the gang all together at last, I think I may use this style/theme for my own Christmas cards/gifts this year because it is a quick and easy style but is also very effective.

I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to everyone who stopped by the Sizzix workshop area at the Hobbycrafts show in Birmingham last week. The classes were very well attended and we had lots of fun getting messy using inks and gesso to bring the wonderful die-cuts and embossing folders to life. Everyone did a great job and even though  it was four days hard work it never seemed like a chore, I can't wait for the next one! In total, and including my own we made 297 cards and I'm sure I can say without fear of contradiction that they all turned out fabulous!

Below is a picture of me back at Sizzix Central with some of the 27 cards which I made.