Christmas Krafting!!

I know what your all thinking, "C'mon Pete, get your spell check sorted!" 

Actually, the spelling of 'Krafting' is deliberate as I am using kraft card pretty much exclusively to create these projects. Incidentally, where does the kraft in kraft card come from? someone was asking in the office the other day and I had no idea! (answers on a post card as they say)

As you are reading this I will be at the NEC in Birmingham teaching mini workshops at the Hobbycrafts show and I hope to see some of you there.

For the following projects I will be using dies from the Tim Holtz Alterations Christmas range, Follow the links below to view the products:

• Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 17PK - Holiday Words: Block
• Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 5PK - Paper Snowflakes
• Sizzix Bigz Die w/Texture Fades - Layered Snowflake

I also used plenty of kraft card and gesso!

I took a 9 x 9 cm square of kraft card and used two of the dies from the Holiday Words Framelits set to die-cut the legend 'Christmas Wishes'. Next, I die-cut a medium and a small snowflake (paper snowflakes set) from kraft card. I took a small blob of white acrylic gesso and spread it onto my crafting mat using a brayer. The trick is not to use too much gesso, as always, you can always add more. I then used my brayer to apply the gesso to the snowflakes after which there isn't much left on the roller which is a good time to apply some to my die-cut square in a random fashion.

I next die-cut a large snowflake from the same Thinlits set and inked the edges using Walnut Stain Distress Ink. This is a very strong colour so gently does it! At the same time I inked the tips of the other snowflakes and the edges of the square. I used adhesive foam pads to layer the snowflakes and attached a threaded wooden button to the centre which I lightly distressed by adding a little gesso with my fingertips.

After mounting the layered snowflakes onto the square I attached it to the centre of a 10 x 10 cm ivory base card. This is my favourite kind of card, maximum impact for minimum effort!

I enjoyed making this card so much that I created created another similar card so it wouldn't feel lonely. I die-cut the words around the edge of a 12 x 12 cm square of kraft card before die-cutting and embossing the layered snowflake (the embossing folder comes with the die).

 Next I applied the gesso and Distress Ink before attaching a wooden button threaded with twine which I twisted into a loop before adding a touch of gesso and attaching to the centre of the snowflake with a glue gun.

I cut a 7cm square of hessian (Burlap) and applied a little gesso and ink  before mounting everything onto a 13 x 13cm kraft base card.

I think they make a lovely couple, I hope you agree?

I wanted to have a bit more fun with the kraft card/gesso combination so I decided to create a couple more projects...... tune in next week for part 2!