Chic gift wrapping with die-cut flowers




Hello!

I have to admit that even if I'm a passionate paper crafter and always give only self-made cards, I'm pretty bad when it comes to gift wrapping. I spend a lot of time in selecting the gift, as matching the gift with the receiver is pretty important to me. But after the gift is either bought or self made I don't pay too much attention on the gift wrapping. Which is actually pretty sad because a beautifully wrapped package immediately tells a message that you consider the receiver important. Which I do!


Easy, chic gift wrap with die-cut flowers #Sizzix #Sizzixplus

Normally I just wrap the gift in paper, tie a ribbon around the package, and either tie a bow or curl the ribbon ends with scissors. Curled ribbon can look very pretty on a package, but if all gifts always look identical, you may want to try something different.

Step-by-step: Easy gift wrap 


I got the idea for a flower decorated gift from the beautiful gift wrap paper I found in Ikea. This colourful paper is from their 'Växtglädje' collection. I was pleasantly surprised about the quality of the paper, as it was heavier than other standard papers I had used. Easy to work with and to wrap around my gift!

For ribbon I used simple white curling ribbon. I cut two pieces, wrapped them around the package and secured the ends with tape. I did not tie a knot as I wanted the base for my flowers to be flat.



Then I die-cut leaves from white cardstock, using this Sizzix/Craft Asylum leaf die. I folded the leaves gently for creating a 3D look.


The flowers are die-cut from pink, white and purple cardstock. For this I used this lovely Sizzix/Craft Asylum die set fom their woodland collection.
I inked the edges of the pink flowers, and curled the flower petals by pressing them with a rounded pen cap against a mouse pad.



The final step was to glue the flowers together and to glue the assembled flowers and the leaves on the gift. For this I could have used any type of paper glue, but knowing that my packages had to be carried in a bag for a little while I decided to use Tacky Glue for ensuring that the flowers would not fall off.

Easy, chic gift wrap with die-cut flowers #Sizzix #Sizzixplus

How easy and quick that was to make! And the receivers loved their flower decorated gifts!

Easy, chic gift wrap with die-cut flowers #Sizzix #Sizzixplus



Supplies used:

Wishing you a blooming day. Thanks for stopping by!
Hugs,
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Scrapbooking layout for Sketchabilities DT: Plain Wonderful

Hi!
This summer has been exceptionally chilly in Finland. I guess they said on the local news that the current temperatures are similar to normal September temperatures. SEPTEMBER! Come on, it's only July, Finland is closed and on vacation, and we're supposed to be enjoying from sunny and warm summer days!
Well, as a paper crafter I haven't suffered from the rainy weathers too much. When the weather has been too wet or cold to go out, I've sat down by my crafting table, pulled out my patterned papers, paints, inks and embellishments and started crafting. I've made scrapbooking layouts, a few cards, coloured with my markers, and sketched and painted on my art journal. I have to say that It's been a while since I've drawn and sketched this much, lol!


I wanted to show you one of the layouts I've made last week. For this I used the new Sketchabilities sketch #143. It really got my creative juices flowing:



Scrapbooking layout for Sketchabilities DT: Plain wonderful

The dark background was first covered with clear gesso which allowed me to use wet media on my project i.e. white acrylic paint as watercolour. Once the paint was dry I added some stamped patterns and turquoise lines with acrylic paint (using the edge if an old credit card as an applicator).

Background paper is from American Crafts / DIY Shop collection.

Details of scrapbooking layout for Sketchabilities DT: Plain wonderful

Grey leaves are cut with Silhouette Cameo...

Details of scrapbooking layout for Sketchabilities DT: Plain wonderful

... and golden title text is from American Crafts Thickers set.

Details of scrapbooking layout for Sketchabilities DT: Plain wonderful

The contrast between dark background and white paint was pretty strong, so I thought the layout did not need too many embellishments nor additional elements. And I have to say that I'm pretty happy with how my page turned out!

I hope my layout got your creative juices flowing! More inspiration is available in Sketchabilities blog; just follow this link to see all the amazing layouts by the Design Team.
For our challenge there are again great prizes to be won: For this challenge our generous sponsor is


Hope you decide to play along; you have until July 28 to enter!

Wishing you a nice day

Hugs,
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Layout for 123 Get Scrappy July challenge: Hello Friend

Hello and Happy Friday,

Bit over two years ago I got happy mail from Melina telling me that I had been accepted to a new challenge design team, 123 Get Scrappy. Playing with the monthly challenge grids has been so much fun, but most of all it has been amazing to get to know Melina and the other lovely girls in the team. Hosting a challenge blog is a lot of work and I can fully support Melina in her decision to close the challenge blog and to allocate more time on her own projects and personal life matters. We'll anyway stay in touch, don't we!

Last 123 Get Scrappy challenge has been revealed, and the design team has made beautiful layouts for your inspiration. Just follow this link to see them all!

Even if this is the last challenge we all wish that there were as many participants as possible taking the challenge! And here's the grid for you:


I chose the diagonal row: The word HELLO - Grey background - Ribbon
And here's my finished layout:



Grey background paper is from SODAlicious collection. I covered the middle area with a a layer of white gesso and added some yellow and brown mists. Even if the background pattern was a bit busy to start with I used a sheet of another triangle patterned paper for bringing more colour onto my project. Using a craft knife I cut out half of the triangles, and glued the triangle grid on the misted background. I think it worked out pretty well!


The photo of my son and the wooden fox is from last week when we visited the Helsinki zoo together. Close to the zoo entrance there's a fox couple made of wood, and my kids just love those statues. We never pass them without making a short stop to say hello! lol!

Wishing you a nice weekend, and hoping to see many entries for our final challenge #24!

Hugs,
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Another card for July Take It Make It challenge: Fifties roses!

Hi!
Craft Stamper 'Take It Make It' July challenge started a week ago, and I'm amazed by the number of gorgeous projects the talented crafters have already made and shared with us: Over 40!

If your stamping and paper crafting inspiration needs a bit of wakening, I suggest you hop over to Craft Stamper blog to see a wonderful new collection of inspirational projects from the Design Team.

My inspiration source was a new stamp set by Altenew I received in mail just on time for this project. I love their products! I had seen wonderful flower cards made with their set, so I had to try them out myself, too! I loved the idea of layering stamped images and creating multi-coloured flowers, and with clear polymer stamps aligning the images shouldn't be too hard. True!

For highlighting the beautiful flowers I left the background simple. This time I decided not to 'white wash' the background with acrylic paint (white washing = dabbing paint on the paper and wiping the excess with baby wipes), but to try something else:

The background patterned paper was quite thin, so I started with brushing a thin layer of clear gesso on the paper. Clear gesso is a wonderful media, as it dries transparent leaving the patterns of the paper to show beautifully, but prepares the paper for different kinds of wet media. I wanted to watercolour my background, but as I did not have white watercolours, I simply diluted white paint with water.  A thin layer of gesso also prevented the paper from buckling.



I loved the Altenew rose stamps! The designs remind me of flower patterns from the fifties, and for that reason I chose a bit retro style patterned paper for the background. Here's my card:


Card with stamped roses in fifties style

Altenew blog is filled with stamping inspiration, just follow this link and get inspired!
And remember to play along with our Craft Stamper challenge; there are amazing prizes to be won! You have time until July 29th, so grab your papers and stamps and get creative!

Wishing you a great weekend,
Hugs,
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Card for Craft Stamper Take It Make It July Challenge: Life is good

Hi!

It's first Friday of the month which means that it's time for a new Craft Stamper Take It Make It challenge! In July the theme is 'Take A Stamp', so anything goes, as long as you have used stamping somewhere on your project. Easy, isn't it!

Our lovely sponsor this month is Art Journey, and one lucky winner will get an amazing prize: Four stamp plates from Art Journey!

My July inspiration card is filled with bright summer colours. For the card center I used two different stamps; a girl stamp by 3rd Eye, and a flower stamp by Stampin'Up. The sentiment text stamp is from a Stampers Anonymous / Tim Holtz collection.



For the white background I used simple white heavy office paper, and started with masking patterns on the paper with texture paste. Once dry I misted some green and yellow colours on the texture paste.


Some days back I had purchased two 6 pen sets of new Chameleon pens. The pens were quite expensive so I did not right away buy a large set with all possible colours. I thought that these 12 would be enough for figuring out if they were better than my current ProMarkers and if I liked them or not.


After a bit of colouring I'm convinced that I do like them a lot, but I'm still not sure if I need more colours. I like the idea that one pen would give me many different tones to the same colour, so that I did not have to purchase several pens for creating great shadings on my colouring projects. Working with the pens looked so amazingly simple on the introduction video!

However I soon realized that like other alcohol marker pens also these ones do require some practicing. It took me a while to get the new pens working well and giving me the different light and dark tones; reading the short instruction booklet that came with the pens would have helped :D

When carrying your pens to a crop or vacation trip it's a great idea that you don't have to pack and carry too many pens with you. But if you are an impatient crafter you might find it too time consuming to have to 'recharge' the light tone over and over again. The light tone will change to a darker one in a matter of seconds, so you will need to stop the colouring and change the colour tone many times. After 'recharging' the light tone you may want to test the colour on a piece of scrap paper, as it's not easy to predict how light the new tone has become. You probably don't want to do this colour testing on your unfinished colouring project!

But if you don't mind the bit slower working process I have to admit that the Chameleon pens are of good quality; the colours mix together nicely and the colours look really nice on various surfaces. The nibs are changeable and colours refillable which make these pens last long. During next weekend I will for sure be doing more colouring and Chameleon testing; stay tuned for more updates! 



Assembling the card did not take long. First I glued down the fussy cut flowers, and attached the girl image in the center with thick 3D stickers. Even if the girl and the flowers are not from same stamp manufacturer I think they go pretty well together!
 

For decorating the flowers I used Stampendous 'Spoonful of Midnight' embossing powder that has glitter elements mixed with embossing enamels. What a great medium!


I suggest you hop over to Craft Stamper blog to see all the gorgeous cards the design team has made. Hope they will inspire you to play along!

Wishing you a sunny weekend!
Hugs,
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12 Tags of 2015: January

Hi!

Few days back I was going through my old blog posts and realized that I had missed sharing with you my January tag in series '12 Tags of 2015'. This may not be the perfect time of the year to share something linked to the cold January month, but my January tag is filled with bright colours and metallic shimmer, so maybe you bear with me :)

In addition to the nice techniques used I liked the idea of creating a collage of meaningful words. Especially in a project that was highlighting the beginning of a new year; when picking up important words and themes I felt like I was both predicting and making a wishlist for the new year. I don't believe in new year's resolutions, so maybe this was my way to remind myself to allocate enough time to things that are important to me.






Tim Holtz suggested on his January tutorial to use patterned tissue paper on the tag background. As I did not have it, I made my own by stamping a collage on white tissue paper. As ink I used black Archival. Worked just as well, I think!


Love all the golden details!


I did not have the suggested supplies for writing the year on the tag, so I die-cut the elements myself: For '20' I used the large 'Worldplay' die, and for 'Fifteen' a Sizzix decorative strip die from a bit older collection. 'Fifteen' is cut from corrugated cardstock, and '20' from chipboard.

Golden shimmer on 'Fifteen' is achieved with rubbing decorative metallic paste ('Goldfinger' by Daler Rowney) on the die-cut letters. This medium is easily applied with fingers, and it gives even porous surfaces a great metallic look. The only downside is that it is not the easiest thing to remove from your fingers. So there I was the next morning in the office with somewhat golden fingertips :D






I really like these tag projects, and will continue making them each month. What about you: Are you hooked by '12 Tags of 2015'?

Hugs,
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Mixed Media Card Challenge July: Friends Forever

Hi!
July is finally here! For me this means the beginning of my month long summer vacation; a time off that I've been waiting for very impatiently. My summer vacation will be filled with days together with my family and some traveling together; not forgetting relaxation, and recharging the batteries for the hectic autumn to come. For sure I'll be doing some crafting, too, as playing with papers, inks and paints is my favourite way to unwind. Let's see what I'll be making! :)

First of July is also the start for a new Mixed Media Card Challenge. This month we have an interesting colour theme for you:


And here's my blue flower card:


I started with inking the background with a few shades of blue and black Distress Inks. As paper I used slightly glossy heavy office paper. 


When the entire area was inked I placed a stencil on the inked paper and misted it gently with water. Then I removed the stencil, let the water drops mix with the ink for a few seconds before pressing the paper with a paper towel.


Love the stencilled pattern!


The flowers are stamped with blue ink (stamp from Stampin'Up set 'Secret Garden') and fussy cut. Leaves and sentiment texts are die-cut using two of my favourite Sizzix/Tim Holtz dies ('Handwritten Love' and 'Spring Greenery'; follow the links for more info)


Before gluing down the leaves I inked the edges with light blue colour. Grey sewing yarn under the flowers adds a bit more texture and interest to the card. As finishing touch I glued white seed beads on the flowers. Done!


I hope you take out your blue paints, papers or inks and play along. Follow this link to see more inspiration by the MMCC design team. Challenge rules and linky tool can be found there, too.

Wishing you a great week!
Hugs,
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