Blue houses made with Artful Dwellings die

Christmas is definitely coming now. Christmas lights have been turned on and Santa is in his grotto in town. I have started making my presents now which are increasingly handmade. I think the older I get the less interested I am in buying more 'stuff' for people or myself. There is so much mass produced nonsense available and things all start to look the same in the shops. A handmade gift is always unique and has much more meaning. You are giving your time, sharing your imagination and creativity. You are sharing your sense of that person as you make something that is just right for them. I think it is time well spent and much more fun than Christmas shopping.

I usually come up with ideas for a few types of  gifts that suit lots of my friends and family. I have started off with an accordion that can be a decoration for Christmas, an elaborate card or an all year decoration.  Once its folded up it is also is very easy to post. This is great for people overseas. Having lived in England Australia and Canada I post a lot at Christmas.

I used the Tim Holtz Artful Dwellings die to cut coloured card stock in a range of blues. Each house shape was cut individually using a piece of card accordion folded so it lay just inside the edge of the cutting blade on both sides. This way the top and bottom cuts through but the two side edges are left intact to produce a connected continuous row of houses. Once I had lots of the four different shapes cut out I had a stamping feast. Using lots of blue inks including, Versamark Momento, regular Distress, Archival and  Powder Puffs chalk ink.

The edges are all distress inked to finish off. I think I might add some treasure gold or silver to some of them to make them more festive. I didn't want them to be Christmas themed as it seems a shame to have to put them away most of the year, I think the blues give them a wintery feel.

The rows are all the same shape but I overlapped them and glues different shapes together to produce a few sets that were longer and mixed up the house shapes. 

I really enjoyed making these and it gave me a chance to use lots of lovely stamps that have been neglected, I think I will do some more Christmas coloured sets next and use lots of my Christmas stamp sets. My non crafting friends often complain about the Christmas preparation and think I begin  very early but I think anyone who enjoys crafting knows it is a joy to have such a wealth of reasons to spend more time at my desk. Hope you are getting lots of time at yours too.

I'm linking up with:

Happy Little Stampers  November  anything Goes With a Die Challenge. This challenge always gives me a great prompt to get out my old dies.
and Frilly and Funkie whose latest challenge is "Tis the season for gift giving."

Fairytale Christening Album

I have not been very organised with my posting lately but I have been making lots of albums and gifts and this week is a bit of a catch up on the blog.

A friend asked me to make an album as a gift for the christening her daughter’s new baby. We talked all about her daughter’s favourite animals and interests and colours. I have had fun weaving in lots of the elements from our conversation. It was challenging to mix the strong blue with the soft turquoise, lavender and mint. I hope it worked and the new mother will eventually enjoy telling her little girl about the things she loved when she was a girl.

The album uses the vivid blue for all the pages and then a range of other paper from my stash. The album is covered with 'Deer Forest' paper from Websters Pages, 'Royal Christmas' collection. It seemed very fairytale like and I have used it throughout the album.

I think this blue star scattered paper is perfect for any magical or childhood project. Its 'Jolly Jack-O-Lantern' from the Graphic 45 'Happy Haunting' Collection I also used a star punch to make the cream cardstock fit the design. I printed out lots of images from my own collection of  illustrations. I have always collected magical children's books with illustrations that I think are beautiful.

This envelope/pocket is decorated with polar bears which was one of the things my friend said her daughter loved.













The colours she requested were lavender, mint green, turquoise, strong blue and green. Quite a lot of colours to get to work together! These pages use some of Prima's 'Meeting a Fairy paper' from the Nature Garden Collection. I loved this paper when it came out so I bough plenty the delicate colours  fit the magical feel of the album and it works well with lots of the colours in the album.

Another request was for unicorns. There is something about unicorns that seems to appeal to most small girls. This is an illustration from a book my own daughter loved as a child,* with all those turquoise and greens it blends in beautifully. Other illustrations are fairytales and a musical maiden to reference the mother's musical talents.

Penguins and butterflies were another request. These pages use a piece of paper from DCWV Mariposa I have had this small piece of paper for years but it was so pretty with a slight sparkle to it I wanted to save it for a special project. I think the little pointy hats give this page a fun feel.

This page has a sweet vintage penguin illustration on a flip tag I used more stash paper. This colour is 'Island Mist Vintage.' Its Bo Bunny Double Dot, I love this paper and bought a lifetime supply of it in almost every colour it is so good for vintage projects and great for album pages. The paper for the main page is by Basic Grey and matched it perfectly.

I though these pages might be dull as they had no patterned paper but I really enjoyed adding touches of pattern and they are now some of my favourite.

I love this jolly moon and the little book with little pocket and belly band. Gnomes were also requested as they are part of the Norwegian culture where this new baby and family lives. I have put in lots of gnomes throughout mostly as tuck spots.

More pages using the cover paper and lots of Grimm's fairy tale images. One forms a pocket and the other a little booklet.

The album has lots of different pockets, envelopes, tuck spots and bands to hold journaling and photographs. I asked for some family photos of all the female line and scanned them to use on some of the tags and mats. Once the new baby pictures fill this album it will have images of four generations of the women from this family. I love the way albums connect families together through time.

The album ends with more twinkle twinkle stars and another jolly moon, a flip pocket page, a little gnome tuck spot and penguin booklet.











I am linking this post up with Mini Albums Monthly as its a long time since I joined in with these lovely ladies.
Also with A Vintage Journey who are inspiring all of us to use our paper stash.

*The Book "Unicorns Unicorns" is by Geraldine McCaughrean. Its a beautifully illustrated book that tells a magical tale about why the Unicorns did not make it onto the Ark.