Santa Ornament and Santa Cards

Santa Dome Ornament

           Hi friends happy to share some Santa themed projects as my DT project for Maureen's Rudolph Days Challenge where the theme is always "Anything Christmas".
I  just got back from a whirlwind trip to Florida , USA and am still somewhat jet lagged but had fun making this adorable Santa Ornament .

Santa Dome Ornament

The ornament was made using a clear dome, tiny Styrofoam[thermocol] "snowballs" , Marianne Santa and Poppy Stamps Fluffy Snow tree dies !!It was tricky to capture Santa's cuteness through the glass but you can see him better in this Pop Up Card below!

Santa Pop Up Card 

I created a wintry snowy scene with Origami Christmas trees[ Tutorial : Easy Paper tree Tutorial ] in front of a woodland cottage[made with Dee's Distinctively Small Winter Cottage die] and an adorable Santa!

Foam Santa Card

This card is my favorite as it features a few of my favorite Christmas items...fluffy snow-laden trees, Christmas presents, glittering colorful lights and of course Santa Claus!

Dont forget to participate in the Rudolph Days Challenge with a Christmas project before the 31st...Maureen always has some fabulous prizes !

Supplies : Dies :Poppy Stamps Small Fluffy Snow Tree, Dienamics [MFT] Stitched Circle Scallop Frame,Marianne Designs Eline's Santa COL1391,Marianne Presents,Cheery Lynn Christmas Light Swag,Winnie and Walter  Essentials Audrey Cutaways 

Linking to
Pixie's Snippets Playground - used snippets of card and glitter foam to create the trees,  Santa , the lights,the cottage and the present.
Scrappyland
Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge, Creative Fingers Challenge 

Giant Paper Christmas Tree

Giant Christmas Tree

       Hi friends I have been playing truant from blogland and do forgive me! My daughter who is in 5th grade  was asked by her class teacher to bring a paper christmas tree to decorate the bulletin board in her class!

Origami Christmas Tree

       We tried drawing a giant tree off hand but it wasn't so easy and after several unsuccessful attempts, we decided to make an Origami tree...a giant version of the ones I have shared here in this Paper Tree Tutorial 

DIY Christmas Tree

 We used large squares of chart paper to make our Giant Christmas tree . In fact making a giant tree was easier than the smaller version!! My kiddo  decorated it with die cut glitter foam ornaments, snowflakes and deers. And added quite a few glitter foam stars too. The tiny balls are thermocol balls and the lacy border was made using doilies!

DIY Christmas Crafts

My daughter literally spent a whole evening making her tree and she was soooo proud of it! It was a big big hit in her class and I even got a card from her class thanking me for helping them decorate their class!
Supplies : Dies :  Spellbinders 2012 Snowflake Pendant , Spellbinders 2012 Holiday tree ,Sizzix Stars Framelits ,Sizzix Card front Winter
Linking to
Edited : This project was featured by Di at her Pixie's Snippets Playground

Origami Box

Paper Flower Tutorial

          Hi friends....I have always been fascinated by origami but never been very good at it! I can't even make a "flyable"  paper aeroplane ....so making this Origami Box was an achievement of sorts for me!! Hehe!

Paper Flower Tutorial

        You may have seen this type of box in blogland and it goes by different names including " Star Box".There are several tutorials out there with crazy origami symbols [which always look like hieroglyphics to me!]  but here is the tutorial by Christina which is nice and easy to follow: Origami Box tutorial.

Paper Flower Tutorial

          I experimented making a new flower using some Spellbinders dies and I think I can safely call it a Peony...what do you think friends..?
All the sparkle is "Diamond Dust" which I dusted generously on the flowers and the leaves . The silver leaves are foam leaves cut using Marianne dies and the green leaves were made with a WRMK Flower Punch Board and here is the tutorial : Easy Flower and Leaf Making Tutorial

Sospeso Trasparente 

        The little flowers peeking from under my huge Peony are Sospeso Trasparente flowers [ Details and tutorial here : Sospeso Trasparente tutorial ]

Clay Embellishment

        Since my box was made of pattern paper alone I needed some lightweight embellishments....all the silver embellishments you see on the sides and corners of my box look like they are made of metal but were made using lightweight air drying clay!

Origami Star Box

        Crafty Tip : Shallow molds like the  Martha Stewart molds pictured below are best to create clay embellishments for paper crafting as they are just the right depth...not too shallow or too deep.

For making resin embellishment for jewelry making or for a bigger project... like the dolphin and sea horse in my Ocean themed Box deeper molds are preferred as you can avoid the liquid resin overflowing from the mold

Clay Embellishments

Embellishments made with cheap air drying clay don't look very glamorous and some colors are downright "difficult to find the right project for" type if you know what I mean!

Liquid Leaf 

But since I had this gorgeous Liquid Leaf paint with me , I could create faux metallic charms!Here is the link to my DT post for Crafters Corner on Liquid Leaf 

Clay Embellishment

Unlike some type of paints Liquid Leaf is thin and nicely flowing so the intricate detailing of the clay embellishments remained nicely visible!

Clay Embellishment

        I  am on my way to make my 2nd origami box and sharing its picture below so that you can see how it looks like before its dressed up with pearls and what not.....yes you are seeing pearls galore in my projects these days as it's so much easier to use tiny embellishments ever since I got the Crystal Katana !

Origami Star Box

        I made the lid of my origami box quite sturdy by sandwiching a layer of foam between pattern paper and card stock.....I love using foam elements in paper crafts as foam is such a lightweight yet sturdy material...not to mention quite steadfast to glue on with the hot glue.

Origami Star Box

 And that's the lid removed to reveal the beautiful Lemon Crafts pattern paper visible on the inside of the box too.

Origami Star Box

          If you are a hoarder like me and keep waiting for a perfect project to use pretty pattern paper...then this just might be the project to showcase the prettiest double sided paper in your stash!

Paper Peony Origami Box

I hope you liked my  attempts at Origami....and yes I do have a tutorial for my "Paper Peony flower"...will post  it soon!
Supplies

Punches : Flower Punch Board, Martha Stewart Beaded ruffle border Punch

Special Tool : Crystal Katana 

Special Products : Liquid Leaf , Diamond Dust, Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint

Pattern Paper : Lemon Craft

Clay Mould : Martha Stewart

Dies : Spellbinders Nestabilities Blossom Five,Couture Creations Scallop Square, Marianne Designs Anja Leaf 3 , Marianne Designs Anja Leaf 1

Reindeer Pop Up Card

Pop Up Card 

          Hi friends I hope you are not bored seeing my Pop Up Cards! I do love making them! This one is rather simple and features 2 origami Christmas trees on either side of a golden gate.

Origami Tree

Beyond the gate is a reindeer leaping over the horizon!

Pop Up Card 

This is the plastic stencil I used to create my deer. I used the same stencil in these cards too : Glitter Stencil Card tutorial  and Stencilled Tag

Stencil 

           On the floor is a shape I cut from a stamped design made using  a Hero Arts Music script and a foam tree stamp. [The same stamped background was used in this card : Festive Stamping]

Stamped tree

And that is the side view with the trees popping up from the background and the tiny pink rhinestones glittering on the glittery  foam snowflakes and trees

Add caption

Supplies : Dies :  Memory Box Frostyville border  ,Elizabeth Craft Designs Happy New Year, Spellbinders Majestic Labels 25, Spellbinders Guilded Gate
Stamps : Hero Arts Music background , Itsy Bitsy foam tree stamp
Stencil : Christmas Stencils unbranded from local craft shop Devi and Co, Bangalore
Linking to  

1. Chouxchoux Paper Art Challenge

Pop Up Christmas Tree Card

Pop Up Christmas Tree Card

           I love making Christmas Cards and Pop up cards so this festive season I am thoroughly enjoying myself making Pop Up Christmas Cards!

Pop Up Christmas Tree Card

           The Origami Christmas tree is something which is ideal to add within a pop up card as it is dimensional yet folds flat! I dressed this one up with some red rhinestones!Here is the tutorial to make an origami dimensional tree : Paper tree tutorial 

Pop Up Christmas Card

          The tiny snowflakes dotted all over my dark blue sky are negatives of my Memory Box Frostyville border  glitter foam die cuts I have used on the top and lower borders of my Pop Up Card .

Pop Up Christmas Card

And that is the side-view showing how the different elements pop up at different levels

Origami Christmas Tree Card

         Generally speaking the cover of a pop up card should be simple so that there is a nice surprise on opening the card!! So the front of my Pop Up Card is super simple with just a cutie Santa and a Christmas tree and of course with a sprinkling of glittery elements[ golden foam star and red glitter paper strip border]

Pop Up Christmas Tree Card

I hope my Pop Up Card made you smile !

Supplies : Dies : Memory Box Frostyville border , Sizzix Hero Arts Ornament 3 

Stamps : Sentiment stamp from Sizzix Hero Arts Ornament 3 

Punches : Itsy Bitsy Star Foam Punch

Origami Christmas Tree Tag

Origami Christmas Tree

      Hi friends. I am on a tag making spree! This one features an easy to make origami Christmas tree [ here is the tutorial : Easy Paper Tree tutorial ] dressed up with multicolored glitter foam lights!

Glittery Snowflakes

My red flowers and golden  seeds are inspired by the gorgeous red flower and pinecones in Linda's Christmas tag. I toned down the bright colors by smearing whipped spackle on my flowers and on the golden frame and yes it also features a sparkling snowflake border!

Origami Christmas Tree

My colorfully decorated tree was inspired by Daniella Dobson's tag shared on Day 4 of 25 tags of Christmas

Supplies : Dies : Memory Box Frostyville border   , Cheery Lynn Christmas Light Swag , Cheery Lynn Flourish Leaf strip ,  Spellbinders  Majestic Labels 25

Linking to 

1. Happy Little Stamper Christmas Challenge 

Easy Fancy Fold Card Tutorial

Fancy Fold Card

Hi friends as the year end approaches I seem to be engulfed in a whirl wind of activities juggling family commitments and the professional front! Writing blog posts seems to calm me down and I am so thankful for all the loving comments you leave on my blog though I have been so erratic in returning blog visits!

Fancy Fold Card

Sharing a simple fancy fold card featuring some adorable Christmas puppies [ a free 3 D decoupage image whose link I have lost  - if you know the source please add a comment]

Fancy Fold Card

I love this particular card fold design as its so easy to make but different from the usual simple card folds.The inside panel features my favorite origami Christmas tree with the Cheery Lynn  light swags!Here is the link to the Paper tree tutorial : Easy Paper tree tutorial

Origami Christmas tree

How to make an easy fancy fold card

Actually this is a super simple tutorial for beginner card makers so my experienced friends please do bear with me!

Fancy Fold Card Tutorial 

Take an A4 or other sized rectangle piece of card

Fancy Fold Card Tutorial 

Fold it in half and crease the fold line well with a bone folder/ blunt knife or your fingernails!

Fancy Fold Card Tutorial 

Take the front half of the card and fold it towards the left as shown to reach your original fold line.

Fancy Fold Card Tutorial 

You don't have to measure - that's the best part of this card design! Crease the fold well with the bone folder / blunt knife/ finger nails!

Fancy Fold Card Tutorial 

You have a self standing " Z fold" card ready to decorate.

Fancy Fold Card

This type of card design is awesome to use when you want to highlight an image.I added my 3 D decoupage puppies on a contrasting colored square , adorned with golden heat embossed Marianne Petra dies [you can see more of the Marianne Petra die set here: 3 D chariot tutorial , 3 D lantern, 3 D Gazebo tutorial ]

Fancy Fold Card

The card has a rectangular strip which can be decorated too. I used the Poppy stamps swirly curve border to die cut the design from silver glitter foam and added a swirl design from Spellbinders Lace hearts and the Cheery Lynn  Christmas light swag bulb

Origami Christmas tree

Supplies : Dies : Cheery Lynn  Christmas light swag, Memory Box Happy New Year, Spellbinders Lace heart, Poppy Stamps Swirly Curl border, Poppy Stamps Meso background [ have used the negative of this on the card front], Marianne Petra die

Punch: Star foam punch