Advent tree

Good morning - back to school this week and Mollie is so excited! So am I - I get my days back to get chores done!

Today is my day to showcase a project I have made over on the Riley and Company Blog. When I started making this I didn't realize what a big project it was going to be I have handmade every part of it.

As Christmas is drawing ever nearer I decided to make my advent calendar early 

I started my designing a box using my cameo software and cutting machine and cutting them from kraft card. They started out at 2x2 inch but after working out mats and embellishments I increased then to 2.5 inches meaning the whole thing measures 20.5 inches to top of Santa's hat.

Once I had cut all the boxes I set my cutter back to work cutting the numbers. I then cut 2 mats for each box For the smaller ones I used Riley and Company nesting square dies. I added these and the numbers to the boxes before I assembled them. I formed the shape of a Christmas tree and used red liner tape to adhere all of the boxes together. I stamped and colored enough of the Riley and Company Christmas dress up accessories to decorate each box. These were then die cut using the matching Christmas dress up and Shirt dies. Riley was colored and dressed as Santa and given his place - of course at the top of the tree!

He is holding his box's number of course it has to be THE date!

As it was so tall I chose to photograph it outside rather the confines of my craft room. I know I looked a little odd to photographing Christmas decor in summer so just to give it a bit more of a Christmasy feel I placed it in our fur trees

Now to decide what to fill it with..................

Thank you for stopping by, you can find the stamps I have used over on the Riley and Company store. For more inspiration check out the Riley and Company Blog. Or for more news about what the Moose and his pals are up to head on over to the company Facebook page 

Designer highlights

Good morning who's excited about the pending holidays - I have 2 excited kids who can't wait for Santa Claus to arrive!

Today my makes are being showcased over on the Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps blog. I have made a couple of new designs as well as all my previous makes

First of all is a candle and box I have decorated using the stunning Christmas stamps

And here's how I did it:

I stamped and heat set The Ornate Tree and Snowflake Border images using a metallic silver ink onto white tissue paper. I then carefully cut around the images and laid them on a plain white candle. I wrapped parchment paper around this and heated with my heat gun. This causes the top layer of the candle to melt and the tissue paper sinks into this. once cooled the image looks as though it has been stamped onto the candle. 

I added some crystal gems to the stamped image and some silver gossamer ribbon around the base to balance the design out.

For the box I made a box the same size as the candle from pearlescent white card. I then matted the lid of this with silver card. Using embossing ink I stamped the Ornate Tree onto a white piece of card along with the Celebrate the Season sentiment both from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps. I then added a silver tinsel embossing powder and heat set this. I added some of the same crystal gems to match the candle and then matted this onto the lid of the box.

A stunning gift for someone over the holiday period.

As part of my highlight I also made a very simple Christmas card using the Little Drummer Boy stamp

I stamped the sweet little fellow in the bottom corner of a piece of white card. He was then colored using alcohol markers. I used a fine line pen to add a border to the card and a gold die cut star just finishes off the image. This was then matted onto a snowflake patterned kraft card and gold card as used for the star.

Thanks for stopping by - you can read more about me and my Prickley Pear Rubber Stamp designs over on the blog. Also checkout the Facebook page where the rest of my teamies showcase their work!