Cigar box

 These Patina papers from Craft Consortium are so beautiful; gorgeous colours that flow into the next without patterns or florals. They are reminiscent of cosmic activity and are just made for backgrounds and male cards. The most difficult problem I had was choosing which of the papers to use for this box project. The only dies I used were for the hinges and the magnetic closure. If you want to see all the papers go to www.craftconsortium.com.

I took great trouble to match the paper over the top and chamfered edge so that the paper design flowed seamlesly across the box. It has a magnet closure on the front...

.....and two hinges on the back.

I could have added more patina papers inside but felt the matt black contrasted better with the stunning papers this way. I used 200gsm card for the construction, doubling where needed for extra strength.

I can see myself making lots of projects with these Patina papers. I hope you love them as much as I do.

Happy crafting
Lesley
xx

Craft consortium products used: Patina papers

Credit: Angelina of Intatwyne designs

Double slider gift card holders

With Christmas and lots of family birthday approaching, I have been thinking about cute gift card holders. I wanted to use the made by Elves collection by Craft Consortium.   

I made a double slider gift card holder following a tutorial I found (credit below) and it was really cute. I am always fascinated by the slider mechanism and how magical it looks when you pull open a tag. I thought this would intrigue the older grandchildren and, to be honest, the men in the family! (Don't tell them I put them in the same category as the grandchildren though!)








Prompted by fellow DT member Kate, I decided 

to add not only a sker element but to make it an  

edgeless one. 

I used  6 x6 papers from the fabulous new Midnight Flight 

Collection to show off  the smaller design and include the really pretty sequins from the collection in the shaker.

This was soo easy - just some acetate cut about 1/2" or 1 cm larger than the design paper. I wrapped this loosely around the paper and adhered it with red liner tape, popping in the sequins before closing the last side. Then continued as the previous gift card holder.

Both really gorgeous, if I say so nyself. I hope you give these a go - see the link to the tutorial below and why not try adding an edgeless shaker too.

Remember, it's never too early to prepare for Christms or upcoming birthdays.

Have fun

Lesley

xx

Craft consortium products used:

Made by Elves 6 x 6 papers

Midnight Flight 6 x 6 papers and sequins

Credit: The Paper Pixie for initial tutorial 

Two tents are better than one

Here is a Double Tent card made with the adorable Sandy Paws Collection by Craft Consortium. I fell in love with this collection before I even joined the DT. Who could fail to love these cute animals in a seaside setting? Living so close to the sea myself, this really appealed to me. 

I love easy designs that still have impact and I turn to this style time and time again. I like how it has plenty of room to write personal message inside.It is so quick and easy to make and is very economical on paper when matted and layered in my own favourite patchwork style.

You will need: 

       ·         card blank 5 ¾ x 5 ¾ (14.5cm) or cut one from A4 card (bought as 6” card blank!)
 ·         card blank 4 x 4 or cut one to 4 ¼ x 4 ¼ from card (see notes below)(10cm or 10.5cm)

      ·         topper at least 4” square or diameter (10cm)
·         scraps of design paper and contrasting paper to mat 

This design works well for circular or square toppers but today I have a square topper cut from 12 x 12 sheet of Sandy paws papers. This will fit exactly onto a premade 4” card blank or I could trim it and mat with the same contrasting paper onto a 4 ¼ “, which I decided to do.

To cut aperture:

If you have a square die 3 3/8 or 8.5cm cut this centrally into the card front, or use a scalpel or trimmer leaving a 1 1/8 or 3cm frame outside. Tip- this is exactly the width of my metal ruler. 

Cut strips of contrasting paper for mat layer 1” wide or 2.5 cm. I like a pinwheel effect like patchwork and cut them 4 1/2“ long (approx. 11.2 cm)

Check each side to ensure they fit and trim if necessary, before adhering, especially if you have die-cut the aperture.

    

Mat (and layer) the topper onto smaller card base ensuring it is tent fold. Place this centrally inside main card, lifting and checking all correct before adding glue. I use Collall wet glue here and don’t press down, lifting outer card to check it is straight from inside too. If desired, can add stamps to inside of card too.

Voilà!

Happy Crafting

Lesley xx

Craft Consortium Products used:
Sandy Paws Collection: topper from cut apart sheet 12 x 12 paper pad
backing papers from 6x6 paper pad

Credit: Iced images for original idea

Exploding house memory box

Having received the stunning Made by Elves Collection in my DT package, I immediately thought of a gingerbread house. As I love prserving memories with memory albums, this was my first make with the collection; how fabulous would this be for keeping Chrsitmas memories of children or grandchildren! I added my own special surprise gift in the centre too.

Here is a walk-through of the project. Watch it all theough for the surprise gift and there is a full tutorial below of how to make the surprise.

For instructions on how to make the Jacob's Ladder element in the centre of the house, here is a link to my own tutorial. 

 

Craft Consortium products used in this projects: 
Made by Elves Collection
12 x 12 papers

Credit: Exploding box tutorial by Love for Crafts

Expanding Accordian Card

I’ve been meaning to try this popular style of card and couldn’t think of a better collection to use than the Happy Haunting!

I chose the 4x4 cut apart for the front with the name of the collection and two others for the inside panels. I reversed the matting colours: green for the front to contrast with the pumpkins and orange inside against the green spooky house paper.

I used 1" alphabet dies for the words and centred them across the card. I had to use an exclamation mark as my OCD kicked in because hunting had an even number of letters. for the top row I stamped the ghost, tombstone, zombie owl, spider, pumpkin and todstool. These are so easy to fussy cut and I kept to the original colours of the paperkit.

For the back, I returned to the green matting to match the fron of the card with the striking wordy page. 

One of my pet hates with clever folded cards is that there is sometimes insufficient room to write a personal message. I added a plain white 4" square tile to match the other designs and just scribbled little  webs and hanging spider in the corners to take off the plainness and match the collection. 

The finishing touches were 4 enamel dots in the corners on the front and black organza ribbon under the mats to tie. This was the perfect place for one of the fabulous tombstone charms too. I love how everything you need is included in the collection. 

Happy Haunting everyone!

Lesley x

Craft Consortium Happy Haunting collection products used: 

12 x 12 papers

6x6 papers

Clear stamps

Tombstone charm

Enamel dots 

Credit: There are so many similar styles on social media that I am unable to credit the original designer

Coffin self-closing treat bag

 

This really cute little self-closing treat bag is such a quick and easy make.  It was inspired by Keren Hughes and adapted for the Happy Haunting Collection. It has a wide base and flat top so the folds and clever shape  make the bag close.  

It is made with a 6 x 6 1/2" paper.                                               

• along the long side score down at 3 and 6               
• turn and score 1 and 5 on shorter side
• on back with ruler and scoring tool, join as diagram   
• cut away hatched sections
• gently fold and press on score lines
• glue to make box
• decorate with stamped sentiment
• add sweets

Craft consortium products used:

Happy Haunting 12 x 12 200 gsm papers

Happy Haunting clear stamps

Credit: Tuppence coloured

If the Shoe fits...

In my first bumper DT haul from Craft Consortium, I also received the Happy Haunting Collection. This is another collaboration between CC and Helz Cuppelditch. It actually came out last year but was relaunched in September. My package contained 6x6 and 12 x 12 papers, decoupage pack, puffy stickers (eek - I love these!) , 2 packs of clear stamps, enamel dots to match the paper pads and 2 packs of charms - witch hats and tombstones. 

The characters are again whimsical and I would describe them as spooky rather than scary so little ones should not be upset by them and, having grandchildren myself, I know that is important. Some of the pages have highlighted images in a shiny-coated finish to add a further touch of luxury.

I have to admit that I have never gone in for Hallowe'en in a big way before but these papers and characters are just so cute that my mind was in a mixture of panic and overdrive thinking of how to use them. My first project was inspired by a picture I saw on Pinterest  by binkyblossoms.blogspot.com but it didnt lead anywhere. 

This is how I made mine.First of all, I made a rough drawing of a shoe/boot on copy paper and added the tongue and heel detail. I am used to creating shaped cards from outline dies and went about it the same way only cutting by hand. Once I was happy I traced this twice more and cut parts away to get layers like decoupage for different papers. I cut the scallop edge with kiddy scissors. 

This is where I wished I could still remember how to use my scan n cut machine as this would have made it all so much easier! Note to self - get out machine again and start to use it! 

Having selected the papers from the 12 x 12 pack I cut out the tent fold base card from 300 gsm black card and and prepared the layers. Luckily I had some ghastly green lace that came in a bundle - I never thought I would use it but it was just right here! I ruched some up between the layers for the heel and along the top with red liner tape and finally threaded it  it up the front, adding a bow and some fussy cut tags with a hot-glue gun. 

I was so happy the way this turned out but will definitely be teaching myself how to use my cutting machine again. 

Craft Consortium products used:

Happy Haunting 12 x 12   200gsm papers

Box of Shaker Tags

I can't tell you how excited I was to receive my first DT haul from Craft Consortium. Since then I have just been crafting my litle fingers off as everything was really lovely and it was hard to know where to begin. Very remiss of me not to post anything on here before now as I have now been a DT member for the whole of September and I have lots of catching up to do. 

First of all I fell in love with the Made by Elves Collection; a quality collection using artwork produced under license from Helz Cuppelditch.  It  consists of paper pads (well 200gsm is card really) of 40  6x6 and 12x12 double sided sheets, 3D decoupage pack,washi tape, 4 packs of super quality clear stamps, washi tape in 2 widths, a pack of little elfie spanner charms and also matching enamel dots. 

One of the first projects I made was a little double-sided box holding a collection of shaker tags. The box opens to reveal two pockets, one on each side.  I left lots of room for the tags as they were quite chunky having a shaker element on top.  It is kept closed with a simple lid that I finished with a paper bow. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube for these if you need one.                                                                                                                  I began by hunting through my stash to find small nesting dies for the shaker windows that allowed the images from the 6"  papers to shine. There are pages with 4 cut-aparts of these cute, whimsical characters that are just the right size! They determined the size of the tags and ultimately that of the outer box.  A red ribbon was added to a hole punched in each tag and finished with a loopy bow of red/white bakers twine and a vintage button from my Mum's old button box. She always told me they would be                                                                                     useful!  

I added fine white frames to the tags to edge the windows, then some faux snow along the top of the frames and dotted around the Kraft card to create a snowy background. I fussy cut some tiny sentiments from the wordy pages. These are really useful little additions for projects or just to be used as page in their own right.                                                                                                                                                The box is decorated with papers from the 12 x 12 pad. I love how there are similar designs with a light and dark background to give contrast to a project. All the shapes are easy to fussy-cut too. 

Craft Consortium products used from the Made by Elves collection:

6 x 6     200 gsm paper pad

12 x 12   200 gsm paper pad