Easy advent calendar & a little freebie

It's still much too warm in Germany, but Christmas time is approaching quickly. This year, I want to give selfmade advent calendars filled with stories, recipes, and poems to some very special people. The basis for each calendar is a simple 12x12 sheet of scrapbooking paper glued to a 12x12 piece of sturdy cardboard.

Step 1: The numbers
You can either stamp the numbers like I did into the circles of this beautiful paper...


...or you can glue them on. I used a 3/4 inch circle punch to create numbers in matching colors. If you like, you can download my numbers-in-circles design, just print and punch (3 color schemes on one sheet). Click here to download



Step 2: The holes
Beneath the numbers, I used my crop-a-dile to punch small holes through the calendar. If you don't have a crop-a-dile, you can use an eyelet tool or a hole punch out of daddy's toolbox. Punch two extra holes in the upper left and right corner, so the calendar can be hung to the wall.



Step 3: The gifts
That was a load of work... I chose 24 short stories, poems, recipes etc. and printed them on high quality paper. I folded and/or rolled the sheets, tied them to a pretty ribbon and threaded the ribbons through the calendars' holes. A square knot on the back - that's it. I used a small IKEA Allen wrench to push the ribbons through the holes. If you give the calendar to a couple, you can use two different ribbon colors for them to take turns in opening the gifts.


Step 4: Embellishments
You can embellish your calendar(s) as you wish. The only embellishments I used was a little snowflake mirror which I tinted with Adirondack inks to match the paper's colors:


Step: Be happy and present someone with your beautiful creation!





I hope you like this tutorial. If you do, please stop by at www.anke-art.de and leave a comment. Thanks!

Christmas Tree Made Out Of Circles

A supposed to be easy tree made out of circle punches. You know when you just have one of those really bad video days? This was mine! I hope you enjoy it.  There's another video tutorial below this one that is a wreath made out of die cuts and punches too.

Visit my blog for more fun too!

Simple Christmas Wreath

It's that time of year!  Christmas is almost here.
Here's a simple wreath to use on cards or scrapbooks.  Enjoy!

And don't forget to visit my blog for more fun!

Christmas Ornaments from CDs

Some ladies were asking how I made the CD Ornament in one of my blog posts, so I decided to make a tutorial to share with all of you.
You will need:
~an old CD
~patterned paper
~sandpaper or file
~glue
~ribbon
~materials to decorate the CD

1.Using the CD as a template, cut out 2 circles with the patterned paper.

2. Sand over the top of the CD so that the patterned paper will stick to it better. Glue on one piece of the patterned paper to the CD.

3.Cut some ribbon into 2 inch strips. Now comes the bit of a tedious part. You will need to do a few pieces of ribbon at a time and glue them to the CD.

4. Put a dab of glue on the end of a pice of ribbon.
5. Fold the piece over and glue together.They will look like this.6. My other scrapbook supplies helped me out! What darlings! I made a few at a time and put the pieces under something for the glue to set a bit. If you use a hot glue gun, then the process will go faster :O)

7. Then put a line of glue on a section of the BACK of the CD and start gluing the pieces down. It will look like this on the FRONT of the CD.And here's my trusty stapler sitting on a few that were glued down to help them set and stay put!!
This is what it will look like on the BACK when all the pieces are glued down. If you get to the end and there's not quite enough for another piece of ribbon, either move some around a little to make it fit OR move them apart to fill in the gap. Depends on the amount of space you have left.
And here's the front.
8. Cut another strip of ribbon and loop it and stick it down as well. Then take the 2nd circle you cut and glue it down to the back of the CD.

I received the cute digital image from Ildo Co. - SNOPALS ! I'm guest design team member there this month. Isn't it adorable! I think this image would be great as an "Our 1st Christmas Together". That could be written on the back of the ornament on a tag, maybe.

Deanne

Shadow Box from Packing Material Video Tutorial

Thank you
Jana

Nestabilities Chrysanthemum

I have made a tutorial for you it is a chrysanthemum made from circle Nestabilities.

On to the Tutorial

Click on the Video and turn on the sound on your computer, I hope you understand my posh North East accent

If you have problems watching here I have also uploaded this to You Tube

Click Here for You Tube viewing

for a close up view of the finished card see here

Dimensional Paper Piecing / Paper Tole

Kim, from Paper Babe, was thrilled to share with us her tutorial on making a dimensional paper piecing or paper tole.

Here's how it is done:

I start by stamping Ian on patterned paper, then two times onto plain stamping card stock (you will need to stamp an extra hand on a little scrap paper). Then the top half of Ian twice onto patterned paper. Now it's time to colour... the parts of Ian that will be seen and not covered by patterned paper I have coloured with my Copics. I have then very roughly coloured the edges for the parts of Ian that will be covered with patterned papers. In the picture I have tried to show the layers from left to right and how each layer will have a different element either coloured, paper pieced or cut away.

Now I apply dimensional adhesive foam to the back of each piece, I use a 1mm foam tape so the finished piece won't be too high and dense. On the hoody top I have applied a little glue to the shoulders to give a greater dimension to the waist.

So time for the fun part of applying each piece in place to create a completed dimensional Ian. If you have more time you could curve the paper pieces a little to add further dimension.

Also wanted to add that as I used Memento die ink on the patterned papers I can go in with my Copics to shade in the darker areas like under his chin and arms and hood.



For more on Kim's work, you can visit her blog by clicking -->here<--.

Making Paper Flowers

Hi everyone,

Here's a nice and pretty tutorial from Conni... she's a paper crafter from Switzerland and does some amazing cards, among other things ;-) So make sure to visit her -->blog<-- for more inspiration!

Now, for her tutorial: Flowers Adorn...

First, I stamp a few flowers (eg Stampendous / Q131 Ruffled Blcom)

on thicker paper (it comes with already augestanzten flowers)

then treated with a stamped VersaMark

then sprinkle embossing powder

then heat emboss (I have no Hot Gun, so I used a toaster tuts)

It should look something like this:

Now, with a flower punch

Punch!

Then distress the edges

Using a mat and a stylus, turn the flower backside and press

Ready!