Ink it! Stamp it! Design Team Blog Hop: 3D Project - Christmas Table Favours

Welcome to the Ink It! Stamp It! Design Team Blog Hop - we hop every month so be sure to pop back and visit us again!  Today our theme is: 3D Project.  

You are currently at my page - Stephanie Fischer, The Crafty Thinker.  At the end of my post there is a full line of team members, please click on the name after mine in the list to continue the hop.

A couple of trays of angels ready for the Christmas table!

I'll be honest, 3D projects are not generally "my thing" but I do like to make something for the Christmas table every year - so here goes!

A little 3D angel place name holder for my Christmas table

I always like to make something for each table setting that has the place name and a little gift inside.  Last year it was lip salve, this year I've returned to chocolate!

These are the ingredients for the angel: the largest of the scalloped Layering Circles dies, the wings from the Springtime Impressions dies, 1" circle punch, Duet Banner Punch, Fox Builder Punch.

The colours I used are: Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Petal Pink, Smoky Slate and So Saffron.  This is a great way to use up that collection of little leftovers!

Ingredients for the 3D angel place name holder

    

    This angel is waiting to go on top of the little box that I'll fill with chocolate
     - but at the last minute so it doesn't melt in the Christmas heat!

Instructions:

1. For the dress/body Make a cone from the scalloped circle by cutting to the centre, wrapping and gluing.
2. Assemble the head next:
3. Attach one end of the Petal Pink strip to the back of the Petal Pink circle.
4. Attach one of the So Saffron Fox Builder tails to the top of the head at the front.
5. Repeat on the other side.
6. Attach the fringe.
7. Draw on the facial features as desired.
8. Attach the remaining pieces of hair to the back of the head, placing glue only at the top of each piece.
9. Glue the So Saffron circle to the back of the head.
10. Glue the "neck" to the seam in the back of the dress, gently bending the head back to a good angle.
11. Use a bone folder to gently curl back the wings a little.
12. Slip the wings under the centre two pieces of hair at the back of the angel.  Glue the wings to the back of the dress, covering the neck attachment.  
13. Glue a "hand" to the top of the cut edge of one half of a Very Vanilla Duet Banner
    

    

    Glueing the hand between the two sides of the sleeve

    

    The finished arm

    
    
    
     
14. Glue the other half of the banner "sleeve" to sandwich the hand.
15. Glue the sleeve to the dress, gently bending the arm out a bit.
16. Repeat with the other arm.
17. Write the place name on the Smoky Slate banner.  
18. Place a glue dot to the back at bottom centre of the banner .
19. Position the banner in an appropriate position in relation to the angel's hands and gently press to adhere glue dot to the dress.

The derriere of the 3d angel place name holder

This view shows the arm attachment

TIPS:

• If, like me, you're making a lot of these - work in batches (cut everything, assemble all the heads, wrap all the dresses etc)
• When cutting elements from the Fox Builder Punch, use strips of cardstock to save wastage.  EG  When cutting the hair, I used 3/4" wide strips which I fed into the punch from the right.  
• Using strips of cardstock will also help save wastage when using the Duet Banner Punch.
• For perfectionists - consider cutting two "sleeve" banners together (having carefully aligned them).  This way you can be sure that the "sleeve sandwich" will perfectly match when you glue them together with the hand between.

To attach the angel to the little box, I used two little bits of ribbon - one end glued inside the dress and the other to the box.

The angels will be attached to little boxes containing chocolate

I'll have to add the chocolate at the last moment so that it doesn't melt in the summer heat!

Since this post is already so long, I've not included the instructions for the box but am happy to supply it - just comment or email me.

Thank you so much for joining us today and we hope you'll join us again next month! I'm Stephanie Fischer and to keep hopping around see the list below to see who is up next with another great project.

Thanks for visiting

'Til next time

Stephanie

Product List - All available in my online store

Fox Builder Punch

$31.00

Duet Banner Punch

$31.00

1" Circle Punch

$21.00

Layering Circle Framelits Dies

$58.00

Springtime Impressions Thinlits Dies

$50.00

Petal Pink A4 Cardstock

$14.75

So Saffron A4 Card Stock

$14.75

Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock

$17.00

Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate

$14.75

Stampin' Dreams Blog Hop: Theme - Favourite Techniques - Make Your Own Stencil / Mask from dies

Welcome to the monthly Stampin' Dreams Blog Hop.  This month we are sharing our Favourite Techniques.  I love using lots of different techniques so it's hard for me to choose a favourite.  However, at the moment I'd have to say "making my own stencils from my die collection".  I like to make my dies work harder and provide extra value for money!

You are currently visiting Stephanie Fischer (The Crafty Thinker) from Australia.  I hope you enjoy my cards.

A Christmas card featuring baubles made with home made stencils - make your dies work harder!

Although there's quite a lot going on in this Christmas card, my main focus is the decoration on the baubles which I achieved by sponging Shimmer Paint through a home  made stencil.

Using home made stencils and Shimmer Paint to create baubles for Christmas cards

The first step is to cut the stencil from a piece of Window Sheet with the die of your choice.

TIPS:

• You may have to run it through your Big Shot several times to get a clean cut, moving it around on the platform each time.  If you have a Precision Base Plate, you'll want to use it.
• Cut the Window Sheet larger than you need and leave a generous edge all the way around your die.  This will allow you to also use that "negative space" piece for sponging or masking.
• When using the Blizzard Thinlit, keep all the pieces.  The large piece becomes a stencil and all the smaller pieces that you remove become wonderful masks.

I cut some baubles using the Layering Ovals and Layering Circles dies.

I like to place a glue dot under each of the pieces to keep them from moving around.  I first handle them a bit between my fingers to make them a little less tacky.  The stencil that I made with the Blizzard Thinlit was large enough that I could group three of the oval shapes and stencil them together.

Place your stencil over the piece(s) to be decorated and fasten with a little bit of washi tape (or similar) at the top and bottom - being careful not to cover any of the area you wish to decorate.

I then placed some of the Vegas Gold Shimmer Paint onto a palette (I use one of my large acrylic blocks) and sponged over the stencil with gentle pouncing motions.

TIPS:

• It's better to be sparing with the paint and do several layers if necessary.  If there's a lot of paint on the sponge, some is likely to find it's way under the stencil resulting in a less crisp image.
• For a similar reason, pounce the sponge straight up and down to try to avoid getting paint under the stencil.
• Shimmer Paint is water soluble and cleans up very easily.  I prefer to work directly on my cutting mat but you may wish to cover your work area with a sheet of scrap paper, some Stampin' Up Grid Paper or a non-stick craft mat.

Clean your stencil after use (I find all I need is a little water from the tap) and allow it to dry.  I prefer not to dry them with a towel to avoid catching little details and damaging the stencil.  With this little bit of care, you'll be able to use your stencil over and over again for a very long time.

WHY STOP THERE?

So we've used our stencil with the gorgeous Shimmer Paint, but why stop there?!  Use it with any of your favourite ink colours - simply tap the dry sponge onto the ink pad and then over the stencil.

Or, my particular favourite at Christmas time, use some glitter!

A Christmas card made with home made stencils and some super fine glitter

Apply Multipurpose Sheet to the front of the cardstock before cutting your shape.

Preparing to use my home made stencil with glitter

Peel off the protective layer.

Rub a little soap over the back of your stencil (I tend to dampen a small bar of soap with my fingers and then gently rub my soapy fingers over the stencil).  The soap assists with removal of the stencil from the adhesive.

Position the stencil, soap side down, onto the adhesive on the front of your shape.

Tip some super fine glitter on top and press it in with your fingers.

Tap off the excess glitter and burnish by gently rubbing your fingers over the glitter on the project.

Remove the stencil and tap again to remove any remaining excess glitter.

Tip a second colour of glitter onto the shape and press onto the project.  Tap off the excess and repeat the burnishing process.
TIP:
I like to have two sheets of paper, folded in half and then opened up to form a valley in the middle.  One for each colour of glitter.
Once I finish with a glitter, I use the sheet of paper to return the excess glitter to its container.

I hope this card has inspired you and brightened your day.  You are currently visiting Stephanie Fischer.  Please hop through all of the people on the list below to see all of our projects.  You don't want to miss any!

Thank you for visiting.
'Til next time!
Stephanie


Product List - All available in my online store

Under The Mistletoe Designer Series Paper

$19.25

Christmas Traditions Punch Box

$78.00

Detailed Baubles Thinlits Dies

$54.00

Layering Ovals Framelits Dies

$58.00

Blizzard Thinlits Die

$49.00

Vegas Gold Shimmer Paint

$14.00

Gold 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Cord

$10.50

Real Red 3/8" (1 Cm) Mixed Satin Ribbon

$10.50

In The Woods Framelits Dies

$57.00

Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies

$45.25

Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock

$14.75

Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock

$14.75

Card Stock A4 Pear Pizzazz

$14.75

Gold Foil Sheets

$7.00

Beautiful Baubles on Shimmery Basket Weave - A Christmas card

I tried sooo hard to capture the beautiful shine of the Shimmer Paint in this photo but this was the best I could do!

Christmas card featuring Shimmer Paint and home made stencils

I swiped Frost White Shimmer Paint across the Basket Weave embossing with a sponge for the first layer of lovely shimmer.

Having cut the circle and oval I used the stencils I had made and gently sponged with Vegas Gold Shimmer Paint using a soft pouncing motion.  To make the stencils, I cut Window Sheet with the Blizzard Thinlit and one of the Detailed Baubles dies.

Home made Window Sheet stencils and Vegas Gold Shimmer Paint

Thank you for visiting.
'Til next time!
Stephanie

Product List - All available in my online store

Detailed Baubles Thinlits Dies

$54.00

Christmas Traditions Punch Box

$78.00

Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock

$14.75

Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock

$14.75

Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock

$17.00

Basket Weave Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

$16.00

Vegas Gold Shimmer Paint

$14.00

Frost White Shimmer Paint

$14.00

Layering Circle Framelits Dies

$58.00

Layering Ovals Framelits Dies

$58.00

Gold 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Cord

$10.50

Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels

$12.25

Blizzard Thinlits Die

$49.00