Card dare #7

When I read the subject of the new Cardmakers Dare on Friday, I knew exactly what stamp to use. The theme for this week was to use a part of a Christmas song. My "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" stamp fit that perfectly.


Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to do my card until today. It's not so complicated really. Red cardstock as the base. The stamp used to form a "square" on the white card. Some Basic Grey patterned paper in the middle and some decorated Christmas trees made with a Rusty Pickle stamp.

I haven't even started my Christmas journal for today yet. Makes me feel rather guilty and stressed really... I'm not sure why. Normally I would have it done by this time. I guess I don't feel in a creative mood at all. I mean, I know what photos I could use...I know roughly what journaling I could do. I guess I just can't come up with a nice idea to put it on paper. If anyone has seen any creativity around, could you please add it in the comments? Thanks LOL!

Have been feeling rather excited as we have planned to go to a Christmas market tonight. However I'm not sure the weather is on our side. Since yesterday afternoon the rain has pretty much poured down all night and day, not to mention the wind. It was looking a bit nicer at lunchtime today, but now it's gone all horribly grey and dark again with a fine drizzle of rain. Hoping we don't have to cancel out plans, but it's not looking good...

How I want my Christmas to be...

Today's page for my Christmas journal was all about how you want your ideal Christmas to be. I'm very lucky as my Christmas is already how I want it to be and I can't think of anything I want to change, so that's what I have journalled about.


And a close-up of the journaling so you can (hopefully!) read it too.


Now I think I might have some explaining to do. "Donald Duck on Christmas???" you're all thinking, right? LOL! Okay let me explain something about a typical Swedish Christmas. First of all, the day you celebrate on, give/receive gifts, eat your special Christmas food etc is on Christmas Eve (24th of December). 25th of December (Christmas Day) is no more special that the 26th (Boxing Day) is in any other country.

Now onto Donald Duck (!!) and what that's all about. LOL! I'm not sure how to explain this for you to understand how HUGE this is, how many people watch this and how important it is to so many people. But anyway, every year since 1959 (!) we have an hour of "Donald Duck and his friends wishes you a Merry Christmas". 15:00 in the afternoon of Christmas Eve. EVERYONE watches this, it IS part of Christmas. This program is almost always in the top 3 programmes watched over the whole year, every year, in Sweden. Most of the program is the same every year (short cartoons with Santa, Mickey, Donald, etc).

So yes you know it by heart (think about my poor parents who have seen EVERY episode - ever!!)...and some people prefer to "watch" it by having a nice little sleep on the sofa. A few years ago the contract for the program had run out and Swedish TV was not going to renew it. This caused such a MASSIVE uproar with the Swedish public that they were forced to keep showing it. So there you have the explaination of Donald Duck and now you know what millions of Swedes do at 15:00 on Dec 24th...every year LOL!

More journaling...

I'm really enjoying making my Christmas journal. I wanted to share page 2 with you yesterday, but Blogger wasn't playing nice so I couldn't.


The second day was all about the winter weather. I'm very torn when it comes to snow. Because I love it when it's snowing and I love nice sunny winter days with pretty white snow on the ground. But at the same time I hate the wet and dirty snow, the slippery ice and the dangerous driving conditions.


I have tried to take a close-up photo so you should be able to read my journaling on the page too. Not sure how well that worked or not. Would be great if someone could post a comment and let me know how well (or not!) you could read it. Thanks!


Spent this morning making my 3rd page in my book. This time it was about Christmas cards. We finished ours a few weeks ago so this was a nice and easy subject. I included a photo of our finished cards and also one of Ross helping me making them. It was so cosy to make them together and I'm so glad I persuaded him to join me.


The photo is not attached on the right side. So under it is a pocket where I have tucked in a sheet which lists the people we're sending cards to this year.

I spent some of the afternoon making some cards for a Design Team which I have been asked to be the guest DT member for. Only got a few days left and then I can tell you all about it. At the moment I think it's at least half secret, so I better not, just in case...

And I'm back...

...not sure what's been wrong with Blogger all afternoon and evening. But now I have finally got it working again! So...to the news that I couldn't share with you yesterday... I had been asked to be a special guest for this week's Speshal Dares. So exciting!!

The theme for this week was "A day in the life of...". Worked on my LO yesterday and decided straight away that I didn't want to go for the obvious thing (=a person). Instead I went for ----> "A day in the life of my desk"!!

I used black cardstock. Lots of small bits of patterned paper down the side.The title is printed onto a transparency which has then been painted with acrylic paint on the back. The rest of the journaling has been printed onto different coloured strips.

This afternoon I did my second page for my Christmas journal. All about the winter weather this time. Far too dark this late to take a photo, but I'll see what I can manage tomorrow...

Sorry...

...wanted to do an update this afternoon, but Blogger is being silly and won't let me upload photos or anything. Will post again as soon as it's back to normal.

And the journal is started...

...so excited to find the first prompt waiting for me when I got up this morning! Spent the morning cutting pages to size to fit my Christmas journal and also stamping loads of little date images and cutting them out. So now I'm all ready and prepared. :)

Then I went to do my first page for my journal. Kind of like an intro page. I'm not quite sure why I'm bothering putting a photo of it here, because it really looks rather horrible on the photo compared to in real life. LOL! I have used Basic Grey Blitzen (which I will use through out my album) and lots of ink and some little star shaped jewels etc.

The journaling reads: "My Christmas Journal 2006. I love Christmas...I think it must be my most favourite time of the year. All the cosy lights, the scents, the planning & the excitement. Been wanting to do a Christmas journal for a while now. So this year it's going to happen! I just hope I can keep it up, as I know I will love the finished journal. Anso" ...and it's dated "Dec 1".

Yesterday I spent most of the day working on something secret and exciting! Something which I can show you tomorrow...

My Christmas Journal...

So excited about tomorrow! I'm doing Shimelle's Christmas Journal class which starts on Dec 1st. I have done her last two classes and really enjoyed them. Also I just love Christmas so I think this will really suit me.

I have spent the last two days making my own journal. It is landscape 15x20 cm (or for those of you who work in inches - 6x8)...well, that is the pages are that size...the album covers are just a tad bigger. Figured this was a great size if I wanted to use 15x10cm (6x4) portrait photos. The photos would fit perfectly to one side of the page and the other side would be left for journaling.

I made my own journal from scratch. Each cover is made up of 4 pieces of card (cut to size) and glued together. Then I have used Basic Grey Blitzen to cover both the inside and outside of each piece. The insides have cute little reindeers jumping about! LOL!

Then I covered the front of the front cover (if you know what I mean) in Mod Podge and lots of ripped up tissue paper and then more Mod Podge. (Thanks to Clare for some great hints and tips on how to do this!) I added some micro beads in random places and left it to dry overnight...

When it was finally dry, I painted the whole cover with red acrylic paint. Again let that dry. And then added lots of Twinkling H2Os randomly everywhere (reds, bronzes, coppers and golds). Finally onto the title. It's just plain chipboard letters painted with acrylic paint and then lots of Stickles glitter glue! Unfortunately the photos don't do the album justice at all. It's the most textured surface you can imagine which shimmers beautifully under the lights and the title sparkles in a rainbow of colours...

Another card dare...

...just finished card dare #6. You had to create a card using some hand doodling. My card for this week is quite simple really. A bit of Basic Grey paper, some Rusty Pickle and Hero Arts stamps, silver ric rac, inks, a black pen and some silver Stickles glitter glue (unfortunately the sparkle doesn't really show up in the photo).



Today I'm also working on making my album for Shimelle's Christmas class (I started yesterday). I'm making my album from scratch so it's taking some time. Lots of Basic Grey and Mod Podge etc. Oh and some glittered chipboard letters! That's all I'm saying for now. LOL! At the moment my album is drying and I hope to be able to add a photo of it here tomorrow. I feel rather excited about starting the class on Dec 1st!! Can't wait in fact...

Can I also say a big THANK YOU for all the nice comments about my "Exloding Box" class - that means a lot! :) Thanks! I realise that as I add new posts, the class will disappear further and further down. So I have added a link straight to it for anyone who wants to come back to it later. You should see it listed on the right hand side of this page. Have fun!

"Exploding Box" Class...

Exploding Box Class - "An Exploding Year" - by Anso

Please feel free to use these instructions to make your own boxes. You are free to link to this page from any forum etc if you wish. Please do NOT copy this information and/or photos to use for your own classes/forums/webpages without permission. Please also note that I'm not claiming that I have invented the exploding box, but these simple step-by-step instructions and photos are mine.

Class Supply list:

For the box you will need:
* 3x 12x12 sheets of cardstock

For the lid you will need:
* 1x 12x12 sheet of cardstock (though this can be A4 also, you only need a 6 ¼”x6 ¼” piece)

Tools:
* trimmer
* scissors
* scoring tool, like a bone folder etc, or the scoring blade if you have a Zision trimmer or similar
* glue (I would recommend double-sided tape PLUS a wet glue like Glossy Accents, Diamond Glaze etc)
* 4 paperclips (to hold card in place while drying) – optional
* corner rounder – optional
* inkpad for edges of card - optional

I would recommend that your four sheets are either exactly the same colour, or different shades of the same colour. Of course, if you want more of a rainbow effect (!) you could use four sheets of totally different colours. I have used two different shades of green Bazzill. The class with mainly focus on how to make the exploding box itself. However I will also supply some photos of my finished box.

If you wish to continue after the class and decorate your box you will need: about 5-6 sheets of co-ordinating patterned paper (assuming you want to cover the “pages”) up to 26 small photos (assuming: one on each “flap”(front and back), one in the middle of the box and one on the top of the lid) ribbon to go around the lid (optional) any other embellishments etc that you want to use. The class is called “An Exploding Year” because my box will feature “random” photos from the past year…so it’s kind of like a summary of a “year in a box”.

First of all – please don’t be put off by how long the instructions are. It’s only because I have made them VERY simple and step-by-step with lots of pictures. Making the box and lid (not decorated) only took me 30 minutes. And then I had to stop all the time to take photos of the different stages.

Normally I work in metric, but for making this box it’s actually easier to make it using inches…so that’s what we’ll do. Ready?

1. First we’ll do the box itself. Take your three sheets of cardstock and cut them as follows:

• one sheet to 9 x 9 inches
• one sheet to 8 5/8 x 8 5/8 inches
• one sheet to 8 ¼ x 8 ¼ inches


2. Now score each sheet according to the measurements below. You score on all four sides (see photo below).

• score the 9 x 9 sheet, 3 inches in from each side
• score the 8 5/8 x 8 5/8 sheet, 2 7/8 inches in from each side
• score the 8 ¼ x 8 ¼ sheet, 2 ¾ inches in from each side


3. Following your scored lines, cut off all four corners on all three pieces.


4. At this point (and this is optional) you might want to ink the edges (don’t forget to do both sides!) and/or round the corners.


5. Now you need to glue together your pieces. It’s easiest if you start by putting the smallest piece on to the middle piece and then the medium (+smallest) piece onto the largest one. I would suggest you use double-sided tape for this. You ONLY put your tape/glue on the MIDDLE square. Like this:


…and don’t forget you do NOT need glue on the back of your largest piece. Once you have put them together, you should end up with something looking like this:


6. Fold up the edges of your scored lines.


7. Now you can put the box to one side. It’s finished for you to continue decorating now or later. Onto the box lid:

8. Take your piece of cardstock for the lid and cut it to: 6 ¼ x 6 ¼ inches

9. Now score the lid, 1 ½ inch in from each of the four edges.


10. Right, this might be a bit tricky to explain in words, but the photo below should help you. TURN YOUR CARD OVER and you need to score from the tip of each corner, diagonally, until you meet your scored “corner” lines. See photos:



11. Fold all your scorelines and pinch the corners and fold them inwards. See photo:


12. Glue the corners in place. I found that double-sided tape was NOT strong enough for this (it holds for a little while and then lets go) so I would recommend a wet glue, something like Glossy Accents or Diamond Glaze for this. You can either hold the corners for a little minute until the glue is dry enough to hold the corners in place, or you can use some paperclips to hold the corners in place while drying.


...your lid should now be finished and look like this:


And your finished complete box should look something like this:


If you want to continue decorating your box, I would recommend the following measures for your paper (I’m swapping to metric now since it’s easier to be more exact):

• one 7,5x7,5 centimetre square for the top of the lid
• one 6,5x6,5 centimetre square for the centre inside your box

• eight 7x7cm squares for your largest “pages”
• eight 6,7x6,7cm squares for your medium “pages”
• eight 6,5x6,5 cm squares for your smallest “pages”

Round your corners and/or chalk your edges if wanted.

I have used Chatterbox papers for mine and this is what my box looks like decorated:



I have used small photos in mine. I used 20 photos in my box. One on each page (not on the lid, centre square, or the four sides that makes up the outside of the box) and I printed my photos: 8 photos to a 15x10cm photo (6x4 inches). Very easy if you have an Epson PictureMate. Each little photo measures: 5x4 cm.

And here is my finished box:

I hope you have enjoyed my class and thank you so much for taking it!

Anso

The "Exploding Box"...

What a weekend of scrapping it was! Not sure how many LOs I got done, but I have got quite a bit of a pile of them here. Makes you feel good! But I think it will take me a little while to recover LOL! I feel generally worn out today, my head is a bit achy and fuzzy, my eyes runny and my nose tickly. And I feel like my brain is worn out LOL! A bit like "Creativity?" ----> "What's that?" LOL!

I had been rather worried about the "Exploding Box" class that I did for the ScrapPad cybercrop. But I didn't have to be worried - thanks to all the girls who said such nice things about my class. I had spent hours and hours planning, taking photos and trying to make my class as simple as possible. So all the comments I got about how clear and easy it was meant a lot. Thank you!

I have had several requests of making the class "permanent" (sooner or later it will be removed from the forum), not to mention PMs from other people on other forums, reading my blog and wanting to do my class. So I have decided to try and put my class on my blog, where it would stay.

It's very much a step-by-step class with 18 (!) photos, so it should be very easy to follow for everyone I think. I will spent today trying to sort it out and work out how I will get it on my blog, and I hope (maybe already tomorrow) I can get my class on here in the next few days. So please check back for that...