Friday Inspiration

It is Cec here and today I am presenting a Friday Inspiration segment for you featuring Graphic 45 papers that I had in my craft stash.

Due to the recent Black Friday sale at The Funkie Junkie Boutique, most Graphic 45 stock is temporarily sold out but there are lots of other products available throughout the shop at discounted prices.  For instance, check out the fabulous buys in the Clearance section - what a great opportunity to treat yourself to a Christmas present.

I decided I would make a couple of easily created projects to share with you and where possible, I would use up leftover bits and pieces to make some room in the ever-expanding stash.   I don't have any process photos for you because I didn't do any fancy techniques but rather made use of my cutter, scissors, some punches and die cutting machine, which are tools you all probably have.

The first thing I made was a Christmas ornament.  As I normally do for these big round ornaments, I used an old CD as my base.  I cut some deep red card stock (Recollections) and adhered it to both sides of the CD.

Tip:  After you adhere one side, remember to re-punch any holes (this time there was just a top hole for the hanger) and then after you adhere the card stock to the second side, you can easily find where to re-punch the same hole(s).

Next I die cut some snowflakes from some gold card stock (Recollections) using the Paper Snowflakes die.  I added a strip of lace from my stash across the middle and then added the snowflakes down the left side of the ornament.

Then I did a lot of fussy cutting of images from the paper pad called A Christmas Carol and mounted them with large image first and the smaller ones next using dimensional foam.

Finally I added some gold pearls to the snowflakes and a bit of gold ribbon for a hanger.  I only decorated one side this time but since I wire my ornaments to the tree, it won't swing and the back side will not be visible.  These CD ornaments are great space fillers.

When you get a Graphic 45 paper pad, there are some patterns on the inside of the back cover, including one for a tiny tag.  I thought it would be fun to make some gift tags for Christmas but while I like the shape of the tag, I really wanted it to be a bit larger so I enlisted the aid of my handy husband and he drew one the size I wanted in his graphics program and then cut some for my on the laser cutter.  They are cut from extra  heavy cream card stock (Recollections).

I inked the edges of the tags (and all the papers) with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and stamped "for" and "from" on the back with Jet Black Archival Ink.  All tags have a background panel cut from the Winter Wonderland paper pad with fancy corners made with a punch (EK Success).  All tags have a gold cord or satin ribbon  hanger and a satin ribbon bow.

Next it was time to embellish with a combination of pre-made items and things made by me.  A list of what I used is under each photo.

Left Tag
Holly Leaves die cut from Green Card Stock (Recollections) using Holiday Greens Die and inked with Forest Green Distress Ink
Poinsettia fussy cut twice from a Winter Wonderland paper and layered with dimensional foam
Ephemera cut from Winter Wonderland paper

Centre Tag
Band punched from cream card stock (Recollections) with snowflake punch (Martha Stewart)
Centre band cut from Winter Wonderland paper
Little snowflakes come from the punched band and are topped with little gold pearls
Metal snowflake charm is a leftover from last year's Christmas crackers

Right Tag
Centre band cut from Winter Wonderland paper
Greenery die cut from dark green card stock using Holiday Greens die
Tickets cut from Winter Wonderland paper
Paper flowers (Wild Orchid Crafts)

Left Tag
Greenery die cut from dark green card stock using Holiday Greens die
Poinsettia die cut from cream card stock using tiny poinsettia die (Marianne Creatables) and topped with a gold pearl
Stamens dipped in Champagne Gold Acrylic Paint (DecoArt)
Ticket cut from St. Nicholas paper pad

Centre Tag
Tiny red gems (Dollarama) added
Metal snowflake charm is a leftover from last year's Christmas crackers

Right Tag
Sentiment cut from paper pad and mounted on cream card stock
Greenery die cut from dark green card stock using Holiday Greens die
Poinsettias die cut from paper pad using tiny poinsettia die (Marianne Creatables) and centres were highlighted with a gold pen

Left Tag
Centre band punched from black card stock with Deco Punch (Martha Stewart)
Centre band topper cut from A Ladies Diary paper
Flourishes (The Paper Source)
Flowers (Prima and Wild Orchid Crafts)

Right Tag
Organza Ribbon (Offray)
Flourishes (Dollarama)
Ephemera cut from Mon Amour paper

Finally, I thought I would make a couple of tags in the same manner but ones that could be used for other occasions.  Since I used papers from A Ladies Diary and Mon Amour these ones are pretty girlie but tags for fellows could easily be made by choosing more appropriate papers and simple embellishments.

I hope I have provided you with some timely inspiration for your Graphic 45 papers, especially the little leftover bits.