Christmas in an Envelope

Hi there

My latest project started life yesterday as a quick little book...and ended up taking me nearly all day!!!





I recently bought some new stash and in the envelope was a free gift from the company (www.scrapz.co.uk)..the gift was 10 mini envelopes pre-cut and ready to fold and stick down.

I decided to make mini cards to go into five of the envelopes and then to bind them using the Bind It All. Well, the mini cards kind of got bigger and fatter and had more and more layers added to them!!

I had already decided to chose Christmas as the subject as I am steadily making little books for some friends for Christmas. For this particular book, I decided to use words from Christmas hymns or songs; starting with the envelope, I chose the title and then took it from there.



Envelope 1
Santa Claus...



As I had decided to use "Santa Claus" as the theme for this envelope, I chose Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany Distress Inks for my colour scheme. I started by taking some plain white card and cutting it to the right size to fit into the envelope. I coloured all of the card and then the envelope with the inks and then spritzed with Perfect Pearls "Sunflower" mixed with water. This gave the card a distressed look and also a little shimmer.
I used a selection of stamps by Tim Holtz, Crafty Individuals and PaperArtsy. The alphabet stamps that I used throughout the whole project are by StampsAway.
The rest of the words to the tune are stamped onto strips of card that I had also distressed and then there were stuck to the card using either Sticky Dots or 3D foam, depending on where in the card they were going. I had to be mindfull that I didn't make the card too fat, otherwise it would not have fitted into the envelope.
I used a paper distresser and roughed up all the edges and then went round the distressed bits with a Gold Krylon, just to finish the piece.
I embellished the card with AngelDust glitter (Art Institute) and added a little tinkly bell to the envelope.

Envelope 2
"Deck the Halls"







I chose to use brown tones for this envelope. I used Antique Linen, Faded Burlap and Walnut Stain Distress Inks and then spritzed with Perfect Pearls in water. I used "holly" stamps by Tim Holtz, RubberStamp Tapestry and Whispers. I made this card into a three fold and then added two more little pages to it. I used the same technique as previously and added the words to strips of distressed card using the Alphabet stamps.

To make sure that the pages I had added opened up properly, I used a scoring blade and made a little strip that I then glued to the rest of the card, this gave me a nice neat opening and also I was able to open the card out flat to add the words and stamping.

Finally, I distressed the edges and used Gold Krylon as before and added a little metal holly embellishment to the envelope.


Envelope 3
"Star Of Wonder"








I have just got some of the fab new Grungeboard (Tim Holtz Collection) and was itching to use it!! What better than to be able to find a fab excuse on one of the envelopes. I used words from a song, rather than the first few or the title.
I used Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed and Walnut Stain inks for this card. I added more little pages to it, again, using a scoring blade to make a narrow strip to fix all the pages together. Once I had coloured the card, I used the Perfect Pearls in water to get the shimmery look and then did my stamping using the Walnut Stain.
I took a few of the Grungeboard star shapes and painted them with Sunshine Yellow Acrylic Dabber. Once this was dry, I painted over with Pearl Dabber and then used my finger to wipe some of the Pearl paint off. Once the stars were dry, I then dabbed a bit of Gold Krylon onto my finger and smudged this over each star, giving it a little more lustre. I did the same with a little Grungeboard Crown shape too.
The stamps I used for this are from RubberStamp Tapestry...I have not got any other star stamps so have had to improvise a bit!
Again, the finishing touch is the Gold Krylon on the edges of the pages and envelope.


Envelope 4

"Oh Christmas Tree"






I used Weathered Wood, Broken China and Faded Jeans for this envelope and card. I decided to make the words stand out by using Sepia Brown ink and also stamped a couple of the tree images with this ink too.
I made some extra pages for the card, again sticking them with the scored strip.
The stamps are from Tim Holtz Collection, CherryPie Art (Dali tree) and RubberStamp Tapestry. I also added a little sentiment "Friends" to one of the pages as this book has been made especially for a friend.
Finally, I used a ZigZag glue pen to draw on thin lines of adhesive on the trees and then sprinkled Art Institute Angel Dust glitter over so the trees have a frosted look and I edged the pages with a Silver Krylon and added a little silver Christmas Tree charm to the envelope.



Envelope 5
"So here it is..."






Well, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Slade!!!

For my last envelope I wanted to be able to stamp various images rather than a theme so I chose to use Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles Distress Inks. I made the little card like a concertina and then added a page to the front and to the back.
I went a little bit mad with the stamping using stamps by Tim Holtz, PaperArtsy, Hampton Art and RubberStamp Tapestry.
Finally, I used the Gold Krylon again to egde all the pages and added a little bell charm to the envelope.

I made covers for the book using Mountboard which I distressed with Antique Linen and Walnut Stain and then stamped images from the Tim Holtz Collection. I have a cute little sleigh charm but it is silver, so I used good old Krylon to change the colour to gold and then attached it to the front cover with a jumpring. I edged the covers with Gold Krylon to tie in with the envelopes and cards and finally, spent ages tying little bits of ribbon to the binding wire!!

I had a lot of fun making this little book and I hope that the friend that receives it will love it too!

Thanks for looking

Hels x