Monday 1 December 2014

A little bit of Christmas

Hi everyone!

Today is the 1st December and at Our Creative Corner Alison is hosting a challenge! 


Have Yourself A Merry LITTLE Christmas.

That's right, we want to see your festive ATCs here at Our Creative Corner.

Your little nuggets of creativity, Artists Trading Cards, need to be 2.5 x 3.5 inches in size, and have a Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or otherwise seasonal festive theme.

You can create just one ATC, or a series.
You can create a chunky ATC - on a thick block of wood, but the main creating surface front and back should still be 2.5 x 3.5.
You can even create ATBs - Artists Trading Blocks - little Christmas cubes which should be, for this challenge, 3 x 3 x 3 inches in size, please.


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I really enjoyed making the chunky ATC for a spotlight at OCC recently and I decided it would be fun to make another - but with a twist



This one opens up........


.............to reveal a Christmas scene...........


............but before we take a peek inside - lets look at the outside of the chunky ATC first...




I made an ATC sized box - 2.5" x 3.5" x 1.5"...I made a lid for the box and after cutting a hole for the window I painted all of it with Stone Fresco Paint.


 I marked diamond window panes in permanent black marker on acetate and painted one side with Gesso paint for snow.


  I stuck the window in and began to decorate the box. I used card which had been inked with Vintage Photo and Fired Brick DI's and then cut into rectangles. I stuck each 'brick' on by hand and then stamped over some of the bricks with a text stamp using Gathered Twigs DI.


 I made a vintage style shop sign by stamping with an alphabet stamp using Potting Soil Archival ink and blending Walnut Stain DI around the edge. Copper Liquid Pearls were dabbed in the corners of a piece of blasa wood that had been painted with Vintage Photo DP. Texture paste was dabbed onto the top of the sign and sprinkled with Rock Candy Distress Glitter.


I covered some holly with Pine Needles DS and then dabbed some Mown Lawn DI over them. I then covered them with Rock Candy Distress stickles.


 The holly berries were card that had been inked with Fired Brick DI and covered with Glossy Accents and topped with Diamond Stickles glue.The flourish is covered with Walnut Stain DI and there are two curled rusty wire pieces.

    The additional sign was a clip art piece I found on Linda's blog when I was first blogging. I had wanted to find a use for it and I finally did!


  Part of it was used as an additional advert above the sign and the other part was stuck to the side of the 'building' along with other adverts.


    Inside the box I decorated the walls with some printed Christmas paper.



I made a tree from card that had been inked with Pine Needles, Mown Lawn and Walnut Stain DI. It was then dabbed with several colours of Stickles glue.


 The candy canes are red and white striped cotton thread that was stuck onto the tree in a candy cane shape.

 The clock was made using a clock stamp, stamped with Jet Black Archival ink and cut out and stuck into a metal pendant charm. Glossy Accents glue was applied to the image to form a glass effect.


    The teddy bear was made from one brown pipe cleaner, twisted into the shape of a teddy bear. Tiny black beads for eyes and a black brad for it's nose. A tiny strip of red ribbon was tied into a bow.


 Presents were made from wrapping balsa wood up in pattered paper and tying up with strands of wool or ribbon.


 The window needed a curtain. So I got two strips of lace and a piece of dolls house bannister and constructed a lace curtain.


      


So there is my Christmas Chunky ATC! I do hope you like it!
Hope you will come along and join us this month at Our Creative Corner!

You could be our December Winner and feature as our Top Talent! You could be one of our Top 3 or you could even be the lucky winner of a wonderful prize donated by this month's sponsor - Tando Creative

Happy Crafting!


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13 comments:

  1. What a treat of a make... I love the texty bricks, and that adorable latticed window. And completely adorable inside too!
    Axx

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  2. Be still my beating heart!
    (giggle, I have always wanted to use this phrase but had to wait quite a long time for the appropriate project to use it on...lol)

    You have done your X-mas crafting magic again, Laura,

    and I LOVE "ye little olde toy shoppe" to bits. So much detail, love and labour went into it....the stamped bricks (which I think are genius), the perfectly done snow, the diamond window pane, the X-mas tree inside and the tiny, tiny selfmade teddy bear....I simply can't stop admiring all of this! Your ATC-Shoppe-Box spreads loads of heartwarming X-mas joy (which is exactly what I need right now to look at). And as always your project is sooo inspiring and beautiful!

    Love love love it!

    Have a wonderful advent-season!
    Big hugs and wishes,

    Claudia xxx

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  3. What a wonderful project Laura, such a cool idea, your little shop! Love the fact the chunky ATC actually opens and then reveals all the wonderful details inside, just stunning with all your usual amazing flair for detail!

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  4. Very beautiful and soo creative, love the sweet little teddy bear! Have a wonderful advent season. Hugs, Kerstin

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  5. This is simply stunning Laura! I would be here all day if I went through everything I love about your gorgeous make. I'm always drawn to small things and I was like a child waiting to see inside your block - love how you built up the final 'reveal'! You have included so many stunning little details from the curtains, the frosty diamond window panes to that amazing little teddy bear. The most creative ATB I've ever seen - everyone should see this!!
    Hugs, Juliaxx
    Have a good week.

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  6. WoW what a fantastic box you made! Great idea :-))
    HUgs, Andreja

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  7. wow this looks fabulous with all its lovely details!
    Groetjes Karin

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  8. Oh Laura- this is absolutely adorable!! I love the fuzzy bear inside! You really have created a special miniature wonderland! xo

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  9. Adorable! And that little bear! I love it.

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  10. Spectacular chunky ATB, Laura!! I LOVE the Christmas scene inside :) And OH--little pieces of balsa wood wrapped as the gifts and a twisted pipe cleaner for the Teddy Bear?! AWESOME!! Just fabulous!! I'm kind of giggling over this, it's sooo cute!! Did you get the dollhouse banister piece from Cestina? ;) :) Another fabulous detail of this little treasure!! A wonderful inspiration for the OCC challenge :) This is going to be a fun, yet challenging one (I have this thing with being intimidated by ATC sized things!) :) XOXO-Shari

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  11. Oh Laura, this is precious... and the creativeness behind it is so much fun to see and know that you had a blast making this... it totally SHOWS!!! BUT... I have to say there is a lot to see... and all very nicely done... but that little puppy with the bow in it's mouth... oh I laughed over that for a long time... I have been there unfortunately with two dogs that entirely ripped up every single present I had spent a year in making... LOL.. I can laugh about it now... but it was not funny when it happened... very frightful... This has to be a piece that you will keep for many a year... and pass down to thru the generations... LOVELY. Love, Light and Peace...Bonnie

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  12. I've only just discovered your blog (via the challenge blog), but OMG! do I ever love your style. This is so up my alley and makes my own little shrine look amateurish, but hey ho! that's how we learn. Thank you for inspiring me! xx

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