Tutorial Tuesday: Anna Allan - Christmas Card Holder...

Hello!

And a Scrappy New Year to all ;-)

Today I am sharing a quick how-to for an easy but decorative way to store those Christmas cards you receive every year! I am using the December Cupcake Kit.

The only thing I added from my own stash was the red cardstock and a couple more designs of washi tape - the rest is all kit.

STEP 1 - grab a 12x12" piece of cardstock in your desired colour (obviously, I chose red). Score it right DOWN the middle at the 6 inch mark and then ACROSS 4 inches from the bottom.

STEP 2 - Fold up the 4 inch section first. Then fold along the 6 inch score line with the 4inch flap on the inside. I then used my long arm stapler to secure the middle and both open edges of the flap.

STEP 3 - It's then time to decorate!

*I began with the cover. From one of the 8x8" patterned papers, I cut a 6x4" piece. 

For added pattern and layers, I cut out some rough scalloped border style pieces and also some flags and created a type of banner along the top edge of the 6x4" piece. Adhered that all onto the bottom section of the page and popped a half of the large doily behind it. I cut one of the sentiments out of the cut-apart pieces of the papers in the kit and adhered it to this section also.

*For the title part, I created my own garland using the string, washi tape (plus a couple of others from my own stash), the alpha stickers, and the sequins from the kit. I folded the washi tape over the string so it sticks to itself then snipped little banner ends out of them to create little flags. In between each flag, I threaded on some of the sequins for some added bling :-)

Stuck the required alphas on each flag and attached it to the top of the front page with my tiny attacher.

Ta-Da!

* To finish, I swiped on some of the gold paint (which I love I might add!!), popped on one of the die-cuts from the epehemera pack and used the stickers to add the year.

* For the inside - I used two panels from the cut-aparts and attached them to each side. As the kids are getting Christmas cards from the school kids now, I have one side of the folder for the kids cards and the other for all our family ones. I labelled these accordingly with the alpha stickers. Popped on another die-cut each side and it was ready for the cards!!

 You could embellish the inside flaps more or not at all. You could just label them.

It's really up to the individual.

It's nice to have the Christmas Cards all in one place and looking nice - not just piled together with a rubber band in a box.

This way is decorative and allows you to add your own touch and flair to storing your cards.

Until next time, take care and happy creating!

Anna :-)

Paper Cut Labs 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop, a sneak of Dec kits and a tutorial

Hey everyone,

Today we are shifting from our usual 'Tutorial Tuesday' post to bring you something special! A blog hop and a crop, hosted by Papercut Labs. Todays post will contain the crop and hop details so far, a sneak of our December Cupcake kit and a tutorial using that kit. Cool hey !?!

There are some absolutely amazing stores signed up to donate prizes to this hop and it is well worth joining in :) All of the major details can be found here.

Monday, 8 December 2014: Papercut Labs
Tuesday, 9 December 2014: A Piece of Cake Designs << YOU ARE HERE
Wednesday, 10 December 2014: Kellie Stamps
Thursday, 11 December 2014: Heidi Swapp
Friday, 12 December 2014: The Scrappery
Saturday, 13 December 2014: Seriously Scrapbooking
Sunday, 14 December 2014: Maya Road
Monday, 15 December 2014: Stampin’ Up!
Tuesday, 16 December 2014: Scrapmatts
Wednesday, 17 December 2014: D-lish Scraps
Thursday, 18 December 2014: Studio Calico
Friday, 19 December 2014: Papercut Labs

We are donating not one but two kits to this big event:

A December kit from last year which contains a gorgeous and traditional colour palette perfect for documenting your christmas season

And the October 2014 Cupcake kit, one of my faves, so fun, funky and colourful!

So what do you need to do to go into the draw to win one of these prizes or a prize from any of the other sponsors?

*All the below details are from the Papercut Labs site and can be found here*

Everyone who joins the crop party event on Facebook goes into the draw to win one of twenty-four prizes (two from each sponsor, and four from us).

However, to improve your chances of winning one of the giveaways, you can:

a. Create a project (card, layout, OTP, something paper-y) inspired by the challenges and upload it to the event page. Doing this, you’ll receive SIX entries into the giveaway draw. (Make sure you tell us which challenges you used!)
b. Comment on a project on the event page, and you’ll receive another one entry into the giveaway draw.

To see the challenges visit here

The hop and crop are open until December 20 so you have plenty of time to join in.

So onto the hop tutorial we have here for you. Today I decided to create something a little different to my usual. I decided to demonstrate how perfect our kits can be for card making too, and what better than a christmas card for a Christmas blog hop! Plus today you will get an extra sneak peek of some of the contents of our December Cupcake kit.

Here is a sneak of the kit and what I chose from when creating my card:

Featured in the December Cupcake kit is gorgeous Christmas papers by Webster's Pages, a whole die cut pack from Jillibean Soup, a Tim Holtz Christmas mask and more!

This is what I started with from my own stash, a 4x6" card made from American Crafts white card stock and a manilla tag (these are used to wrap washi tape around in our Cupcake Kits).

I wanted to add a subtle texture to the page by using the mask and some Faber Castell 'Whipped Spackle'. I applied the this to cover the entire 4x6"surface.  

I love the texture this medium adds, it is so fluffy but also looks so sharp and detailed.

Next step,  gather a series of coordinating die cuts, I have used a handful of pieces from the Jillibean Soup die cut pack included in the December Cupcake kit. 

Now I begin the layering process on my card.

I love to add dimension to my projects. I do this by layering and using foam tape between some layers. With the die cuts below I have applied all directly to the tag apart from the top right of the poinsettia flower, which I have popped up with a small square of foam tape.  

I completed this cluster of die cuts by adding the 'Ho Ho Ho' label. 

I am enjoying card making more and more and find that I enjoy making cards which look simple, with the white space I love, but that also contain texture and my fave a layered cluster of embellishments.

Heres the final images of the card.

If this inspired you to get creating I would love to see what you come up with. Email me your creations at raquel@apieceofcakedesigns.com.au as I would love to see them and share them with our followers.

Thanks for visiting our blog today, be sure to check back at the Papercut Labs blog and visit Kellie Stamps tomorrow for an amazing hop tutorial :)
Raquel xxx

STORE NEWS SUNDAY - November Releases

Todays update is all about our November releases. I am so very proud of this months kits, I just adore every little bit of the kits contents. Plus we have 2 new flair releases and and abundance of digital releases for November :) 

So lets get started -

Our Main Cake kit for November

This includes the latest Maggie Holmes 'open book', Amy Tangerine 'Stitched' collection as well as some papers from Jillibean Soup. There are also 2 speciality papers; a speciality vellum and a kraft paper. 

You can purchase the Main kit in store here - there are still a couple left 

Our November Cupcake Kit:

This kit highlights the gorgeous 'September Skies' collection from Heidi Swapp. It contains a whole ephemera pack and also a 12x12 Template from Kaisercraft that is so awesome and versatile.  

The 12x12 template included.

You can purchase the November Cupcake kit here

Below are the newest Christmas Cherry Flair releases. I have a couple more designs for christmas in the works but these are the first of them :)

The Cherry Flair can be found here instore

Lastly we have our digital store releases for this month! So much goodness here! Don't forget that most files can be used on all cutting machines and some even include Photoshop Brushes too which you can use to edit your photos like the how to video I created here 

Below are the new digital files now available for instant download :)

So much goodness and so much inspiration from our awesome designers coming up! 

Stay tuned

Raquel xxx

Best day ever!!

Hi everyone! 

Once again i am using the August cupcake kit.

While I was playing with the papers in the kit I came up with , unintentionally, a christmassy 

combo of colours! So I thought why not show how versatile these kits are and show you a christmas themed layout!?

So here you have it....

My children for the first time ever, adopted an Elf on the shelf!

It was so adorable!!! 

But I was yet to scrap any of the photos! 

This kit allowed me to scrap this precious moment. The last day before our elf "Tinsel" as we named her , was to head back to the North pole til next Christmas. This meant the children who had been unable to touch her til now as the fear her magic would disappear, were able to give her a cuddle goodbye! So it was a sad day but also the best day at the same time!

I loved the mixed bag of embellishments by MME and this title was perfect!!

I have used a mix of papers that contained reds, green and even some yellow.

I used my sewing machine and some masks to create an interesting background on masking tape.

My background paper is by 7 Dots studio.

Now I have to add I have used a special veneer that was released last year!

It was a special Elf on the shelf set and I had been holding onto it do these kind of layouts!

Thanks for stopping by, Eb xx