Mini Gingerbread House Christmas Decor!

Merry almost Christmas! I still have lots of ideas for Christmas projects I want to make but we'll see how many of them get completed. That always seems to be the pattern lol. I think I need to start in July. At any rate, here is a fun one. I built this little scene inside of a vintage nut dish I found thrifting somewhere. I've been staring at it sitting there for a few months now and this idea popped into my head. I wanted to try a more limited color palette so I went with kraft, white, red and green.

The gingerbread house lifts off the base and you can fit a battery powered tea light underneath for a nice flicker effect. The house is made with the retired Tim Holtz Village Dwelling and Village Gingerbread dies. I also used two other retired die sets to create the cookie tree and mini gingerbread man for the landscape.

I got the lollypop and other Christmas picks from Hobby Lobby I think. I used the balls to decorate the gold bottle brush trees. It pays to have a stash! It makes it easy when doing projects like this - I didn't even have to leave my house.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great rest of the week and have a chance to squeeze some creativity in. 

I am also entering this into the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog's current challenge, "Deck the Halls". It runs until Tuesday night so you have a chance to enter too.

Supplies used:

Dies:

Tim Holtz Sizzix
Mini Christmas Things 662418 - retired
Fresh Baked 2, 663116 - retired
Village Dwelling 660992 - retired
Village Gingerbread 661608 - retired

Ranger Rock Candy glitter
Glitter Duster tool
Ranger Texture Paste
Ranger Glossy Accents
DecoArt Snow Tex
bottle brush trees - craft store
Christmas 'candy' picks - craft store

Some links in this post are affiliate links which do not affect the price you pay but allow me to earn a small percentage of a sale. Thanks! (My husband also thanks you!) If you shop at Topflight Stamps, use my coupon code LISAHOEL for 12% off your order.

Darkroom Door Christmas Card with Topflight Stamps!

Merry Christmas everyone! It's almost here! I'm still crafting away on Christmas projects, even cards to mail (although I don't think they will arrive at their destinations until after Christmas, oops. Better late than never!) Here is a card I made using the Darkroom Door Pine Cones Stamp Set.

I really love the Pine Cones set. It has a great selection of realistic pine cones and needles. Perfect for woodsy projects and of course Christmas cards! I used Distress Inks because I wanted to utilize their reactivity to water. Using a stamping platform, I first stamped the pinecone in the lighter brown (Brushed Corduroy) and spritzed it lightly with water so it would wick out. After drying it, I stamped over the top with the darker brown for detail. I like the watercolor effect of the wicking. Next I masked off the pine cones and stamped the pine needles. It's a quick and easy card! This design wouldn't be too hard to mass produce if you wanted to make many of them for mailing out.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you are finding some holiday joy and have a chance to get some creative time in the midst of the hustle and bustle.

Supplies used:

Topflight Stamps Products:
Darkroom Door - Pine Cones Stamp Set

Other:

Ranger Distress Ink - Ground Espresso, Brushed Corduroy, Rustic Wilderness

Ranger Distress Oxide Ink - Evergreen Bough

Perfect Pearls mist

Tim Holtz Christmas Trim tape

Some links in this post are affiliate links which do not affect the price you pay but allow me to earn a small percentage of a sale. Thanks! (My husband also thanks you!) If you shop at Topflight Stamps, use my coupon code LISAHOEL for 12% off your order.

Favorite Eileen Hull Projects of 2020!

Howdy folks! Is 2020 really almost done? Hurray! It is nice to look back on the year and remember the art that I've created over the past months. I had a hard time only picking my favorite four projects I made with Eileen's dies – I was pleased with so many of them lol. Here we go though… my top four:

The space themed Gift Box Die project is one I made for Creativation in January. I really enjoyed making this one and sewing up the little spool album that stashes inside. You can see the tutorial and all the details in this blog post.

Next is an 'April showers bring May flowers' project I made last spring using Eileen's new Tiny Book and Tiny Book Case Dies. I was pleased at how the contrast between the April 'outside' contrasted with the May 'inside' mini album. It was just what I was going for! You can see all the details in the original post.

In June, we did a collaboration with Belagio, makers of cork fabric. This fabric is so much fun to work with! I made a little journal for my cousin's new baby. All the details about the fabric and how I made the Passport Book journal can be found on the post.

Lastly, just this past October I made a fall Teacup that I just love! Fall is my favorite. ;-) I love fall colors, fall leaves and warm woodsy tones so this project ticks all the boxes. All the details are in its post!

Thanks for stopping by! Check out Eileen's blog and if you are not already a member, join the Facebook Eileen Hull Fan Club group. If you want to participate in the currently running Comfort & Joy Event you will need to join as that is where all the action will be! It is a warm, supportive group with lots of inspiration and sharing going on. You'll just have to answer a few simple questions when asking to join (to keep out spammers) and then you'll be added. ;-)

Some links in this post are affiliate links which do not affect the price you pay but allow me to earn a small percentage of a sale. Thanks! (My husband also thanks you!) If you shop at Topflight Stamps, use my coupon code LISAHOEL for 12% off your order.

Funkie Junkie Challenge 'A Time to be Grateful!' Guest Post

Hello, I am honored to be a guest designer today on the Funkie Junkie Boutique blog! The current challenge is 'A Time to Be Grateful' which is a very worthy one! To help me focus on gratefulness, I created a little keeper using Eileen Hull's Post Box Die. Each day for the month of December I will write something I am grateful for on a slip of paper and pop it into the box. I think it will help me to be mindful of things and not just let the month blur by in a whirl.

I cut the slips of paper using Eileen Hull's retired Credit
Card Sleeve die but you can cut them by hand with a trimmer etc.

Back side of box

I added a magnetic closure to the flap.

After I finished my box, I realized that I didn't have any step by step photos! oops! I used the same techniques to make a card (below) so I could take pictures. So, imagine doing these steps on the Post Box Die cut out. ;-)

Step 1 - I spritzed my craft mat with Speckled Egg Distress Stain in both regular and Oxide stains. I dipped my background into it a few times, drying it with my heat tool each time. The far background trees I stamped in Distress Oxide Ink, Iced Spruce using the watercoloring stamping technique. (super easy!) Ink up your stamp, lightly mist with water and then stamp as usual. It gives a great watercolor effect.

I filled in the area under the stamped image with more Iced Spruce, using a blending tool.

Step 2 - A few weeks ago, one of Tim Holtz's Saturday Facebook Lives focused on making a stash of backgrounds that you could cut up into greens for your holiday projects. I used one of them (made with new the Rustic Wilderness color) to cut my foreground trees out of. It's handy to have a stash!

Step 3 - Assembling the background: For my original Post Box project, I glued the die cut trees around my stamped, then assembled box. Then I added the strip of Christmas Fabric tape around the bottom and topped it with a strip of the washi Trim Tape. For the card below, I mounted all the layers on a dark red mat layer.

Step 4 - I die cut the deer out of brown card stock and then embossed them with Vintage Photo Distress Glaze. I gives them a nice shine. On the card, I left the little fawn plain so it would contrast with the doe.

Final card:

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my post! I hope you join in the 'A Time to Be Grateful' challenge over on the Funkie Junkie blog. It is really important to remember all the things we do have to be thankful for, especially when times are tough. I am grateful that I can use my art to show what I'm thankful for! =)

Supplies used:

Dies:

Eileen Hull Sizzix 

Post Box Die  ( Sizzix / SB ) 

Credit Card Sleeve & Tags Dies - retired

Tim Holtz Sizzix

Tree Line ( Sizzix / SB )

Darling Deer ( Sizzix / SB )

Sizzix Mat Board

Tim Holtz Stamp sets - Tree Line, Snarky Cat Christmas, Stamptember 2018

Distress Spray Stains, Oxide Ink, original Distress Ink

Distress Glaze - Vintage Photo

Tim Holtz Christmas Idea-ology: Trim Tape, Fabric Tape

Some links in this post are affiliate links which do not affect the price you pay but allow me to earn a small percentage of a sale. Thanks! (My husband also thanks you!) If you shop at Topflight Stamps, use my coupon code LISAHOEL for 12% off your order.

Feeling Grateful Post Box
by MonalisaH -Lisa Hoel
Scrapbook.com