Tuesday Morning Sketches #178 - Anything Goes!

Do we ever have something crazy for you this week at Tuesday Morning Sketches!  Anything Goes. Sort of. We really want you to challenge yourselves - try something you haven't before, like a new technique or a new kind of project. The design team has pulled out all kinds of crazy stops, and I know I'm pretty excited to share mine with you. Melissa, our fearless leader, has assembled a fabulous prize package for the winner of this week's challenge, so show us what you've got! A few weeks ago Theresa was the kind sponsor of the TMS challenge, and my package was busy hitch-hiking to get to Canada. My stamps came JUST in time for this challenge, so I want to thank Theresa for her generosity - and the perfect stamps she chose for me!

For my something new, I tried a Side Step card  using the Splitcoast tutorial. I made two, for kids whose awesome parents get me to make them cards every year. Trouble is, I made my layers kind of chunky, so I couldn't fit them in envelopes. Enter my moment of brilliance: I figured out a box. On my own. (I'm still VERY excited about that!)

First, the picture you may have seen on the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog - this card is my favourite, since I do have a soft spot for the girly ;)

Supplies: Close to my Heart stamps - Flakey Friends; Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam- blizzard; Glimmer Mist - blue skies; Aleene's Glitter Snow; Stampendous Shabby Blue embossing powder (on the tree); AC fabric thickers - pink; Jolee's by You lights; EAD Designs rub-ons for the sentiments

I painted the Glimmer Glam & Glimmer Mist on a full piece of cardstock with a paintbrush. LOVE that stuff! It is perfect as a watercolour paint. The Glimmer Glam has some glitter in it as well as a fine shimmer. The snow paint is done the same way - it's very thick & messy, so I spread it on with my fingers over the whole sheet (of glossy paper) & let it dry. It's VERY sturdy, though, and after it's dry you can tear or die cut the paper without the snow paint flaking/chunking off. 

So, to make the card (after following the scoring/cutting instructions at Splitcoast), I cut the blue painted cardstock into the sizes I needed to cover JUST the front-facing panels. This allows the card to fold shut. Then I embossed & added the lights to the  tree die (from Barb's stash - love that girlie!) 

and attached it. Then cut out & coloured the snowgal, layered 2 strips of snow paper, glued the Thickers on with some Tombow Mono-Multi (and using baby powder as an adhesive neutralizer on the top parts of the letters that extend above the first fold). The EAD rub-ons are the perfect little something to add without overpowering the background.

The card folds shut, but it's chunky, like I said. Probably about a centimetre thick when folded, plus I let the tree hang over the top fold. So, what now? Make a box!

Here are the directions for the box, using a piece of cardstock 8.5" by 11" :

on the short side, score at 5/8" and 7 7/8"

on the long side, score at 5/8", 5 2/8", 5 7/8", 10 3/8"

on the long sides, snip along the score lines (4 of them) UP TO the short side score lines, for creating the folding tabs. Secure the folding tabs with some scor-tape, and ta-da! The box will need to be secured shut in some way, and twine is the perfect re-usable way to do that. I stamped a little tag to go on top with each recipient's name.

Supplies: Close to my Heart stamps - Flakey Friends; Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam- blizzard; Glimmer Mist - blue skies; Aleene's Glitter Snow; Doodlebug letter stickers; Salty Ocean distress ink; PTI snowball lettering, hand-drawn sign; 3/4" punch for snowballs; Dollarama bells; trees cut from Fancy Pants paper (from the sweet JEN!)

Since the construction is the same, I'll leave it there!

I really hope you find time to play along with us this week - push yourself to try something new, perhaps with some new presents?? We are maintaining a regular challenge schedule at Tuesday Morning Sketches, so this linky will be open until Sunday, December 30th, and a new special challenge will be announced on the 1st! 

Make sure to hop over to the design blog and see the amazing creations by all my teamies: 

Lee, the Best of the Best designer

Angela 

Bonnie

Cheryl

Dawn

Debbie

Laura

Theresa

Melissa

Merry Christmas!
xoxo,
Jessi