Winter Wonderland Jars

Hello friends!
This is the time of year I love to craft...I just love making Christmas projects! And I had this little jar of Mini Wood Dolls that were begging to be used...

In the Mini Wood Doll jar-you get an assortment of guys and gals, for different seasons, holidays, styles and themes. First of all-they are adorable on their own! But of course you want to customize them for your projects too.

There are 30 dolls in the jar, so you have a variety of dolls to choose from and use for multiple projects. I tested and colored the dolls with a variety of markers and pencils to see what effects I can get on the wood surface.

Here are the top choices for coloring:

1-PITT Pens by Faber, especially the White. This white pen showed up the best but  you did need to add more than one layer. It is also a great primer before adding colors.

2-Sharpie Glitter Paint Pens-so fun and glitzy! The sparkle is amazing as well as the color.

3-Permopaque Pens by Sakura-the color sits on top of the wood and color stays true. These are harder to find in stores

4-Colored Pencils-these work well-but dont press too hard-the wood begins to splinter.

5-Copic Markers-color is good and you have lots of choices colorwise too.

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Prepare the dolls! Cut off the little circle at the top with scissors. I dabbed the now bare cut off area with a dark brown ink to match the rest of the sides of the doll. Walnut Stain Distress ink by Ranger is a perfect match. Color as desired...test colors on the backs of the dolls to see how they will look.

Once you have your little people colored and "dolled" up for a project-the sky is the limit! I found these jars at Target in the dollar section and in Michaels. I needed to find jars that were plain-no designs and minimal script on the glass.

Wash the jars before creating your project. They are dirtier than they look-inside and out. I bought sets of little sisal trees at Hobby Lobby and Michaels. I got the green ones and added an accent color by spraying them with Lime Wedge Color Bloom spray. The two-tone green looks cool and matched the colors of green I used on the wood dolls too.

Gather up fun trims, twine, ribbon and little accents to add to the tops of the jars.  

Wouldn't these be cute to give to a family and dress up the dolls to look like their kiddos? 

I punched out paper circles using my Marvy circle punch, then hot glued the dolls and trees to the paper. Test the size of the circle to make sure it will fit in the jar first-adjust size as needed.

Add a strong glue to the bottom of the jar and slip the whole scene into place. Then add enough snow to cover the paper and bottoms of the trees and dolls.

Add pom-pom trim around the lid using a strong glue along with bakers twine and cute button. A tag with a stamped sentiment would be nice too!

Add two or three trees varying in size for added interest. I love the look of clustered trees.

This little jar is the actual packaging the wood dolls come in. For this, I glued the tree and deer to the paper circle and glued the scene to the lid of this jar. Add snow to the glass, then place lid on top of glass and turn upside down. The little deer can be found at Michaels in the miniatures section with the Christmas stuff. Four come in a pack and the brand is Art Bin.

So here they are, bunched together, looking so cute and festive. You could add stringed lights around them or display on a pedestal or tray grouped together.

Hope you enjoyed this post and it got you inspired to create some of your own! 

Products:

911041-Julie Nutting Wood Dolls-Prima

573850-Lime Wedge Color Bloom Spray-Prima

Sisal trees, Deer and Ball Jars-Michaels

Fake Snow-Michaels, Hobby Lobby

Bakers Twine-May Arts

Green Dot Ribbon-Creative Impressions

Skinny Green Trim-Amuse Studio

White Pom Pom Trim-JoAnn's

Hot Glue Gun

Fabri Tac or Quick Grip Glue by Beacon

Walnut Stain Distress Ink by Ranger

Thanks for stopping by! xoxo Cari

Bloom Girl Cards

Hey friends!

A couple of month's ago-I did a Live with Prima show using the Bloom Girl stamps by Jamie Dougherty. These beautiful stamps are larger in size BUT they can still be used for standard sized cards.

I have had a lot of feedback regarding the cards and the show...so I decided to share it here for anyone else that may not have seen the online class. These cards can be created and given as gifts for anyone on your list for the holidays. Add any sentiment you like to the inside to fit any occasion.

All of the classes on Live with Prima are free. And each class includes techniques, cool ideas and amazing designs using Prima products.

Here is a link to the class: Bloom Girl Cards

All of the classes on Live with Prima are free. And each class includes techniques, cool ideas and amazing designs using Prima products. We have loads of classes archived so you can go back and watch whenever you like.

This is the list of everything I used to make these cards

Prima Products:

• 980160-Summer-Bloom Girl Stamp
• 980177-Sharon Bloom Girl Stamp
• 980184-Free Spirit Bloom Girl Stamp
• 980269-A4 Watercolor Pad-Bloom Girl Collection
• 961428-Soft Matte Gel-Finnabair
• 961718-Art Ingredients-Glass beads-Plum
• 961688-Art Ingredients-Glass beads-Licorice
• 575120-In Full Bloom-Bloom Girl Collection
• 577995-Hillsboro-Bows
• 566012-Mini Sachet-Blue Jay
• 578466-Cafe Mocha-Coffee Break
• 574291-Free Spirit-Flower Power
• 578411-Bethany-Leaflet
• 577506-Melbourne-Rainforest
• 573942-Color Bloom-Glistening Waves
• 573904-Color Bloom-Peony
• 573805-Color Bloom-Gold Foil
• 573898-Color Bloom-Cobalt
• 573737-Color Bloom-Cotton Candy
• 573782-Color Bloom-Soft Teal

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So-thats my post for today! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Thanks-Cari

Sparkle Tags!

Hello friends!

Getting ready here for Thanksgiving! My Mom is coming over tomorrow to make some pies and I will get out my china to dress up the table and do some cleaning.

Since December is next week and I am planning to host Live with Prima on the 4th-I got to work on what I was going to make. I just finished a set of tags for the holidays and I am thinking I should make them for the show.

And...I will also be sharing some sneak peeks of brand new Prima! Woot! It will be a fun night and I am looking forward to it.

So here is what I am planning on making...Sparkle Tags!

I lovingly gave them that name since I used a healthy amount of glitter on each of them. And creating with glitter is loads of fun.

I will also be working with stencils, Art Extravagance paste, Color Bloom spray and a Doily Die.

All of the tags coordinate but we will be doing something different on each tag.

The fun words used on the tags are from Michael's. They come in a pack of four, in the miniature tree trimming section. They are made of plastic and already come glittered-however-I add my own glitter to them as well. The Brand is Merry Minis-they are supposed to be mini ornaments. 

if you can't find them-no worries. You could also die cut words or use alphabet stickers too.

I think these tags would look great on trees, kraft colored gift bags with pretty bows or even framed up to display on the wall. And I also think you could make them into cards instead of tags, if tags are not your thing..

I hope I can get through all of the tags in an hour...I will have to prep ahead :)

Here is a list of all the products I am using:

Prima Products:

960728-Vintage Vanity A4 Paper Pad

961558-Art Extravagance-Gold Crackle

961657-Art Ingredients-Glass Glitter-Gold

961596-Art Ingredients-Luminous Glitter Set

961305-Elementals-Harlequin Stencil

961268-Elementals-Honeycomb Stencil

961299-Elementals-Bubbles/Orbs Stencil

577780-Rodanthe-Neptune-Leaves

961091-Bottle Caps

572792-Doily Metal Die-#2

573850-Color Bloom Spray-Lime Wedge

Any White and Lace Flowers

Say It In Crystals-Centers-Gold, Light Pink or Cream

Other:

Ranger Kraft tags-Size 8

Light Pink Ribbon or Seam Binding

White Twine

Snowflake Punches-Small-Martha Stewart

Medium Snowflake-EK Success

Circle Punch-1 3/4 inch or so

Lace-Cream or Off White

Vintage Photo Distress Ink

OK-so the show is on December 4th at 6:30pm PST/ 9:30pm EST on the Prima channel here; 

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/primaflower

The show will be recorded so you can watch later too.

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo Cari

Season's Greetings Card

Hello friends!

I have created a pretty, yet simple to create Christmas card using the November Special Delivery kit by Prima. This kit is loaded with goodies for only $39.99 and you can make several projects from just this one kit. Pretty cool, right?

Season's Greetings:

-The card base is standard A2 size-cut 8 1/2 in x 5 1/2 in., fold in half. I used one of the Lifetime papers from the kit.

-Ink card edges with Vintage Photo Distress ink.

- Wrapped crushed silk teal ribbon by May Arts around the card and tie a nice big bow.

-Adhere lace pieces over ribbon (this is a great way to use scraps of lace too pretty to toss).

-Add white flower over bow and tuck in three red leaves.

-Spray Lime Wedge Color Bloom onto white paper and punch out little sprigs using Martha Stewart punch. 

-Add sprigs and brown flowers to card.

-Stamp sentiment onto a punched out ticket stub using Vintage Photo Distress ink. Adhere with foam dots.

-Finish off with glittered Say It In Crystals, sprinkled around your cluster.

This card was fun and easy to create. I plan to give it to someone special at Christmas with a gift card inside. Can't wait to create more...maybe next time with glitter or little bells on the ribbon. Hmm..the ideas are endless!

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!

xoxo Cari

Christmas Tags!

Hello friends!

I have a couple of fun and easy holiday creations to share with you! And honestly, since I made them-I am really excited and motivated to create even more holiday projects in the coming weeks.

With the cool weather and some flurries of snow drifting around, I am almost tempted to play a little holiday music as I create too...key word being almost...not quite there yet-LOL!

So I was asked to design with the November Special Delivery kit from Prima. The kit not only has the traditional color scheme, but also warm tones of cream, tan and slight hues of pink too.

 I like to gravitate toward unusual color schemes for the holidays to keep the projects fresh and eye catching. Sometimes it's makes creating more of challenge to make something look holiday-ish, with minimum holiday embellies...hope that makes sense. I think these days, almost anything goes.

-First, I cut out the deer from a paper in the 8x8 North Country paper pad. One way to get more bang for your "buck", trace the deer after you cut them out, so you can make as many as you like.

-I also punched out some snowflakes using my Martha Stewart snowflake punch.

-The Soft Matte Gel was applied with a paint brush, in a nice even coat.

-I then sprinkled the deer and snowflakes with Art Ingredients Glitter.

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Here is Tag 1:

-All three tags were covered using the Delight-Discover paper in the kit.

-I used the Soft Matte Gel to adhere the paper to the tags.

-And all three were inked at the edges using Vintage Photo Distress ink.

-I added a simple 1 inch strip of paper to the tag with a little piece of ribbon.

-I created a double bow using Rose Beige Snug Hug seam binding.

-Then started to build up my cluster with the white rose and two mistletoe picks (the dark brown)

-Finish off with a couple of green flowers and adhere your glittered stag with foam dots.-Easy peasy!

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Tag 2:

-I used two of my favorite punches and layered them together. You can choose any size circles depending on the sentiment you would like to add.

-I layered them with foam tape, after sentiment was stamped, using Vintage Photo Distress ink.

-Wrap the Rose Beige seam binding around the tag and created a double bow.

-Add white flower and pink mistletoe picks around bow. Then tuck in a couple of dark brown flowers too.

-Place your circle and glittered snowflakes to finish it off. 

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Tag 3:

-This third tag has the glittered doe-she looks so cute peeking out from behind the flowers. Add her using foam dots. 

-Wrap the seam binding vertically and create yet another, double bow. Sorry-i like them.

-Add white flower over bow and tuck in two light brown mistletoe picks.

-Finish off with 3 tan flowers and the sweet doe.



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So that's it for today! I can not wait to add these tags to gift bags for the holidays. And I certainly hope I have time to make a lot more (wishful thinking)! And please forgive my images if they appear a little strange. I upgraded my Photoshop program and I am learning to tweak my photos in the new program. 

Have a fabulous day and thanks for stopping by!

xoxo Cari

Teaching in Canada!

Hello Friends!
It has been a while since I have posted but life has been so busy! Wedding, college visits, travel, work, baseball and more. We have had an amazing summer!

But-I really needed to start posting again and with that-I have news of where I will be teaching this fall.

I have been invited to teach at Scrappin Great Deals in Komoka, Ontario! This is my first time visiting this store and I can't wait to meet everyone there. They have been amazing to work with! I will have big prizes, extra goodies and new art mediums to share! Here are the four classes I will be teaching:

Coffee Break Card Workshop; September 19th at 6:30pm

We will be creating 6 cards in this class using the brand NEW Coffee Break collection with punches, wire threads, trim and gorgeous flowers too. 

Class fee is CA $50.00

(class is almost full)

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Family Layout Workshop, September 20th at 9:30am

This has to be one of my favorite classes to date! On this layout-it's all about the layers! We will add texture and dimension through the process of creating this layout AND another! So this class includes two gorgeous layouts with a kit packed full of Prima of course!

Class fee: CA $50.00

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Christmas Card Workshop, September 20th at 1:30pm

In this class, we will create 6 cards filled with holiday cheer! We will be using die cuts, punches, ribbon, flowers and canvas to name a few.

Class Fee: CA $50.00

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Art Canvas Workshop, September 20th at 6:30pm

I am in love with this project! For this class-I am allowing the students to customize it with options for warm or cool colors, custom colored flowers, a range of stenciling options and fun added touches. Plus-you can add a photo instead! We will be using a lot of the new Art Basics and Art Ingredients from the Finnabair collection by Prima. 

Class Fee: CA $60.00

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Please join us for a weekend of fun and creativity. And I did hear that the store will sell the kits if you can not attend. I provide all of the instructions with the kits. 

Contact them direct : 1-519-473-5751

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend! xoxo Cari

For all of you Julie Nutting fans....

Hey Friends!
I am headed to Brazil in a couple days and I am looking forward to the nice warm weather, seeing good friends and a Prima filled week with classes, demos, etc...it will be so fun!

Today, I wanted to share a really fun book I created for CHA, using the Julie Nutting chipboard house book with dolls, flowers and all kinds of pretty things! This book was a labor of love-cutting out all of the girls, choosing just the right colors and making it wonderful!

I used Prima's Free Spirit collection throughout the book. I love the bright colorful images in this line and it worked perfectly with the doll stamp images.

I mixed and matched an assortment of flowers throughout the pages-it was so fun to put them together!

I stamped and cut out the card sized dolls to add to the flower clusters-they look so cute!

The ATC pads made adding the backdrops for photos so easy! I just popped them up with foam squares and distressed the edges for a shabby look...

Don't you just love the girls mixed in with the flowers? All of the hard work cutting out the small images was well worth it!

The binding rings in the book make it so easy to work on pages and then add them in as you go...

I hope you like this project and it inspires you to create something beautiful! I will be back with more fun projects when I return from my trip! Have a great day!

xoxo Cari

Art Venture Canada!

Hey Friends!
Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. I have been a busy girl, creating projects for upcoming events in April and I wanted to share a couple of my projects I am teaching in Cornwall Ontario, for Art Venture Canada, 2014.

I have two layout classes that weekend, April 11th-13th. I will be using never before seen Prima collections, that will be released in April. They are really stunning collections and I was so excited to create with them...I know the attendees are going to have fun with them too...

These layout were created with the new Time Traveler collection-so many vintage elements in this line that really make it so diverse. I used current photos of my brother Matt and his finance Dawn. But you could also use it for heritage, anniversary or for travel of course...

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For the second class-we will create with the new Seashore collection. It has earthy color tones with vintage images from the sea. It also has generic papers that can be used for masculine or heritage themes too.

I am showing the layout within the frame, because the 12 x 12 wood frame is included in the kit for this class. Perfect for displaying in your home. You can use the frame to showcase any layout--switch it out when you have a new masterpiece to display....

I have so many cool techniques to share in both classes using the new Color Bloom sprays Prima just released. These sprays will be shipping in April too. But the attendees will be the first to "play" with these new art mediums on their projects, along with other goodies!

If you are interested in attending this amazing event, check out all of the details here: Art Venture Canada-Registration and Info

It's only about a 3 1/2 hour drive for me from Central New York....such an easy route too!

Feel free to email me with any questions: cari@primamarketinginc.com

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Cari :)