Christmas Wrapping - and using some bits from #ccchristmas

I decided how I was going to wrap my Christmas presents for this Christmas in Decrmber last year while finishing off the Disney Princess Christmas paper (it took nearly three years to finish off the Disney rolls I'd brought from Costco....hubby didn't seem that impressed when I arrived home with them...). So this year I was going to wrap all my presents in parcel paper, add stamps and ribbon but after wrapping one I found the tape didn't want to stick (unless I used lots of it) so I did a few parcels this way and sent Lee to pick up some nice paper from Aldi (by nice I mean modern and not too colourful) and he came back with two lovely rolls. I also had to wrap my sisters huge parcel so normal wrapping paper was much easier. I added curling ribbon and some handmade tags. On some I used the tree beads from Crafty Creatives Christmas Box and on others used Christmas stamps from Creative Stamping magazine (I've never brought this magazine but loved the stamps).

I also tried out the Stix2 wrapping seals that came with the Crafty Creatives Christmas box. These are adhesive discs to use instead of tape. They are really easy to use and having tried them on numerous shapes and sizes of presents I found they work best on small to medium sized parcels and ones which are square and firm as you need to press them on to ensure they give a firm seal. On larger presents and odd shaped ones I went back to using tape but these do definitely speed up wrapping 

The only downside to these is that the sheets are clear (as well as the seals) so if you put them down its a bit of a challenge to find them (I had four sheets on the go at one point). Also it's hard to see if you've used a sheet up, you have to feel for them or try to catch the light on them to see if there are any left. 

I wouldn't go out of my way to buy these but they were a nice addition in the Crafty Creatives Christmas Box.

72 Spectrum Noirs and Counting!

This time last year I won a competition on the Spectrum Noir twitter account and recieved my first pack of Spectrum Noir pens. Previously I'd used ProMarkers but after trying SN's I changed my Christmas list on Amazon very quickly! Nearly a year on and I have 72 SN's with another pack on the way (slight error on my part as I ordered pinks instead of reds so had to put in another order whoops!)

Before I use to store them in the box they came in (the big packs) and in pencil cases (for the ones from the smaller packs) but I saw Nikky Hall on Create & Craft and they had Stix2 pen rolls. I do want to get the Spectrum Noir clear storage at some point but haven't the room so brought 2 Stix2 rolls so I can put all the colours in order for ease when shading. These rolls are also great for can keep your pens horizontal as instructed. I can now take my pens wherever I want easily and colour in the living room without dropping my pens on the way or having to pick my favourites.

I didn't realise until I put my pens in order how many greys I have! I started with icy greys but every pack has seemed to have other greys in too but they are really handy for shadows, edging around coloured images and colouring things that at black (ie the tones).