Kiddie Crafting

This time of year when all the Christmas decorations, wrapping, ribbons, tags and bags are in the stores I love to check them out.




Over the past few years I have made cards using cute kids tags, glittery snowflake tags (these turned out very classy) and lovely black and silver holly tags.





I found these cute tags in good old Tesco's for 62p for 20 and couldn't resist having a play with them. I wanted to help my grandson's craft a few Christmas cards for their friends and I think these will be perfect - quick, simple and fun!

I simply added patterned paper to the card base, added ribbon to the tag (or you could use a brad or eyelet) adhered it using foam pads for fun and added a small white pompom to Santa's hat with a glue dot.

This one was the same except that I added a red gem for Rudolph's nose.

I did think it might be fun to add a brad and swivel the tag to reveal either a message or a photo behind.

The boys will love making these and for a 5yr old and 7 yr old they're not too shabby!!

My First Tutorial

I am posting my first tutorial so I hope it works ok - any and all comments or feedback greatly appreciated. Here goes:

Triangle Box

This is the finished box which can be decorated to suit the theme or event. I kept mine simple because of the number I had to produce in a short amount of time.

I actually stamped up an A4 piece of card for my design but you can begin with either plain or patterned cardstock. I trimmed the cardstock down to 12 cm x 24 cm. Most any size will work but square seems to work best. To achieve this just take your width measurement and double it for the length measurement since it gets folded in half.

Fold card in half and score well.

Open out card and mark the centre point (6 cm) on either end lightly with a pencil.

Score from this centre pencil mark down to the fold crease on left side and then right side on one end. Repeat for other end.

You should end up with score lines where indicated by these pencil lines

Fold along these lines and crease well.

Fold in half and bring 2 sides together overlapping.

Use a hole punch to punch a hole through both layers for ribbon. Repeat for other side.

Thread ribbon through first 2 holes in one side and then through second set of holes in other side and fill before drawing together.

Pull ribbon closed and tie into a bow to secure. Embellish the front as desired to finish.

I prefer to use several ribbons such as a wider sheer ribbon and a couple of thinner fine ribbons for a nicer bow.

Can't you just imagine these made up in either pearl or embossed cardstock for a wedding with the bride & groom's names on the front or in ruby and gold for a ruby wedding anniversary favour. Made up in baby colours they would work as baby shower favours or in bright colours for a b'day party - the possibilities are endless! They make lovely 'thank you' gifts quickly and easily too.

I used them in Christmas colours for the dinner table last year and will be making them again this year. My sister Sherilee works in a nursing home and made them for all the residents for their Christmas dinner table - how sweet was that!

Hope you enjoy anyhow.

Modern Medicine

I feel very fortunate to be able to post on my blog right now because I have been in considerable pain throughout today.

I suffered a very nasty fall at work last year and despite some time off, x-rays, physiotherapy sessions and time to heal I find I am left in pain from time to time - mostly when I do a series of things I shouldn't over the course of several days by which time it is too late to avoid the inevitable pain - but equally sometimes it can be something as simple as a long car journey or even just sitting wrong for too long.

Though not one to pop pills lightly I have become a pill popper when it comes to this kind of pain and I was relieved that my doctor was happy to give me a few more when I called today. I am careful to take them only when absolutely necessary but they're the reason I can actually sit at my computer tonight and get these posts on line. I am a little drowsy right now but numb to the pain and besides I'm heading off to bed when I'm done.

While I don't enjoy feeling like this it so makes me appreciate the good days and serves as a constant reminder to make the most of life as often as you can.

It also makes me sooooooooo thankful for modern medicine!

Christmas Card Making

Last night was a Christmas card making session at our Crafty Women group and we have several girls turn out for it which was really great.

I thought I might share a few photos and introduce a few of them - and hopefully they won't mind seeing themselves on the web!

Esther (left) has been crafting with me for several years now so I always look forward to seeing her. She is joined by her friend Theresa (right) and Theresa's mother Sasha who is visiting for a while. Obviously Sasha is helping out which just goes to show what lovely people crafters are - so helpful and friendly.

I don't know if Esther will like this photo of herself or not but I love it. Just look at the concentration on her face as she crafts to perfection. Proof that you can get totally absorbed when you're crafting - what a great way to unwind and de-stress!

This is Jilly - my bestest friend - one who is like a sister to me and has been a part of my family since we were 14 years old. She couldn't stop for long so decided to do her knitting instead but hey that's cool. I made several of these scarves a couple of years ago when they were a bit of a craze and it's nice to see Jilly having a go at one.

This is Abbie crafting with us, her mum Lesley is one of our committee members. Abbie is a member of our family too because she is Maddycakes Godmother so it's always nice to see her.

I don't have pictures of all the girls but I would like to mention Margaret who is not a crafter but who joins us for company and kindly makes the tea and coffee. She made us scones with butter and jam too (delicious) and she is such a sweetheart to do this for us. What a great serving heart she has - we just love her so BIG THANKS Margaret - we really appreciate that you take time out to come and sit with us and that you make us all feel so special. I hope you'll be joining us for our dessert evening on 17 December.

Friends

There are few things in life worth more than good friends and this evening I got to spend a whole evening with some of mine - how lucky am I!

I left my job as Head of Patient Services in a local GP surgery almost 2 years ago now and moved on to a new job but I have still kept in contact with a few of my friends there and I felt really special after all this time to still be included in their Christmas meal.

There were only a few of us and I wanted to make them something each so when I found out today that 10 of us were going, I decided I could make these cute little gift boxes in the 2 hours I had between getting home from work and getting dressed to go out.

I stamped up a sheet of A4 paper this morning before going to work so I could copy some to share with the girls in the office so I simply copied a few more as the base card. The floral embellishments are made using a Sizzix die cutter and I printed the tags on my trusty computer. The flowers are layered up 3D style so they actually 'pop' out.

I saw the demo for the box template on the Create & Craft shopping channel last year and made several so it was nice to revisit this little box.

All being well I will photograph myself making this box over the weekend and get it posted onto my blog asap. It's 11.40 pm so I'm not going to do it tonight!!!!

I would normally have fussed over these a bit more (like adding liquid pearls or glitter) but time didn't allow.

This is Jackie (right) and Wendy who is a fellow Christian as well as a good friend and a lovely person to know. I used to think they broke the mould when they made her because there couldn't be another one like her but then I met her sister and her mum!

This is Gilly (left) who used to work in my office with me and who I miss talking to and Lynn who is a laugh a minute.

Me on the left, Christina (Head of Reception) in the middle and Wendy again. Christina is very good at keeping in touch with me so she is the one who made it possible for me to be here tonight.

Here are 2 of the 3 Jans working at the surgery. Jan in the middle is saying 'cheese' in case you wondered what the face was about. I had hoped to see the other Jan but she wasn't there.

We went to the Tollgate Inn for our meal and if you get a chance to eat there you won't be disappointed. The food is great, the management soooooo friendly and the portions are HUGE! Drinks, main course, desserts for some and coffee liquers for others, more drinks (including a free one on the house) and all for £15 each.

The girls loved their little gift boxes - I filled them with Twilight chocolates - so it was worth the effort but then friends are always worth making an effort for and I had a great time catching up on how we are all doing.

Girls if you are reading this - May your Christmases be filled with family, fun and all the love that your hearts can hold. Love & blessings for a safe and happy Christmas from Suezie OXOXO

Publicity Shot

I was searching my computer for a web clip funny that my nephew Cory sent us a couple of years back and ran across this photo of myself tucked away somewhere in the deepest, darkest depths. Actually it was in a shared file, inside another file, inside another file etc.

It was e-mailed to me by the lady at West Suffolk College involved in promotions. I had been asked to go in for an informal photo shoot to promote the classes I was teaching for them at the time. It's been a couple of years since I quit teaching for West Suffolk and I taught for 3 or 4 years so it must've been taken back in 2001/2. I've come a long way in my crafting since then.

I don't have a photo of myself under my info because I haven't found one I like yet (maybe I won't ever get a photo uploaded) so it was a nice surprise to find myself in a picture and to be reasonably happy with how I look - at least enough to post it on my blog.

Pretty Snowflakes

I have been creating over the weekend so I wanted to share with everyone. This card is really simple but the actual snowflake embellishment took a while to make. It's white cardstock glued to patterned vellum and then glittered around the edges.

I found the instructions for this really pretty (and very clever) snowflake by Donna Moore over at Split Coast Stampers. You can check out her instructions here http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7328202#post7328202 and there's a link to view her card using the snowflake too. I didn't have the 2 sizes of tag punch so I pain-stakingly cut tags and then used a craft knife and mat to cut a smaller tag out of the inside of them. It worked just as well but it took longer.

I used mine to decorate a money envelope for one of the girls for Christmas. I didn't have glittered cardstock so I took a tip from my crafty daughter Jessica. Last year she squeezed a small amount of clear glitter glue into a dish and painted her cardstock so that when it dried it was just like glittered cardstock.

I think I have mentioned before, the value of having an inexpensive bottle of clear glitter glue. This stuff is so useful. I didn't know what to put in the middle of mine so I punched a couple of daisies in two different sizes, snipped the ends of each petal into a point (instead of a round), inked them with a small inkpad to colour them - blue & lilac - and yep you guessed it, painted them with clear glitter glue!

I used foam pads between the layers to give as much 3D effect as possible. The band slips off and the hook & loop dot opens to reveal a pocket inside for the money and a place to write a message too.

I have a few favourite craft items and the daisy punch is easily in my top 10. I have used it so many times in numerous ways to create completely different looks and embellishments. I could run several tutorials on it. Time allowing maybe I will when Dave's free to photograph me.

This was the paper I used and would you believe it - I got it from Tesco's. We took mom and Dave's sister to Scotland this year and went in a really big Tesco's. They actually had a craft section! I found this scrapbooking paper pack and bought it because I liked the colours. I forget the price but it was really reasonable and there were 2 sheets of each design. I like to buy this way if I can because I can repeat a nice design 3 or 4 times without having to change the colour/pattern too much.

This was just a quick card and not near as pretty as the others but it was stamping the background for this card that led me to thinking about the paper I had bought in the same kind of colours and patterns.

I know I can do better but sometimes the first thing I create doesn't have to be WOW!, it just has to start the creative juices flowing. This close up shot just shows the pearl paint used to add raised dots and you can just about make out the clear glitter glue in the centre of some of the snowflakes.

I could do so much more with these papers, stamps, glitters etc., but I am working on some really cute little bags and Christmas bows now so will post those next.

Stamper's Survival Kit

Found this on a cool site over the weekend and wanted to share it. There are lots of other cool things so check the site out at http://www.kimstamps.com/skits.htm

Stamper's Survival Kit

Inkpad
So we can leave our stamp on the world, ever changing and colourful
Brayer
To spread joy and colour
Corner Rounder
Everyone needs to round their corner now and then and not be a square
Hole Punch
If it can't be done, you can prove that it can, thereby punching a hole in the theory of impossibility
Eraser
To erase all the bad things that can happen during the course of a stamping day
Cardstock
The perfect medium for expressing ourselves and our individuality
Glitter
To put a little sparkle in your life
Glue
To hold it all together
Mask
To cover up the stuff you don't want to see
Catalogue
So you can always have a dream
Stamps
To leave an image, no matter how small of who we are, what we like, and what we can't seem to live without

Cupcake Stand

I just had to share this with you. I spent the day with my younger daughter Jessica today - this is a very rare thing indeed and only in the last year or so have we been able to spend time together without clashing - we are too much alike.

Anyhow we decided to check out some shops we don't often get time for and Marchants in St John's Street came top of the list. It's full of such wonderful things for the kitchen and home and I can never come out without having bought something.

Well I passed up the opportunity to buy a cupcake stand on our last trip back home and I have been regretting it ever since. Earlier this year I missed getting one in Candle Blue (also in St Johns Street) so when I saw this lovely thing sitting in the window display of Marchants I knew I was going to have to buy it.

I still can't believe it was only £14.95! Even better, it was the last one left and the display had to be taken apart for me to have it! It holds 18 cupcakes at least and possibly a few more besides.

I have a love of cake stands, pretty dishes, glass, stainless steel ( I think it's the shiny that gets me - like a Magpie) and so I collect.

All my collection may only come out now and then but they do come out and I do get to use them.

This is a close up shot and while on closer inspection at home I discovered it came apart in 3 places so storing it is not going to be a problem.

I can just see us using this for one of Maddycakes b'days all filled with pretty pink cupcakes - how cute. I am toying with the idea of keeping it up and in my craft room with jars of embellishments on it. How pretty would that look.

My other daughter Vicky is co-hosting a baby shower next week with a cupcake theme so I think I may let her borrow it. She will get to use it before I do but I think I can live with that.

Oh dear - I think I feel cupcake inspiration coming on. Where did I put the Sizzix cupcake die I've never actually used?????? Watch this space.

Of course there is still the matter of the lovely red glass 2 tier cake stand that I still want in Marchant's but Jessica knows I have put it on my Christmas wish list so who knows - I just may get to add another one to my collection!

Definition of the Christmas Wreath

This is my first attempt at making a classy but simple kinda card for some of my faith sharing friends for Christmas. I knew as soon as I saw this verse that I had the perfect stamps to build up a wreath. I could've used my See D morsels but instead I chose to use my 'Holiday Garden' set of tapestry stamps - check them out at http://www.rubberstamptapestry.com/

I printed the text using my computer and then drew a faint pencil circle in the middle. Next I stamped the individual elements of the wreath building it up until I was happy with the result. These stamps come with instructions of how to build up the design. I used a 'stamp off' technique to create a faint image of a wreath and to allow the text to show through.

Stamp Off Tip:

1. ink up stamp

2. stamp lightly on scrap paper to remove some of the ink

3. stamp lightly on project for a lighter image

When I have used these stamps in the past my text is usually in the middle with the images circling it but I liked this idea so much I decided to see what other stamps might work.

I chose a series of small snowflake stamps and used blues, lilacs and greys for this one. The blue and red background cardstock is pearlised with pretty designs that just don't show in these photographs.

It took quite a while to find a font that would allow me to use this VERY LONG verse in limited space. I think this font is called 'nuptial' - all I know is I really like it and have used it several times before.

I found the verse on the Dayspring website which is a favourite of mine for sending Christian e-cards to friends and family. They have some of the nicest e-cards and even videos too. Check them out at http://www.dayspring.com/

This is the verse in full

Every Christmas wreath is more than just a decoration.... it's a special reminder of Jesus, the reason for our celebration.

The circle of a Christmas wreath is a never-ending ring, a reminder of eternal love from our Lord and King.

The Christmas wreath is a sign of welcome, inviting all to enter in.... a reminder of Christ's invitation for all to come to him.

The middle of a Christmas wreath is a bare and empty space, a reminder of what life would be without Christ's love & grace.

So each time you see a Christmas wreath hanging from a door, may your heart rejoice in the One that Christmas is truly for!

Holley Gerth

One thing to mention if you do decide to use this (or any) versequote. You should always add the author if you know it so credit goes where it is due.