Just What the Doctor Ordered

Today I had an appointment to see my doctor. She is such a sweet, petite and pretty little thing (a mother of 4 I believe) with a really caring nature plus a soft spoken 'scottish' accent. I am so very grateful to know her and to have her as my doctor. She has seen me through a crisis or two so every now and then I make a little something for her. She is always so appreciative of my little gifts and I'm always surprised when I hear that she finds a place to display these little treasures in her home or that she often uses them.

I told you she was sweet. Today she told me my last box was displayed in her spare room and when her mother stayed recently she remarked how lovely it was. Anyone who knows me knows I love to give gifts but it's not always easy parting with it once it's finished. I always want to keep it for MYSELF!

Anyhow this was her gift today.

It was made in rather a hurry but I am happy with it. It's another one of those 'pizza' boxes that I shared a tutorial for earlier on. I used a clip art 'tatty teddy (Me to You) and simply dragged the colours through the design. Given more time I might've added stitching and eyelets or brads but like I said I was in a hurry.

I started with a pre-decorated A4 cardstock so that I didn't need to cover the box except for the top and then added scalloped strips around the sides. I finished the whole thing off with some 3D daisies with button centres. I used two ribbons (yellow & blue) to tie across the box with a bow at the side. It didn't need a closure, I simply wanted it to have a nice bow and there's no reason it couldn't be a functional one.

These were the contents of the box - a pack of 'scottish' viennese biscuits and an Earl Grey T-bag for when she gets a chance to sit and relax.

Actually one of the girls in the office came back from a meeting with the individually wrapped biscuits and I took one intending to eat it but then when I needed something to put in my box I discovered it fit perfectly. I knew I already had wrapped t-bags so that's what I filled it with.

Design Challenge

Sometimes you are set a design challenge using something that simply doesn't inspire you at all and you have to work extra hard to 'get into' the creative flow. I know it happened to me just recently - BUT NOT TODAY!

Today I started to play with some stamps designed by Amanda's friend Marion Emberson and here they are. I am demonstrating with them next Saturday at YTOC and then again at the Thetford Craft Show in August.

They're clear stamps which are pretty much a staple for me these days. I have to fall, deeply, madly in love with any other kind of stamp to be even tempted to buy it (GOSH - how sad do I sound?)

Anyhow I knew I was going to be playing with these today and I actually woke up thinking about a few potential projects! I love, love, love when something inspires me like that cos one design idea just trips right into another and then before you know it you're tripping all over them there are so many.

Having said that I don't know now how impressed you're gonna be with this one but I always get excited about the one that gets the ball rolling and this morning this was it. I love this 'funky' flower that fits perfect on this 4.5 x 4.5 box. It should've been 3.5 x 3.5 but I made it larger to fit the flower with space. I am sooooo gonna make a 'windmill' on a stick with this today!

This is the view of the sides and I decided the text 'petals' were perfect for adding along strips of paper around all the sides. This was a super quick project once I got going and what a lovely thank you idea filled with one of those yummy giant cookies from M & S (drooling now - sorry).

I appreciate you can see the underside of my paper in this shot but I was trying to show the box slightly open. If you made the box from double sided card stock it would make up even easier and have a nice colour/pattern inside too.

I absolutely love stampin on patterened paper as long as the design is small and will take it nicely. I have actually made a heart design with this petal stamp and I'm feelin the need for a mini card coming on, plus I have several more ideas waiting to get out!

Will probably share more after Saturday and after Thetford so you gotta be there if you want to see or you'll just have to wait. Hope those of you who already have these stamps are getting inspired too.

Maddy & Needham Lake

Despite not having been too well this week I managed to cope with a couple of hours of outdoors and sunshine today. I really didn't have to do too much just sit and wander around with my camera and go home when I'd had enough.

Today is our 29th wedding anniversary and we were babysitting Maddy while the boys went to Portman Road in Ipswich for a footie match with mum and dad. I had heard about Needham Lake from a work colleague and wanted to check it out so we took Maddy along.

I will share a few pictures of the lake but first I wanted to share these two. The first is Maddy on the journey there reading one of her Disney princesses books. I love the way she crosses her legs when she's comfortable.

This shot below tells a completely diferent story and is Maddy on the journey home. We had only been gone a couple of hours but even at 4 years old, feeding ducks and playing in the park can still tucker you out!

Like I said we fed the ducks and the swans.

We didn't actually think to bring bread but Maddy being the fusspot she is never eats her crusts so for a one off, Dave and I joined her as we ate our picnic lunch so we had a whole bunch of bread for the birds.

She actually got a bit too close for comfort to this swan so it took to the water. I'm sure glad it did - it looks so lovely floating out on the water.

Of course there was plenty of time for play in the park area as well. It's not a huge park but there is a second park further in across the bridge so there is just enough for kids to have a play. If you pause a while over the bridge you can watch the fish swimming in the water below and be dazzled by the beautiful dragonflies flying just above.

Ordinarily we might've taken the walk around the lake to Alder Carr Farm but not today. I had Dave drive us there and we had the chance to see some farm animals as well as sample some great homemade cake.

This is what Maddy was looking at over the fence. Mud, mud, glorious mud! This pig was soooo enjoying a good wallow in it and it was HUGE.

Mom if you're reading this - I sooo cannot believe this was here all the time. When I think how often we visited Needham Market for the antique and flea market and probably even parked by the rail station without even knowing this was just on the other side of the tracks it makes me 'pig' sick.

You would've loved the farm with it's pretty courtyard of shops, home made ice cream, pick your own berries, farm shop and even a little restaurant. Heck I'd have taken my own mum when we took her for a drive a few weeks back if I'd known it was here.

For anyone looking in - Needham Lake (and Alder Carr Farm) is well worth a visit if you're looking to find a pleasant sunny afternoon past-time. I know we only scratched the surface today.

Another Demo Saturday

Today may have gotten off to a weird start - I don't know what happened - but it was a demo Saturday and as always it's become rather nice just to sit and chill and craft some.

I always love chatting to other crafters and it seems like I have a regular crowd now that come in to see me. How nice is that! Hi to you all (you know who you are) if you happen to be reading this.

I actually spent more time demonstrating the use of nestabilities and how to make mini envelopes to house a couple of cute cards I made. It just seemed that no sooner had I demonstrated something than someone else came along and wanted to see what they'd just missed so I had to do it again and again, but hey some days that's what I'm there for. Because of that I only got time to finish two cards so it was a good job I had boards from a previous session on display.

I played with some super inexpensive mini stamp sets (above and below) to create some quick and simple mini cards.


Sadly Amanda didn't have this die in or I could've sold 2 or 3 sets and maybe I should've checked before using this shape but I did say it was kind of a weird day. I don't know what I was thinking, if I even was?

Inside the card is cute cos it says 'poo happens'. I like this shape card so much I think I might make my next gift set of cards this shape. A square envelope works perfect for it too.

I have come away with some stamps to design with for the Thetford Show so that should keep me busy for awhile. I have been secretly looking at them for a while now wondering if I should get them (and I probably will now) so hopefully I can come up with lots of good ideas.

No Flies on Mr Postie

I got home today and a package greeted me - WOW - packages are one of my most favourite things in the entire world! Especially if they're just for ME and full of things I'm really gonna want!

Well this one definately was. It was only posted first class yesterday morning would you believe so I didn't expect it until Saturday at least. This was a lovely surprise.

Jessy had ordered a few bargain items on line while she was up last weekend and got me a few cute stamps and rub ons plus she got me the latest issues of Cards and Scrapbook Trends magazines. I got an e-mail from her saying she had gotten them and was looking at the magazines and I was like NO WAY I wanna be lookin at them too. Well I didn't have to wait long did I.

Truth was we had such a good time at the farewell BBQ that I ended up not minding that I hadn't said 'no' to all the extra work but even if I had after getting this goodie package who would mind?

Thanks Jess - love, love, love ya :-)

Maybe I will have to find something nice to put in a package back to ya huh?

Absolute LAST Teacher Gift Post

I promise this is the absolute LAST teacher gift post. Even I've had enough now and I'm sure you all have too.

Vicky picked up the leaves I had printed out from a freebie on the internet that had cute messages of thanks for teachers and took them home. She added them to the apples she bought at M & S this morning when she dropped the boys off at school (last day today). I gave her my camera since I wanted to see what they looked like when they were finished.

I gave her stuff to wrap the basket up with and strict instructions to take a picture so I could see the finished basket.

Since Maddy is still in the pre-school class she has lots of helpers and she insisted on carrying this basket herself - aarrhhhhh, sweet little 4 year old moment - warm fuzzy feeling. Ok enough fuzzy feeling - she promptly dropped the darn thing. That is soooooo typical Maddy! There were several mums who admired the handmade gifts and who liked the simple ideas. During a recession when everyone is tightening their belts it's nice to get back to home made.

Speaking of which I HAVE to share the adorable hand crafted 'pen pots' that my little friend Ella made for her teachers. One of the gals at work brings her 5 year old daughter into to work for a few minutes before dropping her off at school just minutes down the road. Ella and I are buddies and often have a chat or colour or discuss her outfits, hair attire, just hang out etc.

Anyhow is this not the cutest dragonfly 'pen pot' you have ever seen? I love the flower base, the colours, the pom poms, sparkly wings - EVERYTHING. See home made is GOOD. I want one!

And she made a purple 'creepy crawly' spider one. Hope one of her teachers likes spiders!

And she made a 'stripey' bumble bee or is he a honey bee? Don't ya just love his oversized eyes!

I think she did a brilliant job at crafting these and better still I know her and mummy had fun doing it too. She gave them in these shiny gift bags with a pretty boxed pen to go in them and a Thornton's chocolate gift tag. Apparently they do these for just a round pound and you can have whatever you want written on them - how cool is that.

Teachers do a fabulous job of teaching our young ones and they take a suprisingly large amount of work home so they deserve a special treat. Hope they brought bags to school today to carry their booty home in.

Roll on summer hols!

My Absolute Favourite by Far!

Well I found myself having to make another 'apple' box since Vicky decided she needed another one. It seems the boys both have 2 teachers each so we have come up with another idea for Maddy. Hopefully I will get a picture taken to share here before it goes off.



I love the colours and the papers for this one. I think I may have downloaded it from the web last year and just love how vibrant the two tone greens and reds are. Note to self: I really must get a small book to note down what I find and just where I find it. Mostly it's by accident while looking for something else which may explain why I can't always remember the source.

This is my favourite one so far proving that practise makes perfect.

Since I still had the sewing machine out I decided to sew around the squares for added effect. I will probably have a real spate of sewing at least until the machine finally gets put away.

Between the inking and the sewing it makes the panels look sooooo much nicer than all the others put together. I love this look - I just hate dragging the machine out but I should do it more often cos it's sooooo worth the effort.

This is the card I ended up throwing together which has a mistake or two but hey I'm not tellin where. What can I say it was done in a hurry.

I love the retro look of this duo. Ok now I promise you won't see another box unless it's something completely different or has a new look at the very least.

For anyone wishing to know how I made this box see the tutorial post below.

Happy Crafting :-)

Square Box Tutorial

I had wanted to make this into a cupcake design before I posted the tutorial but I simply haven't had time. Today my daughter collected her boxes and mini cards but then decided she needed another box so that's what I've been doing this evening. I thought since I was I might as well put together the tutorial so here goes.

This box is made from just one and a half sheets of A4 card stock so it's real economical and since it's card stock it's much stronger than normal 12 x 12 card too.

Begin by placing card vertically and cutting a strip of card 3.5" wide. Turn it horizontally and score first at 3.5" then again at a further 3.5" (7" total) and then cut at the last 3.5" - strip should measure 3.5" x 10.5" when finished and look like this (below) when folded on score lines.

Your finished box is going to measure 3.5" x 3.5" and while that doesn't sound terribly big you'll be surprised at how much room this box has inside. After all it takes a pretty good sized red apple!

Return to the remaining scrap and placing it vertically trim to 4.5" wide. This allows for 'tuck in' tabs to be created.

Turn it first horizontally and score at 3.5", then a further 3.5" and then trim at a further 3.5" just as before.

Now turn it vertically again and score half an inch (.5") in from both long sides as shown above

Cut away the mid section as per photo above cutting upper and lower tabs at a slight angle. This makes adjusting the box when assembling much easier as it allows for a bit of 'play'. By now you will have 1 section with tabs as above and a similar section without any tabs.

Once you have folded on all score lines add adhesive tape to the middle square of the tabbed section. Hope you can see this in the photo.

Take the first section and center it to secure in place on the second section. You will begin to see how the base of the box is going to come together.

If you plan to decorate the panels of the box it is best to do so whilst you can lay it flat to work with. Take care to align your patterned paper so the design runs in the correct direction when the box is assembled. I have used 3 1/4" and also 3 3/8" squares depending on whether I wanted a fraction of border or an 1/8" border. For this particular box I used the larger squares.

Once your panels are decorated you can add adhesive tape to the length of the tabs and assemble the box as shown above. You can then see that this box will easily fit a large muffin.

Now take your second piece of A4 card and cut a square measuring 5 1/8" x 5 1/8". Working in from each side in turn score at 3/4" to form the lip of the lid.

Cut just once on each side up to where the score lines meet as shown in the photo above to create 4 tabs. Test them out to see if they need minor trimming and you may wish to cut a slight angle as before so you have 'play' room when assembling. Decorate whilst you can lay flat as before and then add adhesive tape and secure to finish.

Then you can embellish the box as desired.

Enjoy!

Our Little Cutie

Feels like forever since I posted a photo of our cute little guy Kaleb. He has the most beautiful green eyes and lovely long eyelashes.

My sister just happened to be taking his picture when he smiled for her so I grabbed my camera and got him from the side. He's a keeper!

Hodge Podge Kinda Day

Today was my day off and it turned out to be a hodge podge kinda day because I did neither one thing or the other all day long!

It started out kinda weird because while I was checking my e-mails at 9.35 am I happened to notice family were on line. You might not think that's so strange but I struck up an online conversation with Dave's brother Dan who was online at 2.35 am stateside! They are 7 hours behind us. The poor guy has been having trouble sleeping so he was up and we just happened to chat for awhile. I sure hope he gets his sleeping sorted out real soon. Sleep deprevation is a real killer to live with.

I had started crafting with one of Lauren's templates the night before so I was supposed to be finishing that but I guess maybe I chose the wrong papers or something because I wasn't getting inspired and gave up after half an hour.

I will have to finish these at some point and also an earlier one I designed myself before Lauren's template was available that we plan to teach in a class.

Then I lost an hour and a half sifting through my paper stash (hardly scratched the surface) to try to get inspired. I found some lovely papers but no inspiration so I went back on line.

I ordered Lauren's latest templates - just released today - you gotta check them out here http://www.papertreyink.com/ plus the lovely new stamps this month as well.

They're called 'milk made' (cutest little milk cartons and carry crate) and 'pretty petal pocket' (adorable little bag). Sadly they've changed the way you download so instead of being instant I had to wait for a reply e-mail. When it became obvious it wasn't coming through any time soon I gave up.

Instead I decided to play around and create a page using an old black and white photo of my mother I had found.

I grabbed some of the the papers I'd found earlier and started to have a play.

I've been in a sewing mood ever since the bunting at the weekend so I was more than happy to sew the strips of paper. I never sew items directly onto my page unless I have to. I always sew on the paper or photos and then stick them to the page - don't know why just prefer it that way I guess.

Anyhow I distressed the edges afterwards as I plan to use old photos of my mother. Believe it or not these papers were from K & Co. I couldn't finish the page because I want to get this photo reproduced so I can use just the one. I want to keep the original intact and I need plenty of space to journal about mum's life.

At this point I still hadn't actually completed anything much today so I took a break and watched some real boring TV (don't know what made me do it) then suddenly realised it was 4 pm and I hadn't showered, dressed and Dave's dinner needed cooking. Am I bad or what? Shame on me.

After dinner Dave went off to youth group and I downloaded my templates FINALLY! Then I tried to finish the kids teacher gifts. I had made the boxes but needed to make 3 cards to match.

This box in front is my favourite by far. It was the last one I made and it was taking on a kinda 'country' look. I'd have loved to have had more time to play around with it.

Anyhow I didn't even manage to finish these tonight. I still have liners to add to the cards, mini envelopes to make, tissue paper to find - found it over the weekend but now can't remember where I put it again. I swear I DRIVE ME CRAZY!!! To top it all off my craft room is beginning to look a bit of a wreck again after today.

Well eventually I gave up trying to finish anything and got caught up here on the blog. Now I've finally run out of steam so I'm hittin the hay for the night cos I need to be fit for work tomorrow. Don't ask me where today went or what I achieved - I think I just meandered through an entire day somehow but how lovely to have a day to meander.

Farewell BBQ

This weekend we hosted a farewell BBQ for our nephew Timmy who moved back to his home town of San Antonio, Texas a couple of years ago. He had come over to visit for 3 months and as he was working for (and staying with) our youngest daughter she wanted to say thank you and make sure he had a good send off. They have always kept in touch and been close as cousins.

We pulled out the awning and decorated up the yard with the bunting I had finished earlier the day before.

It wasn't easy getting a good shot and despite looking out at the yard from the back door and seeing a sea of pink bunting it wasn't so easy to get it all in the shot.

This is the man himself - chillin! I know he had a real good time so it was worth all the effort. One of the nicest things was not just hanging out with family but the girls had invited several mutual friends as well. It was so nice having a house ful of kids again and catching up with all of them and how they were all doing. We always hosted for their friends so it was just like old times except now some of them had their own kids.

I know Tim will miss us and we will miss him but I'm sure he'll be glad to be back home with his girlfriend Amber.

Sleeping Princess

Ever wondered what a sleeping princess looks like? Wonder no more!

This was Maddy early Saturday morning while she was still asleep in her 'princess gown' pj's that even have sparklies on them. She is mad about all the Disney princesses!


Don't they all look like princes and princesses when they're asleep?