Walkabout

Since Monday was a bank holiday hubby and I decided it was about time I had a walkabout. Last week I was only supposed to walk around the house but for week 2 I am able to get out for short walks. What better way than to gently stroll around a car boot sale or two looking for bargains. You really never know what you might find so we love to do this. We usually pack a picnic and make a day of it.

A bank holiday always brings out lots of car boot sales which is especially nice if the weather's good. Today was drizzly but it eventually brightened up and there were several for us to choose from.

I didn't find anything major but I did find a few cute boxes. One was in a shaker style and the other had a hinged lid and is perect for decorating up. Why couldn't I have found this in time for the PT altered frame project? I'm gonna think long and hard about what papers I use to decorate this up with and who I'm gonna give it to when it's finished. I'm still thinkin on what might go in it so until I decide it will sit waitin. I can see it decorated up with 3D flowers on the lid and maybe a quote under the glass - pretty enough to sit out on a table!

I paid £1.50 for the shaker box and just £1 for this lovely hinged box. I collect containers, boxes and bags since I love to alter them for gift giving and I'm thrilled to add these to my collection of 'to do' projects.

Then like a good girl I came home and rested up for a while (which I found I needed). I have a project I have been tinkering about with on and off this past week. Hopefully I can post it just as soon as I get it finished but I haven't crafted for the past couple of days. Everything I do is in small doses right now but I'd love to get and finish it some time soon. Will post it soon I promise!

Project Tuesday 4 May

Not only is today Tuesday but it is also my daughter's birthday (and somehow this morning while I was on the phone to her I volunteered to host a BBQ for her and her friends). I now have a very busy day ahead of me but first I need to post my project.

This week was all about altering a tin. I LOVE to alter projects and I have an ever growing collection of tins, boxes, bags - just about ANYTHING I think I might want to alter some day. My only dilema was which item to choose! In the end I kept it simple and opted for a square tin.

I think I like these best because they have such a large surface area on top - kinda like a big blank canvas which provides plenty of room to decorate and embellish. The last time I did a square tin I added a square card making kit inside and all the handmade embellishments to make cards to match. This one is much deeper so I may have to get my thinking cap on about what I fill it with.

I used the same cotton lace as my last project only in a burgundy red colour. As soon as I saw this lace I bought some in every colour and I knew this colour would be lovely on a project - I just didn't expect to be using it quite so soon. I added it all the way around the sides too.

I think this one is probably gonna go to my bestest friend Jilly at some point and I know she'll be thrilled.

You can play along this week here and when you do I hope you'll take a minute and link so I can see it. I love seeing what everyone comes up with each week - it's so much fun. Happy crafting!

All Boxed Up!

Well I have made several Valentine projects between yesterday afternoon and today. I'm gonna have to quit some time soon or I will have loads of samples and nothing to demo tomorrow!

I will post some of the others later but for now I want to share a really neat box that I have been dying to make. I just LOVE to give cupcakes and this box will serve nicely for all the b'days in 2010 plus I think I might try to see what it looks like made up for Easter as well.

I am a HUGE fan of bags, tags and boxes. I love that I can make one from scratch and then decorate it up - kinda like altering things except that you make the item to be altered yourself. Definately 100% hand made!

I knew I was right to buy the lacy heart MS punch. It was a bit too girly for me and I couldn't really see myself using it but between the Valentine projects and Maddycake's 5th b'day in a couple of weeks time I think it's gonna be in constant use. It is perfect for adding a 'girly' touch to her party invites and other bits and pieces.

I am super excited to see what a cupcake looks like inside one of these cute boxes but since I didn't have one to hand I filled mine with cinnamon candies I brought back from our last trip home. Waitrose do some fabulous cupcakes in their bakery section, add a single candle, a balloon and a sachet of confetti and you have the perfect b'day box - can't wait!

I used BoBunny papers and now that it's completed I realise I should've used the green on the ends and the patterned paper around the sides since I covered up most of the ends with decoration. Oh well - I know for next time.

The really clever bit is how this box opens! I had to use ribbon to keep it closed (didn't stay shut on it's own) but I like tying up boxes with ribbons and bows so that was cool. It has kind of a 'floating' box in the centre and the two sides cup around it, meeting in the middle. If I was putting a cupcake in it I would add a section with a hole to sit the cake into securely.

I know you should give credit where credit is due but in this case I couldn't determine where it was due. I did a google search and found several versions and then tweaked my own. Mine ended up being about 3" square which is just about big enough for a small frosted cupcake.

Will share more later. For anyone that's around town tomorrow I am demonstrating in the morning at YTOC. Hope to see some of you there to catch up.

Emma's Gift

Well I ran short on time and energy and I needed to come up with something quick for Emma's leaving gift today. I had already contributed to the office collection but I still wanted to give her someting handmade and a bit more personal. Something just from me!

I grabbed the box/bag and card I had made for the PT challenge and decided to add something extra to it. I keep a regular supply of things like hard backed notebooks, post it note pads, tins etc in the house for when I need a quick gift item so I grabbed the last of my black notebooks - that was lucky! Let's hope I can remember to grab more next time I'm in the store - memory aint what it used to be ya know.

I had just enough designer paper left over to add to the front - the perfect width but it fell short on length. Necessity being the 'mother of invention' I added some white cardstock which I punched with a MS scallop border punch and then decided I could get away with leaving the rest black for a nice effect. I used the polka dot ribbon to hide the join.

Some super quick embellishing, a few tied ribbons plus a long one on the top as a marker, some gems and her name to personalise it. I filled the bag with some M & S dark chocolate mint truffles which all fit bar one - SHAME - I had no choice but to eat it honest!

It was a quickie job so ordinarily I would've embellished the book a bit more but at least it goes to show it can be done if needs be. Well today is my day off and I have no idea what I will achieve; if anything. I might just clean house some and watch a period drama while I paint up more of those cute little angels. I share my creations with girls at work who are often telling me they wish I'd bring in cards to sell. These angels are so darn cute I think I could easily make a half dozen and take them in and keep them happy.

Five Down - Three More to Do!

I am having a 'down' day today. It's actually my day off so I am still in my PJs but just pottering around doing a bit here and a bit there - nothing too tiring. I get periods of fatigue due to some ongoing health issues that I just have to deal with right now so I need one of these days every so often to help set me right. That's why I try to be so productive if and when I get an energy spurt which can be rare!

Despite that I do sometimes manage to get a few things done and today I have finally finished the aprons I've been working on. I couldn't quite manage it last night so had an early night instead and since I could take my time today I have now completed them. All 5 of them so that makes just 3 more to go if we want to do them all.

I am gonna enjoy wearing one of these cos the flower is so pretty. These aprons aren't too long either and have several pockets which come in handy for holding a few crafting tools when demo-ing.

I have enough pieces cut out to do the remaining 3 aprons and maybe even another flower or two. I quite like the idea of making a little pink canvas lunch bag for myself with this flower on the front - if you gotta 'brown bag it' you might as well have a pretty bag. I am also hoping to make Maddycakes an apron of her own and this would be 'oh so cute'? Think maybe I shall have to go fabric shopping for pink canvas fabric some time soon.

Last year at the all day workshop I made name badges for us all. This year I just might have to use one of my pretty flower nestabilities dies and make us pretty floral name badges to match.

The nested flower die on the left makes a fab flower and a circle sits real cute in the centre. We had an issue with pin backs last year but I found a whole bag of blank badges that this flower could be stuck to. My mind is running wild with ideas already. I just love anything to do with planning, decorating and co-ordinating stuff for parties or other events.

My project samples, hand out sheets and supply lists are all done so like I said earlier - I AM BEGINNING TO GET EXCITED!! I hope those of you lucky enough to have booked onto the day are starting to get excited too. I will share another sneak peek beginning of next week so watch this blog!

Well I am gonna get a cuppa and try to get something done in the kitchen. Hopefully that'll keep me goin till lunchtime and then maybe a nap this afternoon and another early night tonight might just see me right for the rest of the week.

Farewell Gift

While I enjoyed making this gift to give to our Team Leader I was sad at the same time because she is leaving the team. She has had such a positive impact and has been real fun to get to know as well as being supportive and protective of each of us in the team. She will be sorely missed.



This was my starting point - a recycled basket with pink tissue paper for presentation, an equally pink notebook and a box of chocolate truffles. Of course I love to do altered journals so that was a given. Decorating chocolate boxes is fun and since by now I had a pink and brown colour scheme developing and I knew I had saved a length of brown ribbon that had 'delicious' printed on it, things were starting to take shape.

I knew I had some colourful Doodlebug papers lurking somewhere waiting for just the right photos of Maddy and I knew if I used strips of paper in a patchwork theme I could salvage enough to still do a page later. Since I have the sewing machine still out I decided to use real stitching. I have included this shot in case anyone was interested in seeing how I did this.

I simply 'tacked' my strips onto thin card and stitched rows of zigzag at the joins across one side of the card to the other in one continuous length. Then I stitched around each block with straight stitch.

Once I had worked out the remaining elements of my design (and I just had to feature one of my new MS punches) I cut my blocks apart.

Next I sewed the text and paper lace on 'production line' style which is a technique I picked up years ago and makes the job quicker and easier as well as saving thread. Once at the end you simply snip them all apart.

After that it was simply a case of adding them to brightly colour card blanks and adding a few buttons for 3D fun. They turned out a whole lot brighter than I had originally intended but I know she'll love em.

Next was adding a panel to the notebook, embellishing, adding tabs to match and finishing off with ribbon down the spine. I left the first piece of ribbon long so she'd have a ribbon marker to save her page. In total I made 6 panels - 1 for the notebook, 1 for her leaving card and 4 for a set of handmade gift cards.

All that remained was to create a tag which consisted of trimmings of paper as a border and featured the title of the quote (see below). I wrapped it in celophane to keep everything together and keep it clean as I didn't want the other girls in the office sifting through it before she did. I had a friend help me drop it off at my office real quick tonight and I'm phoning her tomorrow to say a final farewell.

'Believe in Your Heart'

Look with hope to the horizon of today for today is all we truly have. Live this day well. Let a little sun out as well as in. Create your own rainbows. Be open to all your possibilities; all possibilities and miracles. Believe in your heart something wonderful is about to happen! - anon.

I wanted to wish her all wonderful opportunities and possibilities so I thought this quote suited this gift. I have it on a small plaque that stands on the shelf above the computer and it's the first time I've actually used it. I'm really glad I did.

Demo Saturday

Yesterday was a demo Saturday - every 1st & 3rd of each month - and I was demonstrating the nestabilities dies (plus some pretty rubber stamps I will post later). Here are just a couple of the things I created.


I absolutely love papercrafting - maybe even more than card making and scrapbooking some days. This is a simple origami box (one that I've featured before on my blog) made out of plain paper but given a whole new look simply by adding plain and scalloped squares using the nestability dies. After layering up the squares I embellished with my favourite daisy die and the whole thing ties together with some really pretty Bo Bunny polka dot ribbon. I have been known to get a bit silly over 'polka dots' before now. Love, love, love em!
I am always amazed how a flat piece of cardstock or designer paper can be transformed into something so pretty and so creative. There are some fab ideas out there - check out the splitcoast stampers link in my blog list for a few more.



Ordinarily I would've added some buttons and maybe a b'day embellishment to this card but I ran out of time. Amanda has some really cute wooden embellishmentsin store. I'd add a couple of bright buttons hanging off the upper left corner of the text box plus a bright wooden embellishment hanging off the bottom right of the text box to finish this design off perfectly and to add a fun element to it too.

I was making it to demonstrate the nestabilities dies remember! Anyhow it's more of the Bo Bunny b'day paper range which is so bright and such fun. Again I have only scratched the surface with these papers - THERE JUST AREN'T ENOUGH HOURS IN MY DAY/WEEK/MONTH !!!! - I simply cannot do ALL the stuff I want to!

There was a bunch more stuff but you gotta be there to see em.

4 Square Friendship Frame

I was unable to sleep during the night because of my cold so I decided it might be better if I just got up especially as Dave needed his sleep.

Since I didn't want to wake him I crept about in my craft room. I needed something quiet to do so after reading for awhile and realising I wasn't going to be able to return to bed I decided I could just about manage an easy project if I took my time over getting it done (in between coughing and blowing my nose that is).

I knew I had seen similar project on Alli Miles site - check it out here http://allistamps.blogspot.com/2008/04/garden-of-life-5.html and had always admired it intending to have a go myself at some point especially since I had the 'Garden of Life' PTI stamp set.

This is my version using one of the frames I purchased at the car boot sale this weekend. It only has 4 squares so there was much less work involved compared to her project.

Because my frames were 4 squares long it was hard to get everything in the shot so I took a close up photo showing partial detail. I decided on using 2 shades of the same colour ink and added inner cardstock frames in each square alternating the colours. After I stamped my text I decided I wanted a bit more black detail so I added pen dots and lines around each square to finish it off.

I think it turned out ok and since I have 2 more frames I can have some fun mixing them up too - but not until I'm feeling better. At some point sheer exhaustion will take over and I'll head back to bed.

Acrylic Album

I sure hope Kay won't mind me sharing photos of her fabulous acrylic album.

I saw it when I popped into the shop earlier this week and I was dead jealous. It was a class at Your Touch Of Craft taught by our lovely Annie Hafermann.

I have always wanted to do an acrylic album and if I'd known that was what she was teaching then I would've treated myself to a class. Kay's album looks lovely and I just love the tabs on each page. The papers are so pretty and colourful too and everything works so well together.

Working with acrylic is much the same as working with acetate. As long as you work with both sides in mind - i.e. hiding adhesives by covering front and back in the same positions there isn't a problem.

Fabulous job Kay - well done you! Doesn't change the fact that I WANT ONE TOO!

A Few Unfinished Designs

Just wanted to share a couple of photos of some designs I worked on for display at a show this weekend. Amanda asked me to see what I could come up with for some new chipboard albums she is selling.

I can't show you the inside of this album because I didn't quite get to finish it all. I'm sure it would've turned out ok if I had.

Instead I got rather excited about this one and turned all my attention to it. I have always wanted to do a recipe album of some sort and while this wasn't quite what I had in mind, I was really pleased with how it was shaping up. I could do these for several people I know. I am desperate to share family recipes right now.

I think maybe I'd use just 2 rings to secure it since you could hang a ribbon between the 2 so it would hang up. It had to work it vertically as some of the pages were just too small to have it horizontally and still get much text on them.

To make it go together a bit quicker I used designer sheets that had punch out alphabets, frames, borders and embellishments to match papers. These sheets may seem a bit more expensive at the time but they are well worth it - I promise you. Add some creativity, inks, computer text, ribbon, buttons and voila!

And just in case you're wondering where the recipes actually go here is a photo of the pages that were tucked into the different sections to write on. I decided to decorate these too.

I'm really sorry I didn't get a chance to finish these off properly but I thought I'd share them anyway.

Valentine Treats

I noticed these chocolate lollies (suckers) in M & S last time I was in there. There were other ones too but these ones were to help raise funds for breast cancer so I settled on 3 of them, one each for the grandkids for a Valentines Day treat.

I pretty much had an idea in mind for how I was gonna decorate them and I had recently bought some pretty paper that was my inspiration for the first one. It was for Maddy so I wanted it to be girly.

I knew I wanted to layer up different sizes of hearts and also to use scallops and I had a set of pink SWAK stickers I bought on sale while stateside. I knew I could do something with them as soon as I saw them.

Maddy's is the one on the bottom right and was the first one I completed. I liked it so much I decided to stick with the same design but try different colour combinations for the boys. I added ribbons and buttons for some 3D fun. Several of these would look oh so cute pushed into a decorated styrofoam block as a table decoration wouldn't they? They'd make a really nice baby shower centrepiece too. I may still add a thin strip of paper around the stick like a banner that says something like 'I'm a sucker for a pretty face' - haven't made up my mind yet.

By the time I was done I was inspired to use the scraps for a page. I cut a scalloped corner, trimmed some paper, rounded corners and inked them up. I don't know how it will turn out but I have a hankering for sewing with a machine - something I haven't done on a page in a long while and maybe to add real old fashioned lace, pearly buttons and maybe some layered 'heart' flowers with tall stitched ribbon stems and some sort of hand embroidered detail.

I have a picture in my mind of something along those lines so it's just getting it onto paper. It'll have to be my weekend project as I have more things to do first.

I think maybe I'll get me a few more of these chocolate lollies to decorate and give to friends and family - a nice way to send out a 'little love' me thinks.

Inspiration

I am definately in the mood to create today and I have found my inspiration. How lovely does this swirly paper look with the yellow polka dot paper? Both of them have a distressed look to them.

Square frames are hard to find, especially 12 x 12 ones but I've had this one sitting around just waiting to be filled for a while now. It's kind of a grey/blue colour and has a distressed look to the wooden frame which follows right along with the papers.

Since I knew I felt like doing this kind of project today I decided to gather together a whole bunch of elements to get inspired. It's great fun sifting through all the ribbons, papers, buttons and brads and then seeing what else can be thrown into the mix.

I love the colour scheme that is taking shape. The frame reminds me of 'shaker' or 'country' style so I have decided to create a 'patchwork' background and do a bit of faux stitch detailing. I love the large flower too and I may use smaller hand created daisies along with it. I plan to add a verse of scripture and one main photo so it can be on display anywhere in the house.

This is hopefully going to be a Christmas gift so I will show the finished background when I've done it but I can't show the picture or it'll give too much away.

I have almost finished my other memory clock and I have 2 frames to do for someone else too so I NEED to be inspired to get these gifts finished. I am still waiting for photos that have been ordered.

I'm loving a day to just craft and de-stress after a busy week.

Home-made Pokey Tool Holder

I love to recycle and I was inspired to create something different this morning after watching a show yesterday where a very clever chap has made pencils, books, bags and much more from recycled plastic cups, tires - anything he can find a use for.

He has quite a successful business so he can honestly say his products are a load of rubbish! Sorry couldn't resist.

I have also been inspired by a few quilting/sewing blogs I've been checking out recently too so this little project saw me getting a needle and thread out and revisiting one of my very first passions - needlework & sewing.

It began when I started cleaning my craft room this morning. I was sorting out more ribbon to put in new jars and that left an empty container. I decided to amalgamate some of my embellishment tubs into the larger container and ran across several decorative brads. Well then I decided I could open up some of the packs and put the brads in another useful hold-all so I was left with the foam pads. Hhhmmmmm?

I promptly went into creative mode, grabbed some really cute fabric scraps I've had for ages, some ribbon, clear button, scissors and a needle and thread. I had already cut a couple of fabric flowers out using my Sizzix so I used these too. To die-cut fabric easily simply sandwich it in between 2 pieces of thin paper.

I began by sewing a few loops with the green ribbon.

Next I stitched the flower to the ribbon loops, added the clear button and stitched the whole thing to the fabric band that was going to hold two foam pads in place.

Finally I pinned the whole thing together and slip stictched the band closed arounf the pads.

Voila! I now have a recycled, hand-made, uniquely designed pokey tool holder. Best part is it actually works too. Now part of me is thinking 'I will never lose my pokey tool again'.

SURE!!!

The other part of me is thinking 'now where did I put that pokey tool thingy'!

Daisy D

On Monday evening we started back with Crafty Women after a break during what little summer we had. Our first project was an altered notebook that was created using a lovely combination of red and green papers from Daisy D that have a distressed look.

This evening I tweaked mine a bit more and added the tabs using my Stampin Up! punch. Then I decided to get a bit more creative since I am in need of a thank you gift for a friend and crafted a whole collection of matching gifts complete with a bag to present it all in.

I started with the book and then created the pen pot (left) from a 'coffee mate' container my sister gave me some time ago - I knew it would come in handy!

Then I decided I needed to decorate a bag to put everything in and made a tag too.

Next came the paperclip bookmark.

Then the wooden decorated peg which stands by itself and serves as a clip to hold notes or even a photo.

Finally I created a card so that I could add a personal thank you message when giving the gift. Hopefully I can deliver this tomorrow or Friday at the latest and I soooooo hope my friend likes it all. I'm also hoping it's got me thinking creatively as I have a couple of classes to design for and I need to get busy in a hurry.

I am loving these Daisy D papers and I have so many more lovely ones for some of the projects in next years programme - I can't wait!!!

Altered Clock

Well I've managed to catch everyone up on the events of the last 2 weekends and not a craft item in sight so I thought I'd share what I did this weekend.

I have always wanted to do a memory clock ever since I first set eyes on one a couple of years ago but until now I never made the time. I recently bought 2 clocks to have a go.

Christmas is coming (I know you don't need reminding but I like to plan ahead) and I am looking for possible gift ideas.

I am really pleased with how this turned out and it was only my first attempt. I chose to use black and white photos so they would stand out a bit better and so I could add any colours of paper I wanted. I love black, white and lime green together but I also added a splash of orange to break it up a bit. I could think of sooooooo many people who would love one of these!

I added accents such as metal flowers with orange eyelets in the centre and even found some round sentiments that were just perfect. The strip up the centre is the definition of 'forever' and went well with the 'life moments' and 'cherish time' sentiments.

While it was a special clock (Heidi Swapp), I think it would work with most ordinary clocks so when I have finished the other one I am going to try buying an ordinary clock and having a go. If it works out ok then it may end up on the Crafty Women programme next year - who knows?

Fair Trade Thank You

Just wanted to share how I decorated a bar of chocolate as a small thank you for a friend. She helps me out now and then so I just wanted to show my appreciation.

She is a real 'mother earth' type who loves anything ethnic, supports fair trade, recycles, gets 'one' with nature and so on so I knew she would appreciate this gift for several reasons.

1. It is hand made - she loves that.

2. It is a fair trade product - she supports that (and so do I)

3. She can recycle the craft 'wrap' simply by slipping it off carefully and sliding it onto another bar of fair trade chocolate to give to someone else there by sharing the love.

I took my colour inspration from the choclate wrapper itself. I simply made a 'wrap' and decorated it with ribbon, a flower and the text on the front.

Blue Doodlebug!

I am still playing with these papers but I wanted to share my creations so far.

Since I used pretty pink and orange doodlebug papers for Maddy's third b'day, I decided to do something for Zacheriah's eighth b'day next month. I know Doodlebug may be bright and a bit 'in your face' but they work really well for kids. I just loved the blue and green papers which were soooo perfect for a b'day boy!

I started with a recycled box. I am a bit of a 'pack rat' who collects anything I think might come in useful so I was thrilled when I stumbled across this box in a cupboard.

I had obviously flattened it out and saved it for a revamp!

I began by adding coloured panels over the existing (and somewhat tacky) decoration. Thankfully the background box was white otherwise this might not have worked so well!

Then I added some ribbon and used a sticker from a sheet to create an embellishment on the front.

Since it was for a b'day and I planned to fill it with all kinds of goodies - Maddy had great fun digging through her box - the presents sticker worked well. I plan to add a b'day rhyme to the top so I haven't quite finished it yet but you get the idea.

Then I decided I needed a birthday card to go with it. Zach always appreciates my handmade cards so hopefully he'll like this one.

Of course I couldn't stop there so I created a mini card and then a scrapbook page ready for a few b'day photos.

This is still a page in progress because I have brads, buttons and a few crystal words to add but I want to get photos in place before I do.

I purchased one stripey paper, 1 circled paper, 1 matching sticker sheet and used scraps from my stash to create all of these. I still have plenty left to create another card or two yet!

I even managed to find green and blue stripey wrapping paper to wrap his other presents in so the whole thing will be colour co-ordinated. I just love when things match!

Now all I have to do is find lots of little treats to fill this box and wait for 2 weeks until his b'day arrives and I can actually give it to him!!! Patience has NEVER been one of my strengths!