Let It Snow Wooden Christmas Tags

The tags in today’s post started life out as a box of animal dominoes that I got at a carboot sale for 50p!

I covered them with blue patterned paper and some glitter card and then embellished them with snowmen buttons (I coloured their scarves and buttons with Sharpies permanent pens), handwritten sentiments, a few stars and a bit of faux stitching.

Before starting I checked that the ink from a black fine liner pen would not bleed into the wood and that you could write a message on the back.  

On the finished tag backs I have just done the faux stitching, leaving the middle blank.

I used my Aldi Craft drill set (bought a little while ago) to put the holes for the thread fastenings.

I also tried making a heart shaped tag along the same lines, but I am not so happy with it…. however, if you can wait a day or two I have altered the design a little bit with more pleasing results.

Christmas Badges

Made using my Badge It! from Bandai

I bought a badge like this a couple of Christmases ago and was gutted when I lost it, as it just about sums up my mood when I go Christmas shopping ….. but now I have a badge maker …. I can make my own!
 

These three badges were a bit of an experiment. I have made several of the top left hand one, one of which I might try putting on a card. I’m not sure about the one with the writing on, and the one made using a cotton canvas inkjet paper is growing on me, I like the texture, but I think I will use a better quality canvas paper if I make anymore to get a clearer image.

And the last two …… well I can think of quite a few people I can give these to! If you’ve got a Badge It and would like a copy of these badges just e-mail me and I’ll send you the file.

Framed Snowman Card

This card measures 5ins x 7ins and  sort of follows on from a decoration I made last year.

The frame is part of a larger embellishment, (I used the centres and was left with a pile of frames), that I have just doodled on with a Signo Uni Ball white gel pen.  I’ve used  Baby Polka Dots 12 x 12 paper from Paper Adventures in the frame with a little white glitter paper and also to cover the card blank.  The snowmen are buttons I got in a job lot from US a few years ago and am still working my way through using them.  Finally I have handwritten the sentiment.

Batty Halloween Jar Lantern

I am loving making jar lanterns …. our garden has been awash with candle light of late as I try everything I have made out amongst all the tree branches.

All I have done is simply cover a small jar (large mint sauce I think) with orange tissue paper, it’s trickier and  more fragile to use and not a patch on Decopatch if you’ll pardon the pun!

 

The bats are die cuts I’ve had for years, they are rather thick and stand a little proud of the jar so I am not exactly sure how weather proof the jar will be if we have a rainy night, however I have given it extra coats of clear varnish just in case. Getting their wings to lie flat was a little tricky but I got there in the end. 

Halloween Trick or Treat Sweetie Bags

I’ll be honest, there’s nothing really that new about this idea, they are just basic sweetie bags with a Nestabilities Label die cut topper but with a slightly different take on using jelly beans and a chance to use the new bubble stickers I’ve found  this year.

Both the stickers and jelly beans are from Poundworld.  There was a good variety of different sticker packs and I think I got one of each, some were scary and some were cute.

Wearing disposable plastic gloves I sorted the jelly beans into colours and then looked at the stickers to work out a theme for each colour ….. so the green ones became spiders eggs …..

……. the black ones became bat poop …

…… the red, Dracula Blood Capsules .. and so on.

On the back of each topper I wrote “Dare you eat one?”

And as I had a few spare black beans I added one to some of the packets to give the (warped illusion) that one could have gone off!

With just a bit of imagination you can come up with all sorts of awful names!  From two bags of beans I made nine bags, which is pretty good going!

A Little Bird Told Me ….

Each of these cards measure 5ins x 5ins and are made using white linen effect card.

Some times I need to just make a pile of simple, very quick,  less is more cards to replenish my box at work.

And as soon as I saw these K & Co Poppy Seed stickers I just knew they would be perfect for the task.

All I have had to add was a branch made using my Stampin’ Up Bird Punch

And my own handwritten sentiment.

Done and dusted!

Gingham Christmas Tree Card

Sometimes it’s nice to get away from traditional Christmas colours and patterns , and I just love this black/brown gingham card from Payper Box.

Although it’s hard to see, the snow is made using white glitter card and is layered to look like drifts, to give a little dimension.  The trees are wooden embellishments from Hobbycraft with a few flat backed gems added and the tiny snowflakes are punched. I’ve made the corners by cutting a scalloped circle into quarters, but looking at the photograph now with fresh eyes, I think the corners could be made little bigger.

Recycled Suitcase

I’d never thought of covering a proper suitcase before until I saw this suitcase by Mitzi Curi
http://www.favecrafts.com/Vintage-Decor/Upcycled-Vintage-Suitcases

I was so inspired I just had to have a go and fortuitously I’ve had this old Marks and Sparks suitcase in my craft room for years.

The inside is beautiful, if a little crumbly but I’m leaving it as it is for now.

The first thing I’ve done is spray the catches and outer plastic rims with gold spray paint to hid the rust and freshen them up.

I decided to use papers from a DCWV Spring Glitter stack as the quality is strong and thick and as all the designs are of the same colour pallet so I don’t  have to worry about matching everything together.  I’ve done the fiddly corners and rivety bits first and have got as far as covering the top.

Finishing it off will take me a bit of time …. but when it’s done I’ll show you again… As I’ve got a few days away booked in November I’m using that as my deadline… even if I’m not absolutely sure I will actually use it!

Festive Heart Shaped Rag Wreath

This is another idea where I just carried on regardless without looking on the web for instructions until after I had completed the project!

I have wanted to make something like this for ages but never seemed to get round to it …. well, I have been having a real Craft Room cull and found this small 15cm wire  “clematis woven heart” I got from a Dunelm Mill for 49p a while ago. 

I got rid of the twiggy stuff and then set about cutting strips of Christmas material from a pile of patchwork squares I got from e-bay (at the time they were not a good buy …. horrid, vile patterns … I have almost thrown them away so many times, but for this project they turned out to be perfect, as the pattern really doesn’t matter)

I tied the fabric strips using a tight single knot onto the wire until they were  closely packed without any space between them. At times I was dubious as to how it would look but it’s amazing what a bit of primping, fluffing and trimming can do. I’m dead chuffed and now want to have a go at something a lot bigger!

Mini Advent Calendar

I wanted to make a small, cross off advent calendar to go on the  work desk of a friend who loves carts.

 

The cat comes from a box of Pepper’s Christmas Party chipboard shapes (Trimcraft) and the spotty paper comes from an 8 x 8 paper pack from the same range.  The whole thing, backed on a firm card, measures 14cms x 8cms and the calendar part, which I made in Publisher, measures 7.5cm x 7cm. 

I have put self adhesive magnetic tape on the back, but a loop ribbon would look good too.  A few stars here and there finish the effect.

Googly Eyes top tip …I have found that by adding googly eyes of slightly different sizes to a character it adds something to the perspective.

Thirtieth Birthday Card

This card is A5 in size and is made using ivory linen effect card.
 

The brief for this card was pretty and pink!  I’ve used Papyrus Font size 14 for the sentiment and a variety of punches in various sizes for the embellishment.  Tiny flat backed pearls and faux stitching complete the card.

Simply Homemade Painted Mug and Coaster

As I said a few days ago I am really impressed by the ideas in the current issue of Simply Homemade magazine, so much so that I have been playing ………..

I loved the Painting by Numbers ideas, about painting plain white crockery, something I have done before, but the article rekindled my interest and as I already had some Marabu Porcelain Painter pens, a plain mug and a tile I was ready to go.

Although the mug I had (50p from Morrison's) was already coloured, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to see what it would like painted and the tile was out of the garage left over from our shower room.

Rather than do my own thing, I copied one of the mug designs used in the article as best I could and then repeated it on the coaster/tile. The project took me no more than 20 mins (plus another 30 mins to  bake in the oven) …..

I am dead chuffed with the result, even The Duke (Mr Fiddle Fart) remarked that he liked them ….. and he rarely comments about the things I make!

Cath Kidston Keepsake House – Part One

Last year I finally made an Advent Calendar using a wooden house bought from Tesco in the run up to Christmas 2009, they were priced at the silly price of £5 each and trying to track one down was the constant buzz in the forums. 

I set my sister a mission to look for mine and she was nothing but tenacious in her quest, in the end it paid off as she sent an assistant in one branch to look round the back, “just in case”, and when he came back she stockpiled and bought all that he had!  I am glad she did because I later heard that they would  no longer be available as the company that made them had gone bust. So after I gave a couple away I still have a couple to do up.

I’d spray painted one in cream very early on in the year, but hadn’t done anything more with it, then at the weekend I found a sheet of Cath Kidston double sided gift wrap I bought about two years ago and had forgotten all about as it was rolled up under a pile of other rolled up papers and it got me thinking. The paper was really thick and substantial (unlike a lot of gift wrap)  and I wondered if I could make a little keepsake house for bits and pieces.

Making templates for the various parts of the house first so that no paper was wasted, I tentively papered the first side, thinking that if it went wrinkly I would abandon the project  but it went on beautifully and  I was away….

And this is as far as I have got …. I’ve run out of Ronseal quick drying varnish until I can get to the shops next weekend,  which is probably good thing  as I now need to think about how far I am going to go to embellish it …… I think less is more ….. but it does need something else, any ideas?