Home Bargains – Wedding Chalkboard Place Card Easels

Ohhhhhhhhh ……. flipping heck, after being in the Wedding Section of Home Bargains stores for as long as I can remember ……. but only just realising their full crafting potential …………..

……… I don’t think Home Bargains are stocking them any more! I have searched in various stores in other areas and nothing!  DOH!!!!!!!  I apologise to all those I may have also sent on a fools errand.  Thank goodness I managed to find a few packs in the huge Home Bargains just outside Evesham town centre when I did, so I was able to complete one Christmas idea I had for them.

I have done some research and I have ordered three sets of ten from a company called Lisa’s Stores on AliExpress – which cost me £9.92 (the cheapest I could find including P & P), which works out at around 31p each compared to the 25p from Home Bargains.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33000429707.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.75064c4d3bU2qh

These are in a natural wood finish as opposed to the painted white finish of the Home Bargains ones.  I really don’t know what to expect from them, other than they are not due to arrive until around the end of September! In the meantime, I shall probably still keep an eye out for them in the UK and let you know if I find any or anything similar…………

Teapot-tastic Charity Find!!!!

I am not usually THIS organised for Christmas  ……. but  recent charity shop moochings sort of got the better of me …….

……….. and well, it would look most rude not to use the Christmas planner Lu bought me last Christmas at the earliest opportunity.

It all started with the orange teapot at just £1.50 which I bagsed for Rick (Marc’s partner) as as orange is his colour of choice to put it away for his now traditional “festive tut sack”.  When I went back to the shop a couple of days later all the others were still there and then when I turned them I saw that they were all made by Price and Kensington and totally unused.

At first I thought they might be worth a punt up on eBay as they are not cheap, so I bought the lot (£9), but then I got to thinking again ………… what about Christmas fairing gifts for Iris and Bertie to take to school at Christmas?

With, generally, three staff to each class, it’s a no brainer.  So the plan now is to buy a pack of individually wrapped teabags putting them in a teabag poem card ……

……. plus an individual pack of two/three biscuits?…….. I am so chuffed with myself!

The Works Canvas and Easel Snowman Shelf Decoration

Another set of canvas and easel Christmas decorations for you today ……..

……. made using £1 easel and canvas sets from The Works.

I started by putting a strip of snowy sky patterned paper across the top of the canvases.  The "Stars Shining" paper pad is going to be really useful for my Christmas crafting this year, unfortunately I just can’t remember where I got it from, sorry!

I then used Aleene’s True Snow to add a bit of texture and dimension to the canvas.

While this was drying I added Ranger Glossy Accents on the 3D card snowman embellishments, again for extra dimension and texture.

The wooden Christmas sentiments (Hobbycraft £1 Christmas 2020) were not quite the right colour so I change them to red with a Sharpie pen followed by a layer of Glossy Accents.

It seems sacrilege, but although the wooden tree embellishments were the right size I wasn’t too keen to add glitter to the canvas (goodness only knows why?), so I simply turned them over and coloured them, this time with a green Sharpie (with varying results, I also don’t know why) plus more Glossy Accents.

When all the components were dry it was time to put them all together.

I edged the canvas with tiny faux stitches using a black fine liner pen.

I also added three plastic snowflakes (Aliexpress) to help fill the empty corners and spaces.

To keep the snowy theme going I also added Aleene’s, with another snowflake, on the easel bar.

On the prototype I coloured the easel with a red Sharpie pen, but this proved to be too time consuming and fiddly and looking at the pictures doesn’t really add that much to the finished decoration.

I’m really happy with how these have turned out, I can see them fitting in on a shelf amongst the Christmas cards ……….

I love the idea of sending them out instead of a card this year, something to keep rather than throw away at the end of the holiday.  Think they will mail as a large letter, a bit more expensive but I think worth it.

I am sure, judging from my box of Christmas embellishments left over from last year, in particular, there could well be whole variation on this basic idea.

For those of you looking for cheap easel sets, I have also found these 7cm square in the art and craft section of Home Bargains, they cost an incredible 69p each, a lot less than a card to buy!

Blankets Akimbo ………Finally A Blanket For Marc ……..

I am loving my £4 crocheted blanket/bedspread, it didn’t make it to my sofa, it’s a keeper in my bedroom, a bit hot at the moment, but just think how cosy it will look and be in the winter.

Marc asked if I found another would I make a considered purchase on his behalf ………… and low and behold I then  found this one (below)……….

……. again only £4, but a little too pastel and pale for Marc’s macho image, however perfect for my sofa (as I said above) for snuggling under when it gets a little chilly in the evening.

It’s beautifully crocheted and finished off and sooooooooo warm, but what about poor Marc, it seemed very unlikely after two finds in one week that I would find another one the following week ………

…….. but I did and in macho Marc type colours, he’s dead chuffed!  It’s absolutely mahoooosive and the price, £2.50????? It was paid for and bundled into my Nanny style shopping trolley before you could even say crochet hook, then in the washing machine with at least half a bottle of fabric softener.

I am now thinking about going on a mission to save all crocheted blankets and find them new homes (but then …….what are the chances of finding any more after such a brilliant run?)   Marc has told me about cottage core, something I’ve never heard of  - “As a concept, it embraces a simpler, sustainable existence that is more harmonious with nature. Aesthetically, it’s a nod to the traditional English countryside style, romantic and nostalgic,” – which has quite a following and a market on eBay ………. I’ll let you know how I get on in my quest as and when anything comes my way again……..

Mini Chalkboard Christmas Snowman Decorations

I’ve got a feeling it could well be an easel type of Christmas this year!

I bought a pack of these mini chalkboard easels on a whim from the wedding section of Home Bargains, costing just 99p for 4, at roughly 25p each, I was on a winner already, whatever I did with them.  They measure 9cms tall by 7cms at their widest (approximately)

As soon as I got home I started going through my box of Hobbycraft wooden embellishments left over from last year ………

……. and found that the snowmen were a perfect fit (you know me and proportion, coupled with the  plastic snowflakes I bought in bulk about three years ago from Aliexpress, still going strong and after all this time owe me nothing, plus a bottle of Dovecraft 3D Enamel Effects (£1 from The Range).

I started off with the text using a white, fine tip, Posca pen and then glued on the snowman.

Next came the snowflakes ………..

…… followed by the Enamel Effects on the easel bar, with a sprinkle of translucent ultra fine glitter.  Everything was coming together perfectly.

All that was left to do then was add a few clusters of three white dots here and there, again using the Posca pen, another snowflake on the easel bar, clear flat back gems in the middle of the snowflakes and a smaller flat sequin snowflake if there was any spare space going begging.

They really didn’t take any time at all to make, which is always a bonus, especially as if any idea has to many stages I then get bored.

I’ve got 16 made so far, using up all but about two/three of last years snowmen. These will be form the basis of my Christmas fairings (in place of a Christmas card) which I will send as a large letter in the post.

I have another pack put aside as I have other ideas, I am thinking Halloween and a perhaps some other Christmas ideas using other festive embellishments, again leftover from last year.………….

……… however this all depends on my Home Bargains getting some more in, they don’t have any in stock at the moment. In the meantime I have assigned Lu the mission of seeing if they have any in Wolverhampton  …… I have priced exactly the same thing  on eBay and Amazon and believe me they can forget it!

Guest Crafters – Iris and Bertie’s End Of School Badges

There are always little fairing gifts at the end of each school term for Iris and Bertie’s teachers and the end of this summer term was no exception. 

No grand gestures, just a small bottle of shower gel and a face and hair mask that they could all easily slip into their holiday suitcases plus a bundle of three Lindt assorted chocolate squares.

There was also a holiday themed magnet from Nanny (above) plus badges from Iris and Bertie, using the Super Badge-It Maker I got from an Evesham charity shop for just £1.50, which was worth it just for the badge spares themselves, as they are pretty hard to find and when you do find them they are stupidly priced …… which is probably why you find the machines in charity shops and carboots!

Bertie took advantage of the rectangular shaped badges, making a bee badge for his teacher and toast badges for the staff of Breakfast Club, somewhere he has always dreamed about going to ever since he first started school, just to be able to try Mrs Thorley’s famous white toast, poor deprived child had only ever had wholemeal until then!  Needless to say he has really embraced it, for a tiny little thing the staff say he can certainly pack away his breakfast!

I made a special badge for “legend in our household” that is Mrs Thorley too!

Iris made her badges all the same …….. going for a heart in the centre of each, that’s my girl!

So that’s another school year gone ………… time is running at far too fast a pace  for me, I never try to take any school run for granted, these are such precious days. One day a little hand will slip into mine and it could be the last time they feel the need to keep hold of me, feeling that they are too big now to hold Nanny’s hand.  I always give them such a tight squeeze when they do it and tell them how much it means to me and how I don’t ever want to let go ………………………………

Christmas Easel Cards/Decorations

Following on from my birthday easel decoration/card from the other week I decided to have a go at a couple of Christmas ones using the same idea.

I took two more of the 12cms x 16cms canvas and easel sets from The Works (I see that they still have them in stock, but they are now £2 a set, which I think is still good value, but will naturally keep my eye open for any further reductions. The canvas and easel stand approximately 15cms tall.

I found that the canvas was only just big enough to take the word Christmas if spaced out very carefully.

Note to self – look out for some smaller, colourful alphabet letter sets in case I want to make any more in the coming months.

I did toy with the idea of adding a few sprigs of holly, Christmas lights etc. here and there but nothing seemed to work, it looked bitty and didn’t flow, so perhaps should be left plain and simple.  I think I could get away with it if I were to put a scene together without any lettering …….. so that, I think is going to be my next project only using smaller, square canvases on an easel, there might even be a Halloween one to be had too.