Monkeys First Ever Christmas Decoration ........????

As you know I am right off making cards at the moment, even for The Monkeys, which is quite a tradition for many of their followers. I wanted to make something that could be bought out year after year, instead of being cast in the bin (recycling or otherwise) at the end of the festivities.

To be completely honest I am not exactly 100% with them, but as I had ordered a certain number of photos in a specific size to fit a photo frame tree decoration, bought a couple of years ago, which I had fully intended to use …….. until I got waylaid and as time was ticking, I really didn't have any option other than to finish what I had started, otherwise I may have started all over again.

What waylaid me were these rather unusual square wooden dominoes with gingham backing, something I’d never seen before and for £1 I wasn’t going to say no.  When I got home and tried the photos with them, I found that only a tiny bit of surplus needed to be trimmed off, so I decided to use them instead of the frames.

I started by covering the edges of the dominoes with a thin, adhesive aluminium foil tape.

Then I added, in my opinion, a little too much ultra fine translucent glitter, if I could go back now, I would have used Ranger Enamel Accents on just the hats and pom pom, with the tiniest, weeniest sprinkling of glitter and then left the sleeves on the jumpers well alone, but hey ho. When the glitter was dry, I put a tiny,silver screw eye hook in the bottom and top of the domino.

Then, came the Dovecrafts 3D Pearl Effects around the picture, hmmm ……. but at least I resisted any more glitter, I was also tempted to fill in the space with Ranger Glossy Accents, but realised at this stage, if it didn’t work I would be truly scuppered.

The double sided Merry Christmas charms came next ……….

…….. followed by the greeting on the back ………. then I was lost again, the front was missing something, but a bow looked too twee, a snow flake charm on the top too much ……..

……. so I settled for the good old, double confetti holly leaf with three tiny red flat back pearls times two! Too much, overkill? And then ......... I couldn’t bear the Dovecrafts 3D Dovecrafts for a second longer so went over it with Ranger Enamel Effects instead!!!  Aghhhhhhh

I am not sure ……. however The Boyz, needless to say, were thrilled with them, and that’s all that matters, I, they told me, was being too critical, I had captured their inimitable joie de Christmas vivre and all that was over the top ………. and that was all that mattered! 

Note to self, next year order double the photos I actually need and allow my self more than enough time to play more, even if it means starting in January!

Guest Contributor Bertie

*If this post in any way offends anyone’s religious beliefs etc. I am quite happy to take it down ……..

Bertie isn’t all that fond of drawing, so when asked at school to do something that could be put on a mug, card or wrapping paper to raise funds for school, he didn’t exactly go overboard ……. however, what he did do just has me smiling every time I look at it ……..

Is it me or has he put a more modern slant on the Christmas story by having a mini skirted, be hair bowed, Mary and Josephine as the new parents of, dare I say, baby Jesus ……..

……. with the simple “ho, ho, ho” adding to the irony?  I just adore it …………………

Crayola Gonk Keyrings

I don’t go a bundle on the current craze for having Gonks for all occasions, but when I saw the packs of 4 wooden Gonk keyrings from Crayola in Poundland (£1) I thought it wouldn’t hurt to have a little play, if only to make a little extra something to pop in my crackers this year.

I was mindful that felt pens would undoubtedly bleed into the wood if I wasn’t exceptionally careful, so decided to use Ranger Enamel Accents instead.  This was a little more time consuming as I also decided to wait for each section I filled in to dry thoroughly before starting on a new one.

They turned out pretty OK

Once everything was done, I added a few extra details using a black, fine tipped, Sharpie pen and a few enamel nail art pens.  

It’s hard to tell from the photos, but I also added a little ultra fine, translucent glitter to the gentlemen Gonks beards and sealed it in with a layer of Ranger Glossy Accents.  As I said at the beginning, Gonks really aren’t my sort of thing, but are something a bit different to fiddle fart with and I am sure if Iris and Bertie find one in their cracker, it will go straight on their school book bag when they get home.

Christmas Gingerbread House Easel …………

I decided that I really needed to use up the very last three easels I got from Home Bargains (now sadly no longer available), rather than have them lingering in my craft drawers until goodness knows when……

……… and this is what I came up with ………

The wooden gingerbread house embellishments came from Hobbycraft (Christmas 2020, I just never got round to using them).

I started with a little faux stitching using a fine, black Sharpie pen round the blackboard edge and the sentiment using a white Posca pen.

This was followed by sticking the houses and a wooden Christmas trees on either side of the easel.  I’ve had the trees a while, I’m sorry I can’t remember where from, but I wouldn’t mind a few more!

I put a layer of Ranger Glossy Accents on the front of the house and the tree to give extra dimension and shine …….

……. followed by white Dovecraft 3D Pearl Effects (Poundland £1) on the house roofs and easel shelf to look like snow.

While the “Effects” were setting, I also put three small plastic snowflakes in position, noting that I really need to order some more snowflakes from China for next year’s Christmas crafting.

I then needed to be patient and allow everything to dry, before adding a little more doodling fiddle fart to the blackboard and tree.

The gingerbread men came next (from a confetti pack from Paperchase). From experience, I discovered that they warped slightly under a layer of wet Glossy Accents, but by gluing three together, they became far more substantial and no longer easily damaged.

The smoke coming from the chimney was a tiny amount of cushion filling glued behind the house.

More waiting then ensued for the gingerbread men to dry before finally adding a light dusting of ultra fine translucent glitter to the dry 3D Effects on the roof and shelf and clear flat backed gems in the centre of the snowflakes and a red flay back heart on the house front.

Et voila …….. a limited edition of three ……. and something a tiny bit different.

Inspiration Needed ……… For Extra Large Domino Pieces

Huston we have a problem ……. I just can’t leave any wooden children’s dominoes on a charity shop shelf when I find them, especially when they are priced at only £1 or even 50p per box!

This are my latest purchase, made by Chad Valley, so brilliant quality, 28 pieces in the box and they are huge, measuring 13.5cm x 7cm  and 1cm deep.  If I bought MDF blanks from eBay can you imagine how much they would cost, when these only cost me £1.

When put beside my normal crafty domino stash you can see how just big they are …….

……. the dolphin ones being my usual domino “go to” size, with the middle ones the next step up for my snowman tags. Have I bitten off more than I can chew with these new mahoooosive ones, because at the moment I don’t have a clue what to do with them?  With their thickness, they can easily stand alone on a shelf, perhaps a simple Christmas  plaque? I would really have to scale up on my embellishment stock or dare I have a go at painting?   ALL suggestions would be very, very welcome ……………………..

Penguin Christmas Tree Decorations ……. To Be Continued

This idea is all a bit of an ongoing experiment after I found a Penguin Float game in an Evesham charity shop for 99p.

I admit I did open the sealed box to see what the penguins looked like and if they had any crafty “potential” – I thought they did and working out at 10p each, well worth the gamble.

The penguins are made of a light (hollow) plastic and measure 1.5 x 2.5 inches with a depth of 15/16ths of an inch.  The first thing to do was cover the print on the bottom over with a black Sharpie pen, which was a piece of cake!

Naturally, adding a pair of googly eyes was the next course of action and as the original colours were a bit dull, a couple of layers of orange Ranger Enamel Accents on the feet and beak and white on the tummy to give the penguins character.

I next thing I needed to do was see if a screw eye hook could be fastened securely into the top, again yes, a piece of cake!

They look pretty cute as they are, but you know me, I love to fiddle fart ….. I tried one of the mini top hats on him that was left over from the fluffy snowmen heads posted last week, it looked cute, but the black was lost, so I have ordered a new set of assorted coloured hats that will always come in useful, plus some large, coloured wooden fish beads to hang from the bottom, again, they will also get used over time.  As they are coming from China it’ll be a few weeks before I can finish the penguins completely ……. but for now, they’ll do.

Reindeer Mini Easel Christmas Favours

These easels very nearly didn’t get made  …………

…….. despite my thinking I had made more than enough fairings to send this year in place of a Christmas card, I found that I was still short of a few bits and pieces that could be sent flat as a large letter, aggghhhhhhh ………

……. but then my mind turned to the silver glitter easels I bought in Burnham On Sea a week or so ago (£1 for a pack of 4) and the wooden reindeer embellishments I bought from The Works a while ago, no problemo!

However, nothing could prepare me for the glitter the mini easels shed, I think you can see just how much from the background of some of the pictures. To be honest, I thought that they were just too tacky to use, but something told me to persevere, perhaps thinking of the six packs I had already invested in.  I started with the text using a fine white Posca pen, totally unconvinced I could make them work.

After the addition of the reindeer heads and plastic snowflakes and much brushing down, I began to chill a little ……..

……. they were beginning to come together, despite my misgivings.

It was the googly eyes and red flat pearl noses that bought the reindeer to life that finally did it, along with the added clear flat back gems in the middle of the snowflakes and gaps on the blackboard filled with clusters of three white dots.

I had pulled it off, somehow the reindeer pull your eyes away from the tackiness of the glitter but on looking at them with fresh eyes, the glitter makes them, it says Christmas ........does that makes sense???????

So making more is now very much on the cards ........

........ I just need to check how many reindeer I have left ……….

Guest Crafter Paula W, With a Big, Fat Thank You ……

On the morning of Iris and Bertie’s Halloween Sleepover a wonderful parcel arrived from my crafty friend Paula  what can I say ……..?

It contained the cutest little knitted ghosts ever, which are staying exactly where I put them, all the year round, because they just make me smile so much whenever I gaze over to them, they have proper little characters ………… but that wasn’t all …….

……… there was also this beautiful, beautiful bag, it’s so me and I know for a fact that if Marc ever claps his eyes on it he would absolutely kill for it.  It really  is stunning!

OMG the detail!  Sewing really makes my gums itch, I loathe it so much, despite a CSE in needlecraft, I still don’t have the faintest clue, so I truly appreciate all the work that has gone into this unique bag.

The fabric ……….

……. and the machine embroidery is to die for.  I can’t tell you how much I love it!  It was used within hours of it arriving, as we went to the Halloween Craft Fayre up the road, lets just say it eclipsed anything on sale there that day.  It’s now my main bag for bits and pieces shopping, all others now caste to the wind.  What can I say Paula …….. but thank you so, so, so much, it’s a very special treasure, that will definitely be used and much admired wherever I go, thank you  xxxxxx