Marc’s Baubles

I have such lovely, lovely followers and sometimes their kindness takes my breath away.

I came home a couple of Fridays ago to find a large  parcel sat sitting on my kitchen table and when I opened it, it was filled of the most wondrous collection of jingle bells, beads and baubles!

I’d mentioned in a post that I love clear baubles, but they are hard to find and then Marc goes and sends me so many that I was totally overwhelmed ….. I now hope that today he will be thrilled to see what I have done with them.

I’ve simply stuck some jewelled Paper Cellar stickers, that I got in a sale a couple of years ago at 70% off, onto each bauble and then put poured either Twinklets Diamond Dust or small clear gems into them.  I am so pleased with the results.

I intend (if I can bear to give them away) to put each bauble into an organza bag and give them, instead of a card this year to special people, as I have said before, cards are soon forgotten, but these will hopefully be around for many Christmas’s to come …….

Thank you Marc, your baubles have made me one very happy lady!

Hug Mug Pattern - Most Wanted Christmas DIY Challenge 2010

 
I've entered this is the Most Wanted Christmas DIY Challenge http://www.vouchercodes.co.uk/

Materials

1 ball of double knitting yarn, 7 buttons, 1 plain button,  1 pr. 4 mm (UK 8) knitting needles.

Measurements: 23 x 8cm (9 x 3 1/4 ins)

Cast on 7sts

Knit 2 rows

Continue in garter stitch

Inc 1st at each end of next and every alt row until 19 sts on needle.

Proceed in garter stitch and block pattern as follows;

Row 1: knit

Row 2: K3, P6, K to end

Rows 3 – 8: rep rows 1 and 2 three times

Rows 9 – 11: knit

Row 12: knit to last 9 sts, P6, K3

Row 13 – 18: rep rows 11 and 12, 3 times

Rows 19 – 20: knit

Rep rows 1 – 20 twice, then rep rows 1 – 10 once

Continue in GS and shape button hole end:

Dec 1st at each end of next and every alt row until 11sts on needle.

Next row: to make button hole, K2tog, K3, yrn, K2tog, knit to last 2 sts, K2tog

Next row: knit, knitting into yrn of previous row

Continue to dec as before until 7 sts remain

Knit 2 rows

Cast off.

To make up:   Work in all ends neatly.  Sew the buttons into the squares, Sew plain button on to the end of the mug hug to correspond with the button hole at the other end.

Old Crock Recycled Cake Stand - Most Wanted Christmas DIY Challenge

I've entered this is the Most Wanted Christmas DIY Challenge http://www.vouchercodes.co.uk/

Someone told me that making cake stands from old mismatched plates was “very on trend” at the moment, so I did a bit of research on Google and got some brilliant results, so naturally I wanted to have a go myself.

 

It was therefore very fortuitous that my mum was throwing out some of her old plates, and had three mismatched blue and white plates, in three different sizes, just waiting to go to the Charity Shop, so I pleaded that I was a charity case!

Plates in hand, I needed two small glasses, so I popped into my local charity shop and couldn’t believe my luck when I found two matching pairs, priced at 10p a glass.  (I got both sets, so that I have a spare pair to make another stand later on).  The final item  I needed some strong glue for sticking ceramics and glass which I found on the market.

I was a bit dubious that it would all stick together, but it did and I am thrilled with the results.  If the idea worked, this was going to be a present, but I don’t think I can let it go! So it looks like me spending a bit of my half term holiday looking for some more plates in the charity shops of Wolverhampton.

In total this stand only cost me £1.70! Bargaintastic.  I was thinking that if I did a stall at a fayre, this would make a lovely display stand for some of my bits and pieces.  I can see this idea getting a bit addictive!!!

Coaster/Beer Mat Desk Calendar - Most Wanted Christmas DIY Challenge

Aggghhhh this drove me nuts to make!

I've entered this is the Most Wanted Christmas DIY Challenge http://www.vouchercodes.co.uk/
I’ve seen these calendars on lots of blogs that I thought I would have a go, but I just looked at pictures of the finished products, not the instructions …. as a result  I sort of made it up as I went along with just a basic idea of construction in my head!

My mistake was using and covering beer mats ….. they proved to be far too heavy, especially when embellished.  In the end I made about 8 stands before I could got the measurements right so that the thing would stand up!  (The sides measure 11cm x 11cm and the base 11cm x 5cm, and I also added a couple of strips of black card to the base to strengthen it)

I covered each mat with DCWV self adhesive papers and then embellished with various punched flowers and butterflies etc.

 

The calendar pages are from an Anita’s calendar tab that I took apart and backed on silver card.

The whole thing is kept together using two 1in book rings.

Now I have been through the agony of making the first one, any more I make should be a breeze!

But I will just use a strong card for the pages ….. not beer mats!

Tutorial for Christmas Sweetie Bags Without The Aid of Fancy Tools and Stuff! Most Wanted Christmas DIY Challenge

I've entered this is the Most Wanted Christmas DIY Challenge http://www.vouchercodes.co.uk/

I’ve had quite a few questions about making sweetie bags recentley (Hark at me, I sound like an Agony Aunt!) I appreciate that not everyone has Big Shots/Cuttlebugs etc. or sets of Nestabilities, so I have put together a very simple tutorial, without using any fancy equipment to show that such stuff is not always necessary.

I think its best to start with the cello bags - get the size you want and make your toppers to fit them (much easier that making a topper and then searching for a bag to fit it).

To fit my chosen bag size (HobbyCraft’s own make 76mm x 191mm) and  I have cut a rectangle a little wider than the bags. ….. my apologies, I still measure in inches!!

Find the centre of the rectangle and mark each end lightly with pencil.

Keep the ruler in position and score from one end to the other with the end of a pair of scissors

When scored, fold the topper in half

If you want a fancy shape, hold the topper together and cut both edges off the corners of one side.

Take one of the cut off corners and put it on the opposite side of the topper and use as a template to make sure both sides are exactly the same

The topper should now look like this ....

Now for the circle embellishment - find two circles one smaller than the other .... I have used the metal top of this small jam pot for the outer circle and the top of the glass jar as the inner circle. Cut out the circles in two different colours.  I’ve been a bit fancy and cut a bit of sky out to fit as well.

Put some little lines using a fine black pen round the edge of both circles. Then add whatever embellishment you fancy. I have used snowman stickers from Accessorize (£1.75 per pack) on mine.

Now to put it all together …… put some lines round the topper to match the decorated circle

Cut down the cello bag to a length you are happy with.

Open up the topper and put double sided tape on each side

Tape tape off one side, and lay the cello bag on top

Bring the other side of the topper down, press down and seal...... nearly finished .....

Stick the decorated circle in position, write a greeting and add a few small stickers/stars etc. and fiddle and twiddle till you are happy

That's all there is to it! Phew !!!! And yes …… my desk could do with a good clean!

Giant Humbug Carton - Most Wanted Christmas DIY Challenge

I've entered this is the Most Wanted Christmas DIY Challenge http://www.vouchercodes.co.uk/

This is another idea I used last year and thought I would post again, but this time offering a A4 pdf file of the humbug striped paper (below) that I have designed  for it this year.  If you would like the file please e-mail me nellxxxx@aol.com and I'll send it to you as soon as I can. It looks really good when printed on a light brown/beige paper.

 

I have put some instructions together and just hope that I have got them in the right order. It's quite fiddly making something and photographing it at the same time.

Cut a piece of light brown paper/light card 27 cm x 18 cm and draw lines with a thick brown felt tip pen.

Turn the card/paper over and  put a line of double sided tape (or glue) along one long and one short edge.

With striped side facing up roll the paper/card to make a cylinder.

And then flatten the bottom end.(see below)
 
To complete the carton/bag squeeze it together in the opposite direction to the bottom of the bag (I hope that makes sense) to form a triangular shape.
 
Now, is the time to fill your bag with humbugs.

When bag is filled, glue the two sides together and hold in place with a few clips until well stuck.

All that’s left to do now is decorate it with a tag or label.  I’ve just done a bit of mat and layering, with my own handwriting and sprig of holly.

I am really pleased with how it’s turned out. 

You could put sweets, toys and a motto/joke and make these in Christmassy colours as an alternative to crackers or as a different sort of goodie bag for children’s parties.