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?

Recycled Plate Stand

I made a recycled blue and white cake stand about a year ago and still love it as much now as I did then.

Making another one has been long overdue, so when the girls at school said they were raising money for Children In Need by making cupcakes I said that I would make them one to raffle to go with the theme.

I’ve used three lovely plates that were given to me, they are not graduated but I think the idea still works. In between the plates I have used some very fancy shorts glasses  that I got from a car boot sale in the summer, I think I got 15 for £1.50 in total.

All I have done is stick the tiers together using an Araldite type glue, trying to keep them as lined up as I could.

Et voila!  It’ll probably be another year now before I do another one!

Halloween Jar Lantern

BOO!

I thought I would have a go at making a Halloween jar lantern like I have seen on American craft site/blogs.  I didn’t have any orange Decopatch paper, so I thought I would give some of the orange tissue paper I already had a try.  It wasn’t as strong as Decopatch but it worked with a gentler touch than my norm!

Once the jar was covered, I cut out two faces using a lightweight black paper and stuck them on both sides of jar, over the tissue paper. and then followed this with several layers of clear glossy varnish.  The hanger was made using red string and lots of knots.

Very spooky!

Simple Homemade Magazine – Great Excitement

I had a very exciting e-mail about a week or so ago from Paula who wrote to tell me that Fiddle Fart had been included on the Inspiring Blogs page of Issue 8 of Simply Homemade magazine, which I knew absolutely nothing about. 

Well, vanity got the better of me and I went in search of a copy, only to find that getting this issue was like gold dust, even from the website!  However ever resourceful I wrote to Lindsey at Practical Publishing and she sent me a copy.  THANK YOU Lindsey.

And there I was at the bottom of page 34 – In The Blogosphere!  I am dead chuffed.

The magazine is brilliant, the ideas are simple and use products I am familiar with and includes ideas like knitting, sewing and jewellery making that I wouldn’t be afraid to have a go at,  like the painted coasters made from tiles which I will be having a go at in the coming week. 

I very rarely buy craft magazines now, after having several subscriptions for a couple of years everything became very boring and samey, but my interest has been rekindled and I will definitely be picking up a copy of Simply Homemade when I see it.

Sewn Handbag Card

I really don’t know where to start with this card, it’s a one off and was made to order for my sister in law, the brief was:-  pink, bag, girlie, her name and charms would be nice!

At the widest point the card measures 8.5 ins and is 7.5 ins tall including the handles.

I made the bag shape first, scoring it three times down the middle so that it would stand up.

After this, I made two copies of the bag panels, drawing lines on the one side of each and sticking pink Brazill paper on the other. Then, with the lined side facing upwards I machine sewed along all the lines (I hope that makes sense).  When this was done I stuck both panels onto the sides of the card blank.  This gave the card weight and texture (plus a lot of fiddle fart for me!)

I made double sided handles for the bag and machine sewed them together round the edges ….

….. and stuck them on the inside of the card, covering the ends with another panel shaped piece of paper….

……. I’ve then used self adhesive Velcro dots as fasteners to keep the bag together when standing up.

The finishing touches were made by adding  the name “Jess” and some silver charms.

Then, goodness knows what possessed me, I made a wallet to go inside the bag to put some birthday money in, which stays in position with the aid of another Velcro dot.

An awful lot of fiddle fart for one card …….

……….which is why I said at the beginning it was a one off!

Birthday Rabbit card

This card measures 5ins x 5ins and is made using ivory linen effect card which is mat and layered on gold mirror card

This is a very less is more type card, I didn’t know whether to add “Hoppy Birthday” somewhere, but in the end decided against it.

The printed die cuts are from Eno and came in a pack of 5 for about 99p from Hobbycraft.

Party Picnic Boxes

A friend asked me if I had any ideas for boxes for her Granddaughter's picnic birthday party …. the brief was pink, pink and pink with strawberries, and twenty ….. please!

I used my box scorer that I got from e-bay years ago for about £6 - £7, it might be rough and ready but it does the job. It has two sides, where the distance between the grooves is ever so slightly different, one for the lid and the other for the base.

I made two boxes in different colour ways for a bit of variety. They measured 29cm x 21cm with a depth of 5cm.

The strawberries are made using a large scalloped edged heart punch and the stalk is half a daisy punch, which I have further embellished with a bit of doodling, using a black fine liner pen.

I didn’t make all twenty, just the two examples and then put everything that was needed in a pack so that someone else could have all the fun and satisfaction of putting them all together ….. I ain’t daft!

Clippy London Customisable Bags

One of the MANY things on my Wish List/Objects of Desire for a long time has been a Clippy Bag after seeing them in a gift shop at a Craft Centre, I think it’s because I have a big thing about pockets and little bitty things!

So you can imagine my excitement when Connie from ClippyLondon e-mailed me out of the blue to say that she’d read my blog and thought that Clippy bags would be the perfect thing for me to review. She then asked if there was anything Clippy that I would like to have a look at and play with ……. oh my life ….. is the Pope Catholic? I didn’t need to be asked twice.

I spent a long time looking at all the lovely stuff, but the final choice was hard, as I really fancied the pink tote bag but decided that as I was writing a review the Clippy Make Up bag would be the best choice, as it only had four pockets and I knew that it wouldn’t take me too long to personalise and show to you. I also asked for a packet of the Desperate Housewives stickers ( £4.00) as I am more of a stranger to the feather duster and rubber gloves than I ought to be and thought that I might be able to do something funny with them.

The bag, which retails at £10 measures 8ins x 5.5ins so there is plenty of room for all my slap! The plastic is sturdy, strong and very good quality. The gold trim and zip are well sewn and blingtastically gold and shiny. I did wonder how I would be able to get my photos/inserts for the four pockets just the right size; I needn’t have worried because part of the packaging includes a template, so I can get a perfect fit each time, which is brilliant.

My bag arrived last Friday so I have put these three examples together very quickly, because I was anxious to show you the bag and just how versatile it is. There are four pockets on the bag …. but again for speed I have just done the front two.

I used  the Desperate Housewife stickers first. I looked on Google to find pictures of an original Sixties kitchen and bathroom, putting the apron, rubber gloves and feather duster with the kitchen and the champagne, shoes and perfume in the bathroom …. with the words ….. “Desperate housewife …. seeks lap of luxury!”  as that pretty much sums me up!

As I have started writing my Christmas posts, I thought it would be nice to include a Christmas idea using some Forever Friends 3D stickers and Papermania Christmas papers.
And finally, probably my favourite pockets, which took a matter of minutes, but if I say so myself it looks pretty classy.  All I have used is a flowery patterned paper with self adhesive glitter flowers and clear flat backed gems.

I can think of so many more ideas, and that’s the beauty of the bag, when you are tired of one design you just make up another set of pockets.

If I have tempted you into having a look at the ClippyLondon website http://www.clippykitlondon.co.uk/ and perchance something should accidently fall into your basket, ClippyLondon are offering a 10% discount voucher code to all my readers, just type in HELLO10 at the checkout…… and wayheeeeeyyy!

And now a bit of a sneak preview as we are all starting to get a little bit festive, these are not on the website yet, as they are so new but ClippyLondon will soon be releasing their Advent Calendars Trim the Tree and a Gingerbread House……. and it doesn’t take too much to work out which one I fancy!

ClippyLondon also have a Facebook page where there are always competitions and discount codes http://www.facebook.com/Clippylondon which might also be worth having a look at.

http://www.clippykitlondon.co.uk/