Happy Halloween –Trick or Treat

This is all I have made this Halloween (sorry) and I only made 12!  The small plastic pumpkins came from Poundworld for a pack of 6, which I featured a few weeks ago.

All I have done is fill them with about eight Celebration chocolates, bought from Tesco when the large tins were only £4 each (I have another two put under the bed for Christmas …. if they last that long!)

…. and the tags were made using a punch and some Halloween stickers from Accessorize left over from last year.

I’m sorry that I haven’t bought you more ideas this year, BUT if you scroll down the page and look on the right hand side you will come to LABELS and if you click on Halloween you will find 34 ideas from the last couple of years which I hope will give you a little inspiration.  A lot of the stuff I used is still available in Poundshops etc. and I think some branches of Accessorize have packs of small Halloween stickers.

So, will I be trick or treating this year? ….. Well, it’s half term …. and I have procured train tickets to London for just £7.50 each way …….. Once in London, I will be found curled up on the lovely Marc’s settee, watching hour after hour of Create and Craft, sharing an ample sufficiency of Maltesers and breaking my usual tea totalness by enjoying several vodka and cokes ….. (plus I can expect scrambled quails egg on toast for breakfast, so he tells me) and you can rest assured he will stoop at nothing in an effort to get my mojo back!!!! I am soooooooo excited ….. I am counting the hours!!

Jewelled Mirror

I don’t often make things for myself, but this is ALL for me ….. and my Lady Boudoir!!!

Do remember the jewelled mirror I saw in Accessorize in Exeter in April this year? Well I never forgot it and Marc and I often talked about the idea and other ideas he had used to make similar mirrors using all sorts of things, other than jewellery.

The whole thing took me about five nights to complete over a couple of weeks using an old mirror which measures approx. 23ins x 23ins, that I’ve had for at least twenty five years and has been on almost every wall in the house!

To cover it I’ve used up all my old unwanted jewellery, flat backed gems, charms, beads etc. anything that glittered was bunged on, plus a few new bits from Primark and Claire’s that I needed to fill in the last few gaps … so I guess it’s cost me £20 to complete, plus a tube of E6000 glue, as recommended by Marc.

I have to admit I had a love hate relationship with the mirror all the way through until the very last evening, which is why I kept on leaving it and then going back to it ……

It wasn’t pretty enough, the bits didn’t look right together, it looked messy  …..and then I got irritated by having really gluey fingers!

But the last lot of frippery that I bought especially, including six Primark stretch bracelets and three daisy chain necklaces from Claire’s sale …..….. especially the  metal daisies, that are the only “jewels” that I have scattered all round the mirror that seemed to bring everything together.It was on the final night of gluing and sticking that I could see that it was going to be even more beautiful than I had imagined and then I got obsessed by filling in the tiniest space with small pearl beads or tiny gem …..  less was definitely not more as far as I was concerned!  And now, I have my fairy mirror …….. even if I don’t exactly see a fairy looking back at me ….. I shall always feel like a fairy when I look at it!!!!!

Tom and Laura’s Engagement Card

This is the engagement card I made for my son Tom and the Lovely Laura, it’s a good job that they are just as monkey mad as me!

I’ve taken a photo from my other blog and just embellished it with micro fine glitter, which has to be one of my “Top 10 Can’t Do Without”  products and various heart shaped stickers from my vast collection.

I handwrote the sentiments and also added a little gold pen to parts of  the champagne bottle.  Done and liberally micro glitter dusted!

Save The Day Calendar Cards for Tom and The Lovely Laura’s Wedding

(above) My first efforts in trying to put an idea together….

Did I mention that my son and the Lovely Laura got engaged a few weeks back?  It was the most wonderful news the family could have asked for as we all love Laura so much …. and I couldn’t wish for a more wonderful “new” daughter.

(above) Aghhhh, a pile of rejects, mistakes and not quite right efforts trying to get the idea in my head to come together!

The wedding will be in August next year …. and I wasn’t sure if my crafty services would be needed …. but guess what ….. ???!!!  So please accept my apologises now, for I fear you may all get heartily sick of the constant wedding theme that will no doubt be running through this blog in the few coming months!

So, it’s going to be a lovely colourful rainbow of a day, “very them” …. and as we were talking Laura told me that when she last visited the hotel where the wedding and reception is going to be, there was beautiful bunting hanging in the courtyard for another wedding, which she loved  ….. and that gave me the idea for the “Save the Date” cards……

…… which in the end I decided to doodle, to give them a proper homemade/handcrafted style ….. but you will not believe how hard it was getting the bunting “just so” was!  I drew it all in pencil first, but as soon as I went near it with an fine liner pen I would put a line in the wrong place and as a perfectionist had to do it all over again! Once happy with the final result, I scanned the base and calendar parts to make jpegs that could be copied and pasted onto A4 sheets (using Publisher)  and then printed,  cut out and finally the cards put together.

And here’s what the final cards will look like …. (though I wished I hadn’t photographed it on a green background!)  I have mat and layered the base card on green for this example as Laura is toying with an emerald green dress …. but I think I may vary this with colours taken from the bunting.   The calendar is fixed in place with an adhesive foam pad for extra dimension. The bunting will be coloured in with Promarkers and sprinkled with Hunkydory Diamond Sparkles ultra fine glitter when I begin my production line.  The finishing touches will be made with a few tiny clear flat backed gems scattered here and there, there is one on the date, but it doesn’t show up too well, so that will be changed to a coloured one.   I will then attach a strip of magnetic tape to the back, so that it can be put on a fridge etc. to remind the guests  to “save the date”!

I hope I have ordered enough of the ivory linen effect card for all the stationary from papermilldirect, prices have gone up, as have so many things. When I first started cardmaking seriously P & P used to be free if you spent over a certain amount, which is why I used to order two Mega Boxes at a time to last me a year or so, I can’t afford to do that now,  however their ivory and white linen effect card still remain my favourite card with which to make all my card blanks.

http://papermilldirect.co.uk/?gclid=CPOBy-z83LICFSTKtAodDEsA3Q