My First Christmas Card

Doesn’t this just make your heart sing ……..

It was made for me (with a little help from Mum) by Rory, the baby boy who lives next door to Tom and Laura in Evesham, it doesn’t matter how many dies, flat backed gems and all manner of other fiddle fart you have, these are always the best cards ever!!!!!

Craftwork Cards Christmas Candi Pad Card

So ……. this is a card I made using the Craftwork Cards Christmas Candi Pad, I mentioned the other day.  It measures ??? and the blank is hand cut using white linen effect card.

I am not sure what I think, using a “kit” is a bit alien to me! My first decision was not to use the Candi that came with the pad (red with gold dots), they didn’t really do  anything for me or the card in its embryo state.

I started by outlining all the leaves and veins with a black fine liner pen and then used “Glossy Accents” to accentuate and bring a little texture to the darker leaves .  When dry, the sheet was then thinly mat and layered on silver then red card.

I replaced the candi on the larger holly berries with small red buttons and used red flat backed pearls on the smaller ones and it looked …… OK.

I could have left it at that, but then I started to mither about the corners, before opting to cut four triangles of a green/cream gingham paper that matched pretty well ….. and then continued to fiddle fart even more by adding peel off corners and another set of smaller red pearls  and faux stitching.

I know it’s OK, but it’s not my style ……. and after this first attempt, to be honest, the rest of the pad is not for me …… however, I will pass it on to Marc, who knows people who would bite your right hand off for it!!!!

Christmas Tree In A Bottle Revisited

I decided to try and sell the last few remaining Christmas Trees in bottles that I had left over from last year on e-bay …. they all sold, with requests for more, so, although I didn’t intend to make them again, I relented ……

…….. well, a few extra pennies are always welcome … and it used up all the remaining trees and bottles I had, so more, profitable, stash busting.
I originally had to get the trees from Etsy from America (they are by Darice), but I still needed to add a little white paint and translucent micro glitter as they just came green and I also had to change the stands/bottoms for beads as the original fitting was too large to go through the top of the bottle.
They are admittedly very fiddly, hence my reluctance to revisit the project …….

The fiddliest part, for me, unbelievably, was adding the bead and the thread to the top ring …… goodness knows why, but it nearly drove me to distraction!
http://itsallfiddlefart.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/tiny-christmas-tree-in-bottle.html

Christmas Wouldn’t Be Christmas …….

Christmas Wouldn’t Be Christmas without embellishing a few Elizabeth Shaw Mints, using my trusty old Stampin Up punches.

I found the cheapest place for the dark chocolate mints this year was Iceland where they were selling two boxes for £4.  Finding the milk chocolate variety is harder but I managed to I find some in Home Bargains for (I think) £2.50 a box.

Making the mints was also an excellent opportunity for a bit more stash busting, as I managed to use up a couple of packs of snowman stickers that I have had for a couple of years, which, I think, came from either  Poundland or Poundworld.  Finding nice Christmas stickers (like Halloween) for this sort of project in discount/poundshops seems to be getting harder and harder, where once upon a time I was spoilt for choice  …… this year I have found only a couple of packs, and to be honest they were pants!!!!!!  As I have always said if you like something, it’s worth considering buying more than you need for one Christmas, because more often than not you will not see them again.

I have decorated both sides of the mints and then popped four mints in a pretzel bag, adding some of the leftover snowflake stickers also from the packs on the outside and finally tying up with a narrow red gingham ribbon.

Christmas Crafting With Iris

It goes without saying that Iris and I have been doing a bit of Christmas crafting! I had some small canvases that really needed to be used …… so I thought that if Iris painted them, they would make a lovely Christmas present for doting Grannies, Granddads, Aunties and Uncles etc……

……. needless to say she was a natural and needed very little encouragement to seek out her inner creative spirit …….

….. which did involve just a tiny bit of tasting!!!

…….. however, I am not going to talk about the cleaning up, let’s just say, that in the end, a bath was involved and quite a bit of scrubbing!!!!

We then, as “collaborative artists” decided, a couple of weeks later, to go for a mixed media, with festive influences approach to said canvases ……. this involved sequins …….

……. and …….. an awful lot of experimentation with glue …… followed by yet another bath!!!  Happy Happy Happy Happy Days!!

Fluffy Snowman Baubles

It’s taken me ten months,  but I have finally used all the fluffy baubles I found in Wilkos sale in January this year (reduced from £2.50m to £1.25 for 6)

I originally had 12 baubles (2 boxes), but I was a bit heavy handed with three of them when I glued on the baked Fimo noses, pressing them down a little to hard, resulting in the E6000 glue eating into the polystyrene ball that lay beneath the white fuzz …. I tried, but I couldn’t rescue them, without them turning into something that looked like the Snowmen of Satan, so lesson learned, next time use a lighter touch!!

I have been back to Wilkos this year, in the hope of finding some more but to no avail, as they were a gift for turning into these cute snowmen’s heads with very little effort ……

Original post:- http://itsallfiddlefart.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/fluffy-snowman-bauble.html

Farewell Dear Faithful Friend …..

My faithful old mini X Cut guillotine finally gave up the ghost in the middle of November, we must have been together for at least 15 years. I don’t think it could have cost me more than £6.50 or thereabouts ……. so it owed me nothing.

It took me a while to find a replacement, which turned out to be a little bigger (below) from Amazon, the Tonic Studios 8.5-Inch Guillotine Paper Trimmer, it cost me £19.00, which made me blanch a little, but it cuts like a dream.

Tonic also do a mini 6in version, which probably, with hindsight, is the same size as my old one, however I am not sure if it is readily available in the UK, all the ones I have found so far seem to be in the US, although it has been featured on Create And Craft over here ….. but I am quite happy with what I have got …….for the time being!!!!!

Mini Printers Tray Christmas Decorations Revisited

I was very kindly sent these wooden trays by , which, I believe, used to hold small wooden embellishments, but like so many crafty things, I can sit on something for years before eventually using it/them.

Originally I left the first trays I made, all those years ago in November 2011, grey and just added a faux stitching effect (below), using a white gel pen.

……. but this year, for the revisited version,  I decided to spray them in a mat white paint from Wilkos instead.

Also, this time around, I haven’t mat and layered any of the backgrounds or added many small details or doodling round the edges ….. but I think they still work.  In all I made eight trays, all slightly different, finally using all the trays that …. originally sent me.

I covered the back of each tray with a red and white stripy Christmas paper and then mat and layered on white, then silver my handwritten Christmas message/greeting, adding the date - Christmas 2015, These will be given to special people, instead of a Christmas Card as a more lasting momento of this Christmas, which I hope, will come out year after year, unlike the vast majority of cards.

Crafts In Evesham – Forget Me Not Crafts

I am still slowly finding my way round Evesham …… especially when looking for new/different/inspiring craft materials ….. the town has a Home Bargains where it is either famine or feast for me creativity plus a pretty good The Works …… but as of yet (????) not a single poundshop of any description, how will I cope when I eventually move????????

However, despite my pledge to be more frugal and cut down on crafting materials, I have found myself mooching and availing myself of some festive papers and embellishments from Forget Me Not Crafts in Bridge Street in the centre of the town.

The shop has a bit of everything, (see link below), from dies, stamps, embellishments, papers and cards, to name just a few. My favourite part is the “Bargain Baskets” section, where I have managed to find lots of “Craft For Christmas” packets containing wooden and resin embellishments from snowmen, to Santas, trees and stockings from only 25p to 65p …… exactly what I needed for my mini printers tray Christmas decorations (above)

I also treated myself to a Craftwork Card Candi Pad which came with  pack of matching Candi, not my normal thing at all, perhaps a little lazy, but I thought I could also add Glossy Accents and different sized flat back gems to the Candi, and I think the designs could, work mat and layered with the Papermania papers (to the side) ….., but as yet,  I haven’t had the time to play, quelle suprise!!!

I just couldn’t resist the pack of Papermania 32 x 12” x 12” Craft Christmas papers, although some of the paper’s are quite festive, there are also quite a few that could be used at anytime of the year, but again, I am afraid it’s a case of actually knuckling down when inspiration strikes and time permits ….. so you may have to wait till next Christmas for any results!!!!

Anyway if you are ever passing through Evesham it’s worth a look …….

http://www.eveshamtown.co.uk/businesses/forget-me-not-crafts/

Second Anniversary Card For Moo Moos

This card is A5 is size and is made using a hand cut blank in white, linen effect card.

My favourite place to go for a coffee and piece of cake in Evesham is Moo Moos, it’s now what I would call my local and I can’t thank Josi enough for making me sooooooo unbelievably welcome and as the cafe celebrated its    second anniversary of opening in mid November I decided to make this card.I especially chose to use purple as a background colour because Josi had just bought a new set of purple polo shirts for the staff to wear, from there I worked on the cafe theme, remembering these 3D paper stickers that I have for years and years and years, originally buying them from The Works …. to be honest, I had despaired of ever using them, but for this card they were perfect.

The letters are all part of my stash busting, I swear they multiply when I am not looking as they never seem to go down.  Then, to bring the whole design together  whole effect and to help fill in some of the empty, white space I’ve added a few punched hearts …. because Moo Moos serves a lot of their food on heart shaped plates.

http://lovemoomoos.weebly.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Moo-Moos-Cafe-Bar-168770616652363/

Fish Bowl Christmas Tree Baubles

I have wanted to try this idea ever since I saw it on Pinterest, I had the clear glass baubles but couldn’t find any pliable, plastic fish that would fit easily inside them ……….. until I was in Hammersmith, with Marc, in about March, when we found the perfect ones in Tiger (I think they were £1 for a pack of 10). But it then took me until mid November to actually start making them in just in time for this Christmas.

The baubles were a bargain sale find in Dunelm a couple of Christmas’s ago, they were reduced from £4.99 to £1 for a box of three.  They looked hideous as they had horrid strips of dull tartan card inside, but I reckoned that I could easily hook the card out ….. which I did.  So each bauble cost me about 33p.

I first took the bauble and poured in a mix of small, glass seed beads into the bottom.  I then threaded invisible thread through the top fin of the fish and delicately glue gunned the end to the outside of the bauble top, this was quite fiddly and often took a couple of gos, but I got better at it as I went on. The bauble I first saw on Pinterest had one fish in it, but I wanted to try using two.  Again, it was a fiddly as I wanted to get the fish at slightly different levels and I didn’t want them to touch, but through trial and error I think I got them pretty balanced.

The metal top, when refitted, covered up any glue or thread that needed to be left there.In all, I reckon that each bauble cost no more than 50p to make and I think I could, if I wanted to, sell them for an awful lot more, but these are destined to be given as presents, if I can actually let any go, as I love them so much! 

I also made this version, using a plastic spice jar, for Iris, as she loves fish, making sure that the lid was very solidly glued on of course.

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This!!!!

Welcome to my boudoir!!!!!  This is what my daughter Lucy bought me to start the festive season with ….. a king size Christmas duvet set, I JUST LOVE IT, it’s  something I have wanted for such a long time!!!I forget to take a picture of Lucy’s bed, a king sized red and white Nordic affair, well, that’s not quite the truth ……. I did take quite a few, but they also included three monkeys posing outrageously!!!

This is probably our last December/Christmas at this house, with my move to Evesham and Lucy hopefully buying her own house in the New Year too, (fingers tightly crossed) …… so we are really are going to make the most of it …… including Frozen paper chains!!!!!

Iris’s Little, Wooden Decopatch Bike

I’ve done it …….

……. as I told you last month, thirty odd years ago Tom had a little, wooden Galt bike for Christmas, it “did” for him and Lucy for five/six years and then it was put away. 

Several years later a nephew and two nieces came along, it was duly done up, and “did” for them too, but when they had all outgrown it, I had the foresight to ask for it back and it has been sat sitting in the garage ever since for about twenty years.

Then, Iris came along, and my thoughts again returned to the little bike, “if” I could get some new wheels, “if” they still did them after all this time, then I could “do” it up yet again for Iris’s 2015 Christmas present, and as I also said last month, when I contacted Galt they still had the wheels so for just £10, I was rock and rolling!!!!! My plan was coming together!All I had to do was get my brightest Decopatch papers out and start gluing.  It was fiddly, there were hardly any straight lines and there seemed to be so many little steps and round bits to work round, but in the end I would say it took me about three hours, from start to finish, including tea breaks.

This was then followed layer upon layer of clear, quick drying varnish …. so many I lost count, but I wanted it to be as durable as possible.

Et voila, it’s now all done and dusted waiting for perhaps an  little L Plate and for Santa to deliver it ……. I am soooooooooo chuffed with it, you’ll never know!!

Fiddle Fart For Sale!!!

After sooooooooo much nagging from Marc you wouldn’t believe,   I have finally decided to sell off some of my unused/surplus crafty bits and pieces via Fiddle Fart from January 1st 2016.  It might be a bit hit and miss to start with until I have a system going, so you will have to bear with me ……..

What I think I will do is put up a picture of the item(s) I want to sell, with a description, what I want for it, plus P & P costs.  All payments would be via Pay Pal ……. The first person to e-mail me would be “the winner” with 24 hours to pay – and as soon as an item is sold I would delete it from the site …….. all proceeds would then go to my moving fund, to help with all the fees etc. I am certain to accrue!

The best time for me to list & sell would be a Friday, when I can post items on a Sat. Mon & Tuesday – so it may be worth you popping by on Fridays in the New Year.

If any of you have any experience in selling this way I would be grateful of any advise ….

It’s Christmas ……

Well nearly ……. and to celebrate, I thought instead of one long post incorporating everything I’ve been up to this past month, I would give you eleven separate posts over the next eleven days.

A Bit Of A Disappointing November Update ……

I am afraid this is a bit of a disappointing November update, I have been very busy, but not of a crafting type nature! I have only made two cards, one for wedding ........ (below)

It measured 5ins x 5ins and used a handcut blank of white linen effect card. I used small Papermania adhesive Scrabble Tiles for the wording.  I have had these tiles for years. They were quite expensive at the time, but I bought them up whenever I saw them reduced, once at the HobbyCraft Show at the NEC and in shop sales, as I knew they were a timeless embellishment and could be used on so many things.
The letters were set on a navy gingham card and then mat and layered on navy blue and silver, with a little white faux stitching using a white gel pen. I then added a few punched red hearts to add a splash of colour, fill some empty space and add to the romantic theme.

And the other card I made was for my Dad's birthday, which was A5 in size, using a white, ribbed effect card, which is very similar to quite a few I have posted of late in an effort to use up all my old alphabet stickers.

But ...... then Marc came to stay with me for an all too brief weekend in September to visit the Scarecrow Festival in the nearby village of Pattingham, accompanied, naturally by Hugh his monkey!

Needless to say much vodka was quaffed accompanied by much laughter.

We also had a little time to “do” all the Poundshops of Wolverhampton, where, as you can see, Marc played me up something rotten and in the end I decided that the only way to cope with him when he’s like that, is to treat him like a naughty boy!!!!!

Sadly, the Halloween stuff for using on Halloween projects was even more disappointing this year than last ….. and last year was pretty dire!  Seems shops are stocking up on the big stuff, but small skeletons, stickers, packs of large black spiders that can be glittered and bejewelled and skeleton hands ….. forget it!!!  As I have always said, when you see something you can use buy it, and buy it in bulk for other years and ideas, because the chances are you’ll never see them again.

Marc also helped me cut and sort some old music papers into packs to sell on e-bay and then punched out 100’s of birds for the same reason.  I have only just started listing my craft stuff on e-bay, it’s all a bit slow as listing takes quite a while and I wait for free insertion offers as I am only selling most things, at the moment, for about £1.50 so it’s not in my best interest to pay a 35p fee just for the pleasure!

The above picture is just like me and Marc when we’re out fine dining …… Marc is a bit dyslexic so this is typical of many of our conversations!!!

http://www.januaryfurnitureshow.com/

Marc’s partner Ian has also asked me to help as a Design Assistant/Stand Dresser at the January Furniture Show in January 2016, like I did last January  It is very hard work, not at all glamorous, and very, very, very cold and there is so much running about you wouldn’t believe, I am sure I wore about an inch off my leg length last year! But it’s yet another opportunity to work with such a wonderful and talented interior designer, Ian has taught me so much and is incredibly generous with his time and tutorage, and if I cock up, he’ll tell me!!!  I just need several pairs of sensible shoes, a scarf and my own trolley!!!

Needless to say, I shall be asking for Ian’s advice, (at mates rates) when I make my eventual move to Evesham when I will have a new house to decorate and furnish. After going round the Antiques and Collectors Fair at the Three Counties Showground earlier this year I think he’s got a fair idea of my style …. a bit eclectic, which he summed up as being mainly Edwardian and some industrial and a touch of 60’s retro, so I think he has got his work cut out!!!!

 

For Christmas I am going to decoptach Tom’s first old wooden Galt bike for Iris.  It’s 30 odd years old, and did for Tom and Lucy, and then all the little cousins that followed in turn after that, before being returned to me, where it has just been in the garage for the past 10 years.  It’s still as sturdy as ever …. all I have had to do is buy a new set of wheels from Galt (couldn’t believe they would still be available for only £10) and the decopatch papers, well they’ve been in my drawers for a while now, just waiting for a project.

It doesn’t matter to Iris whether her presents are old and re-hatched ….and I am hoping that when it’s finished I’ll have created something that can become an heirloom for yet another generation …… like the toybox I “did up” for her last year, which originally was Andy’s first fishing tackle box, which he made when he couldn’t afford a “proper” one.

I also want to make some more mini printer frame type Christmas decorations like I did about 4 years years ago. I want to give them instead of a Christmas card to special friends, as I am always aware that most Christmas cards end up getting thrown out, where something like this will, hopefully, come out year after year.  I’ve got quite a few tiny bits and pieces put aside and I’ve also managed to buy some tiny resin Santas, snowmen and Christmas trees from Forget Me Not Crafts in Evesham at bargain prices …….. so all I need is the time.

As a heads up, there are some interesting bits and pieces in The Works and it’s worth looking at their website for online offers. I thought this set of 25 drawers would make a great base for an Advent calendar (£12) and I am intrigued by the wooden briefcase, I would like to see it in real life to work out its potential, and am sorely tempted, despite my best efforts towards frugality!!

I am not a great die cutter but I also notice they have begun selling dies, don’t know about all their designs or quality, but again. might be worth a look (below 12 Days of Christmas £10)

Sorry, not the most brilliant catch up post this month ..... I promise to work harder for next month!!!