Happy Holiday Charity Shop Shopping and Crafty Finds.

We were only away for a couple of days at Easter but Lu and I still managed to hit the charity shops of Minehead and I was really pleased with the couple of crafty things I managed to pick up.

Like this large, 26 piece, wooden Peppa Pig jigsaw for just 75p (there was no box or picture, hence, I think, the price), something that was already on my shopping list, as I wanted to make some more jigsaw gift tags/decorations after realising their crafty potential.

These really are big, with plenty of wiggle room to perhaps accommodate much larger stickers and/or embellishments than I would generally use.

However, when I get the time, my first project will be to see if I can come up with a simple but effective way to put one of these festive puzzles that I found in The Works Christmas sale (75p for 6 puzzles) on to a jigsaw piece, to make a novelty gift tag, using a suitably matching patterned paper on the front, then after varnishing both sides adding the puzzle? 

I reckon using twelve of the jigsaw pieces and the twelve puzzles I have, they would work out at 20p a tag, including paper, varnish and a thread to make.

I also could not believe it when I found this bag of jar lids for 99p.  I think Lu thought I had finally lost it when I declared excitedly “I’m having these!”, but there was method in my madness. 

I’ve seen several ways of decorating mason jar lids as Christmas tree ornaments (a bit like my cookie cutter idea from a few weeks ago) on Pinterest, but I remember thinking, where on earth would you find just the lids.  Looks like I found my answer.

In all there were 6 large lids and 14 smaller ones, with their respective discs, working out at just 5p each.  I am thinking of Christmas scenes, perhaps using my Tim Holtz village dies, air dry paper clay, mini bottle brush  Christmas trees and perhaps even a small snowman (not unlike my Christmas tins).

There was also a small collection of plastic lids ……. originally I thought I would just use them as shallow glue pots for Iris and Bertie, but looking at them again, perhaps they also have more potential, so I guess it’s a case of watch this space.

Happy, crafty days!

Jigsaw Shaped Black and White Snowman Tags

From next week and for the next little while, I will only be posting on a Monday, with the occasional "object of desire/mooching/charity shop finds/heads up" on a Tuesday.  I am not ready to hang up my blogging boots up just yet, but sometimes the pressure to post takes the pleasure out of just fiddle farting, for fiddle fartings sake! 

My craft room drawers and cupboards are also really getting on my nerves, I seem to spend most of my time looking for things rather than crafting, so this week will see a concerted effort to get it sorted and if needs be a bit of a cull, although, to be honest, I expect I'll also buy a few more boxes to simply spread things around a bit more!

May is going to be a very busy month, with several weekends away, followed by, fingers crossed,  finally getting to Greece, two and a half years after we first booked, which is why, rather than crafting, I need to have a proper spring clean. I am going to stop eBaying for a while too, so I have unsold bits and pieces that will probably be donated back to the charity shop, as I am feeling rather bogged down.

However, once I am sorted and not feeling quite so cluttered,  I have soooooooooo many ideas I want to try, thinking Halloween and Christmas, which will, in turn, will continue to use up as much stash as possible. I have got so much made already, having made in bulk rather than just a one off item, which has also taken up a lot of my time, but if I keep up this momentum, I am seriously going to look into having a table at the local community centre in November to help sell anything I have that surplus to my own festive needs.

P.S. - I went and did it contacted Craft Fayre people - I am now on their waiting list for Sept  to Dec if there are any vacancies, so I will use the month of July to get things priced and bagged up and put safely away so I am ready to go if I get a call!

But I digress .............

This little project just about uses up the last of the snowman/snowflake sticker packs I stocked up on from One Below before Christmas.

I’ve had the jigsaw pieces for a while now and they also really needed to be used up.

So, I painted them black, using a Wilko tester pot (£1.50), giving them two coats on both sides, followed by the same in Wilko clear, quick drying, satin varnish to prevent any pen used bleeding into the wood.

When everything was dry, I painted a snowy layer of white paint along the bottom of the jigsaw pieces (also using a Wilko tester pot)

I then added the snowmen and snowflakes, plus the handwritten “Let It Snow”, faux stitching and doodles using a fine tipped, white Posca pen.

I also decorated the back to reflect the front. 

I decided to drill a hole in the corner of each tag to put a length of red and white butchers twine through and to add a pop of colour ……..

…….. then I remembered the small, red, heart shaped, flat back gems I had somewhere, which would be a subtle touch to put between the two snowmen. 

I was so chuffed with the result!

Taking A Week Off For Easter ...........

Although I seem to be crafting all the time at the moment, a few things seem to be taking a while to get finished, and when they are, I still need to sort out photos and get everything written up, so rather than put myself under pressure before I have a few days away over Easter, I thought I would take the week ahead off from posting, after all blogging should be fun rather than feel like a toil.

I am hoping to come back full of fresh air and champing at the bit, inspired by being with Iris and Bertie, the sea, charity shops and whatever else I stumble upon ........ see you next Monday.

HAPPY EASTER

Heads Up – Easter Bunny Shaped Eggs At Poundstretcher

I know it’s a bit late but I spotted these cute Easter Bunny shaped containers in Poundstretcher a while ago, but at £2 a pack I was being mean, especially as I’d already got Easter pretty sorted.

However, when I saw there was a 50% sale on everything in the Evesham store, meaning that these were now £1 a pack, it was a bit of a no brainer, as they are so cute.

They split in two so that you can put a few little bits and pieces inside ……..

All they need is perhaps a bow below their ears or under their chin, a pom pom on their tails or even a little fixing to hang them from and Bugs would then be your bunny! They certainly have potential,  You know I think I might nip back for a couple more packs as I am already thinking Easter fairings for the lunchtime supervisors at school next year …….. but then again, I can also see that perhaps these bunnies are not just for Easter? Hmmmmmmm.

I’m not sure how long this 50% sale is on for, I understand it’s also on at a number of other Poundstretchers across the country, so if it’s still on when I go up to town next, although I’m no Mrs Hinch, I might just stock up on some extra cleaning products etc. especially the way prices seem to be going up almost every week.

Bertie’s Birthday Frame ……… A Chinese Montage

Every birthday I make Bertie a shadow frame reflecting one of his many growing interests, this year it’s got a Chinese theme to it. He has a library under his bunk style bed where he has an “artefact” shelf where he puts his collection of Chinese bits and pieces, a willow pattern plate, a cup with a geisha girl in the bottom etc. He’s a “funny” boy!

I still have a few of the Poundland frames I got for 25p in one of their Christmas sales a few years back, so it’s quite nice that all his frames match.

I started with cutting a background from an A4 sheet of red corrugated card and proceeded to decorate it.

The handmade printed paper, two fabric patches, label  and peel offs came from a big pack of bits and pieces I found in a local charity shop for just £1.50.  The patches were still priced at £1.50 each, so I knew I had a bargain in just them alone.

The small, puffy, plastic stickers came from a pack from Paperchase quite a while ago now, but I always knew that they would come in useful one day.

When I was happy with how it all looked I was ready to put it all in the frame ………..

…….. which I also decorated, in the corners, with other gold peel-offs from my bargain pack.

While I was at it,  I used the opportunity to repair one of the frames I made for his birthday a couple of years ago as it was looking a little worse for wear, however it took all my powers of persuasion to get Bertie to let me have them for just a couple of days as he said he loved it so much he didn’t want to be without it!  What is he like?

I took out a few pieces of the real popcorn, changed the background from white to navy with a few red confetti stars and clusters of three white dots and then added another two layers of white 3D effect paint to make popcorn in the pot stand out a little more.  His Lordship was suitably impressed, I think!

Little Duck In Wellies Easter Decorations.

These little tranklements were an extra Easter craft idea …………

……. made after I found these super cute, wooden ducks in wellies embellishments in The Works, a pack of 20 for just £1.

I started by colouring them with white and yellow Ranger Enamel Accents, adding their beaks and eyes when they were dry.

I used either a wooden easel (sourced from China) or wooden sign (Amazon) to put them on, giving them a couple of coats of clear, satin, quick dry varnish (Wilko) before sticking anything on them, to ensure that any acrylic pen I used later wouldn’t bleed into the wood.

I did the writing first to make sure that it would be more or less centred before adding the ducks.  Having varnished the boards beforehand it also meant that if I made any mistakes I could easily wipe the pen off without ruining any of the black paint.

With the ducks glued into position I was then able to do all the fiddle fart.

First by adding a little green Dovecrafts 3D Enamel Effects round the edges and on the easel shelf, followed by the tiny Fimo nail art flowers ……..

…… and then the stems and leaves using a light green acrylic pen plus white dot clusters here and there using a fine tipped Posca Pen.

I was nervous of adding the wings and lines on the wellies using a fine tipped black Sharpie pen, my efforts are far from perfect I know, but they will do!

My apologies for the quality of the photos on this post, I think I got a bit of grease on the lens of my camera.

A Third Adventure With Resin–Christmas Tree Tags

Woooo hoooo I’m almost  there, but not quite …….. however my new silicon trays arrived within in a week of ordering and not the two months Amazon first stated, so I am able to crack on with my learning!

This is the exact “look” I’ve had in my head along on my resin journey ……. I am so thrilled, I can’t tell you. The snow flakes are nail art embellishments from eBay.

I just need to fine tune and sort out the bubbles that formed under the glitter card I put in ……. (above)

I managed to minimise any small bubbles by using my heat gun on each new level of resin ……..but as these trays aren’t clear I wasn’t able to see any bubbles gathering underneath after I put the card in …….

…….. but from what I have gathered, I need to use a white glue on both sides of the card to seal it and then make sure it is again glued very carefully on to the “cured” hardened, resin, really taking my time, before adding the next resin layer to seal it in, if that makes sense.  So, another day added to the process to make sure everything is right. This a slow process, but hopefully worth it in the end.

As I post this, I have another set of tags on the go with these modifications, fingers crossed. I think they will also use all the resin I have left, so the results will go to decide if I buy more to continue my journey ………. so, watch this space!

Black and White Snowman Tags

After making my first set of black and white snowman tags I wanted to make some more,  so I ordered some more wooden black tags from China via eBay, which cost me £3.84 for 25.

They were a bit smaller than I had imagined, not big enough to write anything on the front, but I still thought I could make them work.

I started by giving the tags two coats of clear varnish on both sides to prevent any pen bleeding into the wood.  When the varnish was dry I painted a small layer of snow along the bottom of the tags using a Wilko white tester pot (£1.50)

Then came the bit I like best, all the fiddling and twiddling, adding the snowmen and snowflake stickers I stocked up on, when I realised their crafty potential, from One Below, before Christmas.

I used a fine, white Posca pen to add the faux stitching and doodles.

I also gave the back the same treatment, but leaving space for a message/greeting. The red and white butchers twine just gives an extra pop of colour.

I am hoping that by making wooden tags instead of using card, these will become little keepsakes over the years, they certainly wouldn’t look out of place hung on a Christmas tree.

I have about another pack and a half of snowmen and snowflakes left from my stash, luckily I have another quite similar idea for how use finally use them all up, so watch this space……….

Very Simple, Any Occassion Sort Of Card

This card measures approx. 5ins x 5ins and uses an ivory linen effect, hand cut blank as its base.

I can’t remember when I last made a card…….. and the reason I have really gone back to basics, as it just doesn’t come naturally any more!

To be honest it’s just just lots and lots of mat and layering, corrugated kraft card on red, silver, ivory and then red again!

The embellishment is a real blast from the past, going right back to my early days of crafting and blogging.