Calendar Card

I made this card for my brother in law who is doing an Art Degree.

The base is made from a lovely grey corrugated card, for a masculine, textured feel and appearance  

The calendar is from a digi scrapbook set from Sweete Shop Designs. 

I have circled his actual birthday with red and then used Anita’s 3D clear gloss dimensional finish for added texture. The card is completed with stickers, from an artist set of 3D embellishments.

Easter Bunny Poop

This is a variation of the Snowman Poop I made for Christmas.

I hope you aren’t sick of my Easter Bunny embellishment, but since I made it using my Silhouette, I have saved so much time and money.

If you haven’t got a cutting machine I found these 3D embellishments by Paper Bliss which cost about £1.45 a packet.

I am going to use them on Easter cards and put them in my Staffroom Box, if they don’t go – I will take them apart and use them on New Baby cards instead.
 
The scalloped circle is made using a very large Woodware punch.

What’s On My Desk Wednesday

Not so much, what’s on my desk, more what’s on my whatnot!

I finally got it up.  I need to rearrange my treasures now. I would really like to collect miniature birdcages, but I have an idea that they are few and far between and expensive!  So I think I am going to compromise and collect little tea light lanterns instead – so it’s a sort of work in progress.

I have a little fairy door on my picture rail, as I think that “my” fairies like to live somewhere high!

Easter Bunny Hot Chocolate

After Snowman Soup at Christmas I decided to do the same sort of thing for Easter – using a sachet of hot chocolate, an Easter chocolate lolly (Somerfield – 4 for £1) as a stirrer and some rather lovely coloured marshmallows, my sister found me.

The poem is a joint effort between my sister and I, not Shakespeare I know – but it suits the purpose.  However if anyone comes up with anything else, could they add it to the comments box, then I will put them all together in another post before Easter for everyone to share.

The handwriting is mine.

Anniversary Card

Today my husband and I celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary which is Pearl.  Now, I don’t think pearls are very manly – so how could I incorporate them into a card for my big burly man ………?

Well, I turned them into little fish …… because one of  Andy’s many hobbies is keeping them!

The eyes are the nail decorations I got from Poundland last week, they are just the right size, the silver bubbles are also nail heads from Rhinestones Online, the translucent micro glitter is Dazzling Diamonds from Stampin’ Up and the doodling is all mine!

As for gifts – I gave him four hermit crabs for his fish tank and he gave me a new camera.  The macro setting for close up photos is so good, I couldn’t use them, as the fish close up were disgusting, covered in stray bits of glitter, dried glue and fingerprints!

Simple Butterfly Card

This is a very simple understated card/notelet, suitable for any occasion. The paper and butterfly are both from K & Co.  All I have added are a few extra yellow gems on the background paper.  I have mat and layered with gold and white card.

Easter Treat Bag

There’s a bit of a story about the template for this box, which I downloaded from a scrapbooking forum;  when I cut it on my Silhouette, it fell to bits, as it cut along the fold lines instead of perforating them.  I was gutted as it was just what I was looking for.

I am very much a novice with the Silhouette, but after several attempts, I worked out how to do the perforations – I am dead chuffed with myself!

I have also saved myself a bit of money, as I was planning on buying a Sizzix Bigz die that makes a very similar bag/box.

I’ve kept it pretty plain, just adding a textured paper strip, stickers from Poundland (from last year, I’m not sure if they have any this year) and a bit of faux stitching, all I need to do now is pop some eggs inside.

Two More Very Quick Flower Cards

 
I got these ribbon flowers from Hobby Crafts Show a couple of years ago, but have never used them. 

I just glued them onto a card blank and doodled the stems, leaves and grass, first in green pen, then outlined with a black fine liner pen, adding Happy Birthday.

These foam flowers were from HobbyCrafts, they have self adhesive backing.

Nothing fancy or complicated – just plain, simple and quick.

Bunny Tails Easter Treat Bag

This is a lovely idea from my mate Lisa that I have adapted – check out her blog for a brilliant tutorial on how to create wording using a Craft Robo/Silhouette.

http://craftfairy.blogspot.com/2010/02/easter-gift-idea-bunny-tails.html

I have used my Silhouette to make the bunnies.  Their heart noses are leftovers from Accessorize sticker packs.

(The template is called Flexible Bunny Rabbits)

I have used toffee bon bons for the tails!

Card for a Film Lover

This is a card I made using a Scrappin Doodles Digi Scrapbook set.  It was for a colleague who's daughter is mad about films.

 I used my newspaper design template for the base of the card and then jiggled around with the various elements of the digi set until I was happy with the design.

The tickets, clapperboard and exclusive elements  are simple decoupage layers using foam pads (from Poundland), as is the popcorn box, which I have glammed up with Anita's 3D clear gloss finish. To make the popcorn stand out I have used Anita's 3D Dimensional Glossy Paint. The card is completed with a scattering of small silver star confetti.

What’s On My Desk Wednesday

My desk is very tidy and boring at the moment,  but as I went on a shopping trip with my mate Lisa on Saturday, I thought I would lay my shopping on my desk……

Mini Marshmallows from Home Bargains – 69p, brilliant for the Bunny Brew Hot Chocolate I am planning to make for Easter.

Ikea fish ice cube tray, 99p – I am thinking about using this for making chocolate fish for Father’s Day.

Ikea Nut and Bolt jellys – 49p, I thought I might make some Sizzix shaker boxes with gentlemen in mind.

Nail decorations – very small gems, brilliant for tiny weeny designs – 99p

And finally pirate confetti – 79p – cute silver swords and pirate flags, I don’t have a project in mind – but I am sure they will come in useful sometime.

Easter Bunny Treat Bags

How cute is this?  I have 26 more to make for a colleague at work, to give to her class at Easter.

To make life a little more difficult for myself, the bag is exactly the same on the other side – yes, I am quite, quite mad!

The idea came to me because I wanted to put four bunnies (from Marks & Spencers) in a bag, but they were all squashed up, and didn’t look very pretty!

The card inside the packet measures 3cm x 2.5cm and the flower stickers are left over from Accessorize packs with a bit of doodling.

Going Bananas - Monkey Treat Bags

 

With a few days away from work I have managed to have a good “play” on my Quickutz Silhouette, which is a much under used tool in my craftroom.

I have a monthly subscription with Quickutz, which  they have recently changed slightly, but for approximately £7.00 a month I can download about 50 templates.

I bought a huge bag of foam bananas and remembered this monkey template that I had downloaded – and thought I would try it on some sweetie bag toppers.

I can’t say it’s the easiest tool to use and I think it helps that I am quite good at using a computer. It took me quite a while to sort out the template, making separate sheets of bodies, faces, noses and eyes in the different colours that I needed to make up the monkeys. But now saved, I will be able to use them over and over again, and it beats cutting everything out by hand!

Two Simple Flower Cards

Sometimes It’s nice to cut out the fiddlefarting and make something very plain, simple and quick.

The flower brads and paper in this card are from the Margo range by K & Co.  I have cut the scalloped square using a Nestabilities die on my Big Shot

The daisy card is also made using a K & Co flower, but I have added a flat back gem to the centre, I am sorry I don’t know the name of the paper I have used though.

I love K & Co embellishments but they are SO expensive, I only buy them from e-bay, where you can sometimes find them at a reduced price or in craft shop sales, which to be honest is a rare occasion!

17th Birthday Card

I made this card for my nieces best friend Beth.

I cut the large numbers out of my Quickutz Silhouette.  It is a brilliant tool, but I don’t use it half enough, despite having a monthly download subscription for templates from Quickutz.  (I was dead chuffed recently when I managed to master print and cut on it, no mean feat).

The letters are a mishmash of two different sets of letters from American Crafts (bought from QVC).

The large flowers are made using my retro flower whale of a punch, and the smaller flowers with a similar punch. The flowers are finished off with clear flat backed gems.

I’ve Been Shopping ….

A couple of days a way from home ….. and lots of time for mooching…..
So from Paperchase ….



All £1 a packet – they are small, but ideal for when I make a card using nine small square punchies.
I am not sure what I am going to do with the Bear Hug stickers yet – they might be good on Hug in a Mug hot chocolate packs.
I want to try the butterflies on my glass pendants as they are transparent.
From Accessorize ….. at £1.75 a packet …

The dolls are soooooo sweet – and I thought the hearts in this pack would make brilliant noses for Easter Bunnies.
I couldn’t resist getting another packet of the bird stickers as I have had some new ideas on how to use them……
Then on to Primark ……..

These earrings were £2, but I got 18 embellishments from them, the photo doesn’t do justice to the very sparkly jewel in the centre.  I know its a long way off – but my immediate thought was snowflakes……

These cute sweeties are from Poundland – I think I will put two in a sweetie bag with a cute bunny topper.

This nest is from Hobbycrafts - £1.99 – aint got a clue what to do with it ….. think I might just put some blue mini eggs in it and keep it on my shelf and see what they hatch into!

This is just pure indulgence from Harriet and Dee, a shop in Chester – when/if I have a crafty stall in the summer my braclets will look lovely hanging from it. (£5)