Birthday Newspaper For My Sister

This is the card I mad for my sister’s birthday last year.

She “works” as a volunteer in national/international sports events all over the country, so I thought I would use that as the theme. It made her laugh!
I make so many newspaper cards that I am trying to spread them out ... didn't realise until today that this has been waiting for almost eleven months to get an airing!!!

Two Quick Cards for Fiftieth Birthdays

I made this card for my Sister In Laws 50th birthday.  I stuck a variety of alphabet stickers on different patterned paper and arranged them in a higgledy piggledy fashion onto the card blank with a few paper flowers with gem centres to embellish. Voila!

I made this second card in almighty rush, but it looks ok. 

The squares are from a Papermania paper shape set bought for £2.50, much reduced, at the Hobbycrafts Show at the NEC a couple of years ago.  The letters are odds and ends from  American Crafts self adhesive alphabet sheets.

Little Boat Wooden Tags

The base of these tags have been made using children’s wooden dominoes with the holes being made using a PowerCraft hobby drill.

Nothing fancy today, just using up of odd bits and pieces that I’ve had for ages to continue my resolve not to buy new stuff while I have more than enough stash to last me, even if I crafted non stop 24 hours a day for the next 25 years!

I was thinking that these would be OK for little boys birthday parcels or for Dad’s on Father’s Day.

Altered Primark Necklace

From this …….

……. to this …..

I was messing about with a Cern’ (Franc and Bourgeois) gold outliner for glass painting on this necklace. When I first tried the outliner on the beads it was far too thick, so I wiped it off and noticed that quite a nice pattern was left, so I tried again, but this time using only the tiniest amount of gold in a swirly pattern, and this is the result.

FiddleFart Guest Crafter – The Duke "Mr FiddleFart"

 
“The Duke” is the most brilliantly creative person I know, he can make or mend anything! So when our son asked if he could come up with an idea to make a tally chart for his team at work, to inspire them to meet all their targets and  "win" a free breakfast, this is what “The Duke” came up with.

….. Made using scraps of wood, blackboard and ordinary paint, the addition of  plastic knives and forks and winners medals was just pure genius!

My favourite part was the easel ........


...... which I  have now asked him to make me but in miniature for my cards etc.

My Guest Crafter Today …..Ellie

One of the Year 7 students Ellie at school bought me this adorable felted penguin she made after getting the Kirsty Allsopp craft book for Christmas to see and I promised I would make her one of my guest crafters. How cute is he??

I also tried to persuade her that it really belonged on my desk, but she was having none of it!

Wooden Heart Card

This card measures 4in x 4ins and is made using a ribbed effect Kraft card.

No need for mucho explanation for this card today, just to say that the wooden heart was originally a natural colour but I decided to colour it with a red Whisper felt pen to give it a more Valentine flavour.

Wooden Heart Tags

Well with February being the month of “Lurvvvve”, something with hearts on today.

Made using wooden children’s dominoes (which measure 3ins x 1.5ins) ) and wooden heart embellishments from Hobbycraft, there’s a not a lot to them.  The sentiment is handwritten and on the back I’ve just added faux stitching round the edges so a message can be added if needed.

Smartie Pants Sweet Jar

It’s always nice to give someone a surprise when they have done something special …… like passing an exam or their driving test etc..

These jars can be found in Asda or Ikea for £1.99 a pack of four and have been filled with ‘real’ Smarties but other chocolate beans would do.

I’ve put self adhesive ribbon round the jar lid and then added a “Smartie Pants” label to the front and back using punched shapes, stickers from Hobbycraft, a bit of handwriting and a few stars.  Done and dusted!

Stripy Heart Card

I’m not too sure about the stripy paper on this card, it was a bit of an experiment and to be honest I much prefer using a gingham pattern  to stripes. However on a more positive note, I was a little nervous of colouring the natural wood hearts, but they have turned out pretty well.

Chocolate Valentine Love Bugs

I always like to have a box of Elizabeth Shaw mints handy just in case I have an idea on new ways to use them.

And, as I can’t find any love bugs for Valentines Day this year I decided to make my own, using the aforementioned chocolate mints and some black and red glitter card cut using my 1 3/8 Stampin’Up circle punch.

I stuck a black circle on the top and bottom of the mint and then trimmed the red circle slightly for make the head and wings.

A couple of wobbly eyes, a line down the centre and a few small punched circles for spots finishes the idea!  Simples.

Wooden Heart Card

This card measures 5ins x 5ins and is made using ribbed effect Kraft card.

Nothing fancy today, just a very simple,  less is more design using wooden hearts from a box of 45 I got from Handy Hippo:- http://www.handyhippo.co.uk/p7274-wooden-shapes-hearts-45-pieces.html.

I punched 1in scalloped squares from a Creative Paper Strips gingham print pack http://www.handyhippo.co.uk/s253-1-paper-pads-and-packs.html and then added a heart to each one, simples!

Valentine Chocolate Bars

Valentines sweets are often over priced for what they are, and this year, as I said yesterday, good quality chocolate items such as chocolate hearts  to put into sweetie bags etc. are few and far between.  Last week I saw packs of mini chocolate bars with Valentine wrappings and thought I would "Pinch" the idea.

…. by just wrapping Cadbury bars (pack of 6 from Home Bargains for £1.69) in scraps of heart patterned paper, which match the end of the chocolate bar perfectly.

Just right for popping into someone's pocket or lunchbox for a Valentines Day surprise without costing the earth!

Stripy Hearts Card

This card measures 12.5cm x 12.5cm and is made using white linen effect card.

I am not usually a stripy paper person so this card was a bit of an experiment. When I stuck down the punched hearts it all looked a bit flat, so I punched another set, folded them in half and then stuck them down the middle of the first hearts fluffing them up a bit.

I thought the hearts still needed a little bit of something else …. hence a final scattering of tiny punched hearts on the inside and outside of them … done and dusted!

Valentine Bags Of Love

It’s been really hard to find good quality Valentines sweets in the shops this year, I had been really hoping that Tesco would do their nets of Love Bugs again this year …. but unfortunately they haven’t …. so I have really had to scratch about for bits and pieces.  There are a few nets of chocolates about but there are not enough contents to justify buying them to split up for the price.  I  think that I may struggle at Easter too to keep prices down, as I only like to use recognised brands of chocolates.

Anyway, I managed to find bags of chocolate hearts in Marks and Spencer at £2.50 for about 25 chocolates and bags of 16 small packets of Love Hearts and Thorntons Love Rocks in Poundworld…..

I’ve bulked up my bags with a mix of small lollies, chocolate coins, a milky way and strawberry chews.

I simply put them in a cello bags, with a ribbon and wooden tags (which were a present from my Crafty friend Carly). I find that people at work like to buy “Penny Bags ” like these for their children …..I now all I have to do is cross my fingers and hope they will go down well ……

Wooden Baby Tags

The base of these tags have been made using children’s wooden dominoes with the holes being made using a PowerCraft hobby drill.

I thought these tags would be ideal for tags on baby presents.
I’ve used Creative Gingham Paper Strips and and wooden heart embellishments both from Handy Hippo
http://www.handyhippo.co.uk/p7246-creative-paper-strips-pastel-gingham-20-pack.html
http://www.handyhippo.co.uk/p7274-wooden-shapes-hearts-45-pieces.html

Decopatch Heart Keyrings

Aghhhh, covering the hearts on these keyrings was such a fiddle fart!

I’ve had these large wooden heart beads for a couple of years and decided that with Valentines Day approaching a few of them must be used up and so I decided (fool hardily) to try covering them with tiny pieces of Decopatch paper, talk about fiddly!

 

But, I wouldn’t be beaten and after several coats of Ronseal quick drying glossy varnish and adding keyring attachments from Hobbycraft they were soon done.

Guest Blogger – My Daughter Lucy

My daughter Lucy made me and others in the family some beautiful cross stitch and embroidered presents this Christmas and so I thought I would use a bit of nepotism and make her my Guest Crafter for today …..

I just do not have any patience with sewing, especially cross stitch and embroidery, to be honest my eyes are rubbish and I can barely thread a needle without my tongue hanging out and going cross eyed …..

….. and then if I get any further all my crisp material and threads start to look grubby and crumpled within seconds!

But as you can see Lucy doesn’t share any of my foibles!

Even her gift tags were cross stitched.

She treated herself to this book on doodle stitching by Aimee Ray and some of the stuff she has done already is just beautiful, I am so jealous!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Doodle-Stitching-Collection-Aimee-Ray/dp/1600595812

…. And I almost forgot these ribbon corsages!

Gingham Valentine Baskets

I am finding all sorts of forgotten treasure in my efforts to use up existing “stuff” rather than buying even more new bits and pieces, ……. like these papier mache baskets (£1.69 HobbyCraft).

Using a gingham print paper I drew round the baskets to get the shape and size right. I then cut out the shapes and went round the edges with a black pen to give a faux stitching effect, and finally glued the paper to the baskets, leaving to dry overnight.

Next followed several coats of Ronseal glossy, clear, quick drying varnish.

The finishing touches include a small tag made using a tag and heart shaped punch and a small wooden heart embellishment in the corner at the bottom of the basket.

I am going to fill these baskets with jelly shaped sweets for Valentines Day and see how they go.