Heads Up – Home Bargains – Chocolate Love Bugs

Just a quick post …….. with Valentines Day in mind……..

I found these nets of 15 cream filled chocolate Love Bugs in Evesham Home Bargains for 69p.  I was a bit dubious about the quality and taste, but I am very impressed, nom, nom, nom, so it would have been rude not to buy a few more! I am planning on putting two ladybirds in a decorated matchbox for Valentines Day.  This idea came about when I found two packs of 12 matchboxes (the same as I used at Christmas) at the bottom of the craft sale stuff in The Works, reduced from £1 to 50p a pack, I was well chuffed.

By my reckoning a matchbox with two ladybirds would cost approximately 12p to make, plus a few extra pence to cover the scraps of paper and embellishments used to decorate it.  It’s a no brainer!

Little Wooden House Christmas Tree Decorations

Following on from yesterday’s charity shop finds, I have started to use some of buildings I found in the bag of bricks I got for just 40p. 

In all there were nine of these houses in the bag.

As you can see from the first picture (above), the houses are quite small and what I was going to do with them depended on whether I could securely screw a tiny eye hook into the roof, which, as you can see was a success.

I started off by making new front and backs for the houses, using scraps from a Forever Friends 6” x 6” Christmas paper pad because the tiny proportions of the patterns were perfect for the house size.  I cut out and stuck down the doors and windows and then doodled on them with a black fine liner pen, but as I doodled the more detailed the design got, as I added curtains and a tiny weeny clear flat backed gem door knob.  When I was all detailed out, I glued a matching front and back to each brick using PVA glue.

When the front and backs were dry, I put translucent micro fine glitter on the roofs to give them a proper Christmassy sparkle.

Then, I couldn’t help myself fiddle farting again, by adding a window to each side of the house. Et voila, all that is needed is a hanging thread, but I will leave that until nearer Christmas (2017!!!)

As there are only nine houses, I think all these will be destined to be put in a small pack along with other tree decorations I plan to make throughout the year.  I tend to make tree decorations to give instead of cards to family and friends, something they can keep, unlike most cards.  It is also something that is very important for me to do for Iris and Bertie, so that they each have a box of treasures made by Nanny Nell, collected over the years, which they will then, perhaps, put on the tree with their own children sometime in the dim and distant future.

Three Charity Shop Finds ………

I found this Christmas Tree decoration just before Christmas, costing just 99p, I am not sure what is is, it seems to be a little small to be a card holder.

It was the angels that I wanted, I certainly couldn’t find anything similar for just 99p for 16 in any craft shop, so it was really bought to disassemble.

But once stripped the tree also looked as though it had possibilities.  The angels came of their springs and pegs pretty easily to …. I am thinking, perhaps they could be put on a tag, in a tiny printers frame or in a small box, after a bit of a clean.  I am pretty sure the pegs can also be used on something.

This year I am going to try and make a concerted effort not to just put away my finds “for another day”, so hopefully I will be able to bring you at least one project where I have used a few of the angels in the next week or so.

In the same shop I also found this pack of 48 wooden tags for £1.49.  I haven’t used my heat gun for ages, so I thought I might see how they would look if I just tried putting embossing powder on the front to cover the printed pattern, or failing that, simply covering them with micro glitter to help embellish some kraft gift tags like the one below, I think my printer will take quite thick card for the sentiment.

And finally, in another shop I found a bag full of small toy village blocks for just 40p. 

I already have a seed of an idea in my head, so my first experiment was to see if I could screw a very small eye hook into one of the roofs ……

……. success! I am now thinking of a series of simple Christmas tree decorations (??????), so watch this space! 

Sticky Beaking Marc’s Country Lean Too

When I am not wandering round Marc and Rick’s country garden when I go to stay with them in Worcester, I can be found mooching in, what they call the ‘lean-to’.

Every time I go there always seems to be something new to look at that, but which they swear has always been there but I haven’t noticed it.
Again, everything seems to look just right, if I tried to get the same effect it would look all over thought and contrived.
I am awful, as I also have to touch everything!

And …….. one thing I just couldn’t keep my hands off recently was the humungous green vase (below), in the end I think Marc felt compelled to let me take it home as I had stroked and admired it soooooooooooo much. If I had seen it in a shop I would have bought it there and then, but Marc found it on a stall at one of the many village fetes he goes to in the summer, and it cost him just 60p!!! OMG. OMG, OMG!

I have the perfect place for it, in my guest room, hopefully, it will be in situ by next Thursday, after my carpenter man has been to put up all my compartment shelving …….. it’s been a long time coming, you have to wait for a craftsman, but hopefully next week I can share it’s progress with you  ………..

Experimenting With Microscope Slide Decorations

Marc and I have “played” with microscope slide decorations several times before, and my latest idea was wondering if we could use the temporary metallic tattoos I found in Home Bargains for 75p per pack, after seeing them used on clear glass Christmas baubles.

And, this was a time when, yet again, when Marc got to see just how impatient I am when crafting, topped of with an obsession for projects like this being double-sided (my reasoning being if they can be seen from several angles while hanging, then both sides should equally interesting.!!!)  Marc also knows that I can’t wait for anything to dry and in the process have to keep fiddling and worrying something!

 

Anyway, the tattoos transferred onto the glass very successfully, and for the purposes of these experiments we used only one slide, however if I  do them again I would put two slides together to protect and preserve the tattoo permanently.  Marc experimented with Glossy Accents and micro glitter on the back of his slides as another way of preserving and protecting his tattoos with mixed results.  I think we both decided that the glitter didn’t really work, as the stickers got lost amongst it all. We used copper and gold adhesive foil round the edges of microscope slides, however, Marc quite fancies having a go at soldering at sometime, which is what we have seen with a lot of “professional” microscope decorations and pendants.

My biggest frustration with our method of making microscope slides has always been what to add/make as an anchor from which to hang the finished slide (I think when soldering a ring is “simply” added to the top, with the solder then keeping it in place).  On this occasion Marc created hangers using jewellery making copper wire and E900 glue to keep them in place, with reasonable success   I think this idea still needs to be explored an awful lot more (….. if I have the patience), at the moment I am determined to crack it sometime this year, so that by next Christmas I will finally be happy to make and give them as presents, and, perhaps, sell a few too. I am already thinking filigree wraps/connectors (?) on the top and bottom of the slides, as I have seen on Etsy,  I may even have to have a go at soldering with Marc, if he could bear it.

Marc found a microscope slide of mine from one of our previous experiments, I added three tiny red/yellow stickers on the flowers on the front, which worked OK, but the stickers I added on the back were again lost. 

Then I had a go at making a square shaped glass decoration using a silver snowman bubble sticker and white chalk pen on the inside, to preserve it …… however, I hate it …… its clumsy and crude, but all part of the learning process!

And finally,  from all our experimenting, I filled a gold pendant tray with glossy accents and assorted very small flat backed pearls, the judges are out on this one!!!  All I will say is that sometimes close up photography does nothing for very small projects.

A Boy And His Toys – Marc Tries Out His New Be Creative! Wonder Stamp Press

While I was staying with Marc he was also keen to try out his new Be Creative! Wonder Press which had only just arrived to great excitement.

For the purposes of this post I  have been a bit lazy, but rather than make any mistakes with what it does/can do, I have taken the quote below directly from website http://www.onceuponastamp.co.uk/be-creative-wonder-stamp-press/

(Marc used another grid under the Wonder Press solely for the purpose of having a flat, firm surface on the table where we were working)

“The new Wonder Stamp Press makes stamping so easy with its large platform. The grid markings along all four edges make lining up stamps very simple giving you the perfect placement of your image every time.
When your stamp is mounted on to the Stamp Press you have time to ink your stamps up and line up with your project before you press down to stamp your image. Little pressure is required for a perfect stamp image every time.
Can take stamps up to around 12 x 20 cm in size. PRESS IT ...STAMP IT ...now everyone can stamp !”

Now, though I love stamps, I am always wary/reluctant to stamp directly onto a card or tag for fear of it not being perfectly centred or level, or smudged, which is why I always stamp on a piece of card, which I then trim, before mat and layering it, before putting it on to a card, often losing a lot of the simplicity of the style of stamps I prefer and the “less is more” effect I always try to aim for.

Let’s just say Marc was very impressed and, equally, so was I, so much so that I think I will also be investing in a Wonder Press myself in the next little while, and at £7.99 that’s less than a lot of stamps sets.   http://www.onceuponastamp.co.uk/be-creative-wonder-stamp-press/

Marc was all about the playing and experimenting, so I was allowed to colour in his stamping, of which I am no great whiz, but it was all very relaxing as we nattered with erm ….. the odd voddie and coke!

A Boy And His Toys – Marc Tries Out His We R Memory Keepers Alphabet Punch Board

While I was at Marc’s he had bought his We R Memory Keepers Alphabet Boards out to try.  I “think” he has both the regular and mini size, plus a couple of the extras.

Now, what Marc will always tell you about me is that I am the most impatient crafter ever ………

…….. which is why this tool just doesn’t appeal to me, there is no way I could patiently go through the instruction manual to find out how each letter is made, all that punching, turning and slicing ……. ewwwwwwww, just the thought of it makes my gums itch.

Marc, on the other hand, is the most patient crafter I have ever met, he really does put me to shame!  Had I not been there, no doubt he would have worked slowly through the book, producing a whole alphabet, plus a whole string of bunting, but I think my continual chattering put him off ….. just a bit …… but I think he would beg to differ and say I put him off a whole lot!

However, I think Marc was very impressed and pleased with the letters he did manage to punch while trying to shut my din out!!!

However, while Marc and I may differ greatly in our levels of patience, in the neat and tidy stakes, it’s a draw……..

…….. when we craft the mess just spreads wider and wider, like ripples in a pond, as the ideas just keep on coming, it’s fun at the time ……. but flipping heck, it takes soooooooooooooooooooo long to tidy up afterwards!