How Old? 60th Birthday Card

This card measures 6 ins x 6ins and is made using a white, pre-scored card blank from a bulk pack from Hobbycraft.

Yet another quick and simple card, this time made for my brother-in-laws 60th birthday, again  using one of the designs from the  limited edition docrafts Capsule Collection Metallics pack of 36 x 6ins x 6ins  papers that I found in Home Bargains for just £1. It’s my current go to paper pack for most of my cards at the moment

Once the card was covered, I added a random collection of gold and silver letters from some of the various alphabet packs I have, followed by an assortment of different sized gold and silver stars plus a few clusters of three dots here and there made using a black fine liner pen.  Simples!  I have become such a lazy crafter!

Snowmen Christmas Pin Badge Brooch

This idea sprang from the Christmas tree brooches Marc and I made together when I recently stayed with him at the cottage in Worcester and was then further inspired after I ordered quite a few packs of the wooden snowmen embellishments from the, now starting to appear, Hobbycraft 2020 Christmas range (£1 for 6).

Made using very small 4cm x 2cm Christmas dominoes (eBay)  as a base, I painted the back and sides with white emulsion paint ……..

….. and then covered the pictured side with scraps of blue paper, white glitter card and a scattering of tiny silver stars. Please excuse globs of drying glue!

To the snowman I added black flat back gem eyes and buttons and a star on his hat.

After gluing the snowman to the domino I gave everything a good dosing of Ranger Glossy Accents and then waited for it all to dry before sticking a small brooch pin on the back using epoxy resin glue to be sure it wouldn’t come off.

I then attached the completed brooch to a card and then sealed it in a bookmark cello bag to protect it from sticky fingers and for a more professional look should I consider having a stall anywhere in the run up to Christmas (flipping virus allowing)

I reckon the whole thing cost me 41p to make – domino 17p, snowman 16p, half a cello bag 3p and brooch back 5p (from China) …… the scraps, gems and stars I already had,  so if I sold any for around £1.25 that’s a decent profit ……

I reckon you might be seeing quite a few of this design sort of brooch as I experiment with other embellishments I have.  I have already ordered some wooden Santas from Hobbycraft, so watch this space.

Heads Up –The Works Christmas Crafting Stuff

Just a quick heads up today to say that The Works have started to get a few bits of Christmas craft stuff in. I will be watching with interest to see if it’s going to be the “same old, same old” as has been the case in previous years or if they will be adding a few new interesting lines. Online I see there are a few interesting looking 6ins x 6ins paper pads I may be tempted by plus a good selection of dies (although they are not really my thing), time will tell. I just know that if I like something, I need to get it there and then as different shops, depending on their size, don’t always carry the same crafty things as others, it’s also best to stock up on any embellishments that take my fancy as they have been known to disappear completely from shops and online, before I have realised their full potential.

I spent three of my precious pounds on these packs of wooden snowflakes, reindeer and snowmen in their Evesham shop up at The Valley just outside Evesham.

There are twenty five embellishments in a pack, although the reindeer are tiny. I am thinking the snowmen might look cute on a bar type brooch, the reindeer on a card and the snowflakes will always work on all manner of projects.  Happy Days!

Christmas Tree Pin Brooches

These are the little Christmas tree brooches Marc and I put together during my recent visit to the cottage.

I had featured the first one a few of weeks ago ………

…….. after I decided to make a few more in the different colours the trees came in to give as small Advent presents and perhaps sell but first I needed to come up with  a way of presenting them.

http://itsallfiddlefart.blogspot.com/2020_07_13_archive.html 

In the end this is what I came up with, no great creative shakes ………

……. just scraps of ivory, linen effect card, two punched holes and some faux stitching round the edges using a black fine liner pen.

…… simple, keeping the handmade feel.

As these won’t be going anywhere for a good few months, in order to keep them pristine I sealed them in bookmark cello bags, getting two bags out of one using my now ancient Elitech vacuum sealer, which again helps make them look more professional if I have a stall at a fayre nearer Christmas.  

Thirtieth Birthday Card

This card measures 6 ins x 6ins and is made using a white, pre-scored card blank from a bulk pack bought from Hobbycraft.

Another very quick card today, made for my nephews 30th Birthday. The background paper used was a bit of a bargain, found in Home Bargains for just £1.  It’s a limited edition docrafts Capsule Collection (Elements – Metallics) containing 36 different 6ins x 6ins metallic papers.  Well, it would have been rude not to make a considered purchase at that price, especially as the designs are all perfect for making really quick cards.

With the card front covered, all I had to do was glitter the wooden letters (from a set from The Works) with silver micro glitter, wait for them to dry and then glue them on to the card with a sprinkling of silver stars.  I am so lazy these days!

I also found these other docraft paper packs, also £1 each, again, it would have been rude not to snaffle them up (I have never ever seen docraft products in Home Bargains before, perhaps they were having a good old clean out during lockdown?).  The wood papers will be good for men’s cards and no doubt a few school homework projects. 

The “In Bloom” pack contains 46 double sided papers.  The flower designs are OK, but it’s the mustard, black, white and pink patterned papers that I really like, being perfect, I thought, for a more contemporary style of Christmas card this year.  My aim is to only make a few cards, the ones I have to post, keeping them really quick and simple to give me more time to concentrate on making little Christmas tree tranklements to give instead of cards, to hopefully come out year after year, rather than end up being in the bin or recycled like the majority of cards.

Let It Snow Snowman Christmas Tree Ornament

This is an idea that just came together beautifully, without too much faff or the need for amendment .……..

………. using small, coloured (also available in plain) craft sticks from Hobbycraft (£1 for 50) and cute little wooden snowmen embellishments, also from Hobbycraft (6 for £1)

I put the house together first, sticking with PVA glue.

I put a plastic snowflake to the roof, plus the sentiment using my trusty old Dymo label maker. Aleene’s Glitter Snow was then used on the edges of the roof and on and around the shelf,  followed by a liberal sprinkling of translucent, ultra fine glitter before being left to dry.

While everything was drying I added tiny black gems to the eyes and buttons of the snowman and added the iridescent polystyrene balls (Poundland) round the bottom once the snowman was fixed in place.  A scattering of three dots, using a white gel pen finish off the design.

I have almost run out of the tiny disc findings which have been so useful and unobtrusive on projects over the years, after searching for hours I couldn’t find any more, but did find these even tinier, flat metal flowers from China to which I have added an equally tiny bail which I think has made an equally effective way of adding a thread by which to hang the decoration.

I used all the red and green sticks from the packet, but have plenty of yellow,  orange, purple and blue ones left over. The yellow ones will work well for spring/Easter and the purple and orange will be perfect for Halloween, I just need to see what Halloween embellishments, I have, if any, to use with them, if not I will just have to wait for Halloween bits and pieces to hit the shops in September.

Having been impressed by the snowmen I have ordered a few more packs as I want to make more of these decorations, plus I can see them on a few other projects I have in mind.  Happy Days!

Charity Shop Shopping

I am finally feeling more human again now that I can get out and mooch the 4/5 charity shops that have now re-opened in Evesham. I never know quite what I am looking for, I just know it when I see it, something I can craft with or kitsch bits of bric a brac that make me smile, that I can put on my shelves for a while and then re-donate when I find something else to replace them, put towards our family sack of Boxing Day Tut at Christmas  ……..  or even flip for a small profit to help with Christmas etc.

This tealight stand cost me all of 80p, it was the autumn leaves and acorns that did it for me, as it would look lovely on my dining table from September onwards, including Halloween (with a few added spiders), especially with orange tea-lights. I just need to find three tealight holders to go with it, which should be pretty easy as every charity shop seems to have  a little pile of them.

When I did my homework I found out that was made for Partylite, who sell online and via party plan ……..

…… and would have probably been quite expensive when new.

On the Facebook Charity Shop Shit page I am on, everyone seems to be collecting these ugly face pots, so when I saw these two for £1.99 each I thought I may as well join in as they would look quirky on my kitchen shelf above the sink.  I don’t think they are Sylvac, which are the more collectable variety, but when I get bored with them I think they are something I could put on eBay.

The vintage treacle glaze gnome and honey pot bear, cost me all of 50p each. There is one gnome on eBay with a current asking price of £14.99 (???) and a couple of bears at around the £5 mark.  I think the bear will go into the Boxing Day tut with a few sweets or an individual jar of honey (like what you get in hotels). I am not sure about the gnome, at the moment I can see him looking over a pot of cactus’s I seriously need to transfer into a larger bowl (when I can find one)  …….

I had looked at this Widdecombe Fair sugar bowl on the shelf, but couldn’t make my mind up about it, but when the lady on the till told me that she couldn’t put my items through as they came to under £1, I grabbed it for 50p to make the money up.  It’s currently my “bits” pot by the sink.  There should be a milk jug to got with it.  Current asking prices on eBay are between £8 – 9.  It may be worth a punt but if it didn’t sell, it again will probably end up in the “tut” bag with sweets or smellies in …… or perhaps even a cactus?

Last, but not least a Scotch and Soda scarf for £1, (no, I had never heard of them either until I looked up the label)  I wasn’t that keen on the fringe, but otherwise I loved the colours that go perfectly with a couple of new tops I have bought (non charity shop).  I think it may be classed as vintage, having a date is handy. Whether it has ever been worn it all that time is doubtful looking at the condition and unbelievably current designs by the same company sell for silly money, probably more than one of my complete outfits ………….

Well, that’s me for today, the last of the big spenders, looking, hopefully, to a day of charity shop mooching in Hereford later this week, a birthday treat of sorts for my daughter who, if it wasn’t for this flipping virus would have been spending it in Euro Disney with Iris and Bertie and all the family …… bum!!!

Second Wedding Anniversary Card

This card measures 6 ins x 6ins and is made using a white, pre-scored card blank from a bulk pack bought from Hobbycraft.

I made this very simple card made for my neighbours Kata and Laci on their second wedding anniversary.  There’s not an awful lot to it, I just covered the front with a tiny blue and white heart print paper and then added the wooden numbers (from The Works) and the sentiment using black tape in my ancient Dymo label maker.

I was going to leave it at that, but then I got all fiddle farty by colouring the numbers and adding a layer of glossy accents to them. I also decided to add the little wooden bird embellishments, as I had used the same, but white, on their first anniversary card, I guess now I need to think of a way of incorporating them on their anniversary card for next year.  Faux stitching round the edges of the card using a black fine liner pen finishes the card off.

Fairy Door Christmas Tree Ornament

Oh my goodness, I just love these wooden fairy door toppers from Hobbycraft (pack of 4 for £1), when I saw them I knew I just had to have them and what I was going to do with them.

https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/fairy-door-wooden-topper-4-pack/649157-1000.

As soon as they arrived I took one of the craft stick houses Marc and I had made during my recent stay with him in Worcester (of which more in the coming weeks, as I gradually complete the projects we started together).

I added Aleene’s Glitter Snow on the edges of the roof and the “shelf”, then added the door where I put a scrap of yellow paper behind the window, to give the appearance of a light being on.

I also accentuated the bars on the door and letter box, added a red door knob and a tiny punch piece of holly with red gem holly berries on the heart.

When the snow was dry I added a tiny snowman, also made during my visit to Marc (some of the others we put in equally tiny bottles …..watch this space) and a bottle brush Christmas tree. 

I cut the bristles off the back of the tree to flatten it out in order to stick it to the house.  I also changed the original base for a smaller red bead to fit better on the shelf.  The tree was then decorated with small flat back gems in red, gold and silver and topped with a gold star.

I was pretty chuffed with my first attempt, it came out pretty much as it had looked in my head, another Christmas 2020 tree fairing idea potentially in the bag …….. but then I got to thinking, if I coloured the house red (in this instance with a red Sharpie pen), it would help to accentuate/bring the door out more to the fore. Colouring the roof green, also made it look more Christmassy, especially when I then swopped the star for a snowflake ………. I am almost there, the roof perhaps needs to be a lighter shade of green or simply completely covered in snow? I think there are a few more tweaks to be made, but hopefully I will get there, so watch this space for a completed update ………..

Charity Shop Puzzle – Were These Painted by Valerie Pfeiffer?

I bought this pair of small glasses from my favourite Vale Wild charity shop in Evesham for about 50p each a while back simply because they were pretty, hand painted and I could see them with a tealight inside.

I thought they’d been perhaps painted by someone amateur having a go at glass painting as some of the lines on the flowers and leaves looked like something I might have done ……

……. but then I noticed that they both had a signature, and curiosity getting the better of me, I did a Google search expecting nothing significant to come back …………

However, I found an artist called Valerie Pfeiffer, Australian born, but now, I believe, living in Canada, famous for her cute bird pictures…….. 

…….. of which many have, in turn, been used to create beautiful cross stitch kits.

   Valerie is also known for her paintings of flowers ……

…….. it was when I compared the signatures that I thought they looked very similar, however that’s as far as I have managed to get, I can’t find anything else about the artist.  To be honest I think the painting on the glasses seems crude when compared to the artists paintings, however the hand painted signature is still intriguing.

Charity Shop Bargain–Polly Pocket Hogwarts Castle.

I don’t “do” Harry Potter at all, so when I saw this “castle” in my favourite charity shop in Evesham for just 80p, I thought I would take it, as something to just put in the toy cupboard for when Iris and Bertie come round.

The first discovery I made, when I got home, was that it took batteries and when I put some in it made (awful) noises and parts moved, which was all very exciting and then when I discovered what looked like a tiny Harry Potter figure in the secret drawer in the back, I thought I had better do some research .....

…… only to find it was a Mattel, Polly Pocket Hogwarts Castle dating from, I think, 2001. All the figures, except for Harry, a table and a telescope are missing. Needless to say Iris and Bertie love to get it out, but it seems it does have a value, even though incomplete.

I have been planning on doing some Ebaying for quite a while now, (last time I did, it paid for Eurovision in Stockholm) but this time lockdown got in the way, now, do I add this to the list of things to sell ...... or do I wait until Iris and Bertie stop asking for it ………that is the question!

Punched Flower Card

This card measures 6ins x 6ins and uses hand cut and scored ivory linen effect card.

I am not 100% with this card if I am honest, maybe because I didn’t know when to stop ……

……where generally I like to keep things much more symmetrical, this is all a bit too random.

The leaves are just too pale a green and the handwritten sentiment would usually be a huge no no, except for on this occasion when the card was to go with a personal message.

Close to, the card is quite pretty and delicate with all its tiny flat back pearls, but if I were to repeat it, there would have to be an awful lot of fine tuning!!!