A Wonderful, Wonderful Surprise

I woke up this Monday morning greeted by another dark, damp and dismal lockdown day, when I would have given anything for just one mooch round a cluttered charity shop but instead my only looming pleasure was steam cleaning the floors of The Towers and taking the oven shelves out of their cleaning bag to hopefully reappear spotless, ready for cooking the Christmas lunch in a matter of a few weeks time ……..

However …… things took a different turn when I went to the front door and found a parcel, containing the most wonderful and thoughtful treasure from Paula a friend and blog follower of goodness knows how many years. 

The parcel had been delayed because I had sent Paula new my address with postcode all mixed up, part Wolverhampton and part Evesham aghhhh, but when it did arrive it contained two beautiful Halloween Trick or Treat bags for Iris and Bertie.

They are truly stunning and I promise will become family heirlooms for Iris and Bertie to use with their own children and maybe beyond. Made of black velvet and machine embroidered in Glow in the Dark thread ……

…….. and they are reversible, with a silver spider lining  What can I say? They are treasures, and although they missed Halloween (all because of me) they  will be used on our New Years Eve Midnight Sleepover Walk filled with a flask of hot chocolate, biscuits, torches and all manner of glowing trancklements, with many other occasions to follow.

Paula also remembered that poor Bertie, who loved playing with my cactus erasers sadly lost them when I decided to turn them into Christmas tree decorations a while ago.  Paula’s daughter Louis was having a clear out and decided that she was too big for erasers so Paula thought Bertie and Iris might like them.

Well, yes they would, but not until Nanny has  plundered them first!  I already have my eye on a few, particularly these two reindeer who are destined for greater things, but will still go to Iris and Bertie in a different guise.

Thank you Paula, this kind and thoughtful present really brightened up my day, the floors had to wait, as did the oven shelves ……. you managed to waylay me in such a wonderful way!

Snowman Let It Snow Christmas Card

This card measures 5.5cms x5.5cms square.

I’m not too sure about this card ……….  there’s nothing to it, as you can see, but you might see it again in another guise further down the line, as I think it could look better with perhaps a bit of mat and layering?

Anyway, the background is not an actual Christmas design, I thought the pattern lent itself to a more contemporary style of card.

My apologies, the 3D snowmen embellishments came from eBay and cost £2.60 for a pack of six, but I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the company that produced them.  I just added a little Ranger Glossy Accents to his hat and his string of lights.

The self adhesive letters came from Hobbycraft (£1 per pack). I added a little Ranger Glossy Accents to each letter, however, with hindsight, I think I should also have trimmed them off square to help  them look more balanced. 

The silver sequins are OK, but would they have looked better if they had been white?

There is nothing at all wrong with this card ……. all the elements are there, I just think it could just be improved upon in some way or another, I just need to work it out.

Tiny Snowman Shadow Box Christmas Tree Decoration

This is another idea that I came up with using the 50p Poundland Daler and Rowney  5cm x 5cm paint canvases I bought from Poundland the other week, but using the back instead of the front.

I started by painting the back of the canvas with white acrylic paint .........

....... I didn't particularly like the finish of the paint but quickly thought of a way to cover it up ……

..... but before that, I found a tiny, glittered, wooden Christmas tree embellishment that fit perfectly in the space at the back then made a little background scene using scraps of patterned paper and glitter card to mount it on.

I then covered what was now the front of the canvas, plus all four sides with a good dollop of Aleene’s Glitter Snow with an extra sprinkle of translucent ultra fine glitter for good measure ……..

……. and while the "snow" was still wet added a wooden Hobbycraft snowman (£1 for a pack of 6) and some tiny iridescent polystyrene balls along the bottom for added dimension, texture and interest.

I applied a layer of Ranger Glossy Accents to the snowman and then three small, black flat back domes for his buttons and eyes.

I had originally thought about putting a snowflake in the corner of the frame, but it was lost in all the snow, so instead used a confetti holly leaf with three red flat backed pearls for the berries. The last detail was putting a tiny star on the top of the tree.  I added a screw eye hook on the top of the finished decoration to hang by, soooooooo chuffed!

The Works - Halloween Sleepover Bunting–Guest Crafter Iris

My Halloween Sleepover bunting for this year was made by Iris …….

…… using a foam kit from The Works last year, for just £1 it provided a whole morning of intense activity.

…… all we added from Nanny’s craft drawers were some googly eyes.

My apologies for the “pants” pictures, but getting a good angle in a good light was almost impossible, but needless to say, after the event all the faces were carefully put away to be used again, hopefully, next year.

And, the packaging didn’t go to waste either, all the faces on the front were cut out carefully and put on a card for Auntie Lulu.  Please note that Iris has now picked up the scattering of three dots habit!!  There seems to be an unseemly amount of blood on said card, coming from the witches mouth and hands, goodness only knows what she has eaten, not to mention the ominous red smudges on the inside of the card too!

A Sad Little Tale With A Very Happy Ending.

With not a lot of crafting going on at the moment I thought I would bring a sad little tale instead.

Since Iris and Bertie were born they have each had three little rabbit comforters, bought in France by Granny Denise and bought in duplicate just in case one got lost.  Iris's rabbits are collectively known as the Binkies .........

....... and Bertie's the Jeevesies (individually named as Binkie, Amelia and Jeevsie) It's been no mean task accounting for them over the years, not only at home but on days out, holidays and visiting other peoples houses, so it was almost inevitable that sadly one of them would get left behind one day, and in this case it was Bertie's Jeevesie, Binky, about two years ago and despite searching high and low, he has never been found.  Bertie seemed to cope well and he had still another two (above) to snuggle.

Until, the other fateful Saturday when Bertie heard this song...........

...... which was followed by BIG tears, with Bertie remembering his missing rabbit. It almost broke Tom and Laura and a plaintiff message was sent out offering a "massive" reward to anyone who could find another one, no mean task, as these Jeevsie's are at least 4 and a half years old now. Lu and I searched online  ..... nothing, white and cream yes, but Bertie's Jeevsie's are quite an unusual green.  In the end Tom and Laura settled on a brown rabbit from France, thinking that they would tell Bertie it was a long lost relative, but knowing it wouldn't be quite the same.

Lu and I plodded on, still nothing! Then I tried searching on French eBay including the word "vert" (green) .........

..... and there, about 150 items down a matching rabbit appeared, OMG!  I then changed my search to worldwide eBay so that I could actually read what it said in English, and thankfully he popped up again.  I was fearful it might still be wrong as I thought original Binky  had a green matching blanket, but Lu quickly put me right and said no it was right.  Let's just say that Buy Now button was pressed very quickly, even if it meant that everyone's inheritance was now about to dwindle drastically!

"BInky" arrived five days later from France .........

........ a back story was cobbled together ....... with me making a little suitcase with a craft matchbox to put a few treasures from Binky's  adventures in trying to find Bertie again ........

....... with a label round his neck echoing the song that started it all .........

I'll be honest, I then couldn't wait to put Binky on the door step, ring the door bell and call Bertie to say there was someone to see him .....

There was a moment of hesitation, before Bertie bent down to pick Binky up, holding him close and kissing him gently on the head.  When asked who it was he said softly, "Binky's come home"

It was emotional ........

...... with the Jeevies finally reunited ...... the slight difference in colour simply accepted as Binky not having quite as many cuddles as Amelia and Jeevsie over the past two years and a slight suntan gained from his time abroad in hotter countries. Bertie's quiet, gentle, loving demeanour was something to behold and after all the fevered activity just a week before so well worth it.  

We also had a little talk to explain that because Binky was very, very special he came back but other lost toys wouldn't come back because they  had new children who loved them and they really wanted to stay with them now. 

Santa House Christmas Tree Decoration

I think this has become my basic “go to” Christmas tree decoration design for 2020, after having already put a snowman and two Halloween ones together. 

These is the fourth in the series featuring wooden Hobbycraft Santa embellishments (£1 for a pack of 6).

I created the house shape first using small, coloured craft sticks (Hobbycraft £1 for a pack of 50), and Aleene’s glitter snow on the roof and shelf.  I have found that the colour from the craft sticks occasionally bleeds into the snow, but a quick flick of white acrylic paint usually fixes it pretty easily.  I added iridescent, micro fine glitter to Santa’s beard, top and hat bobble for extra sparkle.

A plastic snowflake was added to the top of the roof and a ho, ho, ho made using my trusty old Dymo label maker ………

……. followed by clusters of white dots here and there made using a white gel pen, and, as an after thought, a few tiny in the background. 

Finally I sprinkled some tiny, iridescent polystyrene balls around Santa’s feet secured with PVA glue.

On the back I simply glued a small baille to hold a thread to hang the decoration from.

Home Sweet Home Frame

I made this frame to celebrate my lovely niece Emily finally getting the keys to her very own brand new house, without this blooming virus she would have been in there for May!

The frame  originally came from Poundland about two years ago, it was in their Christmas sale and I think I paid either 50p or maybe even 25p for it, I forget, but I just knew it would come in useful one day

With an idea in mind I thought that the original string might just be a touch too high, so taking the back off the frame I lowered it by about 1cm .........

....... then I thought some more and decided to change the natural coloured string and pegs altogether for a more lively red to mirror the roofs of the houses I had planned to use.

The houses, trees and walls came from a toy village play set, found in Poundstretcher and costing £3.99 for a whole net of other buildings, trees, people and animals.  

I simply stuck the houses and trees on a wall to create a sort of shelf.

I will admit to having a few doubts at this stage, was it the craft sticks that weren't quite right, or perhaps the lettering on the mini scrabble squares was too dark ......... however  I persevered.

I stuck the craft stick scenes onto the back panel with two layers of adhesive foam tape, so that the back of the pegs could fit behind them.

The punched sun and small red hearts were after thoughts to help draw the house and trees together, and the hearts to add extra meaning to the sentiment.

At this stage I began to mither again, something just wasn't right but I couldn't put my finger on it ..........

.......... in the end I decided to sleep on it and then it dawned on me that it was the plain white background that was all wrong, it made everything look lost and unconnected, if you know what I mean.

In the morning I undid it all, finding a patterned paper that "went" and then, I think, it all fell into place. I also decided that the string and the pegs didn't add anything either ......less is more. I simply glued the three panels straight onto the background, instead of using the foam pads, as there was more than enough dimension as it was.

.......... it took a while ...... but now the frame well and truly done and dusted!

Halloween Crackers

If it wasn’t for Iris and Bertie I don’t think I would bother with crackers but making memories is so  important and starting special meals by pulling a cracker or two has become a bit of a tradition at Nanny’s now, especially as she puts extra special bits in them!

Having said that, that’s all I usually do, I buy the cheapest crackers I can find and take out the festive jokes, as I really can’t be ****ed in making my own from scratch, far too much fiddle fart, however this year I did make an exception in covering the plain, gold ones with a whole pile of stickers left over from a couple of years or so of crafting that really needed to be finally used up.

Unfortunately Poundland are not longer selling the Ty Mini Boos they had last year, for just £1 each (now £2.99 each in other shops, ouch!). They were perfect for crackers, once taken out of their boxes, but left in there mystery bags.

This year I found some squidgy light up pumpkins and ghosts (79p each from Home Bargains) and some monster shaped erasers (packs of 4 for £1 reduced from The Works) which I am sure will go down a treat, however I am still searching for something exciting for our Christmas crackers ……….. I do love a mission!  Happy days!