Snowman Soup 2021

I am not 100% with my snowman soup this year, they a rather austere if you know what I mean? I made the decision not to design or print the card inserts as I have done in the past, but as soon as I put everything together realised it really is what makes the whole thing special. However, since I don’t have a clue how much ink is currently in my printer, I didn’t want to risk getting half way through and then come unstuck.  *Note to self, stock up on coloured printer ink at the start of the New Year!

I did have enough black ink to print out the snowman soup poem though, which I rejigged a little adding the ingredient “marshmallows” to the rhyme, not sure why, but hey ho.

I’ve had sturdy patchwork Christmas tree card for at least three years and it really was time it was used.  I cut it into 6.5ins squares to fit the cello bags I already had.

I stuck the cut out poems in the centre of the patchwork square and then added a snowman sticker by the side to help to pull the theme together. It was at this stage that I wished I’d gone the printed sheet route, they just weren’t “pretty” or fiddle farty enough, however I ploughed on.

As the back of the card was plain I added a little doodled edging using a black fine liner pen.

As per usual I added a hot chocolate sachet, candy cane, small packet of mini marshmallows (made using cello bags, sealed with my old as the hills Logitech vacuum bag sealer) plus a small tube of bubbles, just because. 

Et voila!

These festive “favours” will be given to all the amazing and caring lunchtime staff at school as a small thank from Iris and Bertie.

I need to grab a few more packs of the bubbles when I see them next (Poundland, pack of 10 for £1) as the wand has a hollow star at the end, through which a thread can be looped to add a little something extra to gift bag tag, with perhaps a couple of extra charms too? It’s an idea I need to explore more in the New Year, as they definitely have crafting potential.

Just An Idea ………. Poundland Jelly Bean Candy Canes

Just a bit of a heads up of an idea this morning ……….

This is just an idea I have seen a couple of times on the Facebook Poundland Appreciation page using their Elf on the Shelf jelly bean filled candy canes (£1 each) that I thought you might be interested in ………..

……. it seems people have been using them to save their £1 coins throughout the year to either give as a very generous present, since, from what I have read they hold around £80 or use the saved coins themselves to help them towards for the following Christmas.  I’ve bought two, whether I will use them for that purpose I’m not so sure …….. however, I thought they might be something handy/interesting to have in my crafty stash for when inspiration strikes, after Iris and Bertie have helped relieve me of the contents.  We shall see ……….

Christmas Tree Penguins

You may remember my penguins from a couple of weeks back, made using plastic penguins from a bath toy game ……. well, the extra bits I ordered to finish them of properly have arrived from China (they only took 17 days to get here) and I am so chuffed!

I ordered 100 wooden fish beads which cost me £3.65 and 80 pink, white, blue and black hats for £5.04. Far more than I needed for just nine penguins, but I am determined to use them all up, if not for this Christmas, then next.

The first thing I decided to do to give the penguins some extra festive pizazz was add a sprinkling of ultra fine, translucent glitter to their Ranger Enamel Accent tummy's.

Then screw eye hooks were screwed into the top of the hats, followed by a tiny punched holly leaf and trio of red, flat back pearls to decorate.  When dry the hats were glued securely using E8000 to the top of the penguins heads.

It took me a while to work out how to hang the fish from the penguins, originally I wanted a string of them, but that didn’t quite work, so in the end after giving each fish two clear, flat back gem eyes (one on each side),  I  opted for a single, horizontally hanging fish to match whatever colour hat I gave each penguin. 

I think they work??!!!???

So, for next year ………. I am thinking of sandwiching a couple or three average sized wooden dominoes together so that they are deep enough to take a hat, making another version of the same penguin idea …… if only to justify the surplus fish beads and hats I’ve now got! 

Monkeys First Ever Christmas Decoration ........????

As you know I am right off making cards at the moment, even for The Monkeys, which is quite a tradition for many of their followers. I wanted to make something that could be bought out year after year, instead of being cast in the bin (recycling or otherwise) at the end of the festivities.

To be completely honest I am not exactly 100% with them, but as I had ordered a certain number of photos in a specific size to fit a photo frame tree decoration, bought a couple of years ago, which I had fully intended to use …….. until I got waylaid and as time was ticking, I really didn't have any option other than to finish what I had started, otherwise I may have started all over again.

What waylaid me were these rather unusual square wooden dominoes with gingham backing, something I’d never seen before and for £1 I wasn’t going to say no.  When I got home and tried the photos with them, I found that only a tiny bit of surplus needed to be trimmed off, so I decided to use them instead of the frames.

I started by covering the edges of the dominoes with a thin, adhesive aluminium foil tape.

Then I added, in my opinion, a little too much ultra fine translucent glitter, if I could go back now, I would have used Ranger Enamel Accents on just the hats and pom pom, with the tiniest, weeniest sprinkling of glitter and then left the sleeves on the jumpers well alone, but hey ho. When the glitter was dry, I put a tiny,silver screw eye hook in the bottom and top of the domino.

Then, came the Dovecrafts 3D Pearl Effects around the picture, hmmm ……. but at least I resisted any more glitter, I was also tempted to fill in the space with Ranger Glossy Accents, but realised at this stage, if it didn’t work I would be truly scuppered.

The double sided Merry Christmas charms came next ……….

…….. followed by the greeting on the back ………. then I was lost again, the front was missing something, but a bow looked too twee, a snow flake charm on the top too much ……..

……. so I settled for the good old, double confetti holly leaf with three tiny red flat back pearls times two! Too much, overkill? And then ......... I couldn’t bear the Dovecrafts 3D Dovecrafts for a second longer so went over it with Ranger Enamel Effects instead!!!  Aghhhhhhh

I am not sure ……. however The Boyz, needless to say, were thrilled with them, and that’s all that matters, I, they told me, was being too critical, I had captured their inimitable joie de Christmas vivre and all that was over the top ………. and that was all that mattered! 

Note to self, next year order double the photos I actually need and allow my self more than enough time to play more, even if it means starting in January!

Guest Contributor Bertie

*If this post in any way offends anyone’s religious beliefs etc. I am quite happy to take it down ……..

Bertie isn’t all that fond of drawing, so when asked at school to do something that could be put on a mug, card or wrapping paper to raise funds for school, he didn’t exactly go overboard ……. however, what he did do just has me smiling every time I look at it ……..

Is it me or has he put a more modern slant on the Christmas story by having a mini skirted, be hair bowed, Mary and Josephine as the new parents of, dare I say, baby Jesus ……..

……. with the simple “ho, ho, ho” adding to the irony?  I just adore it …………………

Crayola Gonk Keyrings

I don’t go a bundle on the current craze for having Gonks for all occasions, but when I saw the packs of 4 wooden Gonk keyrings from Crayola in Poundland (£1) I thought it wouldn’t hurt to have a little play, if only to make a little extra something to pop in my crackers this year.

I was mindful that felt pens would undoubtedly bleed into the wood if I wasn’t exceptionally careful, so decided to use Ranger Enamel Accents instead.  This was a little more time consuming as I also decided to wait for each section I filled in to dry thoroughly before starting on a new one.

They turned out pretty OK

Once everything was done, I added a few extra details using a black, fine tipped, Sharpie pen and a few enamel nail art pens.  

It’s hard to tell from the photos, but I also added a little ultra fine, translucent glitter to the gentlemen Gonks beards and sealed it in with a layer of Ranger Glossy Accents.  As I said at the beginning, Gonks really aren’t my sort of thing, but are something a bit different to fiddle fart with and I am sure if Iris and Bertie find one in their cracker, it will go straight on their school book bag when they get home.

Christmas Gingerbread House Easel …………

I decided that I really needed to use up the very last three easels I got from Home Bargains (now sadly no longer available), rather than have them lingering in my craft drawers until goodness knows when……

……… and this is what I came up with ………

The wooden gingerbread house embellishments came from Hobbycraft (Christmas 2020, I just never got round to using them).

I started with a little faux stitching using a fine, black Sharpie pen round the blackboard edge and the sentiment using a white Posca pen.

This was followed by sticking the houses and a wooden Christmas trees on either side of the easel.  I’ve had the trees a while, I’m sorry I can’t remember where from, but I wouldn’t mind a few more!

I put a layer of Ranger Glossy Accents on the front of the house and the tree to give extra dimension and shine …….

……. followed by white Dovecraft 3D Pearl Effects (Poundland £1) on the house roofs and easel shelf to look like snow.

While the “Effects” were setting, I also put three small plastic snowflakes in position, noting that I really need to order some more snowflakes from China for next year’s Christmas crafting.

I then needed to be patient and allow everything to dry, before adding a little more doodling fiddle fart to the blackboard and tree.

The gingerbread men came next (from a confetti pack from Paperchase). From experience, I discovered that they warped slightly under a layer of wet Glossy Accents, but by gluing three together, they became far more substantial and no longer easily damaged.

The smoke coming from the chimney was a tiny amount of cushion filling glued behind the house.

More waiting then ensued for the gingerbread men to dry before finally adding a light dusting of ultra fine translucent glitter to the dry 3D Effects on the roof and shelf and clear flat backed gems in the centre of the snowflakes and a red flay back heart on the house front.

Et voila …….. a limited edition of three ……. and something a tiny bit different.

Inspiration Needed ……… For Extra Large Domino Pieces

Huston we have a problem ……. I just can’t leave any wooden children’s dominoes on a charity shop shelf when I find them, especially when they are priced at only £1 or even 50p per box!

This are my latest purchase, made by Chad Valley, so brilliant quality, 28 pieces in the box and they are huge, measuring 13.5cm x 7cm  and 1cm deep.  If I bought MDF blanks from eBay can you imagine how much they would cost, when these only cost me £1.

When put beside my normal crafty domino stash you can see how just big they are …….

……. the dolphin ones being my usual domino “go to” size, with the middle ones the next step up for my snowman tags. Have I bitten off more than I can chew with these new mahoooosive ones, because at the moment I don’t have a clue what to do with them?  With their thickness, they can easily stand alone on a shelf, perhaps a simple Christmas  plaque? I would really have to scale up on my embellishment stock or dare I have a go at painting?   ALL suggestions would be very, very welcome ……………………..