Super Badge-It – Chinese Lucky Cat Pin Badges

I have to confess that I always buy any boxed Bandai Badge Makers if ever I see them in a charity shop, especially when they are usually priced at around £1.99 or less.

It’s not the machine itself I want,  I already have a Super Badge-It (no longer made by Bandai), which makes three different shapes/size badges plus the standard sized one, which makes 30mm circle badge, it’s really the badge bits, pins, and plastic covers I’m after, because they cost stupid money online, and that’s if you can find them! 

There is one company currently selling a compatible set on Amazon, but not at £17.99 for 30 badges!  I guess one day I will run out of spares completely, but it will have been a good run while it’s lasted, ten years at least.

I don’t really want to invest in a “proper” badge making machine, because badge making is usually a once/twice sort of thing per year for me, but still nice to have amongst my tools.

Anyway, this idea follows on from Bertie’s fridge magnets of last week, using the cheap Lucky Cat stickers I found in Home Bargains (sorry, I can’t remember the price, but less than £1 I think). With the end of the school year not being that far off, I wondered if I could incorporate Bertie’s obsession with all things Chinese into making badges to go towards his end of term thank you gifts, so I dug out all the larger circle badge parts out.

Attaching a sticker directly onto the badge front,, something I’ve never done before, trimming the excess bottom of sticker away and then adding a few stars and dots using a fine tipped white Posca pen. I loved the look!

I decided to still put a plastic covering on the badge as I wasn’t sure how durable the Posca pen would be when the badge was worn for a while.

I love the effect, with no spoilt badges, which I put down to the reduced bulk on the badge front.  Usually you cut a disc of paper and decorate it before adding the cover. So I will certainly be looking for similar, very thin, foil stickers again, already thinking of Halloween, Christmas and birthdays.

The completed badges were then attached to a small, handwritten card with a foam pad ……..

……. and then into a cellophane bag to make them look that bit more professional.

Part of Marc’s Birthday Tut …… Chickens Akimbo!

This year I spent Eurovision at home, which was a bit of a novelty as I’ve spent it with Marc and Rick at the cottage in the depths of the Worcester countryside for many years now (except during lockdown). It’s also a long weekend when we’ve usually also celebrated Marc’s birthday.

Rick and I in Stockholm for Eurovision 2016 (can it really be 6 years ago?  It only feels like yesterday)

However, this year Rick has been working at The Royal Windsor Horse Trails and, as I said to Marc, Eurovision just wouldn’t be the same without Rick, so, as a one off, I went down a week later, for Marc’s actual, real life, birthday, which also meant that all the attention was on Marc and not shared with 40 odd competing countries!

We don’t really do birthday presents, but it’s now tradition that I take a couple of pillowcases full of absolute tut, collected from various charity shops etc. just for the fun of it.

So, when I saw this photo in an ill fitting frame for 50p, what’s a girl to do? It just reminded me so much of the story I’ve told you before, when Marc overheard two women talking about us when we were out and about together and I knew it would make him howl with laughter with a small addition!

I wish I hadn’t had to cut the ladies feet off for the picture to fit the Poundland box frame (25p from one of their sales) ……. but hey ho

I was going to leave it at that, but then I remembered some really old school, wooden chicken embellishments Marc had given me a while back ……….

It would have been a real waste of a box frame not to add al little something to it ………

So I did and yes, he loved it ……….

…….. especially as he’d been hatching chicks like there was no tomorrow in the week before my visit.

I also found this picture for Rick for another 50p ……..

……. as it reminded me of so many wonderful, lazy afternoons ……….

……. sat sitting in their garden just chilling ……….

Happy days!

Sunflower Birthday Easel

I needed a “card” in a hurry and thought this was going to be a quick bish, bash bosh of an idea, oh foolish, foolish one!

I started out with a mini canvas and easel (£1) and a pack of felt sunflower embellishments (pack of 6 for £1.50, I have noticed the prices for these bits and pieces are gradually sneaking up ), both from The Works.

However, after faux stitching round the canvas with a black biro, the sunflower and lettering didn’t seem to work. To accommodate the letters left the sunflower moving further and further to the side leaving too much “white” space that I didn’t know how to fill, if you know what I mean.

I was loathe to start chopping the flowers, but in the end I succumbed in order to fill the corners, but then the whole sunflower didn’t gel, so in the end I decided to chop four of them and dispense with the stems entirely, over lapping the sides of the canvas in the process.

Looking at the pictures again now, the “DAY” might have looked a bit better if the letters had come down ever so slightly, but by then after being moved and glued several times I was committed.

I glued the canvas onto the bottom of the easel so I could again overlap the edges with a couple of the cut off leaves.  Three extra wooden ladybirds and a scattering of 3 black dot clusters help pull the idea together.  I think it works?

The back of the canvas isn’t the prettiest of things, with its big staples, but as no one will actually see them when it’s on display I guess I can live with that.

As an extra bonus, this is the easel I made for my niece, currently on a years gap year in Australia.  I’ve posted quite a few variations of this idea, but they always work for a quick card but doesn’t look it!

Head Ups –The Works – Simply British

Just a quick heads up ……. I’m not really intending to do any crafts specifically for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, but I couldn’t help picking up these “Simply British” bits and pieces, especially as I had £4 to spend in my loyalty card.

The Evesham shop also had other 3D stickers, a small sticker book, as well as other toppers (I.e bulldog in a busby), however they are not currently on the website, otherwise I would have posted pictures of the full range for you.  I’m not sure if this is just a short, sharp nod towards the jubilee, which will quickly disappear? However, in the meantime I did think I might make a badge or two at least for the Monkeys to wear during their celebratory afternoon tea………

OMG …….. Guest Crafter – Paula With Her/My Knitted Queen

I had a parcel completely out of the blue on Saturday morning and when I looked inside my heart completely skipped a beat ………

….. because inside was my own, very beautiful knitted Queen.

She is stunning and I can’t tell you how much I love her!  The attention to detail, her brooch, her decorated hat, her earrings, her necklace and her handbag, what can I say?

Knitting something like this is an absolute art.  I have tried a couple of times in the past, only to be left with a thing of nightmares, a horrific mutated creature bearing little resemblances of what it was supposed to be. This is perfect, so beautifully knit and sewn up giving Liz such character.

With the world the way it is at the moment she just makes me smile every time I glance across at her on my shelf of precious things in my lounge.

Also in the box were some Marmite flatbreads to go towards The Boyz Jubilee Tea in a couple of weeks time and a mug, my new mug for when I am crafting or writing up a post.  Again, it’s perfect, especially as I now realise how often I sign off a post with the words “Happy Days”

I cannot thank Paula enough, she has bought such sunshine into my world this week.  Over the years my two blogs have bought so many wonderful people into my life, from all over the globe …….what can I say, except THANK YOU for just popping by when you do and being there through thick and thin …….. I am feel quite emotional!

XXX THANK YOU PAULA SO MUCH XXX

Adventures In Resin ………. Christmas Gift Tags

Well, since I went and ordered another larger resin kit from Amazon I guess I have sort of got the bug, but after that’s used up I think that will be it for a little while.

In my last resin post I was struggling with air bubbles forming in front of the snow/glitter card.  When I did some research several YouTubers suggested covering paper with white glue first, which I presume was PVA, so that’s what I did…….

….. allowing the first/bottom layer of resin to set hard first, then adding the glitter card, generously coated with PVA on both sides and then leaving it to dry for at least 24 hours, before adding the stars, snowflakes and the final layer of resin.

I’ll be honest, when I removed the resin from the moulds my heart sank, I had either been too generous with the PVA or too impatient to add the next layer of resin or both, because the glue appeared to be still wet within the resin, causing the glitter affect to disappear beneath a sea of white, aghhhhh. However, I put the tags on the windowsill and over a period of weeks (I know, weeks) the glue slowly dried in the resin, only one remains stubborn, but should be fine too in another week or so. So yet another steep learning curve.

My next experiment, will needless to say, involve a lot less PVA and I’m also going to reverse the process, putting the glitter card in first, then when dry the tree and then the stars and snowflakes, the front being what you see when you look at the mould rather than the back, if that makes sense?

I just love how the strings of Christmas lights turned out, far less brain work was needed for them, just a layer of resin which was allowed to set for a couple of hours, followed by the lights and stars and then another layer of resin, simples! I have another pack of light embellishments (£1 One Below)  which should be enough to make at least another ten tags.

I have a couple more ideas for things to put in a tag  …… I just need the time and the patience!

Guest Crafter–Bertie …… With His Fridge Magnets.

I could just eat this little boy’s fingers one by one …….. I know they will lose their soft, round podginess before too long and I dread the day when he won’t slip his hand into mine as we walk along, so until then I’m not letting go.

Anyway, I found this tin of DIY fridge magnets a while back in a local chairty shop and at £1.99 for at least 20, it would have looked rude to have left them on the bric a brac shelf, as I knew, one day, someone would want to create with them.

Bertie is obsessed with China, goodness only knows where he’s had that from, so I guess it was obvious when he said he wanted to make a Chinese magnet for his beloved Auntie Lulu.

It was therefore very fortuitous that I’d spotted these Lucky Cat foil stickers in Home Bargains and had put them away for him for such a creative occasion.

Well, he just nailed the Chinese tassels and I just love the fish in the bowls, the labelling and the perr and meow.  What is he like?

And Bertie, being Bertie, it then had to be presented equally as well, in an organza bag (The Works 8 11cm x 8cm bags for £1), a tag and the all important red ribbon, where he held the knot in place while I tied the bow. 

……. And, as he is “doing” medieval life with a visit to Warwick castle this term, he also threw in a magnet for Mum and Dad, which he said didn’t need any wrapping!

A morning to keep in my heart forever, especially as Berts doesn’t lend himself to drawing and fiddle farting that much without a serious cause, bless him.