Christmas is Coming with DoCrafts and Dovecraft

Yesterday, I nipped to our local garden centre where they also have quite a good craft section as I wanted this months DoCrafts Creativity Magazine, primarily for the free stamp set with it  (a smaller version of a new set of Christmas stamps they have just bought out), but I have to say that the  magazine has improved quite a lot. I used to think it was a bit old fashioned, but there are quite a few ideas in it that I want to try.

I wasn’t intending on buying any papers but  this pack of Dovecraft papers (£3.99) did fall into my basket! What impressed me was that the designs are small and the patterns quite close together.  I have been caught out so many times thinking that papers in a 6” x 6” pack would be scaled down, only to find it’s just the large paper/design cut down to size, if that makes sense.

But these papers are perfectly scaled to the size that I need to go with most of the Christmas embellishments I plan to use and there is not one design that I don’t like, so hopefully the whole pack will get used this year.

My paper design of choice this year is a small print red with white polka dots, I just cannot get enough of it, last year I was all red gingham …. but I have been swayed!

Daisy Card

This card measures 14.5cm x 11cm and is made using ribbed effect Kraft Card.
I have a niece called Daisy, this would make a lovely 21st birthday card for her!

Less is more today.  Very simple, so simple I don’t think I need to explain what I have done!

Cowboy Card

I know I don’t make enough cards for men, men’s embellishments, papers etc. are so boring ……

I’ve made up a patchwork of nine 1.25in x 1.25in squares using a DCWV papers.  Then from one of the papers I have cut out the hat, boot and gun …adding a bit of Ranger Glossy Accents on them all and mounting them on foam pads for extra dimension plus a few bronze stars for added bling.  Done and dusted!

Three Little Monkey Cards

These cards all measure 5ins x 5ins and are made using white linen effect card.

While I spend a lot of time on cards that people have asked me to make, the cards I take to work tend to be “quick makes” to get the most from my time and make the price viable.

These are three cards I made using a packet of foam stickers from Poundworld.  I thought they really didn’t need any backing papers etc. other than an extra punched branch on two and a sentiment, which is in my own handwriting. It often takes several attempts to get the writing  right (wasted card I know ….) but I am hopeless at getting it centred just right!

Poundland Crochet Coaster Set

 

You may think I’ve taken leave of my senses getting all festive with this jar of sweeties when August has only just ended….. but I was in Poundland yesterday when I spied this set of 12 crocheted coasters (that’s about 8p each)….. and my mind got to thinking …. and before I knew it they were in my basket …..

 

The coasters are a perfect fit for these little spice jars that I have found in packs of four in Asda and Ikea.  I bought mine in bulk when they were in Poundworld last year, which I am so glad I did, as they haven’t had them in since (probably because I exhausted their stocks).  But I just thought that with the season of fayres fast approaching it’s a quick and easy and inexpensive way of pretty-ing up a few small jars.

Robot Card

This card is A5 in size.

I think I’ve used a bit of everything on this card.  I have covered the whole of the card blank using a DCWV robot paper, then added large moulded robot and tool stickers from Poundland on top of it ….. and something then I haven’t used for ages …. gold peel off letters.  I find them impossible to get straight and evenly spaced, so sticking them at jaunty angles alleviates the problem!  There are also a few gold stars scattered around.

Patchwork Striped Card

This card measures 5ins x 5ins and is made using white linen effect card.

Very less is more today, just the sort of card I would like to receive.  Each strip measures approximately 1.25ins x 3ins, using papers from My Mind’s Eye, Stella and Rose, ‘Gertie’, 6in x 6in stack, that I have used my pinking shears on! The sentiment is from docrafts Tulip (Andrea Jayne) collection.

Docrafts - My Blue Nose Friends Stickers

How could I resist these stickers from Docrafts and costing only 69p a pack? 

These cards are a bit of an experiment and I feel like that there is some fine tweaking to be done.

The paper I used was came from one of those Payper Box stands, where you fill a folder for £4.99, as I loved the black/brown gingham effect so much I filled a whole £4.99 folder with it, just in case I couldn’t find it again .http://www.payperbox.co.uk/a4-printed-15-c.asp

The birthday sentiment circles are from Craftwork Cards.

I prefer the lamb card best as I think the Nestabilities frame on the donkey card is just fancy for fancy’s sake and is a just a bit too much. 

Always Have A Song In Your Heart

This card measures 4ins x 4ins and is made using Kraft ribbed effect card.

This idea was supposed to be a tag , until I messed it up, but rather than bin it I’ve turned it  into a card.  The heart was a printed wooden gift tag, which I have recovered with a soft blue coloured paper, then added a bird sticker from K & Co’s Poppy Seed range and a bit of my own handwriting and doodling. Sorted!

Sizzix Matchbook Bridal Sixpence Holder

Oh my life, working with something this small nearly did my eyes in, completed it only measures 3cms x 4.5cms.

I have a pile of old sixpences (for weddings) found for me by my mum, after I set her a “mission” and I was thinking of ways that I could present them other than in a box, organza bag or on a card, as seems to be the usual way and I thought my Sizzix matchbook, cover and page insert die (38-1128), would be perfect.

Once the matchbook was cut out I needed to get the text just the right size to stick onto the front of the insert, in the end I whittled it down to font size 8.5 in Papyrus and for the sentiment on the cover font size 9.

Sticking the sixpence in was the easy bit, using a foam pad so that it could be removed if the bride actually wanted to put it in her shoe on the big day!

 
A bit of tiny faux stitching and a couple of flat backed pearls finish everything off.

Something a bit different and I couldn’t believe that I had tiny brads that were the exact same colour as the paper I used  …. that was such a bonus!

And The Winner Is …..

Well, it’s been a fantastic 2nd Blogaversary here at Fiddle Fart…. and now as the celebrations finally die down and before  I sweep up the mountains of party popper confetti from my craft room floor, all that is left for me to do is to announce the winner of a copy of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook ….. drum roll …….

…….. Suze Bain – who said that “Legends of Scotland”   would be the My Memories digital paper pack that she would put on her wish list – well done Suze!

Suze wins a free copy of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software but I have a special coupon code for anyone who has been holding out to see if they won the giveaway before making a purchase, this coupon gives you a £6.13 ($10) discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a £6.13 ($10) coupon for the MyMemories.com store towards digital paper packs etc. a total of  £ 12.26 ($20) in savings.

The coupon code is STMMMS56353  and can be used at http://www.mymemories.com/ and the extra bonus is that this offer is open indefinitely!

Friday’s Giveaway Winner is ……

  ……. Daisie76 – well done! I have traced Tuesday’s Lynda but have not heard from Wednesday’s Lynda, so I have drawn again as I said I would….and it’s Tilly’s name  out of the teapot! Woo hoooo

Thank you Nigel, you’ve done a grand job so I’ve got you some new Cadbury Twirl Bites as reward, nom, nom! 

Peg Doll Mermaid

Look at me going all arty farty - setting the scene for my peg doll mermaid with crabs and bubbles and stuff!! Can you tell that I’m just back from holiday and come over all whimsical??!!

I have never made a peg doll before, so this is a real first.  I’ve used a green ProMarker pen for the tail and then added the scales using a black fine liner pen.  Her hair is an oddment really fancy wool I made a scarf with once and her bra is made from two brass charms.  I’ve also added some Stampin’Up dazzling diamonds on her tail, but its twinkliness doesn’t really show in the picture.

You may see her again in a little while, as I have plans to put her on a 2012 calendar ……..

Friday – Last Giveaway Today!

Today I’ve got a set of Clear Choice Foliage stamps to giveaway …. , you’ve got until 7.00 pm tonight to leave a comment before I get my teapot of fortuitous fate out from which to draw the winners name….. UK only - sorry

My Smash Book!

Oh my …… you might have seen the comment Carole left in the chat box yesterday …. Carole look what you have made me do?

I’d never heard of a Smash Book, so naturally, I had to have a look to see what it was all about ……

“So, what do you Smash? Well, it doesn’t have to be a life event, just the special little moments and mementos of your day—some of that stuff in your junk drawer, for example. A snapshot, a ticket stub from that movie you loved, a newspaper clipping, a magazine snippet, a cardboard coaster from a favourite restaurant, your child’s first crayon doodle…get the idea? Smash it, jot a note or add a caption sticker, and go!”

http://scrapbookobsession.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/memory-works-smash-book-by-k-company/

The film on YouTube got me hooked straightaway. I knew I wanted one but soon discovered that any shop in the UK that did have them was now out of stock …. There was one on e-bay, but it was orange …. and I just don’t do orange!!!  However as I  looked into the whole thing more I came round to thinking nice idea, but some of the pre printed pages in the books just  weren’t me …..

…… then I remembered a heavy, really old fashioned type folder I had bought at a car boot for 20p, still with the original paper in, much more my style … old and shabby (…. some would say chic!) which measures 9.25ins x 6.5ins ….. well, after that I was on a roll.

I needed to make some pages first and wanting to keep  with the shabby style I decided to use a Cosmo Cricket kit I had from QVC years ago …. but had hardly done anything with, the papers and embellishments were perfect.

I used the original file paper as a template to make the 8in  x 5.5ins pages. My mind was racing now …. I found some old Kraft tags and pockets, they too were embellished, punched and added to the file, as were some 12 x 12 papers from the Papermania Kraft basics set, which I also cut in various sizes as well as ordinary kraft paper.

My desk was such a mess as I thought of more and more things that I could use!

I was unsure about what to do with the cover, then decided to go the whole hog and embellish that too …… (see top picture)

I’ve wanted to do something like this for ages but just never had quite the right sort of inspiration.

I’m always  cutting things out of magazines, but they get stuffed in a book or in a drawer and are then lost and the idea/inspiration I had is gone! Now I am on my way….. on a sort of journaling journey.

I am going to have a look through my drawers now as I have quite a few bits of journaling paraphernalia squirreled away.

But with the money I have saved by making my own book  I can now treat myself to a few choice K & Co Smash Book bits.

Thank you Carole for inspiring me to get started, and having an afternoon fiddle farting when I should have been cleaning the lounge!

Seashell Picture Frame

Yesterday, I had planned/promised myself that I would finally clean the utility room as it was an … erm, mess!  But I had this idea niggling in my head and I just had to go up to my craft room …. after all, the dust would only come back …

So I used a wooden frame that I got from Hobbycraft for £1.29 (I think), the opening of which measures 4ins x 6ins and some seashells (the sort that come in half a coconut shell) that my lovely friend Marc had sent me in a wonderful treasure filled parcel, plus a few shells that I had collected on various holidays.

 

….. Then I got to thinking about the large plastic roses I had disassembled from a Primark bracelet a while ago and wondered if they would sort of go together with the shells.

So starting again and positioning the roses on the frame first, I gradually built the shells up around them, trying to keep the design symmetrical but without looking too regimented using a glue gum to fix them in place when I was happy.

It looked pretty good as it was, if I say so myself …. but then a nagging voice in my head said “Now spray it with the £1 can of car paint you got from Penkridge Market”  Agghhhhh, I liked it as it was ….. and if the paint didn’t work, it would all be ruined …… but despite my angst I gave in to the voices in my head!! 

Anyway ……. I love it!  I think I am going to use it as a mirror, I reckon  a Poundland bathroom mirror will fit into the back quite nicely.  Thank you Marc …. I couldn’t have done it without you x

Denim Pocket Card

This card measures 5ins x 5ins.

This card feels like a huge cheat as there is nothing to it.  I’ve used part of a 12 x 12 denim paper from the Carol Wilson set I got from the QVC Outlet shop a week or so ago to cover a card blank and then added one of the (real)pockets that were in the set too. I thought you could have a bit of money poking out of the top …….instead of putting it inside the card.

Tivoli Whirl – Ruffled Scarf

My apologies as my pictures just do not pick up the bright vibrant rainbow colours of this yarn.

 

I’ve been knitting again!  The shop I go to in Wolverhampton always has such interesting bits of knitting by the till, it must be a cunning selling ploy, because curiosity always gets the better of me …. I ask what it is and how it knits up… and before I know it another ball of wool has found it’s way into my bag!

Anyway, this scarf is made using one ball of Tivoli Whirl, it cost me just under £5 and it is enough to make one scarf.  The shade I have used is called Bright Rainbow Shade 962 and took me about 3 hours to knit on 8mm needles and 9 stitches. You knit it in the same way as Rico Loopy yarn and demos can be found on YouTube.