Guest Blogger – My Daughter Lucy

My daughter Lucy made me and others in the family some beautiful cross stitch and embroidered presents this Christmas and so I thought I would use a bit of nepotism and make her my Guest Crafter for today …..

I just do not have any patience with sewing, especially cross stitch and embroidery, to be honest my eyes are rubbish and I can barely thread a needle without my tongue hanging out and going cross eyed …..

….. and then if I get any further all my crisp material and threads start to look grubby and crumpled within seconds!

But as you can see Lucy doesn’t share any of my foibles!

Even her gift tags were cross stitched.

She treated herself to this book on doodle stitching by Aimee Ray and some of the stuff she has done already is just beautiful, I am so jealous!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Doodle-Stitching-Collection-Aimee-Ray/dp/1600595812

…. And I almost forgot these ribbon corsages!

Gingham Valentine Baskets

I am finding all sorts of forgotten treasure in my efforts to use up existing “stuff” rather than buying even more new bits and pieces, ……. like these papier mache baskets (£1.69 HobbyCraft).

Using a gingham print paper I drew round the baskets to get the shape and size right. I then cut out the shapes and went round the edges with a black pen to give a faux stitching effect, and finally glued the paper to the baskets, leaving to dry overnight.

Next followed several coats of Ronseal glossy, clear, quick drying varnish.

The finishing touches include a small tag made using a tag and heart shaped punch and a small wooden heart embellishment in the corner at the bottom of the basket.

I am going to fill these baskets with jelly shaped sweets for Valentines Day and see how they go.

Bunting Birthday Card

Bunting is so on trend at the moment (hark at me, such a fashionista!!!)), so I thought I had better have a go too

I’ve used my triangle punch for the bunting, using an assortment of paper scraps.  Originally I was going to leave them plain, but found that by edging them roughly with a black fine liner it made the flags stand out more. The writing is my own.

Gingham Tags

I just LOVE gingham …..

….. and as soon as I saw the Creative Paper Strips (below) – in  pastel colours(£1.99 pack 20) they just screamed Spring, Easter and Mothers Day at me.  The colours are beautiful and quite subtle, and the paper quality is lovely and packs are available from  http://www.handyhippo.co.uk/p7246-creative-paper-strips-pastel-gingham-20-pack.html
….. And following on from the success of all the wooden tags I made for Christmas, I am really keen to keep them coming in a wide of variety of designs for all sorts of occasions.  These wooden flower jug embellishments were ideal for continuing the idea and a perfect match for the orange gingham in the paper pack http://www.handyhippo.co.uk/p6194-wooden-flower-jugs.html

I covered children’s wooden dominoes with the paper and then took the red dot pattern on the watering can onto the edge of the tag. I know I could use card for the tags, but the domino really makes them feel that bit more special, and I reckon that each domino (bought from e-bay) costs just 10p each, which is a bargain!
To carry the theme through I made two 4.5in x 4.5ins cards using white linen card, with the gingham paper mat and layered on Kraft and red card, the largest of the watering cans and a good dollop of faux stitching for good measure.

I was determined that I was going to use up all the embellishments, but have plenty of the gingham paper left …. which I think you will be seeing quite a bit of in the coming weeks because as I said the colours are so right for Easter etc.

If you're not as keen on gingham as I am  Handy Hippo also have Creative Paper Strips in pastel and bold stripes and dots, which I  also purchased for other projects in the future http://www.handyhippo.co.uk/s253-1-paper-pads-and-packs.html

Wooden Toadstool Gift Tags

I adore toadstools and ladybirds and thought that these old wooden embellishments I’ve had for ages should finally be all used up and would be ideal for putting on gift tags for a gardener.

I just love the effect of the gingham sky …. and when I have a bit more time will try and replicate the design on a small card. The bases for the tags are made from children’s dominoes.

Toadstool Cards and Tags

These are the sort of things I would like to receive.

They are bit quirky but if I may say so myself I love them! The cards measure 3ins x 3ins and are made using ivory linen effect card, a Stampin’Up text paper and wooden toadstool embellishments that I’ve had forever.

The tags use the same materials, with the base made using wooden children’s dominoes.

90th Newspaper Birthday Card.

I’m not sure if this is pink overkill and a bit too busy, but the lady who asked me to make this card for her mum was very pleased.

I looked on Google for ideas and to be honest the majority were pretty sombre. If the lady’s eyesight isn’t too good I’ve made sure that there are plenty of texture and layers for her to feel.

New House Cards

I have a real thing about Kraft card and text print paper at the moment.

Each of these cards is made using a Kraft ribbed card and measure 4ins x 4ins, a Stampin’Up text paper, a green polka dot textured paper and house buttons I have had for more years than I care to remember.

All I’ve added is a touch of red permanent marker to the hearts and flowers on the houses.  Very simple and very me!

Wooden Heart Tags

These tags are used using children’s wooden dominoes as the base.

I made the above tag first and didn’t like it …. I think it’s the wooden heart … it’s just too round and fat …. I much prefer the shape of a primitive heart and so I didn’t make any more like it  … but I still mithered about making some more tags with Valentines Day in mind.

Then I had an Ulrika..ka..ka moment … I covered some more dominoes with a text print paper from Stampin’Up, and coloured the  small primitive wooden hearts, that I have had forever, with a red Whisper pen and then just glued them on…… much more me!

Easter Sweetie Box

All the dominoes I use for my wooden tags come in lovely slide lid boxes also made from wood, so it’s a challenge to use them up too.

This box measures 6.5in x 3.5in x 1.5in and I’ve just covered it with gingham and green paper, adding a bit of faux stitching and several coats of Ronseal clear gloss, quick drying varnish and a knob, if you’ll pardon the expression!

When completely dry I’ve then added a few wooden ladybird embellishments that I have had for more years than I care to remember.  I am hoping that Tesco will be having their nets of chocolate ladybirds in again this year as that is what I would like to fill the box with to then give as an Easter present.

Check out my followers gallery as I have just added a project sent to me this morning that was done by Linda using the Tesco chocolate ladybirds I am praying they have again this year.

Diamond Jubilee Crafts - Union Flag Tags

We seems to be awash with the Union Flag on absolutely everything on  at the moment what with the Olympics and Queen’s Jubilee.

So I thought I would make some tags from kraft card and using some of the left over paper chains I bought for the Royal Wedding.

I even managed to find some blue reinforcement rings at the bottom of one of my drawers to add the finishing touch. They took seconds to make and I am chuffed with the end result.  I am thinking that they might look good on sweetie bags containing red, white and blue wrapped sweets nearer the Olympics/Jubilee.

I love the new Do-Crafts Portobello Road range, but am sitting on my hands at the moment so that I can’t reach for my purse!!

http://www.docrafts.com/article/PapermaniaPortobelloRoad/AID882

Ribbed Kraft Card from http://www.pdacardandcraft.co.uk/ribbed-kraft-recycled-card.html

My Guest Crafter Today –Rebecca And Her Nativity Blocks

I am handing todays post over to my crafty friend Rebecca. We e-mail now and again and I was overwhelmed when she sent me a set of her Nativity Blocks. They were too good to keep to myself so I asked if she would be one of my “ Guest Crafters” do a “write up” on how she made them, because I knew how popular they would be. I shall also repeat this post at the beginning of October as a reminder of the idea …. And now it’s over to Rebecca ……..

“I found this link from a blog called ‘I Am Momma Hear Me’  - http://www.iammommahearmeroar.net/2010/12/fifth-day-of-christmas-nativity-blocks.html%20on on Boxing Day 2010 and waited patiently until Christmas 2011 to have a go. I knew that these would make ideal Christmas presents for my little boys friends. We are not religious neither are my friends but I felt it was important that the little ones understood the true meaning of Christmas.

I searched for free images on Google but nothing leapt out at me and screamed ‘CUTE!’, plus the images needed to be single images as they were to go on individual blocks, however the images I eventually chose were from:-

http://digiwebstudio.com/store/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&zenid=ddcf731f01a36b2a662d202c2bd6084f&keyword=nativity

And here are a few other nice links:-

http://www.etsy.com/listing/76938548/nativity-clipart-christmas-clip-art-buy

http://digidoodledoo.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=125

http://www.etsy.com/listing/85959157/christmas-nativity-cute-digital-clipart

After many weeks of bargain hunting on the net and in shops I eventually found the wooden building blocks I had been looking for in The Works (BookSale) for £7.99 for 50 pieces. I wanted the blocks to be natural colour as the images would look better; I bought two tubs of which was enough to make six nativity sets.

I resized the images to fit the blocks and printed them with a colour laser printer, as my intention was to varnish over them and I was not sure if the varnish would smudge the images if I had printed them on an inkjet printer.

I carefully cut around the images (this was time consuming and I used nail scissors to get all the fiddly bits) and glued them onto the blocks. I covered the whole surface area in PVA glue to start so I could slide the images around to get them in just the right place. Once dry I varnished over the image.

I read on FiddleFart about Rangers Glossy Accents and using it on my nativity blocks was my first ever attempt (hence the small air bubbles if you were to have a closer look). I was very impressed with the outcome as the Rangers Glossy Accents made the images look like stickers and gave them extra dimension.

I had been collecting Christmas tins from charity shops and car boots sales over the summer as I knew exactly what I would be using them for.

I then carefully placed the nativity blocks in the tins. In the sets I gave to my little boys friends I copied the images into a word document and labelled each character like a reference card for them. This was printed in colour, laminated and added to the tin.

Simple but so effective!”

Cute As A Button

This card measures 10.5 cm x 10.5 cm and is made using white linen effect card.

This is card looks deceptively easy, but getting the writing centred above and below the button was a nightmare, I must have done it at least seven times!

SPAM MAIL/HACKERS

PLEASE ..... IF YOU GET AN EMAIL FROM ME .... DON'T OPEN IT ... IT WILL BE SPAM .... MY EMAIL ADDRESS WAS HACKED YESTERDAY ... AGAIN.... !!!  I HAVE CHANGED PASSWORDS ETC. AND THE ####ERS STILL GET IN!!!

Plain and Simple Kraft Tags

Nothing fancy today, just some quick parcel tags.

My sister lent me this beautiful box of stamps. As they were so plain and simple I decided to make a huge pile of tags using Kraft card (as I never seem to have any ready made) and not fiddle fart too much with them.  The only thing I added was to rub them over with brown and orange coloured craft chalk to give them an old worn look.

Gift wrapping is not my forte but I just love the effect of parcels wrapped in plain brown paper.