A Card Made From A Parcel Sent By Melanie …..

I am always overwhelmed when someone takes the time to write to me and then sends me  something wonderful….. that happened a few weeks back when, after a fraught day at work, I found this exquisite package from Melanie sat sitting on my door mat …

It was crammed with all sorts of treasure and I was so thrilled!  Amongst the lovely bits I found this pack of Docrafts “Tulip” embellishments, which though I have seen in the shops I have never ventured to buy, and this was now was an ideal opportunity to try them out …..

I married them up with two papers from my Boofle 6ins x 6ins paper pack, which matched perfectly, punching a few hearts to fill in the “white space”.

I now have a spooky sort of feeling that when the card goes into my staffroom box someone is going to say it’s perfect for someone they know who got engaged, married, honeymooned in Venice, I shall keep you informed!

xxx Thank you so much Melanie xxxx …. and as you can see from the photo above your envelope has been by my desk constantly since it arrived,  so that I can delve into it whenever I need the finishing touch for a card or something. THANK YOU!

Wooden Flower Pot Tags

The picture/printing quality on these wooden dominoes is distinctly dubious because when I applied double sided tape with my ATG gun the picture immediately lifted on the tape!  I found them on e-bay, the original price was 99p but it said make an offer,  so I offered 50p and the offer was accepted,  postage was £2.42, but all together it was still a lot cheaper than if I had bought them in a shop and had paid my busfare to go and get them …. but I got such a surprise when they arrived as they had been posted in Israel!!  That's a lot of busfare!

Each domino measures 7.5cm x 3.5cm and are perfect for my ever growing stash of tags.

I am trying to make at least one new batch of tags a week, using up as many old embellishments and bits and pieces as I can, then, by November/December I will have several hundred which I then hope to sell at a craft fayre …. I might even buy some brown or other plain paper sheets to sell to go with them  ….. but it’s all a bit pie in the sky at the moment……

I just thought it would be something a bit different amongst all the usual stalls you find at fayres

Elizabeth Shaw Mint Crisp - Birthday Medal

I should really start another blog called “100 Things To Do With An Elizabeth Shaw Mint Crisp”!

I thought it would be fun to make a birthday medal using one of these infamous chocolates!

There’s not a lot to it, I’ve just used a scrap of stripy card, some peel offs, a scallop circle punch, some glittery corners, a few flat backed gems and a Craftwork Cards die cut birthday sentiment.

I’ve just mounted mine on a piece of 10.5 cm x 7cm card and then put it into a 12.5cm x 7.5cm cello bag to give as a favour,  but it could easily be put on the front of a card instead.

Hello Kitty Cards

These cards all measure 4ins x 4ins.

These card stickers were a bit of an impulse  buy while I was away in Dawlish the other weekend …. at £1.50 I ermed and ahhed as the sizes in the pack varied, I knew I could use the large ones but wasn’t too sure about the smaller ones  …. but as I was in a frivolous holiday mood they just slipped into my bag.

And these are the  first few that I came up with …..

Robo Craft Carrier Sheets

Thank you for all your help and suggestions of where I might find new carrier sheets for my Quickutz Silhouette, I have now put all the suggested websites on my favourites for when the situation arises again. ….

However I managed to get two packs of sheets for two maiden bids of £8.50 on e-bay …. although they were marked at £12.46   so I know I had a BRILLIANT bargain and they arrived within 48 hours! The Gods of Crafting were certainly looking down upon me!

Punched Flower Wedding Card

This card is A5 in size and is made with a hand cut card blank using a white linen effect card.

This card was made for a friend who wanted a wedding card made that reflected the invitation she had received.

At first I was a little flummoxed by the task, I did considered scanning the pattern but that would have just looked pants.

In the end I decided to used punches in various sizes and tried to match the colours as best I could. I was a little unsure about adding the leaves but without them there didn’t see to be much flow to the design.  Perhaps, not my choice of colours/pattern for a wedding but I am still chuffed with the result.

Little Boat Card

This covered hand cut card blank measures 5ins x 5ins.

A very simple mat and layered card today, using a boat embellishment from Michaels sent to me by Dianne, a text print paper from Papermania’s A5 Bookprint paper pad, coloured at the bottom with a Promarker pen, a contrasting paper from a pack that came free with a card magazine and a bit of blue corrugated card.  Done and dusted!

Diamond Jubilee Crafts – Jubilee Badges

No celebration would be right without me getting my Bandai Badge-It to make a few badges …….

I’ve done a bit of computer jiggery pokery by putting a circular union jack image and a cartoon of The Queen together …..

I can’t wait to wear mine!

Diamond Jubilee Crafts - Envelope Gift Bag

Marc has been nagging me to make one of these gift bags from an envelope forever, so with Diamond Jubilee ideas buzzing in my head I thought I would give it a try with a Jubilee twist ….

I’ve used an ordinary white envelope, plus a die cut crown and cut up Union Jack paper chains from Poundworld to decorate both sides.

Now I admit to being very lazy and rather that do my own tutorial I have cheated and found this film by Hero Arts on YouTube which will explain far better than I ever could.

Here is another tutorial you might also like to have a look at:-http://iwannabuildamemory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/envelope-gift-bag-tutorial-for-kraft.html
or failing that just Google – envelope gift bag.

Diamond Jubilee Crafts –Elizabeth Shaw Favours

No celebration would be right without getting out the old Elizabeth Shaw chocolate crisps! For the Diamond Jubilee I have kept everything very simple – but they are still pretty cute!

I found a circular Union Jack and simply resized it to produce a sheet of images to punch out with my plain 1 3/8” Stampin’ Up circle punch,

Then I layered the punched image on to a gold scalloped circle (also made using a Stampin’Up punch) to cover the front and back of an Elizabeth Shaw Butterscotch Crisp,  chosen especially for the matching gold foil wrappings!!!

I haven’t been able to find any packets of small, plain, gold crown stickers (yet) so I’ve used a flat backed (plastic!!) diamond to continue the Jubilee theme. Done and dusted!

Quickutz Silhouette Carrier Mats

I thought I might get my very under used Quickutz Silhouette out but realised that the carrier sheets are really past it …. and I just don’t have a clue where to get any new ones from …. has anyone got any ideas …. ??  My machine uses the old type sheets …. the ones with the white coating…. could I use a type new plastic one with it? ….. I am really stumped!

My Silhouette is the one with the blue writing on the lid – Model CC100-20

Diamond Jubilee Crafts –Sweetie Jar

Recently I found a great Poundshop in Stourbridge High Street  called Poundbazaar that was selling these sets of four jars in a rack for just £1 (!!!!), so needless to say I bought copiously, because at 25p a jar they are brilliant bargain and a jar of funny sweets always makes a good “emergency” present. I am not sure what to do with the racks yet …. but I might use them in some of my displays at work.

I  found a circular Union Jack image and resized it to fit the front, back and top of a jar with a blue lid …. adding a Cuttlebug die cut crown to the sides and a large blue gem to the top.  Then finally filling it with red, white and blue bon bons … nom, nom, nom and simples!

Diamond Jubilee Crafts - Another Competition Card Entry

The other day, I showed you the Diamond Jubilee card that I intend to enter in a competition in one of the popular card making magazines, but I had some of the Papermania paper over and it seemed a waste not to use it, so I decided make another card using what was left and similar embellishments, but re-jig them to get a new design.

I’ve taken a section from my own design A4 Union Jack sheet to cover the front of the card and then have added a centre panel cut from the remaining Papermania paper, which I mat and layered on gold.  To add a little more patriotic colour, I’ve filled the stamp in red, washing over it with a water pen and adding three flat backed gems to the Queen’s crown.  The final touches have been made with  bunting, this time cut into triangles, the same wording using my old faithful Dymo label maker  and a die cut crown to top it all off.  Done and dusted!

Diamond Jubilee Crafts - Chocolate Bars

Following on from a couple of days ago ..... two more chocolate bars today ....

All I’ve done is cover two small Aldi chocolate bars with papers from the Papermania Portobello Road pad, Cuttlebug die cut crowns and a few gems.

Diamond Jubilee Crafts - Competition Card Entry

This card measures 5.5ins x 5.5ins and is made using a white linen effect hand cut blank.

I recently bought this PaperMania Bookprint paper pad (£4.00 from Hobbycraft) mainly because I love the effect of using “printed” text paper on cards

I wasn’t too fussed about the illustrations until I came to this one, which screamed Queen’s Diamond Jubilee to me, and as I have seen a few Diamond Jubilee card making competions that I am tempted to enter …. this paper was the spur I needed.

I decided that I wanted Big Ben to be a feature on the card, so I cut out a section of the paper that completely covered the front of the card blank that included it. I then smudged Big Ben and the postmark with just a hint of brown colouring chalk to age it a little.

For the flags I used part of the A4 sheet of Union Jacks that I had created previously using Publisher, cutting out quite a few individual flags, for the bunting, which I double layered to give dimension and then others to form a higgledy piggeldy mix at the bottom to resemble the top of a flag waving crowd, some of which I double layered too.

The finishing touches were made using my old style Dymo label maker for the wording, a thin peel off edging strip on the bunting and a scattering of gold stars for good measure.

I’m never sure what judges of card making competitions look for, but at least it will be a change from images of the Queen and corgis, crowns and palaces…. oh and handbags!

Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Crafts - Chocolate Bars

I love my Papermania Portobello Road paper pack …. and I have used it so much it owes me nothing!

I’ve covered another couple of Aldi chocolate bars ready for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, cutting down two of the union flag pages in the pad and two of the die cuts, also included.

…… and adding a die cut crown made using the Cuttlebug Emboss Plus Vintage Collage folder that Marc leant me.

I can’t decide which of the papers I like best, but at the moment it is the blue sheet with tiny crowns and leaf flourishes on because it’s quite subtle and not royally over the top!

Chocolate Bargains At Tesco

Call me sad but ……Tesco have have packs of 4 Wispa, Crunchie, Twirl and Dairy Milk bars for £1 a pack until 15.05.12. I was only interested in the Dairy Milk as I like to “dress” them up, so I stocked up copiously, carefully checking the sell by date, which was mid March 2013, before handing over my ill gotten gains.

In my head I was already thinking “end of the school year” …. for “fairing” gifts – perhaps wrapped up in maps of exotic climes …. or wrapped royally for the  Diamond Jubilee, but it’s too good a bargain to miss, working out even better than the poundshops!

Diamond Jubilee Crafts–Party Poppers

I’ve seen a few packs of Diamond Jubilee party poppers in the shops but thought how easy it would be to decorate my own and save a bit of money ……

….. especially as I already had a packet of these paper chains (below) from my local Cancer Research shop and which I have used in several projects previously. They only cost £2.00, are double sided and there are 240 links in a pack, which will last forever!!

http://giftshop.cancerresearchuk.org/jubilee/union-jack-paper-chains.html#

All I have done is cut each link in half and colour the gaps between the flags with a matching Promarker pen as the original white was a little harsh.  Then I applied double sided tape to the link and rolled it round the popper …… simples!

The “ordinary” poppers cost 99p for a pack of 20 from The Works. It was a very spookily find because although not branded as Jubilee items,  their plastic bodies match perfectly the vintage colour red, white and blue of the links, how brilliant is that??

Party poppers are not suitable for young children.

Diamond Jubilee Crafts–Elizabeth Shaw Chocolate Soldier

This is a Queen’s Soldier chocolate I came up with.

Made from parts of circles using my Stampin’Up 1 3/4” circle punch …..

(above back view) ….. some googly eyes and gold peel off outline stickers. 

…. and a bit of artistic licence!

Diamond Jubilee Crafts

I hope you don’t mind but the Diamond Jubilee weekend is only but a month away and though I intended to spread my Jubilee ideas over the next few weeks, I had noticed on my “feedjit” widget that people are already searching for ideas, so I have decided to lump everything I have come up with over the next few days so that if anyone was inspired they would have plenty of time to get started, after all what’s the point in seeing a good idea two days before the event?