Jacob’s Advent House

Sorry about the quality of the pictures in this post, but the pictures are rescued from Google after I lost hundreds of pictures in a “deleting” disaster.

So briefly this is the Advent House I made for my best friends adopted son Jacob for his first Christmas with her.

I used a wooden Tesco Advent House that I had the foresight to buy many of as I knew I would never see them again at £5!

Rather than try to repeat my original post I will just use the pictures to tell the story and just apologise about not giving details about papers etc.like I usually try to do, which came from the HobbyCraft Christmas 2013 range, but I doubt if they are still available now.

 

Jacob’s Advent House – Part 2

Progress with Jacob’s Advent House has been much faster than I first thought it would be, mostly due to my being able to refer to past blog posts of the original house on my computer screen as I worked.

I had a bit of a disaster with the red spotted paper I originally put on the sides of the house which wasn’t strong enough to stand several coats of varnish, so I replaced it with a much thicker green paper, which I now much prefer.

I covered the roof with a red corrugated card which had a metallic sheen to it.  Working round the bottom of the chimney was a bit fiddly, but I got there ….

…… and then added ric rac brad at intervals down the roof ….I will also add clear flat back gems at a later stage.

The eaves are almost finished too … they just need a snowman either side of the star drawer …… some red or green lace around the edges and bottom plus a few more clear flat backed gems for a little extra, over the top, Christmas bling.

…… but it all needed to be left to dry properly and to settle a bit before all the final fiddle fart touches could be added.

While that was happening I could get on with the drawers, which had now been coated with several coats of clear, satin varnish with a little extra fine translucent glitter added to it.  I made the drawer knobs by sticking a square flat backed gem onto a wooden bead, this was quite fiddly so I temporarily stuck the beads onto double sided tape to stop them moving around while I was working on them. They were then each stuck on a drawer with superglue to make absolutely sure that they don’t come off.

You wouldn’t believe just how long it took me to sort out the drawers so that the embellishments followed a pattern and then that the different patterned papers were spread out evenly and no two were together, talk about more fiddle fart!

I am not the greatest fan of peel offs,  but have used silver corners, in two sizes, to add a bit of sparkle and shine to each drawer…….

So that’s it for another day ….. Jacob’s Advent House is almost done …. I just need to have another tidy up of my desk before the final sprint to the finish …..

More tomorrow ….. all being well!!!

Jacob’s Advent House – Part 1

I was very excited, if not a little daunted by the task I had set myself in making an Advent House for my friend’s little boy Jacob …. not by the actual cutting and gluing, but the planning,  I had virtually decided to make it almost the same as mine ….  until a trip to HobbyCraft turned my idea completely on its head …..

….. when I saw these adhesive Advent Toppers, they cost £2.99,  but there was a buy two get one free offer on selected Christmas stuff  ….. so you can guess what happened,  …. I got one and two spares, aghhhh!!!

But….. the colours didn’t go with the papers I had originally chosen to use …. so out came my paper box and I started all over again, opting for some Stampin’ Up papers in green, not a Christmas range, but perfect as a background and whose patterns were in perfect proportion to the drawers, plus a few pieces of red paper,  their position to be decided once I got started.

The house was duly sprayed with a cream colour spray paint ….

…. drawers covered and roughly planned out with their numbered embellishment ……

…. which were given the FiddleFart treatment of a dusting of extra fine translucent glitter from Michaels, a present from Dianne in Florida a while ago.

And then I started to think about snowmen ….. which was followed by a stupid amount of time spent on the internet trying to find “the perfect snowman” x 5 ….. I failed, and went to bed wondering what to do …..!! 

However when I got up next morning and started looking for something completely different I stumbled upon some wooden snowmen I had completely forgotten about  … that were perfect,

I had spent too long looking for cutesy snowmen …. and this was an Advent House for a rufty tuffy little boy …. so the more “rustic” wooden snowmen I found were much better suited!

All the pieces were coming together slowly ……. and I was now covered in glue and my craftroom chaos ……

More tomorrow ….

How many People Can Say They Went To Vegas And Went To A 99c Store?????

Oh my life, you’ll never know how much I have wanted to go to a “real” dollar store like Dollar Tree since finding out about them through blogging and the internet ….. what a thing to have on your bucket list!!!

However, on the day I finally made it to one we’d already been to The Gold and Silver Pawn Shop, Michael’s and Walmart! Back home this would have been a mere poottle around  …... but in Vegas,  in the HEAT ….. oh dear lord, the HEAT, us Wolverhampton girls just aint built to take it! We were totally exhausted and none to fragrant by this stage (about 4.00pm), but I was determined to give it my best shot!!

In some ways I was glad that this wasn’t the best 99c shop in the world for creative bits and pieces  …. as I was almost cross eyed with heat and fatigue and couldn’t really take it all in …. and incredible as it seems now, I only spent $10.25 - £6.32!!!!!This 99c Store had aisles and aisles of food, far more than our Poundshops,  including a Deli and frozen section, which surprised me.   And I really I wish I had bought this popcorn now, how good would it have looked in my craft room,  but space and weight in my suitcase was a constant issue when fiddlefart shopping …. and with hindsight I wish I hadn’t taken quite so many clothes!

So what did I purchase ….?

A drinking jar, as seen on Big Brother, and sold here for stupid money here ….. 65p in 99c Store!!!  If only I could have bought more home ….. but I was determined that this one at least would come home with me.

Two glass candle sticks?? Lucy thought I was mad …. and what I wanted to buy to go with them were glasses that would, when glued on top would have made perfect Halloween Apothecary jars like below ……. but there was no way I could have got them home ….

http://amyhurley.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/09/halloween-dollar-tree-decorations.html

And four pair of reading glasses, that are sooooo cute, 65p???? OMG! You can’t see them clearly in the picture but they have three “diamonds” on each side of the frame …. I have a drawer of reading glasses of every colour and pattern …. but these are my favourite at the moment, but I am frightened to wear them in case I lose them, which I always do!!

And finally …… a dollar store tote ….. which I shall use proudly as a kitsch accessory!!!

An everso slightly disappointing haul … and if we hadn’t packed so much other stuff into our two weeks I wish I’d had time to jump into a taxi and said “Dollar Tree,  my good man” …… just for a second bite of the cherry. But,  if I am ever lucky enough to go to the States again I’ll definitely only be taking two outfits, one to wear and one in the wash!!!!

Take And Make Workshop With Kirsty Wiseman

Woooo hooo, there is a “newish” craft shop in Wolverhampton called Domino Crafts, I think it’s been there for about six months perhaps a bit longer.  I pop in there now and again mainly because they have a Payper Box section, where you fill a small or large wallet with the A4 paper and/or card of your choice, a large wallet costs £6.49 but I forget how much the smaller one is.

Anyway when I was in last Thursday I was particularly impressed by the range of Payper Christmas designs, particularly the blue and white spotty one which just screamed snow and snowman scene to me, there is also a very nice dusty navy blue gingham that made me think immediately of a  shabby chic Christmas , so it would have been rude not to indulge a little!!!

I also bought a couple of Sakura Quickie Glue pens and some corner peel offs with Christmas ideas now well on my mind and as I was paying we got to talking about Domino’s Facebook page and then that Kirsty Wiseman was doing Make and Take Workshops on 16th November ….. well my place was booked there and then!!! http://limegreenbogiegirl.blogspot.co.uk/ I’ve never ever done a workshop before, so I think I may have peaked doing my first with Kirsty, I am sooooooooooooooo excited!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Domino-Crafts/187935284582228
I also understand that Julia Watts from Creative Expressions/Create & Craft will be doing a demonstration day on Saturday 26th October …. but I will be London Lounging with Marc then!!!!

Domino Crafts have a wide range of Spectrum Noir pens, dies for all machines, Hunkdory, DCWV, Crafters Companion, Debbie Moore, Woodware and Creative Expressions as well as selling their own handmade cards, tags etc.

Domino Crafts, 7a Cleveland Street, W-ton, Tel: 01902 428 842

Lisa’s Halloween Mojo Challenge Part 2

I don’t think I have ever made a Halloween card … so here’s a first,  which is destined to go in my friends little boys Halloween pack from Aunty Helen!
Not only have I used Lisa’s Sizzix pumpkins, bats and papers … but I have finally used one of Marc’s Sixxiz Flip-It Card blanks (No. 657591)!  Last time I was with Marc in August he sat, while we watched Celebrity Big Brother and drank giant vodka and cokes and patiently cut me out piles and piles of these cards in black and white ……
Not a lot to the card really …. but Marc and I both loved the Flip-It aspect of the card, where you can have two toppers for the price of one …. or just a sentiment to flip ….. I have always shied away from dimensional cards …. to complicated for my simple mind to get around …. but I have quite enjoyed making this one, very simple and experimental as it is ….. I know you can get a lot more elaborate as I have seen on Google.
However, when I stay with Marc again at the end of this month I shall hopefully be taking some more double sided Christmas and floral patterned card as I have a few more ideas I would like to try out.

ThermoMorph–Mouldable Plastic–A Review And A Set Of Tags

I haven’t done a review for ages but when I got an e-mail from David at ThermoMorph I have to admit to being very curious …. and so agreed to his offer to send me a tub for an “honest” appraisal.

Before I started to work with ThermoMorph I deliberately did not look at any other reviews or projects beforehand …. as I wanted to work with it as an absolute novice and not be influenced by others ideas

ThermoMorph comes in the form of polymorph granules, rather like small pellets which when put in hot water becomes mouldable in 5 minutes and then sets rock hard solid at room temperature within 10 minutes!  Who wouldn’t be curious?

I had intended on working in my craft room, but this didn’t quite work out as I am not the fastest of workers and as this was my first time using ThermoMorph it was all very much an experiment, and I found that it was hardening while I was still just playing and thinking what to do, so I relocated to the kitchen where I was able to have a pan of boiling water at hand to soften the ThermoMorph when needed.

When ready to use, the ThermoMorph becomes transparent and pliable, a bit like chewing gum, you have about 2 minutes to use/mould it before it begins to harden and as I have said at this experimental stage this wasn’t really long enough for me ….. but practice makes perfect!

I was also a little unprepared,  and so tried to keep things very simple using a couple of moulds I already had …. the silicone face moulds worked fine ….

…. but I far preferred  the rigidity of the snowman and Christmas tree ice cube trays I also tried, but the finished results were a little deep to use on cards for example,  so I think for future projects I need to research more specialist silicone moulds on, for example etsy …. as I particularly like the idea of making my own cabochons and embellishments, especially with my embellished mirrors in mind.

etsy http://www.etsy.com/uk/search?q=%20silicone%20moulds&order=most_relevant&view_type=gallery&ship_to=GB.

I also understand that there are colour additive's available that can be used when using mouldable plastics and again for making cabochons etc. this would be a good idea, although ThermoMorph can be painted.

And so….  what did I make with my VERY rudimentary experiments?

Three very basic and naive tags! I just added colour to the snowmen and Christmas tree with permanent Sharpie pens ….. et voila.

I think there is still a lot of playing to do, I will certainly be taking the rest of the ThermoMorph to “play with” when I stay with Marc at the end of the month, And, now I have done something with it  I have looked at what others have done …… far more adventurous and creative than me, for  example:-

http://diningroomdrawers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/thermomorph-product-review.html – where Helen has embossed and cut hers in her BigShot with very impressive results.

I am a paper crafter at heart but have appreciated the opportunity to try a new medium with which I could create embellishments for card making, and being able to compare ThermoMorph with Fimo clay, paper clay, air drying clay and a melt pot …… for me, at the moment,  for ease of use Fimo has the edge. However as ThermoMorph comes in a big tub I intend to continue experimenting, having already ordered a couple of small snowflake silicone moulds from e-bay and buying a skull and cross bones ice cube tray from Poundland.   I also intend to continue looking for more craft ideas on the internet.  I have already found some interesting ideas on YouTube that could be of interest to DIY’ers, including how to make new handles for knives and tools,

ThermoMorph is available from Amazon in 500gram tubs and costs £19.95

Googles and gloves are not required when working with ThermoMorph.

What’s On My Desk Wednesday - Lisa’s Halloween Challenge, Part 1.

These are the bits that Lisa (Craft Fairy) sent me for our monthly mojo challenge, included were papers, Sizzix spiders, pumpkins, and bats, ribbons, buttons and a wooden H. Hmmmmm

I gravitated to the wooden H first …. H for Halloween immediately sprang to mind …. so first job was to cover it with one of Lisa’s papers ….

….. then came the spider, I stuck two together using a sticky pad to add dimension …. doodled webs followed, which screamed for a few googly eyes, a small Sizzix lizard and Lisa’s buttons.  I also found some Halloween rub ons that Dianne in Florida sent me …. these were perfect.  I don’t use rub ons a lot …. but I am tempted to look for more word ones as they are a brilliant way of filling the odd gap.

And then,  I got to thinking that the back looked a bit bare and that it was a shame waste the space, so I started the whole thing again!!

Finally I drilled a hole in one of the corners, attached a jump ring and then a ribbon ….. et voila.

This is going to be part of a little pack of Halloween bits and pieces for my friends little boy who she adopted in April and this will be his first Halloween with her, so I wanted to give him something special that can come out each year and bring happy memories back over and over again.