Drawer Advent Calendar 2018

Yes, Christmas crafting has already started at The Towers with my first Advent Drawers of 2018 already under my belt. Not sure where this one is heading yet, but as I am planning to make a couple more I am considering looking at Etsy to perhaps sell them.

The drawers came from The Works a couple of years ago, they cost £15 (but are currently out of stock online), so this wasn’t a cheap project.  However, I think if I decide to get any a couple more sets for this year  I will wait until I get a 30% off code before I order them.

I used various Christmas papers from my collection but made sure all the designs were roughly in proportion to the embellishments I added.

The laser cut Advent numbers cost £2.75 per set (with free P & P)  came from e-bay which I found I could colour and/or glitter according to each drawer design. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3mm-MDF-Advent-Numbers-Arial-Bold/272435612759?hash=item3f6e6d8c57:g:cAkAAOSw3XlbWXRQ

To embellish the drawer fronts I just rifled through all my boxes of bits, trying to cover as many themes as I could …….

…… including blank and painted wooden shapes, resin and plastic embellishments ……

……. which I would then mat and layer or framed ……….

….. and then embellished some more with flat back gems, pearls, stars, buttons, glitter, googly eyes and Ranger Glossy Accents etc.

I reckon each drawer front took me at least 30 minutes to put together before putting to one side to dry …….

……. before going back again  to embellish some more, sometimes several times over the days until I was 100% happy with no viable space left unfilled.

The small frames I think came from The Works a couple of years ago, but haven’t seen them in stock for a while.  I only have a few left now and really I wish I could get some more as the proportions are just perfect to use either as a frame for the numbers or the embellishments, but so far my search for something of a similar size has proved pretty unsuccessful.

However thinking toward my next calendar I did find some that are a little larger  on e-bay which I can mix and match with the remaining few, which will certainly change and dictate a new style of drawer front design, but then that is never a  bad thing as I get easily bored doing something over and over again to a formula.

The last drawer front turned out to be the plainest, but after all the anticipation of the other drawers I thought I would let the day speak for itself.

So ……. give me a couple of weeks and then hopefully the next calendar should be ready for your perusal.

Plain And Simple Wedding Invitations

This is the wedding invitation pack I “made” for my nephews wedding this coming September.

As you can see there isn’t really any crafting to them. The bride was very specific in her desire for an invitation made up of several layers of cards, that were plain, simple and classy, which probably accounts for them taking 3 months from the first moot to my being able to finally pack them in a box (with spares in case of accidents) and posted!  It also didn’t help that I am in Evesham while the bride and groom are in Stockport and that we never actually spoke in person throughout the whole procedure other than texts and e-mails.

The band was always a requisite, and probably the fiddliest part as it needed an extra bit added in order to fit round the completed invitation pack including a hidden paper clip, with precision folds.

Before arriving at this final white linen effect band (the card used throughout the project from Papermill Direct) I sent samples in pink and grey, also making pink, grey and white stamped seals using my Melt Pot. These ideas were quickly cast aside, as were the subtle placement of the odd “posh” flatback pearls and gems and requested vellum wraps.  We also toyed with putting the name of the bride and groom on the band but Amanda also discounted this because they couldn’t be centred aesthetically, Joe having less letters than Amanda.

The rose coloured paperclips (Paperchase) were originally meant for the Save The Date cards that I had made previously, but they didn’t really go with the grey card used, but happily worked a treat under the band ….. so much attention to detail!

The font was also an important consideration, there were two in the running, but in the end it was Cochin LT that made it through, sourced by the bride and groom and then downloaded by me. I had never seen or heard of it before. 

The main headings of the invitation were set out in capital letters with a space between each letter and then the body of all the cards were in smaller italic.

To be honest the whole exercise reminded me of my working days when I used to spend a lot of my time creating forms, leaflets and work sheets in Publisher 2003.  It’s all about hidden text boxes, spacing and then centring.  The Response Card took me the longest to put together for that reason.

The final piece of the puzzle (everything came in bits over the months) was right at the end with the cover design (again sourced by Amanda), printed, after a little experimentation  on Crafters Companion printable vellum.  Then when everything was double checked and then double checked again, I was able to start printing and then cutting all the components parts to size before putting each pack together, this took me a weekend to do.

Did I enjoy the process? Perhaps not …….. but it was my wedding present to the couple.  It didn’t particularly get my creative juices flowing and to be honest could have easily been done at a printers, however, as a spin off my sister-in-law (the bridegroom’s mother) has asked if I can make her a wedding card incorporating the floral design and then a framed version for a keepsake …… so perhaps I can add my own touch of fiddle fart somewhere along the line, if not wholly endorsed by the happy couple!

To Blog Or Not To Blog …… That Is The Question !!!!!!

I know …… I have been a very long time away not posting and yes, as many of you presumed through your lovely comments (thank you) that I’ve been off and away doing lovely things, putting crafting and blogging on the back burner.

It’s been a GOOD three months or so, when I celebrated my second year in Evesham, joined Slimming World (2 stone down so far), spent a wonderful week in Crete etc. etc., oh and I made the wedding invites for my nephew’s wedding, but more of that project in my next post.

I have been very spoilt in the past having a “proper” craft room where I could just pick up a project whenever I wanted and then shut the door, now living in a small flat I have found that in order to craft two rooms get trashed. I am not a neat worker and as my mind flies here, there and everywhere box after box are opened and the contents scattered and to be honest the tidying up after a “session” got me down a little.

I admit that when I first moved I rushed getting my second bedroom done, having little ones frequently sleeping over and friends/family staying over at least once a month I really needed a bed and a few bits of furniture in there, but, if I could do it all again I think I would have taken my time in designing it as a comfy craft room which included a sofa bed that could be folded away when not in use.

However, in May I had yet another re-think, even as it was the room, for me, didn’t flow, I never really liked the Ikea drawers I had put in there, the bedside ones were too low and the unit I had built on the wall opposite the bed just jarred on me each time I went in the room (as demonstrated by Darrell) ……..

So I got the wonderful Mr Pete to come back and build new drawers either side of the bed to fit in with the shelf unit he had built last year and then, in my head, I wanted something that looked a bit like a dresser on the opposite side of the room to house all the boxes of craft stuff that were under the bed.  I tried to describe to poor Pete what was in my head and unbelievably he was able to draw a sketch, sighing at my need for crystal knobs and the rest is history.  When I got back from Crete Pete had worked his magic.

I am thrilled, there is now only one box now under the bed, everything else is neatly put away and easily assessable, although I need to start labelling some of the boxes. I can now collect stuff from the drawers and cupboards without wrecking the room.

So that’s got you up to speed. In September Iris starts school. I know, where has the time gone …. and Bertie, bless him, starts nursery, which means a bit more walking for me as Evesham doesn’t have the buses that Wolverhampton does, and my three days now increases to four days with them.  I can’t promise a post every Monday, but I have a couple of projects to post and with September heralding my busiest crafting period, I hope to follow on from these posts leading up to Christmas.

Tonertex Glitters – Flamingo Bag

When Marc and I went to Crafting Live at Malvern I treated myself to a selection of Tonertex pens, foils, glitter and glue.  I must have seen this company a million times at various shows over the years, but this was the first time I had ever been tempted to get my money out. I have always wanted to “embellish” a faux or leather jacket for Iris and or Bertie, if ever I can find a suitable one/two in a charity shop, and this seemed the way to go.

However the glue and glitters first outing was on something completely different, i.e this jute bag I found in my favourite charity shop for just 60p, flamingos are so on trend at the moment, it was a no brainer.

I started by applying the Tonertex glue on the flamingos and heart …….

…….. leaving it for about 10 to 15 minutes before applying the fuchsia coloured glitter.  I admit I was sceptical as to how it might turn out but resisted the temptation to fiddle with it until in the morning when it was dry ……….

I was thrilled with the result.  The bottom of the left hand flamingo’s neck in the picture was a bit dodgy as you can see, but I was able to remove the excess glitter and glue quite easily using a craft knife, making the edge rounder to match the other one without ruining the whole effect.

And ……. the glitter just doesn’t rub off, how brilliant is that! It does exactly what it says on the packet! All I had to do was brush off the excess glitter from the bag itself and add two black flat back gems for the eyes.

Now, the bag is double sided so I need to repeat the exercise again, but as I don’t have enough glitter left to do it, I’ve had to order another pot from the Tonertex website.  I wanted a new beach bag for my Greek Odyssey this year, and I reckon I’ve got one!

A Bits and Pieces Sort Of A Post

There was an extra bonus to Marc’s and my visit to Crafting Live at Malvern ….. while we were having a much needed cup of tea and waiting to be picked up we noticed that people were leaving the hall with large smiles and what looked like the boxes of the card/paper/kits that had been given as complimentary gifts at the start of the day. At first we just watched, we were happy with the box we had each received, both containing A4 wood patterned paper …… but then we got a little curiouser, before finally deciding that we may as well go see what was going on.

Well, what’s a poor boy and girl to do? We both came back with a pile of extra boxes, rather than take them all back to wherever the organisers were giving the packs away to anyone who wanted them.

You name it, we got it, glitter, metallic and patterned card ……….

…….. plus a couple of card making kits …….

 

…… including a “wobble” card kit.  When we got back we decided to split the contents so that we both got a bit of everything ….. and after sorting through again, I decided to give the papers that I know I won’t use to Iris’s nursery school, as they are always crying out for materials, so it was win win situation all the way round.

And …….. this is a stemmed dish Marc created marrying a small (upside down) vase with a glass bowl, gluing with E6000.  It was sitting on the sideboard at the cottage and had me completely fooled when I admired it, it was only when Marc told me what he’d done that I cottoned on.  What a brilliant idea!

As you know, I have decorated my bathroom shelves with decanters (filled with bubble bath) that I have found in the various charity shops of Evesham. If I occassionally find a prettier, more unusual shaped one I then replace it for one of the plainer ones, so long as it costs less than about £2.

In the Crafters Companion Café they used decanters that have lost their stoppers as vases with paper flowers in them.  All the plates, cup and saucers and mugs are also “found” treasures, it all looks so cute, especially against all the country style furniture.

And finally an object of desire ……… I haven't got a single spare spot in my bijoux flat, but I just love this painted, metal flamingo, believe me, if I had any where it would fit, it would  be mine!