Heads Up To Poundland 1 – Paper Pads

I popped into one of the two Poundland shops  in Worcester town centre and was really chuffed with the 6ins x 6ins Christmas paper pads I found.  I very nearly missed them as they were in the seasonal quick sale baskets in the middle of the shop rather than on the crafty shelves.

I bought four pads, although I think there were more to chose from, going for the ones that contained designs and colours that I thought would be the most versatile and “me”.

My favourite was the Cosy Christmas pad, (5 x 6 designs), because all the designs look like knitting samples and as such I am already thinking of a very simple patchwork card with a little faux stitching or using a page on its own to cover the front of a card blank with a simple printed sentiment in the middle.  I am quite excited to get playing.

The embossed paper pack was exceptional value, the embossing is really deep and the paper/card thick and glossy (5 x 6 designs).

The Scandi style reindeer and bird pages are again a card on their own when stuck to the front of a card blank with perhaps a careful application of translucent or white micro glitter here and there.

Elves aren't really my thing, but with the elf on the shelf is becoming more and more popular I think there is a card or two among these designs when I have get the time to experiment. I particularly like the Kraft colour as I have a few Kraft card blanks that really need using up.

The Jolly Christmas pad is “so so” ……. useful as a spare. My favourite designs are definitely the snowmen and penguins.

And ….. there were a few more bits of crafty treasure …… but more of that tomorrow.

Staircase in Fat Face – Worcester

If I want to do any “big” shopping now I go to Worcester, it’s only about 16 - 20 minutes away on the train and the station is right in the middle of the town so not a lot of walking to where I want to get to .

……. and this is a delight I discovered in Fat Face, the clothes store, in the High Street ……

It’s sooooooo gorgeous, and soooooooo me, if I had stairs this is exactly what I would have, life is too short!

The tiles are all old so I reckon that they originally came from one or several of  the potteries, many now sadly gone, in Worcester.  It’s stunning and I have a very serious case of tile envy!

Advent Drawer Tuesday

I am still flipping going …… is it just me or does this set of drawers seem like it’s been going on forever ?

Anyway….. there’s another four today ……. some I am happy with like the nutcracker one above using some really nice foam stickers I got from Flying Tiger …….

……. and the snowman one above.

However, I am not that keen on the star one above, it just says dull, dull, dull to me, perhaps I need to throw caution to the wind and glitter the numbers and stars ……. hmmmm.

Something isn’t right with the blue snowflake drawer either, the background on the numbers is too dark, I think it needs to be white  …..?

Oh well, back to the drawing board for a little more fiddle farting, no wonder it’s taking me so long to get finished.

Button Snowman Tag Decoration

I’m not sure if I have overworked this snowman tag.

I wonder if the simplicity of using two buttons to make the snowman has been overtaken by the fuss of the hat and scarf and really it could be anything underneath????

The buttons were a charity shop find, I got around 20 measuring about 28 mms diameter for £1.99.  To make the snowman more stable and easier to work with I glued the head and body together with a small piece of card.

The hat is a finger from an adult Primark stretchy glove (2 pairs for £1) and the scarf is a small off cut from the rest of the glove, but I wonder if they drown him. His nose is a tiny fimo carrot.  The tag is a wooden children’s domino piece measuring 10.5 x 5.5cms.

I might start again but use a finger from child’s gloves instead and then a piece of felt for the scarf to make the overall effect look less bulky.  Time is a getting a bit short, so it could be an idea I will have to come back to after Christmas.

Heads Up – Festive Smarties

I am always on the look out for sweets that can be put in small bags at Christmas time for favours, re-bagged and popped in a stocking and/or sold at Christmas Fayres etc.

I found these tubes of Rudolph Noses in Asda for £1. I reckon you could get two, possibly three little bags from one tube or simply fill one small jar with a matching Rudolph tag with the whole lot.  I always wear gloves when transferring sweets from one container to another and make sure the sweets are handled as little as possible.  I still have my trusty vacuum sealer too if I need to put sweets in a new cello bag to maintain their hygiene and freshness.

I don’t get unicorns and neither does Marc ……. but we get mermaids, so each to their own ……..  when I saw these Unicorn Smarties I thought of Marc straight away as a wind up sort of  present.

There are a million ideas out there for favours you could use these for  ……. unicorn poop anyone?

Advent Drawer Tuesday

Yes ……. I am still going …….

…… making the snowman drawer brought back so many happy memories, because I bought the snowmen from Michael’s in New York back in March. 

I can remember every single second of that visit, it’s ingrained in my mind as if it was yesterday and probably always will be ………

……. especially memories of the lovely lady on the till who made sure I had every sort of discount she could give me, bless her

Mistle-Toes Sock Pack Band

Socks can, admittedly, be a bit boring as a festive gift, but as plain, black ones are on both my nieces Christmas present lists this year, I felt it was my duty to find a way to tart them up for the big day.

The Mistle-Toe idea isn’t mine, I found it on Pinterest, but I am not sure if anyone else has come up with the idea of putting the sentiment on the band of a multi pack of socks.

I started by taking the original band off the socks to use as a template, cutting out new strips of white  card and then matching the score marks up on my box score board.

Then I measured the front panel and used the measurements to create a text box in Publisher 2003, using  alternate red and green letters in CandystripeFont (size 20) to make the sentiment.  I then printed off a whole sheet of them, as I wanted to put one on the front and the back and have a few spares just in case.

I cut out two of the boxes and glued them to one of the bands.

A little faux stitching never goes amiss ………

…… and neither does the odd flat back star or two.

I used double sided tape down the side to secure the band together.  I’m dead chuffed, at least these socks don’t look quite so functional just this once.

Heads Up - Flying Tiger Christmas Stickers

I love Flying Tiger shops, Marc and I were once followed all round the Hammersmith branch by a “undercover” member of staff, it was in the days of my huge “shop lifting bag” as Marc used to call it.  It was the best bag I have ever had, I still miss it,  but it was sooooooo big, I suppose it did look a bit suspicious!

However, I digress.  This year Flying Tiger have had some really lovely foiled, foam based card stickers for just £1 a pack.  I was very restrained and only bought three packs but I think I may regret it as I am already thinking “Advent Calendar” using one of the blank set of drawers (from The Works)  I have squirrelled away.  I don’t usually do polar bears but the bear pack is my definite favourite, even more than the gingerbread men, and that’s saying something.

These gem stickers were also £1. not sure what I am going to do with them yet, other than a very simple bauble on a white card.

Sleeps ‘Til Christmas Decoration

I saw this painted, wooden sign in Poundland and thought I might be able to do something with it …….

…….. and it really didn’t take much work at all to just tart it up a little.

To start with over the original painted snowflakes I simply glued a wooden one and then a smaller plastic one on top to add some extra dimension.

I then glittered over all the wording with translucent micro glitter.

Followed by using a white Posca pen to add groups of three dots here and there and in the middle of the dashes that edged the board.

The final touch was adding a tartan bow and a jingle bell to either side of the board.  Done and dusted …… now to start counting!

Black & Grey Sampler Frame

This frame wasn’t as easy as I had first anticipated. It’s for my neighbours upstairs and I had set myself the challenge of making a Christmas sampler frame to “go” with their almost entirely black, grey and white decor .

I started by removing and throwing away the glass in the frame and then covering the design sheet that was inside with a variety of grey patterned paper scraps and white glitter card.

The first four spaces were pretty quick and easy to put together using the previous samplers I have made as a guide ………..

…….. but the last two, the reindeers and Santa, were the hardest, as I have almost run out of my collection of embellishments that were in the right proportion to the frame and as a result I had to more or less come up with something new. 

All I can say is thank goodness this was the last frame of the nine (from Poundland) that I’d got!

The sampler definitely needed a touch of red and one or two other hints of colour otherwise it would have disappeared upstairs.  It was an interesting challenge, something outside my comfort zone and to perhaps explore some more when I have more time to play after Christmas.