Harry Potter Tree Decoration

This double sided tree ornament took far too much of my time for such a simple little thing.

It all started when I found two of what looked very much like Harry Potter in a pack of Halloween stickers from Flying Tiger and decided to make Iris something to hang on the tree as she is Harry Potter Mad.

I simply stuck a sticker on each side of a piece of card and sandwiched it along with a looped thread to hang it, between two patterned wooden frames.

Unfortunately, to my eye, the pattern on the frame looked too busy with the background I put behind the sticker so I coloured it over with a red Sharpie pen, but the patterned still showed through.

I couldn't start over again as I only had the two stickers, so instead I decided to paint over the red several times with white emulsion paint and then red again!!!  It took ages waiting for each layer to dry!  I really should have given up on it!

However, it looked pretty alright in the end and I felt able to fill the centre panels over with Ranger Glossy Accents to protect the stickers.  I then added tiny faux stitching on the inside and outside of the frame along with clusters of three dots using a black fine liner pen and  then a few tiny silver stars.

To hang it on the tree I managed to sneak a little flat necklace backing disc between the two stuck together frames, add a thread and three red, wooden beads.  Voila ...... but never again, a lot of lessons learnt!

Iris's Christmas House

Iris was mooching in my crafty drawer and found this wooden, money box house (The Works) and she flew with it!

It started off very simply, I loved all the windows and doors and would have been quite happy for her to have left it at that, in all it's simple, childish innocence .......... 

........ but, then I went and suggested that, perhaps, she might like to put a couple of gingerbread men on it .......well that was it ........

....... because foolishly, I bought in a whole box of Christmas stickers .................

........ and I totally lost the girl!  Less is more Nanny,? You must be joking, right?

No space was left unfilled and Iris was sooooooo thrilled with everything she'd done. She had made something beautiful to decorate her Christmas bedroom and that she could put her Christmas pocket money in.

Sometimes, Nanny has to just sit back, be quiet and encourage, because what Iris actually put together, in the end, was a far more honest, innocent and genuine piece of pure pleasure and creativity than if I had tried to restrain her natural urges in order to keep things a lot more simple.  Lesson learnt Nanny!

Snowmen Diorama Lanterns

I have only made one of these lanterns this Christmas, I really meant to make another five but with time now ploughing on I doubt that I will make the rest for this year, but at least I still have all the bits to do it, even if it's at Easter!

I got the small, rose gold lanterns from Asda when they were three for £5 (I think they are now £2 each), the small snowman is tree decoration from a Barnardo's charity shop which I think cost no more than 75p.  They were part of Barnardo's line of Christmas products so were new and specially bought in, rather than donated.  The little trees, from memory, were from Debenham's haberdashery department last year.

The scene took me no more than ten minutes to put together, moulding a piece of Air Dough to fit in the bottom of the lantern for the snow.  I cut the metal hanging loop from the top of the snowman's head and then covered over any tiny paint chips with a red Sharpie pen, although they wouldn't have really shown once placed in the lantern. 

I pushed the snowman into the Air Dough adding a little PVA glue to help secure it.  Then taking the wooden base off the trees, pushing the wire into the snow in each corner of the lantern.  That's about it!

On the outside I simply added an assortment of differing sized snowflakes each with tiny, silver domed gem in the centre (so tiny they almost made me go cross-eyed) gluing them to the glass and the frame. I then added clusters of three dots, using Ranger Enamel Accents here and there.

I did experiment by adding either a bow or sprig of holly to the top of the lantern but decided in the end that it looked too much and detracted from the snowman, who I wanted to be the main focus of the decoration.  

Leaving making any more until sometime in the new year gives me time to perhaps experiment a little more.  I am already thinking  about adding a little iridescent glitter to the snow and around the snowman's hat and bobble and perhaps even three tiny buttons down his front ........ we shall see.

Wooden Reindeer Tags

Following on from last weeks brilliant charity shop find I thought I would have a little play with a trio of the wooden reindeer tags I found (20 for just £1). 

When I looked at them properly they really are good quality and very cute, if a little pudgy from not being that active since last Christmas!

To start with I decided to keep things simple, giving them copper coloured glittery antlers, a large. red flat back pearl for a nose and a googly eye.......

...... but then I remembered the box of small red bows and faceted gold gems I also had squirrelled away .......

...... all in perfect proportion for my gathered trio.

At first I was going to leave the "cutie" stars on their derrieres as they were, but changed my mind, adding a little glitter round the edges.

I then got completely carried away ....... edging them with a natural coloured felt pen and adding clusters of three black dots here and there using a black Biro to prevent the ink bleeding into the wood. I coloured one completely and added faux stitching but that was a horrible mistake, two fiddle farts too many, I really didn't like the effect so lesson learnt.  

However, I really enjoyed "playing with them" and I think there is some mileage to be had from them, as tags, on cards and on other projects, possibly filling the hole in the antler with air dough so they are no longer obvious tags.  I am already thinking of a Halloween skeleton  reindeer.  So, with another seventeen or so left to play with, I am setting myself a challenge in the New Year to see just how many ideas I can come up with using them.  

Iris's Eraser Nativity Scene

Something to make you smile today.

I found Paperchase Nativity erasers set in a charity shop for £1.49, and although I thought Joseph and the shepherds looked ever so slightly dubious, I also thought that perhaps Iris and I might be able to do something with them.

Suffice to say Iris loved with them and embraced with them in her usual creative flair and enthusiasm A box was duly sourced and covered with no frills, brown parcel tape in an effort to keep said box together by Nanny and then Iris weaved her magic on the inside providing back door and straw on the floor.

And then for good measure, ensuring all festive bases were covered, she then added the Santa set of erasers I got from The Works.  I think it's all rather beautiful, bless her.

Because of all the tiny pieces involved in both sets of rubbers I did insist on gluing the characters  together first with a really strong glue before they were "played" with.  It was a bit of a learning curve, however if I ever see similar sets, perhaps at Easter, I might now consider using them again as a different sort of embellishment to put in a diorama or printers tray for example.

My Festive Bedrooms

I think I may have gone a little overboard this year in my festive guest room ........

It's a bit busy and I am not to sure how cosy and relaxing it would be to sleep in there  ........

...... but at least there will be no mistaking that's it's Christmas!!! 

I was worried that since I gave the room in a deep teal signature wall earlier in the year that the Christmas bits and pieces I had would still work, I think they do, so perhaps it's just this new colour combination, plus the extra bits of silver I need to adjust too.

The festive flowerpots for my car boot cactus's sitting on the window sill were all charity shop finds, plundered on the same day from different shops, all costing 99p each.

There is a little less ornamentation in my room.

I decided not to go with any festive bedding in this room this year, as the white broderie anglaise I already use works, I have just added two red pillowcases at the back plus a red cushion in the middle, of the two silver ones, which needless to say all end up on the floor when I go to bed!  

The small ribbon embroidered cushion was another charity shop find for just 99p.

I wasn't too sure whether the three retro, white, metal mirrors that are usually above the bed were festive enough especially as it's also quite a space to fill, but when I saw the large red glitter stars in B & M Bargains reduced to £1.49 I could see that they would work in both rooms.

I now really need to curb my enthusiasm for buying any more festive frou frou, I really have more than enough ....... but when you spy a painted terracotta Santa wall plaque for just 99p in Oxfam what's a girl to do?

A Bit Of A Crafty Charity Shop Haul

A week or so ago I nipped into the Salvation Army charity shop in Evesham and found these Christmas cello bags (below). It took me a bit to work out exactly what as they were just bundled in a nondescript basket on a table......  

...... but as soon as I did, at just £1 for 300 bags, 100 of each size, they were a no brainer.

Then as soon as I got home I immediately regretted not buying another pack plus a set of twelve small boxes that they also had, which, after I had thought about it, could have been used to house  dioramas.  I reckoned I had missed the boat seeing them again so put it down as coulda, woulda, shoulda!

However, when I went back about two weeks later they had a £1 table and I had another mooch and found the very same boxes ....... needless to say I got two sets.

They are actually ring boxes and as I suspected really sturdy.  I am not sure if I can use the foam insert but I already have a couple of ideas for dioramas for next Christmas. They are small enough to hang on a tree, but first I  need to work out a way so that they will hang evenly on a tree branch, then if I manage that, I can to put a scene inside, but keeping the lid, so when the box is opened what lies within will come as a surprise, if that make sense?  

Also on the table were these sturdy (must be the word of the day) flat bottomed, party/lunch bags in a rainbow of colours for another £1 for 24, another no brainer .......... 

...... as were packs of 100 11ins x 5ins cello bags, as you can never have enough cello bags! And there' was more .........

........ 20 wooden reindeer tags (£1) ..... I can see them now coloured brown, with a large, red flat backed gem nose, glittery antlers and a googly eye, perhaps even a collar with a bell, probably not a project for this year, but you never know. if I get five minutes. I got two packs as I thought Bertie's nursery class might make good use of the other.

And finally, the most intriguing of all, a nail art set again for just £1.  I don't do nails so I don't really have a clue what I have here, but I looked at it with a crafter's eye and then added an extra one to my haul for Marc.  

I have paid £1 for just a wheel dispenser of nail art gems in Poundland many times before which contained a lot less gems.  Here there are twelve different colours and I reckon there's at least 100 of each, which makes the pack well worth £1 for the gems alone.  There were also what looked like five double headed embossing tools, all with different sized ball ends (if you'll pardon the expression!) which I am sure will also come in useful for scoring and embossing ........

........ plus a pack of fifteen brushes ..... I'm not sure their exact purposes, but I can already see me brushing glitter away from projects using the fuller ones. They will all get used, I am sure, at one time or the other, even if it's just for gluing tiny areas.

And it still goes on ..... there were thirty rolls of  very thin metallic tape, all different colours.  They will probably be a nightmare to use but I am already thinking of using them for outlining/underlining cards, toppers, tags etc.?

The four triangular sponges will always useful, but there was also a pack of five round sponges with a holder, these, after some research, are used for applying tiny stencils to nails, so again could/will be useful on certain projects. For just £1 for this lot, it would have been rude not too!

On the same day I also visited The Vale Wildlife Charity shop, although I have more than enough bits and pieces to deck my various festive shelves, I am always on the lookout for retro/vintage pieces.  There is no age to the above, however  I couldn't resist it for 50p.  I thought it might hold a tealight but is solid and reasonably new. I also found something "hideous" for Marc to make him laugh, but I can't show you that until after Christmas so as not to spoil the pleasure for him when he unwraps it!!!

I really like this shop as it sells things at really decent prices, there is nothing I hate more than finding something from Primark marked up at double the original price.  It's always busy and at the prices they sell for you don't have to stand there asking yourself if you really need something for 50p or £1.

I have had some really cracking stuff, including my sunburst mirrors in my spare bedroom ..... and if something doesn't work on my shelves /walls etc. I simply donate it back. 

Simple Snowflake Card

This card measures 14cms x 14cms and is made using a hand cut and creased smooth white card blank.

A very simple card today, in the small hope of emulating Marc's very simple but effective Christmas cards of the past two/three years.  Following Marc I have chosen to use white on white.  

I simply stamped the sentiment onto a blank card using my Tim Holtz stamping platform, as someone who always a reluctant and often frustrated stamper in the past, wasting too much time, paper, card and tears in it's pursuit, I can't tell you how much I love this tool! 

There are two wooden layers to the snowflake and one gem which means that it would be a card to be delivered personally or popped in a parcel, postage at Christmas is exorbitant enough without posting a card that would come under the large letter category!

Christmas Carrot Decorations

Carrot tree decorations????  Well, I suppose it was Aldi's Kevin The Carrot that was probably the inspiration for this silly idea!

There is a charity shop on the corner as I come home in the evenings that occasionally leaves a box of unsold bits and pieces outside ...... and well, it would be rude not to have a little mooch, and it was after one said mooch I found these two plastic carrots most probably from a food play set left abandoned and unloved........

I immediately thought of Bertie and how, when he was a baby used to sleep cuddled up to a giant Ikea soft toy carrot (?????) and decided then and there that I needed to rescue them to hopefully give them a completely new life as Christmas tree decorations, one each for Iris and Bertie to go into the bag of tree decorations I make them each year.

The first thing I did was drill a hole in the top of each carrot (using my model makers drill) in order  to fit a screw eye hook to hang them by.  I coloured the top with a red Sharpie pen to create a Santa hat, adding 3D snow effect and a little iridescent micro glitter for extra sparkle to make a fur trim and bobble.   

I decorated the hats with a punched holly leaf and three, red, flat backed red pearls.

The face was next using googly eyes and a black Sharpie pen smile, followed then by arms and hands.  

Close up photos take no prisoners, so before these two are wrapped in tissue I need to give them a quick brush down to remove all the surplus glitter. I know it's a really daft idea but who says carrots are only meant for the festive dinner table, especially ones that  were originally destined to end up for all eternity somewhere under a landfill site.  Happy days!