What’s on My Desk Wednesday – Matchbox Suitcase Dimensions.

 

Well, I haven’t been shopping this week (yet!), so there isn’t  anything of an exciting nature on my desk ….. but a couple of ladies did ask me on Monday for the dimensions of my little matchbox suitcase …… I have tried to be as exact as I can, as this was originally a GSD file for my Quickutz Silhouette.

If you would like me to send you the file just e-mail me at nellxxxx@aol.com
The file will cut two matchboxes at a time.

I just hope you can make sense of my manic measuring and scribbling!

The handle measure 9cm x 1cm and is scored 1cm, 1cm, 5cm, 1cm,1cm.

Top Tip – cut a piece of matching card to fit the bottom of the box to make it look extra “professional”

The card for this suitcase is gorgeous, I got it from Paper Box at NEC Hobby Crafts in March.

One for the Boys - World Cup Sweetie/Favor Bags

This is what I have come up with using my Poundland and Home Bargains goodies from last weekend.

I fiddle farted for too long trying to incorporate a football background in the bag, but in the end decided to keep things very simple.

The bag topper is made using a Nestabilities label die on my Big Shot
The footballers are so cute!

This is a less fussy idea – boys aren’t really into fancy toppers and stuff but I did think that this was a good idea for summer fetes etc. I've ferretted around the shops looking for England/World Cup sweets and then split the bags to make "party bags".  They contain a Swizzles Ref whistle (10 for £1) a Swizzles England lolly (10 for £1) a Poundland marshmallow footballer (8 for £1) and three chocolate footballs (Poundland or Home Bargains).

As the footballers are without a wrapper I have sealed them (using my bag sealer) in seperate pretzel cello bags available from e-bay.

After I had made a batch of bags I found some football table confetti, a sprinkle of which would have been a nice finishing touch to each bag IF had I added it!

Dandelion Clocks

I have been on lots of blogs this week that have featured photos of dandelion clocks ……. not to be outdone …… here’s mine….

They are so magical.

I have a BIG thing about them.  At the moment I am searching for just the right image to use on my glass tile pendants/fridge magnets, but so far nothing has been quite right.

Crafty Makes - Matchbox Suitcase

It’s funny how one idea triggers of another … I was thinking about the end of the school year when I make small and quirky, inexpensive gifts with a holiday theme for some of my colleagues

 

This bag of jelly babies was my first idea, but it just looked  very naff and boring!

Then,  I remembered a matchbox template I had downloaded for my Quickutz silhouette ages ago (sorry I can’t remember where from).  I had to jiggle the template about a bit, but eventually cut out the bottom and the cover.  I  made the handle separately, by hand, with a bit of  trial and error.

Putting it together didn’t take very long at all, I just added a bit of faux stitching and a couple of corner peel offs. The handle is attached with small coloured brads.

The tag was made using the Stampin Up jewellery tag 117190 - £8.50 and available from my friend Lisa  (see Stampin Up link)

I am not sure what sort of sweets I am going to put in the box … obviously they can’t be too big. 

I thought I would cut out a small piece of  map to line the bottom of the compartment and also pop in a hand written note saying “ We’re all going on a summer holiday” etc.  …..

My Holiday Toothbrush …..

As my sister would say, you have TOO much time on your hands……………………….. !
Remember my 2 for 10p toothbrushes from Asda a few weeks ago?

Well, I used my Sharpies permanent pens on one of them to make me my holiday toothbrush …..

Complete with flat backed gems!

Wouldn’t little ones have a brilliant time designing their own? And perhaps it might make them want to brush their teeth a little more too.

Sorry

Sorry, but I have had to add a bit of moderation to my comments process because  I am getting all sorts of rubbish from very strange websites, I hope this won't prevent you from commenting!

Last Bargain of the Week ….. from a funny Poundshop in Telford, that used to be a car showroom …..

This cardboard carry case was just £1.00 – I couldn’t resist it … I wish I was Linda http://acraftingjourney.blogspot.com/

…….. because she would turn it into something wonderful and Tim Holtzy.

It came flat but it didn’t take five minutes to put together to make this dinky case.

Two Smirk for Him Birthday Cards – Racing Driver and Golfer.

I have made these cards using the SMIRK for Him decoupage pad (7.99) and background papers from a Dovecraft 6 x 6 pack of “Masculine” papers.

I have added a few embellishments like a tiny button to the golfers shirt and a small gem on the drivers top , the metal discs on the car are hot fix nail heads from http://www.rhinestonesonline.co.uk/, they are a brilliant online shop and P & P is always kept to a minimum.

 

Bargains of the Week …. from The Range

These 3D stickers were 99p a pack and are brilliant for making cards for teenage girls, especially as embellishments on my newspaper cards

I love this self adhesive cut out word, it’s about 18ins long and I have stuck it on one of the  cupboard doors in my craft room.  I thought it was good value for £1.29.

50th Birthday Card for a Wine Buff.

 

I’ve used my newspaper design template for this card, it is brilliant  for special birthdays to make something a bit different and I am able to add personal details like the date etc.

I have used a digital scrapbooking set from http://www.scrappindoodles.com/ for the design, making simple decoupage layers for the bottle label, cork, grapes and leaves,

I have used Anita’s 3D gloss finish to accentuate the bottle, glass, grapes and leaves and a few really tiny black confetti stars to finish off the whole effect.

Bargains of the Week ….. from Accessorize

I am not sure that these are really bargains at £1.75 per pack but they are lovely, and any cards I make using Accessorize stickers just fly out of the box, these are three new designs I haven’t seen before …..

 

Heart and Diamond Tree Birthday Card

I love this Quickutz download design, it's a nightmare to prick out, but I can think of lots of ways to use it.

All I’ve added to it are a few flat backed heart shaped gems and some really tiny clear nail art gems.

Bargains of the Week ….. from Primark

Look at the jewels on this little beauty and costing just £3.  The bracelet is made up of 15 sets of bars, each containing three jewels set in a gold metal mount.  My plan is to disassemble it, the bars work out at 20p each and there is no way you could buy embellishments at that price.  I have a few ideas for cards, which I will blog when I have made them up …… but I am also thinking there might be a Christmas idea somewhere here ….. if only I could think of it.......

What’s On My Desk Wednesday

A lovely lady at work has loaned me a big box of stamps to play with. It’s very, very spooky because out of all the millions of stamps in the world, we had at least 7 of the same design, mostly dandelion clocks.  She even had the stamp I saw at the NEC and had wanted but didn’t have enough money left to buy it ….. which she has now kindly given me.

I am going to sort out the ones that inspire me and have a good play. I like the corset one, very much, and a few wordie ones with lovely sayings, there are also lots of corner stamps which I would never have thought of using, all I can say is watch this space!

I've had these windmill picks for a couple of weeks now and had forgotten to blog them.  They are from the party/barbeque section in Sainsburys.  They cost £1.99 for 8. I am thinking about a tall card, with the windmill in a flowerpot and a couple of leaves on the ‘stem’ ……

Bargains of the Week …. from Home Bargains.

These are brooches/pins by Russ but only cost 49p each, they would be great attached to a card or tag.

These chocolate footballs were 59p – I was a bit dubious about the quality but they are yummy!  I bought them with the World Cup in mind.

This box of 50 tags and ribbons cost 99p. The tags are for putting on home made knitted or sewn items, on the backs there are little spaces to write the makers name, care instructions, dates etc. Quite lovely.

Two Toadstool Birthday Cards

 

I have been looking at ways to use up all my leftover stickers from Accessorize and Paperchase packets.I found that I had an awful lot of toadstools ….

…. they were cute but I wasn’t sure how to use them, so I resorted to my nine scalloped square template and I just love the effect!

SORRY

I hope you have a cup of coffee with you ..... there are two posts today and they are both rather long!!!!!

Wedding Favors for French Wedding in France …..

Aghhhhh, this weekend was a bit of a manic rush (BUT I still managed to fit some “crafty” shopping in!).
I thought I had plenty of time to do some wedding favors for a friend …. when really, she wanted to take them back to France this Wednesday! To be honest, other than set up the template and put the papers aside, I hadn’t given it much thought ……. DOH!

However, as I only had thirty  to make, it wasn’t too onerous a task. - I did the bulk of the fiddle farting while watching Britains Got Talent!

The template was a download design from Quickutz  Silhouette (Bag_0145), it was a bit fiddly to put together, but I think that may be down to my resizing it rather than the design.

I used this organza type fabric from IKEA to pad out the bottom of the box instead of using tissue paper to give them a classier feel.  I cut it into rough 6” x 6” squares and roughly arranged them in each box (details - Flyn Lill, about £2.99 – 60 x 300cm, IKEA).

I printed a sheet of small cards, using this poem that I found on the net, explaining the significance of using five sugared almonds in a wedding favor.  I cut the sheet up and put a card in each box. The font used is Papyrus.

I  put five sugared almonds, bought specially from France, into a pretzel cello bag (2ins x 9ins from e-bay), cutting it down to size and tied with a narrow ribbon.

 

The checked paper came from Paperbox at  the NEC  Hobbycrafts last year, I looked for it this year but they didn’t have anymore, which was a great pity as it is brilliant for this sort of project.

The large flower is made using Whale Of A Punch retro flower, the smaller one is by EK Success and the leaves are made using a Woodware punch.

Favors packaged and ready to go to France ……. Bon Voyage ..........

Only about twenty sugared almonds were eaten during this project, which is a miracle as I ADORE them.!

Google Tags: wedding, favors, sugared almonds, Whale Of A punch, retro flower, woodware punch, IKEA, Quickutz Silhouette, Paper Box