Finished Altered Canvas Bag.

If there is anything that I am guilty of on this blog, it’s being very enthusiastic about my latest carboot bargains, saying what I am going to do with them and then putting them on hold for months on end ….. 

…….but since Bank Holiday I have made a concerted effort to finish something ……… roll of drums …….. da da!

 

My sister found the “Paris” badge set in Accessorize (£3) and when I rummaged through my bits and pieces box I found these vintage poodle and Eifel Tower brooches, perfect for my French theme.

I’ve only decorated on side of the bag, because I thought the embellishments would catch on my clothes.

I made a couple of flowers using gingham ribbon, perhaps the red one could have been a little smaller (I used 1.5 inch ribbon), and put an Accessorize badge in the middle of each.

 

I’ve added the other bits here and there…..

 

I didn’t mean to put a ribbon with the black poodle ….. but it hides an over zealous blob of glue I needed to hide!

The pictures make it looked a bit squashed and crowded, but I think I have got the balance about right.

And have I used my new bag ?  Mais oui …… on a shopping trip to Aldi.

Tesco Advent Calendar House Update 1 – Slow Progress

Do you remember back in April when I started to alter my Tesco Advent Calendar House?

http://itsallfiddlefart.blogspot.com/search/label/Tesco%20Advent%20Calendar%20House. Well progress has been slow non existent, but now that I have started my Christmas blogging,  I thought I had better pull my festive finger out!

The last time you saw this project I had just spray painted the body and had sat on a very hot April Saturday afternoon giving the drawers two coats of paint by hand. I have a very low boredom threshold, so after doing five my gums were itching, but I persevered.

Choosing a theme was hard, but eventually I decided on 'snow and snowmen', with a dull turqouisey blue, white and browny colour scheme basically because I had several sheets of Basic Grey, (BLI –337) Jack Frost – Blitzen left over from another project. This paper was for the front of the drawers, the side panels and the eaves of the house.  I had also worked out how to make the little knobs for the drawers (if you pardon the expression) as I was worried that they might not be that easy to open …… and that’s as far as I got!

Coming back to the project in September, I found that after two layers of paint the drawers didn't slip out of the house very easily, so I spent a joyous evening rubbing each one with candle wax (a tip I got from UKScrappers) which worked a treat.

I have also prepared the drawer knobs ……… what a fiddle fart, these were, made using wooden beads from a Poundland necklace that I spray painted white and then glued a flat back gem to what would be the front part, doing twenty three of these sent me cross eyed.

Finally, to the drawer fronts, I made a stencil and cut and glued on twenty-three of the little blighters plus one star shaped one for the top "24th" drawer..
 

I have covered them with several coats of Modge Podge Sparkle, which has given the house a really subtle, twinkly, magical appearance, something I had hoped for, but having never used this type of Modge Podge before I wasn't sure of it's properties, but when completely dry it does look quite beautiful.  That's it for the moment, I now need to work out how to do the roof ………..

Wish Bracelets - Additional Information ..... Thread/Cord & Charms - Buying From Hong Kong & China

For the bracelets featured today I have used a soft red cotton knitting thread - which if worn constantly has lasted between 2 - 4 weeks. However, I have since bought a reel of 0.5mm red waxed cotton from the e-bay seller below as I thought that would be a little more durable and professional looking. I got a 100m reel but the lady does sell smaller quantaties in lots of different colours.  It came within days and the seller has excellent feedback.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/0-5mm-x-10-Metres-WAXED-COTTON-CORD-RED-/380255415087?pt=UK_Crafts_JewelleryMaking_GL&hash=item5888fd2b2f

There are thousands of Tibetan silver charms at reasonable prices on e-bay but the array can be daunting .... The best thing to do is search for specific themes, I wanted snowflakes and stars ....and bought what I thought was the best value.

The "best buy" charms are from China and Hong Kong, where you can buy 50 charms for the same price of 20 identical ones in UK and often with free P & P. At first I was a little wary and crossed my fingers as I pressed the "pay now" button, but touch wood I have never been let down, but they do take several weeks to get here.  I see at the moment you can get 50 assorted snowflake/christmas charms for £3.24 (free P & P).

Christmas Wish Bracelets

 

I have made single Wish Bracelets for my “cookery girls” when they go off to do their GCSE’s but I have been thinking of ways to adapt the idea for Christmas, and this is what I have come up with.

The charms were from a couple of sellers on e-bay.  I already had the “wish” charms, but it took me a little while to think of two other suitable charms to go with them, in the end I decided on snowflakes (£1.50 for 10 plus P&P) and stars (99p for 35 plus P&P), I’ve also got some wishbones on order (from Hong Kong!)

I am sadly lacking in the area of the poet, so this is the best sort of verse/instructions I could come up with, perhaps I should make my own wish ……to become more poetical.

To keep the threads all in place I have stuck them down with small sticky labels and then to give the whole package a professional look I have cut another piece of card the same size to cover the back when put in a cello bag .

To seal the cello bag I have used some snowflakes stickers  that I think were free with a craft magazine a couple of Christmas’s ago.

I am going to pop one of these in my many pocketed Advent Calendar.

Scalloped Square Snowman Card

I’ve made this card for Craft Fairy’s  challenge http://craftfairy.blogspot.com/ which this week is to make a card using a scalloped square die. I’ve chosen to use a Nestabilities scalloped square which I have backed it on silver card.

The snowman is a from a digi scrapbooking set that I’ve just cut out, adding simple decoupage layers for his scarf and small buttons.  The card is finished off with a large  silver table confetti snowflake and snowflake punchies, embellished with blue flat backed gems.

Altered Bingo Board

I’ve altered a bingo board for Lisa http://craftfairy.blogspot.com/  I was going to keep it until Christmas but I wanted to see her face when she saw it, so I gave it to her the last time I saw her.

It’s only recently that I found out that she loves bingo and as I’d got a couple of bingo boards squirreled away (from Poundland), I thought I would make her something a little more individual for when she goes off to the Mecca!

I’ve stuck bingo tickets from a huge tear off pad (also from Poundland) onto the board and circled a few numbers in pink to add a bit of colour, then applied several of coats of  lustre gloss Modge Podge, which dries pretty fast and has a lovely finish.

But something was lacking, so after a bit of thought I added some K & Co. die cut butterflies and varnished over them too with a sprinkling of hologram micro glitter.

The temptation was to add jewels and 3D flowers etc. but, not that I know a lot about Bingo, I don’t think Lisa would want sticky up things on her board when she is trying to mark her numbers off quickly.

First Christmas Post of the Year

It’s hard to know when to start Christmas ….. I begin looking for and thinking about ideas in the summer holiday and try to get quite a few put together ….. but when should I start  posting them?  …… Well, I have decided to start now ….. and will add others as and when I do them.  If you are anything like me, I’d hate to find a brilliant idea a couple of days before Christmas and have no time/materials to make it …….. so here we go …and as it gets nearer to Christmas I can start on Easter!!!

 

I’ve seen this idea done in lots of different ways when I have been Googling and this is my version ….. take one chocolate bar ……

…….. cover it with red paper, add a belt and buckle, a few buttons, a beard and some fur trim.  The beard and trim are made using a glitter paper, which is easier to wrap round the chocolate bar. (AC0123W - 12 glitter sheets per pack from http://www.craftime.com/).  There are two shades of white in the pack, one a brilliant white and the other is slightly creamier in tone.

You could also stick a loop of red ribbon to the chocolate bar before covering it to make a Christmas Tree decoration …….or ….. get a length of string, make 25 of them, add a peel off number to each one et voila an Advent Calendar!

My Many Pocketed Advent Calendar Challenge!

This is my “Many Pocketed Advent Calendar” hung up on my craft room door………

I have set myself a challenge to make a little something for each pocket before 1st December, then I will take it to work and let everyone choose a pocket  …… I think 24 totally different ideas might be a lot for my haddled brain …. so some ideas may be duplicated but different, if you know what I mean, i.e I may decorate three chocolate bars, but they will each have a separate design …… how exciting!

Gone Fishin’ Birthday Card

I don’t do many cards for men! The themes just don’t appeal.

But this is a card I made for my sister-in-law to give to a friend.

I’ve used a Quickutz Silhouette download for all the parts except for the personal message.

I was a bit frightened when I thought I had finished it because there seemed to be a lot of white space left, so I added chopboard DCWV corners, just to fill it in a little bit more!

I'm a bit excited ...... as I am starting my Halloween and Christmas ideas from tomorrow. Last year I was very ambitious and managed a Christmas themed post every day from November 1st  ..... I can't promise that this year .....but hopefully it'll be a mixed bag .... that will please everyone.

Surprise Party Birthday Card

This is a card I made for a friend of a friend for whom she was planning a surprise party, I thought I would follow the theme through to her card as a reminder of the evening.

I’ve used my newspaper template and an assortment of clipart images.

The lady is made up with simple decoupage layers.

I’ve used Anita's 3D clear gloss finish on her eyes, shoes and cake, a tiny amount of Hero Arts micro hologram glitter on the candles and hat and an assortment of stars sprinkled here and there.

Overwhelmed

On Saturday I was inspired by another blog to display some of my cherished possessions ….. but I was also overwhelmed by generosity, can you imagine how excited I was when the postman asked me to sign for THIS parcel?

Especially when I saw who it was from…….. agggghhhhhh!!

Only Poundland!!!!!  Oh my life!

It was crammed with all manner of treasure.

It was like Christmas and my birthday rolled into one!

One of my projects has featured on the Poundland blog,http://www.poundlandblog.co.uk/?tag=pound-shop&paged=5  so they know about my blog, which makes me feel a bit famous ….. but this gift was a lovely and much appreciated surprise!

You know when the Queen gives Warrants to her favourite shops ….. I wonder if I can officially use the Poundland logo as my warrant as – Official Crafter of Poundland Goods!