Sunday 23 November 2014

Card in a box and some reindeer noses.

Today I'm sharing a card I made for my daughter in law's birthday and I've also done some reindeer noses using some labels my friend Sue send me:)





I've made these for my charity craft fair :)


Wednesday 19 November 2014

Grown up chocolate tree decoration

I've been making some chocolate tree decorations and thought it might be nice to have some adult only ones using Green and Black's dark chocolate miniature bars.




This is the finished decoration and I have done a very quick tutorial for you to make them yourself.

I chose cardstock to match the wrapper of the chocolate - dark brown, dark red, gold and black.



I started with the black card.





If you don't have a tag punch just cut the corners at an angle and use a hold punch for the hold.








Thread through both holes and using gold thread or narrow ribbon, tie to hold in place.

Here are some I made earlier:)


I added some more gold thread tied at the back of the decoration to enable it to hang on the tree.

Very quick, easy and effective and sometimes we try too hard and overlook the simple ideas!



Monday 10 November 2014

Tealight box tutorial

As I may have mentioned before, I am busy making things for a craft fair to be held at my Mother in law's care home at the end of this month.  They are raising funds for activities for the residents.  I bought some scented tealights at the supermarket and decided they would look nice in a box.  These are the standard size tealights readily available everywhere and cost very little.


This is how the boxes look when finished - the lid is attached and it's a bit like a pizza box style.

To make the box you will need some card stock and matching patterned paper, adhesive, scissors, a score board or similar and a 1" circle punch. You can get 2 boxes out of an A4 sheet of card.
If you prefer, why not stamp the cardstock rather than use patterned paper or if your patterned paper is quite thick, use that for the box as I have done with box tied in red ribbon.



















I hope you can understand my little tutorial, any problems give me a shout!



Saturday 8 November 2014

Christmas tags

I've been thoroughly enjoying making some Christmas tags which I thought I'd share with you.




They were quite time consuming to make but when you enjoy doing it, it doesn't really matter does it?

Friday 7 November 2014

One box = a very messy desk

I bought some Ferrero Rocher chocolates the other day - there were five in a box and I thought they would make a nice gift or stocking filler.  I decided I would make a box for them to go in instead of using wrapping paper to wrap them up in.

It took me several attempts and prototypes to get the box how I wanted and this is how my desk looked at the end of it all.




The red card is what I used for my practice runs!

Here is the end result - the photo doesn't do it justice, in real life it looks quite classy lol!  The base is pearlescent card and the top brown, stamped with gold spots.




I stamped and layered a tag and tied a gold organza ribbon around and there you have it:)



A nice gift for someone special.

Tuesday 28 October 2014

Choose Happiness

Love this stamp set and enjoyed playing with it today and this is the result - 5 cards all the same but all slightly different.

On this first one you can see that I have stamped the inserts to match.



This is the full frontal so to speak!






I didn't plan on making them A5 size - in fact I cut out the blanks and scored and folded them then cut out the tops thinking I'd trim them to size once I'd stamped them.  I forgot and put ribbon etc on and it was too late to start trimming so they ended up bigger than planned but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter does it?


Sunday 26 October 2014

Beat the Christmas Rush

This month I have only managed 4 cards rather than 5 as I am busy making things for my charity craft fair in November.  I probably will get around to making another but I thought it was best that I upload now rather than wait and forget or have a last minute panic about my stall and forget Lol!

I have used the same set of stamps as last month - they are so versatile and I love them.  The papers I have used are unfortunately retired from SU but I still like them.





The idea came from Pinterest and as usual I didn't actually pin the card so I'm not sure who made the cards and whether they used acetate in the gap to give the card more strength but I didn't and they hold up okay.

If you want to join in with BtCR (perhaps you've left it a tad late this year but if you got 10 cards made before December that would be a start) pop over to Sue's blog for all the details.

Friday 17 October 2014

Notebook holder tutorial

I've been making some notebook holders for Christmas gifts and also to sell at a charity Christmas Fair I will be attending next month.  They are so easy to make and I think they look good so I thought I'd share a tutorial with you.

Here are a couple I've already made - one I think I've shown before.




These are the note books I used - they come from Paperchase and cost £2 each but you can buy them in any stationery shop.  They measure 5 7/8" x 4 1/8".  (If anyone can tell me how to write fractions on a blog post I would be very grateful!)


And here is the book I will show you how to make today.



Okay, so I'll start but I will warn you it is a long post but it's nearly all photos which should make it easier to follow.

You will need

2 sheets of A4 card stock or one sheet of 12" x 12" card stock to make your folder.
A selection of patterned papers - I used Stampin Up paper stack because the size was perfect.
Adhesive of choice
Corner rounder
Ink pad and sponge dauber
Paper trimmer with scoring attachment or a scoring board
Note book
2 craft magnets
Glossy accents or similar strong adhesive

My measurements are based on using A4 cardstock - if you use 12" x 12" you will need to adjust the size of your patterned paper for the flaps.


Trim a 1 1/2" strip off length of card so it now measures 6 1/4" x A4 length




















Sorry, this should read "stick your magnet down where I have marked an X".  That will teach me to make things when it's gone midnight!












I went wrong here and rounded both bottom corners as you will see on the following pictures!












I made a couple of tags to pop in the pocket.



Well that's it - I hope you enjoyed my little (!) tutorial and if you make a book, I'd love to see it:)