Scrappin' with pals

Hello there

Here's a photo of a layout I did recently at a scrap and chat session at a friend's house.

There was a tonne and a half of papers and sizzix dies available but one lady had bought some freebie papers she got from a magazine. I liked the colours, so I just went with them. I just get overwhelmed by too many papers so find it too hard to choose a few. The photos led me to this design really and the papers played along nicely.
I found out some very sad news at the end of the night but prior to that I had really enjoyed myself with people who love doing the same things as me. Friends aren't just for the good times; good friends go through allsorts of life experiences in the best way that they can.

Take care out there and look after your friends

Congratulations on passing exams

Hello there

Here's a card I made recently for a very clever wise old bird (she's so going to kill me if she reads that 'old' bit :-)) who has recently found out that she's qualified for ACCA, which is an accountant's certifcate. She has worked full time the whole time she's been studying, so she should be extra proud of herself.

I had the basic idea of using the owl from Create a Critter and then the rest just flowed from there. The bunting is from the Carousel cartridge (I hand wrote congratulations on there) and the grass is from Plantin schoolbook cartridge. I like the way the branches go over the edge of the card; thankfully I knew the envelope I was using was bigger than the card blank. The trees are on an icon feature for the 'booklet' on page 38. I drew the eyelashes on the owl myself. The branch the owl is sitting on is from page 25 of Create a Critter; using the accessory function. I used Cricut Craft room to get it all the correct size.

I decorated the inside with a frame from Wild Card cartridge. I cut it out twice so that I could get a different coloured internal section. I used MS Word to write the sentiment in the middle using font Sakkal Majalla.

I used 'real dial size' option on the letters 'ane',
 as they were too small otherwise in comparison
 to the J

I machine stitched around the edges of the front.
This is a cartridge heavy card but I really enjoyed making it and Jane, the world's your oyster now!

Take care out there

Pencil case

Hello there

This is the pencil case I made for my daughter recently. She picked the materials, which I wasn't certain would be a good mix but they turned out brilliantly.


I'm getting to use the spotty material from my Stampin' Up-
Candy cane Christmas pack. I can't remember which
company made the loveheart material

I got the instructions from issue 13 of Craftseller magazine. Rebecca Tufnell's instructions aren't great, so I asked some further questions about it but I haven't had a reply, so I just carried on making it in my own little way. Once you start thinking for yourself with alot of instructions, it does all come together, as you use your sewing knowledge or basic common sense to make it all work ok.

Cut four pieces of fabric 13 x 22cm. Those are the measurements in the magazine. My zip was slightly bigger, so I adjusted the width.Two are for the outside and two are for the lining.
Along one long edge of each piece, fold over 1cm to the reverse side of fabric.

Along those folds, pin a lining piece and an outer piece of fabric to each side of the zip. The photo shows the right hand section with inner and outer pieces attached to the zip and only the inside piece attached on the left. Make sure that your outer pieces are attached to the correct side of the zip; the side with the zip handle uppermost. Wrong sides of the outer and the inner pieces will be facing.

ready to sew

Sewing

With right sides facing, sew a 1cm seam around the outer pieces around the three open edges. Do the same with the inner pieces, making sure that you leave a wide enough gap in it, to enable you to turn it round the right way. You sew that seam by hand with slip stitch, once it turned the right way.

Finished! I wasn't very happy with the finish, where the zip ends met the edge of the case, as I'm rubbish with zips but it closes ok; I'm just being fussy.
Go on try it; it's fun!

Take care out there

Time goes by

Hello there

Goodness gracious me, Mr. Time is pushing his boundaries big style right now. Although the good thing is that I have been able to make things; I just haven't had time to blog about them. That's fine really, as without the creativity there is no blog. There are so many internet based crafting sites now, it's really hard to keep up with it all. I added some of my projects to my pinterest account this weekend, so please do go and have a look at a few things which inspire me. 

I just made this purse in super quick time this morning. Great birthday presents for my daughter's friends, I would've thought.

I found the instructions for this cute little purse via pinterest. The batting I had is too thick really but I'll have to remember the instructions as it's very easy. Another good thing about it, is that you can use any size zip you have, as long as it's bigger than the width of your purse. I found this really handy, as it meant I didn't have to do any shopping at all. I have loads of fabric pieces, so it was really easy to find a matching fabric to the zip.

Take care out there