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

Using up scraps

Hello there

This week on my blog I've been writing about using scraps off my desk. These are the scraps I've used up today.

I used the flower shape, which is a residue die-cut from something or other, as a template to cut out two more of that shape and then I used my Cricut to cut out varyingly smaller versions of the daisy2 from the Walk in my Garden cartridge. The die-cut will have been about 7cm, so my other daisies were cut at sizes like 6 and 4.5.

All I did then was lay the pink chequered paper down, put a strip of coordinating card down as a bar to put my flowers onto and then layered my flowers up, put self-adhesive gems in the middle and I was almost finished.

All I added to it was a die-cut from Wild Card cartridge; cut from the same card as I used as a band for the flowers. I'm sending it to my daughter, sister, nephews, mum and step-dad as they're all together on holiday. I am definitely thinking of them and hoping that they have lovely sunshine all week, to enjoy family time.
I perhaps should've chosen a darker pink as a band for the flowers but other than that, I'm very happy with how I used those scraps up. There's still a small amount of the chequered paper left but enough is enough, I chucked those in the bin.

Take care out there

What can I do with these?

Hello there

I'm going to craft as I blog with some scraps I've found on my desk. It's actually looking semi-tidy at the moment, other than an old pencil case of my daughter's, which is going to be pulled apart and made into a new one, soon, sometime in the near future. That's it; no other scraps of paper at all, other than my work schedule, which shouldn't really be on this desk at all.


umm, what to do with this lot?

I've just found a scrapbook layout as I was looking at Katrina Hunt's blog where she tells us about a Scrapbook Generation giveaway of a layout download. Unfortunately it's a double page L.O, so I'm sitting here trying to work out which photo/s to use along with these bits of paper and how to make them into a single page L.O or a card.


This has no relation to the S.G layout
but it's one of the ideas I've had.

After picking up a pack of handmade papers I found down the back of a drawer yesterday, I've now got this far:

I can't think which photo to use though. My daughter made me breakfast in bed this morning and I have a photo of her, so I'm mulling through my head if I could use that.

I've opened CraftArtist so that I can get an idea of
the size of photos I'll need to print off

I've got a list of words I think
 would be great on the page.

After drawing around the gold thin frame onto some of the darker blue paper and cutting it out, I placed that as a mat for the gold infill from the frame.

I inked round the edges of everything with my Adirondack gold dabber,

printed off the photos and matted them onto the same gold card as used elsewhere on the layout

and hey presto (after some writing too and some ribbon/baker's twine)

My layout is done and I'm so pleased with it and the fun I had creating it from nothing really. Superb fun!

When I printed the photos out, I found some scrap patterned paper and a flower left over from a die-cut. I can't wait to see what I manage with them.

Take care out there



Whilst clearing my table off - setting myself a challenge

Hello there

Not long ago; last month in fact, I made a card for a new baby. Since then I've had the die-cut card base (which was too big for the envelope I made first), sitting on my table. Today I've put it to good use. I don't know anybody who is expecting a baby but who knows when I might need it in the future or someone might ask me to make a card. I'll be able to pretend that I worked long into the night to make this card in time, whereas all my readers will know different. There's nothing like putting people under a guilt trip, hee hee.
The card blank was cut from handmade paper and not really substantial enough to stand up on it's own, so I cut the back part of the card off the pram shape and then cut another card base from normal card; I used fit to page function, which cut at 7 3/4in. I glued my pink base onto that.
Unfortunately my pink card base had been stained by ink whilst sitting on my desk but I wasn't going to let that get in my way.

I cut the same image with the liner function button and used scissors to cut off the pram hood section. The paper I used has a textured look to it which is perfect for the material look I need for the pram, as the handmade pink paper also feels slightly velvety.


It's because of shapes like these that we need lots
of different types of glue

The words 'new arrival' were cut from the Wild Card cartridge too at 7in. The handmade paper does need multi-cut to be selected on the Cricut, as it's very fibrous. I'd also advice cleaning the blade afterwards and don't use a brand new cutting mat or it'll be ruined.

I love the way the blue 'pops' due to everything else
being so pink and white

The envelope was created with a piece of card measuring 28cm x 28cm using my Ultimate Pro to score the fold lines. Easy!
I've got these pieces saved from that last card too but I won't stick it to the front of the envelope until I find out who it's being used for and whether or not it'll need to go in the post or not. Until then they'll live in the envelope with the card.

I've got a few other things loitering on my table, so I'm challenging myself to make cards or scrapbook pages with them. Why don't you try it?

Take care out there