Handmade Christmas Gift

Hello again,

the nights are drawing in, especially since the clocks changed last weekend, the weather is turning, and the trees are loosing their leaves fast …. Yes, it’s that time of year again. The caravan has gone into storage, and I shall be spending my weekends at home, which means more time for crafting.

After not completing my place cards last week in time to enter into the ‘Out of a Hat Creations’ Challenge, you will have to wait just a couple of more days to see them.

First to this weeks Challenge of making a gift for Christmas. I made a Birthday Calendar, and this is what it looks like from the outside …

… inside it has lots of pockets to store all the handmade cards one makes in preparation to send.

I think it is a neat little organiser, and I think everybody must have one 🙂 Well let’s see how many I can make before Christmas.

For those who would like to make one, but don’t feel confident enough to make up their own ‘recipe’, I will have easy to follow step by step instructions (including lots of pictures and a file for the calendar for each month) ready by the end of the week. If you want to you can purchase them at the cost of £5. They will also include a list of all the materials I used.

This is it from me for today, back in a couple of days with place cards.

Until then …

Happy Crafting!!! 🙂

All in One Box

Hi Everybody,

hope you’re all well.

Just a quick post today. It is our last month of the caravan season and we are out there every weekend, which unfortunately means that there is not much time for crafting and blogging. Nevertheless I would like to share a box with you I made for this week’s ‘Out of a Hat Creations Challenge’. It is a box with a lid, but it’s all in one piece. I found the template for this project on Splitcoaststampers and thought it would be worth giving it a try. I slightly changed the original design by Wendy Weixler to make it slightly larger and easier to score on my Houghie Board. Here it is:

Oooops, my mind has gone blank.

Hope you like it.

Happy Crafting!!! 🙂

Angelic Christmas

Hello Everybody,

Back again! Given that today is ‘World Cardmaking Day’ I had to do another post before going off to North Wales at lunch time 🙂

It is also one to be shared with the Hatters again.

For this one I went for a more traditional lay-out look and used one of my favourite stamps from Personal Impressions. I got this one a long time ago at HobbyCraft when they first opened in Chester.

We will also be making this card in my Make & Take Class in late November … something for you to look forward to 🙂 … for more details check out the Classes page on my blog.

This stamp is so beautifully detailed that I can’t bring myself to colour it in, I slightly shaded the edges of the white piece of card instead. The lovely snowflake border is a Memory Box die -my favourite make at the moment- and you can get it on-line from Crafts U Love Ltd.

That’s it from me. See you next week …

Happy Crafting!!! 🙂

Simple Elegance

Hi Everybody,

back again as promised with another Christmas Card for the Hatters Challenge. For this one I tried to make mirri card look elegant. I got the idea when I made the black & white card and box recently. Joined with some gorgeous 38mm wide satin ribbon from Fantastic Ribbons and embossed, what else is there to add? See for yourself:

Of course there is a lovely swirly Happy Christmas greeting on the inside. Initially I intended to add a tag or bauble to the front of the card, but I like the over-sized bow so much that I decided to make it the main feature – a good one if you have to make several cards. 🙂

Off to do some work now … and of course more Xmas cards!

Back soon.

Happy Crafting!!! 🙂

 

What I used: satin ribbon from Fantastic Ribbons; old olive card stock and cherry cobbler ink (inside greeting) from Stampin’UP!; Sizzix Snowflake (by Basic Grey) embossing folder from Cutting Edge Crafts; stamp for inside greeting, gold mirri card and cream card blank from my stash

Christmas Card & Matching Gift Box Set

Hi Everybody,

today I’ll have a little treat for you – a Christmas Card & Gift Box Set. This one is quite quick to make and could be entered into a ‘less is more challenge’. I think it still has the wow-factor … you can see for yourself …

I like the slight aged look which is due the type of card stock I used. It is not perfectly smooth and therefore gives a slight patchy look when stamping on … perfect for what I had in mind.

The matching box is inspired by one I saw in the current issue of the ‘Creative Stamping’ magazine, which is only available from craft shops … luckily my friend Dianne has one near where her boat is moored -thanks Dianne- … otherwise it would mean a 50-minute-round trip to Creative Pastimes at the Sycamore Garden Centre in Great Sutton, a great craft shop and staff is very helpful especially if you are like me wanting to order some Woodware stamps … but I am digressing now … back to the box … I also used my Fiskars punch around the page punch I won in a competition last year, it makes the perfect border.

This is number one for entering in the Christmas Card Challenge at ‘Out of a hat Creations’ with more to follow tomorrow …

… until then …

Happy Crafting!!! 🙂

 

What else I used: Ornament Keepsakes, Greetings of the Season and Tree Trimmings (retired) stamp sets, Sizzix Holiday Ornaments Framelits Dies (co-ordinates with ornament keepsakes stamps) plus pear pizzazz (retired), cherry cobbler and early espresso ink all from Stampin’UP; ribbon from Fantastic Ribbons; card stock from my own stash