Handbag card

This clutch bag was made using KanBan cardstock and their Carnaby Street kit but absolutely anything would work here.  I also used a Sizzix Bigz die for the front flower embellishment which acts as a retainer for the bag flap plus a little co ordinating ribbon and a touch of glossy accents on the edge of the flower petals.  The card itself is hidden inside the bag.

To make the bag you need two pieces of A4 cardstock and some strong glue.  Fold and score one piece in half and then score again 1/4 inch from the first fold and again 1/4 inch on the same side of the card so you have 3 score lines in total.  Double score them on the reverse then fold them so you have a W shape on what will be the bottom of the card.  You should have one side that is wider than the other, this will be the back where you will attach the flap.

To make the flap take the second piece of card and cut a piece about 3 3/4" x 8 1/4" (the width of A4).  Score 3/4 of an inch from one long edge and fold.  Put some strong glue on the inside of the fold and attach to the back of the bag.  Use a corner punch to round the edges of the flap.  Add a strip of ribbon or similar to cover the join.  Stick the front embelishment on the opposite side to the flap with a dot of silicone glue remembering to allow for the flap to tuck underneath.   Once the glue is set turn over and stick in a co ordinating card fold up and tuck in the flap.

A scrapbook page idea.

I mentioned doing the Holy Land album earlier, well here is an idea I came up with for one of the Greek pages.  I wanted a Greek key trim on it but had nothing suitable.  The county is also famous for it's cotton so I thought about my sewing machines capabilities and voila, an embroidered Greek key border using Greek cottons.

busy year

Well, the last 12 months have been pretty busy, but I promise to update my blog more frequently from now on.

I've been busy recently completing my scrapbook/photo album of our cruise to the Holy Land last November, Cruise budddies made then are visiting at the weekend so it had to be done.

My first play with Paint Fusion

We love growing our own so have masses of packets of seeds.  A friend suggested me making a fabric wall hanging to put them in but my paint fusion stamps had just arrived and I was torn between the seeds and playing.  Sooo, I combined both by making a set of pockets using Tim Holtz grunge paper, decorating them with some of the paint fusion techniques then fixing them to pieces of distressed mountboard.  The letters were cut using my Big Shot.  I'm not entirely happy with the composition of some of the pictures, why is it that the dummy run often goes better than the real thing?  But hey ho, it hangs on my kitchen wall keeping all of the packets in good order.

Patchwork Polly

With patchwork being one of my first true crafts I just had to have this set.  I love coloring in rubber stamps and these ones from Crafters Companion are a dream to work with.  The images on the easel card to the left were stamped onto smooth card and coloured using pro markers.  I mounted a square of pastel glitter card onto some pearl cardstock, cut and embossed the main image using a neastability die and ran a promarker around the edge to tint it slightly before attatching it and the other embellishments with silicone glue.

The card on the right was made in a similar way to the above but the images were stamped onto watercolour card and painted using a Big and Juicy Vibrant Primary ink pad.  I wasn't as happy with the 'feel' of the images done in this way although the effect was good.  The die cut main shape was cut into two and then the bottom hung onto the top using little coloured jump rings.

More Christmas crafting

Here is a selection of this years Christmas gifts made using Maya Road papier mache pieces.

The first cottage was for a teenager so I decorated it pink and grungy and enclosed a strip photo album




the second cottage was made as a recipe box for recipes using oregano. 

Below, mini tins from Creative expressions replacing the traditional crackers, decorated with Ranger alcohol inks.  Some were also stamped and embossed before all were varnished.

A cot quilt for the youngest member of the family.  The pictures below show the quilting on the reverse and the tree drawing I made as a pattern for the quilting.  the pattern was traced onto soluble fabric which I then sewed through.

Finally a decorated clip board , I don't like giving vouchers in envelopes, so boring, so I attached it to this

Christmas crafting

I thought I'd post some of my christmas crafting to show.  Starting with the cake which was decorated with stars embossed using a cuttlebug folder!  The fairy on the top was made by Grace at my craft group.

I also quilted a table runner.  Fortunately the husband of one of our crafters deals in fabric so the cottons were a good price.