Favourites of 2012

I love to see peoples favourite project posts, and thought I would post my own.

My cakes have been a highlight this year:

Joining the Fantastic Ribbon DT was a real accomplishment too!

This is my favourite ribbon project so far!

Here are my favourite cards:

Totally CAS

Waltzingmouse challenges always test my ingenuity!

Rainbow colours are still a firm favourite!

I still love all things nature, and love these PTI dies.

I just love this, it was completely personalised for the person receiving it.

That was my year, I think 2013 will be the year of the Silhouette for me, which is a completely different style of card making to my usual style, but I'm excited!

Happy New Year!

Fantastic Ribbon DT Christmas Wrapping

This month we were asked to come up with a wrapping project using some lovely Fantastic Ribbons.
This year I have mainly wrapped my presents in parcel paper, for a lovely kraft look. This means that ribbons and special labels are what makes the gift look so special.
I decided to use a technique I have only ever used on cards before, which is the double sided ruffle!
You need one parcel to wrap, some double sided tape, some ribbon and a little patience. Measure out the length of ribbon you think you will need and add  about half the length again (to allow for the ruffles).
Attach a length of double sided tape down the middle of the parcel and then stick the middle of your ribbon down in the centre. Create ruffles going in both directions, and then wrap the ribbon simply around the back and up the sides. Tie a bow above the centre of the ruffles and voila! The wired ribbon makes this super easy to do and holds its shape really well. I used Arabesque Iris on this present.
Have a Fantastic Christmas!

And a Partidge in a Pear Tree!

Here is a very simple card, which took me 8mins 30 second to make (I was timing after my last 10 minute craft dash challenge!). I used the waltzingmouse Teeny trees set (my absolute favourite!).

I used the smallest petal shape as my pear and stamped each one twice, once in a pearlised green, and then in a darker green over the top.

I finished it by outlining the card with a fine liner.

Newtown, Connecticut

When my husband shouted through to the kitchen that there had been a shooting in America my first thought was that it would be a high school, so I was even more horrified to find that it was a primary school. My own son goes to primary school next September, and it makes me feel sick to even think about something like this happening.

There will be children and families who will never get over this terrible event, but to try and help in some way Amber over at Damask Love has set up a project to try and focus creativity to help to heal and bring some positivity and love to this community. She describes it better over here, but please consider getting involved in this very worthwhile project.

60,000 views and my Christmas Cards

This week was quite momentous, as I reached 60,000 views on my blog! I am astonished that in the past 2 years I have had anything like that number of visitors, but I know its primarily down to two posts! One with a cupcake wrapper template, and one with a Union Jack template I created about the time of the Royal Wedding, which was also really popular this summer for the Olympics and Queens Jubilee. I'm hoping to add some extra templates to the cupcake wrapper page soon with printable wrappers I have designed, so hopefully it will continue to be popular.

This week I have mostly been getting sorted for Christmas, baking Christmas cakes, making cards, planning church events. I have to say that I only ever make handmade Christmas cards for immediate family and very close friends. This year I have made 11. I buy a box of cards for all my other cards and try to personalise them a bit with a verse of scripture, but that's my limit for the other 50 or so cards!

I have been so excited to use the wonderful Papertrey Ink set, Star of Wonder, which I got for Christmas last year and I have not been disappointed. The set has 3 main circular images, and I chose the manger scene for this years cards (I can save the other two for future years!). I wanted a verse of Scripture, and recently bought some Nina B Layers of Colour Christmas verses. I chose a suitable verse and stamped directly onto the kraft card base.

I stamped my circular image onto white cardstock using, then used distress inks (antique linen, tea dye and walnut stain) to add some colour to the image. I cut it using my spellbinders circles and layered onto a sun style die cut from Nellies dies - Multi frame Die Star #2, cut from bronze cardstock. I then layered this on to a labels 1 or labels 4 die cut, both stamped with a music background and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. Some gorgeous brown ribbon from Fantastic Ribbons finished it off really well.

I'm entering these cards into the Addicted to Stamping Bingo

This qualifies for the middle row, Ribbon, FREE (Sponging) and Embossing.

Its also being entered into Young Crafters Unite Challenge #16 - Happy Holidays

and Charisma Cardz Challenge #49 Christmas makes

Fantastic Ribbons Design Team Christmas Home Decor Project

Welcome to this months design team project on Christmas Home Decor.

I decided to make a Christmas card holder to hang in my hall.

You will need: Ribbons  and twine, needle and thread (sewing machine would be good too), a lolly stick, some thick wire (I used 0.6mm), wire cutters and round nosed pliers.

I started by stitching the top of the two ribbons I had chosen to create a gap for the wooden stick. I took the stick out when I was using the sewing machine, but you can see the amount of space I left, about 1 inch.

Next I needed to make 7 paper clip like swirls to attach to the holder which would display the cards. To do this I cut a 3 inch length of wire, wrapped it around a smooth sided pen, then took it off, flattened it back and using the pliers bent the top into a loop I could stitch through. (I know you can buy these fancy paper clips some places, in fact I'm convinced Ikea had some recently, but I can't see them on their website, but if you can't be bothered making them even normal paper clips would do!)

Using a standard card as a way of measuring I went along the length of the ribbon and attached the clips by stiching through the ribbon at approx 20cm intervals.

At the top of the holder I wanted to use a pokey tool to make a hole in the stick but I soon realised it was just going to split the wood, so instead I used a pen knife and created little channels on either side of the stick which would stop the twine from slipping off.

Next I made the main bow. There are loads of tutorials on youtube how to make bows, but I watched this one, which was specifically for making bows with ribbon which was patterned on one side.  I had stitched the gingham ribbon onto the red side of this satin ribbon (which is a gorgeous brown on the other side), so this was important for me. The ribbon was about 1m long to make this bow. I had a box of paperchase jingle bells which I have hoarded for about 4 years and use very sparingly. I added 3 to the centre just to finish it off.

Here's what the holder looks like without cards. Its about 2m long.

And here it is with cards.

I hope you have enjoyed my little tutorial. I think these make a lovely change to just putting cards on the mantle piece and they are pretty easy to make, and with the ridiculous price of this ribbon at the moment you could make this for about 50p, I kid you not! 

Make sure to check out what the rest of the design team has made over at the Fantastic Ribbons blog!

WMSC 126

 Welcome to this weeks Waltzingmouse sketch challenge. I needed a card for my lovely Niece's birthday, and already had some papers which I wanted to use for it, this sketch seemed to suit what I was thinking very well.

Unusually for me there wasn't a great deal of stamping to be done, and I had a few die cut elements too.

The close up shows that the sentiments (Teeny trees) are stamped over a pink and orange polka dot background (Off beat backgrounds).

I used my cuttlebug alphabet and number die set for the number 4, I had borrowed a Tonic cloud punch from my friend and the wavy circle was coloured in rainbow striped with my promarkers.

I think she really liked this.

Thanks for calling by.

Bx

Missed challenges and exciting news

Recently I have been taking part in challenges, only to miss the submission deadline, which is highly frustrating. Its not that I don't get the cards made on time, but getting them onto the computer and blogged can take me a week, by which time the challenge is over!

So I'm posting here a couple of cards I made for challenges which I've missed.

The first was a 10 minute craft dash challenge. When I saw this new challenge on Pretty Pink Posh I knew it was something I wanted to have a try at, as it normally takes me hours putting a card together, so the challenge of making one in 10 minutes seemed a great idea.

I only just managed to make it in 10 minutes, and I have to admit this was my second attempt, as the first one I masked the words but it didn't look good, so second time round I just stamped the sentiment separately and cut it out and layered it on. The sentiment is Papersmooches, and the stamps are Minds Eye Bloom and grow.

The next card was made for the Less is More sketch challenge

I made two cards for this, one was with Waltzingmouse mini star (Teeny trees set), and Stampendous sentiment (Ribbon maker set). In the background is some gorgeous rainbow ribbon.

The second card was made with some bigger stars I have in a Stamperdous step and a WMS sentiment from Teeny trees.

I think I prefer the bigger stars.

I cut out the squares on my cuttlebug with some square dies.

Ok, so onto the EXCITING NEWS!

I have been super busy recently with my little boys, I feel like I never have a minute spare, plus we've been really busy at church, but I have also been sorting out...

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wait for it...

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 a book deal!

Indeed, it may seem a little random, and its not craft related, but I have written a short story based on the parable of the lost sheep which my super talented friend has illustrated. To be fair, without her this would never have happened, as I only agreed to write it to showcase her. But this week we signed our contract with the publisher, and its due out in April! I'll let you know when its out though, as I'm sure you'll all want to run out and buy a copy!!!

One Layer Fall tree

This is a card I made for both the OLW 113 challenge, which was to use red, yellow and green, and also the 10 minute craft dash, which was to use the same colours.

I used my waltzingmouse teeny trees stamps and the sentiment is from Papertrey ink fillable frames. I then used a fine line marker and drew freehand around the outside (I wished I had used a ruler in retrospect). 

I managed to do this in 8 minutes 30 seconds, which is pretty good I think. I have to admit this was my second attempt, not that I didn't finish in under 10 minutes first time, but I splodged ink on the side, so cut out the main image and layer up onto another card below.

This is being entered into the Simon Says Sympathy/Thinking of you card challenge.

Thanks for visiting!

Embossed wedding card

I'm sorry I have a bit absent from here recently, but I have been up to lots of different things, more of which I can reveal in a week or so. For now I have a card I made for my mother in laws wedding in September. I wanted to stick to a classic white/ivory colour scheme, and I think embossing always looks classy. I CASE'd a card from Colleen Dietrich here which I had seen earlier in the year and just loved. I cut some circles from some centura pearl card using my circle nestabilities and then embossed them and inked the edges with some    antique linen distress ink.

I had some chipboard alphabet letters, but they were a glossy burgundy colour, so I versamarked them and then used some white embossing powder on them, then inked them up also. The small frame was cut out using my nestabilities labels 1 dies from a white card, I stamped some nice classic liberty type images and used white embossing powder on them, and then sponged the rest of the card leaving the flourishes as a contrast. I even added some bling to the corners of the label which is really out of my comfort zone!

Finally I added an embossed strip which was layered over some ivory ribbon and layered them all onto an A5 white card base. 

Thanks for visiting, come back soon!

More banner cards

Here are two more banner cards, this time with an orange theme. The left paper is Basic Grey, the middle and right papers are Dovecraft Funky Vintage.

I used a labels 1 nestie for the sentiment and frame and some orange satin ribbon. I also sponged the edges in  Tea Dye distress ink. The Thank You sentiment is a Papertrey Fillable frames 5 one.

As I had two lots of strips I made another, this time with a circle focal point, I haven't put a sentiment on this yet, but will stamp straight onto the card at the bottom.

The die here is half of a Nellie Snellen Multiframe 25 die. I also punched a 1.5inch circle and stamped it with concentric circles from Waltzingmouse teeny trees in Cracked sapphire distress ink and the sponged with Tea Dye.

Fantastic Ribbons DT October Challenge- Sewing Project and Challenge

So for this months Fantastic Ribbon design team challenge we were asked to do a project with the theme of sewing. I thought about doing a card, and have been meaning to get my sewing machine out for a while and sew direct to card. In the end though I wanted to do something a little different, and have made myself a ribbon phone case.

So how do you make such a fantastic thing?!

Well you start by choosing a selection of lovely ribbons. You can choose any ribbons you like, but I chose all mine to be satin ribbon (I would have loved this in grosgrain, but didn't have enough variety to make a good case.) You can also choose any width you like, and the width of my ribbons varied alot.

You can also choose any combination of colours, but I LOVE rainbows, and was blessed yesterday to see a full rainbow! They cheer me up no matter what!

You will probably need a sewing machine, although if you have patience you could certainly have a go at hand stitching it! The ribbon lengths need to be about 15-20cm (depending on the width of your phone) but just wrap a piece around to gauge what you'll need. This means this project is perfect for scraps.

Starting with the first two pieces of ribbon, stitch together using chosen stitch. Using a variety of stitch styles gives a nice effect.

Try to choose stitch styles which give a good attachment though. Because the ribbon is sealed along the edges you can actually line the ribbons up side by side, without overlapping at all, and zigzag stitch them together which is very useful for narrower pieces of ribbon. 

  Add one ribbon at a time until you've finished.

You need to stitch enough ribbon to comfortably house your phone (I could have done with an extra piece of ribbon below the pink, but because I was sticking to rainbow colours I had to make do). 

Next you need to wrap the ribbons around the phone (right side in) and pin the ribbon. Remove the phone(!) and then stitch the side of the case with a straight stitch. Once you have done this you stitch the bottom of the case. You can now turn the case inside out and you will have a lovely case. I chose to add some extra ribbon and a button fastening to mine, but its up to you if you want to do that. I just hand stitched them on.

You could also use velcro/poppers to secure yours if you have those around!

If you wanted you could also line the case with various fabrics, but there's no real need.

You could also embellish the case to your hearts content, but I love mine how it is!

I hope you like this idea, and once you've tried this you could make a Kindle cover, Notebook cover etc, the world is your oyster! 

All ribbons used are available from Fantastic Ribbons!

Keep an eye on the Fantastic Ribbons blog for other fun ribbon sewing projects!

Challenge - So heres the challenge, can you make something crafty by sewing with ribbons? If so you could win yourself a stash of ribbon from the guys over at Fantastic ribbon! Just visit the blog and comment on the post to be in with a chance of winning!

Bx