Saturday 31 March 2012

E Type Jag 70th Birthday Newspaper Card

This card is A5 in size using a hand cut card blank in white linen card.
E Type J Birthday Card
Linda asked me if I could run through how I make one of my newspaper cards again, as she was under the impression that I printed the whole thing out on an A5 card…. so here goes ……
clip_image002
I create the newspaper image on an A4 Portrait page in Publisher …. and then when I am happy with it, I save it as a jpeg so that I can print it to any size I want while keeping the proportions right.
Newspaper Card 1
I then create a new page in Publisher in A4 Landscape, inserting the card front jpeg and sizing it slightly short of A5.  Extra decoupage layers are made by copying and pasting  and then cropping the resized card image, until I am left with just the parts I need.
Newspaper Card 2
I cut the card front out , leaving a slight edge all the way round.
Newpaper Card 3
And then mat and layer it on silver or another matching card, before sticking it on the card blank with double sided tape.
Newpaper Card 5
The decoupage layers are then cut out and stuck down with adhesive foam pads.
Newspaper card 6
Finishing touches can then be added like Ranger Glossy Accents to give dimension and accentuate, in this case the speech bubbles.
Ranger Glossy Accents
That’s all there is to it, perhaps a little long winded and fiddle farty but it works for me.
E Type jag Birthday Card.
The brief for this card was that it was for a gentleman called Bill, who always told his wife Anne, when questioned, that all the parts and work on his E-type Jag that he went hill climbing in only ever cost 50 quid! Pull the other one!!

Friday 30 March 2012

Doodled New Home Card

This card measures 12.5 cm x 12.5cm.
New Home Card
I’m not a very good drawer, but I needed a “New Home” card in a hurry and this is what I came up with! 
Doodled New Home Card
At least you can say it’s an absolute original!

Thursday 29 March 2012

Quick Thank You Card For A Sewer

This was a quick card to say Thank You to the PE Lady’s Mum who had mended a lot of netball bibs for us.
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The t-shirts are buttons bought for no more than a pound a packet years ago from somewhere like Home Bargains. I’ve then stuck a letter on each using my old fashioned Dymo label maker. I found the plastic needle in my old pin box, long forgotten, but perfect for this idea. A bit of faux stitching and a button in each corner …. and it’s another card done and dusted!

Wednesday 28 March 2012

Diamond Jubilee Crafts - Union Jack Cup Cake Flags/Picks

Union jack cupcake flag picks
I have been pricing up Union Jack flag picks for the Diamond Jubilee, either to use at a tea party or as small decorations or embellishments, but it  turned me into a bit of a Scrooge! Then, I remembered the paper chains I bought last year for the Royal Wedding, and wondered if I could I do something with them?
Union Jack cake pick
I cut the chains down to just two flags, using a toning Promarker pen to colour the white part of them down the middle.
Mini Union Jack Flags
I then gave the flags a quick flick of double sided tape across them with my tape gun  and placed a cocktail stick in the middle. All that was left to do then was to fold the flag over and trim the end with a pair of wavy line scissors. Done and dusted!!
Union Flag Cake Pick Flag.
Food Police - Naturally, if I were making these for a real tea party I would make them in much more suitable and hygienic surroundings than my craft room and would wear latex gloves while handling the cocktail stick during the making and when putting into a cupcake or sandwich etc.

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Easter Ladybird Favour Box

My obsession with ladybirds continues …..
Ladybird Favour Box
I’ve made a matchbox using my Stampin’Up/Sizzix Die my son ordered me from the USA a couple of years ago, using black and red card.
Ladybird Favour Box Easter
I then filled it with ten of the Tesco chocolate love bugs that I stockpiled during their Valentines Day promotion, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to find them in the shops after for other projects.

Monday 26 March 2012

Ladybird Tags

Wooden Gift Tags made with real branches
I was clearing out some cupboards and I found this box of small branch cut offs left over from when Mr FiddleFart, aka the Duke, made us all pocket sundials a year or so ago.
wooden circles
It seemed such a waste to just throw them away and then it dawned on me that they would make brilliant tags ….
Wooden gardeners Gift tags
So I kept it simple and just added a handwritten sentiment and a wooden ladybird to each circle.  The final part was drilling the hole for the string, this proved a little tougher than I anticipated with my little drill  but I got there in the end.  I am dead chuffed with the result and think these would look great on a present for a gardener or attached to a plant pot.
real wooden tag
But now my dilemma… because I am really trying to use as much stuff as I can this year, collected over years, do I replace what I have used, like the ladybirds … I had to scrabble about for these last few, hence the mix of colours …. do I stop having ideas of a ladybird type nature …. or do I just buy a couple more packets for when another idea springs to mind?????? Aghhh  I just can’t win!!

Sunday 25 March 2012

Park Your Yarn–Wolverhampton

Yesterday I went to one of the Park Your Yarn events that have been going on in Wolverhampton over the past month (and which come to an end on 5th April). I am quite shy and quiet in new company and was relieved to be able to just slip in unobtrusively under the canopy, popping the knitted strips I had already completed on the table and sit down to knit in the glorious sunshine, listening to the others as they either taught or learnt how to knit and crochet
010Park Your Yarn
After a while a lovely lady called Mandy sat beside me and “recognised “ me from this blog ….. it felt so weird and I was a little embarrassed, but it broke the ice. She even remembered the old pictures of me in what I used to affectionately call my shopping lifting coat and handbag!!!!!
Park Your Yarn.
Then, Mandy offered to show me how to crochet, something I have never attempted before.  All I can say is she is a VERY patient teacher ….. I admit that I am a very slow learner and just couldn’t get my head (or fingers) around holding the yarn, ….. so we didn’t progress further than making a chain BUT something did sink in because when I got home I was still able to add some more links to my chain!!!!! So I will keep on practising chains as Mandy advised  and then when I am confident I will get my daughter Lucy to show me the next step., so perhaps in a little while I will  be able to make a square.
003 Park Your Yarn
Mandy also knew all about the Monkeys, so even more ice was broken as we both took lots of pictures of them getting stuck into the crocheting too, although they hardly took their eyes off the custard creams!!
009Park Your Yarn
I bought home a couple more balls of wool.  I was sort of tempted to use some of my own, but thank goodness I didn’t because the installation is only going to be in pinks/white and creams, so my efforts would have been wasted.  I can’t wait until it is completed to see where my strips will end up!
and is also a designer for http://itsacreativeworld.typepad.com/
xxx THANK YOU MANDY for making my afternoon so enjoyable xxx
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http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/wolves/whats_on/004851.html

Saturday 24 March 2012

As Featured In The National Badminton Museum……

As you know my sister and I try to come up with an idea for little token/fairing gifts for her to give to the various people she meets at some the sporting events she works at as a volunteer.
Yonex All England
Well ……. a couple of weeks ago she was at the 102nd Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships for which she made these packets of recovered Cadbury miniatures with the event logo on (I merely put them in the cello bags and tied the ribbons).
Yonex All England 102nd Championship ….. Anyway to cut a long story short, a gentleman there was so impressed that one of these chocolates has now found a place in the National Badminton Museum, along with an Elizabeth Shaw mint version she made for the year before!!!!
We are already planning for next year ……. a shuttlecock with blue and green toffees in ….. watch this space!!!

Friday 23 March 2012

Cadbury Chocolate Miniature Ladybirds

Cadbury minature Chocolate Ladybirds
I love ladybirds …. so I thought I would try and decorate some Cadbury Chocolate Miniatures to look like them.
Chocolate Ladybirds Cadbury Miniatures
I’ve used a wrapper as a template and cut rectangles measuring 1.25cm x 2.5cm to make new ones,  drawing a thick black line approximately 1cm deep for the head along the longest edge.
Cadbury minatures ladybirds
After re-wrapping the chocolate, I’ve drawn a line down the centre with a small triangle at the end to look like wings, followed by a few black spots, wibbly wobbly eyes finish the whole effect.

Thursday 22 March 2012

Easter Penny Bags

My “Penny Bags” usually go down well, so I have made a few for Easter.
Easter Sweetie BagsThey are nothing really special but with money being tight for a lot of people at the moment I think they offer reasonable value for money and the person who gives them knows that they are giving something a bit different as I will only be making about 20 of them.
Easter Bunny Tags
I’ve punched the tags from a small blue gingham print card, added a wooden bunny embellishment, a bit of doodling and a handwritten “Happy Easter”
Bunny Tags
This is the first time I have used gusseted bags for my sweets which measure 7” x 3” x 1.5” which I found on e-bay from  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Wrappings-and-Bows?_trksid=p4340.l2563 and I am quite impressed.Aldi Chocolate Bunnies
I put an assortment of 12 chocolate ladybirds (Tesco) 8 small easter eggs (The Range) and two chocolate bunnies from the Aldi pack above (£1.79) in each bag, tied with a pastel coloured ribbon.

Wednesday 21 March 2012

The Apprentice 2012

He’s back ….. and my obsession with Lord Alan (although he will always be Sir Alan to me) continues …….

I cannot tell you how much I ADORE this man and the programme!  For the next thirteen weeks I shall be mostly using my two Apprentice mugs (Helen Geddes you are fired/hired depending on my mood) and NO crafting will be done on Wednesdays for a while.  I will be in my pj’s, with a coffee (in one of the aforementioned mugs), a family bag of Maltesers and wooooo betide anyone who disturbs me!  And if Lord Alan just happens to see this post ……. PLEASE can I come and work for you …… I could be your Frances when Frances has a day off ….. I have been told that I “do” have a very professional telephone manner!!

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I can hear Lord Alan saying now “Helen, can you send them in now” …… it sends shivers down my spine!!

Days of the Week Peg Fridge Magnets

Days of the Week Peg Fridge Magnets
I saw a very similar idea to this when Googling and just had to have a go for myself, especially as its been ages since I have made any peg fridge magnets.
Dymo jet
Nothing fancy …. I just used my 100 year old Dymo label maker to print the days of the week because I love the retro effect of the lettering and that’s really it! I do have tapes in lots of other colours, but I was being lazy, and didn’t relish the thought of doing all the feeding through for a one off idea …. but the pegs would look good in green, yellow, red, blue etc. And to make things even simpler the tape is exactly the same width as the peg … so no fiddly trimming.
Peg fridge magnets
On the reverse of the peg I have stuck a strip on adhesive magnet tape. Done and dusted!

Charity Shop Finds …..

Our village is planning on having a Queens Diamond Jubilee event on the grounds of the village hall later on in the year and I am ‘thinking’ about having a stall, it just depends on how much they are charging.  But I thought that if I did, I would concentrate on selling my wooden gift tags and perhaps some Jubilee sweetie bags.
Charity Shop find
So when I saw these extra large wooden dominoes at only £1.99 for a bag of 25 I snapped them up. They measure 12cm x 6cm x 1cm and are excellent quality.  I don’t have any concrete ideas for them yet, but obviously there will be a few giant sized tags  ….. they were just too good to pass up.
Charity Shop find.
I also found a large bag of these Jenga bricks in another shop for £1.50. They measure 6cm x 2cm x 1cm and will be perfect for small tags  with the printed side covered with various papers and embellished with phrases like Happy Birthday etc.  made using my old fashioned Dymo label maker.

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Easter Egg Cups

Now I am being extra careful about what crafty bits and pieces I spend my money on, a bargain is only a bargain when I think that I will be able to use everything up in a project and then be able to take the completed idea into work almost straight away.
Easter Eggcups with feet
So when I saw these eggcups with feet on reduced to 50p a box in The Range it was hard to resist, but I realised that any project using them would hinge on the eggs I could find to fit them. My immediate thought was to use cream eggs ….. but trying them in the shop they were just too small and were lost in a cup! But I decided to risk buying four packs of egg cups anyway ….. and for several weeks carried one around in my bag to measure up any eggs I might chance upon!!The Range Easter Egg Cups
I finally found what I was looking for in the form of Marks and Spencer Hide and Seek Chocolate Eggs costing me £2 for 8.
Marks and Spencer Hide and Seek Chocolate Eggs
I was thrilled ….. and when I got home I set about putting them together. First I just glued on the eyes …… then I remembered a pack of clip on bonnets I have had for years and honestly thought I never find a use for.
Craft Clip On Easter Bonnets
……. but they were perfect!
Easter Egg Cups with chocolate eggs
I only had ten hats and sixteen egg cups, but I reckoned that the unhatted eggs would be more suitable for boys ….. so that would be OK, no need to over egg the pudding!!  Eggcellent!

I have now found these egg cups in The Poundshop ..... £1 for a pack!!!!!!!!

Monday 19 March 2012

Park Your Yarn–Wolverhampton

My daughter Lucy came home the other day with a carrier bag containing some wool, a pair of size 4mm knitting needles, a crochet hook and a leaflet containing  knitting instructions and details about the “Park Your Yarn” events organised Wolverhampton Art Gallery in  March and April.

In April St. Peter’s Gardens, which is in the centre Wolverhampton, is going to be turned into a “Woolly Wonderland”, with knitting and crochet created by lots of  local people.

Well it would be rude of me not to take part wouldn’t it?  So I am planning on going to one of the free knitting/crochet events on 24th March at the Art Gallery and St. Peter’s Gardens. 
Park Your Yarn
I am not going to do anything fancy, I’m just following their bench pattern which involves casting on 25 stitches and knitting until it measures 30cm, which, when joined up with lots of others will be used to cover one of fifteen park benches ……. how exciting!!   I plan to take lots of photos of my afternoon plus more when the whole project is completed if you’re in the area why not join me knitting needles akimbo!
http://parkyouryarn.tumblr.com/
http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/wolves/whats_on/004851.html
Park Your Yarn.