My First Card

OK - so here it is my first card using the free papers from this months Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine. Unfortunately, I managed to muck up the card at the very last stage with the wording. If you look closely you can see that there is some smudging around the words "Thank You". This is due to me rushing to re-colour the peel offs and get the card finished before I cooked tea.

 

I'd like to enter this card into the Crafty Cardmakers Challenge - First, Latest or Greatest

Exploding Box

Finally, I've managed to get round to creating something! I decided last week that I wanted to make an exploding box using up all the odds and ends of paper and card I've got kicking around. I've never made one before but have been inspired by all the lovely ones I have seen on various blogs. This is the end result - a pastel spring themed box. I would've liked to add some glitter accents to the butterflies, but didn't have any glitter glue left. I also wanted to add some wording to the outside, but again didn't have anything in my stash, so I decided to leave it for now.

The box was going to be for my Mum for Mothering Sunday, but my daughter asked if she could have it. So now, I'm going to fill the central box with micro eggs from Tesco and give it to her for Easter.

Well I seem to be doomed on the crafting front at the moment :0(

Last week I had the kids and DH at home due to the snow which meant that there was very little "me time". We ended up making some temporary creations in the form of snowmen, so I took a few pictures. I'm hoping that I will be able to use these for some projects next Christmas.

Last night I decided that I would make a start on one of the boxes I bought last week. Removed the little wooden stars, went to sand the box only to discover that I had no ultra-fine paper left. Determined to not be defeated I decided to make a exploding box for Easter. However, that was not to be as we had a massive powercut which lasted for approximately 4 hours!

Today, I thought that I would finish the exploding box and guess what? Another powercut which has lasted for just over 5 hours - grrrr. I'm hoping that now the powers back and the house has warmed up that I can return to my project without interuption.

Think I should've called this my shopping blog!!

Ok not much happening on the craft front due to having the kids and DH at home. The best I've managed this week is to cut out the art deco wrapping paper in readiness for a decoupage project I have mind. Oh and to make an oragami butterfly.

However, as DD decided yesterday that she needed a new pair of boots, we all ventured into town. Didn't intend buying anything else (honest), but ended up coming home laden with goodies! I won't bore you with all the details, but in summary here are my best bargains which came from Claire's Accessories who had started their 5 items for £5 sale:

5 Shoe Jewellery Stands (were £10 each)
2 Wooden Jewellery Boxes (were £14 each)
2 Umbrellas (were £10 each)
1 Diamonte Jewellery Set (was £14)

So £112 worth of goodies for £10.



I think I'm going to decoupage one of the boxes using the art deco paper - watch this space!!!

Also, when we got home my BIGSHOT had arrived. So will be playing with that at somepoint this weekend.

Shopping, Shopping & More Shopping!

I took all the Christmas decorations down today and discovered that I'd run out of packing tape. So I decided to pop into town to get some and that was where my little spree started!

I went into Poundland to get the tape and discovered that they had the cutest Sarah Smith cleaning products and tumble dryer sheets which just had to be bought! They also had some luxury card making kits reduced to 50p. The kits contained 8 white square cards and envelopes, 8 puffy metal heart charms, 1M silver ribbon, silver eyelets, diamonte flatback gems, silver beads, mounting frames and bows. Seriously regretting not buying more than one pack now, as the cards are really nice quality.

Thought it would be rude to go home without visiting a few other stores to see what other bargains I could procure!

Well Lakeland didn't disappoint, got a toffee tin complete with hammer for £2.99 (great for when I make cinder toffee and peanut brittle). Monsoon lured me in with its 70% off emblazoned windows, but managed to resist a couple of dresses that were calling very loudly to me! Proud to say that I avoided Boots as I have stash of toiletries and make-up that will see me into my 80's (had I set foot in store, I'm sure there would've been something to tempt me). M&S had the majority of it's sale stock reduced to at least 75% of its original price. I managed to find a pair of Per Una slippers, a candle bauble and two handblown glass trees (if I'd paid the original price it would have come to £30, but it only cost me £5 for the lot).

Finished of the spree with Clinton Cards and was I glad I left it till last? They had cards reduced to 29p and 79p, and an offer whereby you could buy 5 of the 79p cards for £3. I managed to bag a beautiful Happy Anniversary to My Wife card which was originally priced at £12.99 in this deal. The card was gorgeous and had lots of vellum paper and embellishments that will be added to my craft stash, but the best bit was the presentation box. It was truly stunning, cream velvet covered A4 size box, beautifully lined with a cream sateen, it also played Never Ending Love (not one of those horrid tinny sound chips, but a proper wind up with a key musical mechanism). I'm planning to make a really special gift box with this. Found some gorgeous art deco wrapping paper reduced to 10p, which I will use for a decoupage project. I also got some box cards that had fabric bears on swings and hammocks as I thought I could deconstruct these and use them for another project! Finally, I got a mini memory box for 29p. It is so sweet and I think I might adapt the idea to make small birthday gifts from the children for my Mum and MIL.

It's about time!!!

After weeks of reading everyone else's blogs I thought it was about time for me to create my own blog! This is a whole new world for me, so if things look a little strange or seem dis-jointed please bare with me whilst I get to grips with things.

I'm intending to mainly use my blog to record my adventures in the wonderful world of crafting, but who knows how it will develop!