Crafty Ribbons Advent Event

Hello Everyone,

Time to share some news with you all..... Over on the Crafty Ribbons Inspiration blog we are having another  one of our fabulous events this time we are doing a Christmas Advent event which will run from 1st December through to the 24th December........

Each day we will be highlighting a different Craft Company or Shop,the Design Team will be posting cards/projects on  the Inspiration blog and on their blogs each day there will also be a prize from the highlighted Company up for grabs that's 24 prizes  in total and you can enter each day,only one entry per person per day to make it fair,so make sure to become a follower and remember the Christmas Advent will start at 8.30am (GMT) on the 1st December the Design Team hope you will all join in the fun and countdown to Christmas with us....... 

To kick off our new event we are offering some fabulous ribbon candy......

CONTENTS MAY VARY

 If you would like to win these gorgeous ribbons..then all you need to do is go over to the Crafty Ribbons Inspiration Blog and checkout the post about our Christmas Advent event...

I'll be back on Saturday with a little something for advent!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Claire x

It's a wrap! Stampotique Challenge

OK just in case you haven't guessed what this weeks challenge is over at Stampotique, I'll tell ya!! It is of course gift wrapping. Take a peek at what the other girls have done, there are some amazing ideas! As always you can use any stamp to play, just ensure that it fits the challenge theme.

I seem to have an abundance of small gifts to give this year, so thought that I'd take this as an opportunity to make another of the A4 gift bags that I showed you the other day.

I started off by spritzing a sheet of paper with Cosmic Shimmer Mist, I then unscrewed the cap and dripped some over the paper randomly. Once it had dried I layed some snowflake shapes over the paper and spritzed again and left it to dry again. I then made the bag up and decorated it with Snowman (coloured with Prismacolor pencils) and some snowflakes. To finish I added some glitter, Glossy Accents, Dewdrops and Seam Binding Ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:
Make It Monday - Anything goes
Inspire me Friday - Anything goes

Stampotique Christmas Fairy

Just a quick post from me today to show this little Christmas Fairy wall hanging that I've done for this weeks challenge over at Stampotique which is to use paint on your creation.

It's not turned out quite as I expected but I think I still like it.....let me know what you think.

I really hope that you'll be joining us for this challenge. Remember you can use any stamps and  we've made a change to the submission rules "You will now have until the first challenge of the following month to submit your entries-we will only have one Inlinkz per month"  which means that you now have even longer to take the opportunity to play along with us.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

Materials:
Stella
Big Bee
Promarkers
Prismacolor pencils
Modelling Paste
Canvas Board
Ribbon
Acrylic paints
Stickles
Circle and snowflake punch
Glossy Accents
Sizzix/Tim Holtz Birdcage Die
Sizzix Holly Die
Antique Gold Embossing Powder
Wooden snowflakes
Flowers
Dewdrop Gems

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:
Crafty Creations - Christmas is coming
Make It Monday - Anything goes
Inspire Me Friday - Anything goes

Exciting News & An A4 Paper Gift Bag Tutorial

Well some of you may already know my news, but for those of you who don't...... I've been asked to join the Crafty Ribbons DT as a project maker!!! :D  Sorry for not telling you all sooner, but I don't like to post unless I have something to show you and I've been mega busy lately with various projects and some much needed building work which has left little time for crafting :(

I'm being a bit cheeky with this weeks post as I'm using my project for not one, not two but three DT samples (see I told you time was tight!!). So if you're ready.....deep breath and ...... the challenge this week over at Crafty Ribbons is to use two ribbons we have a fabulous prize of          . The Polka Doodles Challenge is to use a die and the prize is a copy of Nikky Hall's fabulous Colour Therapy DVD . Finally it's also my turn to post over on the Studio 12 inspiration blog (I hope you've all remembered to enter this months giveaway, cos there's a fabby prize on offer!!!).

Anyway, after much thought, I decided that I'd make one of my little gift bags using a sheet of A4 paper! Which means that I've also killed four birds with one stone and finally got round to doing one of the long awaited tutorials that I promised  awhile back! Yay go me!!!

So here's the bag and below is a tutorial which I'm kinda hoping makes sense!!! If it doesn't give us a nudge (and be sure to leave a contact email) and I'll try to explain things a bit more clearly.

Now, you'll have to forgive the picture quality for the tutorial, but these photos were taken at night and with my old camera.

1. Take a piece of A4 decorative paper (I've printed mine from the Studio 12 Picknix Collection 2 - Gingerbread Twist) and score a line down the long edge at 1 1/2"

2. Then take an edging punch and with the white side facing punch a patterned edge.

3. Then fold along the score line.

4. Next take a mini cereal box and wrap the paper around it so that the outer edge meets the edge of the box exactly, lightly crease the corners to give you guide for scoring.

5. Score the creases you have marked (mine were at 3", 4 10/16", 7 1/2 and 9 2/16"). Wrap around the box to ensure that you get a neat edge. If there is a slight overhang simply trim to size.

6. Next trim the inside flap down so that it is about 1/2"

7. If you're going to ink the edges, now is the time to do it.

8. Wrap the paper around the box and glue the edge into place as shown. I tend to get the top edge as perfect as I can, hold in place with a clip and then slide the box down through the paper so that I can apply pressure to the glue and keep a perfect edge. Leave to dry thoroughly.

9. Once dry, slide the box towards the base of the bag leaving approximately 1/2" then fold as shown (it's the same as if you were wrapping a parcel).

10. Glue and leave to dry.

11. Remove the box and then pinch the top edges of the bag together to fold the side seams in half.

12. Fold the bag completely flat as shown and punch holes for handles or a threaded tie top. Decorate as you please.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

Materials:
Blue Happy Christmas Ribbon - Crafty Ribbons
White Loopy Ribbon - Crafty Ribbons
Studio 12 Picknix Collection 2 - Gingerbread Twist - Polkadoodles
 Marianne Creatables LR0125 die

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:
Make It Monday - Anything goes
Bunny Zoe's - Winter
Crafty Bloggers Network - Christmas Anything goes
Fashionista Challenge - Blue Christmas
Hooked On Craft - Christmas No Red/Green
Little Claire's - Christmas

UTEE Bee Necklace

Wow where is time going? I can't believe that it's time for another challenge over at Stampotique! This week we want to see Nature themed projects. Remember to play along with us you don't need to use Stampotique stamps (although we'd obviously love it if you did) and you now have until the first challenge of the following month to submit your entries, so plenty of time to get those gorgeous creations in!

For those of you who regularly follow my blog, you will possibly remember me showing you my Steampunk Bee which my daughter was rather taken with before I "steam-punked" it and turned it into a wall hanging. Well I finally got round to making her a UTEE Bee which she then wanted made into necklace, so here it is....

I stamped Big Bee onto card five times, cut him out,coloured and layered him up with Pinflair Glue. Then I punched holes into the wings and swiftly dunked him into a molten UTEE/UTEE Flex bath. The wings were then given a coat of Star Dust Stickles before adding the jump rings and double length of chain.

However, you know what kids are like they are never satisfied and she now wants a ring and bracelet to match, so guess who's had to buy Small & Medium Bee?? So you know that shortly I'll be showing you those!! 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

I'd like to enter this necklace into the following challenges:

Make It Monday - Anything goes

Inspire Me Fridays - Anything goes

Vintage Keepsake Bauble Book Card

This is the last of my TV samples that I made for the launch of the Studio 12 Picknix Collection 2 - Gingerbread Twist CD. If you've been watching the shows you will doubtless have seen it! Just incase you missed it or fancy a closer peek, here it is in all it's glory!

I warn you now this post is going to be picture heavy, so apologies if the page is slow loading.

I wanted to make something using the traditional gingerbread man and after much umming and arrrghinhg and stash sorting I settled upon making a book card with a detachable bauble.

I've had some papier mache baubles in my stash for what seems like forvever. I'm really not sure why I haven't used them before as I really enjoyed altering the bauble and what's more it actually looks pretty good too!

The book card has been made to fit the bauble and so that it could hang and be removed I've simply made a hole in the top of one of the "pages" and pulled the thread through. It has been secured at the back using cinnamon scented melted wax.

The card uses papers from the cd which have been distressed, painted upon, ripped and faux stitched to within an inch of their lives! I've used a mixture of pre-coloured collage images and digital stamps coloured with Promarkers to create the focal points on the card.

If you look closely at the ribbon tie on the side of the card, you will see that it picks up the paper ribbon on the front of the card.... yep, homemade ribbon using one of the images from the CD. I'm sooo excited that this worked as it now means that I can get coordinating ribbons for all my projects :D

I do hope that you like my project and that I haven't bored you to tears with this long post.

Thanks for stopping by today

Claire x

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything goes
Simply Create - Anything goes
Crafts & Me - Reds
Just keep On Creating - Christmas
Whimsy Inspiration - Christmas
Papertake Weekly - Anything goes
Through The Craftroom Door - Anything goes
Make It Monday - Anything goes