Anything but a Card at MMM

Morning lovelies,

Well another week down and another one nearer to half term - I swear I live my life from one school holiday to another (with lots of crafting in between)!!

It's time for a new challenge over at Make My Monday and this week Fliss has chosen the theme of

'ANYTHING BUT A CARD'

I think this has to be another favourite of mine and it gets us thinking 'outside the box'. Here's what I decided on for my DT inspiration ...

This is a different version of a project I made last year and consists of one piece of card (27cm x 20cm), which is scored and folded to make a gift bag - it's really simple to make (I will add this to my 'To Do' list of tutorials that I am planning for the future).

Once the card is folded, simply decorate. I chose a piece of neutral design paper and edged it with Walnut Stain distress ink. The next layer is a Fleur de Lys nestie cut from book paper and also edged with the same ink. The top layer is a 'Wellington Bear' image from the 'Sunny Days Collection', mounted on a piece of pink card. I made the little flowers from scraps of the book paper and added a few little punched butterflies. A bit of polkadot ribbon for the handles and a little 'To and From' label on the back and job done.

Hope you can join us this week.

Hugz, Jan xx

Midweek Motivation at MMM

Hello again,

Wow! We have had some stunning entries to the challenge over at Make My Monday this week, with not a single card in sight - but there's still plenty of time if you haven't joined in yet.

As it was my challenge on Monday, I thought I would pop back with some midweek motivation for you. Here's another little project ...

This one was much quicker than the original - I found these little sets of drawers in a local discount shop - what a bargain. They came in the kraft colour that you can see underneath and I covered it with some pretty papers from LOTV. A few extra decorations and voila! A perfect little place to hide some trinkets.

Here's a view from the top, showing the handmade flower ...

You have until Sunday to enter this challenge - so come and join in the fun.

Hugz, Jan xx

Anything but a Card

Good Morning to you all,

I hope everyone is enjoying the extra long weekend - I only have one more week left of my summer break. This time next week I will be back at school, trying to fit all my crafting in when I can.

It's time for a new challenge over at Make My Monday and this week it is my turn to choose the theme. As you can see from my post title I chose 'ANYTHING BUT A CARD'.

This is a favourite theme of mine as I love making home decor projects and I have been wanting to show you this one for a while. So, here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

After much research on the subject - here's my version of a decorated shadow box. I chose the cream and pink theme to give a 'shabby' look to the project. The whole thing is made from scraps of paper from my stash, together with lots of little items from my craft box, including a baby domino, a little penny farthing charm, a miniature clothes peg, a dice, a mini wooden cotton bobbin, a mini clock charm and loads of tiny little punched butterflies. The letter 'B' in the largest section is to represent my surname (Brown) and I also added the date in one of the sections too. 

Here's a closer look at some of my favourite sections ...

The top section

I love the little bottle of beads

I covered the little cotton bobbin with some lace

I must admit this took a while to finish - but I am thrilled with the outcome and it now sits proudly on my display cabinet.  I am hoping to make these to order in the future, so watch this space.

I hope this has inspired you to have a go at something other than a card - I will be back on Wednesday with a little midweek motivation. 

Happy crafting,

Hugz, Jan xx

Gift Bag Tutorial

Good morning,

I hope everyone is looking forward to the extra long weekend - mine starts here and as it's Friday again, it's time for another challenge over at the Polkadoodles Challenge blog.

This week we would love to see your projects which fit the theme 'Anything but a Card' - so lots of scope for those creative minds.  I decided to make a little gift bag and as promised, here is my very first tutorial on how to make it.  Here's what the finished project looks like ...

And here's the instructions on how to make it, 

using just one piece of A4 paper.

First, print your chosen paper design onto A4 paper 

and trim to 29cm x 19cm. 

Then transfer the template measurements 

to the reverse side of your paper.

Score along all the solid black lines, 

then turn your paper over (printed side facing up) 

and score along the two solid pink lines.  

Turn the paper back again and score along the diagonal dotted lines.

Make all the folds and burnish with a bone folder, 

ensuring the two pink lines are folded from the front.

Now fold down the 2cm at the top to the inside 

and stick with wet glue.

Fold the bag together and glue the 1cm flap to the inside of the bag.  

I added distress ink to all the folded edges next, 

but this stage is optional.

Fold up the bottom of the bag 

(like you would when wrapping a present) 

and stick with wet glue.  

Use a long handled dry paintbrush to reach inside 

your bag and press the flaps down from the inside.  

Cut a piece of card 10cm x 4cm 

and stick inside the bottom of the bag to reinforce.

Punch holes and add your chosen ribbon handles, 

tying knots on the inside to secure.

Your bag is now complete - simply decorate as you wish.

My paper, chosen image and sentiment are all from the gorgeous 'Sugarplum Daisy CD' 

which you can buy from the Polkadoodles on-line store 

HERE.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and found it easy to follow - 

I would love to hear your comments. 

If you encountered any problems please let me know 

and I will be happy to help.

Hugz, Jan xx

Anything but a Card

Happy Monday everyone,

I hope you all had a great crafty weekend - I know I did, made loads of projects, including my first tutorial which will be coming up later in the week - so watch this space.

It's time for a new challenge over at Make My Monday and this week we would love to see something a little different, hence the title 'Anything but a Card'. So go for it, it doesn't matter what you make as long as it's not a card - ATCs, exploding boxes, gift bags, journal pages, tags, wall art, 3D work, just to name a few but the list is endless. Here's what I made for my DT inspiration ...

I love making things to keep, so decided on a wall hanging for my project this week and it's all made from scratch.  It measures 16.5cm x 16.5cm and the outside edge is decorated with pieces cut from a Spellbinders Lacey Square die.  I only have the smaller range, so I had to cut them and piece them together to enlarge them, but the joins don't show, so we're all good.

I have used several mats and layers before adding another Lacey Square cut from pearlised lilac cardstock.  The collage of items on the front include a stamped postcard (LOTV), a die-cut flower spray, a card cotton bobbin which I cut out and wrapped some cream lace around, a cute little wooden cotton bobbin which I wrapped some lilac twine around, a couple of cream hearts, loads of punched flowers, a couple of stick pins and a little sentiment banner which I created on my pc which reads 'Sewing mends the soul'. Here's a close up of some of the embellishments:

 A piece of lilac polkadot organza ribbon attached to the back finishes it off and it's now ready to be hung - I just need to decide where! Lol.

Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog and check out what my teamies decided to make this week too.

Hugz, Jan xx