March scrap map - tiger teeth!

Good morning!

 

Can you believe it's the beginning of March already?

That means a new monthly challenge at Creative Craft World and we have

a brand new sketch for you to have a go at making a scrap page or card.

 

We're also having another blog hop so if you'd like to join in, just visit each of the DT and leave a comment to say you've visited and you'll be entered into a draw for a prize.

 

You don't have to enter the challenge to be eligible but if you do link up your project to the challenge

you have the chance to win a fab scrap kit and a guest design spot.

All the details are HERE.

 

Here's my take on the sketch

 

I used MME 'Alphabet Soup Boy' papers and I was delighted that the colours of Phoebe's jumper matched them - stripes and all!

Phoebe was always asking to have her face painted and on this particular day Lydia took great delight in painting her as a tiger.  I think she did a great job!

 

 

The metal gromlet is from WRMK and the tiny buttons are Fancy Pants.

 

 

As I had my sewing machine out for another project (and any excuse to sew ;)) I stitched a short zig zag line on 2 sides of the frame.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the sketch

and to continue on with the blog hop you'll find Sarah W's page HERE.

 

Thank you for visiting today

and I'll be round to visit you all later :)

The children are going swimming with their grandparents so I'll have a couple of hours peace :)

 

Have a lovely weekend.

Take care,

Sarah xx

Sweet sixteen

Hello again!

 

I thought it was about time I updated this blog.....

Life has been challenging lately mainly due to my back problem and carpal tunnel in my hands but I'll get through it :)

 

A few challenges I should have told you about earlier although they run for a month so plenty of time to get creating :)

The first one is the mini challenge at Creative Craft World.

The theme is 'ANYTHING GOES' and it can be any project so long as it is smaller than 12"x12"

There is a fabulous prize to be won and the winner is chosen by the Design Team.

 

The second challenge is also at Creative Craft World and it's the Beat the Christmas Rush one.

If you'd like to get ahead with your Christmas cards this year then this challenge is for you!

 

I also have a card to share today.

It was my lovely daughter's 16th birthday last week and this is the card I made her.

Very quick and simple.

It was also my hubby's birthday too but he had to make do with a bought card :o

The papers are MME 'On the bright side' 6x6 pad and the 16 is cut out with the Silhouette Cameo.

I covered some chipboard with matching paper and cut out a heart with a Sizzix die.

The font is MTF cupcake.

 

 

Although I've been quiet on the blogging front all that will change over the weekend!

I've had the opportunity to play with the new March scrap kit (on sale from 1st March at CCW)

and I have 3 new scrapbook pages to share.

I'll upload them over the next few days and as Saturday sees the new scrap map challenge I'll also have a page to share for that too.

 

Thank you all for your support lately, I've had some lovely emails and comments and I appreciate them all.

 

Take care,

Sarah xx

Notecard

Hello everyone!

 

I have a little notecard to share today using bits and pieces I cut with the Silhouette.

 

 

I added tape just along the top of the scallop strips and turned the scallops up slightly
to add a little dimension.

The stamp is by Clear Expressions (Hampton Art)

 

 

~~~~~~~~

 

I also have the link to Sue's blog

where she has made a beautiful wreath for the Christmas Countdown at Creative Craft World.

We only have a sneak peek but you can see it all and the tutorial here.

I can't wait to see it!

 

 

Thank you for stopping by today and if you come back tomorrow

I'll have a link to Susi's blog where she will have some homemade treats to eat!

 

Take care,

Sarah xx



Christmas treat bags

Good morning everyone,

 

I hope your weekend went well.

It's my turn again to create a project for Creative Craft World's

Christmas Countdown.

 

I like to make the children's teachers a little handmade gift at Christmas,

so this year I thought I would make some pretty packaging for some chocolates.

 

and here they are....

 

They are very easy to make!

 

You just take a cello bag (it's better if you can get one with a gusseted bottom or one with card in it like I have) and fill with chocolates.

It's very tempting having chocolates on my desk and I have to say they are YUMMY!!

 

For this bag, I just tied the top with ribbon and then made some toppers

with snowflakes cut out with my Silhouette Cameo.

Next, I cut two wooden skewers to size and coloured them with Copics.

Then layered the snowflakes with the stick in the middle and finished it with a button and some gems.

The banner with the sentiment was also cut out with the Silhouette,

wrapped around the stick and held in place with wet glue.

 

Regular readers of my blog may recognise this little gingerbread man from HERE.

 

I used the same cutting file and just reduced it in size before cutting him out of kraft card.

I layered two lenghs of Christmas paper together (one narrower than the other) and wrapped them around the bag, with the join at the front.

I covered the join with the gingerbread man, popping him up with foam pads.

The banner was made with matching paper with the sentiment on one side

and the to/from details on the other side along with a matching button.

 



 This 'Merry Christmas' ribbon is available to buy at Next!

 

 The back of the bags

 

The little banner - on one side 'Happy Christmas', on the other it's personalised with the teacher's name.

A wooden skewer, trimmed to size and coloured with a red Copic pen.

 

Supplies list

cellophane bags ~ with a gusset or a firm bottom (teehee...)

I got mine from a chocolate factory.

ribbon

chocolates ~ I used Thorntons Praline melts and Caramel melts

wooden skewers

various Christmas papers

buttons and gems

 

I hope you have enjoyed these little treat bags today,

and if you pop back tomorrow I'll have a link to Lou's blog where she will have a tutorial for a Christmas journal.

 

I'll also have a little project of my own that I made way back in the summer

but I'm only able to share it now, as it had to be kept secret!

 

Once again, thank you for stopping by today,

and I'll be catching up with you all later :)

Take care,

Sarah xx

 

I'd like to enter these in the following challenges:

MIM ~ always anything goes

Crafty Bloggers Network ~ Christmas anything goes

Forever Friends ~ ribbon and/or twine 

 

Christmas decorations

Hello everyone!

 

I hope you had a good weekend :)

As we continue with the Christmas countdown at Creative Craft World

it's my turn to share a project and I have chosen to make some decorations for Christmas.

 

I used my Silhouette for these to show that the machine is not just for papercrafting.

You can cut fabric with it and although I didn't cut the felt for my decorations (I think it would be too dusty)

I made templates with the Silhouette designs.

 

Here's a photo tutorial so hopefully you will want to make your own!

 

To start with I cut out the designs from a sheet of 12x12" card

 

Then I kept the sheet of negative shapes to trace around.

 

To make this little lady...scroll on down.

 

 Lay the shape over black felt and trace around using a light coloured pencil.

 

 Lay the traced piece of felt on top of a 2nd piece of black felt (for the back and front)

and cut them out together.

 

Trace and cut out the other pieces of felt the same way.

I used black brads for eyes and stitched a nose with orange embroidery thread and added a red heart before sewing the white tummy to the black front piece with running stitches.

Sew the feet on the front piece as well.

Next lay the back and front pieces together, putting a length of doubled ribbon or twine for the hanging loop in between the pieces at the top.

Sew all around the shape leaving a small gap for stuffing.

Lightly stuff with toy stuffing and sew the gap closed.

And that's it finished!

 

 

The basic instructions are the same for all the felt decorations and you can embellish as you like.

 

 For the fabric hearts, I used a cream linen type material and used my heart nestabilites die to trace around the shape.  I then laid two pieces of fabric, right sides together and stitched following the traced line ~ make sure you leave a gap for turning right side out.  Then stuff firmly, sew up the gap and decorate with buttons and twine.

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that it made sense!

If there's anything that's not clear, just email me and I'll try to help.

 

If you don't have a Silhouette you can always use a roller die cutting machine (Cuttlebug or Sizzix)

or even draw your own templates.

 

Thank you for visiting today

and if you come back tomorrow, I'll have the link to Lou's blog where she is sharing a gorgeous Christmas layout.

 

Take care

Sarah xx

Scrapbook challenge at CCW

Hello again!

 

It's time for a new scrapbook challenge at Creative Craft World

and we have a lovely sketch from Sue.

 

This is my take on it using Cosmo Cricket 'Happy Trails' paper.

I layered it on brown Bazzill card and zig zag stitched around the edge of the green paper.

I also stitched the strips of paper at the top and bottom with messy straight stitched lines.

Regular readers of my blog will know that we got a new puppy in June just as the children were finishing school for the summer holidays.

So.... 6 months on, I thought it was about time I did a scrapbook page about him.

My friends were shocked that I agreed to the children having a dog

(I was definitely not a dog lover) but this wee rascal has stolen my heart :)

 

I must tell you the story about how he came to us.

I was looking on Gumtree for a small puppy and I came across an ad for a little Lhasa Apso/Yorkie pup who was ready to be homed.  I contacted the owner who had another buyer interested so we had to wait to see if he would be available to us or not.

After a couple of days we got a phone call to say the puppy was ours and she could bring him to us that evening.

  When she arrived, she brought in a little bundle of fur and we were smitten.

While we were talking I was convinced I had seen her somewhere before.

After going through different places we might have met, nothing rang a bell.

She showed us a picture of her wee son and I knew I had seen him somewhere before.

Somehow the conversation turned to crafting and she said, "my mum teaches craft classes"

She said her mum was Linda Walker, and then the penny dropped.

I am a follower of her mum's blog and her mum had posted wedding pictures and that's how I recognised her and her son!

It's a small world.....

 

 

To make the page I used the Silhouette Cameo

and here's a screen shot of how I did it. 

I like to crop my photos using the Studio software and arrange them on the page.

That way I know exactly what size they will be and then I can fiddle about with the arrangement.

Then I will just print them out and cut them with the guillotine if there are straight edges and other times I will cut them out with the Cameo.

 

 I used print and cut for the journaling printing it on matching patterned paper.

Then I inked the edges with 'Tea Dye' distress ink.

I love the little bone paper clip that I found in my stash - I knew I'd find a use for it one day!

 

 I cut the title from brown card and added a little paw print brad at the top of the photo.

 

Instead of tying thread through my buttons

I cut a sliver of paper, threaded it through and taped it at the back.

Quick and easy!!

 

We'd love to see what you do with the sketch so why not link up your scrapbook page HERE.

You'll find all the details of the challenge there too.

 

I'm afraid that was a long post today!

Thank you for visiting and if you come back tomorrow I will have the link

Sue's blog where she has made some reindeer noses for the Christmas countdown.

 

I'm off now to nurse my poor wee daughter Phoebe.

Yesterday morning she erupted in lots of spots - chickenpox!
Thanks goodness for Calamine cream Doublebase gel :)

 

Take care and have a lovely weekend.

Sarah xx

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:

Make it Monday ~ anything goes

Anything goes ~ anything goes

Raise the Bar ~ anything goes

Die Cuttin Diva's ~ anything goes

MAWTT ~ stitching
The Happy Scrappers ~ autumn

Christmas Countdown and a card

Good morning everyone,

 

I have to apologise for being a bad blogger...life is just busy with the children at the moment.

 

But... I have some exciting news!

At Creative Craft World, it has become a yearly tradition to have a Christmas project every day for the month of November.

 

 

I will be posting a link every day to one of the DT blogs and I hope you will visit them

to see the exciting goodies they have made.

My own projects will be shared over the next 4 Mondays.

 

To start us off today,

Sue has made some fabulous Christmas tree decorations

and you can find the tutorial on how to make them HERE
and there's also a prize to be won.

 

 

 

I also have a card to share today!

Phoebe was invited to a 6th birthday party on Saturday and I left it to the last minute to make the card so I hastily threw this together on Saturday morning...not a good idea!

I was stressed and Phoebe was 15 minutes late.... not that she even noticed!

 I cut the shaped card, paper, sentiment and butterflies with the Cameo.

Then tied some pink gingham ribbon in a bow and topped with a pink button.

 

As part of the present I bought this pink fluffy pencil case and made a personalised zipper pull.

This was much to Phoebe's relief....Phoebe has an identical pencil case and Rachel loved it so much that she took it home from school and was reluctant to give it back.

In the end (after a week of pleading) Phoebe told her if it wasn't brought in the next day that I was going to have to tell her Mum and teacher what she'd done and she would be in a lot of trouble!

Thankfully the pencil case was returned the next morning :)

 

 

It's made from felt and is lightly padded. I cut the 'R' from white felt using a Sizzix alphabet die,

then ironed it on with bondaweb and added a couple of 'x' stitches.

 

 

Now I have to make Phoebe a zipper pull too!

 

Thank you for joining me today.

I'd love you to come back tomorrow for the link to Ali's Christmas project.

 I might even have another of my own projects too...

Take care

Sarah xx

 

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

In the Pink ~ clean and simple pink (If mine is not CAS enough please delete it!)

Flutterby Wednesday ~ anything goes but must have butterfly or fairy on it

Nutcrafters ~ Ribbon or twine

Simon Says Stamp ~ shaped cards

Die Cuttin Diva's ~ anything goes (must use a die cut)

Make it Monday ~ anything goes (papercrafts)

 

Mini kit projects

Happy weekend everyone!

 

Today I have some projects I made using the October mini kit from Creative Craft World that

Lou very kindly sent me.

It is a mix of beautiful turquoise and orange from the Teresa Collins 'Tell your story' collection
~ you can see (and buy) the kit HERE.

 

 

All four projects and I still have lots left over to make more!

 

In the kit there are lots of beautiful die cut flowers.  I took the largest of them and sewed messy stitches around the petals with my sewing machine.

The image is a stamp from Crafter's Companion which I coloured with Copics and I took another of the large flowers and paper pieced her dress with it. The pearls are also included in the kit and the ribbon is from my stash.

The sentiment is stamped and was a freebie with a magazine(from last year I think).

 

close up of the layers on the card

 

 This card is very simple to make. I embossed the bottom of the card with a Cuttlebug 'swirls' embossing folder and added a strip of paper and a strip of glitter card from the kit.

I shaped the die cut flowers, layered them together and adhered them to the card with foam pads.

The sentiment is by Papermania and is stamped with a Stampin' Up marker.

 

 This mini carton was cut out with the Cameo and covered with paper from the kit. I then added stickers and gems which are also included in the kit.

I haven't put anything in the box yet but it would make a lovely little treat box filled with sweets or a scented candle.

 

...and lastly I made a tag, which I cut out with the Cameo.

I added a layer of patterned paper and a hexagon sticker (from the sticker sheet also in the kit) and a clear adhesive gem.

 

To enter the challenge, all you have to do is make a project with bling on it and make it smaller than 12x12".

The winner will be chosen by the Design Team and the prize is a fab mini kit, a generous discount at

Creative Craft World and a Guest Design Team spot.

So why not get creating!

 

Thanks so much for joining me today

and I'll be back soon with more.

Take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Sarah xx

 

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Make it Monday ~ anything goes

Stampavie #179 ~ stitches (1st card)

Perfect Sentiments ~ happy birthday/anniversary (1st card)

Lady Anne's challenges ~ anything goes (1st card)

Inky Impressions ~ anything but a card (Mini carton)

 

Age cards....

A little bit later than planned....

but just to let you know I'm still around....

here's a couple of cards!!

 

This card was for my lovely friend Donna who has finally caught up with me in age (for a few months anyway!!)

I cut out the large felt butterfly with a Tim Holtz die and the smaller one was cut by hand.

A very simple card for my nephew.

I have a few Christmas projects on the go for Creative Craft World and I will be sharing them very soon.

I will definitely be back on Saturday with my projects using this month's mini kit.

 

Thank you so much for visiting and for staying with me as I muddle my way through things at the minute.

I will try and get  back on track as soon as possible.

Hope you are all keeping well.

Sarah xx

Monthy scrapbook challenge

Good morning!

 

I hope you're keeping well :)

 

The past couple of weeks have been so busy here.

My youngest brother and his family came over from Australia for a short holiday and it has been brilliant to catch up.

I've met my 2 nephews and baby niece for the first time!

It's such a pity they return home today, but they're already planning another trip over next year for Christmas.

 

I'm just popping in today with my scrapbook page for the new challenge at Creative Craft World this month.

 

 

I feel as if I'm always scrapping my younger two but Lydia always disappears when there is a camera about, so I don't have many photos of her. I managed to sneak this one when she was off guard.....it was taken in the spring when we had a picnic for my Dad's birthday.

 

The papers are Crate Paper Bliss and I kept the embellishments quite simple.

The flourish is by Prima and it's all layered on Bazzill french vanilla cardstock.

 

The scrap map

 

I made a little journalling tag to slip behind the photo.  Still to fill it in though!

I tried to think of a fun title but all that came to mind was Hippie Chick....

I knew Lydia wouldn't appreciate it so I went for her age instead.

It's cut out with the Silhouette Cameo from pink Bazzill dot card.

The little wooden hearts are by Studio Calico and I coloured them with a pink Copic marker.

 

For all the details of the scrap map challenge at Creative Craft World click here

and you can find more inspiration from the design team too!

 

Thank you so much for joining me here today.

I will be back on Monday with a new project

but for today I'm off to the airport to say goodbye.....

 

Have a lovely weekend

and take care :)

Sarah xx