Surprise...

Don't you just love surprises??

On the 3rd of April our local Scrapping Group had a Stampin' Up evening and I spent a bit of money (but I was really very good and did not spend too much!).

Today Naomi should be dropping off my bag of goodies :)  as for the Surprise...

Well I have forgotten what I ordered!!!!!

Easter Basket

I wanted to make an Easter Basket to carry some 'Golden Eggs' as a gift.  It was one of those times when you knew what you wanted to create... but at the same time you didn't (does that make sense???).

I tried a couple of basket designs, but they did not look right, in the end I settled on this design, made from a single piece of cardstock (I think it was 7.5 inch x 7.5 inch).  I was first shown this design by a Stampin' Up Demonstrator (and used her version as a template).

Each of the sides are decorated by Candi flowers, created using a Woodware punch and Card Candi.  I then drew a stem and added leaves cut from a Memory Box die.

I thought that I had taken a picture of each side (they were all different) only I now find that I have 2 photos of one side and I'm missing a side :(

And from the top... just to tease you with the chocolate :)

The good news with this basket was that I did not have to buy any cardstock - I just used bits from my stash... Great News :)

Badger Theatre Card

I have fallen in love with the Theatre Card style (taken from one of the Hougie Board books).

This time I created a Thank You card using the Badgers from the Meadows Edge CD from Design House. 

The 'Thanks so Much' sentiment stamp has come out funny on the photo as I went over the text with my glitter pen.

Birthday Card

It was a friends birthday today, and I decided to make a special card. I found instructions for a 'Theatre Card' in one of the Hougie Board books and decided to give it a go. When the card was finished I was pleased with the way it looked.

Due to the thickness of the finished card I had to make a box for the card to go in, again I found instructions for a 'Jewellery Box'.

I have attached 3 pictures, one of the card in the box, followed by the open box and finally the card on its own.

LiM - Drinks

For the first time in ages I have made time to take part in the Less Is More card Challenge.  The topic for the next 2 weeks is:

"This challenge will last for two weeks over the festivities and we have decided to start our Christmas celebrations with a whizz and have chosen

DRINKS 

as our recipe.

You can choose tea, coffee, water, sodas, alcohol of course if you wish, in fact any drink at all..."

 

I was not really sure what to do, but happened to find an image that I had printed from the Joanna Sheen CD 'If Flowers Could Talk'  This image features a cup of tea.

 

 

I matted the image on a piece of patterned paper and used a purple ProMarker to create the boarder.  I then decided that I want to use the 'Just a note to say...' sentiment, but I did not want to use Black ink, I wanted it to match the colour scheme (purple). 

 

So... I decided to try and use my ProMarker to colour the stamp.  Well I can say that it worked (but I don't think I would want to try it with a larger stamp), using the thick end of the pen I was able to colour the stamp in one swipe and it stamped OK.  The only down side is that my stamp now has a pink tinge to it. 

 

Does anyone know if ProMarkers can be used with stamps????

 

 

How To... Create a Gift Card Holder (Number 3)

Ok, so I can't decide which type of Gift Card Holder I like.... This one is a bit more like a gift & can be customised for both Gift Cards & Tea Bags (see more about the Tea Bags at the end of this post).

This is another of my Picture Tutorials, so be warned it is a long post and features pictures for every step of instructions.

The inspiration for this originally came from a video posted on YouTube by Dawn Griffith for making a Tea Bag Holder, this was then adapted and after several trial versions I ended up with the version you see here.

To create this Gift Card Holder you will need 2 pieces of Card Stock & 1 piece of co-ordinating patterned paper.

The first piece of Card stock is cut at 23x7.5cm and the second at 8x6.5cm

The patterned paper is cut at 19x185cm

One you have the card & paper cut, put the smaller piece of card stock (8c6.5cm) to one side as it will be used later.

The first job it to score the card stock & patterned paper ready for folding.


Along the 23cm edge of the Card stock score down at 9.5cm, 10.5cm, 20.5cm & finally at 21.5cm.

 

Along the 19cm edge of the paper score down at 9cm & 10cm



Turn the paper round by 90 degrees and then score down at 7cm & 14cm



Fold each of the score lines on the Card Stock



Add Double Sided Tape to the 1cm tab (on the patterned side) and fold along the score lines, this will create a flat tube before you fold the score lines in the middle



Add a small strip of double sided tape between the centre folders of the card stock (make sure that you keep it to the middle and not more than 2cm in length)

Place the folded paper insert into the center of the card stock

Punch 2 holes between the center folders - If you put double sided tape along the length of the centre you would end up with a sticky whole punch

The tape is only to hold the insert in place while you secure it with either: Brads, Eyelets or Ribbon.  In this case I have used Ribbon, but Brads or eyelets both work just as well

Opps, this should have been done before I secured the insert, but I forgot - Using a 1.5 Inch circle punch, cut a semi-circle out of each end of the paper insert, this helps insert and remove the gift tag, gift card or tea bag

To hold the holder closed I used half of a Velcro circle.  It is down to personal preference which way you secure the holder. 

The short tab can either be secured on top of the front (as shown in my picture) or you could secure the front on top of the short tab.  The only difference is how much space you want for the front cover.

It is then down to you to decorate the front of the holder, this one was done for a Birthday and I used some of the patterned paper on the front of the holder as well

Here you see the inside of the holder, the final touch is to insert the smaller piece of card stock that you cut, this will form a card for you to write a message to the recipient of this gift.

Now you have finished the holder it is up to you what you want to put into the 2nd pocket.  My first design was to include a Tea Bag as gift - but I found that the dimensions given in Dawn's video did not work for British Tea Bags (the ones that come sealed in their own little package - like you get in hotels), so I took her idea and ended up with these measurements.

I took one of my prototypes with me to our Wednesday crop and showed it to the others to ask what they thought.  Sue F said that she though she had an idea and disappeared out of the room, when she returned she had with her a this poem...

On Christmas Day

at half past three,

Brew yourself a cup of tea,

And I'll think of you,

While you think of me

sitting by the Christmas Tree.

Sue had found the poem, but did not know what to do with it, other than putting it on the front of an envelope containing a tea bag.

In the end I created some of the holders for gift cards, but also used some to hold Tea Bags, I printed the poem, die cut it out and added it to the card insert.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a phone of these before I had to give them away.

Please feel free to leave a comment if you found this How To helpful.

Happy Crafting.

WOYWW - 19 December 2012

I think that Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday is slightly the wrong title for my post this week, it should really be WAYWW (Who's At Your Workdesk Wednesday)...

DH asked if he could use the Pirate Stamps to personalise a Christmas Card for our nephew.  As he had never stamped before I also gave him a quick stamping lesson :)

We had a Christmas Card that was going to be sent from the 'Pirates' who visited 'L' in October/November.  So DH set to work using the stamps both inside the card and on the envelope.



There is just one more WOYWW left of 2012 - I can't believe that this year is nearly over!  It many ways it has just flown by, but in other it seems to have taken forever. 

Well I will hopefully see you the same time next week for the last WOYWW of 2012.

Happy Crafting :)