Coaster Calendars

These were great little Christmas stocking fillers I made last year.  Again I found the idea on another website and thought it was a really simple idea.  I used old beer mats and covered them with a variety of papers.  I added a tear-off calendar to each one and then used different embellishments to decorate them.  I think they look quite effective!

Name Plaque

I went to the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC yesterday and found this brilliant seller of mdf blanks.  I wanted to buy them all!  Instead, I just bought a few and this name plaque blank was one of them.  I painted this with a wall paint tester pot, added some chipboard letters I bought yesterday and lastly added some butterfly puffy stickers.  This is especially for my daughter.

Patchwork cushion

I decided to learn how to use a sewing machine just before Christmas and with the help of a very lovely textiles teacher and her room, I have been able to make this (very) small patchwork cushion for my daughter.  Even though it's a bit crooked, I'm very proud of it! 

Butterfly Card

A nice simple card again using a big shot die cut flower paper with a butterfly sticker on top.  Sticky ribbon, a sentiment card and some flower stickers finish the look.

Wall hanging

I saw this design in a magazine and as my sister had just bought a BigShot, we thought we'd give them a go!  The shapes are all cut using the nestabilities dies on the BigShot and using different patterned paper.  I used some embellishments and a photo to make the design and then added ribbon on the back with smaller die cut shapes to hold them in place and give more stability.

Froggy card

A bit of an escape from the norm with a card without butterflies!  I thought these frogs were so cute and so bought a pack of them.  Half have got crowns and the rest bow-ties. I punched three scalloped edge squares and stuck them down and added the frogs and some flower stickers to the central one.  I used some sticky ribbon along the bottom and added a silver sentiment sticker to finish.

Meal planner

I just had to blog this as I am so excited about it!  I saw these on Pinterest and wanted to make my own and having had the chance this week, here's my finished one!  I used an old picture frame and took the glass out.  I added a piece of scrapbook paper of the right size and used sticky foam letters to write 'menu' down the side.  I used sticky ribbon on some wooden pegs and used glue to attach these to the edge of the photo frame.  I added a sticker to each peg to show the days of the week.  I made the cards on the computer and printed the meals onto yellow paper and laminated each of them.  The box is made from some scraps of patterend card I had which is then stuck down with double sided sticky tape.  And finished! 

Mum card

As its coming up for Mother's day, I've had a go at making some cards for mums.  This card uses 3 scallop edged squares punched from purple spotted paper.  On the middle one I added the word 'Mum' using silver peel-off stickers. The flowers are actually wooden flowers which I have coloured purple using an ink pad and then stuck down.  I'm quite pleased with the simple design.

Jars of...

I made several different designs of these for Christmas presents this year.  I made a 'jar of love' with little bits of paper with sentiments on them; a 'jar of treasures' for a little girl with hair clips, bobbles, mini stampers etc; a 'jar of crafts' with crafting embellishments and buttons; and a 'jar of sweets' with the person's favourite sweets in.  I bought the little jars from Asda and added sticky ribbon round the lid and embellishements on top.  For some of them I also added a scalloped circle punched with the name of the jar on it.

Butterfly card

Not the best picture, but one of my favourite layouts.  I've used 3 scalloped squares punched out of patterned paper and added them to my card.  I used sticky ribbon down the left side of the card and added a sentiment I got from The Works.  The butterfly was part of a present from a friend at work who knows I like crafting; it came from Hobbycraft. A couple of embellishments and a finished card.

Pretty Notebooks

I've seen covered notebooks done in various places and here's my take on them.  I bought some cheap, boring notebooks and used a variety of paper to cover them before adding various embellishments to them. Not sure how useful, but they're very pretty!

Love Cards

Here are two Valentines cards I made this year.  Not my best theme as I have never 'done' Valentines Day, but I think they turned out okay.  They could easily be used for other occassions anyway!  I rely a lot in my cards on using a scalloped square punch and patterned paper as I really like the look. Sticky ribbon, stickers and embellishments complete the cards.

Tree Mints

I saw this idea in a lot of different blogs and made it my own.  Using Elizabeth Shaw mints which I covered with a circular cut out piece of paper covered with an embellishment. I added some ribbon with double sided sticky tape and put the paper on in the same way.  I used a die cut shape folded in half to make the topper; added some dodgy hand-writing and a matching embellishment.  ready to give away for the Christmas tree.

Christmas Cards - a little late I know...

Having a sister with a Big Shot turned out to be very useful before Christmas when I was able to cut out these nested squares to make an easy load of Christmas cards.  Add some embellishment and you're done!

Magnetic Pegs

I saw these on another blog and thought I could give it a go!  I made these for Christmas presents last year.  I bought cheap wooden pegs and covered them with sticky ribbon from Hobbycraft. I then added different embellishments to them to co-ordinate and added thin magnetic strip to the back of each.  I put them in a cellophane bag sealed with double sided stickytape and added a matching piece of folded card to the top with more tape. 

Cute Birthday Cards

I bought a selection of 4" x 4" backing papers from ebay and this one was included which had 4 squares from the 'Naughty but Nice' theme (I think!).  I cut the 4 squares out and added some pretty backing paper to some white cards to produce some cute girly birthday cards.

Blackboards for little ones

These are some blackboards I made for my daughter and her friends for Christmas.  They are made using old cork backed placemats which I covered in blackboard paint from Wilkinsons and added some large wooden embellishments from Hobbycraft.  Add some chalk and it's a lovely present for a young child.

Welcome

I love to craft and here's an account of my work