The Book Inside

Hi There

I would like to show you the book which was inside the box from yesterday!

This is both the front and back pages of the book. Although it doesn't show very well, her name (Carol) is on the front of the book. The sentiment says Friends are the Essence of Life, the epoxy sticker was matted onto cram cardstock, cut with an oval nestie.

This is pages two & three. The edge on page two was cut with a GoKreate Die (frilly squares 2). The pocket on page three was edged with a ribbon effect sticker. The tags have sayings on them such as 'Thanks for being a great friend' and 'We will always be friends'.

This picture shows the flap lifted on page two, to show the hidden photo mats.

Pages four and five. These were decorated using 2" squares from the patterned paper, I added rub ons stickers and gems in different corners.

Inside page four, another sentiment and  a place for a photo, with another rub on in the top corner.

Inside page five, another sentiment and another photo mat. Yep another rub on in the top corner :)

Pages six and seven. Page six has a pocket on with two tags in, to be journalled onto or photos stuck on them. The pocket has a border made up from two stripes of the co-ordinated papers and a die cut flower at one edge. Page seven also has a pocket, this time the pocket was cut on an angle and edged with a Martha Stewart Border punch. Some more rub ons and an epoxy sticker finish this page off.

Again all the goodies to make this were bought from The Stamp Pad in Saddleworth.

Happy Crafting

Another Altered Box

Hello

This is a box  which I altered for my friends birthday.

The box was a Kraft backed box which  I covered with InkaGold in this gorgeous pink color. The papers are from SEI Juliette. I didn't have the full range of papers as I had used them to do a book for my Mum's 60th Birthday, But as the box is only 5" square I had plenty from my off cuts and the rub ons and epoxy stickers.

The back of the front page I left plain with just the Inkagold. This was because I found  cutting out the aperture was not as easy as I had thought :).

The back cover was covered with another paper from the range. What I forgot to take a photo of is the front of this page. This is the bit which shows through the aperture on the front. for this I spent quite a bit of time working out what would show through the aperture. 

I finally settled on a paper with large flowers on it. I then trimmed it so that I got the best view of the flower through the cover. The grey strip down the left hand side is from the sticker sheet and the two epoxy stickers are also from the matching packs.
All the goodies to make this were bought from The Stamp Pad, Saddleworth.

Happy Crafting

A Couple of Quick Christmas Ones

Hi there

Here are a couple of quick Christmas cards I have made recently.

This card is quite a simple one to do. It is a 5x7" card blank. Matted with burgandy card and the background paper is from GCD paper stack called Joyful Peace. The tree was also cut from another sheet of the paper in the same stack. Although it doesn't show up very well the dark green strip is velvet card which has been embossed through the Big Shot. Some ribbon and a bow finish this card of nicely.

This next card is a square card blank, the background paper is from Bo Bunny. The white panel was die cut with a Marianne cut and emboss folder, this was then matted onto silver mirri card. The bauble was die cut using a Marianne die and then matted onto white card, with a bow at the top. The sentiment was attached to a white scalloped circle and then matted onto a fleur de lis die cut from Nestabilities.

All the goodies to make these card came from The Stamp Pad in Greenfield.

Happy Crafting

A project from last weekend

Good morning.

Today I am going to show you one of the lengthier projects from the retreat with Rosemary Merry. This is a fabby book covered with the gorgeous papers from Graphic 45 Christmas Emporium range. As some of you may know this is the range which was used for a book in a box on the Stamp Pad retreat in October. When I saw the papers I have to admit that my heat sank as I thought uh oh. I need not have worried as the project was totally different.

This is the book made up. It is a little difficult to see but there is also an acetate page in front of the red page.

This is back of page 1 and the front of page 2. The image on the top is cut from one of the sheets of paper. Also on page 2 the small 'stamp' image is cut from the paper. The little girls are cut from the paper which has these images all over it. A mat for a photo has been included.

The stripy paper is the back of the black script paper also used on these pages. The centres of the flowers were punched from corresponding papers and the glazed with Glossy Accents. The rosette flowers was die cut using a Tim Holtz die, again this used coordinating papers.Another 2 photo mats have been included here.

The pictures and stamps on these two pages were all cut from the reverse of one of the sheets of the paper. A row of flat backed gold gems were stuck in a line on a small strip of paper, to tie it all together. A photo mat on the top to store some treasured photos.

This is the little children paper which was used earlier on in the book. Again a 'postcard' was cut from the sheet of paper. Some beige satin ribbon covers the join in the paper on both halves. The word Christmas was die cut and stuck on and then glazed again with Glossy Accents. Another 2 photo mats are included to personalise the book.

This page probably took the longest to do. The background is three strips of paper. The tree was cut from one of the larger pieces of paper. This took ages to cut out as I had to go around the branches and baubles! then to go around the toys at the bottom. Yes it probably took me a hour or more to cut out, but I felt the end results are worth it.

This is the last page in the book. As well as another of the postcards from the papers, there is another photo mat. Just to add a bit of interest I hand cut the stocking from the paper and the holly bunch. I added red stickles to the holly berries to make them stand out a bit more. There is also a strip of holly along the top of the page, which this again seemed to take forever to cut out in between each leaf, but does look great in real life. At the bottom of the page we added some lace and some white pom pom ribbon.

I hope you like this as much as I do.

Happy Crafting

Hi There

Wow, I didn't expect it to be sooo long til I posted again. I had a fantastic time at the crafting retreat run by Rosemary Merry last weekend. Was shattered on Monday, but in a good way.
I will show you a little project we did on the Sunday afternoon, the project was called 'Little Treasures' and I'm sure you'll agree it is!

This is made up from wooden spools (like old cotton reels) there were decorated with paper and inked around the edges. The bobbins were then threaded onto some wire and spaced out with some buttons. A big bow was added with a button and a big bell. The snowflake hangs slightly behind and then ribbon knots finish off the handle to disguise the wire underneath.

Now I have finished the rest of the projects off I will get around to photographing them and putting them on here, in between the Christmas cards!

A Weekend Away

Well Ladies,

Sorry there is no post form me. I'm off for a weekends crafting. Myself and 5 friends are going to Rosemary Merry Christmas retreat at lunchtime. No cooking, cleaning or running around after hubby or children, just crafting all the way :) With a bit of drinking, some fun and lots of laughter! ! !
There is NO truth in the rumour that we will be the noisy-ist  table!  Well not much anyway>

See you all soon

Advent Calendar

Christmas is coming, and my boys are writing their lists, I would to if I thought anyone would read it!

So today I am going to share with you a project I made on a workshop at The Stamp Pad in Greenfield. This was a whole day workshop, and even then I still had to put the final touches on at home. I think the longest time was spent painting the advent's wooden carcass. I didn't realise just how long it would take to get inside every recess and the front and back of the doors, at one point I did think that maybe I should have left the wood au natural :) Whilst the paint dried we took a break for some lunch, then onto the fabby job of decorating.

We used SEI Silver Valley papers on the advent. When the papers had been trimmed to size we then had to make a small hole for the door knobs to go through. I thought this would be an easy task, measure and cut one then use it as a template for all the others, NOPE. Because of the make up of the piece, every handle was in a slightly different place or angle. This meant that it did take some time, but ultimately was worth it. Then it came to putting the numbers on, these were die cut so we had a choice of whether to put them straight or on an angle. I went for angled as I can't do straight very well. Each door was then decorated. For this I used rub-ons, stickers, die cuts, wooden embellishments anything to hand with a Christmas theme.

 This is a close up of the top right hand corner.

 This is a close up of the top left hand corner

 Bottom left

And finally the bottom right hand corner of the finished piece. Now I just have to fins something to go into all the boxes, without resorting to chocolates!