Holiday Lists Notebooks

After having a wander through various blogs I saw some adorable notebooks on Michelle Wooderson's blog and had to make my own!

Mish has good instructions on her blog so I won't give you all the details here. I used Papertrey Ink's Friendship Jar and Holiday Fillers on the cover along with some yummy Basic Grey Nordic Holiday paper and some Waltzing Mouse Stamps Seasonal Remedies on the tag and inside the cover.

I can't wait to give these to family and friends in the next few days! They are super easy to make and look so pretty, I am looking forward to creating different non-holiday versions!

A Cute Christmas Gift

I am not usually an organised christmas crafter, I tend to start things at the beginning of December and find myself frantically trying to finish various projects just a couple of days before christmas! This year I have decided to try and start things a little earlier.

I love anything sewing related and seem to have amassed a number of various supplies that I need to put to good use instead of admiring and putting back in the drawer. It all started with a set of small glass jars with cork tops that I bought on sale from Habitat. I had no idea what I was going to do with but an idea slowly morphed after looking at various bits and bobs on the net and via pinterest.

Without further ado, i give you...

{the project with no name} I'm not sure what to call it, it's a pin cushion jar filled with single use button shaped soaps for your guest bathroom, once the soaps are gone you can reuse the jar to store actual buttons. Any ideas on what to call it?

I took a circle of Cath Kidston fabric, sewed a basting stitch around the edge and stuffed it as full as I could with fibre fill, drew the ends of the stitch together and sewed shut. I added some decorative stitched and a button in the middle and hot glued it onto the cork lid, adding some ribbon on the edge to finish it off. I added some decorative pins, wound some bakers twine on a mini wooden spool and a pretty mini pastel safety pin to attach the tag.

The tag is stamped with Papertrey Ink's Button Boutique stamps, I loved that they included the washable word stamp because it fits in so nicely with the contents.

I purchased the soaps on Etsy and the most tedious part of the whole project was placing the soaps one at a time using a pair of tweezers so they all faced outwards.

By the time I was finished I didn't want to give it away (I eventually managed it!) but plan on making a few more as cute gifts!

Supplies used:
Stamps: Button Boutique - Papertrey Ink
Fabric - Cath Kidston
Soaps - The Charming Frog
Twine - Divine Twine
Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa
Ribbon - Maya Road
Lace, Pins, Wooden Spool, Buttons - Dainty Paperie*

*In interest of full disclosure, Dainty Paperie is my Etsy store.

A Tall Order

I like to try different card sizes now and then, I usually like to use 5x7 or 5x5 and when reaching for a packet I came up with some DL cards. I don't usually use DL cards as they are a bit too long for my liking, I always end up with some negative space that doesn't quite flow.

I bought some 8x8 paper pads recently and found that quite a few of the sheets have designs that only cover one side of the paper and sometimes it can leave me a little lost! However, when paired with a DL size card I love how simple and elegant they can look, and with very little work!

This paper is from DCWV Garden Party stack, sentiment and label is from Papertrey Ink and the ribbon was in a bag of scraps. I was quite sad to give this one away as I'd grown quite attached to it!

This paper came from the DCWV Citrus Stack, as with the other card it has pretty much all the same elements, all bar the button. The one thing I like about these papers is the heavier weight cardstock and the thermographic glitter they use in the patterns, guaranteed no shed!

What card size do you usually use? Is there a cards size that you avoid and why?

Re-run of an old favourite

Over the past few years I have created quite a number of cards, but I do have a handful of favourites and this is one of them.

I made this for my Mum's birthday. The card was created using a piece of Papermania acetate, I handcut a bracket shape from K&Co paper and attached on the inside. All that was left to do was to go to town decorating it! I added a dangling charm, which, if I had thought about it I should have made it detachable so it could have been used as a handbag charm!

I like to do commissions for family and friends and this is the most requested one. I thought that I would share a different version that I created recently.

In essence it's the same card with a small change to the embellishments.

Sometimes I have a little bit of a mental block when I am creating something in a short time frame and often find that it is helpful to refer back to previous cards that I have made and either make a direct copy or take some elements or the basic sketch and twist it slightly to make a new card. A good idea when you are in a pinch for an idea!

Is there a card that you have made that you like to remake? Do you use your own cards when feeling a bit low on mojo?

Hello

I hope this bank holiday finds you all well? I have a few Crafty Templates creations to share today!
These two are from the pretty July kit which has unfortunately sold out! I just love the first one, so cute and easily adaptable for that special man in your life

'He' is quite easy to cut by hand and all materials used were from the kit apart from the woodgrain and silver tone paper which were from my stash.

I was a little bit daunted when I saw the 8x8 card blank as I have never worked with such a large size before but once I got going I liked the 'space' that it gave me. Here I used the balloon template which I duplicated 2 further times to create the bunch and adhered using different heights of foam pads and sewed the hearts to the page and 'fluffed' them out for more dimension.

These cards were made using the August kit from Crafty Templates called Sweet Summer which is currently still available and features gorgeous papers and embellishments.

This is made using the bottle template which is kawaii cute! I simply added some letter stickers and gems!

A cute little mushroom which would be great to use on a male card 'For A Funghi'!

I like this one so much, again it's a great base to use for a male card, bon voyage or replace the plane with birds or the balloons for any occasion!

Until next time when I have some exciting news to share :)