Boho-Chic Wedding

I was shopping one day with my mum and came across a craft shop, needless to say we went in and spent a fortune! And while we were there, my mum spotted those diamante swirls with the flower built into it (that I would never buy cos they’re too expensive!) and she said she’d buy it if I made a card with it for an upcoming wedding that she’s going to. I jumped at the chance as I think they are gorgeous!

So this is the card I made

My mum likes cards to be personalised, so instead of an image (which I don’t think would’ve looked right with the swirl) I used the bride and grooms names as the focal point.

I thought the swirl was pretty enough without overloading the card with an overpowering paper, although I knew I'd also be using it where there would be less detail, so I used a Pink Petticoat download paper – Pretty Doodles.

I added a pocket to the inside for the gift and matched the sentiment space to the front. The swirl was a little big for the front of the card so the bits I cut off didn’t go to waste and I used them on the inside.

I then made a box, printing the same PP paper onto card. I added some pearls from Wild Orchid crafts to the corners to match the card and also used up the last of the lace that I used on the card (which my brother says reminds him of a garter!) on the lid also.

This card fits the following challenges:

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge; Pearls & Swirls

Simon Says Challenge; Mother’s Day/Girlie – I thought it was quite a girlie card!

Scrappy Frogs Challenge Blog; Flowers and Lace

Simon Says Stamp & Show; Show a Word.

The Shabby Tearoom; Bingo - Gems, flower & Die-cut

Cupcake Craft Challenges; Monochromatic

Thanks for dropping by!

Gift Bag Tutorial

*Warning* This is a really looooonnnnng post!!

I wanted a gift bag to match a card that I had made, and I wanted it to be a good sturdy bag, so this is how I made it...

Materials

You will need:
2 A4 sheets of card for the basic bag - I've used Pink Petticoat, Gingham printed onto card.
some corresponding card for decoration
A scoring board
Adhesive - I use DS tape and a wet tacky glue.
Edge punch and scalloped circle nestie for decoration
Some ribbon and beads for handles

Making the bag...

Taking the card you want for the base of the bag, score the length and left side at the A5 gatefold mark (2 15/16" or 7.4cm)

I then scored the right side on the first line of the “box base” on the back of the board which is 7/8” or 2.2cm

Fold all the score lines

Find the centre of the left section (1 7/16” or 3.7cm) mark discretely & score from the top of the card to the score mark. Fold this line from the top until near the bottom – this line is to ensure the bag closes at the top and helps it to look more like a bag than a box!

Repeat all score lines on your second sheet making sure they are on the same side of the sheet.

Take one of your sheets and cut to make a tab – it makes it much easier later if you cut a notch out by cutting either side of the score line.

Repeat on your second sheet but completely remove the smaller tab

Measure where you wish the holes to go for handles. I find the easiest way is to measure the top front of the bag (which should be 20cm) and find the centre, mark equally to each side of the centre and a hole in the centre (I added the centre hole after I took the photo!)

Repeat the holes for the handles on the other sheet but instead of one hole in the centre, make two holes just either side of the centre

I punched the holes with my crop-a-dile. The holes can be re-inforced by sticking a circle of card where the holes will be and punching through both layers.

Now for the tricky bit

Apply DS tape on the patterned (outside) side of the sheet with the smallest tab removed, on the right section and on the smaller of the two remaining tabs.

On the other sheet (with the small tab) tape the white (inside) of the two smaller tabs and the patterned side of the right (small) section.

Stick the tabs to the larger tab adding the wet tacky glue for strength. Make sure to keep angles straight.

Add tape to the white side of the bottom of the piece with the small tab removed. Stick the other piece onto it keeping the side tabs to the inside of the bag and make sure you get right into the corners as close as possible. Again use wet glue as well as tape for strength.

Run something heavyish over the bottom to make sure it’s all stuck down properly, I used an acrylic block (covered in kitchen paper – from previous experience of an inky block!)

Then attach the sides – don’t forget your wet glue!

And the base of your bag is finished!

Now to decorate it...

Cut out four circles – I used the second smallest of the large scalloped circles nesties. You could use a punch or some of the labels can be lovely – as long as the shape can be quartered, it’ll work.

Score each circle into equal quarters and cut one of the score lines to the centre.

Apply tape and fold and stick one quarter over the other to create a corner shape.

Attach the corners to the bottom of the bag. Make sure the double layer is at the bottom.

I’ve used ribbon for the handles, but I’m sure there are loads of other things that could be used. As this is quite narrow ribbon, I’ve used 3 lengths for each handle, so cut six 15” lengths of ribbon. Take three of the lengths and tie a knot at one end. I’ve painted a small amount of clear nail varnish over the ends to stop fraying.

Thread your bunch through one of the outer holes from the inside of the bag to the outside. Then thread on some beads and feed back through the hole on the opposite side and tie and knot and apply nail varnish. Repeat with the other handle.

On the back of the bag, thread a small piece of ribbon through the two holes that were made just either side of the centre, knotting to the outside of the bag with the loop inside the bag.

Take a contrasting piece of card and trim to 20cm across (ie the width of the bag). Use a fancy punch along the 20cm and trim to 2 - 3 cm. Make two pieces the same.

Attach to the top of the bag with foam pads. Apply the pads to the bag rather than the strip so you can avoid the ribbon etc on the bag.

Last of all is to feed the ribbon attached to a previously made tag through the middle hole under the decorative strip to the inside of the bag. This can then be used to close the bag through the loop on the back. If you don’t want to use a tag then tie two pieces of ribbon in a knot at one side and thread through the hole in the same way.

And the bag is finished!

Hopefully I haven't made it sound too complicated, a lot of it will make more sense when you're actually making it, they're easy enough to make.

Here’s another one I made

They are big enough to fit 2 pillar candles standing up – and strong enough to carry them!

Thanks for dropping by!

Holly's Happy Birthday!

I'm still catching up on cards from before Christmas and it was my nieces 2nd birthday in november.

When I saw this image on Mo's web-shop I thought it was absolutely perfect for Holly as she's a real wee madam!!

She has a habit of shouting to anyone about anything and finishing off by shouting "Alright!!" It's so cute and again, I thought suited the image so well.

I added a pin with a couple of beads and a princess crown charm.

I printed out the sentiment for the inside, but it needed to be adjusted a little bit!

I hope you like it, thanks for looking.

A Bit of an Alteration

I bought a box ages ago and decided I would decorate it and give it to my mum for Christmas. As with all these kinds of things, it was very difficult to get decent pictures of it, but here's the best I could do...

The papers I used are DCWV from the Mariposa stack and I attached some Tim Holtz metal feet. I painted the lid with distress crackle paint in antiqued bronze and went over it with a dark distress ink (can't remember which one) and perfect pearls. I stuck an array of flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts over the lid along with some spellbinders die cut butterflies, made using grunge paper and painted with the same crackle paint as the lid.

I stuck some Swarovski crystals down the body of the butterfly for a bit of bling. I used another spellbinder die to cut the tag and stamped "with love" using stazon.

I found candles that fitted perfectly into the box so I decorated them with butterflies to fit the theme.

And protected them with organza tied with ribbon

I was quite pleased as it's the first thing I've properly tried to alter. My mum loved the present but thought I bought it somewhere!

I hope you liked it, thanks for looking!

I'm Back......Again!

Hi everyone!

Sorry I haven't been around for so long, I think this has been my longest break from blogging yet!
I started making christmas cards that I couldn't post on here til they were sent out and then with the weather the way it was before christmas the post was slow, so I got out of the way of going blog-wise (ie. I was lazy and couldn't be bothered! lol).

Anyway, I've been wanting to get it going again but have been so busy. I've been asked to make the stationary for 3 weddings this year - with 2 of the weddings on consecutive days, so I've been stressed out just thinking about making the stuff for them! What am I gonna be like when I actually get stuck into making them? I'm hoping I'll get the stressing out of the way now so I can just get on with them when the time comes! It wouldn't be so bad only I work full time, so I only have the evenings to get cards done. I also have more breaks booked for this year than I ever had so I have to factor those into my timescale - but I'm sure I'll fit them in! lol!
The last break is after all the weddings are over, so it'll be well deserved - except that I'll have to start my christmas cards as soon as I come home...no rest for the wicked!

So to get back to my blogging I suppose I may get caught up on what I've already made and I might as well get the christmas cards out of the way, so I'll do that with this post...

The first ones I made were for my niece and nephew, I thought having the same design would cut down on arguements!

I used Basic Grey "Eskimo Kisses" paper and The Greeting Farm stamps, coloured with my copics and I used some of that foamy pen stuff (thats the technical term!lol) on the furry bits. I added a couple of jingly bells for a bit more interest.

This is the card I made for their mummy and daddy (ie. my sister and her hubby)

I swiped a christmas decoration off the tree that I had to redecorate at work (we think the grinch came during the year and tried to steal christmas as all the decorations were gone off the tree, so I had to go out and buy new ones :D ) and used it for the focal point. The papers were from the Basic Grey "Jovial" paper pad and I ruched some ribbon along the bottom.

My other sister got a shaker card

I embossed some card with a snowflake cuttlebug folder and then cut the shape with nesties. I stamped "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow" with stazon on some acetate before attaching to the shape and filling with flower soft. I can't remember what paper I used.

I made a pop-up for the centre that I saw on Dawny P's blog. Hers were flowers but as soon as I saw it I thought I had to do it with snowflakes!

I made a similar one to this for my granny, but I stamped baubles onto the acetate instead

My brother is a challenge at the best of times :p but when it comes to cards it's just that little bit more! So when my Magnolia stamps arrived and there was a cutie Edwin all dressed up as Santa, I had to use him for my brother!

I added the cinnamon stick and wire etc. and then discovered that the front was too heavy so had to decorate the inside

I used my new ribbler thingy on this card, so that was fun! The paper was Bo Bunny.

Stick with now, I'm almost finished!

The next one was for my parents. My ma is definately one for a bit of bling, so on that basis, this is what I made

The stamp is a Kraftin' Kimmie coloured with copics and the papers are from Basic Greys Jovial pad the bling all came from a local craft supplier.

For my best friend I was inspired by the weather!

I cut 3 cirles out of white card with my nesties and embossed 2 of them with 2 different snowflake embossing folders. I coloured the snowflakes on the biggest circle with a glitter pen and I coated the middle circle (which was embossed with the spotty snowflake folder) with glossy accents and sprinkled with glamour dust. I cut a square and small, long rectangle out of black card and coated with black glitter to make the hat. Once the snowman was all assembled I added a cutting of orange card for the nose and 2 black swarovski's for the eyes. I coloured a tooth-pick with a copic and shoved it in behind to finish it off. The paper was BG Jovial again.

So for everyone else that I had to post to I decided to use the same design, I just made a few in each colour.

I made long A6 cards and used a Martha Stewart punch down the front edge. I used a Stampin' Up! snowflake wheel stamp along the edge on the inside and embossed with either silver or gold embossing powder. The snowman is from Lily of the Valley and the paper is printed - Pink Petticoat large snowflakes. Some ribbon from my local craft supplier and a Martha Stewart large snowfake to finish.

Phew! That was a long post! Well done if you stuck with it to the end!

I hope you liked them, thanks for dropping by!