A Thankyou card

It's always good to keep a handy stash of thankyou cards  so I added this card to my box today. 

The flower is made with a pearl topped pin, a couple of tiny flower punchouts and three of the bigger flower. I glued the top part of the flower to the card to hold it in place but the rest is free to be fluffed up. 


I'd just like to point out - the pointy part of the pin is well ensconced within the top layer so hopefully my recipient's finger won't be pricked. We wouldn't want them falling asleep for 100 years now would we !


Tonic Studios Punches used.
Simplicity geared pattern punch -  Daisy Border
Simplicity geared classics - flower head
Ribbon Punch - 1cm

An anniversary card

I was playing around with my Birdy Paper punch and used it to make this card for my parents. I'm ahead of schedule for once! I've been rather behind with everything lately!

I'm really loving the pink and grey scheme at the moment. I got a small reel of lovely cotton dusky pink ribbon. It wasn't wide enough to back the Birdies though. But never fear, I raided my stash of old roller blind samples from way back when my Dad used to sell them as a part-time extra job and I found a sample which was the perfect colour. Just goes to show you should hang onto your craft stash 'cos you never know when it might come in useful.

I'm loving all the texture too. Little details like this can make all the difference.

I stuck the insert to the inside front to keep it all looking neat.

Tonic Studios Punches used...

Simplicity geared punch - Birdy
Simplicity geared classics - Flower Head
Mini Punch - Traditional heart
Ribbon Punch - 1cm

Cupcake tic tac toe

I wasn't going to blog about this, but my husband thought I should - he said it was a really cute idea. (Aww I love my husband!)

I made this little game of Tic Tac Toe for my five year old by printing out my cupcake illustrations onto card and then laminating them using sticky backed plastic, and cutting them out. The board was simply made from squares of patterned paper stuck onto white card.

(The board size is 6 inches square.)

...and that's all there is to it!

It's all in the presentation

If you've followed my blog for a while, you may know that I absolutely love making boxes. When I go to the trouble of making  handmade gift, I like to go the extra mile and make a handmade box to present it in. I had great fun decorating these boxes with a simple ribbon and flower embellishment. 

To stick on the ribbon , I used some double sided sticky tape.  I stick this to the box once I have cut and scored the template, but before sticking the box together. If you would like to make a similar sized box you could use my Playing Card Box template. I love to use Tonic Studios Super Trimmer to cut and score my box templates. It makes the job so quick and easy. I cut out all the outer edges with the trimmer and then cut the fiddly bits with my favourite scissors. The scoring is so easy to do with the Super trimmer, and it makes such a neat job. I used to do it with a ruler and a scoring tool, (and if that's all you have it will still work fine), but I would recommend the Super Trimmer to you. It goes so much quicker. I use it so much I'll be needing replacement blades very soon!

For the flower I punched out 5  flower shapes out of thin card, and then curled the edges of the petals inwards.  I then layered the flowers with a small dot of glue in the centre of each one. I pressed each flower in place until the glue dried using the eraser end of a pencil. I then finished off the flower with a jewel in the centre and glued it in place on the box. The finished flower is pretty sturdy. Because it is made of card and the layers are offset, it holds up well and can't be squashed easily. And doesn't it look pretty !

P.S. If you would like the opportunity to win a paper punch. Don't forget to enter Tonic Studios Giveaway which runs until February the 14th.

yummy cake

I just had to show you the lovely birthday cake Naomi, my eldest daughter made for me the other day. I haven't been feeling that great for the last couple of weeks, but I was made to feel like a princess on my birthday and I was totally spoilt. Shame one only has birthdays once a year isn't it?
Time to go hang up the washing and do some ironing now! Bleugh!

Score

Hi there.  Hope you are having a good day!
I won a box of books for a snip at my local auction last week. Among them was this dictionary from 1867. I bought the books for collage and upcycling, but I can't bring myself to chop into this one. Look at the marbling on the edge...

...gorgeous isn't it?
In the pile was a very tatty Hawes' Bible volume 1 from some time in the 1700s.

So old..amazing. But as I say...rather tatty, so I won't feel too bad chopping it up.

But it is a privilege to handle something of that age and wonder about all the people that have read this before me...in a way it is good that it is so scruffy, because it means it has been well read and appreciated. I just love old books. Do you?

A GREAT GIVEAWAY !

Hi there ! I wanted to let you know about the great Simplicity Geared Punch Giveaway over at Blog Tonic

Drop over to their blog now and see how you can enter to win one of these fabulous punches. They are so easy to use and will be a wonderful addition to your crafting range. Trouble is, once you'v got one, you might just have to have them all!

Happy New Year

Hello everyone. A very happy 2012 to you all.  No, I haven't been hibernating. Only very, very busy. During the school and university holidays the house has been full and it has been a blessing. Now that they have all returned to their various educational establishments I am trying to de-clutter, scrub and make the place presentable. We have a viewer coming to look at the house this Saturday, so I have an incentive to make it look its best.

While I am cleaning I have been looking around at all the changes we have made since we bought the place.  I think sometimes it is the little details that can make all the difference.
So I sharing with you a couple of little ways we changed things, maybe it will inspire you to look at the little details that might improve your home.

Are any of you stuck with these ugly plastic air vents in your wall?
Let's be honest, they don't add a whole lot of style to a room do they? Practical, yes. They let the room breathe and help prevent dampness, but I am afraid I loathe the look of them. We had them in two of our bedrooms. So I replaced them with this...

It looks so much prettier don't you think? They come from a company called Jali.
I am not totally sure if they still make this small size of grill but they do custom orders so they probably would be able to do something similar. Now this design has a large open shape and we didn't want bugs to come into the room, so I bought a piece of aluminium mesh from Halfords and it was enough to make two backing pieces for my air vents. Problem solved.

Another little detail was added from Jali in our kitchen. We replaced some wooden doors with some glass ones on our cabinets. Unfortunately the edge of the shelving inside had been done very badly and so didn't look too hot  showing through the glass. I bought some edging strip and attached it to the edge of the shelves and now it looks luverly. It's one of these little details that has made a lovely finishing touch to the styling of the room.

Well...I really better get back to the cleaning. There are a whole lot of dust bunnies lurking around here.

Later x