My Last Christmas Card for this year.....

Phwew! It feels good when you have everything ready for Christmas doesn't it? I have finished wrapping and decorating and all we have to do now is the dreaded food shopping! I think we are going to get up really early this year (6am) to do ours as last year it was so busy it took us nearly an hour and a half just to get out of the supermarket car park! That was no fun I can tell you. 

 I always seem to leave my Husband's Christmas card until last (I think it's because I just don't like making male cards!) but I have now manage to make it using this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch.

It's a nice easy one for me this week as any male card I make always seems to have at least one star on it.

I used another of my favourite sets (I think I use this set more than any other) Seasons of Love Tags, I just love this star! I made this little pleated circle in the middle using a strip of paper and a scalloped border punch and topped it of with the sentiment which is from the same set.

 The papers are a mish mash of scraps I had lying around. I couldn't resist adding a little beige seam binding bow from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop which is a bit feminine I suppose so I tried to 'man' the card up a bit with a row of copper brads. Do you think it is masculine enough?

I am entering this card into a few other challenges;

Charisma cardz - Last minute Xmas makes

Lollipop crafts - Happy Holidays

Crafts and Me challenges - Christmas

Stampin for the Weekend - Christmas

Crafty Boots challenge - Christmas
Jules Crafty Snippets Challenge

Thanks so much for visiting!

Sarah x

Allsorts Colour Challenge - Brown and Blue

WoooHooo!!! How excited am I?  Brenda from Allsorts Challenge Blog has asked me to be Guest Designer this week!!! Thank you so much Brenda!!

The Challenge this week is  Blue and Brown

The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop is sponsoring the challenge this week with a prize of some ribbons, pins and a pack of my favourite crafting item at the moment - Doilies.

I decided on a card I can use for different occasions and I used a Haberdashery kind of theme for it.

This is one of my favourite little stamps and I just happened to have this lovely paper which has a vintage sewing pattern design on it. I thought it would work perfectly for the look I wanted. Of course I had to use one of these doilies, I dabbed some brown ink over it to give it a bit of an aged look and then used some rolled flowers cut with Kraft card.

 To carry on the theme I embellished with seam binding in Tile Blue and added a few pins.
 This made a nice change from all the Christmas cards I have been making lately.

Please pop over to the Allsorts challnge blog and see what the regular designers have made and why not join in with the challenge too!


Stamps - Waltzing Mouse
Seam binding, pins, pearls and doilly - Pretty Little Ribbon Shop
Rolled flower die - Marianne D


thanks for visiting
Sarah x

Gift card/money Holder.....

I like to make little holders or wallets for giving gift card or money at Christmas. This year I have mostly made stockings but for my Daughters I decided to try and make mittens instead. I spent all morning making just one of these as I had to make a template first. I found a mitten shape on the internet and printed it off, I then made the mitten cuff longer so that I could score and fold it to produce a lift up flap. Inside is a pocket for the card/money to fit into. I forgot to take photos of the inside but will try and add one tomorrow. 

I used some scraps of MME Lost and Found Christmas papers to cover the mitten and then decorated with a stamp from Waltzingmouse Around Christmas time set. I finished of with some Jumbo ric rac, a poinsettia flower and a loop of moss green seam binding. 

I'm really pleased with how this one turned out it looks really sweet hanging on the Christmas tree.

I'm entering this into the following challenges;

Jule's Crafty Snippets challenge

Charisma cardz - No Cards

Moving Along With the Times - Last minute Christmas

Crafty Boots challenge - Anything Goes

Dont forget to check out our challenge over at the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop blog - this month is Christmas with a Bow. 

Thanks for visiting

Sarah x

Christmas with a Bow.....

I wonder just how many bows we tie in the run up to Christmas?? An awful lot in this house that's for sure!! Christmas just wouldn't be the same without a lot of ribbon would it?

So this month's challenge at the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop Blog is just perfect -

 Christmas with a Bow

 Just create any Christmas project and include a bow. Simple! 

 

I had so many ideas for this challenge and I decided I would make an advent calendar out of 24 matchboxes, but time ran away with me and I didn't get around to buying the matchboxes in time so I eventually decided to do an altered project.  I have a big box full of items for altering in my craftroom and one of my favourite things is buckets (or should it be called a pail I'm never really sure to be honest! LOL) I had several to choose from but eventually chose a pale green one which I thought complimented the papers I wanted to use.  You can pick these little buckets up really reasonably in florists usually.

A little tip I would suggest if you have a go at one of these is to make a paper template for covering the bucket first as it may take a few fine adjustments to get the cut just right.  I then used a sheet of Melissa Frances Christmas paper which I have had for years to cover the bucket. I always use Letraset Studiotac tape for this type of project as it is fabulous for adhering all types of materials. I then embellished with a doily from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop ( these are my new favourite crafting item!!) and a Melissa Frances sticker.

  I finished off with some moss green seam binding for my bow and a few bells which I dipped in white acrylic paint and then white glitter for a bit of added festive sparkle. I made the little tag with another Melissa Frances sticker.

These are so quick to make and make a nice change from cards.  I plan to fill this one with candy canes, however my daughter says she plans to use it to fill with a few presents for her friend.

We really hope you will join us this month for our challenge, do pop over to the blog and have a look at what my team mates have made they are such a talented bunch of girls you won't be disappointed. There is a prize up for grabs too!

thanks for visiting!
Sarah x



A Tag......

So sorry I have been AWOL for a while, this time of year is so busy I have not had much time to make anything. Hopefully I will get back on track soon.

Last night I made a little tag for Claire's challenge on her Waltzingmouse blog.  I do love making tags (probably because they are quick to make!!) and everyone knows how much I love Waltzingmouse stamps so I stayed up late to create this one.

I used 3 different sets on this little tag, firstly I cut out the base with Labels one dies and stamped a border using Vintage Labels one set. (note to self - I must use this set more!!). I  then used Text It with rhubarb stalk memento ink on some red card before cutting a few poinsettia flowers out using a nesties set. I wish I had clear embossed the text as this morinng I realised it doesn't show up very well on the flower. Lastly I used Festive Foilage to stamp some holly leaves on various scraps of green paper and then cut them out to embellish the flower with.  I am hoping that Claire will start to sell dies to match this set at some stage as I use it loads and it would be a lot quicker than cutting all these leaves out.

I finished off with a velvet green brad and a large check gingham bow with a button.
Very quick to make.

Thanks for looking
Sarah x