Goody Bags

Well it's almost 2014 and I wish you all a very Happy New Year. Today's post is very 'photo heavy' so I won't go into great detail about products but, as always, if you would like any more info on products used or to order any products from me then drop me an email and I'll be more than happy to help.

I am showing you some handmade gifts I made for friends at work and the bag on the left is the one used to hold all the goodies. I went for a neutral theme using Soft Suede, Very Vanilla and (non SU) twine teamed with stars.


The box below held a small bottle of wine and the photo on the right shows the decoration on top of the box lid

The 'cracker top' box on the far left, made using the Envelope Punch Board, held some of those indulgent truffle chocolates and the tiny box held a heart shape flower petal bath melt.

 









and lastly some handmade Lemon Sugar Scrub which I found the recipe for on the internet. The little wooden spoons were stamped with Soft Suede and a retired SU stamp.
The labels were computer generated and printed onto Very Vanilla cardstock.
All the paper supplies and stamps used are SU.

I'll be back soon to show you some more presents I made but until then enjoy the New Year's Eve celebrations and wishing you a safe, healthy and happy 2014.

Margaret x

Happy New Year

Well Christmas is over for another year and I hope you all had a good one. This is a New Year card I made after taking inspiration from the very talented Jenni Pauli (her cards can be seen here). I love her style of cards and I get so many ideas from visiting her blog.
This is made using Crumb Cake cardstock for both the blank and the mat along with a little Very Vanilla. The numbers are cut using the Typeset Alphabet Bigz Die and the 'happy' is from Bring on the Cake. The card is finished off with a few Basic Pearls scattered around. This card is now winging it's way to a very lovely lady so I hope she doesn't peek on here before it arrives!!
All that remains if for me to wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year and I'll be back soon

Margaret x

Wishing you all a

Merry Christmas and a

very happy and prosperous New Year x

My apologies for the lack of posts over the last week - normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!

Margaret x

3D Simples Sunday

Today for 'Simples Sunday' I am showing you something a bit different - these cute little snowmen I have made for my grandchildren instead of a Christmas card. The idea came from a very talented lady, Jackie Topa, who does wonderful things with punch art. Her video showing how to make these can be found here and they really are very easy to make.
It does use the Envelope Punch Board but I am sure, if you do not have this, the shaping could be done with other punches or even by hand. All the products I have used for mine are SU apart from the white cardstock and include Washi Tape, Chevron Ribbon and Silver Glimmer Paper but you could use anything you have to hand. I have also put their initials on to save any arguments :0)
As you can see from the photo above they hold a small chocolate bar and stand up very nicely!

Until next time, have a good week

Margaret x

Fifth Day of Christmas

Unfortunately my  LIM entry for this week's 'Twelve Days of Christmas' didn't quite go as planned! Not having any lords, ladies, pipers or drummer stamps I opted for 5 Gold Rings but couldn't find a suitable stamp - then I had a thought - I would use my circle punches and cut them from Brushed Gold cardstock. Once I had done this I stamped the baubles and sentiment in Versamark and embossed them in gold. I was just about to position my gold rings when it struck me that this could possibly be a One Layer week and, on looking again, found it was! What to do now? Well I used one of the punched rings as a template and drew around the inside with a gold marker pen. Hey presto a OLC, just a pity that my gold pen isn't very good so, after taking the photo, I glued the gold cardstock rings back in place!! (see below) Note to self - ALWAYS READ THE INSTRUCTIONS :0)

* Recently I have had a few people asking for instructions for things that I've shown on my blog and I am always happy to help. However if these requests come through the comment section I am not always able to find contact details. So, if you want to ask me anything, drop me an email and then I can reply!!! 

Have a great weekend

Margaret x

 

'RAK' Bags

These are my little RAK bags - RAK stands for Random Acts of Kindness, and is something you do to make someone smile. My sister and I really could have done with something like this on Saturday when we visited a local supermarket and received, what can only be described as, outstanding service (and with a smile!) It was my sister's idea to use some of the mountain of chocolate we both seem to buy at this time of year 'just in case' and make some token gifts to have in times of need! So I set to and made these little bags which hold a single Ferrero Rocher. I used up some retired paper and ribbon to make some very seasy bags and added a simple 'thank you' sentiment to finish them off.

Particularly at this time of year we all seem to be rushing around (and spending too much money!) that we sometimes forget that, no matter what time of year it is, everyone likes to feel appreciated. A few pence and a little bit of time can go a long way in making that happen.

Margaret x

Simples Sunday

As promised yesterday I am back with my combined Simples Sunday and LIM card which is 'Metallic Plus One Colour'
I have used silver embossing and Night of Navy, as really I like this combination, along with the Simply Stars stamp set and a sentiment from Embellished Events.
The stars were stamped in Versamark on a square of Whisper White cardstock and silver embossed, then matted onto Night of Navy and a white card blank. You can see the shine of the embossing in the smaller photo above. The sentiment was stamped in Night of Navy, punched out with the Word Window Punch, then matted onto a Modern Label. A few Basic Rhinestones were added for a bit of sparkle.
I have to say I am much happier with this card than the one I made yesterday, a lot more CAS and more my style :0)

I hope you are having a good weekend and I'll be back soon

Margaret x

LIM - Metallic & a Colour

Firstly can I say a big thank you to Chrissie and Jen for showcasing my 'Bird' card over at LIM this week - it's very much appreciated ladies! (the card is shown bottom right)
Now onto this week's challenge which is 'Metallic & a Colour' and my card uses some retired SU products. I have to say I'm not pleased with the end result but I don't have time to make another at the moment so watch this space!
The 'metallic' part of the card is a Brushed Silver heart (cut with the retired Heart of Hearts Embosslit) and the colour is Real Red. After cutting the heart I punched a star using one of the Merry Minis punches and placed a piece of Real Red cardstock behind. I stamped the sentiment from, the also retired, Heard from the Heart stamp set onto Whisper White matted onto Real Red and a knot of Real Red Tafftea ribbon tied round before layering on a card blank. The embossed heart was then fixed on the card with dimensionals and a Basic Rhinestone added to the centre of the star.
I think it is the silver and red combination that I don't like - maybe I should have chosen a gold heart with the red or used green with the silver, who knows? Anyway I'm sure to be back for this challenge as I already have an idea for 'Simples Sunday'. In hindsight perhaps I should have stuck to my original idea and called it 'Simples Saturday' :0)

Have a great weekend

Margaret x

Magic Reindeer Food

 

Every year I make 'Reindeer Food' for my Grandchildren and, usually, I just put it in a cellophane bag with a topper. However the other day I saw these fabulous little boxes on Angie Kennedy Juda's blog

(here) so I had to make some!

I have used Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive along with Season of Style DSP and made the little Rudolph's on the front with the Small Oval Punch, Bird Builder Punch, Circle Punch and 

some googly eyes.

I have made these for the three eldest of my grandchildren as my youngest Grandson would probably eat it himself!!

For anyone who hasn't heard of Reindeer Food it is oats with glitter - the sparkle from the latter is supposed to guide the reindeer down and the oats are for them to eat while Santa negotiates the chimney :0) This year I have splashed out on (the rather expensive) edible glitter after reading that ordinary glitter can be harmful to wildlife (the birds that is not the reindeer!!)

Here is the poem that goes with the food (which is on the back of these boxes)

Just a sprinkle on the lawn at night,
The moon will make it sparkle bright.
As Santa’s reindeer fly & roam,
This treat will guide them to your home.

 Margaret x

Just a sprinkle on the lawn at night,
The moon will make it sparkle bright.
As Santa’s reindeer fly & roam,
This treat will guide them to your home. - See more at: http://www.mychicnscratch.com/2013/12/12-days-of-christmas-2013-day-2.html#sthash.LHjCJISR.dpuf

Tealight Boxes

Today I am showing you some little tealight boxes I made a couple of weeks ago for a Christmas Present Evening at a friend's house. Each of them held three red or green tealights which were decorated with some matching DSP. The boxes were made with Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler cardstock along with the co-ordinating Season of Style DSP and tied with Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler ribbon (both now retired). The embellishments were made using Mosaic Madness and the co-ordinating Mosaic Punch with a little Silver Glimmer paper.
I have to say, thankfully, these were very popular with the customers :0)

My apologies if my posts become a little erratic over the next week or so but all my spare crafting time is being taken up with making Christmas gifts and I will be unable to show these until they have been given to the recipients as I know some of them do visit my blog quite regularly!! But I will be back asap

Margaret x