For My Baby Girl - Totally Tilda DT Card & A Pins Tutorial

Good morning peeps,

I'm off Christmas shopping with hubby this afternoon, he's not like me happy to shop online he's a strange man he loves a trip round the shops, according to my friends he's very rare as their hubby's moan about it & refuse to go, maybe I should rent him out for shopping trips, he insists on carrying the bags, & he opens doors, any takers lol.

The Christmas lights are being switched on in town which I've not bothered going to see since Ali & I took our kids many moons ago & we were outraged as Santa was switching the lights on & the poor chap arrived in the back of a clapped out old Ford Cortina & nobody even realised he was in there when he went past as we were all waiting for a sleigh. While Ali & I were ranting loudly & feeling sorry for Santa those naughty children of ours disowned us, I've warned hubby as he's making me go again I will have another tantrum if Santa gets shoved in the back of a rusty old car again lol.

Waffle over I could feel myself getting all stressed worrying about Santa lol.

Today is new challenge day at

TOTALLY TILDA

& this fortnight our challenge is

MASKING

Today's post is picture heavy as I've also added a tutorial

Ingredients -

Images - Magnolia Holly Tilda & Fireplace, Whiff Of Joy Christmas Tree

Medium - Copics

Paper - Magnolia & Hero Arts Kraft cardstock

Flowers - Wild Orchid

Pearls - Hero Arts

Sentiment - Sentiments 4 You (thanks Blondie x)

Lace - Kaiser, Pom Pom trim - The Ribbon Girl

Sparkle - crystal glamour dust

Tools - Magnolia Doo Hickey mistletoe & Spellbinder Fancy Tags

Jodie gave me strict instructions that she wanted a book card for Christmas after seeing the first one I made for the lovely Camilla HERE, so this one will be for my baby girl, I wish I'd sorted my bells out before I took this piccy look at them they've rolled all over the place lol.

 The inside I have decorated with some Raspberry Road digi papers, some lace from eBay, and the edge of the accordion is punched using my favourite MS Aspen PATP, the ribbon is May Arts sheer ruffle edge ribbon 

 I've made a pocket frame using nesties, the tag is a Go Kreate die, and I've inked up 4 adorable Magnolia Mini's, Unwrapped Tilda, Star Tilda,  Christmas Morning Tilda, & Tilda as Lucia, all these little cuties are currently in stock at SIMON SAYS STAMP.

I have been lucky enough to collect several of the cute Magnolia Mini's but hadn't realised quite how much they vary in size until I stamped them in a row.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges -

Hanna & Friends - sketch, 2 Sisters - let it sparkle, Craft Your Days Away - embellishment bingo (ribbon, flowers & pearls), Floweret - Christmas cards, Just Magnolia - ribbons, Winter Wonderland - what a cutie, Delightful Challenges - bingo (dimension, ribbon/lace, sparkle/glitter), By The Cute & Girly - Christmas girls, Cooking It Up With Katie, die cut, tag, Christmas, Everybody Art - little present, Papertake - when is a card not a card!, Bunny Zoe's - Christmas & pearls

Lots of you lovely peeps have asked for a tutorial to show how I make my pins so I finally got around to doing it yesterday, they are really quick and easy to make

Homemade Pins Tutorial

Ingredients -

Beads - I bought mine either off eBay, Simon Says Stamp or my local craft shop

Seed Beads & Spacers - mine were from eBay, shops such as Bunny Zoes or Quixotic Paperie also stock a small selection

Pliers - pinched off of hubby which I use to straighten the pins out

Glue - Crafters Pick from Wild Orchid Crafts or Glossy Accents

Pins - Whiff of Joy & eBay

 I made a few mistakes when buying beads, spacers etc buying some that were too big so I have included all the measurements to save you from doing the same. Rather than buy loads and then not like the colours as sometimes they look different IRL I would just buy a colour such as white or clear beads which will go with virtually every colour scheme

The beads caps I use are 5 or 6mm, spacers vary between 5 & 7mm, and the plain headpins I buy are either 500 or 600mm & I believe they are actually for making earrings so are all in the jewellery section on eBay. I also use Whiff of Joy pins which already have a decorative cap on the end.

From left to right you can see the plain headpin, a bead on the pin without a beadcap or spacer, then 2 different Whiff Of Joy pins, a pinhead with a 5mm spacer on the end, and lastly a pinhead with a 6mm beadcap on the end

I tend to make my pins in batches and sit popping beads, spacers etc on pins ready to glue while I am sat watching TV as I'm a fidget and always have to be doing something

I always use Crafters Pick or Glossy Accents as my glue as they are both strong and clear drying, and I use a cocktail stick to apply a small amount between each bead / spacer and also at the end of my last bead whch is usually a seed bead

Then I pop them on their end somewhere to dry, I find a wicker basket perfect for this, and in true Blue Peter style here's some I made earlier lol

I hope that helped the ladies that asked for the tutorial, and if you are still with me after all that, thanks for stopping by

Santa Claus Lane - Simon Says Stamp DT Card & A Twirly Thingy Tutorial!

Good morning peeps,

Yesterday my plans of spending the whole day playing in my craft room went to pot as hubby now has another week off work & idiot here went & bashed & bruised her bad shoulder on a door & then forgot what I was doing & pulled my cars handbrake on with my bad arm instead of reaching over & doing it with my right hand, I won't tell you what I said but the air was blue both times lol.

Today is new challenge day at

Simon Says Stamp

& this week our challenge is 

photo inspiration

The possibilities are endless with this lovely piccy, just perfect for Remembrance Day, thinking of you, use the colours, poppies etc.

I did intend using a Poppy stamp but Poppies make me feel sad as they always make me miss seeing my dad all dressed up & proud in his uniform, buttons all polished up ready for the Remembrance Day Parade through the town.

Anyway back from memory lane lol, I decided to make a Christmas card instead & challenge myself to use the colours as I don't usually use the traditional reds & greens for Christmas cards and to be honest I'm not sure I will again lol.

Ingredients -

Images - Magnolia, Santa hands out presents, Holly Swirls & Santa bench

Medium - Copics

Papers - Melissa Frances Deck The Halls

Sentiment - Inkadinkado

Sparkle - gold & diamond stickles

Pearls - Melissa Frances

Twirly thingy - homemade using MS Microbeads, scroll down for tutorial

Tools - MS Poinsettia Flourish PATP, Nesties, Spellbinder fancy tags, Magnolia Doo Hickey Mistletoe, Hellebores & leaf

As always our lovely Heidi is sponsoring our challenge with a whopping $50 in store spending spree.

Don't forget to keep an eye on the store blog for new products, tutorials & fabby giveaways

 I'm not entering any challenges this time as I just don't have time :(

I've had loads of requests to share a tutorial of how I make my "Twirly stems" so I hope this helps

Ingredients -

 Micro Beads / Glitter

Florists wires (not the really thin ones) from garden centres / florists or other floral suppliers

 Spray adhesive / strong glue

Tray or scrap paper

Thin stick / pen / plastic straw

Oasis (optional)

I begin by wrapping one end of my wire around the stick (I've used an Orchid plant support stick), and gradually turn the stick while holding the wire to coil it around the stick

 Once you are near to the end of your wire straighten out the end of the wire as this "stem" is used to glue the twirly on the card, and then slide off the stick

 The shorter & wider "Twirly stem" I coiled by wrapping around a quickie glue pen to show the sizes vary depending on the thickness of the the stick/pen/straw etc you are using to wrap the wire around so use whichever suits you

 Once the wire has been "twirled" I pop the glitter or micro beads in the tray ready to use & either give the twirly a really good spray of adhesive or "dunk" the twirly in the glue, remove and let any excess run off back into the bottle. I've used Colall glue mainly because I'm able to show you properly what I mean as it's easy to see through the bottle, & I tend to squeeze the bottle to make the glue rise and cover my twirly properly. If you use this Colall glue you need to work fast with it as it's fast drying.
 I find the Stick & Stay spray easiest & quickest to use, luckily I am well stocked up on this at the moment as I have 2 new cans left over from my DT packs from when I designed for Crafters Companion.

After any excess glue has dripped off or you have sprayed the twirly thoroughly with adhesive, roll it around in the microbeads / glitter keeping hold of it by the stem & making sure it is all covered.

Now pop your twirly stems either in oasis or out of the way somewhere to allow the glue to dry thoroughly and you're done.

In the picture below the 2 twirly stems on the left are from Magnolia Sweden & were part of my prize for winning TOMIC, and the tall thin twirly I have covered with glitter and the other 2 with micro beads to show the difference.

As you can see there are different heights and widths, it's totally up to you to choose the size you want them just adjust the space between each coil when shaping the wire, there is no right or wrong way of making them just have fun and I hope this helps & it all makes sense!

I'm done peeps, it's miserable weather so I'm going to have a lazy day and catch up with some blogging and try and decide what I'm going to do for a large order of party invitations.

Thanks for stopping by

The Jolly Elf & A Mini Tutorial

Hello peeps,

No you aren't seeing things I am back with a second post today, very rare I know but I started this little card on Monday & added the finishing touches after watching Ireland win their game of rugby this morning. It's been a good weekend for me rugby wise England and Ireland both won, woo hoo, I'm a bit worried about our Johnny though he's not his usual amazing self, fingers crossed he's back on form next weekend.

Ian and Jodie have just gone off on his motorbike to the beach to top up their tans as it is so bizzarely hot and sunny for October, I am so jealous I could just do with some nice fish and chips at the seaside but it looks like spag bol at home for me sob sob, lol.

Ingredients -

Image - Magnolia, Jolly Elf Tilda

Medium - Copics

Papers - Raspberry Road

Flowers - Kort & Godt, Prima & Wild Orchid

Lace - stash & Wild Orchid (I think!)

Pearls - Hero Arts

Charm - Darice

Tools - MS Aspen PATP, Memory Box Bianca Snowflake, Nesties, Magnolia Doo Hickey Dream Tag, Spellbinder Fancy Tag

Copics - Skin, E000, E00, EO1, E11, R20, Hair - E25, E31, E50, Dress & Hat - E50, E51, E53, Tights & Dress patches - E00, E0000

I've added lots of crystal glamour dust for that lovely sparkle, and my pin is homemade. All of the little snowflakes scattered about are from the Aspen PATP

I'm entering my card in the following challenges -

TOMIC - sketch & inspirational piccy, Winter Wonderland - how charming, Crafty Emma's - totally gorjuss/pretty girls, Top Tip Tuesday - 2 or more lace 

Mini tutorial of the boxes I make to send my cards in -

The most frequently asked question I get is "what size envelopes do you make or buy to send cards in using the punch around the page border (PATP)"

The answer is I don't use envelopes I always make boxes as these also stop the flowers getting squashed so I've done a quick tutorial showing the boxes I make. Apologies the piccys aren't the best I did try taking them outside but I couldn't find any shade to take them.

INGREDIENTS -

2 x 8.4" (21cm square) thick cardstock - 250 or 300gsm

Crafters Companion Top score multiboard

Scissors

Bone folder

Mini pegs

Strong glue

The card I use is generally A4 which is perfect as it's already the correct width I just have to cut it lengthways to make it square

 When you look at the multiboard at the side with lots of lines you will see in the bottom right corner it will either say Box Base or Box Lid.

To make the box base I've taken my white card and scored all the way around on the first line where it says BOX BASE, if you don't have this board the score is at 1.7cm

Flip the board around to make the lid and on the next piece of card (I've used coloured card for the lid) score all the way around on the first line where it says BOX LID, again if you don't have this board the score lines are at 1.5cm this time. The 2mm difference ensures the lid will sit over the base properly, if you forget to flip your board around which I have done in the past you will end up with either 2 lids or 2 bases which won't work together.

 .

 I then snip all of the corners as shown, crease the score lines, add a small amount of glue to the corner flaps and hold with a mini peg to allow the glue to dry

 That's all done, you should now have a perfect size box for the larger cards with the PATP borders.

I hope I've explained properly and this helps, if not feel free to ask anything you aren't sure of.

Don't forget our anything goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp, please come and join us and link up anything you have made since our challenge started on Wednesday we are trying to reach our 1000 entries again

That's me done peep's I'm off to attempt a little tidy up of my craft room and catch up with some more blogging as I can't manage a walk along the beach at the moment, sob sob lol.

Thanks for stopping by

Shabby Chic Tilda Wreath - Totally Tilda DT, & A Little Tutorial

Good morning peeps,

I really enjoyed a good old blogging session yesterday and managed to catch up with lots of lovely blogs. Thankfully I am feeling loads better, bizarrely I had this mad idea to clean the oven at 7.30am so you can tell those antibiotics are working lol.

Today is new challenge day at

TOTALLY TILDA

this fortnight we would love to see

 HANGING CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

A big thank you to my lovely teamies for their "helpful" suggestions on how to help cure chest infections & how to help my chest grow, those girls are bonkers & do make me laugh lol.

For this challenge I have created a shabby chic wreath, I have added a little tutorial on to my post to help those of you who may be interested as I do get lots of emails asking how I have done things or what I've used so hopefully I can explain all as I go

I have added a couple of sweet little Tilda's to my wreath, Tilda with hanging heart (mini available here) & Tilda with hanging star (mini is here) from A Merry Little Christmas 2010 Collection. I have coloured these little cuties with distressed inks and stamped a Magnolia Sleigh Bells Ring sentiment from So Jolly 2009 Collection on a strip of white card which I've attached at an angle across the wreath and popped a little Tilda on each end.

 The roses are from Hobby Craft, the leaves are made with a Magnolia Rose Leaf Doo Hickey, both have been given the full glamour dust treatment for that lovely sparkle

The snowflakes are die cut using a Whimsey die and these have been covered with Twinklets Diamond Dust which has a gorgeous sparkle & adds texture to the snowflakes. I've popped a large American Crafts brad through the centre of the snowflake to finish it off and added a few little butterflies here and there

At the top of the wreath I've added a dried orange segment, a cinnamon stick and popped a little wooden button on it

On the bottom of the wreath I've added another dried orange segment and a bow in the same ribbon that I've used to hang the wreath. The pearl branch thingies are from my stash.

 I'm entering my wreath in the following challenges -

2 Sisters - Christmas in July, Allsorts - free & easy July, Secret Crafter - holidays, Crafty Emma's - Christmas, Sugar Creek Hollow - winged things, Craft Us Crazy - Christmas in July, Dutch Dare - buttons, bows, brads & bling, Moving Along With The Times - favourite things (Tilda's, roses, sparkle), Bah Humbug - shaped cards/projects, Stamp Something - Christmas, Magical Monday - texture, Fun With Shapes & More - anything but a card

WREATH TUTORIAL

 I have a quick tutorial to share of how I made the wreath. I didn't intend making a wreath I was planning on making a hanging snowflake decoration but while watering my tomato plants in my green house I spotted the metal rings I use for making wreaths at Christmas using the branches off the bottom of my friend Helen's real Christmas tree, and that was that, I had a light bulb moment & started drowning my poor tomato's with the hosepipe while I was daydreaming thinking of ideas of  how I would make the metal ring into a Tilda wreath lol

The wreath is very easy to make but time consuming!

Ingredients -
1 x metal wreath ring (bought from my local garden centre)

Muslin fabric

ribbon

masking tape & double sided tape

images / embellies of your choice

As the wreath ring I used is metal & not new I didn't want any marks from the ring on the fabric so to protect the fabric I wrapped the whole ring in double sided tape and then went over it with masking tape.

 I cut loads of strips of muslin approximately 1" wide and 4 or 5" long. These are all really rough cut and it doesn't matter if they aren't the same size.

It's advisable to make a cup of coffee now and sit comfortably as this bit takes a while lol

I then started tying the muslin close together all around the ring

 When you have almost finished adding the muslin leave a gap big enough to thread the ribbon through to hang the wreath and keep adding muslin right up to the edge of the ribbon, don't worry about a gap where the ribbon is it will be covered as shown below

 When you've finished & covered the ring shake the wreath upside down just to fluff up the fabric from where you've been squashing it while tying the muslin on and you'll see the gap where the ribbon is is now covered just by fluffing the fabric. You'll be able to see now if there are any gaps that need a bit of extra muslin adding to it, if not that's it, all done, see I said it was easy lol.

 It's now ready to decorate as you wish.

I added all my embellies and Tilda's using Darice tacky glue which I ran out of part way through so also used Crafters Pick glue, these are both really strong glues and favourites of mine.

That's me done peeps, I will add this to my tutorial link on the top of my blog in case anyone wants a look at it at a later date.

Please pop over and take a peek at my lovely teamies gorgeous creations as always they have a fabby range of inspiration for you.

I must go and make a start on my Simon Says Stamp DT commenting, it's lovely to see so many entries but I had a bit of a fright when I realised how many there already are in the anything goes challenge, that will keep me busy for quite some time lol.

Thanks for stopping by