This and that!

Today my little girl has been off school poorly.  So whilst she has been having a nap on the sofa i have made a couple of bits.  For a while i have been meaning to have a go at decorating a notepad and i have eventually got round to it!

At first it didnt seem to be going well but in the end it has turned out better than i thought!.  It is really easy to do just draw around your pad and score then cut out the card slightly bigger to give a border.  i snipped off the corners and used roller glue tape to stick.  once you have covered the notepad and stuck the edges on the inside of the pad take the first page and glue it on top of the inside cover to hide the border and do the same at the back. I used ribbon and stickers to embellish.  I have also put in coloured pencils in the pack and used co-ordinating card and ribbon to wrap around the pencils. I have put them in a self seal cello bag then made a bag topper from co-ordinating Papermania card and wrote on the label using a white gel pen.

 I used Kinder mini bars for this pack and wrapped in coloured paper then decorated.

 This pack is made using some fab blue ribbon i got from Costco yesterday.  I have wrapped the kinder bar in the ribbon and glued down then used toppers to decorate and then popped them in a cello bag and used some more of the ribbon as a topper.

 This cheeky monkey is Seb and i made him from a pair of socks.  i made him a while back but he was for a swap so didn't want to share earlier.

CUTE OWL BAG

Firstly let me say sorry to everyone for my noted absence!.  i haven't been in blog world for over a week. Life sometimes gets in the way and this past week as been one of the worst i have ever had.  i don't want to go in to the details at th moment so i'll move on and tell you about thius cute bag i have made.  for a while i have had a thing for Owls and there are some lovely owl patterns,papers and accessories around.  I have been promising myself for a while that i will make something owl themed and other than a few cards i haven't got round to it.  Till now......

This is a really easy pattern to follow and didn't take that long to make.  I am going to put it up as a stocking filler for Lili for Christmas.  The pattern wasn't free unfortunately but for £6.95 i got this pattern and a cat one so not bad value at all.  It is the owl and the pussycat set from www.mellyandme.typepad.com if anyone wants to give it a go.  i didn't buy the patternb direct from here but i can't for the life of me think where i did buy it!!

A big Thankyou

A big thank you to everyone for all their lovely comments and feedback about my new shop.  It's really kind of you all to take the trouble to look at it for me.  I am working on all the feedback a got so thank you so much. 

Now back to the Christmas stocking fillers and here's a few more bits i have made...

 Chocolate Christmas tree hanging decorations.  Each circle has a n Elizabeth Shaw chocolate in the middle and ribbon for hanging from the tree.  I used a 2" scalloped punch for the outer circles and 1" circle punch for the inner.  The cute stickers are from accessorize.  the idea came from Helen over at its all fiddlefart

The jar of snowballs came from an idea over on The Moneysaving Expert Forum.

These chocolate snowmen are from Aldi.  they came wrapped in a shocking wrapper and look much nicer wrapped in cellophane with a ribbon tied round.

My New Shop


Remember i said that i has some exciting news well this is it.  Most of you probably don't know that in the real world i am a Civil Engineer and i work as a Senior Manager in Local Government.  What you will know however is the sorry economic state we are currently in and the tough budget cuts that the current Government are imposing.  Now up until recently i have really loved my job and have spent a long time working hard in what really is still a mans world. Don't get me wrong i have always dreamed of spending my days crafting all day but realistically couldn't imagine actually leaving the career that i have worked hard in. With the current crisis it is likely there will be between 400 and 500 job losses in the forthcoming months and my level is likely to be targeted quite hard.  Bearing all this in mind i have decided to start up my own online shop .  Obviously running my own business is a long long term goal but everyone has to start somewhere right?.  Anyway there are a few things i'm still not happy about on it but bear with me as i have done it all myself and know very little about computers or setting up websites so it has been a huge learning curve.  Please feel to have a nosey and let me have your feedback good or bad please as i really want to know if it is ok or just looks pants!!!.  here is the link to my shop.

More milkshakes!!

Just a quick post to show you a few more fairy milkshakes i have made.  See my previous post for what goes inside.

  Ok go on then i'll also show you the chocolate gift sets i made!!

Stocking fillers Part 3

Todays stocking filler is one i have made with my little girl in mind - because its covered in Pink. Anyone with a little girl will know if its not pink then its just not girly!! The idea was taken from a thread on MSE where someone (sorry but i can't remember who but if anyone is reading this and thinks it was them just leave me a comment and i'll edit it) mentioned they made princess shakes. i have recently made loads of snowman soup and thought this would be a nice alternative for young girls.

Heres how i made it.  I designed a label and thought up (ok my fab hubby came up) a suitable poem to put on it.  i used picnik to design the label.  Then i cut it out and stuck it on a sheet of papermania xmas backing card.  I repeated these steps so that i had one for the front and one for the back.  then i put all my ingredients together in a self seal bag.  i also used individual smaller bags inside for each of the items to make sure they stay fresh.  Then i took the sealed bag of goodies and attached it to the wrong side of one of the sheets using roller double sided glue tape.  Then i took the other sheet and attached that on top of the bag of goodies so they were sandwiched between the two sheets.

The contents i used are shown in the pic above:-

• pink milkshake powder i used nestle but there are lots around.
• mini marshmallows
• pink candy sweets
• chocolate biscuit striring sticks

If anyone wants a copy of my lable then drop me an e-mail to scratchy.cat@hotmail.co.uk and i'll send it you.

Stocking Fillers Part 2

Carrying on with the stocking filler theme i am going to post about a couple of things i made today.  Firstly these very cute christmas tree hanging sweet decorations ...

 The penguins are definately my favourite.  I got them from B&M Bargains and put them into a cello bag and then made a topper from papermania christmas card and used stickers from Accessorize for the middle.  I used a 2" scalloped punch for the outer circle and a 1" scalloped punch for the inner circle.  Finally i used a white gel pen to colour the whit dots around the edge of the 2" circle.

 This is a variation of the Friends mint gift i posted the other day.  i used a small glass jar and added mints to it.  Then i glued on some ribbon around the jar.  I punched a 2" scalloped circle for the top out of patterned card and punched a hole in the friends tag i had made (if you want a copy of this tag drop me an e-mail me at scratchy.cat@hotmail.co.uk )thread matching ribbon through the tag and glued it to the top of the jar.  then i glued the scalloped circle on top of it.  Finally i put the jar in a large cello bag (i put a piece of thick card in the bottom to widen out the bag) and tied with matching ribbon.

Back soon with some more stocking filler ideas.

Stocking fillers Part 1

                          
I have a few craft fairs coming up so have been making some bit for those and thought i would do a series of posts based around stocking fillers i am making.  Hopefully it will give you some good ideas and you can all give them a go.

So todays stocking filler is the  cheeky christmas cookie cutter gift:-

You will have to excuse the rubbish photo but i had to take it in the dark with the flash.  I got this idea from the very talented helen over at itsallfiddlefart after seeing something she had posted over on the MSE forum.  It is so easy to make.  I designed the label and then printed off onto card.  i have done two types of labels one with the gingerbread man  and hearts around the border and one plain which i have then embellished with stickers.  Punch a hole in the tag and use ribbon to attach to a pastry cutter of whatever shape you like.  i got these ones in home bargains and i think they were in a pack of 6 for £1.  Pop your cutter and tag into a self seal bag and seal up.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy!.  If anyone wants a copy of the lables i designed just drop me an e-mail at scratchy.cat@hotmail.co.uk

Crafting for Christmas officially starts now!

                                    
Ok now that Lili's birthday is out of the way i can start focusing on Christmas.  There is only 44 days till Christmas day and i have a lot of presents to do.  Now not everyone appreciates homemade gifts but personally i do.  I think it shows someone has made a real effort.  I think that people associate homemade with cheap and that certainly isn't the case most of the time.  With all the cheap shops around it is definitely cheaper to pick up bits from those than make things from scratch.  I have decided that as well as buying presents for family and friends this year i am determined to include in each present at least one item that has been handmade. Bearing this in mind i'd better get some serious crafting done!!.  I'll show you the bits i have done today so far.

Friends testube of mints.  These are dead easy to make if you want to make some.  Just buy some plastic test tubes (i got mine of ebay) and fill with tic tacs then tie some ribbon round with a tag on.  its upto you if you want to put them in a clear sealable bag but i have.  i designed the tag myself on picnik and if anyone wants a copy of it just drop me an e-mail to scratchy.cat@hotmail.co.uk and i send you my jpeg file.

Next i decided to make some animal treat bags.  I haven't got a dog but i will give these to my friend who has a dog grooming business and 2 dogs!.  I might make some for the craft fairs i have coming up to!!.  Again i designed the topper on picnik.com then stuck it onto a piece of backing card.  The text was red but i didn't like ti when it printed so i have gone over it with a black gel pen.

I picked up some red giftbags in tesco which are 20p each but on offer at 3 for 2 and thought i would have a play around.  For some reason i keep chuckling when i look at my finished santa bag.

This next gift bag i have made using some organza.  i have sewed it as a drawstring bag then threaded ribbon through and sewed on the label (which i printed onto the fabric using transfer paper).  then i have put patterned tissue paper inside.

Lastly (slightly cheating as i made this a bit back but only got round to adding the motifs today!) i have made this bag for my niece . 

Easy snowman chocolate bars

Just thought i would share some quick and easy christmas chocolate snowmen. I used this on keery's blog as a basis and amended it and also added the topper and bag.  i didn't actually print the snowman paper off from Kerry's blog- the lovely Almond over on the MSE site gave me a copy as she already had it.  They were so easy to do and this is how i made them:-

1) I covered a milkybar in the white snowman print paper that you can find on kerry's blog.
2) Then i cut out a square piece of fleece and stuck it round the top and then gathered it with a piece of silver elastic thread to make the bobble hat.
3)I cut a thin piece of fleece material and stuck onto the paper like a scarf.
4) I used a ready seal plastic card bag to put the snowman in then cut out a piece of navy blue card just slightly wider than the bag.  I then folded the card in half across the width and put it over the top of the bag and stapled in place.
5)Last of all i used Papermania christmas chipboard embellishments to decorate.  You can use pretty much anthing or even write on the topper yourself. 

If you get round to making any let me see how they turn out.

Hello kitty bag and other random makes

Tomorrow is Lili's 5th brithday party and instead of buying naff plastic party bags i decided i would sew nice organza ones with each childs name on the front.  I have done 10 and have another 12 to do - so of course i am sat here doing everything but sewing!!. I'll get back to it in a minute.  Here is what they look like so far but i will be wrapping the contents in tissue paper then putting in the bags later. Now the picture really is pants as it was taken in the dark and the bag is hung at an angle so the label looks wonky but its not i promise..

Recently i bought some gorgeous hello kitty fabric and have been waiting to use it so when my auntie asked if i would make her grandaughters personalised pump bags and crayon rolls i knew exactly which fabric to grab!!.  Heres how it turned out.

 I have cut out individual letters from fabric then used a blanket stitch around the edge of each letter.  it would have looked better if i had used a contrasting darker pink thread but i didn't have any so had to opt for pale pink. 

When i started crafting many years ago (god that makes me sound old - i'm not honest!) i used to just make cards and for quite a few years i didn't try any other crafts.  Once i started trying out new crafts i kind of stopped making many cards until recently.  i seem to have got back into it and here is a card i made last week for Lili to take to a party.  The thing i like about card making is it can be so quick to do (which is a major plus for me as a busy mum who also works full time!).

Ok now i really must get one with those party bags!!

Its been a funny week

This week has been a funny week.  There have been highs and lows.  My uncle died on sunday.  He didn't live close by so its a few years since i saw him but i really feel for my mum.  My Nan died earlier this year so she has lost her mum and brother in the space of six months.  It makes you realise that life is too short!.  On a more positive note it was Lili's 5th birthday on wednesday and she had a lovely day.  We went to build a bear factory and she picked a new teddy and an outfit (which reminds me i really need to find some patterns online to make build a bear clothes as they are extortionate to buy!!).  We had a lovely birthday tea party but her proper party is this sunday at wellybobs farm.  I have been mad busy making organza party bags for the party and i'll post a pic once i get a minute. I have also been making a few stocking fillers this week and have made some more bags of rudolph noses.

I bought some mini red sparkly baubles and added them for a bit of glam!  My friends little foster boy is 6 on sunday and they are having a party tomorrow.  She asked if i would make party bags for the party so i made these using brown paper bags.  I used picnik to design the green labels.

I recently got asked by my auntie if i would make 2 crayon rolls with matching pump bags.  i thought this hello kitty fabric would be perfect.

Coming soon i have some exciting news but i'm not going to share it today... It has something to do with my header.  I'll share more in a few days.

My first blogger award

Well i have been blogging for just over 6 months now and i can't believe all the fantastic sites i was missing out before i entered blogosphere!!!. I also love the fact that people are so so kind and take the time to comment on my posts.  I got a nice surprise the other day when the lovely emma from fragglecat nominated my blog for the versatile blog award..

Now to accept the Versatile Blogger Award the rules are:

1. Thank and link back to who gave you the award.


2. Share 7 things about yourself.


3. Pass it along to 7 blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy


4. Leave your recipients a note, telling them about the award.
 
So now i need to think of 7 things about myself...
 
1) When i was younger i used to do a lot of swimming and when i was 14 i was ranked in the top 10 in my County.
2) I lost two and a half stone on weighwatchers
3)I am scared of the dark and if hubby is ever away i sleep with the landing light on!!
4) When i am not busy i love nothing more than to put on my cosies and curl up on the sofa with a good chick flick and a bar of chocolate (unfortunately it rarely happen these days).
5)Lillies are my favourite flower and we named our little girl Lili after them.
6)I love cats and have had pepsi my little black and white moggy since we bought our first house 15 years ago.
7)I would love to emigrate to Florida as i love America  We have been 3 times and will be taking Lili next year.  The people are so friendly and everything is bigger and better.


Now if you haven't fallen asleep listening to facts about me i need to nominate 7 blogs.  This is going to be hard as i follow so many and love them all but here goes....

1) creativeflourishes - Nikki's blog is lovely and she has some great ideas.
2)craftyhelenathome - Helen's blog will make you drool she is amazing.
3)drinkingfabric - Dana is very talented and i love her makes
4)hartscorner - Sue is lovely and has made some lovely things.  She is also very nifty at revamping furniture.
5)itsallfiddlefart- What Nell can't do with paper and some embellishments isn't worth doing!!!She is brill.
6)flourgirlcrafts - Karen has some great ideas - check out her sleeps till Christmas countdown!
7)pootleflumpsblog - My MSE sewing thread buddie is so talented.  I love her fabric cats.

So there you have it Thats my noiminations although there are loads of others i would have loved to nominate too!.  Thanks again to the lovely Em for nominating me.