Sunday 27 February 2011

Vintage Buttons

I finally got to visit a fab little shop that my Husband told me about a long long time ago. Claire Grove. (the photos only show some of the bowls of Buttons. They had hundreds of them!) Its located down a little arcade that I rarely visit, so the shop was all forgotten about. Although taking a 2 year old and a pushchair into this shop was certainly not an option! Luckily I managed to escape for a couple of hours on my own with my 7 year old and we stumbled upon the shop. I could not resist!

This shop is dedicated to Buttons. They are from all over the world in all shapes and colours. Some so beautiful, its pointless buying them unless you plan to use them. But also too beautiful to give away on a card or tag.

As we were leaving the shop (after having only bought a Skull and Crossbone giant button), I spotted a giant old tin hidden under a shelf with a sign "Odds and Ends. Help yourself but please leave a donation for the RSPB" (Royal Society for the protection of Birds)
The tin was half full of all sorts of vintage used buttons. I took a handful, and Donated £1.40 (thats all the change I had other than a £10 note)


I got a total of 79 Buttons, weighing 93g. Some buttons are broken and not useful, But Im more than pleased with my selelction.



Tuesday 22 February 2011

Tag Challenge February 2011

Mothers Day Tag Challenge.

This month I've taken part in a Tag Challenge hosted by Helen at A Crafty Kind Of Truffle

This Tag was such fun to make, I really enjoyed it!
To make the Tag I used a Tim Holtz alterations die cut Tag. Dusty concord Distress ink was used on the tag base, and Walnut Stain Distress ink used on the eyelet ring and label.

The Label is a Nestabilities Label #10, and the flourish is a Tim Holtz die cut flourish cut from Chipboard and coloured using Shabby Shutters. (it came out quite dark on the grey chipboard).
The edges of the flowers were distressed with Walnut Stain distress ink again, and a button added using Raffia.

The Book corners are my favourite. These were made using the Martha Stewart Photo corner punch, which fold around the back of the page so caneasily fit onto thick items like chipboard or grungeboard. I embossed the punchies with a cuttlebug embossing folder, and added Walnut Stain distress ink.
Bronze Perfect pearls were rubbed over all raised areas to give a bronze, aged look.

Im going to be adding this tag to the front of a card to give to my Mum for Mothers Day (along with an altered photo frame I made for her, which will be added very soon!)

Distressed decoupaged card

This card was made using a kit I bought from TK Maxx in the January sales for £1.


The kit had enough bits in it to make 20 cards and included 8x8" papers, die cut flowers that have some embossing on them, some gems and lots of chipboard tags.

I distressed the edges of the paper, and the edges of all the flower layers and the edges of the chipboard tag using the Tim Holtz edge distress tool. Walnut stain Distress ink was added to all the raw edges and over the tag. I knotted some ribbon and added an extra hole to the tag.

I left the Tag blank, this is where I will add a greeting, but as I didnt make it for anything specific, it'll go itno my box until its needed then a peel off will be added.

Sunday 20 February 2011

Embossed 40th Birthday Card

This was a very quick card I made for the 40th Birthday of a "School Mum" friend.

The card blank was made by folding an A5 sheet in half lengthways.
I used a Crafts Concept embossing folder to emboss the irridescent paper. This paper is stunning. The photo really does not capture how pretty is it. It's like a vellum but its 200gsm and has a plasticy feel to it.

Tiny Gems were added to the flower centres and the peel off greeting put on.

Thursday 17 February 2011

Dufex Decoupage Flower Card

I've had a Butterfly and Flower Decoupage kit hidden away for a couple of years or so. I just couldnt get inspired by it. It was one of those kits you get on Create and Craft TV where you see lots of fab cards, but then by the time your kit arrives, you've forgotten everything.

The card blank was pre-embossed and white. I coloured it using Dusty Concord Distress ink and Cut N Dry foam. The card didnt like the distress ink very much so it came out a little patchy. I think it looks like crumpled paper. What do you think?

I added teeny tiny pale blue gems (actually nail gems I bought from ebay for about £1 for 2800!) around the oval centre and added a knotted ribbon across the bottom embossed area (The bottom embossed area had awful flowers and needed hiding)

Sunday 13 February 2011

Birthday Card using That Special Touch Masks Butterflies


At the Hobbycraft Show at the NEC in November 2010 I picked up a bargain deal of four "That Special Touch Mask" for only £2 each.

For this card I used "Butterflies" and Dusty Concord Distress ink, which I applied over the mask using cut n dry foam.
Tattered Angels Glimmer mist in Pearlescent was then sprayed over the top.
The flowers were made using corednations card which I tore into a rough circle, then tore into a spiral and wound up into a flower. (A variation of my flowers made in this video)

I added big sparkly gems and pearly beads to the flower centres, added some irridescent stickles around the edges and stuck them to the front of the card using glossy accents, along with some punched leaves made using the Woodware Embossing Birch leaf punch.

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Having a good clear out.

After buying so much stash from the Hobbycraft Sale, its all piled up in bags in the corner of our bedroom. Not exactly romantic!
So the next few days im spending sorting it all out, going through my stash and getting rid of anything I no longer want/need or havnt used for a very long time. Already off the top of my head I can think of Crafter comapnion Enveloper pro, Provocraft silent setter, plastic templates, sizzix dies, all to get rid of. And thats before I touch any of the piled up bags!

Opened up in Town is a new store called Clas Ohlson. Its very much like Ikea, but much more convienient to get to. They have fab storage boxes for a couple of pounds, of which I stocked up on a few.
As I sort my stash I will take photos for a later date to show how I store my stash.

Friday 4 February 2011

Cbeebies Show Me Show Me Miss Mouse

My 2 year LOVES Cbeebies Show Me Show Me and in particular Miss Mouse.
I can knit and Crochet, but have not done so for many many years! So my skills would need ALOT of re-newing. I find crochet easier to pick up and re-learn quickly, So I found a Monica Mouse Crochet pattern courtesy of a fab lady at Yellow, Pink and Sparkly, and here is my result!



The hardest part comes next. I had to make my own pattern for Miss Mouse clothes! EEk I am not very good at making small clothes, so I checked out the sewing patterns in John Lewis for any small dolls clothes, but nothing was suitable, so I had to measure and do it myself.
Not the most amazing clothes, but they are least the same colour and my 2 year old loves his new Miss Mouse.
In the meantime, I will continue to look out for better clothes.

Tuesday 1 February 2011

Busy, Busy

Havnt had time to work on much at the moment. I had a plea from my 2 year old to make him something. So all my spare time is taken up at the moment working on that. All will be revealed in the next day or two as soon as its completed. Im quite pleased with how this project has turned out so far.
Watch This Space!!
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