Mini Christmas Milk Cartons

Hello again, Crafty Friends. You'd be forgiven for thinking that nothing was going on craft wise for me based on this blog, but you'd be wrong! I've actually been doing quite a bit, but can't share the cards I've made until I know they've gone to their intended recipients. I like things to be a surprise!

Instead I've been making the most of some of the freebies I receive as part of my subscription to Simply Cards and Papercraft. This month it was a build-a-flower die, but I've not had any inspiration to use it yet, despite all the cards inside. They highlighted, however, that Papercraft Essentials (it's sister magazine), issue 124 had a great looking Christmas die and stamp set. I swithered about it, but I knew I wanted it, and when I saw that Liz McGuire of Buttons For Brains was doing the inspiration cards, I had to get it. So I did. And it's great.

I felt like pairing it up with my other great favourite, the Mini Milk Cartons from SCP issue 136. I think it works a treat.

I actually made two of them, the second being more successful than the first, so I'll tell you how I did the second! I cut my Bazzill Bling cardstock to size and scored it on the board, as per the instructions in the magazine. 

I then die cut out my Merry Christmas and holly onto green cardstock, putting some Stick It on the back. I decided second time round it was easier to put the die cuts onto the carton before making it up, as I do with the sticky tape. 

I then carefully stuck the cartons together. I say carefully because that tape is lethal if you get it wrong and tears the card badly if you have to remove it - it usually ruins it. But if you get it right, it sticks like super glue!

You can get two cartons out of one 12x12 piece of cardstock, but as you can see, on the second, the bottom piece is shorter. It didn't seem to matter too much, and I think the second actually looks neater.

I then stamped the robin onto some Neenah 110lb cardstock (it arrived this week from Simon Says Stamp!) in Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured him with Copics, and carefully cut a circle out around him - I drew around a circle die cut as a template to make things easier.

I attached him to the top with twine, and added a mini peg for good measure. As I've mentioned before, you can get 4 Lindor in each one - they make a nice little gift.

Here are a few more arty shots - I'm getting used to my new camera. And just in case you are wondering why the holly berries are green, I'd like to say it was artistic licence, but sadly, it's just that I discovered that I don't have any red card stock at the moment - I shall rectify that soon!

[Supplies: Free die and stamp set from Papercraft Essentials issue 124; Scoreboard from SCP 136; Bazzill 12x12 cardstock; Super Sticky Red tape; Scissors; Manual Die Cutting Machine - mine is a Grand Calibur; Papermania Capsule 6x6 Solid Smooth Texture 75 sheets and coloured cardstock; Stick It; Neenah Solar White 110lb cardstock; Memento Tuxedo Black; Red Baker's Twine (free with a magazine!); Copic Markers; Mini pegs - I actually got mine in Sainsburys, but they aren't listed online]


Thank you so much for reading. I really do cherish all your comments. Have a great weekend :)

P.S. Don't forget that there's a new Clearly Besotted release this Saturday (5th September, 10pm GMT). I know what I'm getting ;)

It's a boy!

Hello, crafty friends. I don't know about you, but I can't believe it's July already. June was quite a crafty month with the Daily Marker 30 Day 2. I'm sad it's over, because I had so much fun learning new things, but all good things must come to an end, and it's time I started turning all that colouring into cards! 

Over on Instagram (it's lovely, really lovely, so much inspiration and friendly crafters!) I shared some colouring linked to a baby a friend was expecting. I hedged my bets and did two lots, one in pink and one in blue. I'm not usually quite so generic, but sometimes inspiration is lacking! Anyway, it turned out to be a boy, by the name of George, so blue it is!

I stuck with simple and decided to make a shaker too - any chance to get those Lucy Abram's shaker mixes out!

Supplies: White Card Blank (14.75x14.75cm); ME Up And Away Stamps and Dies; Papermania 6x6 Papers Capsule Collection; Memento Tuxedo Black; VersaMagic Dew Drop Night Sky; Derwent Artists Pencils; Caran D'Ache Metallic Pencils; LF Large Stitched Square Lawn Cuts; Acetate; Double-sided Tape; Red tape; Adhesive backed Fun Foam; CB Sweet Little Sentiments; Lucy's Little Things Shaker Sequin selection Glacier; Joe and Flo Baker's Twine; Sellotape Double Sided Sticky Foam Pads; Ranger Multi Medium Matte; Bazzill Cardshoppe - blue; VersaMagic Dew Drop Aspen Mist

I started by die cutting a square of blue Bazzill Cardshoppe using two of the LF large stitched square lawn cuts to make a frame. I then attached a piece of acetate to the back of the square aperture to start the shaker section. I then hand cut a piece of adhesive backed fun foam to match the size of the frame, and stuck it down on the back of my blue card. Face down on my craft mat I then filled the shaker section with lots of Lucy's lovely sequins and things. 

I then attached some very sticky red tape to the back of the fun foam, positioned it face down on my craft mat and attached the card base on the top. I'm getting better at this the more I do and this one is not too squint!

I then attached some baker's twine to the back of the balloons and then to the monkey's hand. Then, with double sided sticky foam pads, attached them to the card front as shown.

The sentiment is stamped in Aspen Mist and attached with sticky foam pads. The additional sequins started by covering a slight smudge, but I added a few more so it wasn't quite so obvious! They are stuck on with the Multe Medium Matte.

Hope you survived the mid week heat wave - that'll be summer over now in the UK, we've already had torrential rain today!

Do enjoy your weekend, whatever the weather. Thanks, as always, for reading :)

Butterflies and Roses

Two posts in two days? I'm getting carried away with all my The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge and also the Pretty Pink Posh Watercolour Blog Hop. If you haven't been joining in with the former, you have lots of time still, but with the former, you have until Monday at 11:55pm PST (which I think is Pacific Standard Time!). The cards that are there from the design team are truly inspirational, and lead into even more inspirational cards from Joe Public - I had no idea there were so many crafters and water colourists out there.

 

I started off my card with just a blank square of water colour card stock and stamped and embossed a rose and some butterflies using my free Clearly Besotted stamp set from Simply Cards and Papercraft (issue 134). I then got busy with my Spectrum Aquas using the floral range (this is the one I use most often!). This was the result:

I liked the rose and the butterflies but wasn't happy with the background, so inspired by Debby Hughes' post using tags, I got out my CB rounded tag die and cut out the rose and the big butterfly, then fussy cut out the smaller butterflies. I found some previously die cut rectangles in my scraps box, got a couple of card blanks, one Kraft, the other white and with a bit of tape adhered the rectangles to the cards, then with some fun foam, the rose and butterfly tags on top. Some twine and then another butterfly set them off. I had to cut the cards down a bit as the rectangles didn't fit so well with the size they were, so using my WRMK Envelope Punch board, I made some new envelopes for them. I loved that when the cardstock went through my die cutting machine it went from textured to smooth. A different touch.

[Supplies: Spectrum Aquas Floral; Versa Mark Ink; WOW! Embossing Powder Bright White; Simply Cards and Papercraft Issue 133; Baker's Twine - Joe and Flo; Bazzill Paper] 

I've another butterfly card I made earlier in the week that I'd like to share because the challenge at Addicted to CAS is butterfly:

 
[Supplies: Memento Tuxedo Black; CD Metallic Pencils; Wink of Stella]

Again using my CB freebies, these are simply stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with Caran D'Ache metallic pencils, with some Wink of Stella on top. Very very simple.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have time to do some colouring and join in with the blog hop :)

Mini Milk Cartons

Hello again! I had to share these fantabulous mini milk cartons that I made using the free Gorgeous Gifts score board I got with Simply Cards and Papercraft issue 136. I've used everything I've ever got with this magazine, and having realised I've bought 5 of the last 6, I've just taken out a subscription for a year - more inspiration, more people's blogs to follow and more freebies, plus some Spectrum Aquas for subscribing. Not bad!

They're made from Bazzill Basics, with some baker's twine and stuck together with red tape - so they stick really well together.

I had thought that they would be great with a little miniature whisky or gin bottle, but I couldn't find one to fit (they are quite small), so a second best option was Lindor. The little boxes are just perfect and four Lindor fit in nicely. I added the labels with 'Drink Me!' on them because they're milk cartons. Even though they're filled with chocolate, I thought 'Eat me!' would just look odd!

So much fun. Must try some of the other projects and see what other goodies I can think about buying - this is addictive!!