The C Word!

No, no, no! Not the rude word.. I'm talking about CHRISTMASSSSSS!

Last week at Ideal/Create and Craft towers, the Christmas trees appeared in reception, decorative scattered baubles and Santa Claus was hanging around the green room. 

Basically, Christmas crafting mania has started and this year I'm going to go with one of my all time favourite craft brands, Craftwork Cards.

I saw the kit teased on Facebook by Julie Hickey (who I recently met at work and is absolutely lovely and talented) and it is stunning and SO me! One of my favourite Craftwork Cards kits is the chalkboard collection and they've done a Christmas version! Perfect! And the price is very affordable, which always helps!

You can catch what all the fuss is about and watch Julie's demos this weekend at  9am onwards on Create and Craft.

Which Christmas craft collection will you be going with this year? It's never too early for crafters to think about the C word! ;)

Comic Relief Crafternoon

On Sunday, I held a Crafternoon where friends and friends of friends came over to mine and I taught them my skills in crafting and got them to make a Mother's Day card, gift bag, gift tag and gift box.

We used a variety of products and they were persuaded to bring their own craft stuff too, one lady nearly brought her entire craft room which was lovely as some of the things were unopened as she had no idea how to use them, and helping her was fab.

There was even a gentleman crafter who put us all to shame and set the creative bar high!

 

We made so many lovely things and ended up making £40 for Comic Relief/Red Nose Day which is fantastic! 

They even said they want to come again! Maybe this is the start of something new and exciting as I've always wanted to teach craft classes!

Watch this space ;)

Monthly Make - Craftwork Cards Wreath

Well the festive ribbon and toppers are safely tucked away for another year and it's time for January's monthly make!

This month I'm making a flower wreath from a Craftwork Cards kit that is currently a members offer on the Create and Craft website at the mo, so if you're a C&C member get your paws on this before it disappears!

In the kit you get enough to make 3 wreaths. Included in the pack you get ribbon, 3 chipboard rings with precut holes and loads of die cut flowers! (Which may come in handy for other projects if you have left overs!)

First of all, pop out a chipboard ring and cut 6 pieces of ribbon, 5 inches in length.

Thread these pieces of ribbon through the pre-punched holes and tie a knot. 

You will notice there are 2 holes closer together. This is the top of your wreath. I used different ribbon to tie in these holes to create a hanger loop, but you can use the ribbon that's provided if you wish. Make sure you have enough loop so you can hang it on a nail or something around the home when it's complete.

Next pop out your die cut flowers and get creative! I used an embossing tool to make the petals stand up a little so it was more 3D. Go crazy! Mix and match colours and make some wild flowers!

Next you'll need to stick your flowers on your wreath. 7 flowers should be a perfect fit but there's no limit! Obviously the less chipboard showing the better.

And there you have it! A gorgeous shabby chic wreath to hang around the home. I made one of these for my mum for her birthday and she has it hanging on a notice board in her kitchen which looks great! They'd also be great valentines/Mother's Day gifts.

If you're not a C&C member or missed out, you can buy the Craftwork Cards 2 piece wreath kit here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Craftwork-Cards-Create-Wreath-Kit-Vintage/dp/B00CMVD6R4

Congrats!

Lots of girls and boys will be celebrating passing their GCSEs tomorrow including a work experience girl we have working with us at the moment, so I made her a little something to say Congrats!

This was made from the cake shop kit from Craftwork Cards. To see a tutorial on pop up cards see my precious bog here: http://mamamakesandbakes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/pop-up-box-cards.html?m=1 

Good luck to everyone expecting results this year!

Snowman and the Snowdog Christmas cards!

I've been very busy preparing for Christmas! Here's a Selection of Christmas Cards with my Hunkydory the Snowman and Snowdog kit! Enjoy!

Tonic Gold!

Have you signed up to Tonic Gold yet?!

Tonic are a company that specialise in all things that cut, scissors and dies are their speciality.

They have recently opened a new website for their special fans and if you sign up (for free!) you become a member.

When you're a member you can access a special members gallery for inspiration, downloads from Tonic, competitions and special offers.

Don't forget to put your address in your profile, because when you do you recieve a special gift! (I got mine in 2 days!)

It's a gorgeous 'made with love by' die, which I just love using, it's so lovely!

I can't wait to use it on all of my creations. :)

See you on www.tonic-gold.co.uk!

Pop Up Box Cards

Pop Up Box cards are a brand new craze in the crafting world right now, the more popular they get the more kits companies bring out so bring it on!

I bought a kit that was pre cut and scored by Craftwork Cards but they are very simple to make from scratch. I just folded it in the right places, and put double sided sticky tape in the right places. Sticking it together isn't a work of origami fortunately! (I suck at Origami)

Once you have the base card you are free to decorate! My kit came with panels that i just had to guilloutine them to size and stick them on the sides. Next I popped out the embellishments and stuck them on the sides and on the cardboard sticks that all came with the kit. Decorating was really fun! Best of all they fold flat to put in an envelope and send without additional charges!

Try making your own, Post your own creations in the comments!

Happy crafting!

Mama x

Grandpa's Birthday Card

I find it really tough to find/make male birthday cards. I just find they're always so generic. My dad doesn't like fishing, football or DIY so.. none of the cards in the stores suit him! Also, when making cards, I sometimes find it tough to make a card not look too girlie.

I was appointed to make a birthday card for Charlie's grandpa Bob, and decided to look through my dies to see what I could whip up. I found a shoe die and decided to get creative!

I put the shoe die through my big shot and decided to work my way around it on the card, finding card stock and papers to match. The papers I used was from an A5 paper pack by Papermania called 'Elegance'.

I covered some card with the papers, and wrapped a matching ribbon around the card, placing a sentiment in the middle of the card, which was also from the Papermania Elegance range, so it matched perfectly.

To go with my shoes, I made a bow tie from some ribbon and some tape. I made a knot in the middle of the ribbon and then folded one side in sticking it with double sided tape, did the same to the opposite side. To neaten it up I folded a smaller separate piece of ribbon over the knot, to give it that bow tie effect.

My die cut shoes looked boring on their own so I decided to loop some waxed cord from my macramé bracelet making through the shoe lace holes. Then, to outline the detail I used a brown pro marker to gently outline the embossed detail.

When I stuck it all together on the card it looked great! Elegant and manly.

Do you have any tips to make cards look more manly? Stay tuned as up next on the calendar is Fathers Day!

Happy Crafting!
Mama x