A Rare Christmas Card

I'm embarrassed to admit that this is one of only 4 Christmas cards I made this year. Despite a plethora of festive stamps, for the second year running, I've failed to send out any Christmas cards. Last years I was in the depths of morning sickness, so this year I'm just going to go ahead and blame the baby again! This time it's teething. I threw together 4 similar looking cards on Christmas Eve, and only because I truly couldn't bare to buy any. Maybe next year I'll be more organised (I say this every year).

Posted with Blogsy

Work in Progress

I started this as a quick present for a friend for Christmas and it has been one mistake after the other with it. First I spelt the word born wrong (that's what you get for watching tv while stitching) and now I'm just after spotting a mistake on the second line. The first two letters are one stitch taller than the rest of the line. I feel like throwing the whole blasted thing away. I'm starting to wonder if I will actually have time to finish it now. Plus it's really hard to see what you're stitching on black Aida (now I'm just whinging!) Anyone else ever get that "doomed from the start" type of feeling with a project?!

Lord of The Rings Cross Stitch

So glad to get this finished. It was like a thorn in my side! I promised a friend I would make him one for his girlfriend. He offered to pay me for it, but to be honest it's one of those things that takes ages, so I just told him to cover the cost of buying the new thread colours. Anyway the pattern is from Wee Little Stitches, love that shop! I didn't enjoy stitching this as much as the Batman's Enemies one. It feels a bit drab to me, too many earthy tones. Of course hobbits don't wear fuschia pink so I can't really complain about the colours! Next on the list is an inspiration quote for a friend, and then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Ethan!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Purple & Green Birthday Wishes.

This Lovely Layers stamp and die set really hasn't seen very much action I'm afraid. It was one of those sets that I wanted instantly, and then when it arrived I was in a bit of a crafting hole. I'm really loving the little details on the leaves. Purple and green are two of my favourite colour combos and these were the colours that were used on the birthday girl's cake. Hope she likes it!

Thanks for looking!

 

Posted with Blogsy

A few more bibs made out of scraps

I bought a bundle of scraps off Etsy, just so I would have a bit more variety to work with. Most of them were fine, but I had to piece some together to make them useable. I made up three bibs last night out of them. It didn't take too long and now I have a bunch of cute bibs for Maya :)

Posted with Blogsy

By Request of Ethan

Last night Ethan asked me if I would make him a bag for bringing some cars down to his Nanny's house. He picked out everything from the fabric down to the zip. For a four year old, he's very sure of what he likes! Another one of his criteria was it had to stand up by itself, so I tried boxed corners for the first time and it worked out fairly well.

Birch Fabrics- Cars in Cream and Kona Turquoise for the lining, both from Fluffy Sheep Quilting.

Sorry for the dark photos, but it's such a wintery day here. I miss natural light :(

 

Posted with Blogsy

Envelope Cushion

During a recent visit to Ikea, I bought a load of fabric. For this cushion, I used the Eivor Leva and an old black pillow case for the back. The cushion insert is 20x20" and is also from Ikea. The insert was only €6 and it's really comfy and chock full of stuffing. I'm making these as part of my mum's Christmas present. One down, three to go!

Posted with Blogsy

Birthday Wishes

A quick card made using PTI's Rainbow background stamp and half and half die.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Embroidery Floss Storage

I wanted to find a new way to store all my embroidery floss. The old way involved throwing it all into a giant box, not the most organised method. I used some ziplock bags, which I reinforced with tape. I punched some holes on the side so I could keep them in a folder. I grouped all the like colours together. Then I added a label on the front and listed the floss numbers on it.

I had a small A7 folder lying around which was perfect. It's so much easier to find the right colours now.

This one is full already so I'll probably have to start a new one soon.

Thanks for looking!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Baby Card

Oh dear, after doing so well with posting in July, I seemed to have lapsed a bit in September! I'll put it down to lack of sleep with Maya and Ethan going back to school. There don't seem to be enough hours in the day.

I made this card for a friend who's baby was born at 28 weeks. She is a tiny little girl, but doing so well :)

Posted with Blogsy

Batman's Enemies Cross Stitch.

I got this cross stitch finished during the week. It's a gift for my friend who is a Batman fanatic! I really enjoyed stitching this, especially Poison Ivy. I found the pattern really easy to follow and it took me about a week and a half of doing it in the evenings. The gift was a success anyway. He loved it so much that he asked me to make a Lord of the Rings one for his girlfriend. Sorry about the glare on the photo, but I forgot to take a photo before I framed it.

Just editing to add in the details of the design. I bought a PDF of the design from an Etsy shop called WeeLittleStitches. I highly recommend them and found the owners, Jacqueline and Christopher, great to deal with.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Birthday Wishes.

Another quick birthday card using scraps. Absolutely love this patterned paper from Basic Grey, so pretty. I also used a half and half die cut and Beautiful Butterflies dies.

Thanks for looking!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Happy Birthday!

This was my first time breaking out my PTI Background Basics Rainbow stamp. Predictably, I absolutely adore it. I stamped it with Hawaiian Shores ink and then added a few elements that I had spare from other projects. It took all of ten minutes seeing as I had most things die cut and stamped already.

Thanks for looking!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Simon Says Stamp Children's Challenge

 

Ethan has been busy painting the last few days, so I thought I would enter his monster picture into the Simon Says Stamp Children's Challenge.

Posted with Blogsy

Halloween Card

I was dying to make a Halloween card after getting the new Authentique paper pad. The green paper is from Basic Grey. I die cut the letters from Smokey Shadow cardstock and the coffin is a Cuttlebug die cut. I used the heart border from PTI to make the little scallops along the bottom of the card and finished it off with some orange bling. Thanks for looking :)

Posted with Blogsy

Echo Park This and That Charming

I got this new paper pack during the week, and finally made a few layouts with it. Here are the first two from our holiday in Kilkenny last year.

 

Posted with Blogsy

10 Minute Craft Dash Challenge.

In an attempt to be more productive with my craft time, I'm joining the Pretty Pink Posh 10 Minute Craft Dash Challenge. This card took me 7 and a half minutes, a record time for me as I spend so much time faffing about. I used a bunch of scraps and PTI's Natural Beauties set. The leaves come from The Sweet Life. I also want to enter the Basic Grey challenge "Anything Goes". The green paper is from Basic Grey's PB&J paper pad. Thanks for looking :)

 

Posted with Blogsy

Altered Noticeboard.

I needed a noticeboard for my craft room, so I picked up this cheap one from a discount shop. It was only €4, so if my plans went horribly wrong it wouldn't be too much of a disaster! 

I sprayed the frame with black gloss spray paint first. However, the coverage wasn't great, so I went over the whole thing with black acrylic paint. I used some Alexander Henry fabric to cover the cork board. I attached it with scor-tape and then pushed the edges of the fabric into the frame with a scalpel. To finish, I hot glued some red buttons to the corners. The red and black buttons in the middle are hot glued onto push pins to jazz them up a bit. Looking at the picture, I realise I forgot to reattach the white board marker.

I plan on using the white board to keep track of any challenges I want to enter. I probably won't use the bottom part, because I like the fabric too much to cover it!

Posted with Blogsy

CASED Card

I saved an image of a card from Dawn McVey so I could case it, but I can't find the link back to it now. Found the link! I can't see myself ever getting tired of this stamp set...EVER!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Welcome Baby

I love this onesie die but I find it hard to embellish for some reason. I kept it simple and used my new photo finishers die for the sentiment. The duck image is from Night Night Moon, and I popped it up with some dimensionals.

Thanks for looking :)

 

Posted with Blogsy

The Sweet Life

I got my new PTI order today, perfect timing as I have a ton of cards to make. This one uses The Sweet Life cabbage rose set. The flowers on the right are a bit wonky, as I didn't have the patience to practice stamping them first! I love this set, the flowers are super pretty.

Thanks for looking :)

Posted with Blogsy

Canvas Button Art

I found this 6x6 canvas in the €2 shop and have been trying to think of something to do with it for a few weeks. There were loads of ideas on Pinterest, but this post on Mod Podge Rocks made me decide on using buttons. I have a BIG surplus of buttons, so it seemed to be a good way of using my stash.

I used a square of PTI Autumn Rose card stock as a base and then layered some white linen card over it. I did a rough circle and then just started sticking down buttons. I used scortape and it holds perfectly. I suppose a glue gun would be good too, although I find I get those stringy glue bits on my projects. The buttons are from PTI mainly, in the shades Autumn Rose, Hibiscus Burst and Simply Chartreuse. I added some bling and pearls to fill up the smaller spaces. And that's it, about a half hour of work and I have something nice to hang on my wall. I think I will get a bigger canvas and maybe do one with felt flowers.

Thanks for looking!

 

Posted with Blogsy