An elf treat

Hello Blog pals ,

Every Xmas I make my little sister a special gift for her babies (her 4 cats)

This year was no exception, I designed these little wraps to go around a bag of cat treats.

I started by die cutting 2 tags from printed card stock , and then several small die cut hearts onto plain card and pattern paper.
I glued a pattern heart onto the plain one and chopped one in half to form the folded over part of the hat and attached a glittered punched circle to the end to form the bobble , and cut a smaller heart in half for the ears

A couple of punched out black card circles dotted with a white ink pen to form the eyes , and the tip of a brush dipped in an ink pad for the cheeks .

The two tags were glued together at the bottom and the bag of cat treats popped inside. The tags were held to the bag with a glue dot and a black strip of card wrapped around the middle to hold it all together with a glittery belt buckle ................

these little guys were really fun & easy to do 

Happy makings 

Bev xx

Anyone for pudding???

Hi Bloggy chums,

just a quick pop in to show off my latest crochet effort .

 I was inspired by the wonderful Janet from yellow,pink & sparkly who always seems to create such wonderful  woolen wonders.

So with my collection of teapots growing by the week it seems , what better way of giving that Great British staple " the good old cuppa" pride of place and let it join in with the festivities that are just around the corner .
As usual with me I just grabbed my crochet hook and yarn and following no particular pattern , ended up with this !!!!

Not quite as tasty as the real thing , but a lot less calories LOL xxx


Have a wonderful Christmas everyone and happy makings for 2014

Bev

Craft Mojo Christmas

Hello to my lovely blog chums,

we'll yet again I didn't keep up my blogging as promised due to all the hussle & bussle of family and work , but I did manage to complete my task for this months  Craft Mojo DT.

As you may have guessed the theme this month is CHRISTMAS, so with that in mind I began the cutting sticking and glueing .

This idea came to me almost immediately as this months theme was announced.

I've always hankered after those warm cosy farmhouse kitchens , smelling of spices , turkey and full of christmassy spirits and days of old with a big kitchen dresser filled with lovliness, of course the chances of me actually having one is just a dim & distant dream , but dream I can and although my version my not be the fully size it gave me a warm glow when I had finished it .

I made a few boxes from card stock 2 large & 2 smaller match box sized ones and attached a brad in each
 I then made an outer casing to house them in , and finally a larger box to sit on top of the first one with a couple of strips of card inside , now bear with me I know it sounds complicated but its not really .

I then made some really diddy boxes out of pattern paper and tied them up with spangly ribbon. I managed to find a tiny china tea set which I painted with my promarkers for added fun, a little bit of xmas bunting  and hey presto it was all done

it was really fun to do and I do hope you can join in with this months Challenge at Craft Mojo

Happy Makings
Bev xxx

The trains ready to leave

Hi to all in blog land,

I've been busy up in the craft room of late making this and making that trying to get organised for the craft fair at the beginning of December after the madness of the 50th wedding party bits and pieces.

My thoughts turned to Christmas and I thought I would be a good Grannie and make my Grandtots a  special advent calender each . I saw a lovely video on you tube from some very clever ladies and based my idea on what they had shown with  my regular tweek on things .

Its starts by making several very simple boxes , as many or as few as you decide to make these are all joined together with ribbon to form the carriages and of course we have to have a big Daddy engine to pull them (if only in my imagination)

I played around with different size boxes until I was happy that they all fitted together nicely and resembled the above mentioned engine and joined this to the carriages.

Some printed buttons stuck onto card stock made up the wheels and a few printed images dotted along each carriage side with a Christmassy image finished them off.  I made little triangle paper pouches and filled them with sweeties and numbered them with the countdown to Christmas with a  larger chocolate prezzie sitting inside the engine to open on crimbo morning.

I hope they will like them and have as much fun eating them as I had making them

Happy Makings


Bev

OH SO COMFY

Hello bloggie chums ,

I have once again neglected you all and for that I apologise , so with that in mind I have given myself a good talking too and have promised that I will post every day for a week to try and make amends .

So onto the first one ,
with winter just around the corner( so we are told) , I decided that a warmer kind of crafting fest should get underway , so off I went to find my trusty old crochet hook.

 After a few moments dithering with colours and yarn types and what I actually wanted to make , I sat down in the Grannie armchair to begin work.

Of course what starts out as just a little something to keep my hands busy didn't quite end up that way.I crocheted and crocheted  mixing this yarn and that ,making the pattern up as I went along as I often do , and trying out a couple of new crocheted flowers that I found patterns for on the internet.

A few hours hours later a couple of very comfy new cushions were done.

I do love it when you have a nice piece of work at the end of it .

Happy Makings

Bev

Inspirational book for November

Good morning to all blog chums ,


I have been up to my usual tricks again in the craft room and messing around with paper and glue. October has passed us by and Christmas is almost here , but before the madness of the wonderful season settles in I just wanted to share my latest creation with you all which I made for the lovely Craft Mojo DT.


This month challenge was "Anything Goes" and I took my inspiration from the very talented Astrid  @ Astrids Artistics Efforts who showed a post on how she made her altered book . Like Astrid I had seen these books before and this seemed like the perfect time to have a go and make one myself .

At this point the dilemma of what design I wanted set in , I choose my favorite flower THE ROSE .

I began by removing a few of the pages from the book from both the back and front sections, (this helps it to stand up better when finished), I covered the book with some pretty paper on the reverse  just to hide the original spine and actual title of the book, and also on the inside front & back covers

The pages were then folded in half a few at a time and each section was given a quick woosh of acrylic paint just down the middle of the page.

 I punched some circles from pearlescent card stock and shaped them to form petals for the roses and as I only have one die which luckily contained a leaf shape& swirls ,  I cut these out and coloured them with promarkers to form the leaf stems.

I tied ribbon around one end and this acts as a hinge to keep the book open , although this not needed if you prefer the book to be left completely open as this adds another dimension, and added a little ditty just for fun

I hope you give this a try , they are really fun to do and have time to join in this months challenge at Craft Mojo I've already made another couple as I had a request from my Mother and one for a xmas prezzie 

Happy Makings   

Bev xx

Halloween project

Hi to all my blog chums ,


I just can't believe that September has been and gone in a flash !!!!

So the days are getting a bit chillier and the nights a little darker which can only mean one thing ....  that Halloween must almost be upon us .

As you know I am delighted to be part of the CraftMojo design team, and this months challenge is of course HALLOWEEN.

I like to create things that are a little different so I pondered all the things that came to mind about the Witching time of year and decided on a Spell Book with a little twist.

In the absence of any thick-ish card in my stash for the book cover I disected my desk blotter and recycled the backing board into the book cover. I added different splodges of acrylic paint until I got the  look I wanted and whilst the paint was drying peeled back and scrunched up different layers of the card so it began to look like faux leather and punched a couple of holes for the fastenings .








I then made a couple of simple boxes and attached them to both the back and front covers.

Then the fun part ......I painted a simple moonlit  sky, and cut out some house shapes , put some old sweet wrappers in the windows, ripped some black card into hills and edged them with a marker and finally cut a couple of bat shapes from some black card just for added spookiness and stuck it inside the box of the front cover.

The back cover is the witches den . I coloured some stonework onto card stock added broomstick made from coloured paper and a real twig, some  fun foam  which I heated over a candle and formed the cauldron and filled that with cotton wool dipped in some green paint and glitter and cut & coloured some witches jars out of card.

The book closes as you can see and I made the star from tracing around a drawn shape with my hot glue gun and just dusting with some gold paint .The little cobwebs which hang between the boxes was made from all the stringy bits that you end up with from your glue gun.

Any how I hope you like it , and that you have time to pop over to the CraftMojo October blog challenge , we would love to see you there.

Happy Makings

Bev xx

Autumn

Good morning  blog chums,

as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I was very excited to be asked to join the Craft Mojo design team.

Today is the start of a new challenge on the blog and the theme is  AUTUMN COLOURS . Please pop over and have a look and enter the challenge which runs until the end of this month . There is a £10 prize up for grabs for the winner to spend in the new Craft Mojo on-line shop

I made this little wall hanging for my first design on the team .

I backed some lovely autumn coloured paper onto heavy card stock, then mat and layered some different papers from my stash in shades of orange & green before I added the hand drawn image (which I coloured with Promarkers) to them .
I framed the whole picture with some garden twine which I twisted to form the basis of the tree , before I cut out the little leaves with crinkly scissors from snippets of papers I had left over.

Happy Makings 

Bev xx

The Secret Bouquet

Hi Bloggie chums ,

as promised a quick update on the goings on with all things for "The Party".

After the Fathers buttonhole had been made (see previous post ) , it was full steam ahead with the bouquet for the Mother .
 I toyed with the idea of whether it should be a spray or posie type of arrangement , and settled on a posie.  I already had a picture in my head of what I wanted it to look like.
After a visit to the shops for some fabric & lace , and trying to track down some affordable vintage type jewellery for the flower centres,  the creating began and of course with the anniversary celebrating 50 years of marriage the flowers were all made in cream, gold, yellow & ivory.

So without any more waffling from me here is the finished bouquet for my wonderful Mother , just hope she likes it .

It then dawned on me that I would have to put it into a presentation box of some sort , so I set about making something to house it in , and this is what I came up with

 happy makings one and all 

Bev xx

Its almost here

Hi Blog chums ,

I have been very busy of late , trying to organise all things in readiness for a secret party I have been planning.
I'm almost done , which isn't bad considering I have been planning this since February .
          "What's the occassion " I hear you ask ??
Well it gives me the greatest pleasure to let you all know that my parents will be celebrating their 50 th wedding anniversay in Sept .
Of course the party will be a complete surprise to them as they don't actually know its happening .
So with the creative head in a blur I have almost completed the mammoth task of making , baking & organising.  The theme is an afternoon vintage tea party but with food , music and dress code of the 60's, a bit of a mish-mash I know but go with the flow peeps.
 Just a couple more decorations to do, and to add to the spirit of the day I thought I would make things a bit more traditional (with a twist of course) by making a buttonhole for Dad & bouquet for Mum all from fabric .

 So here goes ....Dads buttonhole

Hope you like it , off to make the bouquet now !!!!

Happy makings

 Bev xx

Grown up colouring fun

A big hello blog chums.

As I was so impressed with my new found love of these marker pens (see previous post) and all the fun I had designing the flower dress forms , I thought I would have a go at incorporating them into a full piece of artwork.

I gathered my supplies - marker pens , watercolour panel board and the dress form, now onto the theme of the artwork ......mmmm what to do.
I played it safe and stuck with my love of Alice in Wonderland , taking elements of that wonderful story to put into my artwork , the mad hatter, the white rabbit's watch , tea party, roses & Alice.

I sat in my craft room and began to draw , and this is the result of the afternoon's much enjoyed colouring effort

I had so much fun , I did another based on......can you guess????

 happy makings

Bev xx

Busy , Busy Buzzlebee

Happy Sunday to all blog chums ,

As I write this post I have just realised how long its been since I've visited blogland !!!!

You'll all be happy to know that I haven't just been idle and wasting my days (free time is a precious thing for me) . After a friend of mine ask me to make up some artwork for the "Alice theme" , the itching in my fingers to paint again was almost to much to bear. Although when I say paint that isn't exactly true. I was bought some Promarkers(alcohol ink based marker pens) by a friend as a birthday present and having read that they seem to be almost the best thing since sliced bread I thought I'd better see what all the fuss was about.I just happened to be watching a TV show all about digi stamps and the topic was dressforms , and very lovely they were too.
So off I went to the craftroom , and sat down to draw , head - a -buzzing with ideas these are my creations (and please dont worry about copyright as I did ask permission from the original design company , they were happy to let me create at will ) , and I have to say I was mighty impressed with these new additions to my craft arsenal .

The ladybug

                                              Whispy Wisteria

Tiger Lily

 Rambling rose












And of course , whilst sitting drawing on a very hot day , what else but Christmas !!!



Anyways enough of my ramblings , I hope you like them and if you would like to leave a comment I would be over the moon


Happy makings Bev xx

So excited

Hi to all my blog chums

I have been a very naughty girl and neglected you of late , but thats all about to change. I have been busy over the last few months and I will post details of what I've been up to.
I had to share the news that I have just joined the design team for Craft Mojo. I am currently working on my first project for them .

happy making folks

Bev xx      

In wonderland

Hi All ,


all been a bit hectic at work lately with no time left for blogging , so just a quick pop by to show you what I've been working on when I get time. A friend of mine asked me to create some artwork based on " ALICE IN WONDERLAND" for a children's playroom she had been decorating .

So here goes , using my grandchildren as the characters this is what we have

this is my grand-daughter the cheeky monkey hiding in amongst the toadstools

and this is herself and my no1 grandson on a caterpillar ride 

happy makings Bev xx

A bear with a heart

Hi Blog chums , hope you are all well

As many of you know it was Mothers Day yesterday , so I thought I would just pop by and show you what I'd made for my lovely Mum.

I had a go at making air dry clay hearts which are really easy and fun to do , I gave them a coat of paint in her favourite colour , which is green and prettied them up for her. I made the letters out of some beaded trim I had and glued them on, threaded some ribbon through to hang them with and made a quick pole from a couple of odd door knobs and a piece of dowling covered in ribbon, a few little flowers and we were finished .

 And of course she had seen some of my bears recently , so I had to create one especially for her in a very funky green eyelash wool I found .

Happy makings

Bev xx

they just keep going

So little Edith went off to her new home , shortly followed by Rosalie and now Petal .

Just when I thought it was going to be fun ,fun fun off they go , so what was I to do , well there was only one thing for it ......... and that was to make a new friend to join me in the crafting room .

Out came the crochet hook and yarn and after a little while the daddy of all my teddies was created .

Say hello to Edgar all dressed up and ready to keep me company , complete with his pocket watch (made from an old necklace and a tiny frame bought from the local bead stall) just to let me know its time for tea , his deep velvety cravat (that was an old dress of mine) and a knitted waistcoat that I made up as I was going along,

Hope you like him 

Happy makings 

Bev xx

happy swapping

so after lots of thinking I finally managed to pack up my parcel for the 
and send it off to my swap partner FeltbyRae
http://www.blogger.com/profile/09259936213524678492 .
 I hope she likes it . I will be back shortly and let you all know what I sent in her swap

happy makings

Bev xx

Off she goes

Hello , to all my blog friends.

Well it was only a matter of time ,and here it is.

My little Edith was seen by a lovely lady on facebook who contacted me and asked if she could have her . So I dressed her in her Sunday best , a lace shawl and a flower hair band , gave her a little name tag so her new owner would know what to call her and made a pretty box for her to travel in .

She will be off to the post office tomorrow ,and on her way to her new home 

Bye Bye Edith  xx

Happy Makings Bev xx

Crocheting again

Hi to all my blog friends.

Just wanted to pop by and show you my latest bear . She is made from a wool blend chunky mix yarn in a plum colour. I used the same pattern as before , but made a few adjustments along the way . I couldn't resist putting a few finishing touches to this one , so I made a shawl for her with a spare piece of lace and made a beige satin flower for her hair which has a lace trim. Of course I had to give her a name so she is to be known as BRAMBLINA.

I'm going to try and make some boxes for the teddies to sit in so that they can keep clean

I do hope you are not getting to bored of seeing my teddy creations

Happy makings 

Bev xx

https://www.facebook.com/craftbloguk?fref=ts

A fascinating request

Hello blog friends ,

Now over the years in my crafting world I have had many requests from friends & family to make things here and there and I always try to oblige with the details that they give me and make them what they want.

So when I received a phone call from my sister asking for my help I was very intrigued ,especially as she is a John Lewis kinda girl if you know what I mean. She went on to tell to me that she had a forthcoming wedding to attend and that it was a formal affair and that she would like me to make her a fascinator to wear that would match her outfit. The spec was , "cream dont mind feathers , diamontes and netting, i'll leave it to you "
Sisters don't you just love them!!!

Oh my goodness this was a new one on me, I had never been asked to do that before and didn't really know where to begin. So off I went  to do some research , starting with good old Google , you tube and Ebay to get some ideas of how to put these things together .
 Now one of the things that my sister and I both have in common is that we do have very wild hair a cross between horse mane and barbed wire if its left unattended , so the FASCINATOR would have to be secure .

I set about constructing the said headpiece, I made a cream rose from some satin fabric , coloured some pearls and made a centre piece for the rose, dyed some feathers , folded some wide wired organza ribbon and glued it all on to some felt,  and here is the finished result just waiting to be attached to a headband .

 I hope she likes it after all this effort LOL 

Happy makings 

Bev xx

The one that nearly got away !!!!!

Hello to all my blog friends .
I have had a few computer problems this week so I have not been able to post as often as I promised myself I would do. The good news was that it gave me a little more time to get on with my latest project , which was another crocheted teddy bear , I used the same pattern as I did before (the link for the pattern  is on my previous post )only this time I tweeked it a little and used a chenille type eyelash yarn instead .

This one came out a little bigger than the last one , but he is extra soft and cuddly and stands approx 18" tall. The downside is that my grandaughter was staying with me this weekend and although she thought he looked funny as he didn't have any arms or legs attached when she arrived , things soon changed when she woke up to find him complete as you can see !!!!

I then spent the day trying to convince her that Rufus Ruffles (that's what I named him ) should stay with me , not an easy task as you can imagine.

They enjoyed their day together chatting and being the best of friends .

happy makings 

Bev xx

Room for one more

Hello lovely blog chums ,
hope you have all had a good week
Just when I thought the craft room had quite enough friends , look what I found hiding behind the cushion.

She poked her head out a little more, and...............

here she is , yet another crocheted toy , but I do love her.

I made her from a couple of 50grm balls of a pale pink eyelash yarn 

so she has aged kind of look ,tied an extra large bow to her and added a lace & button rosette. I have named her Edith , don't ask me why , it just sort of came to me as I was finishing her off today . So what's a shabbied up  granny to do, but to invite her to join the gang.

Happy makings 

Bev xx

http://yellowpinkandsparkly.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/buttercup-bear.html

Famous at last !!! (well almost)

Hello to my lovely blog friends.
 I have to admit this has not been the best of weeks for me , too much work , not enough crafting and to top it off a very nice young lady decided to reverse her car into mine whilst I was waiting to park  :-(

That aside , a couple of weeks ago I sent a picture off to a crafting magazine showing off one of my origami boxes.

So when the postman delivered my usual copy for this month, I feverishly went to the readers letters page , and what do you know ....there was my little box featured on the page :-)

 At least I had something to make me smile and cheer me up.

Happy makings Bev xx

One more for our gang

 I know you are probably all  fed up with me by now , rambling on about crocheting , but I had to share the latest friend to join or gang in the craft room. This is Petal and she is a little flowerling .

She obviously didn't want to be left out , so she bought her little cup and saucer tray with her just in case we were having cake with our tea LOL

I have to say I am quite enjoying these few days of crocheting and these little loves are such fun to do , I just have to make sure that my Grand-daughter doesn't run off with them (she has tried already !!!!)

Happy makings Bev xx

A friend for Rosalie

Hello lovely blog friends, I hope you've all had a good day.

Well as promised after being so impressed with this new style of crochet that I have discovered, I just couldn't rest until I had made a friend for Rosalie, and here she is . I would like you all to meet Teacup Twinkle.

She will be joining myself and Rosalie in the craft room to watch over us (and our tea) and make sure that we don't get up to too much mischief

happy makings  Bev xx