Christmas Crafts workshop for Buns & Roses WI

Last night was our Christmas Crafts workshop at Buns & Roses WI and I was helping the girls make a Christmas card and gift tag.

I focused on the new Stampin' Up! DSP Holly Berry, which is just yummy. I don't normally go crazy about Christmas things but I really love the designs in this range.



Here's the card everyone made. I CASE'd the design from my talented friend Vicky.



And this is the tag, utilising more of the DSP and the Notably Ornate stamp set.



Quick, simple but effective - the way Christmas should be!

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Songbird

Anyone who knows me at all will know that I am a massive fan of Fleetwood Mac. If you don't know that you've obviously never spoken to me for more than a minute.

So last night I made two projects using Songbird as my inspiration. It's one of my favourite songs by them and should a miracle happen and I get married it will be my first dance.

I have used the Notably Ornate stamp set, which has a beautiful bird and an amazing vintage frame (as well as two others!).



Project one is a pendant. I stamped the image on to Very Vanilla card and stuck it to the clear charm with Crystal Effects. The little round tag is a piece of the Newsprint DSP and I decorated the chain with some buttons and my favourite ribbon.



And here's project two - a card. I used Versamark to stamp the frame, which creates a tone-on-tone effect.



The bird was embossed on to Newsprint DSP and inked up with the brayer. I added some Grungeboard, also inked up. I'm not convinced the little frame works quite right - my handwriting could be better! I would really love a typewriter, that would be perfect for this type of thing. Would anyone like to buy me one?!

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A quickie!

I have rather messed up my body clock with some mega naps this weekend, so it's gone 2am and here I am! Just a quickie though as I do need to get some proper sleep and be up at a reasonable hour as I have lots of work on.

Anyway, this is a cute little notebook thing from Muji that I have covered to become a "Word Diary". I often try to write a diary but find it quite difficult, so I am starting small!

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Scrapbook page: My trip to America

Yesterday I went round to mummy Julie's to help her out with some crafty things. We had a good natter and got loads done. While I was there she made a scrapbook page and with that and her class this afternoon, at which I will be scrapping some pics of my niece and nephew, I got home and was in the mood for getting stuck in!

So, I dug out a picture of me I have been meaning to do something with for ages. It was taken in May 2007 in a bar in Minneapolis. I had been sent to the USA on a press trip and on arrival handed the keys to a brand new Chrysler Sebring and told to drive 400 miles around Minnesota and Wisconsin! Bear in mind I had passed my test just a few months earlier and had only ever driven a Vauxhall Corsa!

Anyway, it was so much fun and I survived going the wrong way down a one-way street, the lack of roundabouts and being shouted at for doing U-turns and "parking improperly".

For this page I focused on the awesome Newsprint DSP. This is totally me and I use it as much as possible. This background sheet is just perfect for scrapbooking.



I matted the image on to Pacific Point card, which is pretty close to the colour of my top, and used the Spiral Border Punch to make it look like a notebook page. I added a paperclip from the Clips Assortment. The typewriter is from an American SU set called Puns From The Past. The ribbon is Basic Black Striped Grosgrain and Twill Tape, stamped onto randomly with the Just Perfect Alphabet.



The map is actually another design in the Newsprint DSP stack. I went to town with the Distressing Essentials kit, using the sanding block to roughen the edges and the Tea Stain Ink Spot to age it.I stamped USA with the Broadsheet Alphabet. I used brads and some Linen Thread and 3mm Taffeta Ribbon to decorate and marked the places I stayed with Xs. The arrow is a piece of chipboard from the On-Board pack, covered in Blueberry Crisp DSP.



The journalling is done on the oval stamp from the Notably Ornate set, framed with more chipboard pieces, this time covered in another pattern from the Newsprint DSP.



Finally, I decided to highlight some of the super adverts on the Newsprint DSP. Again, I used the Distressing Essentials to rough them up.



This one is my favourite!



I definitely have the scrapbooking bug now so expect more layouts soon!

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A Newsprint meander book

Yesterday before my SAB workshop I sat down for an awesome craft session and decided to make a meander book. I saw the idea at the blog of a fellow SU demo Peg Coombes. She made this and it was so lovely I had to give it a go.
Luckily the actual pocket pages are really easy to do with a piece of DSP, then it was the decorating and filling that took the most time!
Here is my effort, using my favourite Newsprint DSP and my newest stamp set Notably Ornate.

This is the front, and no surprise I have also used the Twill Tape stamped with the Music Notes Wheel and the beautiful Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.
Controversially, the back is decorated in portrait orientation.

I have used the pearls all over as they are just too damn pretty.

This is how it looks inside. The DSP is folded to create five little pockets.

And these are the tags. I have done it as a kind of life book for 2011, with words to inspire and motivate me. I have space for one more though so suggestions on a postcard please!
If you would like to have a go at making one go here and ask Peg nicely! Thanks again to her for making the tutorial!

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