Frozen Lolly Tree

Absence makes the heart grow fonder……  A t least I hope that’s the case, as I know I’ve been a bit absent recently!  I think it’s just been caused by the school holidays – it’s so easy to lose track of the days, until I realise that another week has flown by and I haven’t spent much time on crafty stuff.  I’ve also had the chance to try my hand at some other projects, so these have taken up a little more of my time too.

In today’s post, I’d like to share one of my other projects with you.  I was recently asked by a friend if I could think of any table decorations for a Frozen themed party – and this was what I came up with!

I’ve wanted to try making a lolly tree for a while – I took a few days searching for some tips online, then took the plunge!  And it was sooooo easy and fun to do!  I used acrylic paint to paint the styrofoam ball and wooden dowling, made a solid, weighty base out of plaster of paris and popped all my lollies on!  This ball deceptively holds in excess of 50 lollies, each encased in several layers of tissue and a square of cellophane.

My favourite bit has to be the pretty, glittery snowflakes at the base of the ball with the gem at the centre – I cut them from glittercard on the Silhouette, and glued two back-to-back so the glitter would be seen from both side, and they would be a little more sturdy.

I’ll be back tomorrow with my project for Sentimental Sundays’ new challenge – hope you’ll be able to pop by!

 

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  Don’t know about you, but late nights are hard work now!!  Never would have thought twice about staying up into the wee hours a few years back, but the guarantee of an early morning wake-up courtesy of the children usually convinces me to get to bed in time for a full 8 hours!!  Still, once in a while, it does you good (as my mum would have told me!!) – I will be tucked up soon enough 🙂

Today’s card was actually made a couple of weeks ago, but put to one side and overlooked in the pre-Christmas rush.  I like the simplicity of the card – I cut the snowflake and sentiment from some linen textured card, using the Silhouette, and the popped some lovely silvery glitter card behind it, added a little grey and white baker’s twine, et voila!

Sorry to be short and sweet tonight, but my eyes are drooping already!

Thanks for reading x 

Happy Christmas Little Star

As promised, I have the second of my three special family cards for you today.  This card was made for my 4 year old daughter, who loves everything sparkly and is very attached to her bear, Poppy.  This adorable image from All Dressed Up was a perfect fit!

I had a background paper in mind, so steered away from too much pink, opting instead to colour the image with a range of turquoise Pro-Markers.  I used the print and cut option on the Silhouette to print the image in this lovely oval frame, then added a little Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to soften the edges.  After hunting through my ribbon collection, I came across some leftover 3mm satin ribbon that I used for some wedding invitations last year – it threaded through the frame so easily and, for once, the bow landed well too!  I added a little Glossy Accent to the big star sentiment and also to the stars clips in her hair, then a little Stickles magic along the edge of the tutu and on some of the gifts.

The paper is from a First Edition Christmas Joy paper stack – not sure if you can make it out from the photos, but there is a striped snowflake pattern running through it.  The snowflake border is from Hobbycraft – I’m not sure what to call it, as it’s not ribbon or paper or card, but is stiff and almost crunchy feeling…if you know what I mean!

I based the layout around Sketch 276 from Sketch Saturday, just flipped it over to suit my card.

Id like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday -Challenge 289: Anything Goes (Any Sketch After #215)

Tuesday Throwdown – What Christmas Means To Me

LEJ Designs  – Anything Goes

Inky Chicks – Christmas

The Crafty Blogger’s Network – Girly

C…Is For Challenge – Modern Christmas

Scribble and Scrap – Anything Goes

Glitter ‘n’ Sparkle – Non-traditional Christmas Colours

Thanks for reading x

 

Crafting From The Heart GDT

I’m delighted to share a little news with you today…I was recently asked to be GDT over at Crafting From the Heart, a new challenge blog which opened its virtual doors for the first time in late November.  I am very lucky to be joining them for their December and January challenges.

There are two sponsors and two great prizes up for grabs this fortnight.  Delicious Doodles have 4 images up for grabs and Dilly Beans are offering 3 digis to a lucky winner – definitely worth popping over there to enter!!

I have two cards to share with you today.  My first card uses an adorable framed penguin image from Dilly Beans.

I had great fun with this little chap; after colouring most of the image with ProMarkers, I paper pieced his hat and scarf using a knit-style paper from the Sweater Weather collection by Harper Finch.  I also added a second layer of holly and popped his beak up on 3D pads to create some depth.  I embossed a piece of white cardstock using the ???? folder to echo the chevron knit of the paper.  For a final touch, I coloured a textured vinyl snowflake with the same blue as I used for the sky in the background, added a button, some silver beads and a little baker’s twine.  Hey presto!  An adorable little penguin, all bundled up warm!!

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My second card features a wonky 3-tiered cake image from Delicious Doodles.

I coloured the image with a selection of ProMarkers, and the added some Stickles to give it a little shimmer and sparkle, which I hope you can see in the photo above.  For the background, I laid a layer of shimmery pale pink wrapping paper over a card blank, then added a layer of white card with some sparkly vellum.  In the centre, I added a piece of pink polka dot satin ribbon and some square pink gems to a happy birthday sentiment from  a Forever Friends paper stack.

I hope you’ll get a chance to pop over to see the DT projects over at Crafting From The Heart; they’re such a friendly bunch of crafters, I know they’ll make you feel welcome!

I’d like to enter the following challenges:

Framed Penguin card:

MelonHeadz – Christmas

Craft Your Passion – Let It Snow

CAS On Sunday – Christmas

My Time To Craft – Cute and Cuddly Christmas Animals

Thanks for reading x

My first One Stitch At A Time DT project!

Today is the day of my first challenge for the One Stitch At A Time Design Team!!  This week, the theme is Anything Goes, an nice and easy one to play along with.

For my card, I am using the “In The Meadow, We Can Build A Snowman” digi, by Reece’s Scrap Pieces which is available through the StitchyBear’s Stamp Shop.

I coloured the image using Pro-Markers.  This was my first attempt at colouring snow and I am pretty pleased with the end result!  It isn’t very easy to see from the picture above, but I used Tea Green with a blender pen to create some shaded areas on the snowman and the snow on the ground,  As I’ve mentioned before, I love sparkle, so as a final touch I added some Star Dust Stickles to represent the frosty glimmer.

The silver snowflake frame was created using the Silhouette.  I welded some small snowflakes to the outside of a circle and then cut the whole frame from some silver vinyl-type that has been lurking in my stash box for a good while!

The embossed strip underneath the image, was originally a shimmery cardstock, but I wasn’t keen once I laid it all together, so I flipped it over and used the white side inside, with a length of ribbon across the centre, in a similar colour to the background paper, which was included as one of several extra papers in the digi set.

So, back to the challenge…  As I mentioned earlier, the theme this week is “Anything Goes” and this week’s sponsor is the StitchyBear Digi Outlet.  For the chance to win the complete set of digis used by the DT in Challenge 184, simply include an image from the StitchyBear Store.  There is also a runner-up prize of $3 to spend as you wish in the StitchyBear online store for entries that do not use a StitchyBear image.  I hope to spot your entries there!!

I’m off to enter a few challenges myself with this card – just spotted a couple of  “Anything Goes” at Yumi and Fumi Handmade and Challenges 4 Everybody, not to mention Make It Sparkle over at Crafting When We Can!

Thanks for reading

Challenges:

Yumi and Fumi Handmade – Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps – Christmas Is Coming

Challenges 4 Everybody – Challenge 31: Anything Goes

Crafting When We Can – Make It Sparkle

Scribble and Scrap Craft – Challenge 3: Anything Goes

Let it snow!

I have to admit, I find it really difficult to think about Christmas cards while the sun is still shining and temperatures are soaring. However, when I saw the Crafter’s Companion embossing challenge (and the current wet forecast for the South of England!), I knew I had to bring on some seasonal cheer!

The snowflake background of the card was embossed on opalescent card using my Cuttlebug, using the Darice Snowflakes folder. The snowman was created using a Cuttlebug cut and emboss set; again, I used opalescent card to give his body a frosty shimmer.

The button holding the sentiment was the final touch, created by the Cuttlebug, with an embossing folder. A gem added a touch of sparkle!

Thanks for reading x

Challenges:

Crafter’s Companion Embossing Challenge

Chocolate, Coffee, Cards – Challenge 48: Anything Goes

Winter Wonderland (Christmas Blog Challenge) – Frosty the Snowman Challenge

A Creative Romance – Dies or Punches