Blog

Crafty Advent - day 14

14/12/2013

Only TEN days to go! Not that I am excited or anything.

My creation today is another Christmas prezzie for................

......first off our fab sponsor today is LOTV again

with another super voucher for their goodies. Thanks LOTV.

....any idea who these two canvases could be for?
Ummm Rachie and Mollie maybe!

I found a pack of canvases in The works a while back, they had the outline of tractors on them - not my style!
But they were square and I had a germ of an idea.

I used a selection of our Basics 2 Go buttons and added them to some felt on fabric.
The dotty fabric was a pack of two tea towels from Wilkinsons - I love my tea towel creations!

I stretched the fabric (tea towels) over the canvas and secured in place.

I made Rachies canvas less embellished and just added a few dotty ribbons

I am hoping Rachie will hang these in her dining room, they will match her curtains and her table cloth!

Remember to add your name on our Inspiration blog for a chance to win the voucher,
but be warned the DT girls have more inspiration for you.

Crafty Advent - day 13

13/12/2013

I love making and giving hand made presents. Todays creation is a classic.

But before I share you the pics today's sponsor is..........

They have very kindly given us a voucher as a prize.

Ooooh a new website to go and visit,
but don't forget to add your name to the list for a chance to win on our Inspiration blog here.

A classic hand made gift for Christmas.
Always good to have a few in the cupboard for those unexpected visitors!

How simple is that!

A couple of modern colours or.......

Or go Traditional with hessian and Christmas red ribbon, they do look festive.
I just hope they make it to the friends I have made them for.......
..........I am very partial to sweeties!!!!!!

When I cropped the image above Mollie was sitting on my lap. I said "ooooh they look like the three wise men"
and Mollie replied "and Baby Jesus is in pink"

What more can I say apart from do not forget to check out all the other DT creations.
They have all worked extremely hard to bring you all such inspiration.

Crafty Advent - day 12

12/12/2013

Half way through our Advent - are you getting lots of inspiration?

We have EXTRA Inspiration today as it is Thursday it must be our Challenge day.

We have a super voucher for you to spend in our web store today, as we are todays sponsors.

We would love to know what would be heading into your basket if you were to win.
Add your name to the list on our Inspiration blog here for a chance to win.

I have had a wonderful play with ribbons and buttons and am pleased to show you todays creation.

Several years ago I made one similar to this for Tony, and have been wanting to make a similar one for me!
I used several different ribbons - Red Snowman, lime polka dot, Snowflake and Happy Christmas Go Grosgrain and 3mm satin.

I checked it out on Rachie's fire place.

Just to make sure it hung correctly!
Now all I have to do is leave it lying around so that Tony will get the hint.

Why not join in with our Challenge this week - it is anything goes with ribbon.
Find out more on our Challenge blog.

Also do not forget that our £15 voucher is todays prize on our Inspiration blog.

Have fun today.

Crafty Advent - day 11

11/12/2013

Thanks for your emails yesterday telling us how much you are enjoying the Advent,
and big hugs for the orders you placed for the Goodie Bags.
They really are great value and we are sure the person receiving them will enjoy them

We have Delicious Doodles as our sponsor today

Grab a Banner

With the offer of 4 digis as todays prize.

The DT girls have been busy so please check out their inspiration here.

A question for you - how do you wrap your presents?
........paper and gift tag or
..........paper gift tag and Ribbon (thanks)

Ever do anything a little different?

Both these prezzies contain edible creations.

This one has macaroons and uses our Exclusive Have a yummy Christmas ribbon

Plain and simple Gingham ribbon on this parcel of cookies.

Fingers crossed my family will enjoy these goodies.

Visit our Inspiration blog, and add your name to todays prize.

Crafty Advent - day 10

10/12/2013

Hello everyone, how is your Christmas Advent going? Are you enjoying ours?
I felt a bit like Cinderella yesterday afternoon.
It was Sydney's school play and she had very important part, she was a Angel.
But, the tickets were very limited and Bev could only get 1 extra.

Sydney decided that she would ask Uncle T to go. With tears in his eyes he accepted.
It was not until later, he realised that I was not going................

...................I have the delight of the recorder concert later this week!!!!!!!!

Kenny K is our special sponsor today with the prize of 3 digi images of the winners choice.
There are lots and lots to choose from. Pop over to their site and have a look, all the details are on
our Inspiration blog here

My creation for today is very simple and was inspired by a customer in France at the Paris show.
She asked where we got our Brown Paper bags from.
Tony was a little confused, they are just plain grocers brown bags, and thought he had misheard her.

She wanted to put Chocolates in them and wrap them with ribbon.
We gather you can not buy brown bags in Paris.

These would look fantastic on the Christmas table, just a little something extra!

I used our Exclusive DO NOT open until the 25th December ribbon, it comes in three colours
Santa Red, Elf Green and Fairy Pink.

They inspired me to make these.

Goodie bags for the website.

Each goodie bag is £10 and has goodies to the value of £19
Buy any 3 goodie bags for an amazing price of £25

NOW that would make a fantastic little extra prezzie!!!
Check them out here

Also do not forget to check out the design team creations on our Inspiration blog, and add your name to todays prize.

Crafty Advent - day 9

09/12/2013

I really have tried to think "outside" of the box this year for the advent creation.
To try and give you something different to see and maybe even try.

Our fantastic sponsor today is

They design some unique papers and have given us a whopping $25 voucher.

Going back to my boxes..............I have been collecting these.

I do really mean collecting them. I no longer go to the supermarket to buy a specific cheese.....
.....I pick the little wooden boxes I like then eat the cheese.
I must admit it has expanded my taste buds a bit as well as my nasal passages.

Have you ever had Pont l'eveque cheese?
DO NOT put it in the boot of your car for a 8 hour ferry crossing.
We had a very aromatic drive back from Portsmouth!!!!!

Back to my creation, I like candles at Christmas but I never have any candle holders.
And putting them on a saucer somehow changes the atmosphere of a candle!

How about these...........

Yep just my cheese boxes.

I put a little decorative sand in the bottom just to keep everything stable.

I think they would be a conversation piece around the table, especially when you bring out the cheese board!

Check out all the other design team creations on our Inspiration blog.

Crafty Advent - day 8

08/12/2013

So far for this Advent I have created something to hang up, a letter to Santa, a gift,
something to put the shopping in and yesterday even cards to post.
So today it must be time for a tag or two.......

Firstly our sponsor today is

Who have kindly donated 5 images for todays prize.
Remember you have to add your name to our Inspiration blog for a chance to win.

As a family we have decided to do a bit of creating as part of our Christmas,
so these tags will be perfect for those Christmas prezzies I have made

Just ribbons and buttons.
Simple and elegant.

I used Cream 3mm grosgrain for the hanging loop, and our Exclusive Hand Made Sentiments

and Basics 2 Go Cream buttons

Put that all together with some plain red card and your cards are created.

Check out all the other design team creations on our Inspiration blog.

Have a fabulous Sunday.

Crafty Advent - day 7

07/12/2013

As all my wonderful followers know I am not a great card maker................
......I do dabble from time to time. But sadly can not colour for toffee. My promarkers get used in other ways!

But if you are a colourer (is that a word?) then we have a treat for you today.....our sponsor is.....

Who has said the winner of todays prize can pick 3 designs of their choice.

The design team have created some wonderful cards using Pink Gem designs,
so why not pop on over and have a look on our Inspiration Blog.

I did not use images I used these.

Dare I show you my cards.............

These are Christmas cards "Ali" style.
They use the wonderful Snowflake ribbons which are part of the Go Grosgrain range here.

I raised them from the brown card with a few blobs of silicone glue.

A little bit of festive fun! Go on visit our Inspiration blog. and see what proper designers have created.

Don't all rush out to your local DIY store!

Crafty Advent - day 6

06/12/2013

Ooooh Friday again, time is flying. Hope you are all enjoing our Advent.
Today we have another treat for you.

is our generous sponsor and has given us a voucher for one lucky reader.

Katy sent us a couple of CD's to have a play with.........what fun.

Ooooh shoes.......so I started with that CD first.

You simply choose the design you like, there are loads and print them out.
This gorgeous purple shoe was a decoupage card.

I finished the card with lush Liberty 35mm satin ribbon and Keep Calm in Regal Purple ,
well you have to Keep Calm when buying shoes!

You can all see the layers, I just put a blob of silicone glue to space the layers apart.

There is a quickie card section which is amazing.
Select design - print - cut - fold - trim with ribbon.
I used Swiss dot grosgrain ribbon the red was perfect.

Rachie popped into the office for a coffee while I was making the shoe card.
Next minute she was on the computer printing out her own design

She had never made a computer card or decoupage before.
She did not like my silicone glue (it is rather old and the tub is yukky),
so she opted for small foam pads.
Seam binding used in two shades were her ribbon of choice.

If you fancy spending your voucher on something like this from Katy Sue,
I am sure you know what to do by now...... vist our Inspiration blog.

Crafty Advent - day 5

05/12/2013

Not only is it day five of our Crafty Advent but it is also our Challenge day over on the Challenge blog.

Any ideas who the sponsor might be?

The one and only................. Crafty Ribbons

So what better excuse did I need then to use lots of ribbon!
This time of year you can never have too many shopping bags, but how many of them are festive?

Well.....my bag shouts FESTIVE!

I took a pre made calico bag and unpicked the side stitching.
Using bondaweb I attached the ribbon.

I gave it a good iron to make sure all the bondaweb was firmly stuck,
then re-sewed the side seams - simple.
I used my very first range of exclusive ribbons I designed (still my favourite) -
the New England Collection

new england christmas ribbon, rustic christmas ribbon