Treat-In-A-Box

     This time at The Male Room we are looking for Halloween creations. I know it's not such a big celebration in this country but it's a great opportunity to use black and orange to make something creepy. We accept any papercraft creation as long as it fits our theme so please come and join us, we'd love to see what you've made.
     These little boxes are made from one A4 sheet of card, folded and glued together.  The orange one is decorated with black die cuts by Sizzix.  The black one is also decorated with some Sizzix dies as well as Memory Box bats, they have all been cut in Glow-In-The-Dark tape which I found in a shop in Norwich. The tape is 2cm wide so where I needed more width I stuck it on to thin card and then cut. After a short time in bright light they glow beautifully and it lasts for some time.
      Please come and join us at The Male Room, anything Halloween for a male, young or old.

    I would like to enter my treat boxes in the following challenges:

Creative Card Crew - Black Cardstock

PDE Linky Party - Halloween

The Corrosive Challenge Blog - Halloween 

Cut It Up - Halloween, anything but a card

Not Just Cards - Anything Goes

Delicious Darkness - Halloween

Art With Heart - Trick or Treat

Card Bauble

     It's time for some mid month inspiration at CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra. 
     Do you remember making these at school? I do, back then we had to draw our circles and then measure out our triangles by hand. Not anymore, Sizzix have a Bigz die to do it for you, it's been out a couple of years now so it's not new but it's great fun.
     I keep all my old Christmas cards each year, sort through them and select which ones I can chop up and re-use for decorations. The heavily foiled or glittery ones are great for this decoration, they sparkle as they move when hung up.
     This is also something you could make on a rainy day with the children, just make sure you supervise the cutting process or do it for them, then let them loose with the glue.
     You need twenty discs. It is easier to make the top and bottom first, each uses five discs, then make the strip that will form the middle band and glue it all together.
     I have used some tassells from my local craft shop but you could just as easily use bakers twine or ribbon. If you use glue and string there is nothing sharp to harm a small child should they play with this, it's a child friendly decoration to make or receive.
          Please come and show us your Christmas makes over at CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra.

I would like to enter my Card Bauble in the following challenges:

Oldie But A Goodie - Christmas (die is old and so were the cards)

Crimbo Crackers - Anything goes

Sparkles Christmas Challenge - For A Child  (to make or to receive)

Cooking Up A Spell

      Although we don't celebrate Halloween much in this country it does give us crafters the chance to make something different. Lots of distressing, black, orange and purple as well as some rather macabre embellishments. I really enjoyed making these jars, it was a challenge to find the contents to match the labels.
     The skull is made of resin, a charity shop find, and sits in a lovely glass dome from Sainsburys. With the addition of my pestle and mortar, a couple of mushroom from the fridge and a rabbit skull my son found the scene is complete.
      The Arsenic bottle is filled with Ice Diamond Flowersoft, there's not much left so look out! The skull and cross bones came from a necklace I found last year in a sale, he's stuck on to a hessian square that is wrapped around the top and tied off with black ribbon.  The large jar is labelled Baby Dragon Scales, I tried a few things but the best one was beech nut cases. They are velvet smooth on the inside and prickly on the outside but they don't take paint well, brush or spray, so they've been left natural.

      For the Pumpkin Juice bottle I stuck the label on and then put a candle in the top and set it to burn right down. I put this on my cooker hob so it was safe and somewhere that's used to dealing with heat. It was torment waiting for it to dribble down the bottle, not something you can speed up with a heat gun.
     The bottles came from a lucky boot sale find but the jars were food stuffs I had to eat to get the jar. The bottles have a greenish tint to them so I wanted jars that were a bit that way too, I think they look older.
     The labels were free digis from Primcats blog, lots to choose from and of course being digis you can print them whatever size you need.

     The small square jar is labelled Petrified Butterflies, this was easy to fill as sadly quite a few have died on the windowsill in the shed and the garage over the years. They're so pretty I have kept them, maybe one day I'll set some in resin.
     I'm still working on a few other jars and bottles, I had a great shopping trip this week collecting glow-in-the-dark items so I'll pop back and show you what we've made nearer to Halloween.

I would like to enter my jars in the following challenges:

Bloggers Challenge - Halloween

Simply Create Too - Halloween or lots of Orange

Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes

Recycle, Re-Purpose and Re-Invent - Halloween

Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Halloween

Left Of Centre - Halloween

Postcards From Paris

      Here is the sister project to Memories Of Summer as promised. The small board helped me to try out a few things before tackling a larger project.
     This is also my contribution to the Design Team at All Crafts Challenge. We have a new Anything Goes challenge starting today for projects that are not cards.
     This project was inspired by the frame which was found in a charity shop, it had no glass and was very distressed, which saved me having to make it look old and worn.
     I have used a piece of hardboard cut to shape as my 'canvas', it has been painted with a base coat of cream emulsion before adding any colour. The coloured paints used are all EcoGreen Acrylics, including the gold.
     Once dry I began to distress the board by using Distress Ink Brushed Corduroy around the edge and stamping with a crackle stamp in the same colour. I have used a stencil top and bottom with some homemade texture paste, a mix of decorators flexible filler and gold paint.
 

    Then I moved on to using masks, a crown over the gold area and more Distress Ink to dull it down a little. A Fleur-De-Lis  over the pink area with a mix of mica spray and pink paint dabbed on.
     At various places over the board it is stamped with a Tim Holtz swirl in brown ink and there is an area top left that is stamped in Distress Ink Aged Mahogany with a Stampin'Up French Script stamp. The chandelier is stamped in Archival Coffee.
     The letters spelling Paris are patterned vellum over a pink thin card die cut with an X-Cut die, then I drew around the outside of the die on maroon card and hand cut. To get the vellum to stick without showing glue I used a Stix2 double sided sticky sheet, this means there is glue all over so it doesn't stand out like small areas would.

     The gold Fleur-De-Lis was a small hanging decoration, so I filled the hole at the top and once dry dabbed it with gold acrylic paint to hide it. It has a narrow pink ribbon holding it onto the board, it is threaded through a small hole drilled in the board and tied off at the back. I tried various types of glue but it kept falling off, so I thought it was best tied on, there is a backing board so it doesn't show once in the frame.
     The postcards are a mix of a free digi and cards from my Grandmothers postcard album copied and reduced in size, they are mounted on varying levels of foam pads.  I felt it needed a little something pink in this area to balance it so I have added some paper flowers.
     There is a pound coin in the top left of the main picture to give some idea of the size of this project, it was a joy to make something larger than usual,  I hope you like it, I certainly do. Now I'm on the hunt for more old frames!
     Please come over to Craft My Life All Crafts Challenge and show us what you've been making, remember it's anything but a card.

I would like to enter my picture in the following challenges:

Dragonfly Dreams - Anything Pink
Eclectic Ellapu - Texture / Embossing
Fussy and Fancy Friday - Lots Of Pink
Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes

Racing Ahead at The Male Room

     A new challenge at The Male Room begins today, it's a sketch. You may make any style you wish as long as we can see the basic sketch in your project and it has a male theme to it.
     I wanted to use a film strip for this one, I thought of holiday snaps...not masculine enough, I've got lots of vehicle photos.....but detail is lost in a tiny picture.....aha, got it....car mascots and badges. After several visits to Beaulieu, Haynes and Brooklands motor museums I have a lot of photos to choose from.
     I spent a while getting to grips with my photo package and printer, after a few hiccups I got six small pictures on one 6x4 and printed in black and white. The film strip is a Sizzix long plate cut in black card. I used the dinning room window as a light box and drew through the aperture on the back of each picture, not all the holes are the same so I had to number them to make sure they would fit once cut out.
     The rosette is another Sizzix long plate cut in pearl green card, edged with gold (didn't have British Racing Green....sorry). The middle is stamped and embossed, as is the phrase along side it. I have also added a small stamp at the bottom which I felt fitted with my theme. I chose to put all this on a red 'leather' look card.

 My father used to go to Goodwood motor racing regularly many years ago, I can still remember the little cardboard tags he had hanging in the car years later, I'm sure they're tucked away in a box somewhere now.
     You don't have to love classic cars to join our challenge, just follow our sketch and make something for the man in your life. Pop over to The Male Room to see lots more inspiration.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Cardz 4 Guyz - No Balls Allowed (sport)

Make My Monday - Die Cuts

We Do Doobadoo - Something Masculine

Ava Sitting Pretty.

      Welcome to October, where has this year gone?!  Today sees the beginning of a new challenge at CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra. We are a Christmas challenge where you can enter anything seasonal, not just cards, so come and show us your creative makes.
     Our sponsor is Bugaboo Digital Stamps and that is were you will find Ava Ornament. I must say that my colouring is improving a little but VERY slowly!  I have used Graph It alcohol markers to colour my image and then added a little white flock to her hat and dress trim.
     The image is mounted on green glitter card using red line tape, it's very sticky and just right for a rough surface.

     The card blank was a white square, it has been cut by hand after drawing round the outside of the largest Spellbinder Round Ornament die. The small hanger at the top is coloured gold with a gold eyelet punched through it, this will hold the ribbon without tearing the hole. The card could also be used as a gift tag.
     The outside edge of the card is coloured red with Distress Ink Festive Berries, I couldn't use the same alcohol marker as Ava's hat as it would soak through, but it's a pretty close match.
     Please come and join us with your Christmas projects at CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra.

I would like to enter my card/tag into the following challenges:

Christmas Card Challenges - Anything Goes
Completely Christmas - Anything Goes
Holly Jolly Christmas - Anything Goes
My Perfect Life - Any Christmas Card Goes

Illuminated Bunny Guest Spot at Top Tip Tuesday

      I have the honour of being a Guest Design Team Member at Top Tip Tuesday this fortnight.  I was thrilled to be asked to make a Non Traditional Christmas project for their new challenge.
     When I saw this cute bunny wrapped in lights I couldn't resist him. Some of you may be aware of my intense dislike of destructive (but cute) bunnies in my garden, so the opportunity to plug one in really made me laugh.
     This cute little bunny is from Zlatoena's Design who are one of TTT sponsors. He would be just as cute used on an Easter project, I don't think the lights restrict him to just Christmas.

     I have several tips for you on this one, Top Tip - use Stardust or glitter pens to colour the lights, it really makes them sparkle. Other tips include, use eyelets for the ribbon holes as it stops the card tearing when the ribbon is pulled. If you can't find a backing card the right colour use white and colour it with ink, but only colour where it will show so you don't waste your ink. Last but by no means least is measure carefully, then check it before you cut or crease, I'm speaking from experience on this one!
     The measurements for this treat box came from Splitcoast Stampers, they have a great tutorial on their site, this one is made with a 12x12 sheet of card. Measurements could be adapted to make other sizes for smaller treats.
     Thank you to Top Tip Tuesday for asking me to join them for this challenge. You can join in with any creation as long as it fits the Non Traditional Christmas theme, you don't have to have a top tip to join in but it would be appreciated.

I would like to enter my treat box in the following challenges:

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Non Traditional Colours

Completely Christmas - Anything Goes
Not Just Cards - Anything Goes
Holly Jolly Christmas - Anything Goes