Toy boxes.

First of all let me say these boxes were not my idea. I was stalking the gallery at SCS and spotted the idea here. I wasn't likely to pass off the chance to make a box or two was i? So here's my version.

The piece of card measures 11"x 41/2" and is scored at 21/2", 5", 71/2" and 10" then turn and score at 11/2" for the bottom flaps.Not much stamping and colouring required as the toy is the star of the show.

The little toys were only £1 each from Tesco but they aren't suitable for tots. They have a clip attatched so i think they are to clip onto bags etc.
I'm off to do a token amount of housework to keep the guilt monster away then i can play again later.
               See you soon.  Di.xx

Baby card.

Just a quicky post today. A baby card i made ages ago .The image is a Forever Friends one which i didn't realise till i just looked. The little stickers are from Create and Craft before they hiked up the P&P.

My sister loved her little housewarming basket. She didn't want to dismantle it until she'd shown her friend so she hasn't found the hidden gift card yet
           Thanks for looking, off to get ready for work.  Di. x

New home basket.

If you expected to see a picture of a gleaming cooker after me showing you a basket of cleaning stuff yesterday i'm sorry to disappoint!! This is what i did, i played with it!

My sister has just moved house and i wanted to make her a little pressie. It's my fave Dolly Mama stamp again.She's great because you can put allsorts of captions by her. This one is from Inkadinkado but sometimes i make my own little ditties and print them out then stamp her next to them.Note the marigold flowers at the sides!

The basket is from Wilkinsons. Instructions for the post it note holder are here    http://onthecards.blogspot.com/2010/03/stick-em-up.html

And before you shout at me for being a cheapskate there is a gift card buried in there. Now, what are you doing loitering on here,YOU SHOULD BE STAMPING!!!!       Di.xx

Proper dozy!!

Eeee, you learn summat new every day! Todays little gem of a discovery is when i edit photos in picasa it's best to then save them.(duh). I've been wondering why my photos on here appear to be dull when they are ok in picasa. Now sometimes i can't help right clicking on things just to see what comes up. I clicked on one of my pics and one of the options was "save". That's when the penny dropped!! The reason i'm posting this is, one,to embarass myself, and,two, to help any other technophobes out there. Hopefully tomorrows pics should be better (otherwise i'll look even dafter).

I could muder a pint!

It was Speedy's mates birthday on friday and of course a card was requested two days before.

The stamp is by Art Impessions and the paper is fom a Brenda Pinnick stack(see pevious post). The little barrels are from a Clare Curd clear stamp set and i've put them on 3d foam to raise them a bit.

The little sentiments were done on the computer.
                I've got a little job to do this afternoon with this little lot.

And no i'm not going to blitz the kitchen,,not on the sabbath ,,or not on your nelly! I'll show you tomorrow.
                           Bye for now.  Di. xx

Bloomin' 'eck!!

This girl knows how to party! She is called Dotty and she is by Art impressions. All my Art Impressions stamps are from Sir Stampalot ( see sidebar) , not cheap but i get loads of use out of them.

This is a 6" 6" card so as you can see it's quita a large stamp.The papers are from a stack of Brenda Pinnick papers which i love. I got them from QVC, you get 200 sheets of good quality 12x 12 for about a tenner. They usually have them on the Rosemary Merry shows. I've had 3 different ones so far.

I paper pieced the dress and bloomers and added blobs of glitter glue on the dress.The sentiments are from my "Ethel and Murray" set from C&C.
   This is a scheduled post as i'm working this morning. Sometimes the nice man from the pub over the road brings us a bacon butty on a saturday morning.....please let it be today!!
    Thanks fo visiting.  Di.xx

Friday quickie.

Well my two days of have flown by as usual,i bet today won't go half as quick! Still, it's payday so can't be all bad.Friday's aren't bad if we know how to humour the drunk men. There are 2 pubs across the road and they get full of men who knock off at lunchtime and head straight for a pint (a bit like me on saturdays really). They are in and out all afternoon buying cigs and lottery getting drunker and drunker, most of them are pathetic by 5 o'clock, i pity their wives!
 This card is one i made a while back for a male friend.

It's one of my favourite Penny Black stamps,very versatile,i've used it loads.
   Well i'd best be getting a move on or i'll be late . See you soon  Di.xx

Easter baskets.

Right I'm back. I've been waiting for the sun to come round to the bedroom so I can take some half decent photos. These little baskets were inspired by something i saw on a website last year, I saved the pic but I didn't make note of where I saw it. I didn't think i needed to, after all it wasn't as if I was going to be starting a blog or anything was it???! So I've done some trawling and wouldn't you know it ,the original one was a bought box that had been decorated.

These are made in the same way as the milk cartons but are scored at 2" 5" 7" and 10" to make a rectangular box, and are obviously not as tall, your piece of card needs to be 11" x 5". the flaps underneath are 11/2" so the box is 31/2" tall.

And yes, you're right I do only have one Easter stamp and that's only thanks to Quick Cards mag. Not sure whether that photo is a bit blurred or whether I need to clean my glasses! Well I'm off to town now to change some trousers for mother, stubborn little mule refuses to try anything on then lucky me has to take everything back. Still, she is 89  bless her. I can't see me reaching that age with my lifestyle!
    Bye bye for now.  Di. xx

Take it easy.

One of the girls i work with is having a hernia op today. I took a quick photo of this card before i gave it to  her.                                                                                                                                                              r

She's got to take it easy for 4 weeks and it's going to kill her. She's one of these women who can't keep still for 5 minutes. I offered to make her up a cardmaking kit to play with and she looked at my like i was mad! I'll be back later when i'ts light enough to photo last nights creation. 

On the seashore.

I love this little girl,she is called "collecting shells" by Stamps Happen.She reminds me of when i used to go to Anglesey on hols with my mum and dad and sisters. It was always sunny, or did we just remember it that way.Did time erase the rainy days like it does with childbirth and hangovers?

The backing paper is Papermania Creaive Tones in the lilacs.I coloured the centres of some of the flowers with promarkers to match the little girls dress,a little trick to make an otherwise monotonous paper come to life.

You can just about see the liquid pearls on the shells and the glitter glue on her dress.The flowers are from a Clare Curd clear stamp set. I reckon i might put a happy birthday mum on it for Speedy's mums birthday next month ....unless i make something better.I'm off today and tomorow so who knows what i might create,apart from a mess!!
                           Thanks for visiting . Di. xx

More easter boxes.

My usual Tuesday quick post today as unfortunately I can't afford to give up the day job! Can you believe i work in a newsagent selling lottery and still can't win a bean? So all I've got for you today is a bit of BBC. What? Oh a repeat!

Well not an exact repeat, just a different colourway. More details on my march 17th post.
              Hugs.  Di.x

Back from the shops.

First stop was Tesco home extra.I got a pack of 50 cream cards and envelopes for £4.99.I've had these before they are good quality.I was mooching around and found these mothers day bargains.Gusseted gift bags 37p, tissue paper 12p and wrapping paper 37p.

Then i went to Hobbycraft and as i often do ,i thought why did i bother.I fancied some nice spring/summer backing papers but there was not a lot to be had,not for cardmaking anyway, the patterns were too big.There was not much to be had in the stamp isle either.So all i bought were some flowers.

I was pretty pleased with these as they were only 99p a bunch and a tenner is the least i've ever spent in Hobbycraft.  I've got quite a bit of my stash allowance left so i may do some internet shopping tonight!
            

Birthday Beetle.

It;s hubby's nephew's birthday on saturday so i thought i'd best delve into my male stash and make him a card. I think he's 20 this year so in typical young lad fashion he'll probably just grunt and leave it on the coffee table, especially if there's no cash in it!! I know some people struggle with male cards but i quite like doing them, they make a bit of a change from all the girly stuff.

Being a young lad i thought a car would suit. The stamp is from Funstamps and is one of the fist stamps i ever bought , about 4 years ago. The paper is the Papermania "for him" stack, probably as old as the stamp.As always i used promarkers for colouring.I don't really like peel offs but sometimes they can fill in the odd gap.I won't be able to go to Hobbycraft NEC this year but i am going to Hobbycraft Chester today as a compromise (funds won't strech to NEC).If i buy any decent stash i'll do another post when i get back.Sometimes i get loads, sometimes i wonder why i bothered going. Still there's a TK Maxx next door..........                 Hugs Di. xx

Update.

Speedy is now scalped and beautiful but horrified, bless.

Tilda.

What a lovely morning! At least the weather isn't boring in this country,we never know what to expect fom one day to the next do we?
My little workmate was 18 last week so i made her this little card.

I love this little Tilda and i have loads of her all half coloured up ready to finish off to match my backing paper. This paper is from My Minds Eye bloom and grow stack. My fiskars border punch had an airing, i keep forgetting i've got it.

Here's a little close up. After i photoed it i added her name and 18 on the top.
Well, i'm off to rake the sleeping beauty out of bed and scalp him!! Yes it's haircut time Speedy i did not marry a caveman!! What is it with these men who lose hair in top, why do they cling on to what's left for dear life?           See you tomorrow with a husband who looks ten years younger.  Di. xx

Quickie.

Another saturday morning quickie as i'm off to work.Image is by Penny Black.

Working until 1.30pm then a bit of boozing with Speedy then off home for a beautiful ribeye steak, yum.
          Love Di. xx

Mojos' done a runner.

Well i was on an absolute roll on wednesday making things. Not so yesterday i'm afraid! I went into my den and sat and sat, then i tried to make a new type of box but it just wasn't having it. After 3 attempts i decided to make some cards,no joy there either,my mind was blank. I had loads of paper, card and ribbon out chopping it all to bits for nothing. Three hours later all i came up was this lazy little card.

 The little flip flops were from The Works which has now closed down in Chester,i think the little sentiment sticker was from there too.I also ate loads of the choccies i'm supposed to be making easter gifts with!

Oh and i also made THIS!!

Lovely mess hey? I really enjoyed tidying that lot up (not). I'm in work today so i won't be able to do any more damage.
Thanks fo visiting.   Di. xxx

Milk Cartons.Mooooo!!

Unaccustomed as I am..... I've done a little tutorial for these milk cartons because although there is one on SCS. it's a bit more complicated.

Take a piece of card 6"x83/4" .Score it at 2", 4", 6", 8".

Turn it the other way and score at 1" and 4". Fold all score lines and crease well with a bone folder then cut between creases at bottom edge (you can just about see in pic).This is the best time to decorate your box while it's still flat. Join down the side seem with DST.  EDIT. my original post said 2" and 4" .Oops that was wrong apologies to anyone who tried to make one with those measurements.

Fold the bottom flaps up and adhere with DST or glue (not sellotape please!)

Use both hands at once to do this(,unless there's a camera in the other one) push the sides in whilst closing the top together. Try and keep it central and press the box downwards slightly to create the carton shape.
Always practice on cheap card first.

Sweet or what??? I got the little paperclips at Wilkinson's, can't remember how much but very cheap, chocs are Tesco £1 for a net.
                     Thanks for looking, now go and get making!!    Di. xxx

Easter boxes.

Hello everybody, what a lovely day! Spring has definitely sprung and thoughts of Easter are filling my head. This morning I dug out my free stamp from Quick Cards and made these little boxes for some marzipan sweets I bought from Aldi.

There were ten sweets in the pack so poor me, I had to eat one! Boxmaking is very easy once you've worked out your measurements . To do these I first lay my 3 chocs on a piece of paper and drew around them. Then, as i needed the box to be 2cm high I added 4cm each way and scored 2cm in along each side.

Always remember the lid needs to be slightly larger than the bottom, not much only about 2-3mm each way. I always use scotch quick dry adhesive (white bottle, red label) for my boxes.

This afternoon I'm going to make some little milk carton boxes and I'll photo some instructions for you. See you tomorrow.     Di.xx

Over the hill.

Here's another card using Art Impressions stamps.The paper is from the DCWV floral prints stack.As it's a nice small print it was perfect to paperpiece the old dear's frock.You can't see it in the photo but i used some 3D glaze on her specs.

Just a shortie post today as i'm off to work in a few mins and i forgot to schedule one last night. Di.xx

St Patrick's card.

Well i am neither use nor ornament today.I went out for a barmeal with Speedy last night and when we got home it was still quite early so we drank the rest of the wine leftover from saturday.When that was gone Speedy asked if i fancied a little G&T.By this time all sense of logic had gone so i found myself saying "there's another bottle of wine in the cupboard". Big mistake! My mum, who drinks wine by the thimbleful is always saying the devil lives halfway down the bottle waiting to get you.,and didn't i know it this morning.
No cardmaking today because of the shaky hands but i made this one yesterday.

I made it for my boss who's name is Patrick but believe me he's no saint,love him to bits though.I only have one little Paddy's stamp set and i didn't want the card ending up the same as last years so i used a heart stamp and drew the stem in.A few blobs or glitter glue and a bow and that was that.
Thanks for visiting.   Di. x

Happy Mother's Day.

Here's a card for all you mums out there. Happy Mothers Day. xxx

Of course i wouldn't dream of sending such a hideous card to my own mum! The image is a Dolly Mama from Stamp happens.The sentiment was done on the computer.I made it for my mate's birthday.
I've been up since half six but i can't do anything much as we live in a flat and the sleeping beauty is still asleep,bless,so i'll put the kettle on again and stalk a few blogs and galleries until he wakes up. Ahh, bliss!!
   See you soon.  Di.xx

Another gift bag.

Another quickie post today as I'm working this morning and "quaffing" with hubby this afternoon. I had a look through my picasa photos last night and found this version of the double pocket bag posted on Thursday.

I made it for a little girl for her 10th birthday. I covered a little notebook and added a pen a mirror and some lip balm. She loved it. The contents really do need to be fairly flat so I'm looking for suggestions, if anyone has any please leave a comment.           Bye bye for now. Di.xx 

Gone fishin'

Just a little quicky post.I call these type of cards flatties because thats what they are.....flat.No buttons or bows etc.The stamp is from a clear set by Clare Curd and the paper is fom my scrapbox.

Thanks for visiting. Di.xx

Double pocket bag.

This is something else i found at SCS, and I've made quite a few of them. Once again they are very easy, even easier if you have a scorepal.

The little bag is made from one sheet of 12x12 paper, I'm sure we've all got plenty of that! It looks very weird from the side......look...

The old codger is a stamp by Art impressions and so is the sentiment on the card. The sentiment(insult) on the bag is by funstamps.I can't remember what make the paper is because I lost the front cover but it is called the retro stack.

A 5x5 card will fit but it sticks up about 1cm it the top.my little card is 4x4. don't worry if you have no envelopes,  you don't really need one. The little bag will only take quite flat items like a gift card, diary, minature cigars etc. So how's it made I hear you ask. Have a look here.  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/double_pocket_bag/      
             See you tomorrow with a scheduled post,(another for the men).   Di. xx

Easter gift pouches.

I love making cards but I'm even happier when I'm making boxes bags and gifts. I saw these a while ago when stalking the gallery at Splitcoast Stampers.

I've been hankering to have a go ever since and when i saw these chocolate bunnies in Aldi I thought "now's my chance". The deal was that I had to do the mothers day cards first. Of course I couldn't wait until tomorrow so here they are. Sweet or what? I haven't got much double sided paper so I'm going to use some single sided paper and stamp and colour the two opposite reverse corners to tone with the paper for my next ones

If you fancy making some they are so easy, just follow the instructions.http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/diaperfoldpouch/ My squares were 17cm square to fit these little bunnies.
                    Thanks for visiting .Di.xx

Mothers day cards done!!

Well they're done.As i said,if i have to do cards for a specific person or occasion my mojo goes to pot.So i've shut myself in my craft den this morning and made myself do our mums cards.I've had another little project i've been itching to have a go at but i needed to do these first.

Both mums are in their late 80's so i didn't think a cutesy card would be suitable.This flower fairies image by Incastamp has only ever been inked up once and i don't think a actually made a card with it then.I used backing paper from a K&CO stack and coloured the image to match with promarkers. Yippee, finished!!
Now i can go and play with my new project.
               See you soon, Di. xx

Kanban set two.

This is the other kanban stamp set i bought on saturday, completely different to the other one.

I made a quick card with it yesterday and here it is.I'm not too impressed with it really. My heart wasn't really into it because i know i should be making 2 mothers day cards. I love both mums to bits but when i need to make a particular card for particular occassion, it upsets my mojo.I'd much rather cut and stick willy nilly and see what comes out. That's it i've GOT to do them on wednesday come what may!!
       Oops, i was just about to wander off without uploading the card! Here goes. Ugh...even the sentiment is crooked!

This is a scheduled post as i'm at work today.   Hugs,  Di.

Funny story.

At work on tuesday i was unpacking some magazines and ticking them off on the invoice (dead hard my job you know!). I picked up a mag i hadn't seen before.There was a dolly bird in a bikini on the front and her head was hiding some of the title. All you could see was  SI            TS  Illustrated. I said to my workmate "sluts illustrated, thats going straight back" and chucked it back in the box because we don't want to encourage "that sort of man" into the shop. I was only when i couldn't find it on the invoice that i realised it was actually called  SPORTS Illustrated.It was full of sports swimwear. Well, didn't we laugh!!

Scraplings

These little things are such fun to make.They measure about two and a half by six inches and are made from the bit you cut off when making a 6x6 card from an A4 sheet.

I haven't found anyone who supplies envelopes in this size,but they can be tucked into a gift bag as they are.

The recipient can always use them as a bookmark, other than that they don't serve much of a purpose except  for being a bit sweet.

Bye bye for now, i'm just going to do a quick scheduled post for tomorrow as i'll be in work. Di.xx

More notecards.

Yesterday i was toying with the idea of nipping to Hobbycraft (just to have a look you understand),but I managed to resist and decided to go to Abakhan instead. It's only a short walk fom home and far less dangerous as they don't have much card stash, mainly ribbon and a few embellies etc. So there i was mooching around with a couple of spools of ribbon in my hand and i spotted a few clear stamp sets plonked in a pile on a shelf in true Abakhan style. They weren't much cop except for three Kanban sets.Up to now i've always associated Kanban with "topper" style kits on shopping channels. I bought this one and another one which i'll show you another time. I made another quickie notelet set but my big mistake was to stamp my tree in olive green.I have absolutely NO paper or card in olive green so i spent ages trawling through my stash and ended up with dark red.Next time i think i'll do the trees in grey to give me more scope.Ichalked the edges of the images,2 in green and the other 2 in dark red.Now.....,i wonder how long i'll be able to resist that third set of stamps........Hmmmm.....

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