Step away from the cards!

In the run up to Christmas, some of the challenges at DCM will be to "step away from the cards" and make other things (which can be Christmas-themed or not - it's up to you).

Our first non-card challenge is to make or decorate a gift bag or box.

I made a bag-a-lope using an A4 manilla envelope. This is a useful "how to" if you fancy having a go - Bag-a-Lope Tutorial. Measurement-wise I just trimmed an arbitrary "looks right" amount off the top and scored at 5cm.

It's another one that looks better in real life I'm afraid but I'm sure you get the idea! The snowflakes are glittery and the hanging bauble is silver mirri card which is difficult to photograph. The snowflake is embossed into the bauble with the die rather than cut out of a separate piece and stuck on.

Supplies:
A4 manilla envelope
White cardstock
Fancy Lattice die (Shapeabilities by Spellbinder)
Sizzlets die by Sizzix (Serenity set, retired) 
Snowflake die (Waltzingmouse Stamps, retired)
Sheer ribbon
Silver thread
Corner Chomper
Cropadile

Thanks for stopping by!

Cuteasaurous Brother!

My friend Ann just had her second baby, a little brother for their three year old daughter. There's a knitted blanket on the way for them but he arrived a few days early and beat me to it (the lining still needs stitching in!) so I made this little set as a "welcome" gift in the meantime.

The baby vests (onesies if you're reading this in North America!) started life as plain white ones from M&S - nice smooth close-knit fabric that gives a great surface for stamping on.

I used Versacraft ink for the stamping, it's permanent if you iron it and gives a nice clear impression. The colouring is done with Copics. You need to colour carefully, keeping well inside the lines as the colour tends to travel a little along the knit of the fabric so you need to allow for the spread - just three colours is fine for this kind of simple design, no need to try for too much shading (which would probably result in soaking the fabric too much and having the colour bleed further).

I made a coordinating gift tote just by following the basic bag-a-lope method and then trimming the top to make a deep handle shape.

Ann's reaction? "Ooooh great, he'll be able to have t-shirts with the same things on as he gets bigger!"

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Little Guy and Baby Love sets (Kim Hughes Collection)

Ink: Versacraft by Tsukineko (black)

Other: Cotton baby vests Copic markers (Putty, Raw Silk and Cool Gray 1) Envelope and ribbon for tote

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrate spring!

Bek thought it would be fun to celebrate spring with a blog hop of some fresh and fun spring projects using our favourite spring-themed CHF stamps so welcome to my stop along the hoppity trail!

I love this little tulip girl from the Saturday Evening Post line, she's so sweet!

This is a super-fast project - a couple of score lines on a sealed envelope, selective colouring of the image, four eyelets to set and you're about done.

I followed the basic steps to make a bagalope (tutorial here if you want one) but left the top open and added eyelets and some twill tape handles to make a little gift tote. My envelope was a UK A5 size - I'm not sure how that translates for North America but it's the size you'd use if you folded a sheet of letter paper in half once. I just shredded some kraft wrap to make filling for the inside to protect a gift.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Tulip Girl (Saturday Evening Post line)
Birthday Centers (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)

Paper:
Ivory laid envelope
Kraft wrap

Other:
Copic markers
Extra large eyelets by We R Memory Keepers (antique brass)
Twill tape
Crop-o-dile
Scor-It

Others hippety hopping a spring celebration are Julia, Kristine, Lisa, Sherrie and Bek, why not pay a visit for more spring fun? The Be Creative blog is on the trail too and the winners of the recent challenge will be announced there as well.

Thanks for dropping by!

Friday's final

OK, I know it's Tuesday - the Bank Holiday hasn't left me quite that confused! This is the final challenge from the CHF Backgrounder Blitz though and we did that on a Friday. The challenge was to use a backgrounder on anything but a card. I was running out of time so mine was fast and furious...



You can't beat a bagalope for a quick project! This started life as an A5 cream laid paper envelope and has just the one backgrounder on the body of it and a simple flower silhouette on a tag cut with a Nestability die. In terms of 'bang for your buck' I think it gives pretty high returns :o)

Supplies: A5 envelope, Rice Paper backgrounder and Silhouette Blooms I (both Cornish Heritage Farms), Tim Holtz Distress Ink Shabby Shutters, scoring board, Nestability Classic oval ide, satin ribbon, cream brad (Dovecraft)

Thanks for visiting today. If you have time to drop by tomorrow, I have news to share and the chance to win some stuff too - hope to see you then!