M&M World

I made this double layout ages ago, but I haven't blogged it until now.  The reason it may look a bit odd is because I have knitted two photos together and the join is quite visible.

I was at M&M World with Crafty Frank ages ago and I totally forgot that I had these pictures, so I had already made another LO on this topic.  I decided I would use up some Basic Grey scraps I had lying around, and try out some new cutting patterns I bought for my robo (Silhouette).

My favourite photo on here is the periodic table of M&M colours in the bottom right.  I hope you can enlarge this picture and have a good look!

Wish notebook

One of the more fun things I enjoy with craft is making things I can use every day.  I love making cards or scrapbook pages, but things like covering cheap notebooks or making my own desk sets means that I can keep something more permanent to look at and enjoy.

These A6 notebooks are from Tesco and they cost 35 pence.  I did my crafty thing with a piece of card and attached it to the notebook.  Simples!!  

I made this one alongside my Crafty Frank.  Hers is fab too, it has a tatoo-ey look to it and it's quite cool!  We use these books to record our card readings.  Very fun!

Quick party bags

A perennial favourite, I tend to make party bags for the kids out of C5 envelopes.  This year was no exception.  

Cameron had a bowling birthday party, and although I chose to use clip-art and fonts from the printer instead of stamping, I have kept to my normal envelope-bags.

I learned the envelope bag trick from a Stampin Up demonstrator about ten or so years ago.  I've been using it since the kids started having birthday parties!  The basic envelope-to-bag technique goes like this:

Seal the envelope.

Score down the two long sides and across one short side, all scores the same distance from the edge of the envelope.  You can vary this measurement all you like as long as it's the same on all three sides.  

Cut the other short side off, leaving an open top.

Reinforce scores by folding in both directions crisply.  It also helps to score a diagonal line connecting the intersection of the score lines and the corner of the envelope.

Once these steps are done, you just pop it out into a bag shape, fold the corners under and glue them down on the bottom of the  bag, and decide if you want to fold over the top and staple it or add ribbon handles, in which case it helps to double up the top margin of the bag and then punch holes.

If you're decorating the bag, especially if you're stamping, you'll want to do that while the envelope is still flat.  Score it first, then decorate, then move on to the next steps.

What I did was use two Distress Stains to add sketchy stripes to the bottom of the bag,  all around the front, back  and sides.   A lot of  this got covered up, so it doesn't have to be perfect.  I added the main motif which I ran off on the printer, using the same font and graphic as his invitations.  I scribbled  around the edge of the motif with one of the distress stains and used the other to colour in the flap where I would fold over the bag.  After I filled the bags, I folded the coloured tops over and stapled once in the middle.

Envelopes like these are 25 for a pound, but you could go for higher quality if you wanted them to be a bit more posh, like for a wedding or baby shower.  In the past, I have used brown envelopes and stuck a white punched border on the top flap for contrast.  The possibilities are endless!

Crafting in the Car!

Yes.  You are looking over the steering wheel at my impromptu craft area in the school car park.  Cameron's tenth birthday was coming up and I decided to christen some of my new Stampin Up goodies by making some cardstock wraps for some Oreo snack-packs.  He passed them out on his birthday.

I park in the school car park, bring something to do and wait for Victoria to get out of cheerleading.  There's no point going home for the sake of an hour, so if it can be done in the car, it will be done on Tuesday afternoon (until the weather is better for the park).  Cameron helped me out with this project.  He chose the cardstock and cut it into the right size strips.  This made quite a lovely dent in my cardstock stash!

Here's the end result:  A box full of wrapped Oreos for his classmates.  He was so excited to give them out!

Next step-- invites and party bags.

Another Mirror Frame, Blazing New Trails!

Hmm.... it didn't photograph too well... but here it is!

On Friday night, I watched Karen Ellis on Ustream as I usually do.  She took a bit of MDF and worked her magic on it and it was very cool. :)  She thickly applied structure gel to the wood through a stencil, applied colour to it in her special arty way when the gel dried... then painted a coat of white on and proceeded to remove the white from areas that were raised.  The result was fantastic.  A lot more fantastic, I must say, than what you are seeing here.

I used a 6x6 stencil, repositioned repeatedly to get the entire frame covered,  and I think the pattern is way too intricate to be effective, but lesson learned. :)  I still really like the look of it.  I might dry-brush a bit to try and catch the design a bit more, but I'm going to leave it a while and think about it. :)