Heavenly Crafts

Where, oh, where, does the time go?  It seems like only yesterday since I was posting photos of a gift box and card I had made but since then, months have gone by.  I have been on holiday to Wales, visited my daughter in Plymouth, attended the Stampin' up! Creative Tour in Loughborough, been on a line dance weekend in Caernarfon and am now well into the tax return season and filing deadlines, yet again!  My Dad has finished his chemo and is now slowly recovering from all the drugs they pumped into him and I am still fighting fires here at work as I bounce from one deadline to the next.  I definitely think someone needs to organise me!!!

So, on the craft front, I will be at Meeting Point House in Telford tomorrow, wearing my Stampin' Up! hat (or ratyher,  my SU! apron ;) ).  If you are in the area, please do call in and see what everyone is getting up to.  I need to finish off several times tonight ready to take with me tomorrow, so hopefully, the hours in today will stretch themselves out so I can get everything done!

I have actually made some hybrid items for The Digichick recently.  Take a look at these notebook cards:

And how about this seed packet album:



Full details of how I made those are on The Hybrid Chick website. I am in the process of now making a calendar., trying to get a head start on my Christmas presents.  I'm hoping to get this finished over the weekend, so will let you have a look at it then.

In the meantime, I have also just finished using a starter kit of Ariel 3-in-1 pods.  This is a new product designed for your washing machine that holds the cleaning materials in three separate compartments, each cleansing material designed to do a separate job: one is for cleaning, one for removing stains and the final one for brightening the clothes.  This is the box that arrived on my doorstep:


And take a look see what was inside:





Just look at how many pods they sent me!!!!



They smell absolutely gorgeous and the thing is, the smell lingers on the clothes long after they have been washed too!  I must admit, I was not impressed with the green plastic box they came in though.  Either I don't know my own strength, or the plastic is very flimsy as the first time I opened the box, I took the lid and part of the top of the box off!

I was very dubious about the alleged super duper cleaning ability though as past experience has shown that all washing powders are pretty much the same, but I was pleasantly surprised as these pods managed to get rid of some tea stains on some cream tea towels which most powders would have left behind.  I am still finishing off the box but am very grateful to Ariel and Savvy Circle for giving me the chance to try these.

I will probably buy these myself in the future, depending, of course, on the price (I know, my middle name is scrooge!!!) but if you get chance to try these out, I would definitely have a go to see what you think of them.  You just have to be careful not to let any damp get into the box as otherwise, the pods start to dissolve and you end up with liquid all over your hands....!!!!

Well, this was a slightly longer update than anticipated.  I need to get back to sorting out payments to subcontractors for one client and adding up meal tickets for another in order to work out sales for the year.  I lead such an exciting life!

Well, I've been playing with digital templates again and I found some gorgeous box templates at The Digichick.  This is one I got my hands on the other day:

It is sooo easy to use and I combined it with some rose flowers that I have used before:


Neat, eh?

I used papers and journal tags from this digital kit:



And this is what I ended up with:



The large flower on the box was made using the Blossom Punch from Stampin' Up.  Full details of how I made these will be posted on the Hybrid Chick blog shortly so why not go take a look and let me know what you think?


Happy Scrapping!

It really was too nice to be working a week or so ago!  I just think we get so few really lovely days here in the UK, we need to make the most of them and sitting here doing a cash flow forecast is really not in my top ten list of favourite things to do on a sunny day!

I'd spent the morning at a client's premises taking photographs as he'd asked me to take some photos of his new camping and caravanning site so he can put them on his website.  This probably counts as my first real photographic assignment (and I got paid too!!!!)!  I take photos for pleasure, and occasionally manage to come out with a couple of good pictures, and having seen one I took of the bridge at Ironbridge, my client seemed to think I knew what I was doing.....do you think it would be wrong of me to have kept quiet about the fact that I don't know how to work all the buttons on my camera yet?

Here's the caravan and camping site - looks so peaceful, doesn't it?  All you can hear are the birds singing and ok, yes, the traffic from the nearby main road, but the peace and the views more than make up for the noise of the traffic.

A short walk away, this is what you can find:


And there are these tucked away in a hedge:


Just pour me a Pimm's and leave me here:



Anyhow, it was really lovely that morning, being out in the sunshine and listening to the birds sing. Shame I had to come back indoors to do my real job, eh?

But, despite all the work, I have had chance to get crafty, and was able to get my hands on this new release from Girl Boy Girl Designs:

I have been so busy with work (you know, that thing that stops me crafting but just about pays the bills) that I have barely had time to think these last few weeks.  I'm running late with my Hybrid Chick project (again :( ) but take a look at what I used for my last one:

Isn't that just gorgeous? I just love that kit, there are so many scrummy papers and embellishments in it! Best of all, it comes with a flowerpot template:



You just can't beat having a digital kit and a hybrid template combined - the best of both worlds ;)!!!  So naturally I had to have a go at this and look see how it turned out:


Of course, I had to force myself to use my brand new never been used before Stampin' Up! Floral Frames Framelits dies - now that's real dedication for you!!!  As you can imagine, it was a real chore breaking into that and using it for the first time ;)!!!

For further details on how this was made, please take a look at the Hybrid Chick blog.  The Hybrid chick team have also come up with some amazing creations so you will find plenty of inspiration there ;).

In the meantime, I shall go back to pretending I am preparing cash flow forecasts whilst in reality looking out through my office door into the garden and the lovely sunshine that I just want to be sitting outside in!!!

Happy scrapping!

Welcome to the Creations by AR customer blog hop!  I hope you are enjoying the beautiful creations by the other participants, and that you find mine of interest.  This is the last blog in the hop, and you should have come here from Raissa's blog.  The other blogs are (just in case you missed any!):

Lisa Eisner 
Jennyfer Leung
Diana Auberle
Mary Roberson
Gigi Lorenc
Deb Speijers
Lenoria Kelly
Rhonda Miller
Carmen Mitchell
Raissa Spatola
Lynn Clifford (I'm the last stop!)

There are 11 stops on the blog hop and if you want to win a template of your choice from the store, just leave a comment on each blog to be in with a chance of winning.  One comment will be chosen from all the blog comments as one of us is the mystery blogger!

Comments for the blog hop prize will close at midnight (EDT) on Saturday 11 May. The winner will be announced on Sunday 12 May on Lisa's blog and on the Creations by AR Facebook Page. Speaking of the CbyAR FB Page, if you haven't already done so, you may want to 'Like' the page so you can be kept up-to-date on all the latest happenings.

Well, I know Mother's Day in the USA is coming up soon, but we had ours way back in March here in the UK!  So I decided to use one of Adela's templates to make a tag holder.  Also, I know the theme is Mom's favourite colour", but being a mum myself, I cheated and used papers that I really like rather than pinks and girly colours!  I'm afraid I do love grunge and Tim Holtz papers!

This is the template I used:

Nice, eh?  It is actually a really easy template to use too and so simple to print it out on a sheet of A4 plain white card stock to make a template.  Of course, you can just print it out with digital papers and make the carry all in one easy step, but I wanted to use papers from my stash, hence the need for an actual template.

Also, in order to create the tag holder, I needed tags, so I made another card stock template from one of the tag templates from the Library Pocket set:




I then broke into my Tim Holtz card stock stash, using a sheet of Kraft Resist for the carry all, and a sheet of Lost and Found card stock for the tags.  Once I had cut everything out, this is what I ended up with:


Here is the carry all:



And here are the tags (I also punched four tabs for the top of each tag using my Stampin' Up! tag punch):



In order to make the base for the holder/album, I cut some card stock 4" by 6" from the leftover sheet of Kraft Resist, scoring it at every 1/2".  I then concertina folded it and added the strong red sticky tape to each end on the reverse side:



The edges were then adhered to the bottom of each side of the Carry-All:



This photo is maybe a bit clearer:




 I used PVA glue on the inside of the base of the Carry All (just under the concertina folded card stock) to get the folded edges to stick down). The tags were then just slotted into the valley folded parts of the base card stock and this is how it it looked when finished:



Of course, you include more tags in this by increasing the size of the concertina folded card by 1" for every additional tag.  I just went with four tags for this one.





Sorry for the poor quality of the photos - I just could not get my camera to focus on the bottom where the tags were inserted, and being shortsighted, couldn't see properly even with my glasses to sort it out ;). Hopefully you can tell what it looks like nonetheless.

I decorated the outside of the carry all with butterflies cut from another sheet of the Kraft Resist paper and here is the finished article:













As you can see, I also added antennae to some of the butterflies/moths using thin wire and used distress ink on the edges of everything for more definition.  

This only took about an hour or so to make, as they are both such easy templates to use (and I am all for an easy life ;)).  It would make a lovely mother's day gift holder, especially decorated with flowers which is what I intend to do next, once I have got this set of accounts and query letter out to my client later today!

Don't forget to go visit everyone else on the blog hop to see what they have made and to leave a comment so be in with a chance of winning a template from the store!

Lisa Eisner 
Jennyfer Leung
Diana Auberle
Mary Roberson
Gigi Lorenc
Deb Speijers
Lenoria Kelly
Rhonda Miller
Carmen Mitchell
Raissa Spatola

Happy Scrapping!

Life seems to have been really hectic around here recently with one thing and another.  I'm now taking my Dad to hospital once a fortnight for chemotherapy as he has cancer - he found out just before Christmas so that was a present he didn't want to receive :(! He now has a PICC line in his arm and has the drugs intravenously at the hospital and is then sent home with  a pump attached containing more drugs which take 48 hours to get through the PICC line.  There is then another trip to the hospital to get the pump removed, which I do if it is a weekday (my brother is doing the weekend trips).

He seems to be doing really well though, and apart from being very tired, has had no side effects to mention, which is a real blessing.  Mind you, there are people praying for him in my church and I have a friend in the USA who has her church praying for him too so you can take your pick as to which you think it is - the power of prayer, the right dosage of chemo, his age and fitness, or whatever.  I know what I think and I thank God he is doing ok.

Apart from that, life goes on here pretty much as usual - I'm overworked, underpaid, totally unappreciated, lol!! I really don't know where the time goes and 24 hours in each day is nowhere near long enough to get everything done ;).  I am having great difficulty getting any decent crafting time in...sigh!!!

Still, look see what I found the other day:

Collage Craft by Polka Dot Pixels - isn't it just scrumptious?  Now this is a kit that definitely calls for being turned into an album and it just so happens I was able to sneak a little bit of time here and there to make this:




This is a quick look at the inside pages:

I am really pleased with how it turned out and cannot believe how easy it was to make.  It took me at least twice as long to write it all up as it did to actually make it!  Further details on how to make this cab be found at  The Hybrid Chick.  Please do  take a look and let me know what you think.

Well, it is the May Day bank holiday here this weekend and I have a craft fair to make samples for, a walk planned with my son (unless he can wriggle out of it somehow ;)!), our eldest son is coming home for a day and I am taking part in a line dance demonstration, so with bookkeeping at a client's all day tomorrow and a very exciting trip to the cancer centre at the hospital on Friday, I reckon I am pushed for time yet again!

Well, whatever you are doing this weekend, I hope you have fun and enjoy the bank holiday - apparently, the weather forecast is for good weather (unbelievable I know - sunshine in the UK on a bank holiday is practically unheard of.  We usually get rain, buckets of it!).

Hope you can find time for scrapping, whatever else you are doing!

Nibbles Skribbles recently released a really neat kit, Soar:

Isn't that bird adorable, and just look at the little owl?!!!  Even better is the fact that it is currently on special offer, only $2.92!

Now the great thing about digital kits is that was well as using them for scrapbooking, you can also use them to make some really quick and easy cards.  Take a look at these:


For the first card, I used the kit flowers for the cluster then added the leaves and butterfly.  For the second card, it was just the bird, cloud and wordart from the kit. Nothing could have been simpler! I printed them out, cut the printout down to size, added ink around the edges and adhered them to the base card.

So if you are looking for a quick and simple birthday card, why not try something like this?  It is so easy, you will kick yourself for not having done it before!


Happy scrapping!

I have obviously got the bug as regards wall hangers, because look what I made for The Hybrid Chick blog:

It is has a clear report cover above the background papers so I can write in each month's appointments as well as my to do list, and it is now hanging on my desk as a reminder of everything I have to do.  I am sure I will find this so useful, much better than umpteen different post it notes and scraps of paper with snippets of information on them!

It really was easy to do - an A4 piece of chipboard, a sheet of patterned paper and then I made the calendar holder from a template and the to do list is actually printed on the background paper.

Full details of how I made can be found at The Hybrid Chick, so why not pop along and take a look?  There are also some amazing projects by other Digichicks, and it has always been my "go to" website for hybrid ideas!  You are sure to find some inspiration there!

Happy Scrapping!

Well, when I visited our local craft shop a couple of weeks ago, I noticed she had some chipboard in stock.  Now never having used this (I usually end up using used cereal boxes as the base for the covers of albums, etc!), I thought I would give it a go.  So, armed with a sheet of chipboard I decided to make a small wall hanger.  Well, to be honest, I actually decided to make a large A4 size hanger (but I haven't sorted out the photos for that yet ;) ) and then made a further two small hangers using the left over chipboard.  Mind you  I would never have believed chipboard was so hard to cut (even though it is kind of obvious....!  ).  I ended up using my craft knife and struggled using that at first.

For the first hanger, I used a gorgeous mega kit from The Studio:

This was so quick and easy to make, I can see me making many more of these in the future.  It really is just a case of printing the paper (or cutting out paper from your stash), adhering it to the chipboard and then adding the embellishments.  I used a 50:50 mix of PVA glue and water to coat the chipboard and the underside of the paper, and then stuck the two together.

Here's a close up of the flower:



Truly scrumptious right?!!!

I then used a completely different kit from The Digichicks but can't show you that yet as the kit hasn't been released.  I'll be back over the weekend with photos of that along with one or two other things that I have been making :).  But right now, I have to go run a payroll and prepare two VAT returns.......I know, I lead such an exciting life, you have to wonder how I cope!

Happy Scrapping!