It's a cold winter's afternoon...

...and you are bored so what do you get up to?  Well I decided to clear out a couple of my stash drawers that hadn't seen the light of day in yonks and came across a cushion panel that I couldn't even remember buying so I raided my 'to alter' drawer and found a hessian bag waiting to be changed and set to work.

The result is this....

I added some guipure daisy lace that I had been sent from Turkey and a bead trim that I love.  I decided the dogs were called Princess and Cupcake hence the silver charms on their collars and then made the charm hanging from left over pieces of fabric from the original cushion square and some chain and charms. 

A close-up of the charm hanging....

Well by now I was on a roll and knew there was another hessian bag in the drawer and another piece of Westie fabric I could utilise.  I mixed these with two of my current favourite things - Maya Road rose ribbon and guipure lace - and made another bag, this time adding a couple of flowers I made from netting just to finish it off.  Here's the completed bag...

and a close-up of the flowers...

I love both bags and will use them a lot.  The next bag project will be fairy bags for the little ones but for those I need to do some shopping.

and still more me time....

...as the forum was down all day I put my extra time to good use and made a bag each for d-i-ls.  Just a little pressie each for Chanukah.

The first is Talya's

and the second is Sheryl's

and I have enough fabric over to make two more - just need to find the time.

Muddy Paws

Another set of beautiful ribbons from Crafty Ribbons, Paw Prints on Grosgraine in lots of different colours and then Meow and Woof in delightful toning colours. I've used a selection to make these. Firstly a card using Joanna Sheen photo and backing paper and the gorgeous red paws ribbon.

Then a card featuring a Pink Gem Designs stamp of the cutest dog on the block and the bright pink grosgraine paws ribbon.

I then decided to 'alter' a canvas and turn it into a little notice board, designed around a photo of my Westie Harley and featuring the beige Paws Grosgraine ribbon.

A simple bookmark from a Joanna Sheen cd was brightened up with Woof ribbon.

Now you really didn't think I was going to stop there did you?? The ribbons came in a cute little white box which of course I had to alter. It's now a treat box for Harley, well he's always asleep at my feet while I am crafting so I thought he should have a box for his treats, I even used the tag that came with the ribbons. Waste not want not.

TABBED JOURNAL

The blank Tabbed Journal came from Beyond The Page and was made of heavy duty wood board, a real pleasure to work with.

I started by covering both sides of each page with paper from PaperHeartStudio's Espresso Collection - my colour theme for the book was now set. I then rubbed Gold Leaf rub'n'buff around the edges of each page. The scroll on the front cover and the journal tab are Grungeboard from Tim Holtz again using the rub'n'buff and the gold accents were cut from some gold paisley card. Teal and burgundy coloured fibres and ribons were knotted onto each book ring.

The other three boards were wrapped with ribbon from DCWV Once Upon a Time Prince range and I used my Hero Arts 'Meanings' stamps to put a message on each board - Love, Create & Memories.

I added a pocket to the back of each of these boards using a range from K & Co . A few butterflies and scrolls and a coloured Grungeboard key completing these.
On the tabs on the front side of the boards I added chipboard letters which had been coloured with the rub'n'buff and spelling out 'l o v e' on the back I repeated this but spelling out 'l i v e '

All that remained was to spell out my name in chipboard and add a couple of hearts. My journal is now complete. I've added blank white pages so it is ready to use, but what do I use it for? I think the plan will be to scrapbook special photos on some pages and to journal special memories on others, then I have the 3 little pockets to add something extra special to - I'll be keeping this journal on my bedside table.

First basket

I decided to have a little play with the new Creative Expression basket stamp. You can make a basket, a bell or a fan with this stamp but I thought I'd go for the basket first. It was a lot easier to make than I expected although I did pick up on a couple of things I'd want to change next time I make one. I haven't seen these demonstrated as yet but hope C & C will show them soon to give me more inspiration. For now though it kept me amused for an hour or so.

Envelope Book

Having decided I wanted to make an envelope book I settled for a black and white theme. I used handmade papers that I bought from Costco ages ago to cover the covers and envelopes and used 6 DL envelopes for the pages. 3 of the envelopes were covered in black and silver paper with gunmetal paper lining them. The other 3 were covered in gunmetal paper with black and silver linings. The covers were covered in a plain black crinkled paper. They were all then bound together using my Bind It All machine.








I punched holes in the front and back covers with my cropodile and added silver eyelets just for interest. Then I cut out two sprays of lotus blossoms from a Papermania Paper Pack and glued these to the outside of the front and back covers. I printed out the cameo toppers from Joanna Sheen's Dancing With Shadows cd and mounted them on matt silver card. I felt that the overall effect needed a little lifting so decided to add some bright pink accents. Hence the ribbons on the front cover and ribbon tags on each page. Bright pink crystals were also added to the front and ribbon ties to the spine.




A final touch to the front cover was the addition of two butterfly charms. Inside the front cover I mounted a quote from a Joanna Sheen cd onto silver and black card and added a flower to the corner. Each envelope has a tag which has been painted with H2Os and dusted with Blonde Moments Pearl Pigments. I havent written on the tags yet as I am not sure what I am going to use the folder for. The tags were fixed with bright pink brads.













To my amazement I haven't used a single rubber stamp or any ink on this project, I am sure I will make up for it on the next one though :0)

A Ribbon Folder

After all the joshing and joking on Craft Swap Forum last year about buying ribbons I decided I wanted to make Heidi (Sockscat) aka The Rev. Mother, a ribbon folder. I took the basic design from The Bound 2 Bind book and played around with it a little. The book is bound at the top and meant to stand as a display item. The front was covered with some pretty paper and a tag, flower and ribbons added just to bling it up a little.





By putting the sides of the pages through the Bind It All Machine and then just cutting the edges away I was left with slots for the ribbon to be wound through. I again used some simple backing paper with just a quote for embellishment.








I then wound ribbon round each of the 6 slots on each page, ready for Heidi to use.












I liked the finished effect of the folder and am now thinking of other ways to use this design.














The completed folder was duly sent to Heidi, who loved it.