While I am away....

.... due to surgery hopefully taking place today I can't be here - well not in body but I am in spirit, so I thought I'd make a few things in the week beforehand to be published during my absence.  I saw this gorgeous style of gift bag whilst blog hopping so of course I had to find the measurements and then this just sort of evolved.  I plan on adding a piece of jewellery to the centre as a pressie for someone special.   A couple of tips if you fancy having a go - firstly only use thin card for your 'base' - thick card doesn't crease nicely and paper is too flimsy.  I used the white card sheet that comes in the scrapbook clear folders.  Secondly make a trial bag up first as you can easily put things in the wrong place - my trial bag folded inside out and the tie was in the wrong place on one of the squares.  It is much easier to work out if you have a trial bag to look at.  Don't be put off, this really isn't difficult to make and there is very little measuring.

Ok here is the finished bag..

I used pearlised card in blue for the outside of the bag with blue ribbon to fasten.  The handle was cut from an oddment left over from the card I used for the panels and the flowers and butterflies were made from more oddments. Pink pearls finished things off.

A closer view of the bag front embellishment..

The bigger butterfly was cut using a Marianne die and the smaller butterflies were made using a Martha Stewart punch.

A side view showing the buuterflies on the handle and the side panel.

I used two sheets of Tim Holtz 12 x 12 double sided card in blue and pink to cover all the panels, blue on the outside panels and pink for the inside.  The bag only took one sheet of each.

A closer view of the side panels..

the little flower embellishments on the two side panels were cut from scraps of the Tim Holtz card again using 2 Marth Stewart punches and pearls.

The inside of the bag....

when the bag is opened up the panels lined with the Tim Holtz card are revealed.  I cut two doileys from thin white card using another Marianne die and coloured parts using pastel pink and warm grey 1 Promarkers, a small quote was stamped in the centre and two little butterflies made from a Kanban stamp were added.  The doileys were added to the two plain panels on the inside and 3 little flowers (made as the side panel flowers) were added to each side.  There is room in the centre for a small jewellery box but if you don't want to use the bag as a gift bag you could add some flowers to the centre panel.

A closer view of the 'doiley'

I have really enjoyed making this and it really is a lot easier than you would think so why not have a go.

Playtime..

..I 'played' with a mini canvas over the weekend and altered it for a friend's birthday, just hope she likes it as it was strictly a 'fly by the seat of my pants' project - but then that's typical of me, I never plan my crafting.

When I have a bit of time on my hands....

...I rummage in my alteration drawer and find something to play with.  I saw something similar to these on Etsy but they were much plainer and they were selling for $25.  The light bulb went off - I have some of those polystyrene balls lurking at the back of the drawer, a couple of hours later this 'evolved'

and then this morning another followed along...

These are a few of my favourite things....

.......

A wooden letter

Some scraps of white card and paper

A piece of acetate

Oddments of ribbon

Some glitter

Random gems

Glue and sticky stuff

and my ink pads

and then I see what I can come up with.  A few days (well you have to wait for bits to dry) and several hours of working, crafting, fiddling, gluing my fingers, inking my fingers and a little bit of frustration when things proved difficult.........

and here is what I came up with.......

the butterflies were a new idea and consist of a double acetate image the top one of which has beadlings on the back, crystals on the wings and tiny beads down the centre.  The roses were made as the roses I have previously blogged but this time in miniature - boy were they fiddly and frustrating and very very sticky.  I added a few coils of my newly aquired covered wire to finish off the flowers.

I am quite pleased with the end result and I hope the friend I made it for likes it too.

Twins looking for a home......

twins of the doll kind that is. Mya's baby brother or sister will arrive bearing gifts for big sister. As we don't know if it will be a brother or sister I decided to get her twin Berenguer dolls and here they are ready to go to their new mummy.

We have named them with the runner up names for the new baby and here they are all swaddled up and tagged ready for their new mummy. Why do I get the feeling Lilli is going to be a good girl for her mummy and Max is going to be a little terror.

The Jewellery saga continues

A 99pence bargain on eBay got me 10 charm bracelets recently. I expected them to be real rubbish and was amazed to find each bracelet sported a total of 17 charms and beads of which 3 on each were fabulous merano glass charms. I couldn't have bought one of the large glass charms in the UK for what all 10 bracelets cost me. I promptly spent an evening dismantling the bracelets and using findings I already had started to make some jewellery. Here are the first few pieces and I only used the pieces from 2 of the bracelets to make them so I have lots more to play with. My present box is looking a tad healthier.

Fiddling with beads

I have so many beads just sitting in a drawer and as I can no longer make the fine bead jewellery I used to make I need to find another use for them. So I bought lots of different findings and here is the first thing - a set of wine glass charms with a golfing theme. More things will follow in due course.