A Book of Note

I recently made this little Book of Note for a swap challenge - it was so easy to make using my Bind It All that I think I'll make a few more, they are handy to keep by you for little presents.

no new stuff but...

...I know some are asking how I got on - well the answer is fine.  After over 4hours of surgery I was sent home 2 hours later admittedly with a list of do's and don'ts and a couple of boxes of heavy sedation but I was just relieved to be back home.  I'm in plaster and bandages from my toes to my knee and not really allowed to do much at all but it is amazing how we women can improvise a bit and still manage to get things done whilst following the doctors orders, I even managed a little ironing last night.  Despite all the warnings of terrible pain to be expected I haven't had any, in fact only took the pain tablets for 24 hours.  It's a bit sore now but I am putting that down to the bones all knitting and healing.  Back to the hospital next Tuesday and I will be begging and pleading for a walking plaster - would get down on my knees to beg but that's not possible at the moment - not sure I'll get a lot of joy but you dont know if you dont ask.

The only snag is I cannot sit at my craft desk at the moment but am going to have a try at the weekend as it is piling up with stuff coming in from my craft group girls.  However I am not entirely wasting my time and have managed to knit a cardigan for Mya and a scarf for myself.  A big thank you to all who have been asking how I am and for all the beautiful cards - I will get round to emailing people soon.  I am sure my recovery is going so smoothly as I have so many people on my side, thank you each and every one of you.  Hopefully normal service will be resumed very soon and I'll have stuff to blog but for now I'll leave you with a photo of my pal who watches nervously every time I try out my crutches......

Sew...

I have just received my Joanna Sheen Haberdashery stamps and have a whole range of cards planned around these, sadly only time to make one for now so here is the Get Well card I made - and no it's not for me....hopefully my next blog will be 'live' and not pre-posted.

Just until I get back here..

...I've pre-posted another card.  I think my all time favourite colour combo is black and white with just a tiny splash of red so this card was really fun to make.  It's another one that was totally unplanned and just sort of materialised....

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together...

...well if all has gone to plan then I am back home today.

But don't you love it even more when there is no plan but it still all comes together.

Well that's this card then.  I had been wanting to make a crossover card for a while and finally last week cut the blank.  I really wasn't thinking straight when I just grabbed a random ink pad and inked all the edges - KHAKI, what the heck was I thinking and what was I going to do with that.  Ok quick search for some green paper and punched a bit of lace trim, ehm looking better but now what???  Rummaged through my folder of Tilda images and found 5 safari style images that I had coloured some time ago - perfecto!!!  Some die cut mounts and voila a card.  Hold it - need a bit more, ehm green buttons - yep looking good but..... too tired now will think in the morning.  Why do we get light bulb moments in the middle of the night - yes it needed a couple of sentiment tickets and I had some already coloured and cut just need to find them.  Now the card is finished and for once I am quite happy with it, wonder what you think...

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.

Just for a while...

...I wont be here.  Going into hospital tomorrow for surgery and then have two weeks bed rest and a further 12 weeks on crutches so sitting at my craft desk wont be possible.  However I have a few posts pre-planned that will be appearing in my absence and this is a book that I altered over the past week - it kept me out of mischief and stopped me thinking about tomorrow too much.

It was Darren and Talya's birthdays on the 6th and they always take the girls out for a special day to celebrate.  This year they went to Gulliver's Land in Milton Keyne so I made a book of their day out.