Tom Cat

Merry Christmas to you all.

I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has checked out my blog, it means a lot to me and I hope you  get some inspiration from the things I have made.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you all.

Look out for some more posts in the New Year.

Gift Box

This is a lovely box to put odd shape presents in, it is made from a sheet of A4 cardstock, folded then decorated, this is made the same way as the mini tree decs. I used papers I had left from last Christmas.

The flower is made from two 5 petaled flowers which I have curled the petals upwards then added smaller punched flowers for the centre with a gem in the very centre. The leaves are oak leaves that I also punched out.

To make the box score a line down the centre of the long side of the A4 card. Next find the centre of the two short sides then score outwards to the edge of the card,to the first line you made, crease well, fold the sides in, then punch holes on the side to thread ribbon through, when the ribbon is tied it holds the box together.

All in one Gift Box

I love making boxes.

These gift boxes are made from one sheet of A4 card which are then decorated. The box is another good way to use up any left over papers.

 The papers I used for the box below are ones I had left over from making a Christmas organiser.

The look of the box can be changed by how it is decorated. I chose to use plain card but it could have been embossed. These boxes also look good when the edges have been inked with distress inks.

The finished box measures about 16cm x 8cm, they are good for any awkward shaped present that needs wrapping.

2011 Christmas Cards

 Here are the cards I have made and sent this year. The back two cards are also ones I have done as a class at the Craft Buddies Crop at Tithe Barn. I have used different techniques; stamping, paper piecing and folding, as well as using peel-offs. I have added glitter, gems and sequins too.

I did not set out to make all Christmas tree cards, they just evolved, I do like the Christmas pudding one though, Karen first showed me this one several years ago, I like to make it for some of the children I work with.

Christmas Card

I must start by apologising for the quality of the photos,

I think my camera has been dropped so I will get it looked at over the holidays.

These dinky little cards are 3"x3",the stamp I used came from http://www.craftbuddiespapercrafts.co.uk/

 The tree is embossed using an old gold colour embossing powder.
The card is finished by adding gems or glitter to a corner (or where any glue dried where it shouldn't have been.)
I used Bazzill card to stamp onto, I love the feel of this card. The card in the centre of this last pic is 4"x4" and the stamped image has been mounted onto a torn red square then onto mirri board.

These cards are very quick to make, they are an easy to make in batches, which is good as I made about 40 of this design.

Gift Tag Holder

I saw a picture of a gift tag holder, this is my take on it. The actual holder has three parts to slide the tags into, so you can store at least 20 tags in it. The paper I chose to use was a freebie from one of the craft mags and it matches some paper that I got from my local store.

The holder is kept closed by a matching slider, I have tidied the edges by using peel-offs, this also adds a bit of bling too.



Christmas Place Settings

These are the place settings I made for last year, but they are so cute I wanted to share them. Karen and I were discussing a class and these are what I came up with. The robbin is made from two circles, one then cut to form the robbin's body, with a gem for an eye and bendy hearts for a wing. I then made a matching serviette holder, Karen made one with a cream strip of card running down the centre, this made the holder stronger.

The diamond shaped place setting is a miniture spring card, This came about because I like to keep small samples of cards I have made in the past. These are also good as wedding place settings.

After Eight Box

This delightful little box holds five After Eight chocolates, just the right amount for a chocolate fix!!

To make the box I started by measuring the size of an After Eight, then eating it, then I decided how many chocs I wanted the box to hold, ate a few more then made the box.

I have covered my box using Basic Gray paper, I know the paper is old stock but I love it.

The stamp I used is from Stampin up.

You can see from the picture that the flap slides behind the raised stamped scalloped oval to stay closed.

I managed to make several of these little boxes but only one ended up with After Eights in, I'm now looking for BOGOF's at the shops, and I wonder why my clothes are getting tighter!!

Tree Decorations

I have just realised that I have not posted on my blog for over two weeks, I am very sorry but hope the next few posts make up for it.

I made 24 of thse mini triangle boxes to hang on my christmas tree but I think they look better on this tree, which my friends Ann and Ellie bought me for christmas two years ago.

 The christmas puddings are made from one brown circle and a pearlesent (? sorry my spelling is really bad at the mo.) cream semi circle for the custard. The holly are sequins that I purchased from my local supermarket.

 I tied the boxes together with red ribbon then threaded gold thread through for the hanger, this is when I also added the bell, I wanted to buy the papermania ones I had seen but when I went looking everywhere had sold out so I bought hobbycraft own make and I must say I am very impressed with them, I got more for less!!

If you wanted to make these into advent boxes you could add the numbers onto the reverse of the box.