Die Cut Felt Christmas Gift Tag

This year I've decided to wrap my Christmas pressies in plain brown parcel paper and then tart them up with some nice ribbon or raffia. According to a recent interview I read, Nigella [Lawson], queen of all things domesticated is also a fan of wrapping presents in brown paper so I am in good company! She also said she uses Italian broadsheet newspapers, however I don't think the Lancashire Evening Post or Chorley Guardian would have the same artistic effect.

As part of the present tarting up I've decided to add some homemade tags. I started playing with a few ideas last night while watching CSI (double episodes on Tuesday, love it). Here is the first one I did:

Last year I did some cards with paper puddings on so I decided to try and recreate them in felt. I cut brown and white circles using the red sizzix die and then cut a wavy line in the white one to make the sauce. The holly leaves are a quickutz die and the raisins are mini brads. I didn't have any black ones so I painted some gold ones with black nail varnish. To make the tag stiffer I glued another brown circle on the back. It also hides the back of my very primitive stitching and traps the ribbon. To make the bit for the message I just cut one of the smaller sizzix circles from card and glued it on.

Now I just need to buy some presents to wrap. Urgh Christmas shopping!

Cheers,

Ruthie x

Why do men have birthdays?

Well I know why, but it's really hard work making men's cards. (Well I think it is!)


Anyway today is my FIL's birthday so I can't really get away with not doing a card. I opted for the easy option of the word 'Dad' and a beer. A winning combination in my book when it comes to Dad cards (unless the dad is teetotal of course).



Here is the finished item (poor light strikes again):




Ingredients:
Basic Grey 'Infuse' papers
recyled coffee cup liner
Chipboard letters cut using the Cuttlebug red tag sale alpha
Quickutz beer mug die
Screw head brads from Crafts By Carolyn
Inking and stitching


Also just a quick thank you to everyone who has left comments on my blog, I love reading them. It's also nice to know that people appreciate my attempts at crafting and rambling.

Got to go and make tea, I've promised Mr Crafty Blogger a chicken pie (his favourite). Oh what a domestic goddess I am :)

Cheers

Ruthie x

New Header and A Bit of Scottish Refreshment

Well, I've finally managed to design myself a proper header. I'm quite pleased with the result although I did spend far too long on it! The black background paper is part of the 'Love Me Forever' kit from 'Sweet Blossom Designs'. It's a great kit, so pop over there and get it. I am determined to do some more stuff with it. I found the link from another fab blog here.


I also found some time (in between faffing on Photoshop and going to the gym) to join in with today's HerSpace:MySpace:HisSpace prompt which is 'Scottish'. I resisted the temptation to pop off to Spar and but some Tunnocks tea cakes, and raided my bottle cap collection instead. So here's my take on 'Scottish' courtesy of the Calendonia Brewery.




(I'm saving the bottlecaps to make one of these fab Crimbo decs)

Cheers

Ruthie x

More Adventures in Felt

Having got the Boss Kuts die a mentioned earlier in the week, I was determined to make some felt Christmas Robins with it. I struggled at first to get the die to cut felt, although I had it on good authority from the girls over on Crafts By Carolyn's forum that it does work. So I messed about with some scraps and realised the felt I had tried originally was not nice soft stuff, it was cheapo kids stuff which is much stiffer. I stocked up on some nicer stuff yesterday so I was able to get the die to work.

I decided to combine my felt robin idea with this week's DCM Dare, set by Vanessa:

Cafe Chic!
Good morning everyone, my name is Vanessa, aka Ellepiggo, I've been cardmaking for several years now and I'm delighted to be part of the Daring Cardmakers team. This is my first time at setting the dare and as we're on "firsts" I thought about the first thing that springs to my mind every morning - Coffee!! LOL!

Yes, I'm a bit of a cappuccino/latte macchiato girl, so I want to see lots of cards inspired by coffee!! Coffee colours, cup shaped cards, card inspired by a coffee jar label, using coffee beans on your card, coffee shop logos on your cards etc etc.....

I always have loads of the corrugated cup holders that you get with takeaway coffee stashed away to use on cards and decided one would make a nice border against my robin topper. So here's my (very loose) take on Coffee:

I also realised I hadn't blogged my felt tree card toppers which I made ages ago, so here they are. Although they still have to find their way on to cards!








Sorry about the poor photos again today - the light was really against me, even in the middle of the day.

Cheers

Ruthie x

My Spanish Space

I'm still checking the prompts on HerSpace:MySpace:HisSpace, although not playing as much as I would like. However today's prompt has allowed me to revisit my photos of our summer trip to Madrid. So here is 'Spanish':
I can vouch for the fact that this really is a fantastic 'space' to while away a few hours.

I've also found another shot from the weekend which fits the 'Italian' prompt thanks to the 'Italian Inspiration' scooter:



Cheers

Ruthie x

Bluebird Birthday and a lovely surprise.

I am member of the forum over at Crafts By Carolyn, which means that other members regularly put temptation in your path in the form of crafty items that you REALLY NEED :) :) The latest was on a discussion about dies. It was the new little bird die from Boss Kuts, so a click flick of a browser tab later, and one had flown into my ebay purchases!

At least I can say I used it the same day it arrived and I made this:



I'm not totally sure about the card, but I had to do a birthday card v.quickly.

It also ties in nicely with this weeks dare over on Daring Card Makers, which is good.

Ingredients: papers are basic grey (pheobe???), boss kut bird and nestabilities die, raffia, inking and pen stitching - v.simple really.

On Monday I got a lovely surprise. I am a regular reader of the Paper and String Blog as it's full of felt lovelyness. Last week, Sarah who runs the blog was offering her monthly freebie, and as part of the draw you had to link to a crafty project on your website or blog. I wasn't really sure that card making counted, but I linked to my felt birthday card. Anyway on Monday I popped over to Paper and String and found my card featured on day one of their handmade gift inspiration week I was really chuffed to say the least. You should check out the blog, it's great and this week there are some fab ideas on there.

Cheers

Ruthie x

Always check your card photos..............

... before you pass the card to the recipient, or you will end up with this as the only permanent record for your blog.

(And this was the best shot out of 4. They were so bad, they were even beyond help in photoshop)

Never mind, the six year old birthday boy thought the card was great.

Another card which I hadn't blogged is this engagement one. I did it ages ago but had to wait to pass it on to the happy couple before I blogged.

Again it's got felt on it (cut with cuttlebug dies), the paper is K&CO Amy Butler, and the stamp is Papermania.

Apart from discovering what stunning card photos I have taken recently, this weekend hasn't been at all bad. Yesterday the weather was quite nice so I decided to get some sea air in my lungs and head off to Morecambe for the day.

I had a fantastic day wandering along the front, drinking coffee in Brucianni's cafe, mooching round the shops, and of course taking photos. My visit also coincided with a scooter rally which was good. (I have to say I blended in quite well as I was wearing my parka, although I did arrive by train.)

Amongst the shops I had a mooch round was this fantastic place:

I treated myself to 'Join Me' by Danny Wallace, and found this for Mr Crafty Blogger:


(which I started reading on the train home :)

To work up an appetite for a toastie and a lovely milky coffee (or Latte as they call em now) in Brucianni's, I decided to have a wander up to the site of the old Pleasure Beach/Frontierland theme park. I spent many happy days there as a kid so I wanted to see what is now left of it. The answer is not much, other than the track for the log flume. However the frontage is still there and a managed to get this shot, which was accesorised by a few participants from the scooter rally.

Of course a visit to Morecambe would not be complete without a visit to its number one tourist attraction the (now derelict) Jug of Tea Cafe, which as you can see is now living on borrowed time. It is however immortalised with its own Flickr group.

Here are a few more shots I took.

And finally, a trip to Morecambe would not be complete without potted shrimps so guess what I'm having for my tea.


OH is not convinced, but that just means more for me.

Cheers

Ruthie x

A Couple of Cards, a Pumpkin and fame at last.

I thought I would pop in and upload a couple of my recent crafty projects. I was inspired by posts by members on the Crafts By Carolyn forum, to have a go at carving a pumpkin for Halloween. We only did turnips when we were kids so I felt quite decadent doing a pumpkin :)

I popped over to ZombiePumpkins.com and got myself a pattern to follow, and here's the result:

I picked the 'Ghost Face' mask as I love the Scream films, and the design wasn't too intricate.

I was really pleased with the result, and even more amazed that the whole thing didn't collapse in on itself.

Onto a couple of christmas cards I've done recently. I love doing mini clipboards, nearly as much as I love felt and so I decided to add them to some Christmas cards.

(sorry about the poor pics - light is a real issue at the moment)

Ingredients:

Clipboards are made by me!
Papers: K&CO and Basic Grey

Mini bulldog clips: Paperchase (soo cute)

The usual inking, stitching and a bit of doodling.

Finally, I'm famous! I posted one of my felt cards on the CraftsByCarolyn forum. Carolyn the site owner contacted me to ask if she could add them to one the pages of her main site http://www.craftsbycarolyn.co.uk/, which demonstrates how to use die cut shapes. Needless to say I was very chuffed and my cards are now here!

Also, I've now started adding some of my cards and craft projects to my flickr pages - click on the link to the right to have a look.

Cheers

Ruthie x