An Unconventional Christmas Wreath

As I said yesterday I have another Christmas crafty project to blog and here it is, my slightly unconventional Christmas Wreath:

It was inspired by THIS fantastic creation.

I used new bottlecaps as I find used ones don't flatten as easily (about 80p a bag from Wilko's home brewing dept) and the papers are all Basic Grey. The circles are cut using the large red sizzix circles die and stuck to the caps using transparent bathroom sealant (ie cheap silicone glue). I attached the caps to a cardboard base using more bathroom sealant.

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

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

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