Magazine Holders

I've got loads of mismatched magazine holders so I've started making them look a bit prettier by covering in the pages of old books, which also means I can co-ordinate them with other stuff (once I get round to recovering that too).

Just a small and easy project.

Birthday Card

A bit of a break from all that embroidery today!



I whipped this card up quickly for my mum's birthday the other day. No real pattern, just made up (and frogged back!) as I went along, and glued to a card.

Recipe Box

At last, something made by me!

Since Meshell sent me a yummy recipe card for my birthday I've been needing somewhere to put it. I've had a brief look around for boxes but haven't really seen anything the right size, but when I saw this tute and I thought I could make a box exactly the right size.

While I used the tute for the instructions I had to make my own measurements, and some of them weren't quite exact, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

The recipe card (which I still haven't cooked - slack me!) looks a bit lonely here so I'll have to collect some more!

ATCs

I've been feeling like I'm in a bit of a creativity rut lately, so I though I needed to force myself to find a bit of inspiration, and I decided to take up the ATC 100 Themes Challenge which is on craftster, just to stretch myself, and hopefully inspire me in other ways too (rather than just spending money!).

So this is the first four themes, Introduction, Love, Light and Dark.

Top: Seedy Introduction (dodgy pick up lines in the speech bubbles), Forever in Love (the shiny hearts didn't quite come out)
Bottom: Shadows and Light (it says 'Never fear shadows. They simply mean that there's a light somewhere nearby' Ruth E Renkei), In the Dark (it says - In the dark we can be anonymous. We can hide our flaws and mistakes. And yet for all that cool comfort, in the dark we are alone)

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! In honour of the day, I made a love related ATC, which is very out of focus, because I scanned it. Never mind.



Anyhoo, I also need suggestions, because my dad might be going to the US and if he does I'm giving him a list of stuff to buy for me (especially as he was going to help me move at the time he might be going). He is however, a boy, and uncrafty, so it probably can't be too big or complicated. Because I'm overworked (I had to steal popcorn from work for dinner last night at 10pm because I was starving) I may have left out something incredibly obvious, so let me know. Here's what I've got so far:
- shrinky dinks
- freezer paper
- candy
- Kool Aid
I'm sure this list was longer last night when I was thinking about it. Anyway, send in your suggestions for stuff I should make my dad buy.

ATCs

One of my friends was going to start playing with ATCs and after getting some goodies at That's Not Garbage the other day, I thought I might as well have a bit of a play.

They were quite fun, and pretty quick to do, although I can see how you could spend a lot of time on them. Seeing all the ones on craftster I didn't quite realise how small they were when you're trying to put stuff on them, but I think that's a good thing because it focused me a bit.



The one on the left is called 'Disco Amoeba' and was just one of those pictures where you draw randomly and then colour in the different areas (other people did them at school didn't they?) and the other one is called 'Woven Tree' (I was out of ideas for names) and is two different patterned papers woven together, with a tree and bird drawn on top. It's actually done in gold ink which is more gold in real life, although the design is still quite subtle.

I think these are quite good for little projects to inspire creativity, because you can spend as much or as little time on them as you want and you come out with something finished that can be anything you like.

Goodies

I love reading Miss Meshell's blog* . She makes and features lots of pretties. Anyway, her birthday is soon after Christmas so I thought I'd send her a package of random goodies, because it's lots of fun, and I love crafting for people who appreciate it. I'm posting it now because I stuck the Christmas and birthday presents in one post.

As well as these hand made goodies, I sent her a couple of bookcrossing books, and some postcards.



Ooooh, a pretty crocheted panta. Pattern from here




The pattern for the red and green flower (at the moment my favourite crocheted flower) is from here and the other two are from here




Hee hee hee, I was having fun with shiny beads and grommets, so it's an interactive card.

*Meshell, I'll be sending you the advertising bill soon.

Christmas Cards

I got inspiration for my Christmas cards quite early this year. I think it was from a corset, and I like the simplicity of them. Admittedly there are a few people who don't have them yet who might see them here, but that's ok because they haven't seen the inside.



I made these in front on the tv in an afternoon. They have Christmas stickers on the inside saying "Seasons Greetings" or "Happy Christmas" and putting them on straight was probably the hardest bit.

Coptic books

This is a pretty old project (over a year old in fact!) but I figured I may as well post it. When I graduated university I wanted to give my friends something special, so I made them all coptic books, that they could either get people to sign, or could do whatever they wanted with them.

Some of them had bookmarks and others didn't, but did have small images scattered throughout the pages. I tried to personalise them all but it did get hard by the end.



The monster one was mine, and when you opened it's mouth my photo was in there. Coincidentally the one with the map was a map of Hong Kong and after I made it that particular friend unexpectedly ended up getting a job in Hong Kong and is living there now. Spooky hey?



The one with the leopard print and lace was actually for a guy, but he came to one end of lectures fancy dress day in drag, and it was a little scary how pretty a girl he was. The sailor one is for a friend who came to another end of lectures fancy dress day as an extremely gay sailor.




None of the other covers have particularly good stories to go with them, but they were lots of fun to make and went over really well.

Birthday Card

I bought a card for one of my friends birthdays (because I didn't think I'd have time to make one) and then I lost it, so I've had to make one anyway. I was trying out a new glue and I think I used a bit much but it's not too noticable and I think the card is cute anyway. I hope she likes it!



I'm guessing I'll find the bought card the day after I post this one. Oh well, I'm sure it'll come in handy. Maybe I should pre-make a few cards for when I forget people's birthdays until the last minute.

Birthday Card

Yay! I've got internet access again. It was getting very annoying having to check stuff from work all the time. Hopefully I'll be able to control my internet usage a bit better this month!

Anyway, last weekend I went home for my mum's birthday and she LOVED the blanket I made, which was a big relief, and she appreciated all the hard work I put into it. I bought her a cook book as well at the last minute and she thought that was really good too.

As well as the blanket I made her this card. I think I may have had a little too much sugar when I did the front though, but I still think it looks kind of cool.

 

I got the instructions for the cake and candles from here, and there are a number of other designs too.

  

Fortune cookie cards

With the left over gold card from the bookmark I made for my friend, I made a couple of birthday cards. One is for a friend who's birthday is coming up soon, who we often go out for Chinese food with and the other, well...it was as easy to make two as one.


Fortune cookie cards 


Inside of cards