Cold enough for Christmas!

It's still freezing here, so making Christmas cards seems totally right! Just had time to play before I have to nip off to the  torture chamber hairdresser ! I hate going to the hairdresser, so I tend to wait until I look like the Dulux dog before I give in and submit, and it's that time of the year again [sigh]

This card was inspired by Crafty hazelnuts challenge where the theme is '1 word is sufficient'

The Stamp is an old but much loved Personal impressions wooden stamp - think its called 'Hilltop Village'. Stamped & heat embossed with WOW black sparkle, then coloured with pro markers. Double mounted on white & black card.
The main image is Mounted on silver mirror card embossed with Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder then mounted on plain white card. The Peace star is from an old kit, mounted on black card to match the rest of the card

Also entered in:
Rudolph Day Challenge
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Extra

Thanks for stopping by!

Debs x

Gift Box (Christmas or any time really!!)

These gift boxes look amazing, and are so easy to make! We made them at the Weds class last week, and I demo'd them at Hobbycraft yesterday, and was inundated with requests for instructions, so here we are!!

You will need:

• 2 x A4 card
• ruler
• craft knife
• scissors
• pencil
• extra strong double sided tape or fast drying glue
• Patterned paper, rubber stamps, die cuts, ribbon etc to decorate

instructions

• To make the base of the box - cut one piece 20cm x 26cm, and one piece 20cm x 10cm
• On the larger piece of card, measure along the long edge and score at 8cm, 16cm and 24cm
• On the smaller piece of card, measure along the shorter edge and score at 8cm
• On both pieces of card, position the card so that the scored lines run top to bottom, with the 2cm section on the right hand side, and score each piece horizontally at 4cm up from the bottom edge
• With the card still in the same position, cut up each scored line, stopping at the 4cm horizontal score line.  This creates the flaps for the base of the box.
• Cut away the bottom edge of each of the 2cm wide flaps, up to the 4cm horizontal score line, and trim a narrow triangle from the left and right edges of all remaining flaps
• fold along all score lines, but do not burnish - you should now have 1 piece with 3 x 8cm panels, and one with a single 8cm panel, each piece having a 2cm flap at the side, and 4cm flaps at the base
• Apply any decoration (Paper panels - see measurements at the end) stamped patterns on the outside etc) before assembling the box - it is much easier when the panels are flat
• using extra strong tape (or wet glue) apply to the long edge on the outside of each of the 2cm flaps, and attach the long flaps to the inside of the next panel
• repeat with the base flaps, folding in 2 opposite flaps, and then the 2 remaining, only applying tape or glue to the last 2 flaps
• place the box upright on your work surface and use a ruler inside the box to press down on the inside of the base panels to secure them in place
• To make the lid cut a piece of card 13.2cm square
• score along each edge 2.5cm in from the cut edge
• to make the flaps, on one edge, cut up the vertical score lines until you reach the first 2.5cm horizontal score line
• Trim a small triangle from the inner edge of each corner flap (important to trim from the small corner flaps, and not from the longer rectangular centre section of the lid, to get a neat finish)
• repeat on the opposite edge of the lid
• fold along all score lines, but do not burnish 
• Apply any decoration (stamped patterns on the outside etc) before assembling the lid- it is much easier when the panels are flat
  
• using extra strong tape (or wet glue) apply to the small corner flaps only, and at this stage fix only 2 of the flaps in place
•  To ensure that the lid fits, place it on the box before finally securing the 2 remaining flaps in place
• Apply any decoration, die cuts, ribbon etc to finish the box

If you want to cut patterned paper panels to fit the box, you will need:

• 4 panels 15.5cm x 7.5 cm for the base
• 4 panels 2.2cm x 7.8cm and one 7.8cm square for the lid

It took a lot longer to type up the instructions than it did to make the box!  These are very easy and a nice size for small gifts.  You could also cut a shaped panel from one side and line with acetate to make an aperture box.

Experiment and have fun!

Debs x

Xmas Cracker Template

A few people asked for the template and instructions for making their own Xmas Crackers.  You can download a copy of the PDF template here

To make the crackers, you need the following supplies:

• Cracker Template 
• A4 patterned paper
• cardboard tube from loo roll
• ribbon
• double sided sticky tape
• ready made decoration (or stamp and colour your own) and sticky foam pad
• cracker snap (pr you can just get everyone to shout BANG!!!)
• Pencil and scissors

 Instructions

• Place the paper face down, find the centre of both long sides of your A4 paper, and mark with pencil
• Place the template on the wrong side of the paper, with the 2 notches marked 'Centre' lined up with your pencil marks
• Fold left and right sides of the paper under in line with the outer edges of the template (outer edges of the 'teeth')
• trace around the teeth onto the fold at both left and right
• remove the template
• Keep the paper folded, and cut out the marked triangles (don't cut around the outer edges, these should sit roughly on the fold of the paper)
• open out the paper face down, and apply double sided sticky tape to the wrong side of the paper, along both long straight edges, avoiding the areas with the cut out triangles
• place the cardboard tube in the centre of one long straight edge, attaching it with the sticky tape, and roll towards the other edge, securing it with sticky tape
• push one end of the paper in towards the tube, and tie with a ribbon bow
• fill with your choice of gift, a snap, hat and/or jokes (lots of cracker jokes available to download - just Google 'Xmas cracker jokes!)
• push in the other end, and secure with another ribbon bow
• fix your chosen decoration to the cracker

Hope you enjoy making these, I find that once I have all the materials to hand (having already made the decoration panels) I can run up 6 crackers in an hour!

Merry Christmas xx

Xmas crackers and boxes & WOYWW 130

This is one of those 'before and after' posts, this pic is actually the 'after', but I wanted to show it first as it's 3 cute Xmas projects in their finished glory!

Then there's the next pic, which is the 'before and during...' pic of my desk................

So you can see the 3 projects scattered on the desk, and the template for the hexagon box on my cutting mat, and stacked under the Christmas Cracker are the papers for yet more crackers!

to the far right, just in the pic is my grotty old black craft knife.  This was 'donated' by my DH some years ago (he is a draughtsman and used to use this regularly) The knife has been shrink wrapped several times, which has made it non-slip grip and has many layers on the cap, so I can shove the blade into it without worrying about my fingers - perfect, but not pretty!  DH bought me a lovely pink and purple 'proper' craft knife once, but I reverted to his (now mine!!) within a few days - do you have any favourite craft tools/kit that you wouldn't be without?????

I only managed to visit a few crafters corners last week, and I'm pretty late adding my contribution to the blog hop today at Julia's, so will have to wait til tomorrow to check out the WOYWW entries, as I'm working tonight, but I;m looking forward to seeing what's out there in craft cyberspace!

Happy WOYWW

Debs x

WOYWW 129 - and self inflicted mojo departure!

 

OK, so I normally love to make Christmas cards, I actually started in January this year (only cos I had a couple of free days when I was bored & still in the christmas spirit, so made a few in the first week!!)  

Then pretty much nothing until I had to start making Christmas samples for publication, and that was in the summer! Made a bunch of sample cards and then forgot about my own Christmas cards, until this week, when I decided I really should get my act together. So I decided to get all clever and make a batch of snowmen cards.  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!  I have discovered that batch making cards is a sure fire way to kill my crafty mojo! 

As you can see from the pic above,  my desk has a few snowmen, and I couldn't cope with them all being the same, so started changing the colours, and I stamped off a load of identical 'SNOW' letters, and cut them all out, made a couple of cards with the words on, and  now I'm bored with looking at them! 

So I am going to resort to my crafty inspiration - tea and chocolate digestives (and tonight's Pro Marker class!) And of course, taking a world-wide wander through other people's crafty inspiration over at Julia's WOYWW blog hop.

thanks for stopping by, and hopefully there will be something more fun to see next time you visit, and the crafty mojo will have reappeared courtesy of Mr McVitie's biscuits!

Deb x

Fat and sugar free mincemeat (and it's delicious!)

For those who asked, here is my recipe for mincemeat.  My family have now got to the point where they won't eat the shop bought varieties as they find them too sweet and greasy.  A bit embasrrassing when you're out visiting!

This is an absolute doddle to make, and will keep in sterilised jars in the fridge for up to 4 months, and for a week once opened.  But in our house, it all gets used the day it's made, makes about 6-7 dozen mince pies (depends how generous you are with the filling). We then eat any that broke apart (and some that 'got' broken!!) on the day, and the rest are frozen.  If you're not bothered about the sugar, you can dredge with icing sugar once cooled, and I'm not too precise about the measurements any more, I just tend to go with what feels right. (I have been using the recipe for 20+ years, so it's almost second nature now lol!)

It has been known that all 7 dozen have gone before Christmas, and I've spent christmas eve frantically baking the same amount again, which duly disappeared by New Years!!



spicy fat-free mincemeat
1kg mixed dried fruit
600g cooking apples (about 3) peeled and grated (they will go brown, don't worry about it!)
2 tsp ground mixed spice, plus 1tsp ground cloves, 1 tsp ground cinnamon (or whatever mix of spices you prefer)
600 ml sweet cider (eg; Woodpecker)
50g chopped mixed nuts
100g chopped glace cherries
2tbsp brandy

1. Put dried fruit in large pan with apples, spices and cider.  Simmer for about 20 mins until pulpy and nearly all liquid evaporated

2. Turn off heat, stir in nuts, cherries and brandy

That's it!  Simple, delicious and smells AMAZING! Pop a large spoonful into each pastry case, pop in the oven for 15-20 mins and you're done.

Enjoy

Debs xxx

WOYWW 128 - Christmas boxes

So I'm a bit slow with the WOYWW pic today, if you hop on over to Julia's blog at the Stamping Ground, you get to take a peek at lots of crafters creations - it's great fun but be warned - it's hugely addictive and can swallow a whole day if you're not careful!

I've spent the morning playing with templates for Christmas gift boxes ready for an upcoming class, and you can see a couple of them on my cutting mat, and another unfinished, with a red ribbon around it and a finished icicle box next to it. Lots of punches, some gems, some Pro Markers, a box of distress inks and the ever present baby wipes! And top right, a box of wires to try out with my new toy - a Zutter bind it All! I bought this on E-bay a week ago and didn't have any binding wires to try it out.  Christmas calendars here we come!

I have some beautiful craft cd's, including the Joanna Sheen 'Ivory Cats' cd, and they have fab Calendars on them, so I'm looking forward to giving calendars to friends and family. Just have to think up ways of personalising them so they aren't just 'print and bind' pressies. Also need to find some of those big cardboard envelopes for calendars - if anyone knows where to get them, let me know!

Next I need to plan and organise my Christmas 'bake in'. My Christmas starts when I make the christmas puddings, mince pies and cake - and I'm a little late this year so need to get my act together. I started making my own Christmas puds about 20 years ago, making only one that first year from an old Family Circle recipe (anyone remember that??) which I still use - it doesn't even have metric measurements! Then family members asked 'are you making them this year?' and it grew from there. Now I make lots of them!  They take about 6-7 hours steaming, the whole kitchen gets soggy, and while they are cooking I make the mince meat (sugar and fat free - so you can have twice as many lol!!) Then I bake the mince pies (8 dozen last year!)and I play Christmas music all day long, much to my husband's disgust!

I love this part of Christmas, the traditions and rituals that are my build up to the big day. Everyone is getting home made pressies this year, and I will be baking, cutting and sticking for a few weeks!
Happy blog-hopping everyone, and thanks for stopping by

Debs x

WOYWW

So an early entry from me today for the international snoopathon that is over at Julia's where we get the weekly delight of being able to see what others are creating, and show our workdesks to the world! Mine is relatively tidy (for me!) cos you can still see the table top in places!

Centre stage is a wedding card I'm working on for an old student of mine, and to the left are a batch of stamped images and samples ready for this weekend's Pro Marker workshop, and my 2 fave daisy punches, which I use again and again. Above that a pack of core'dinations and some beautiful Cheery Lyn dies I bought at the NEC - if you haven't seen these take a look, they are gorgeous! I have used one on the top right of the wedding card.

Hiding at back left behind my caddy is a tea bag box waiting to be altered, flip top tea boxes are just right for recipe cards etc. and to the left of the table out of shot is a huge bag of loo roll inners ready for more loo roll mini albums and Christmas crackers!

Hope you're having a fab Wednesday, and enjoy blog hopping around the other desks out there

Deb x

Christmas in August!

Well, holiday seems like such a long time ago! I had a great time, and it was a real wrench to come home.  And now it's on to Christmas cards - what a contrast!

This is one I've been working on - I thought the snowman stamp was so cute! And the snowballs just finish it off.

More Christmas cards to come.....