Making to give..part 1

I love making things that are going to be given to friends / family as gifts, it means I take extra special care, use my favourite things and dig out parts of my stash that I have been saving as ‘special’ – why do we crafter’s do that? I guess it’s a bit like saving shoes for ‘best’?

As well as trying out new things this weekend, I also started making some things to give to friends / family – for no particular reason. I am just hooking up with lots of people I haven’t seen in a while and I like to give gifts, even more than I like receiving them. Also the bonus of handmaking stuff for people is no matter how much they hate it, they don’t have the heart to tell you 🙂

First up is today’s main picture, which is of a set of 6 cards, that I made for my friend Lucy (not my Sister-in-Law). She quite likes earthy tones and so I wanted to make something for her that reflected that. When I was re-arranging the craft room, I stumbled upon a box of embellishments that I had bought about 5 years ago when I started crafting! I love them, but they have always been difficult to work with.

I decided that what the embellishments needed was a bit of a fussy background which I felt would tone them down a bit. I used my Martha Stewart punch around the page loopy border set and some over elaborate V&A papers and I think the results are simple but impressive. Below are a few more photos for you.

Tomorrow, I’ll be posting part 2 of my making to give activities – using an old favourite – the Martha Stewart Crab punch – yay!

Cx

CrabbyMoose To You!

Crab and Moose

I can never explain CrabbyMoose – sorry, but it makes me laugh and it has inspired some very funny cards!

Picture of the day is of a Crab and a Moose card – you can see that I have contrasted the card and the scalloped square. I decided it would be fun to use a patterned paper for the Crab and the Moose. The Moose punch is an old favourite by Kars and the Crab punch is by Martha Stewart (I love her!) from JT for Christmas. I like the random lettering too.

I love them  – here are some close-up shots.

Crab closeup

Moose closeup

This weekend is Superbowl Weekend and I am a huge NFL fan. Hubby and I are hosting a Superbowl party – complete with JT, her Hubby, my Dad and our friend Jamie.

I will post the Superbowl party food and cards on Monday.

I’m also trying to figure out if I can enter 2 challenges this weekend? Not convinced I can find the time, as I am hitting The Range tomorrow, random shop in Enfield that stocks lots of reasonable craft stuff – look out wallet!

Cx

Thank You Cards

Thank You and New Home

 I like to send Thank You cards and as you know I like to make them in sets. I find them really easy to make and I often make stacks of them, as they make great gifts (especially if you have forgotten a birthday, etc)

Today’s pic of the day is of some Thank You and New Home cards I made at JT’s. I like the blue, cream, green combo going on here.

The paper’s are all JT’s and he embellishments came from my stash and most are pretty old.

Thank You – close-up

I bought some Chipboard alpha’s in the Craft Superstore sale, they are awesome and I am really enjoying working with them – below is a Thank You card made using them. I like the contrast of the lettering against the bright spotty paper – the green bling and the sparkly foam flower work well too.

Thanks!

Thanks – close-up

I don’t make a lot of New Home cards, but when I do, I like to try and make them a little bit different. I wanted the card below to look like a border of wallpaper on a wall!

New Home – close-up

My Sister-in-Law has requested a batch of Thank You cards – so I think some of these will be going to her.

That’s it for today, I am off to eat more food, as I am rather hungover – over the weekend I’ll post up the things I made last night when I got in slightly worse for wear!

Cx

Cards I struggle with

Baby Boy

I can usually come up with ideas for most things, but I often struggle with baby cards.

I don’t want them to be twee – so always blue and pink, but it does work!

Anyway recently I have been tackling baby cards. What do you think?

Close-up shows the alphas and the loopy border

1 and above – is pic of the day – 2 similar cards, made using papers from Michael’s in the US. The card on the left is very simple, just different papers, cut into different shapes and sizes and a bit of bling to bring it alive. The card on the right has an embossed top dark blue section, using the Cuttlebug large dots folder. I experimented with the Martha Stewart punch around the page punches to make the square with the loopy border (thanks Mary Fish) I really like how it looks and the little alpha stickers bring it to life.

2 – Large Prams

2 – I like prams on baby cards – it’s not implying anything – every baby rides in some sort of ‘pram’ so no worries about offending right-on parents! I like the blingyness (totally not a word) of the girl card, but the crazy foam stars for wheels on the boy card are really fun and make me smile. The corrugated card for the Pram’s came from JT’s stash on Saturday.

3 – Mini Prams

3 – Mini prams this time – it’s the same technique, cut a circle – any size, then cut out a wedge and voila! A pram. These mini pram’s are on small white textured cards, the backgrounds were punched using my 2inch square scallop punch, the wheels are coloured bling and I added matching sentiment tabs.

I’m quite happy with the results, I think I might have conquered that demon!

Cx

I’m alive!

Hello!

Well it’s been a while since I posted an entry and that’s mainly because my new job has been so busy! I have been crafting and taking pics of my stuff, but just haven’t found the time or the energy to blog.

So here I am very excited about the new developments in the Ham’n’Mule world – as you know I decided not to do craft fairs this year, but I still really wanted to make and sell Christmas Cards. So I have built a lovely website and it goes live at the start of October.

My new found craft buddy JT is coming over this weekend to make a dent in the Christmas Card production line and we hope to have most of them done in a couple of weeks. In amongst all of this, it’s my birthday and I am already planning my birthday Thank Yous – teeny bit presumptous, but I figure hubby and my folks will buy me gifts 🙂

What else has been going on? Well Hubby and I went to Seattle to visit friends and I went craft stash crazy in Michaels – oh I wish we had a store like it in the UK. I have been trying out new techniques and new tools – I finally bought a crop-a-dile! I sold my Slice and bought an Epic Six, which I hated and now I love it. I have been using Marianne Createables which are awesome. I’ve fallen completely head over heels in love with Digital Stamps and they might just be my new obsession….although my obsession with Martha Stewart products continues….last week I bought the most amazing butterfly punch, I’ll take pics of my creations.

Anyway, I will be back after the weekend’s crafting. Today’s pics are a small example of what I have been up to during my blog hiatus – the butterfly stamp is from Michaels and so is the pink swirly paper (yes my luggage was very heavy….)

Cx

Challenging Week!

Seriously this week has been pretty hardcore at work – challenging is an understatement.

I really wanted to enter a couple of challenges, but needed to make my entries straightforward, as I haven’t had a great deal of time.

So there were 2 challenges, that I liked the look of –

Mojo Monday  – their sketch challenge 174 inspired me as did Kaboodle Doodles ‘black and white + one other colour’

Here is the sketch from Mojo 174 –

And here is my entry.

Not too bad, quite simple really! Not a winner I don’t think, but the main thing is I had fun and tried out new stuff – the corrugated kraft card was something I’ve had for ages and I haven’t had any idea how to use it! The ribbon is by Eastern Treasures and I have been saving it to make a wedding card. I hope to use the card for one of the numerous weddings Hubby and I are attending this year!

Happy Sunday – I am off to watch some tv and colour in some bird stamps!

Cx

Old + New

 Hey!

Happy Monday to you all!

The title of my blog doesn’t just refer to my craft life, it also references what has been going on in our home this weekend! Following the installation of the new kitchen, we had some floor left and so my Dad kindly offered to come and lay it in our bedroom. This sparked a whole host of DIY activity! New coat rack, moving my Great-Great Grandmothers mirror to a new location, hanging pictures, new mirror, fitting the fireplace, finally putting the doors on Hubby’s new wardrobe, a trip to the dump! We have been a hive of activity this weekend (= tired before the week has even started), with not a great deal of time for crafting!

I have been exploring new techniques, ideas etc and I bought a selection of chipboard buttons recently and thought that I would try these out. I haven’t really worked with these before, so looked through my idea book for inspiration and came up with a few ideas that I thought might work.

Below are the cards that I made using the chipboard buttons and some old things from my stash, that I re-discovered!!

A

B

C

A – The chipboard flower was part of a gift, the papes are from a Papermania set, I used a X-Cut scalloped edge punch, a chipboard button and some sparkly silver ribbon. I stamped the sentiment in co-ordinating ink.

B -The scalloped circle is from Funky Hand‘s Salt & Pepper digital kit and the sentiment circle, a chipboard button, some ribbon that I got on a box of chocolates! The spotty paper is beautiful, the spots are actually raised and the best bit is that it came as part of a set I got from my local Poundland – craft goodies galore there.

C – I used a free set that I re-coloured from the Creative Cardmaking Issue 27disk for the sentiment circle, a chipboard button, some sparkly siver ribbon and a beautiful mulberry paper that I got in another set from my local Poundland.

I am really pleased with the results here and I have put them in my card pile (I separate out, things for sale, things for charity and things for me).

I will be going home tonight to have a mini craft session, watch some Basketball with Hubby and get an early night!!

Cx

Sew Beautiful!

Hello!

Diary Cover – from Tokyo Textiles

So despite the rather cardmaking heavy focus of my blog, it does not mean I have by any means stopped sewing.

My wedding planner Marie – who has become a very good friend, has asked me to make her a diary cover. I jumped at the opportunity to try something new and to use some great fabrics from my stash. Marie is quite a girly girl, so I have trawled through my fabrics, trying to find something to suit her and I have 2 choices, so I have decided to make two covers and let her choose! Did I mention that she kindly offered to pay me. I haven’t declined the offer of payment, instead I told her to decide what she thinks it’s worth and gave her a price range – I think this is a good idea.

So making a diary cover is pretty straightforward, but I do not like to waste fabric, so decided to hunt for a tutorial and came across this one on Tokyo Textiles I am already a fan of their fabrics, which they sell online – their current site is a pilot to see what people want – great idea, I should totally try this with my things! Because I am already a fan, I was delighted to find a tutorial on their site.

In honour of both Marie and Tokyo Textiles, today’s pic is the finished diary cover from the tutorial, I should have mine to show you in a couple of days.

I didn’t win the DYSU Challenge 1 – but I don’t mind, my time will come and I was inspired by their challenge blog to enter a challenge so that’s pretty cool. Also I really loved looking at the other entries – people are very talented, I have much to learn.

On a final note for this week, Hubby and I are very excited as my Dad is coming to lay the new floor in our bedroom tomorrow – which means we will soon be dust / cat hair free under our bed, as we are laying a laminate floor. Yipee!

Have a good weekend, I’ll be back on Monday (maybe Tuesday).

Cx

Getting the hang of it!

Hey!

So I think I am getting the hang of this challenge malarky! I had some time last night, so rooted around and found 2 challenges that I thought would be good practice for me.

Cupcake Craft Challenges – it’s a pretty cool blog and they get lots of entries, which is cool. Even more than participating in the challenges, I love looking at the cards people have made, they provide fantastic inspiration.

Mojo Monday – is very cool and all based on sketches, which is very cool. They have a fantastic blog and I think I might be visiting their sketch archive soon to try some of them out. This whole sketch thing is new to me, but I like it, sometimes you need an idea of what shape the card is going to take.

So my challenge to myself, was to make ONE card that fits these 2 challenges and I think I did it with this lovely item!

Cupcake Craft’s Challenge was to make something using something New – new baby, new home, etc or a new craft goodie.

Mojo Monday’s Sketch was this –

So I used the following things –

Papers by kit ‘n’ cradle and Heidi Grace (via TK Maxx!), Ribbon by Papermania, Border Punch Zig Zag embossed dots by Martha Stewart – it is so new it only arrived on Tuesday, it’s a gift from my Sister-in-law and her husband, the self adhesive gems are from my local craft shop, the chipboard sentiment is by Simply Creative Stickers – also new from Hubby for Christmas.

Yay! That makes 4 challenges entered so far, it’s fun, I love it.

Cx

My first Challenge Entry

Hey!

I am very excited today, as I am uploading my first ever Challenge Blog entry.

I really wanted to step out of my regular comfort zone and I think I have really done that here!

The flowers are a digital stamp from the Complete Cardmaking Issue 27 disk, coloured them using Letraset promarkers (Lilac, Bluebell, Blossom and Duck Egg), I glittered the edges with Diamond Stickles and the buttons are from my vast button collection. The papers are by K&Co (random sheets that were gifted to me) and I used peel offs for the sentiments – which I coloured blue using permanent markers.

Lots of people enter more than one challenge, but this is my first time, so I am going to take it easy and enter 2 challenges!!
– do you stack up – Cute as a button
– Kaboodle Doodles – Do it with digis.

On another happy note, today was going to be a sad day for Hubby and I, as we had to send our beloved car Chunky to the scrapyard. When the guy came to collect him this morning he announced that Chunky is going to become a Stock Car!!! Yay! What a lovely outcome.

Happy Tuesday everyone.

Cx