Last of my Christmas Projects..

I'm not sure how Christmas has passed by so fast again this year after so many hours of preparation and organisation!! I hope all of my lovely blog readers have had a happy and peaceful Christmas. We seem to have spent most of the week removing toys from their packaging but have yet to find a space for everything - I know there will be a huge clear out next week for the charity shop!!

I am sharing the last of my Christmas projects for this year with the teacher gifts that were made for Philip's teacher's little boy, it was quite an order of 12 gifts in total!!

This gift was the least stressful, as it only contains the ingredients to make the yummy oat cookies that I like to bake, I made 4 of these jars decorated with Stampin' Up! products.

I saw jars filled with ingredients on Pinterest this is my first attempt at layering the ingredients and instructions were included, only butter needs to be added to this mix & then they are ready to bake, so they make a useful gift at this time of year.

Now these gifts were a little more stressful, as they had freshly baked oat cookies and Christmas decorated cake pops!!  So no pressure to get things right?!  Thankfully my baking turned out well, and they filled a small gift box along with a pack of Snowman Soup (hot chocolate, marshmallows & a candy cane). I decorated my box with Snow Festival tags.

On the last day of term at school the head teacher announced how much money has been raised - £2050 in just over two weeks towards Philip's new wheelchair, this is an amazing achievement and we are so grateful to everyone who supported us!!  Thank you just doesn't seem enough to express our gratitude.

I have found some time to do some crafting this week and a couple of new scrapbook layouts with some new stash I have had sitting on my shelves for a while waiting to be inked. It has been lovely to use bright spring like colours as I have made so many Christmas projects this year although many of them haven't been shared on my blog. 

I am making plans for some dates for workshops featuring NEW products from Stampin' Up! and I will be posting details of them soon.  My New Years Resolution is to make a little bit more time for ME - this past year I have not had time to craft for my pleasure and it is something I plan to change.  I plan to get back into the garden (if it ever dries out) and make some improvements and there's decorating....... not sure how long I will manage to keep this resolution???????

I would like to wish you a Happy New Year and I will be back soon with some new projects.

Angela x

Polar Party

Another week has flown by and today is the last day of school!!   

This is a project I started making in July!!!  I knew once I got my hands on the new Autumn and Winter seasonal catalogue my stamp sets from last year would not get a lot of use, so I inked up my Polar Party stamp set for this project.

This is a box made from a sheet of 12 x 12 card with several smaller compartments, I first saw it on Pinterest, so if I can find a link I will add it later.

I used Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist and Whisper White for my colour scheme.

The stamps are really cute and I used the stamp ma jig to line them up.

The images were coloured with Stampin' Up! maker pens.

I made some matching tags, mini cards and pens to fill the box.

The lid of the box has an acetate window but it was difficult to get a photograph because of the glare.

Philip got to try out some new wheelchairs this week, the assessment was done at school where staff and pupils could see how this new wheelchair would help to give Philip greater independence around school. The difference it made was amazing, it was so easy for him to "get moving" and turn and stop his huge smile said it all!! 

Today is the final push to raise money for Philip, the children have organised a Christmas dress up day, cake sale along with other activities and there is a huge "buzz" in school about Philip's new wheelchair!! I will be joining the staff and pupils in their Christmas assembly where the Headteacher will announce how much money has been raised, tissues at the ready!!

I have quite a "to do list" that I'm hoping to cross off  this morning, so it's another scheduled post from me - then I can look forward to a relaxing weekend at home.

Angela x

Christmas Party Time

I have scheduled today's post as its another early start this morning for the Christmas Party for the children at Heel and Toe - rehearsals start at 9.30 in Chester-le-Street for the children's performance. I'm sure there will be a lot of tears this morning as this will be the first time parents have seen the show.

The performance will be followed by a party, with a disco, magician and buffet and of course a visit from the man with the red suit - Santa!!  

Philip has made some lovely progress at Heel and Toe and I have to admit the early start to get to Durham every Saturday morning is not something I look forward to but the true dedication of the staff working at the centre and the difference they are making to Philip makes it worth while!!  

When I was told about the party I offered to make some gift boxes for the children as a way to say "Thank You" for the therapy Philip is receiving - I later found out there was 80 children attending the party, gulp!!  I got on with it and delivered the boxes and cards a few weeks ago.

A huge pile of sweets to fill the boxes!!

I used the new Fancy Favour die that is exclusive to Stampin' Up! embossed with the gorgeous new Northern Flurry folder, the reindeer is from the new Jolly Christmas Bingo Bits stamp set. 

Sorry for the poor photo - the cards have been stamped with the cute No Peeking stamp set and the Jolly Christmas Bingo Bits stamp set.

Lucy enjoyed helping to fill the boxes of sweets and with 80 to make I was pleased that she was willing to help me out!!

Heel and Toe is a children's charity based in Durham who believe in providing FREE conductive education for all children needing their help, as we have had no NHS input recently for Philip I am truly grateful for this opportunity. If you would like to find out more about Heel and Toe you can follow the link to their website here.

Philip wasn't very well yesterday and missed his school party, so hopefully today will make up for that!!  The school performances have finished this week and next week will be filled with lots of fun Christmas activities.  I have a busy week in school helping out with Christmas craft days and baking more cakes for Lucy & her friends to sell as they have planned a fun day for the last day of term - to raise funds for Philip's wheelchair. The support has been fantastic from all of the children, staff and parents at school, their kindness and generosity has been overwhelming, I never expected this!!  

Angela x

I'm still here....

I have been really busy with many different Christmas projects, I think I've had quite enough now!!!!  I still have a few special cards to make and some gift boxes but I have to report that the Christmas shopping is done & most of it is wrapped, the tree is up & the lights are on outside so for once I'm feeling quite organised.  I plan to do lots of baking, catch up with some projects I would like to finish and of course there will be some crafting.

I'm hoping I have some photos still on my camera as I thought I had photos of the 80 boxes I made for the Christmas party for Heel and Toe - a children's charity that provides conductive education based in Durham, Philip has made some lovely progress there especially with his fine motor skills.

Today I thought I would share a quick card made with the beautiful Holiday Frame embossing folder, it is a beautiful design and the embossing is really deep. I used the Tags til Christmas stamp set and punched it out with the extra large oval, the tree is from the Scentsational Season stamp set cut with the matching holiday framelits, I added a small heart shaped button with a scrap of linen thread.

I used Red Riding Hood card for my base with Very Vanilla and Gum Ball Green and a little star cut from the gorgeous Champagne glimmer paper.

I think this week is the "calm before the storm" as next week I have a lot of classes plan for - I'm spending a full day at school with year 5 & 6 helping them make Christmas cards and boxes, an afternoon helping Philip craft and  I will be making Teacher gifts for Philip's teacher for her little boy to take to nursery - its quite an order!!

We also have one of the nicest "Christmas presents" ever a new wheelchair assessment for a lightweight "sporty" chair that will be much easier for Philip to use and a better design overall.  The wheelchair was something I thought I would look in to after Christmas but Philip's teacher and the Head Teacher stepped in and the children and families at school are helping to raise money to get Philip a new chair - I  never expected this nor would I have asked them to help, it was an afternoon of tears & complete shock when I got to know about this. 

I will get my pictures organised and plan some more blog posts later this week, as I have a lot to share with you!!

Angela x

Christmas Workshop

On Saturday I held a Christmas workshop featuring the gorgeous Snow Festival suite from Stampin' Up!  Everyone had their own goody bag filled with lot's of  Stampin' Up! products to make their own Christmas projects.

Gift cards are often difficult to "wrap" to make them look presentable - I designed this "pop-up" gift card holder and it will fold flat to fit a C6 envelope!!  This was a popular project and although it is time consuming to put together everyone managed to get one or two made.

This is the front of my gift card holder, I added one of the large matching tags for the focal point of my card, leaving it blank so I can add a Christmas greeting.

The goody bags also had some of these fantastic Stampin' Up! gift boxes, ready to be decorated and fantastic value too - £2.75 for 4 boxes.

I wrapped some of the paper around my box and added a paper bow and one of the gorgeous faceted buttons.

I shared a lot of ideas for stylish gift wrapping, this one uses a thick paper lunch sack, covered with  paper.  The closure was made using the largest label framelit with a velcro dot to close it

.

I shared a tutorial for these gorgeous Christmas flowers, they look lovely in place of a ribbon bow and the faceted button really sparkles along with some of the new Dazzling Details fine glitter glue.

A desk calendar is practical and can also be useful for small gifts, this one will fold flat and fit into an envelope.  Some of the ladies were pleased I had included another calendar project for them again this year.

In the Snow Festival papers pack there is a sheet filled with a "patchwork" of smaller images, that are perfect for cutting up and making some quick cards and tags.

I will be planning some more classes soon so look out for new dates and themes!!

We had a lovely few days away last week for half term at Chessington World of Adventure but the nightmare 8 hour slow drive home and the usual catching up has "stolen" my crafting time!!  

I am currently finishing cards and gifts from Santa for a children's charity, only another 30 to make (80 in total). I need to get them made so I have plenty of free time for my own projects, hopefully I will be back soon with photos and new projects.

Angela x

Halloween Treat Bags

I made some really quick Halloween Treat Bags for Lucy and Philip this year, filled with lot's of chocolate treats!  

In the Autumn and winter seasonal catalogue there are some new bags that are stronger and can be filled with a lot of different gifts - perfect for my treat bags.

I added trips of the gorgeous Howlstooth and Scarring Bone paper tied with some Basic Grey taffeta ribbon. The tags are stamped with the Spooky Bingo Bits and punched with circle and square punches with a length of Calypso Coral bakers twine to finish them.

I was so pleased to see the Spooky Bingo Bits stamp set in the new 2012 - 2013 catalogue and they were at the top of my wish list!!  There are 24 stamps in the set, perfect for making lots of quick Halloween treats!

Angela x

More Stampin' Up Holiday Framelits

As the felt projects yesterday were so popular I have decided to share the cute felt gingerbread tags I made at the same time today.

I cut the tags with the exclusive Two Tags big shot die, adding a strip of Festival of Prints paper. The gingerbread man was cut with the Holiday framelits that match the Scentsational Season stamp set. the pearls are coloured to match with a permanent marker.

I decided a gingerbread girl would be nice too!! I added a scrap of Crochet Trim to make a skirt and more pearls for the straps, a couple of stars punched form the gorgeous Champagne Glimmer Paper. I added some Cherry Cobbler seam binding to the tag tied with another piece of Crochet Trim.

Halloween projects are planned for tomorrow.

Angela x

Stampin' Up Holiday Framelits

Today I have another Christmas project to share using the Stampin' Up! Holiday Framelits that match the Scentsational Season stamp set. I have used the framelits to cut a single sheet of felt - the gingerbread man is my favourite of this set.

I coloured some pearls with permanent markers for the gingerbread man.

The Christmas tree has a sprinkling of sparkly gems.

The heart really sparkles, I punched out a heart and lightly drew around it, then I stuck gems all around it.

I added some Red Ridding Hood ribbon to finish them.  

I'm ready for a break from Christmas projects, so I will share some of my Halloween projects -  hopefully this will give me a chance to catch up with some non-seasonal projects!!  At least this year I expect to be organised with plenty of cards already made.

Angela x

Stampin' Up Watercolour Winter part 2

Here is part 2 of the cards we made last Saturday at my Christmas Post workshop.

This card is "CASED" from a card I spotted on Pinterest a little while ago.

Everyone managed to complete all of their 12 cards during the afternoon.

Sorry I am late posting again, its been one of those weeks!!  I have been busy preparing for my All Day workshop on 3rd November, the kits have arrived, the projects are made and lunch is ordered!!  All that is left to do is write up my tutorials and wrap some fabulous Stampin' Up! products for my raffle prize.

Angela x

Stampin' Up Watercolour Winter Workshop

On Saturday I had a lovely group of ladies join my Christmas Post workshop. This workshop was designed to keep postage costs to a minimum, as often whey you make a special card with lovely embellishments, the postage can be very expensive - so all of the cards we made are flat without and ribbons, buttons, gems, brads ect!!

The colours we used at this class are Cherry cobbler, Old Olive, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla.

We started the class by stamping a full sheet of A4 to make our own back ground paper - "One Sheet Wonder".

The Watercolour Winter stamp set made a lovely background, ready to be cut up to make our cards.

The plain bases were embossed and stamped to add some interest without dimension.

The stamped card was cut up for the cards, I managed to make 9 cards from one sheet of A4 card!

The cards were finished with a selection of seasonal sentiments and matching punches.

Everything was stuck "flat" to the card base ready for a basic 1st or 2nd class stamp.

The ladies also got Very Vanilla envelopes in their kit and some of them were decorated to match the cards.  I have a few more cards from this class I will share tomorrow, as this has been a rather long post.

Angela x

Scentsational Season

Today I have another Christmas card to share using the Scentsational Season stamp set and matching Holiday framelits. I LOVE the gingerbread man!!!

I used Crumb Cake for my card base with  a strip of Be of Good Cheer designer paper and a Snow Festival tag. The framelits are great for quick cards as they save a lot of cutting out!!  The star is punched from a scrap of the gorgeous Champagne Glimmer paper.

I have some more cute gingerbread men cards to share soon.

I am currently trying to finish projects for my all day class but my mojo has disappeared & it is taking a lot longer than it should!!  Hopefully it will be found once I clear my desk & try again, if you find it lurking please send it home!!

Angela x

Christmas Ornament Keepsake

I love the new Ornament Keepsake stamp set with the exclusive matching Holiday Ornaments framelits!!!  Here is another Christmas decoration in a non-traditional colour scheme.

I used Chocolate Chip, Pool Party and Very Vanilla for this decoration, with some lovely Crochet Trim, gorgeous soft Crumb Cake Tulle, First Edition papers and a Vintage Brad.

A close up so you can see some of the depth of the ornament.

This is my favourite ornament, the colours are soft and almost "vintage" - now how do I justify changing the rest of my Christmas decorations so they match?????????

If you would like to make your own decoration, they are really easy to put together and if you buy the stamps and framelits together you will save 15% contact me to place your order.

Ornament Keepsakes Bundle Purchase the

Ornament Keepsakes Stamp Set and Holiday

Ornaments Framelits Dies together.

£43.95 129949 Wood-Mount Bundle

£38.95 129950 Clear-Mount Bundle

Angela x

Halloween Scrapbooking

Every year at Halloween we usually go away for a few days or do something on Halloween, we are going to Chessington World of Adventures this year! This is a photo I have of Lucy after she had some great face painting done at The Christmas Adventure during half term.

It is another clean & simple layout using some of the Howlstooth and Scarringbone designer papers with the Jack of All Trades stamp set.

I covered the pumpkins with Crystal Effects to give them a glossy finish.

It might seem a little strange to spend Halloween at The Christmas Adventure but they open during October half term and at Halloween they have actors in the woods telling a story and "popping up" (not too scary early in the night).  It is well worth a visit, their Christmas shop is lovely, great hot chocolate, a wonderful illuminated woodland walk and many different activities - hopefully we will go again this year.

Angela x

Stampin' Up Snowflake Die

I had a few bits from the new exclusive Stampin' Up! Snowflake Die on my desk I started to mix them up and this is the result.  A lovely snowflake decoration to hang on the tree. 

I used some of the gorgeous Champagne Glimmer paper with Soft Suede and Very Vanilla card, with a Vintage Brad for the centre and pearls around the outer edge.

This week is my scrapbooking class so I will share a couple of layouts and of course the class project.  If you would like to find out more about scrapbooking or join my class please contact me for more details.

Angela x

Stampin' Up Polar Party

I'm afraid you are going to be seeing a lot of Christmas projects from me as this is what I have been spending many hours working on!!  Today I have a set of cards and gift packaging made with the cute Polar Party stamp set, I think it was July when I made these cards - hopefully I WILL be organised this year.

I have chosen a non-traditional colour scheme for this set, Pink Pirouette, Pool Party, Melon Mambo and Whisper White. The Polar Party stamp set is a really cute set and perfect for a bit of therapeutic "colouring in".

I love the sweet little penguin stamps in this set, I used the exclusive Labels framelits to cut out the layers adding different papers from the paper stacks.

More colouring in!!!  I added lots of Dazzling Details glitter to this card for snow, I love the spotty scallop ribbon, only a few more colours left to collect.

I used paper to make the tall gift bag as Stampin' Up! papers are excellent quality, I made the closing flap with the exclusive Labels framlits.  The small box was cut with the exclusive Mini Milk Carton die, I used the extra large oval and the scalloped oval punch to layer the image, with a little ruffled Pool Party ribbon.

The photos doesn't really show the glitter and Crystal Effects I added to the trees.

Another cute scene, I "masked" the polar bear before stamping the trees so I could get some depth to the "scene".

I think this might be a set that Lucy will choose for her friends this year.  I have another set of cards made with the Polar Party stamp set that I will share with you soon!!

If you would like to order any Stampin' Up! products contact me for more details.

Angela x

Stampin' Up festival of Prints

There are some fabulous patterned papers in the Autumn & Winter Seasonal catalogue called Festival of Prints - they are excellent value too, just £6.25 for 48 sheets.  Not all of the patterns are Christmas themed, so they are suitable for many different occasions.

I loved the paper stars in the catalogue, so I made a template and cut out lots of stars and scored and folded them to make them 3D.  I used dimensionals to stick them on to a "ring" of heavy card, adding some Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon and bakers twine to hang it up.

I went on a visit to the fire station today with Philip and his class. It was quite eventful with the engines in and out on calls, but the children really enjoyed themselves especially when they got to squirt the hose!!  The fireman explained what happens when a call comes through to the station - at that moment it did - the control room had sent a "call" to the school to help explain what happens. The fireman gave this to the teacher to take back to school, when at that moment there was a call - he told them this was real and the firemen quickly got ready to leave, as we rounded up the children to get them out of the way. So you can imagine our shock when the real call was for THEIR school!!!  Thankfully everything was OK, there was a fault in the alarm system and the firemen returned to the station again before the children left to go back to school.

Angela x