Easter elegance.

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Yes i know it's a little early, but i finished Maddy's Easter prezzy today and couldn't wait to blog it. Click on the pics for a better look.
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This lovely little egg trinket box started off as a delapilated mess on a charity shop shelf. It was bare apart from some of the beads going around it, it was scuffed, scratched and had the remains of a terrible paint job on it..... So i bought it with an Easter project in mind.
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I've used Distress Crackle Paint on the egg itself, i mean eggs do crack now and again don't they? Painted with a thin coat, the crackles are lovely and fine. I also added a few little things to fancy it up a bit.
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First i punched a simple heart out, distressed it a little and hand stitched around the edge.
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A few fabric flowers and more beading dotted around the place...doesn't that crackle paint look great close up?
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The little butterflies are lazer cut, and with a coat of antique cotton paint and a stamped text pattern on them, they really come to life on the project. I was able to enter this into the Charisma Cardz Challenges this week as they are ofter something with Beautiful Butterflies.
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This pendant/charm was a great find, it originaly came as part of a belt, but in true Calv style i wrecked the belt and used the only bit that was left intact! I can also enter it in the Creative Inspirations "charms" challenge this week.
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I know what you are thinking though, yes Calv that's fine but what about the choccy!!! Have i ever let you down yet? :)
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Filled with mini easter eggs, Maddy has the choice of white, plain and dark choccy to indulge herself in.
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What would this kind of project be without some reference to Alice in Wonderland? It gave me a chance to compliment the box with something nice, whilst using one of my fave stamps, an Alice in Wonderland quote...
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This handmade scroll was made on patterned paper, wrapped around a couple of dowelling rods i chopped up this afternoon. Painted again with crackle paint and finished off with tiny brass knobs.
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A dainty button and some ribbon later.....and Mr Carroll would have been proud of me! :)
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I love these butterflies...
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A close up of the wonderfull quote...
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So there you have it, one Easter prezzy for my partner in crime. :) Hopefully Maddy will forgive me for spoiling the suprise, she'll just have to wait for the choccy now.....i'm sure i'll take good care of it. :)
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Thanks for looking everyone.....and Happy early Easter!!!
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Magazine storage tutorial.

Hi all :)

Over the past week, i must have read at least a dozen requests for advice with magazine storage on various sites. This is always going to be an issue as long as the publishers keep bring out great crafty mags!

In the past I've mentioned wooden storage racks that I've made, but these aren't quite so easy to knock up in your craft room in 20 minutes. This however....is!

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I thought of all the ways I'd seen magazines stored before, and when i was 12 years old, i subscribed to a magazine which i bought the binders for. I've modelled this crafty version on that storage idea.

All you need is an A4 ring binder, some pliers, some ribbon lengths and an eyelet setter.

Ok, here we go....first take your standard A4 ring binder.....

Now we want to get rid of the metal ring contraption in the middle. This is going to be the hardest part of this project. It is only held in with two eyelets, but they are tough little fellas, so i got some pliers and sort of pinched the edge of the eyelets together until you could shove it back through the hole in the binder.



Take it off back and front, eyelets too. You should be left with holes like this.

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These can be easily covered up with a strip of card/paper.

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The outside bit gets covered up the same, however you can fancy this up a bit more, even write a label so you can see what is stored inside. You may even want to have a folder for each brand of magazine, in which case you could be ultra organisational and include the name of the mag.

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Now to work on what holds the magazines in the binder. Using a Crop-A-Dile, punch a hole at either end of the binder. Ensure you leave a few millimeters so you can slide a magazine in.

Secure the eyelet, nice side on the outside of the binder.....looks prettier that way!

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Now you want a few lengths of ribbon, thin ribbon is fine. Make sure they are a couple of inches longer than the binder as you will need the extra length for tieing a knot. Tie your first ribbon at one end, just tie any old secure knot, pull it tight..but not overly tight that you can't fit a mag under it.....then tie it off at the other end.

You should now have this....

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You will need a separate ribbon for each magazine, so just add them all either at the start when you make the binder, or add then as you buy each magazine.

Here I'll just do two for the tutorial.

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As you can see, if you do them singularly, you end up with a knot for each ribbon. You may want to hold a few lengths together and thread them through. I just tried it and you can fit ten bits of thin ribbon through an eyelet. If thats too tricky, you could always place an extra eyelet either side of this one.

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Now open your magazine to the centre pages, and slide it under the ribbon.

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Close the first magazine, and you can see below that you have the next ribbon waiting to take the next mag.

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Insert your next magazine exactly as you did the first.....

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Hey presto.....here you have a quick, easy and affordable way of keeping your magazines safe and in good condition.

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Hope this helps.....thanks for looking. :)

Worry pocket.

Last week i did a fantastic pocket challenge set by Hels over at her blog, and when i saw the pocket finished, i just knew that my young daughters would be all over it!

My kids love little things. Especially little things they can hide things in. So i thought that with some minor template changes, i could create something special for my girls to use.

A big thank you to Hels for being kind enough to let me change the template for my project.
Now like most kids, another thing my girls do from time to time is worry. It may be the tiniest thing to you or I, but to them....it's a mountain on thier little shoulders. Now and again i get a little slip of paper pushed in front of me whilst i am doing something, and it will be a tiny note containing a detailed explanation of whats on thier minds.

So i decided to make them a little "worry pocket". A pocket pouch that they can hide thier worries in, and pass it to me without fear anyone else seeing it if thats what they want.

Firstly, i have a lot to learn about colour matching, and i have learnt just in this one project....lots about what not to do and what i need to improve on!

So the workings of the pocket......you undo the ribbon tie at the front, and the book pops open...

There is then a set of doors under the main flap, all of these are threaded shut by a single ribbon. I know from experience that my kids love undoing packages, so i thought i'd have thier worries all tied up safe. Extra secrecy! If you are wondering what the silver mess is on the right

flap, poorly disguised with organza ribbon, it was another embossing attempt that went wrong!!!

When you open it fully, an envelope is revealed in which you place your worries, written on a piece of paper.

Just in case they have a few things on thier mind...as they often do after a hard day at school.....i have made the envelope an expanding one to allow more in it.

When you re-thread the ribbon to close the pocket up, the ribbon attached to the left door goes up through the right door eyelet, then up through the top flap eyelet, then when pulled, it pulls everything shut again. Finish off by tieing it with the ribbon at the bottom of the pocket.

This project can be made so much more prettier than i've done it, to be honest i was just happy getting the finished design working properly and ready to receive the first worry! Not just for worries though, this would make a great little "secrets" book or a pocket to pass to friends with messages in.

Thanks again to Hels for the pocket idea.

Hope you like it. :)

Ribbon storage tip.

I've spent the last half an hour sorting out a ribbon jar that was hiding away at the end of the craft table. Jammed full of ribbons, so they were mostly out of sight and therefore, mostly unused.

However i recently saw a girl demonstrate a great ribbon storage tip on YouTube, all you need is a book ring and some paperclips or safety pins.





Now the few strands i had are hanging straight instead of crumpled in a jar, on show so i can see what i have......and it adds colour to my craft room.

Great cheap little tip!