New York journal and bag

My sister is off to New York this summer with her family for a holiday so I thought it would be nice to make her a little journal to keep all those little bits you always pick up on holiday and as I had a wonderful new digital kit called City scapes from Daisy chain I also made her a tote to put all the shopping in too.

I made up a New York skyline in Craft Artist pro using the New York City scape kit and printed it onto transfer paper.

I then ironed it onto the front of a white cotton tote bag. 

For the journal I made the book using my Silhouette cameo and then decorated the pages using the same New York Kit as above mixed with some cuts I found in the Silhouette store cut on my machine. Each page has a pocket to slot all those treasures you collect in. 

Bonkers Mad Hatters Tea party Hat

I don't know if it is the summer heat or just me but as soon as I got the Visible Images Mad Hatter Stamp set from the Fruit Pixie I just had to do a Mad Hatters Hat!  I found a wonderful hat, the mourners hat, in the Silhouette Cameo shop and along with the stamp set and a couple of the die sets from the Fruit Pixie too I was all set!

The Mad Hatter was stamped, coloured in and then cut out. I also stamped the quote that also comes in the set and cut that out too. I made a mat for the Mad Hatter to make him stronger as I wanted him to stand out from the hat. I also cut a teapot boarder for the hat band on my Silhouette, you can just about see it.

The bow came with the hat file and I used the Sue Wilson dies Corn flower and Splendid swirls. The cornflowers made the flower in the middle of the bow and the Splendid swirls comes with the swirls I used at the side but also the wonderful silly springs . I just added some teapots and cups cut with my silhouette too.

It was such a silly project I had such fun making it.

The Stamps and dies are available from The Fruit Pixie online shop here - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/

Hogwarts witches hat

For my birthday back in April my wonderful little sister gave me a ticket to go to the Harry Potter studios. I was just sooooo excited to go and to have a fun day out just the two of us, something we hadn't done in years.

    I wanted to make her a keepsake to say thank you, so I made her this witches hat using my wonderful silhouette cameo machine and a cutting file from SVGcuts that do amazing 3d cutting files.

I didnt want it to look too halloweeny so I added a flower and a bottle top embellishment I had made ages ago that fitted right into the colour scheme.

of course I had to fill it with chocolate frogs!

We had a fantastic day, didn't get lost getting there, tried butter beer and took hundreds of photos       ( you think I am joking!)

Such a wonderful day out and my sister loved her hat too!

Sweet card using Couture Creations Vintage Rose papers

I love these papers from Couture Creations, they are so easy to use as they all go so well together and are double sided too. I made this card using a card base I cut on my wonderful Silhouette Cameo and then just collaged it using the papers.

I added some of the fronds cut using the Sue Wilson Cornflower die set to poke out over the collage pieces to finish it all off.

The papers and dies are available from the Fruit Pixie online shop - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/sue-wilson-die-cornflower-24674-p.asp

Visible image Alice in wonderland cards

I have the wonderful stamps from The Fruit Pixie, which are made by a British company Visible Image, and inspired by Alice in Wonderland, so you just cant go wrong really!

    Here are two cards I have made,

This one is made using the Queen of Hearts set. You get the Queen herself, a nice large stamp of about 3" and also the jar of hearts and the quote "Off with you head" which I didn't use on this card. The background is also a Visible image stamp called Grunge Harlequin.

Then the second card is using the Alice set, you get Alice and the piece of cake and the great quote too. The quote comes as a whole stamp but for this card I stamped it twice and cut it into two. 

There are lots of different stamps available from Visible image, check them out here - 

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/visible-image-640-c.asp.

Decorated travel case

The more I use my Silhouette Cameo the more I love it. One of the things I love to do with it is make 3d projects. So as soon as I saw this cute little travel case I had to make it. I also knew exactly what I wanted to make it with. The Fruit Pixie, who I design for, had just sent me the new Couture Creations Vintage Rose garden papers and I knew they would be perfect.

The papers are 6x6 and you get 48 double sided sheets so are perfect for any project

You also get these lovely vintage postcards and stamps and words you can cut out and collage

Now do you think I will get everything in here for my holiday to Austria?

I think I need to make a larger one!

If you would like to see the papers they can be found here - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/couture-creations-6x6-paper-pad-vintage-rose-garden-17145-p.asp

White rabbit door hanger

The Fruit Pixie sell the wonderful Visible image stamps and one of my favourite stamp sets is this White rabbit set from their Alice in wonderland series, although to be honest the whole series is great! So when I also received a set of the new Creative expressions MDF door hangers as well I knew they were a match made in heaven!

The stamps are high quality stamps that stamp like a dream and are easy to colour in too

I even stamped using the Cosmic Shimmer chalk paints with them to give the background extra interest.

For the pocket watch I used the Artistic stamper time and keys set, also available from The Fruit Pixie.

To finish it off I used one of the Fruit Pixies clock charms hung from a ribbon bow.

All the products, except the diamond boarder, that is a Tim Holtz strip die and the labels I used to stamp the quote and tick tock onto, they were cut on my silhouette, are available from the Fruit Pixie online shop - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/

Stamps - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/visible-image-640-c.asp

Lucky cat wedding charm

As I was saying in the previous post we had a family wedding the other weekend. It was always a tradition to give the bride a lucky charm after she was married, so I thought it would be nice to make the bride a lucky black cat.

   I found a cat shape in the Silhouette shop. Cut him out twice in chipboard and twice in black card and stuck all the layers together. Their save the date and invitation had a piece of ribbon , the wedding colour theme, on it so I pinched the save the date piece and popped it round his neck with a tiny shell charm from the random button collection from the Fruit Pixie.

I think the tradition has died out because I was the only one who gave her one and I think she thought I was slightly mad! I think she liked him though as he was hung on their wooden name over the fireplace.

A family wedding

Tomorrow we have a big formal family wedding, my hubby's eldest nephew is getting marred in a big old manor house. So any excuse to make myself some accessories to my dress, a 1950's replica navy small polka dot dress with the full net petticoat. I have always wanted a dress like that as I love the fashion, music and films of the 1940's and 50's but I have never been anywhere where I could wear one, now I have!!

      The first thing I made was my handbag. It made with a pattern from Charlies Aunt, my favourite vintage handbag designer. I have made several of her projects, this one is the Home guard clutch bag and I am so pleased with it.

I didn't want to wear a hat so instead I have made a flower, using my wonderful Silhouette Cameo, for my hair and then another one for the lapel on my jacket

Then last but not least I have made myself a new necklace and earrings to finish my look!

Creative Expressions Butterfly dream stamp cards

I have been using the new line of Stamps to Die for from Creative Expressions that are available from The Fruit Pixie, to make some cards. Instead of keeping them as a panel I decided to cut them up into squares and make a different style card this time

The stamps were stamped with a black Ranger archival ink and coloured in then cut into 2" squares. Then they were matted and layered several times and a sentiment added.

This simple card was made with one of the spare squares but makes a really nice card.

They also make cute tags too.

Hope you liked my Butterfly dreams card ideas. You can buy the stamp from The fruit Pixie here - 

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/creative-expressions-stamps-to-die-for-663-c.asp

Oriental screen card

Is it just me or is the oriental theme creeping back in? I love anything oriental so I could not be happier and I love the new fresh look it has acquired.

    As you know I am the design elf at The Fruit Pixie and I have been playing with some of the new products Sarah-Jane has added to her shop and along with my trusty friend my silhouette I have come up with this card

The card base was cut on my Silhouette but the panels are a stamp from Creative expressions - Stamps to die for skeleton leaves. I stamped them using the Ranger archival ink in black and coloured them with my watercolour pencils.

The fans are the Spellbinders die blossom fan which I cut from black card and then used my collection of biscuit and sweet foils I am constantly collecting ( yes I am one of those who has to flatten it all out! But then I keep it too! ) to place behind the fans and I also found if you rub the back with you finger the foil comes through like it is padded!

The panels were then matted onto black card and then stuck to the screen card. I then added the fans  a little gem to the handle and a sentiment to finish.

All the products, except the card blank, are available from The Fruit Pixie -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/

So grab yourself a cup of Jasmine tea and check it out!

Easter boxes and birthday cards

We had a busy Easter as it is also full of family birthdays too. My nephew turned 18 ( where do the years go??? ) my brother in law's birthday and mine! So my silhouette machine was very busy.

I made these very cute Easter boxes for the family and filled them with little eggs. Such a cute fun project to make and very quick also.

To say my nephew is a keen BMX rider is an understatement, he travels all over the place to ride the ramps with his friends so it had to be a BMX card. I love these 3d cards, they give your cards an interesting look and fold flat to post.

Hope you had a good Easter too x

Molly rules card 2

This was the second card I made for the Fruit Pixie using the Visible Image Molly Rules stamp set. This time I used my new Aqua markers, which I am very impressed with, to stamp and colour in. The Visible Images stamps took the ink beautifully which also shows the quality of the stamps too.

You can find The Fruit Pixie here - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/  

Visible Image Molly rules card #1

The Fruit Pixie, who I design for, sells a wonderful brand of stamps that are made here in the UK called Visible Image. They stamp perfectly and there is no beading of the ink or marker on the stamp either which you often get with clear stamps. They also do a wide range of stamps so there is something for every taste. You can find them here - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/visible-image-640-c.asp

I chose the Molly Rules stamp set and used a couple of the stamps from the set to make this card

For the fun funky flowers I used a couple of the new Sue Wilson die sets from The Fruit Pixie. The flowers are made from the cornflower set and the fun springs are from the Splendid swirls set. I then used some buttons from the Halloween pack to finish them off.

You can find the dies for the flowers here - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/craft-dies-by-sue-wilson-662-c.asp

Create on the move - busy bags!!

 As a certified craft addict I just HAVE to take things to do with me when I go on holiday, I might not get time to do anything but I would go dolally if I had to go a whole week without my creative bits and bobs being to hand. I have tried and made all sorts of things to put them before I pack them in the case but I think I have found the best one yet, plus it was great fun to make too!!

  I spotted on Pinterest something called a busy bag, a bag to put toys and things in to take with you to keep the children quiet.So I thought why should children have all the fun and adapted it to suit my crafty needs.You could use this not only to take things away with you but for classes or just to move things around the house.

The outer part of the bag is padded with quilt wadding to protect the things inside and has a closure with Velcro so you can alter the thickness of your bag.

On the inside of the front flap I added some pen pockets.

The lining of the bag was cut in half and 4 thick sealable bags were sewn in to make pockets to store anything in really. The reason I like this is they are plastic so waterproof so if anything dose leak in transit it is contained in the bag. It means also you can have a bag for paper crafting and another for your stitching, they will all be safe and kept seperate. Also when they do eventually wear out they can be replaced by stitching in another bag. 

The bags I used are fantastic thick plastic bags the Fruit Pixie sends your order in, They are the best sealable bags I have ever come accross!

On the back part of the bag I also added another pocket with a velcro fastening, thought this would be good to store my art journal

So there it is my new creative busy bag! I have a holiday coming up so I cant wait to pack it and give it a go.

I made this one for my crafty friend Sue for her birthday. I used slightly smaller bags from the supermarket for this one, so you can make them any size you like. 

Of course you could make a busy bag for anything you want to. I am sure you can think of lots of ways it can be useful to you.

If you have any questions about my bag feel free to ask

The things stored in my busy bag photos and the bags used are from The Fruit Pixie online shop - http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/ 

The bags I used will sometimes come with your order in from the Fruit Pixie.

Corner Keepers

I have been making these little corner keepers for years. Simply made from the corners of envelopes they make great little gifts and quick simple projects that are great for children to make too.

  I made these for the Fruit Pixie using some of the ephemera she sells and some scraps of the Graphic 45 Bohemian Bazaar papers, also available from the store.

To find out how I made these visit my post on the Fruit Pixie Blog -  http://thefruitpixie.blogspot.co.uk/