Twist Boxes for my Christmas table

Ive been making these today for my Christmas table. Inside is the party blowers, a party popper, a joke (still to do) and a little gift for each of us on Christmas day.

Dawn has an awesome video on how to make these here

The stamp ive used  is part of the Christmas Classics stamp set and Ive used up more of my stash of the now retired Ski Slope DSP

TFL!

Making your own party blowers

heres the tutorial I promised. Sorry about the casual photos but I couldnt find my grid paper.

Heres the blowers for my Christmas Day table..just my own family and my sister this year which is rather nice (easy too)

Ive used my leftover Ski slope DSP and teamed it up with that gorgeous polka dot Grosgrain.

so heres the tutorial..

How to make Party Blowers

1. Cut a piece of DSP to 2 1/2 x 12 inches.

2. Score lenthways at 1″ and 2″,  leaving an 1/2 inch flap.

3. Apply sticky strip or thin double sided tape to length of 1/2 inch flap and along bottom edge. It is important to not have any gaps. Fold closed as shown (3a)

4.Roll blower around pencil starting from bottom edge.

5. Tie rubber band around blower and leave for 24 hours so that the shape holds.

6. Cut a piece of cardstock 2 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch.

7. Apply sticky strip on one short edge and roll into a cylinder.

8. Tape of the rubber band and insert into the blower opening.  It needs to be a tight fit.

9. Wrap sticky strip around join of cardstock and paper several times.

10. Cut a piece of ribbon (aprox 2 1/4″ in length). Apply snail adhesive along edges of ribbon and wrap around where you applied the sticky strip. (put the seam to the bottom so its not as visible. Voila you have made a party blower!

I have also tried this with shirring elastic up the middle (hoping the blower would be able to come back but havent had a successful one yet) Instead I kept on pinging my face/hands etc with elastic…lol!

stamped calendar

This is what I got up to on my team retreat this past weekend..which was a blast! I got lots done and had a relaxing time doing it. The only problem was that it wasnt long enough!

The neat thing about the retreat was that I could borrow some of my teams stamps to have a play…which is actually not a good thing for my bank balance as I just want to buy them now lol!

The stamps Ive used is circle circus, wild about you, Inspired by Nature, Fresh cuts, baroque motifs, Starring you and winter post(all main catalogue), I (heart) hearts, Razzle dazzle, Hello again, For Everything, Butterfly prints and Something sweet (all summer mini)

Heres a closeup of my favourite ones.

Masculine birthday card

well its my dear Hubbys’ birthday today so I took him out to lunch and he got this card from me. He got lots of pressies so he was happy especially as they included lots of chocolate and baileys!

The stamps Ive used here are Starring You (pg 141). Circle Cicus (pg 104) and I (heart) hearts which is in the new Summer mini (pg 6)

The ribbon is the other side of the polka dot ribbon ..Im in lurve with this ribbon lol

So the colours Ive used is Real red and Not Quite Navy.

Its a busy time of year for us with end of year school/farm events, Dance school production (4 shows) and for some reason lots of people we know have birthdays around this time. Crazy!

My Christmas Cracker instructions..

Here it is ..I have been teaching my cracker for well over 5 years now and given the instructions out for free for anyone who wants it..only stipulation is that you say where you got it from..me. Ive made short fat ones, mini ones and extra large ones. My Christmas cracker is metric not inches sorry!

Materials used. Sweet Slumber Specialty Paper (114037), So Saffron Cs 108611, scallop circle punch(109043), 1 3/8 Circle punch(104401), Lovely Letters Alphabet (116392), Seasons Surfin’ (retired So Saffron grosgrain ribbon (freebie and now retired) , sponge daubers, Ruby Red ink pad.

Instructions

1. Cut a 30.5 x30.5 Specialty Designer Paper (Sweet slumber here) to 20cm x 30.5 cm. You can use A4 Cardstock for this cracker but the length will be shorter.
2. Score the cardstock every 3cm as shown. So you will score at 3,6,9,12,15 and 18. You will be left with a two centremetre flap. This is needed to adhere the edges together.
3. Turn the cardstock and start at one end. Score 3 cm three times. Ie score at 3, 6 and 9cm from the edge.
4. Start at the other end and do the same so that you have a 12.5cm centre area.
5. Fold all score lines and burnish with a bone folder.
6. Fold one end mountain/valley/mountain folds as shown and the other end the opposite. Ie. Valley/mountain/valley
7. Fold mountain end up and the other end down as shown.
8. If it helps, draw lines on mountain end and valley ends as shown and cut out. Your cracker should look like this when cutting out.
9. Turn on over and embellish the outside.
10. Attach the snap to the inside in the centre with liquid glue or sticky strip/double sided tape.
11. With sticky strip or double sided tape, attach to flaps and adhere edges together.
12. Fold and twist in the ends gently. Tie with ribbon

If you have any problems don’t hesitate but to call me (07 3048807)..    or email me on  cramfamily@xtra.co.nz

I recommend you practise first on a scrap piece of cardstock before you start on your crackers for real.

Have fun making them!!

Delys

running behind!

and thats because in a few hours my team retreat starts and Im running around in a panic AND I have to milk the cows shortly too.

so the party blower instructions will have to wait! Catch up with me in a couple of days also for my Christmas Cracker instructions too.

Meanwhile Ive been making up these goodie ketes up for my team members ..wont show you whats inside as it will spoil their surprise!

Have a good weekend.

Party!

I made 15 of these for my swaps at Patrices Xmas party but unfortunately forgot to take a pic of it. I ran out of the Tall Tales DSP so this one that was leftover was just the choc chip patterned DSP. The party blower works too! Check back tomorrow for a tutorial on how to make these for Christmas!!

Santas arriving early

for some of my customers who have ordered from me in the last week. I was blog surfing this morning when I came across this post and I immediately was inspired to try it myself! I added a little santa sack of goodies to the card too.

Right ..off to make some more!

Mini Bon Bons

This is what I taught at Patrices Christmas party for all of her downline yesterday. We had a wonderful day with swaps (another post), lots of make n takes, tips and LOTS of laughter. I love getting together with everyone in my wider team..this has been a definate plus for me since signing up to be a demonstrator. I have my team retreat this weekend..we are planning on NO cooking, Lots of stamping and LOTS of Laughter. If you want to join my team ..you are more than welcome to come too!

Anyway here is the make n take mini bon bons I taught. This tutorial is available here Its a scorpal tutorial  by Kitty Franken.

I have used Pink flamingo DSP and the now retired Ski Slope (just to show that you can do these for Christmas)

I am doing these as little gifts for my tween/teenage daughters friends for Christmas.

I have used the Something Sweet stamp set to stamp the eyes and the mouth. (aka the Jellybean and gumball) and then used my Boho blossom punch to punch out the eyes. The other bon bon is using the I Heart hearts set and the For Everything set (bird and bracket). The whole bon bon takes less than 5 minutes from go to wo..so its a great party favour or christmas decoration (or advent) for the tree or a little treat for the kindy kids?

Hello Razzle Dazzle!

The Razzle Dazzle stamp set is just gorgeous and teamed up with the rubons is a winner in my books! Ive used it around the edges and then daubered around the edges too. The Hello is out of the Hello Again stamp set (summer mini) and the large circle is the 1 3/4 circle punch out of the new mini. The Dots and Designs rubons are so easy to use..my little tips on rubons are as follows.

1. cut out the image using scissors.

2. take the backing off and apply to cardstock/paper etc.

3. rub over with the popsicle stick while holding the rubon plastic in place with your finger.

4. Flick the edges of the plastic. This will release any part of the rubon that is still not quite rubbed on yet. You can also see then if you need to re rub the rubon in parts.

5. when you are sure all of the rubon is transferred, lift the plastic off and smooth your image with your finger.

6. if there are any oopsies then either draw in with a marker the oops or remove the rubon with a glue eraser.

Store your rubons out of the sunlight and away from heat. Rubons are best used within several months as they do deterioate over time.

The base of the card is Choc chip. I forgot to take a photo of the inside which has a rubon from dots and designs too.

The petals here were made using the 5 petal flower punch and cutting the petals off.  I squished the ends to make it more 3D.

I just had my Whakatane Summer mini catalogue launch tonight ..complete with bubbles and strawberries (I am so lucky living here in Whakatane as the orchards and berry farms are just 5 mins away). We had a wonderful time making a couple of projects. One I will show you on Sunday(after a team training)

Have a good weekend. Milking all weekend so think of me at 4am tomorrow morning?