Merry Christmas Card

A warm hello to everybody, thank you for visiting my blog today.  I trust all my American friends and visitors have had an awesome Thanksgiving!  Blessings to all my browsers.

I have been busy working on my orders for Christmas Albums and have thus not entered any of my regular challenges for the past two weeks and I must share that have had some withdrawal symptoms "grin".  

So today I want to share a card I made last night to enter 2 of my most favourite challenges.  It has a distinct Christmas theme and will accompany a Christmas gift swap I am involved in; I hope you like it...

The brown and white striped paper is by My Minds Eye Peace sheet.  The red circled and the top layered paper is by Kaiser Craft and was a freebie with a magazine.  The post card, Christmas stamps and Merry Christmas sentiment is from the Place In Time Collection by Graphic45.  I used 2 crochet flowers, button by Prima while the heart shaped tag and flower die cut were gifts from a friend.The glittered heart, bling, twine, lace and ribbon from my stash.  Quick and easy!

At The Shabby Tea Room the current challenge is "tic tac toe' and you have to choose which items you are featuring in your project from one particular row - I have chosen 'buttons, sentiment and glitter'.  If you want to enter the challenge just click on their name above to be taken directly to the details on their website.

At the The Ribbon Reel the current challenge is 'crochet' - see the image below.  I love this challenge because it can be interpreted any way you choose. Just click on their highlighted name above to be taken directly to the challenge details on their blog.

I hope I have inspired you all enter the above challenges; they are awesome and so are their challenges.  Enjoy you stay and I hope to see you soon...

Fairy Tag

Hello blog visitors, hope you are all having a fabulous weekend; I know I am. Saturdays are my favourite crafting days and I most definitely find myself in a tag mood this weekend!!

Over at The Shabby Tea Room this week they have a "hey pumpkin" challenge.  The colours of the challenge is awesome..................take a look at this inspirational image.....isn't she just gorgeous??!!

I made what I call my "angel tag" and I have a specific friend whom I intend gifting it to; she was one of the first friends I made here in Dubai; she is from Jordan and she totally loves angels.  So without further ado..........here is my tag...........

This tag was made from bits and bobs.  I used a ranger tag and covered it with paper scraps.  A script stamp using black soot and Victorian velvet distress ink...I fussy cut the butterflies that came with the image, applied glossy accents, some leftover bling and a small square of net behind the fairy image.  A Tim Holtz pin, a gold lock and key and awesome burnt orange fibre wool.

The angel is an image I downloaded off the Internet; used glossy accents to highlight her bodice and the rose in her hair.  The wings are from a last year Xmas flower - used silver glitter on the borders and adhered to the back of the image  Random feathers, sticks and flowers completed the look.

Here the tiny gold key tied to the end of the fibres is clearly visible.  Used a different type of netting to create a V to insert a poem and adhered artificial Xmas leaf bits to secure the opening for the poem insert.  

The insert is a fairy poem.  Left over laces decorate the edge of the tag and another different type of dotty lace dangling down completes the look

Back of the tag and poem insert on the right

No poem insert Tag only!

Poem insert - found the poem on the Internet, cut it to size, inked the edges and adhered to...

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..Prima packaging.

A final look at the front of the tag...

...the back of the tag with poem insert secure in the V shaped netting...

I hope you like my tag and mostly I hope my friend will like it too!!

Thanks for stopping by.........

Vintage Charm Altered Bottle

Hi there crafty people, hope all is well your side??!!  With this blog post I am sharing my latest project...an altered (olive oil) bottle.  I must confess I bought this particular brand of alive oil just for the bottle "blush" and could hardly wait to start altering it.  One of my favourite things to alter are jars and bottles!

Although this bottle will eventually find a home in the USA for an awesome lady I have befriended, I am in the interim submitting it to the The Shabby Tea Room to enter their current challenge # 137 "vintage charm".  Just click on their name above and you will be taken directly to their challenge link...

The inspirational image...

Hope you enjoy it...

I covered the bottle with  burlap, different netting and lace.

The pearl'charm' above is from a piece of jewelry my great grandmother gifted to me - it was perfect for this altered bottle.

A vintage label with flower soft.  A slight tear in the label to create more of an effect.

The two small crochet flowers was part of a set that included a larger one that I used for the bottom of the bottle - see the image below...

I made the pink flower myself - just added a peal center.

Lots of different types of lace

Pink and blue flowers from IAR

Pearl string and centers...

Love love this bottle; planning on making two more of different sizes as part of my gift.

Hope you enjoy, so glad you stopped by...........please leave a comment...

Rustic Shabby Card

Hey crafters, my project  today is a card with a tag and I am entering it in The Shabby Tea Room week # 136 "rustic elegance" challenge and in The Ribbon Reel # 39 challenge "shabby naturals" challenge.  If you are curious about their website just click on their names above to go directly to the challenge.  Awesome websites people and worth the effort!

I cut the checkered bag to the desired size using decorative scissors - the twine used in the tag peeps out from the pocket as the photograph below indicates...

The Prima burlap flower was got glued onto the center part of the vintage doily - I cut out that part and the tiny roses look so pretty in the center. 

I used canvas ribbon and lace from my stash  The leaves are also old stash which I have had for a long time - they were initially used for wedding favours I had made.

Its barely visible but I used white Adirondack paint dabber on the buttons to give it that shabby look and used ivory twine for the crisscross centers.  

More views...

 The tag is quite simple to make - used the paint dabbers to shabby chic it and used the same vintage paper on the center.  

 The flowers in the center of the Jolees Boutique stickers is scented potpourri - love it!

 More views...

Products Used

brown checkered paper bag, brown cardstock

Vintage white embossed paper

Burlap, canvas ribbon, vintage crochet doily

Prima canvas flower, WOC tiny roses

Lace, WOC skeleton leaf, various leaves

Maya Road buttons and kraft tag

Jolees Boutique stickers, potpourri

Adirondack white paint dabber

Altered Shabby Chic Bottle

I am very passionate about recycling and reusing and it has resulted in me altering anything that I would normally throw away. When there are occasions to celebrate my gifts will more than likely be something that I altered.

At The Shabby Tea Room this week the challenge is Beautiful Romance using pink, green, white and lace.  I just recently discovered their challenge blog and I am totally in love with them.  As you all know I love shabby chic and seek any opportunity to create something in that theme. Click on their name above and browse their blog; its awesome!

Here is their inspirational image...

My entry for their week # 135 challenge is an altered bottle:

Inside the bottle is a romantic poem printed on beautiful paper!

 These 4 images are the different sides of the bottle

In the image below you can see the poem inside amongst rose petals and a string of pearls.

 I used many strips of lace for the neck of the bottle and hot glued a flower on the top of the cork.

I really loved how this bottle turned out and I plan to gift it to a dear friend of mine for her birthday!

Thanks for stopping by...