Crafting for Christmas 2010, lets begin again......

mary-op

poppy - good to see you and thanks for the list. Good reminder.

Converted two index boxes Id got into one for cards I'd made -indexed by month and I did one for recipes for foster daughter.....did that just as an idex file, alphabetical. Not sure what to do about it now as just found out she's got problems with gluten and other dietry issues so might end up giving it to sons girlfriend maybe.

princesspoppypop

Hi Mary, its good to be back!

mustangsal

AJFan if you get some cheap spray on primer that should stop the paint soaking in too much, regardless what type you use, or even if you have some pva glue on hand that would do the trick, just to seal the wood before you paint. Sharpie pens will write on almost anything. Certainly emulsion, not tried them on acrylic yet though.

she_grinch

skintbint wrote: »

just incase missed on another thread Argos have packs of 5 tea towels in retro design for £1.49 (linen type rather than terry towelling) , useful for the material
10things to do with a tea towel
1. for making cakes with for the kitchen- include brush, handcream,rubber gloves and there's a lovely parcel,
2. peg bags,
3.carrier bag holders,
4.nice thick material for door stops,
5.retro teddies,
6.teacosy,
7. tote bag
ok i'm stuck at 7 but i'm sure others will have lots of ideas - ordered 3 packs think i may have to order more after doing this list!

Here are 10 I thought of:
1 draw string bags
2 basic half apron
3 toddlers full apron
4 mini skirt
5 cushions
6 basic rag doll body
7 napkins
8 crayon rolls
9 fabric bricks (for babies)
10 fly swatter! (twisted and packaged in cellophane with label!) great joke present:)

susan42

hi newbies, welcome back, welcome and hiya, its a bit quiet on at moment, i think people getting summer holidays out of the way.

Poppy thank you for the list, just what i needed to get organised...

I just spent 4 days trying to cut a 3d box so hopefully my crafting skills can come back now.....get those present made

mary-op

shegrinch -

10 fly swatter! (twisted and packaged in cellophane with label!)

Love that idea...........goes well with my cobweb chaser..........got to do two more of them this year.............lol

Spent the morning re-vamping some notebooks I'd had bought me ages ago...........ribbon, flowers and they're sorted. Do for garden journals, daily journals and stuff like that, got 6 done altogether including 'little black book' for teenage grandson...........lol
Must stop doing notebooks and shopping lists now otherwise folk will be inundated with them.........lol

elysia2003

Thankyou Princesspoppypop and She-grinch for the lists. They will come in most useful, when I get a bit more in the Christmas mood.

princesspoppypop

susan42 wrote: »

hi newbies, welcome back, welcome and hiya, its a bit quiet on at moment, i think people getting summer holidays out of the way.

Poppy thank you for the list, just what i needed to get organised...

I just spent 4 days trying to cut a 3d box so hopefully my crafting skills can come back now.....get those present made

Have you considered a score board for box making?
I have the Martha Stewart one and its fab. I can whip up boxes in no time!
I also have the Glitter Girls Illusion Board which you can use to create flatter boxes for cards.

susan42

I won a silhouette machine (like a craft robo) poppy and have spent 4 days designing a box and getting the machine to cut it for me.....you can buy the files for less than a £1 but the boxes were too small for what I wanted, so I designed my own using 2 sheets of A4 card. Thats why it took so long.

I had not used the software before and had to learn how to use software before, cutting, so I had bits of A4 paper everywhere with drawings to scale on and then was trying to duplicate in the software, it was a challenge but now I can cut anysize box to suit my needs.

I also made a card in the shape of an house yesterday , I blogged it and that was great, I saved the design and can now cut as many as I want without scissors.
I suppose the posibilities are endless but I`m a complete novice lol xx

And I`ve got the hoogie board. But this machine is ace just takes abit of getting used to...

NorthLondonChick

Hi Everyone

I've been a long term lurker of this site and this thread but thot I'd finally pluck up the courage to say hello. :wave:

A few years ago money was v v tight due to me buying my first studio flat (an uninhabitable repossession!) and mistakenly thinking I had finally saved up enough money for my one week, once-in-a-lifetime holiday volunteering at an elephant orphange in Thailand. I literally had no money whatsoever left & cut back wherever possible - even dropping down to a teeny, weeny size zero (now I know Posh Spice's secret - she's actually just too skint to buy food! )

Anyway, luckily for me I dont have any children and only had to buy Xmas Presents for my immediate family and 2 friends and their kids. I warned everyone I was skint and we all agreed to cut back. I thot I'd list what I made that year anyway incase it helps someone else who is in a bit of a pickle.

Mum - Inspirational Hamper (incense sticks from thailand, triple piccie frame with piccie of me riding elephant in the forest, on elephants back with scrubbing brush washing it in a lake and piccie of a budda near the elephant orphange, tiny canvas bag filled with rolled up tubes of paper I'd printed inspirational quotes on which mum was to pull out at random everyday to read)

Dad - Home-made coconut ice wrapped up in part of a disposable xmas plastic tablecloth.

Bro - Home-made peppermint creams wrapped up in part of a disposable xmas plastic tablecloth.

Sis and BIL - HM "Host your own murder mystery evening" (invites, plot etc all printed in a folder for them) and something else which I cant remember!

Nephew - Something from £land!

Friend 1 & 2 - Different Murder Mystery Eve Folder, vinyl recored bowl with the record cover laminated into coasters, flannel log

Friend 1's 8 yr old girl - HSM3 goody bag (collected tokens from newspaper we get free at work), HSM3 mug filled with £land choco sweets and covered with more of the disposable tablecloth!

Friend 2's 8 and 6 yr old boys - Xmas mugs filled with £land sweets and covered with tablecloth, USB key (more collected tokens!) and filled with free kids stuff like mask templates, crafts, colouring sheets, links to online games etc (bit crap but I was desperate!)

Friend 2's 2 yr old and newborn - £land again!

The tablecloth I keep mentioning was one of those massive plastic type ones that was wipe clean and I got it from Home Store for about 99p. It was so handy and got used for loads of stuff! Mum absolutely loved her hamper and now has wee bits of paper all over the house with the quotes on them (the ones she says are "too nice to put away again!"). Dad LOVED his HM food and the feedback from friends were that the kids were v impressed with their sweetie filled mugs.

Everything cost about £20 and I paid for it by saving my £2 travel money and walking the 9.3 miles home from work instead. I could only manage this a max of 3 times a week as it was pretty tiring walking for 3.5 hrs after a day at work but luckily I only had to do this for a couple of weeks!

Thankfully things werent quite as tight last year so although I still HM some stuff, I could give slightly better gifts to people!

So just wanted to say a big thanks for all the ideas on here! Even tho I lurked and didnt say anything, it was nice to feel like I had the support of others in the same boat!

Apologies if I've posted this in the wrong thread - feel free to move it if it should be somewhere more appropriate!

Hazel x