Christmas Crafting Ideas by Flyingpig - Its Good To Share.

craftysarah

Wow SheGrinch, loving the Hello Kitty felt shapes! Did you make them? My DS would love them!!

craftfairies

hello ladies, it has taken me 2 days to catch up, those that have emailed me please bear with me i am so busy at the mo!!

As for gems i use these - http://www.rhinestonesonline.co.uk/ i have used them for years and years and they are great!
They do lovely pearls too

she_grinch

Yes craftysarah I have made them all from felt and the odd sequin and a little embroidery. To buy something like this would be extortionate, so not at all MSE, I have decided to make them with themes to suit my girls.

tattycath

loving all the photos. Please can anyone tell me:
1) do you make your own header cards? if so how?
2) how do you make the giant humbug bags and how do you seal them?
TIA

lee27eh

Hi, can anyone suggest a good place to buy paper/card?
Thanks in advance

mummyslittleboy

tattycath HTH

flyingpig58 wrote: »

OK ..... here it is ..... be prepared for a long post ..... How to make sweetie bag toppers without the aid of punches, label dies etc.

I just hope I've got it in order ...



I think its best to start with the cello bags - get the size you want and make the topper to fit them (much easier that making a topper and then searching for a bag to fit it)




To fit my chosen bag size I have cut a rectangle a little wider than the bags



Find the centre of your rectangle and mark each end .. keep the ruler in position and score from one end to the other with the end of a pair of scissors



When scored fold in half



If you want a fancy shape, hold the topper together and cut both edges off the corners of one side.

Take one of the cut off corners and put it on the opposite side of the topper and use as a template to make sure both sides are exactly the same.



Your topper should look like this now ....



Now for the decorated circle - find two circles one smaller than the other .... I have used the metal top of this small jam pot for the outer circle and the top of the glass jar as the inner circle.

Cut out the circles in two different colours



I've used white and dark blue, then added a some pale blue for sky



Put some little lines using a fine black pen round the edge of both circles. Then add what ever embellishment you fancy. I have used snowman stickers from Accessorize (£1.75 per pack)




And added a few flat backed gems for buttons (wheel of small gems by Anita's about £2.99)



Now to put it all together

Put some lines round you topper to match your decorated circle



Fill your bag with sweets and cut down to size



Open up your topper and put double sided tape on each side






Tape tape off one side, and lay your cello bag on top



Bring the other side of the topper down, press down and seal...... nearly finished .....



Stick you decorated circle in position, write your greeting and add a few smakk stickers/stars etc. and fiddle and twiddle till you are happy.



Thats all there is to it! Phew !!!!

flyingpig58 wrote: »

Hi Cotton wool katie

'twas my humbug box ..... and it is very fortuitous that I had a ready prepared tutorial on my homepage ..... ........ (we bloggers have to be very careful not to infringe any MSE rules and are not allowed to link directly to our blogs) so I'll transfer it to here

It's quite simple to make, no fancy materials needed - just some brown paper, a brown felt pen and double sided tape - plus some humbugs - Martin would be proud!!!!





Cut a piece of light brown paper/light card 27 cm x 18 cm and draw lines with a thick brown felt tip pen - that will give the stripey humbug effect when the box is finished.



Turn the card/paper over and put a line of double sided tape (or glue) along one long and one short edge



With striped side facing up roll the paper/card to make a cylinder



And then flatten the bottom end.(see below)





To complete the carton/bag squeeze it together in the opposite direction to the bottom of the bag (I hope that makes sense) to form a triangular shape.





Now, is the time to fill your bag with humbugs.

When bag is filled, glue the two sides together and hold in place with a few clips until well stuck.



All that’s left to do now is decorate it with a tag or label. I’ve just done a bit of mat and layering, with my own handwriting and sprig of holly.



You could put sweets, toys and a motto/joke and make these in Christmassy colours as an alternative to crackers or as a different sort of goodie bag for children’s parties.

lee27eh

Have you got the shop papermill near you they are really good value for money for there card and paper if not they are online I get there box of card and you can pick what colours you want and it is £4.00 a box instore but £4.99 online must say though it is good quality.

diddly74

mummyslittleboy wrote: »

Have you got the shop papermill near you they are really good value for money for there card and paper if not they are online I get there box of card and you can pick what colours you want and it is £4.00 a box instore but £4.99 online must say though it is good quality.

I just looked online at where the stores are! I have a good mind to email them and ask them what is wrong with the Midlands and why haven't they got any stores there. My nearest one is apparently Salford and Liverpool which are over 51 and 61 miles away respectively! :eek: Thats just TOO far for a bit of card! :mad:

I broke up from work yesterday (I am a student nurse so placement really) and I promised myself that once I did I would get on the case of preparing for Christmas properly. So I hopefully will get my a$$ into gear within the next week, as I also need to dedicate some serious time to flying and cleaning the house out!

Definately in on the challenge.

:A





In fact I have emailed them today at 7:11am asking them why they have no stores in central England and are we unclean??? (actually I didn't ask about our hygiene status lol)

Bitsy_Beans

giftfairies wrote: »

gorgeous pillowcase, and talking of gems, im going through hundreds at the moment, and its costing me a loads. Does anyone know where i can get them at a really good price.I prefer the self adhesive ones. Thanks

If you can't wait from overseas I bought my Anita's Wheel of gems (not self adhesive) from Tesco and they had 3 for 2 on their craft stuff so if you bought 3 wheels it would work out a little cheaper.

jlp76 wrote: »

I wonder if any of you crafters could give me some advice on how to make my stamping look better, it's often uneven in colour or not straight and generally doesn'y look as professional as other people's - I know I should use a ruler too but any tips gratefully received!

Unless you're good at stamping I wouldn't stamp direct onto the actual card. If you can sacrifice a couple of cards to stamp image onto and then cut out and mount you'll probably save yourself time and stress. I do find the clear stamps with the acrylic block FAR easier and you can actually see where you are stamping whereas with the wooden ones you can't. Still 97% of my stamps are wooden ones so that's just the way it goes sometimes
Oh and trial and error and practice, practice, practice

Bubble16 wrote: »

(Bah Humbug containers)

Why do mine not stand up??:(

Can you post a pic and then we can see where it's gone wrong??


Diddly - I want to know why my area doesn't have all the cheapie shops close to me. The nearest Lidl, Wilkinson, B&M, Home Bargains are all a 15 + car journey away. I've just ordered from Papermill - I can't fault their service. My box of card was returned from Parcelforce to them, they rang me to ask if I'd wanted to return it.........erm no Parcelforce never bothered to try and deliver it as I am at home all week :mad::mad: they re-sent it 48 delivery and it's come the next day :j:j

macpep and she grinch - well done on your makes, they are fabulous :T

So does anyone have any tips on how to squeeze in a normal life, working part time, young kids, a husband and the housework alongside crafting :eek: I've done no housework this week and every evening so far has been taken up with making Xmas crafts :eek: I just can't fit it all in.................

cuddles123

Morning

I'm still avidly reading this thread and having a play with crafting stuff,

Can I ask a silly question please?

When you wrap CDM miniatures, are you wrapping like a little parcel and covering the ends, or just putting a sleeve over the foil?
It's the ends I'm having trouble with.

Tamster150

wookeyhole1 wrote: »

hi all, loving all your makes, i will put mine up when i get a minute.

does anyone use felt? i am thinking on making some felt puppets. i popped into my local fabric shop and it is all £6 a metre (im sure it was £3.99 a few weeks ago) is £6 a metre good value or can i get it cheaper?

tia xx

This ebay seller was reccomended to me on another forum although I have not personally used them (yet)
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/THE-FELT-FAIRY