Starbook tutorial and notebox link...

Ive made a selection of these little notelet boxes for the Christmas fair - to see the tutorial click on this link - Notebox simple A4 folded - or go to the column on the right hand side of my blog for lots of other tutorials too :)

Here is a quick simple run down of how to make the star albums that i made LOTS of the other day - its easier to cut all your pieces at one, glue all the sections together and then finish them all off at once :)
First off cut 1 x 8 1/4x4 piece of card which is the outside of your album... 6 pieces of 8x4 card and 6 pieces of 7 3/4x4 patterned paper (you can do 6 different patterns for inside, all the same, or 3 of 2 different pieces - depends what kind of decoration you are using inside i suppose)...
Fold all of the pieces in half and put double sided sticky down both of the 4 inch sides of the patterned paper. Press these agains the edges of your 8x4 pieces of cardstock. You will notice a little gap betweek the 2 - thats intentional.
Continue doing this with all pieces until you have 6 that look like below...
Pop a strip of double sided tape down the back of the white cardstock at the edge again and press one of the other sections against it - similar to what you just did with the patterned paper and cardstock...
Do this until all 6 pieces for a star... (i have only used 3 for demo purposes so you can see the gaps - yours will look much larger and tighter than this once fastened)...
Pop another strip of double sided tape at either end of your cover and place these at the ends of both of the pages you have left - you should only have 2 white pages that are facing you that dont have their ends fastened, this is where it goes. This creates what looks like a huge stretched out star - pull it all in together and it will resemble below.
Now you need to cut 7 long strips of either ribbon, threads, cotton etc to bind your album. Fasten a knot in them all at the top and then each strand gets tucked between the paper and card of each star joint. The last strip sits down the outside spine...
Pull tight and fasten in a knot at the bottom of your album. this will secure all the pages...
Ribbon can be fastened around the outside of the album to form a closure before decoration if you wish. Decorate the inside with photo matts and embellishments ready for that special little brag book you can carry everywhere :)
Any questions please give me a yell - ive had a nightmare today with broadband so ive quickly put this tutorial up and will no doubt reread and wonder what the heck ive made!! LOL ;)

Flutter Butter...

This is one range I absolutely adore! Its so versatile as its quite girlie but looks fab on boys pages too! We had to do a focus on this range yesterday at the Bo Bunny blog and i knew the perfect project!I found this wooden trinket box, its about 8x8 inches and the mirror flips up etc. It was 99p and plain blank undecorated wood - how ideal is that for a crafter! lolGo check out the rest of the projects and be sure to click on the banner at the top to see todays project from Juliana - my jaw hit the floor, so darn cute!! :)

Smaller Jar muffin mix...

I have a few of these decorative jars left so have worked out measurements so that i can still make the ingredients in a jar presents.
The large jar is a 200g Nescafe coffee jar, the smaller one is 150ml.This muffin mix is already premixed and only needs water adding so doesnt need layering with all the seperate ingredients.
The way to work out what ratio of mix to water is needed you will need to work out how much fits in the jar - pop the empty jar on the scales and set the dial to zero.After the muffin mix was added it worked out that there was 1/4lb so you need to scale down the water to add according to the mix list on the back of the pack. You should also write on the label how many this will make - ie 2 LARGE muffins, 4 cupcake size muffins or 8/12 mini muffins (sweet cases) Sometimes i find the smaller they are the nicer they are - obviously change cooking times accordingly too. :)Fill the lid with optional sweets to top the cakes or with the little sweet cases etc. Pop the ribbon around, fastening on the instruction label and voila another little hamper pressie :)

Bo Bunny Winner is...........

The winner of the Bo Bunny box of goodies i offered last week is....

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

61

Timestamp: 2009-10-25 18:02:01 UTC

Kim M said...

I am lovin the Love Bandit, it is my fav from the three, the color combinations are just fabulous!

20 October 2009 05:34

Congratulations Kim!!! Please email me your postal address to debbie@countryheartandhome.com and i will get your goodies out to you asap :)

Thanks for taking part everyone and watch out for the next giveaway :)

9 rolls of double sided tape!! Yes 9 rolls!!

**Winner of the Bo Bunny competition 2 posts down will be announced on Sunday - get your comments in if you want a chance to win some fab Bo Bunny goodies!**

The title of todays post relates to how many rolls of tape i have gone through in 1 week!! How scary is that!! I think the scariest is the fact im almost out of tape - its one thing thats essential so i dont know if i could cope without it - im thinking a trip to the shop is on the cards for tomorrow!! (hehe on the cards - i just reread what i wrote and giggled which made me realise im spending too much time with sick kids!!) ;)

Ben is back to school and Ethan is slightly on the mend - his temp comes down when the Calpol kicks in then shoots back up a couple of hours later. He isnt sick of anything so we have been told just to keep an eye on him so not really much we can do for the poor kiddo!

Ok...on to something altogether more serious now. Todays subject over at Bo Bunny is breast cancer. We have all created cards to highlight this often tragic illness and hope that one day they will find a cure....until then, we need to pray and support and do what we can to make sure we know our own bodies - things are best dealt with early so remember to check them girls!

Heres a sneek of my first layout in over a month - i just cant stand up when i create anymore and since my layout mojo disappears as soon as i sit down i have resorted to making projects the last few weeks. Well today i got the idea to use one of the photos i just had developed and i think my mojo is on the return......now i just need to learn how stand up without feeling sick !! LOL

Pumpkins .............

At first i wasnt sure what to do with this baseball book - my boys dont play baseball and it was a funny shape to turn into something else sporty. Thats when the pumpkin came to be...I covered the album in bazzill orange cardstock and cut some chunks out to resemble carved teeth, i think hes kinda cute! Check out A Daily Inspiration blog for more details and product list :)

In Tesco today they had masses of pumpkins and i couldnt pass them by one more time so 2 kinda fell into my trolley! The boys had so much fun scooping out the insides and popping out those teeth! Ethan and Scott with their creation - Ethan isnt 100% better yet and has slept most of today!Jacob with his and Bens creation - i did take a picture of them both with My PumpkinHead but Ben said he looked ill and didnt want it on my blog! Hes been off poorly the last 3 days but seems better tonight thankfully!) (We have a buddy system so theres always an older brother teamed with a younger one - this works for games etc too - needless to say neither of the little ones touched the knives!) Eek!

Ooooh loads of goodies!!!

*remember to check the post below this for the Bo Bunny competition*

Im such a lucky girl today!! :) Postman brought me my prize parcel from Paper Crafts Magazine (Gallery Idol top 20, top 15 and top 10)....how gorgeous is all this!! Thanks so much Kelly for the note and will definately be trying again next year, it was so much fun!! Congrats girls xxx

Also a huge thanks to Pencil Lines for chosing me as gallery winner last month, my gorgeous pressie pack arrived from My Little Shoebox - cant wait to use these!! Thanks again so much xxx

As im having to take it easy right now im sitting on the sofa with a little production line going....my craft fair goods have taken on a life of their own. I dont even have any fairs booked yet since the one i had booked cancelled! LOL I made loads of the little star books and masses of cards with the paper offcuts from said star books! :D Waste not want not! ;)

Scavenger Hunt with the new Bo Bunny releases!!

Go check out the Bo Bunny blog sometime this morning and you will be sent on a scavenger hunt to all the designers blogs. Answer simple questions, post your answers on the Bo Bunny blog and you could win one of the three new lines!!!
Check out the new ranges of paper we are releasing ....- arent they gorgeous and reason enough to get creating and visiting!! :)
Plus as a thank you for visiting my blog, simply leave a comment below telling me which is your favourite new release and you could win a fabulous goody bag full of Bo Bunny goodness!! :) *a little incentive.....theres a shaped album, stamps......lots more goodies too*

Christmas in October.......

No i dont mean the half eaten box of roses stashed under the table, or the fact the boys have just had milk and cookies before bed!
I mean over on the Bo Bunny blog - check it out - I am so excited to be amongst all those fab girlies! Have you seen what they made!!?!
I bought this album to use as part of my meditation/relaxation time - i was going to take time to write down some positive thoughts and spend time just jotting down things that i believe.........well what happened?? CHRISTMAS THATS WHAT!! lol
Just mention the word and im in overdrive - if i could get the tree out now i probably would! ;)I covered the book in the new St Nick range and used a mass of embellishments and ribbons from Bo bunny too :) Its all ready just to add journalling and pics of the festive season in our home :)

On another note, THANK YOU to Kerry over at Blueberry Heart! I sent her a message saying how much i loved the apple in the title on her blog and she found some on ebay, i ordered them and they arrived yesterday - absolutely stunning and a real bargain (and also from a shop where we visit for coffee when we go carboot-ing on a Sunday!! How much of a coincidence is that!!) :D

Another quick easy project...

Why not adapt this for Christmas pressies and use some of the gorgeous scented cranberry spice candles around. I got these candles from Ikea and it was only £3 or so for a pack of 6, the tin was an old circular biscuit tin (empty of course), they have these in Poundland filled with those chocolate cigar wafers that go in ice cream and the candles fit inside perfectly... use some papers and ribbons you already have at home and you have a fab handmade one off pressie for under £5! :)Check out A Daily Inspiration for more ideas :)

Craft fair time again....

Its coming up to that time of year with the craft fairs and although i booked one it fell through and to be honest i wasnt sure if i was going to do any again. Mum has said if i want to make some goodies she would sell them for me though so im thinking that might be the way to go :) Ive been looking through all the pics from last years fairs and its really got me in the mood to do it again - all those pretties!! :D :D

Who lives in a house like this?

lol I WOULD!! :DCovered in Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses and so cute i can imagine moving shabby chic furniture around and having scented candles (not lighting them though - do you think im that silly - its a paper house for goodness sakes!) ;) lol ok so maybe i might try it once! lol

Check out A Daily Inspiration for lots more work from a talented bunch of ladies :)

Princess mirror...

2nd post today :)

I made this little mirror to go in my nieces Christmas hamper....99p mirror from ikea, 1 sheet of patterned paper, flowers, brads and gems i already had in :)First cover the mirror with double sided tape (this means its easier to take apart later and redo when she outgrows the pink and flowery stage)...place paper over the top and cut around the edges...doesnt matter if its not straight...using a nail file or some sandpaper smooth out the edges...cut out the middle section, file and ink.....ink the outer edges...fasten ribbon so the bow is on the left hand side...
Decorate the right hand side with flowers (layer and bulk them up with different colours and different brads)...add glitter or gems or something to make it sparkle :DAnd yes i know the mirror needs a good clean - it didnt show up until i took the pics!! EEK! lol