Trendy Trees

Well Good Morning to you all,

It feels like an age since I last blogged, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas?? Ours down south was not white unfortunately :0( but it was lovely, lots of food and family, just like yours, I suspect!

Do you know what?? I have not done a single bit of crafting over the holidays!! I am definitely hoping to get some in today and I have got tonight off work too! yay!

This card today is the last one I made before Christmas, it was made to hold some theatre tickets for MIL and FIL's Christmas gift. I didn't want a Christmas design though as the show (Chicago) is not until February.

The card base is Real Rust, paper is the Merry Moments Christmas one, but I think it is quite neutral? not too christmassey, and the cute little x's and o's are from Sealed with a Kiss-a set I have had for a while but only just used, ooops! yummy old olive striped grosgrain ribbon to finish this quite simple card using the lovely Trendy Trees stamps,

That's it for me for today but I will be back tomorrow (hopefully) if I get a chance to sneak some crafting in ;0)

Have a lovely day,

Hugs Sarah-Jane xxx

Meeerrryyyy Christmaaas Ev-ry-body!!!

Well hopefully you are all sorted now, time to kick back and enjoy all your hard work!

We are going to have a leisurely day prepping for tomorrow so all I have to do is stick it in the oven at its correct time! I will lay the table this afternoon too when dh gets home (early I hope!)

I have one last crimbo card to share with you today, I made these for my lovely SU! sisters (collectively known as Jems) Merry Christmas Ladies x

I have used a classic combo of Kraft card, Black and White Gingham ribbon, white craft ink and the little tree is from Perfect Presents, all finished off with my new toy--a mini stapler! (fab little thing it is and it was a bargain too! lol!) Sentiment is from Occasional Greetings,
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Well, all that is left to say now is
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
to you and yours, sending you love and best wishes at this most wonderful time of year and wishing you all the most wonderful time :0)

I will leave you with a few piccies of my kids in the snow (we had to go to Essex to visit our dear friends on Sunday and they got the chance to play in the snow there as we have had virtually none around here!)

Thank-you all for your support this last year, I have made some lovely friends in this, my first year of blogging and being with SU! so a special hug to you all ;0)

Take Care and enjoy your Christmas xxxxxxx

Sarah-Jane xxxxxxxxxx

It's nearly Christmas!

Good Morning to you,

Well I managed the food shopping yesterday, but boy! was it busy!! And yes I should be at IKEA right now enjoying a lovely cooked (by someone else) brekkie, but it is very cold and icy round here-accidents have closed the motorway, and affected the roads into town :0( whats it like with you? If it is icy please be careful, in fact why not stay in and craft! well, what else is there to do when you can't go out??!!

Right, here is today's card/gift wallet. I made this by tri-scoring a sheet of A4 card. Inside I have cut the third section at an angle to make a pocket, {sorry about the poor piccie, it was taken very late Saturday night} it is holding a clubcard voucher which fit nicely inside.

Card used was Tempting Turquoise with White Craft Ink snowflakes, I also stamped some extra snowflakes then punched them out using 1+1/4" and 1+13/8" punches to add a bit of dimension to a quite plain card, lastly a pop of 1/4" real red ribbon to lift the colour.

That's all for today then, I have my friend coming for lunch (as we couldn't have brekkie!) so must get tidied up a bit, may even have to get dressed! lol!!!

Have a great day, Sarah-Jane xxx

Mini Pizza Gift Boxes

Helloooo,

Well, are you done?? I am neeearly finished, just got about 3 or 4 presents left to wrap and later today we are going to brave the dreaded food shop! eeek! Then that's it, I'll be ready. I have promised the kids I will take them to IKEA for breakfast on Wednesday (they love it, honest!)

Right onto today's project, I am afraid I can't possibly tell you what is in these boxes as the ladies I am giving them to all see my blog on Facebook!

ETA: I am going to enter these into the SWU challenge this week which is Christmas theme! yay!

Well there isn't really too much to say about these except I had made a whole batch of these fan things and decided I would use them on these boxes too ;0) I have made one using the same snowflake as the milk carton because one of the ladies came to my class and already made the fan...

I am trying to use up some of my older stash and the ribbon I have used is just that,

Sentiment is Best Yet the retired hostess set for last years catty, Choc Chip, Old Olive, Very Vanilla and Kraft card was used with the Winters Post snowflake :0) Punches used were Scallop Circle, Oval and Scalloped Oval ((what did I do before these punches were in my drawer??)

Right must dash, back tomorrow with a card I made in a flash to hold some gift vouchers for my friend,

Have a good day, oh and if you go out be careful, especially if you have snow!

Hugs Sarah-Jane xxx

Fancy being a SU! Demo with me?

Hi,

I just thought I would pop on and give you some info on why SU! could be good for you.

As a SU! demo you would get loads of great benefits including:

* great discount on fantastic products,

* the chance to see and purchase selected products before they are launched to the general public,

*SU! can be a great business or just great discount, the choice is yours,

*you would have all the support and help you may need from me :0),

*If you sign up with me during January or February SU! are offering you an extra FREE stamp set of your choice {any value}

*If you sign with me during Jan or Feb I will match the offer from SU!, so that's 2 FREE sets an offer worth up to £315 for just £135!!

If you would like more information or just a chat please email me sarah-janerae@sky.com and I would be more than happy to help

Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing from you soon,

Hugs S.J. xxxx

Dads Birthday

Hello,

Have you got any snow yet?? we had a good flurry yesterday but nothing laid :0( here's hoping soon, but maybe next week as we are going to Essex on Sunday for the day to visit friends and do the Christmas thing, I am so looking forward to it! Anyways, I am going to do the tutorial today for the couple of lovely peeps who asked for the measurements of yesterdays milk carton, I may even get it posted today??

For now though I have a card I made for my dad, it was his birthday on the 10th of Dec but I have been hoping he may have had it before I posted here, but no not yet! I sent it in plenty of time too, but in Spain apparently there has been 2 bank Holidays this last week! I hope that's all it is, delayed, as his birthday present and Christmas presents for him and his partner, Shirley, were all in there!!! eeeek!!

Anyways, I made this one loosely based on the new years card we made at convention, stamps used were New Years Celebration, Occasional Greetings and Yummy, Glossy Accents all over the bottle. Basic Grey Card base with Night of Navy and Bashful Blue card accents.

Well, I hope you like and I really hope it gets to him!!! soon would be nice too (but anytime would do!!)

Hopefully back later,

Keep Warm, Sarah-Jane xxx

Teachers Assistant Presents

Hello,

What a lovely cold and frosty morning! but gee, it's so busy at the moment! what with school plays, Christmas shopping, wrapping, teachers gifts to make blah de blah!!!

Anyways, I hope you are all ready for the end of term?? If not then I'm here to help today!

These are going to be for the teachers assistants.

Now I know lots of people make these but most of the ones I have seen are just too wee for anything useful to fit into them. So I have made these ones using the whole sheet of A4 card for each box. I have filled these each with a 1/4 of a tin of quality street, so a decent size but still economical to fill IYKWIM! You could of course swap the choccies-maybe for some of those mini bottles of smellies? these would be a perfect size ;0)

Right onto the nitty gritty- Card used is Old Olive, stamped with the tree from Loads of Love in the same colour ink, sentiment from the same set in Real Red onto Very Vanilla card with more Real Red card and Ribbon to finish off.

And I used the last of my Christmas tree charms to finish them off, tied on with linen thread which is also tied around the sentiment panel,

I hope you like and if you want me to do a quick tutorial with the measurements for this larger size box please let me know,

Have a lovely rest of the day, I'm off out for lunch with hubby today :0)

Hugs Sarah-Jane xx

HO! HO! HO!

Meeerrrrry Christmas!

Well, not quite, but hey I do have some more Christmas cards to share with you today :0)

I have made a few designs with this fan on as I think it is lovely, and it doesn't use up too much DSP!! this one also has some yummy wide striped Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, mmmm! charm is from my stash from last year,

And this one has a lovely felt snowflake with a snowflake brad on the corner. Now this felt one was off of a top one of the kids had for Christmas last year, (I think it was from Marks?? but don't quote me on that!)

I hope you like,

Thanks for stopping by

Hugs Sarah-Jane xxx

Quick Christmas Makes.

Good Afternoon,
I have a couple of things to share with you today, the first is really quick card, now can't take any credit for this as I have seen lots of these around in blogland :0) It uses the very un-Christmassey set Pocket Silhouettes which meas you can use it all year round, yay! Stamped on whisper white in real red with real red ribbon and a bit of bling with dazzling diamonds,

Next is a variation on the card we made at Christmas card class a few weeks ago, trendied up with some mini staples,

and finally here are the sweet gifts I showed you in the tutorial the other day, these are for my Christmas day table, all ready, how organised am I?? lol! nothing else is done though!!

Right, I must dash got to go into work today for Health and Safety training, booooo!!!

Have a good rest of your day, Hugs S.J. xxx

Happy Birthday Elaine

Hello,

Super Quick post as I'm off to the dentist in a mo :0( not looking forward to it, let me tell you! I have a change from Christmas card today, yay! It was Elaine's birthday yesterday, my SU! sister, Happy Birthday Elaine, I hope you got your card already and had a lovely birthday xxx Anyways, here is the card I made for her,

I roughly drew the wavy line on the card and stamped underneath it with the large flower from One of a Kind stamps set in pale plum the same as the card, I then stamped the set of 3 flowers in Perfect Plum and punched them out using the Boho Blossoms Punch, I also glittered the flowers using a glue pen and Dazzling Diamonds,

another few flowers decorate the inside and the sentiment is from Sincere Salutations,

As you can see I stuck some of the flowers down and raised some on Foam pads for dimension, some lovely white satin ribbon and scallop edge punch finish this one off.

Right, must dash, don't want to be late, thanks for looking,

Hugs Sarah-Jane xxx

Sweetie Holder Tutorial

Good Morning and Welcome to my little tutorial for this Sweet Holder....

I used these on Saturday as gifts for the lovely ladies who attended my Christmas Bags and Tags class, I am also making another 11 for table gifts on Christmas Day in the same colourway, more of that later though.

I have made this tutorial using cream instead of the navy card so it is easier for you to see the score lines in the piccies.

Here we go :0)

To make this sweet holder you will need the following; A4 card, paper trimmer or craft knife, a score board or scoring blade for your trimmer, pencil, ruler, small bags (I used SU! small cello bags, only £2.75 for 50 and perfect size, see page 80), a stapler, strong tape, and of course decoration of your choice,

First thing to do is to mark and cut along the shorter edge at 7 and 14 cm, this will give you 3 holders from 1 piece of card stock.

TIP: If you are stamping to decorate your holders then now is the best time to do this, before you go onto the scoring part ;0)

Next is to score at 1/2 A4, then I take the grove next to it which is the 5"square line and score down this, rotate your card stock and score on the other side again on the 5" line {if you are using a score blade it is about 2.2cm or 7/8" from the centre score line,} this is what it should look like.

TIP: if you are making lots like I am for Christmas you could do the scoring part first and come back and do the cutting after, this way is great for making just 1 or 2.

Next turn your board over to the box side and score on the first line in, rotate card and do the same on the other end, {for trimmers it is approx 1.6cm or 1/2 inch in from the edge,}

Right so that's your scoring done, I have filled my bag, (perfect for 3 celebrations I found!) folded it over and stapled the top, I added strong tape to the top of the card like so, stick the bag to the tape, fold it up together and voila! all that's left to do is seal the top together however you fancy, look HERE for some more ideas (I made these ones for convention)

TIP: If you want, you can also use a little tape on the top left hand fold, to keep it still while you punch or add your tab.

And finally here are mine all stamped up ready to be scored and cut for the table at Christmas,

I hope you liked my tutorial, please do leave me a comment and let me know if you could follow it :0) and if you do have a go (and I really hope you do!) send me a link so I can have a look, I would love to see your creations,

Thanks for visiting, Hugs Sarah-Jane xxx

Sour Cream Containers

Good morning to you,

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. We went into town yesterday to get the last few bits for Christmas. Zoe has wanted her ears pierced for ages now and we have been undecided for a long time, will she look after them, keep them clean, not fiddle with them, cry when she has them done (as she isn't good with pain!!) ??? you know, all the usual worries.... so we finally said O.K. and took her to get them done for her Christmas present yesterday. She was so brave and didn't cry at all! And it has made her so happy and given her a real confidence boost, so I am very pleased we let her have it done :0)

Anyway, onto today's post, my friend who popped in on Halloween asked me to make some sour cream containers for her Christmas table, only 10 though this time, but she wanted all different designs on them,

Now I know the photos are really dark but I did actually take these in the middle of the day last week but it has just been so horrid that they are rubbish, sorry. I have asked Santa for a light box so I can take better photos for you (if I have been a good girl!) in the new year

And here are a couple of them in close up, stamp sets used were Winters Post and Perfect Presents with all the circle punches, Card and Inks in Old Olive, Real Red and Whisper White, all finished off with a good sprinkling of Dazzling Diamonds,

So that's it for me today, I am off to make the tutorial for the gift bag from Fridays post, do come back tomorrow and let me know what you think,

Have a good day, Hugs Sarah-Jane xxx

Bags and Tags Class

Hiya,

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday, but I was sooo busy getting ready for tomorrows class and lots of other bits, that time just ran away with me! Anyways I am (finally)ready to show you what we will be making :0)

First of all we will be making 4 gift tags, As you can see I have gone for a modern colour theme this month with the blue (night of Navy and Brocade Blue) with Whisper White, you could always adapt it though to more traditional reds and greens if you prefer that, Stamp set used is Perfect Presents, Tag punches used to make the second down on the left, you can still get these for FREE !! click on link to find out more...

Snowman soup in a box (as I was so pleased with how the last lot turned out!) Snowflake is from Winters Post, stamped in Craft White ink ((love it!!))

A fabby Gift card holder, which is inspired by a wonderful German Demo called Ilona, {Thanks hun x} I just loved her swap at convention and had to re-create it for this class, (I have actually made 3 now, I will share the other two with you net week,) Stamps are Perfect Presents again,

And finally, as a special thank-you to the ladies coming tomorrow I have made them a little Christmas present, the same as some of the swaps I made for Germany, I will be doing a little tutorial on these next week, so do pop back,

Right that's it for today, Have a lovely weekend,

Hugs, Sarah-Jane xxx

Trendy Trees Christmas

Hiya,
I have a Christmas card to show you today... but not a traditional one! As you can see it is a black and white colour scheme and it uses a set which is not really a Christmas one (Trendy Trees), so you can use it all year round, bonus!!

I used Basic Black and Basic Grey ink pads and some of the lovely new white satin ribbon which I tied with a little Black and White Gingham,

As you can see I added Dazzling Diamonds glitter with the 2 way glue pen for a bit of Christmas Bling :0) It is much prettier IRL but unfortunately it is very grey here today, if it's not chucking it down! So, even after playing the pictures are a bit rubbish today. Sorry.

Finally I finished the bottom of this easel card with some of the fantastic Groom Paper, now they call it paper but it is so thick I think it should be called card! and if you would like a different colour you can buy the white one and brayer it in any colour you want, gently wipe the excess off and the shiny will stay lovely and white, very pretty! I may even show you if anyone would like to see it??

Right, off to do some jobs now, have a nice day

Hugs Sarah-Jane xxx

Su Does Homework!

Hello,
Well thank goodness the rain has stopped and the wind is gone, for now. I am so happy for it to just be cold! lol!

Right, onto how SU! can make homework fun! well, almost.

Here is Zoe with her homework which she had to make-up a fantasy Christmas Cake recipe, and here she is with the front of her recipe book topped with a punched Christmas pudding. All credit to Sarah P for the punch pudding recipe! all details on her blog along with lots of others, she is the queen of Christmas punch art, thanks Sarah :0)

Onto the second piece of home work this weekend which was Zacks, he had to decorate a t-shirt for his Elmers day this Friday. Now, as soon as he said this is what he had to do I knew how to help him make it!! Neil drew the elephant onto the t-shirt and I got out circle circus along with a load of ink pads and said to Zack stamp away, this is what he did....

Well that's it for today, I hope you like my, ooops I mean the kids homework, (lol!)

Back tomorrow,

Hugs Sarah-Jane xx

P.S. I still have 2 spaces left for my Bags and Tags class on Saturday if you want to come along, please email me on sarah-janerae@sky.com for more details.

Medallion Thank-You's

Hello to you all,

I have a set of note cards I made to share with you today, I made these for the lady who hosted the charity ladies day I went to on Friday. It went well and I made a £10 for the charity selling the tree chocs I showed to you which all adds up doesn't it? I also bought a couple of raffle tickets, and guess what?? I won! a lovely thick rug in beautiful browns too, it's lovely, I am saving it though 'till I get my extension done next summer :0) (I will be getting a craft room, YAY!) anyways, onto the gift set...

Now I have to give credit to Monica and Marlene for inspiration for these cards. As you know I love the medallion stamp already but hadn't thought about using it with craft white ink, that is until I saw Monica's note cards. And the lovely black edge is inspired by the Shoe Box Swap we made when we went to Oxford for our Jems weekend. I loved it so decided to re-create it on these, so Thank-You to both you lovely ladies **mwah**

This is the box I made to keep them in, I used a lovely brad from the Hodgepodge Hardware set (1 last share left, see side bar for details on how to get your inky hands on a taster) Sentiment is from Sincere Salutations,

And finally here is the whole set together, I inked up the medallion stamp with Basic Grey ink, stamped it off then stamped it on the corner of the envelope to get the faded look, all supplies SU! and available through me. I hope you like :0)

I'm off to town today with hubby to hit the Christmas present list, back tomorrow, with SU! does home work!!

Hugs Sarah-Jane xx

Christmas Tree Chocs and Canes

Hiya,

This is a scheduled post so hopefully it works ;0)

I should be at a ladies day at around 9.30 this morning, for 4 hours or so, in aid of charity.

I have made the following goodies to sell for the charity.

As you can see I have decorated some north poles and candy canes,

These are Christmas tree chocolates (Elizabeth Shaw mints, why do we only we only eat these at Christmas?? they are yum!) and mini candy canes decorated with card and stamped using the perfect presents stamp set

And finally here is the side view of the fillings :0)

Wish me luck so I can make the charity loads of pennies

Hugs S.J. xxx