Latest Bag Charms

With lots of orders for these charms I had to make a start

So last night while sat watching - erm listening - to the television I made a start and once I got going I was well away....

This is a picture of the 5 I have finished so far

The red ones were part done when I first had a try so I just rejigged them and added more charms and think they are ideal now...

The green one was also started so I added lots more beads and charms and still love the colour of this one

The purple and the black & white were brand new creations made with people in mind - and again I am really pleased with the finished charm.

A few people have actually seen them today and commented on just how good they were not too mention excellent value for money

Every bag charm I make will have a breast cancer ribbon charm attached somewhere as that is a charity close to every ones heart I think....

Its down to you now - tell me your thoughts - and be as honest as you wish - I can take constructive criticism and I welcome any ideas/comments/thoughts you may have!!!

Thank you for looking

Can you help please?

Hello

As you know I started to make handbag charms and sure enough, I was hooked!!!

After people saw them on here as well as in their hands I started getting orders for them

All money from the sales will go to charity except the first £1 which will go to replace some of the items used

So to the help - please will you look around and see if you have any beads or charms hanging around - even if its just the odd one or two - or if you spot any while passing second hand shops - would you pick them up and let me know - I will happily buy from you and cover the postage costs

My email address is angmacw@googlemail.com

Thank you in advance

Had to share this

While searching the internet for something and nothing - or maybe that should be something for NOTHING I came across a fab blog

It has recipes to make your mouth water - and all sorts of great patterns

I just love the FREEBIES link - its at the top of the page

There you can get knitting, crochet and sewing patterns for all things funky

Like a slice of chocolate cake, peas in a pod, pizza, a kiwi bird to name a few

Here is the link - do try find a minute or two to browse....

http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/

The Bakery Shoppe

Welcome to today's card which is called The Bakery Shoppe

It was bought from www.craftuprint.com and it is by one of my favorite talented designers Karen Briggs

The kit number is 205151_68 should you be interested.

So back to the card and how I made it...

The kit was printed onto matt photo papers, there are 5 sheets in all - the shop front which has some of the decoupage, shop back, shop inside which has the remaining decoupage and the 2 pieces for the envelope

Its important to read the instructions and follow them or you will do as I did the first time I made up one of these shop cards because instinct told me how to do it - and in fact I messed up and had to reprint it all!!!! A lesson learnt for me.

I started by cutting out all the pieces and added a piece of acetate to the window, there are 2 shelves which are decoupaged to go on the back inside sheet and then a decoupage panel that has tabs on the bottom which slip and fix into slots on the inner sheet.

Once I had the tabs secured in place I decorated the cakes and buns using glossy accents on the cherries and strawberries, pearlidoodles in pink, blue and lilac on the cupcakes and glamour dust in random places for a bit of shine!!!

Once everything was dry I set to work on making up the card - so taking the shop back I scored on the 3 marked lines as instructed and the same 3 lines on the inner sheet, the shop front only has one score which is where the double sided tape is placed to fix the panel in place.

Laying the inner panel on top of the back panel it all lines up perfectly. at this stage I added a strip of double sided tape under the top edge of the inner panel to keep it in place once I moved the card about.

As in the instructions, the next step is to attach the shop front and shop back lining up the shaped roof, I used double sided tape which I removed the backing and rubbed my glue stick over just in case I didn't get lined up correctly and needed to try again.

Once I was happy they were lined up I smoothed them together making the double sided tape bond.

To the bottom of the card I used DST to attach the inner sheet to the shop back then the DST panel on the shop front was attached to shop inner.

The little boy and his dog were decoupaged and had glossy accents on the pocket of the trousers as well as the dogs eye and nose - this was then attached to the lower left of the card to show them peeping through the window longingly!!!

This is how the card looks from the side - it folds flat for posting and easily pops back into shape when opened up.

You can print your verse direct to the shop back using something like Picasa but I decided I wanted to mat my verse to contrasting card stock so printed onto normal paper, cut it with fancy edged cutter then matted and fixed in place with double sided tape!

The black panel in the photo on the card back is where I have cut it as I had written my message before I took the photograph, and as it was to hand to a friend this week it didn't seem right to share that info with you all!!!

I do hope I didn't over complicate the way I made this card - if you get the chance, please do have a go at this type as they are easy but look great when done!!!

Thank you for looking and see you again soon I hope.....

Hand Bag Charms

I thought I would share with you a few of the hand bag charms I made yesterday

This is a brand new craft to me - I have dabbled with Pandora type bracelets and lamp work bracelets

When at the Summer Crafting event last weekend I bought lots of new and exciting charms, chains, bracelets and some findings (that's the name for head pins, eye pins, broach backs, ear-rings etc) and some basic tools

Added to that lot I went online and bought extras I read about needing to complete the handbag charms

I have a nice collection of hand bags now and would love a charm per bag but some of them cost between £10 & £20 each and really they are not worth that much...

So I thought - I can do that!!!

But can I?

Here are some of my first attempts....what do you think???

The first red attempt - it was a longish charm - the picture shows it closed as it would hang, it has a selection of charms and beads of different shapes and sizes that contrast well together

And then this shows the charm opened up so you can see the details a little clearer....despite it looking chunky it is light enough to not notice its there!!

The next one again shows it closed - I loved making this one as I love working with anything green, I find it so calming....

Then with it opened up....I used a hat charm near the attaching keyring and a pretty sandal charm at the bottom!!!

And lastly the short red one....which was actually trimmed from the top red once I saw just how long I had actually made it - so added other bits and think it worked well - doesn't  it?

I know this one really does look chunky but that was what I was hoping to achieve!!

Personally I love them all - I did do another one which was a shabby chic type one as it was all recycled beads, charms, coins and chains but I forgot to get a piccie!!!

Next time....

Sun Bonnet Sue

I have put this card together as a project for a card class

Its been so long since I last did any Iris Folding - in fact I lost most of my patterns when my PC packed up last year and never gave a thought to tracking them down again until today

So I headed over to www.circleofcrafters.com who offer lots of free to use patterns as well as easy to follow step by step instructions and in many cases there are completed projects which can be a huge help!!

So please meet Sun Bonnet Sue - Angie Style!!!

I traced around the outline, flipped the tracing paper over and retraced the design direct to my card stock - this was an A5 piece of thin off white card stock then cut out the aperture.

Turning the A5 card over I stuck it with low tack tape over the chart so I could follow the number fold lines...

The pattern showed I needed 3 colours so I went for light weight  pearlescent paper in blue, green and purple with a piece of silver holographic card for the eye.

For anyone not familiar with iris folding, its is simply a case of take a 3cm strip of paper, fold with a sharp fold and then lay the fold again the printed line of the chart in number order - so start at 1 and work through to the last number - there is a chart to help with colours IE col 1 - do number 1, 4, 7, 10 etc then col 2 - 2, 5, 8, 11 etc and finally col 3 -  3, 6, 9, 12 and so on....its easy once shown I have to admit

I laid the 1st colour strip across the fold line number 1 and tore it so it overlapped the edges slightly and held in place with a small piece of DST - continued this way until I was only left with the eye - I placed a 3.5 cm square piece of silver holographic card over this and secured firmly.

I removed the low tack tape and turned the card front over to admire my work!!!

The arm is cut in one piece in any colour you chose, so I went along with the blue which was rested between the purple and green so really stood out.

Next I took a sheet of navy blue A4 card and folded to create my A5 card blank, used a Martha Stewart Cherish corner punch on all corners then used a fancy edge blade in the Woodware trimmer to cut the 4 sides on my iris folded card stock.

Thin double sided sticky pads were stuck to the back of my iris folded panel and secured centrally on the navy card blank.

To take the plainness off the white card I used 4 silver peel off corners and then matted a "With Love" sentiment onto a piece of dark red pearl paper and added on an angle to the top left corner.

I chose 2 paper flowers on stems which I folded in half then covered with 6mm white satin ribbon and attached to the card under Sun Bonnet Sue's arm

How pretty is that!!!!

Boxed Wedding Card

Today I am showing off a stunning wedding card

The card itself was actually made by my friend KATIE using her Grand Calibur machine with Go Kreate cutting dies
 (Sorry I have mis-informed you, this was done using the GRAND NESTABILITIES- thanks for correcting me Katie)

Katie has these easel cards down to a fine art now - which is just as well as I needed a card and was bogged down with other orders.

So the base card was given to me all put together - that is the white card and pink patterned paper pages including the verse and a stopper, with a pretty pink ribbon down the centre spine

All that was left for me to do now was organise the flowers!

As the wedding is on Pink & White I used flowers in both colours

I just couldn't decide whether I should show the flower stalks or remove them altogether - decisions decisions!!!

From nowhere it came to me to actually bind white satin ribbon around the doubled up stalks which made it resemble a wedding bouquet, and I added another piece of the same ribbon with two tails just hanging.

In my ribbon box I found some pull bow ribbon which luckily was in a pink iridescent shade so I made the loopy bow and attached to the top of the pink ribbon spine and left the 2 tails dangling to the bottom of the card

Soft white tissue paper was rolled at the top and bottom of the box to create a frame for the card - I think it worked well - don't you?

The card has been safely delivered to the bride to be ready for her big day on Friday 22n July

Many many thanks to Katie for saving the day yet again!!!!