clay earrings and gift box

i made these for a very special person at convention

i hope she liked them

they were made by squishing the paper clay into the baroque stamp and colouring in with inks. 

then i covered it with crystal effects

then i made a pretty little gift box for them to go in

cheers ears

o holy night

o holy night

a new stamp set from the 2013 seasonal catalogue

a stamp with loads of words on it

and i like it :>

 have tried and gone with a vintage look with it and combine it with a bit of a chalkboard look as well...

vintage chalkboard...

that works..

right??!!

  

 sparkley glittery leaves made with just plain whisper white and glitter not the glitter card which would also work-i just don't like using it on those small fiddley little dies

 matching tags

some suede flowers and seam binding ribbon

total package of card + gift box + tags

doing it as a christmas class if interested

i have a special deal going if you ahve friends lololol

contact me at clare@crafty-cow.com

cheers ears

teacher thank you gifts

my kids started at a new school this year and after a shakey first week they are loving the new place and have made some fabulous friends and have some neat teachers who 'get' my kids

we got their mid-year reports before the holidays and i was pleased with the comments and effort my kids are putting in. i wanted to say thanks to the teachers by giving them a small gift to show our appreciation of their hard work and how fantastically they have accepted our kids into their classrooms and made them welcome.

i used the tag a bag accessory kit ($13.95) and some kraft gift boxes (4 for $4.95)as decoration. 

inside were 6 delicious shortbread biscuits stamped with a demo only thank you stamp from the sweet pressed cookie range. 

easy cheap gift from the heart :>

to order these sets try online ordering or contact me :>

cheers ears

teacher gifts

thankfully all my kids teachers like wine

love it actually

deserve a great big glass of it after having my precious little bundles all year

so their christmas presents are always easy

bottle of wine

something chocolatey

done up all pretty-like

i plonk some retired xmas paper around the middle 

(so they can't see what cheap wine i have got them haahahaha !!)

stick some home made chocolate in a decorated bag 

(this year it was white xmas'-recipe down below)

and i add some ribbon and a pretty thank you tag

all matchy matchy

 yes that is season of joy stamp set!!

a very useful xmas set

white christmas recipe

• 500g white chocolate melts
• 1 1/2 cups rice bubbles
• 100g dried cranberries
• 160g pistachio nuts
• 160g sultanas
• 1 cup (90g) desiccated coconut
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

line cupcake moulds with greaseproof paper

melt chocolate in a metal bowl over a saucepan of boiling water

stir in vanilla

add rest of ingredients stirring in between each one 

splodge into cupcake moulds

leave to set in fridge

nom nom nom nom nom nom

if you have ever seen me knit...

 you would just completely pee yourself!!

i am officially the world's worst knitter.

i am sooo bad that the scarf i started last winter got finished just in time for summer 

and it was in fact a triangle by the time i was finished with it...

so why oh sweet why would someone like me buy the hand knitted stamp set from stampin up???????

because the stamp set is cool...and it has a sheep in it

(and i am from nz and we love our sheep...bwahahahahahaha or should i say baaahaaahaaa)

and i have several knitty friends who desperately need cool tags and cards to go with their knitted items

 a box of small gift cards and tags

 a old storage container now used for a tag gift box

a gift box for small cards and tags

these are for sale at campbelltown craft cottage

pop on in and say hi!

cheers ears

how to wrap a gift

my wedding gift proved quite tricky to wrap up so instead of paper around it i went for the box approach.

however....

i did not factor in the pointyness (is that a real word even?) of the album and how tall it was. 

i blithely bought a papier mache hat box from spotlight presuming it would fit.

i even decorated it with beautiful newsprint and love letter dsp

and then i attempted to put the gift inside....

it did fit sideways but it stuck out a bit on top...

so i added a whole heap of red cellophane and a nice big thick black and white ribbon

and made it look like it was supposed to not fit.

sweeeeeeeeet!

yes that is a doiley on the top!

so that was our gift to the newlyweds.

cheers ears

wedding album

 my neice got married this month 

so i created this unique wedding album for her as my gift to her

i used 2 kaisercraft fairytale castles 

and added stampin up's beautiful love letter and newsprint designer series papers

along with a huge collection of accessories such as

ribbon, glitter, chipboard, antique tags, lace, brads, flowers etc etc
plus the obligatory stamps of course :>

normally when i do an album i usually keep it very simple and clean cut
but being the new year and wanting to try new things
i thought i would unleash my inner vintage/shabby chic/visual feast monster upon the world.

i also had limited supplies i.e. what i had brought with me to nz from sydney
so no zipping into the craft room to get stuff.
it also made me use what i had and think up different ways to use them.
i am glad i did this because it made me use a lot of my die cuts more and papers in different ways.

scroll on down for pictures of what it looked like inside....warning there are loads of them!!!!
if you see somethign you like and want to know how i made it or did it please feel free to ask :>

 

 

 

tomorrow i'll show you the card i made
and how i had to wrap it all up-that was a mission all in it's own!!!

cheers ears