Just a quick post, I recently made this sign for a friend for her birthday…
Hope, the light that shines in the darkness.
Very simple to make. I painted a piece of MDF white, sanded it. Then used my cricut and SCAL2 to make the lettering in brown vinyl. I love the font of the “Hope”, it was a freebie off the internet – don’t ask me where, I can’t remember 
Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Crafting
Aliessa
On the topic of Christmas Gifts, I thought I’d also show you what was made for my middle two children’s class mates (the older one is “too old” apparently )
Cute little Reindeer faces attached to a bag of mms.
I made 50 odd, which wasn’t so much fun after the first 20…but the kids thought it was great!
The idea came from Kinta Kards, which is also where I purchased the 1 x 8 cello bags.
My reindeer face is not quite the same as Angela’s, but I think it’s cute. To make it I’ve punched a SU large oval from choc chip cardstock. Then layered 2 white 1/2″ circles stamped with a black dot, and a red 1/2″ circle for the nose. The ears are 2 wings punched with the bird punch and the antlers are the leaf part of the same punch. I’ve just used a glue stick to adhere it all together, except the antlers, however I’ve since learned that snail adhesive is easier to use and holds it sufficiently.
To attach it to the cello bag I punched out a scallop circle which I stapled to the bag with the antlers…
Then I used double sided tape to attach the face and hide the staple. Lastly I attached a little strip of paper from the bottom of the reindeers’ heads that says Merry Christmas from…(insert child’s name). I printed these out from the computer.
A yummy, inexpensive (if a little time consuming to make) treat for the kiddies!
That’s all from me today. What have you made lately?
Happy Crafting!
Aliessa
This year our second youngest son went to Kindy (pre-prep). He’s our first child to attend a kindergarten, as previously the school offered Pre-school. With the introduction of Prep instead, we thought it was a good idea to send him to Kindergarten.
Anyway, we have LOVED his teachers this year and I wanted to give them a nice gift for Christmas to say thank you.
This is what I decided on
A mini countdown calendar! I made a few of these a couple of years ago, and had some blocks left over, so I decided to make up the 3 I would need.
I covered each of the blocks with SU DSP (retired stock I had in my stash). Then I sanded the edges and put the numbers and words on in vinyl, cut with my cricut. Wrap a pretty bow around to keep them all together and voila, done!
I also made a litte bag for each set of blocks to be gifted in, a different colour for each teacher (he has 3 – the main teacher, the teacher aide and a special needs teacher)
Red
orange
and green.
For the bags I have used SU DSP (again retired) to create the bag. I have then added a PTI Mat Stack 4 Die, stamped with a PTI Mat Stack 4 collection image. On top of that I have layered with foam adhesive a 1 3/4″ circle stamped with a circle image from PTI Everyday treats and the presents are from SU I dig you stamp set. I was so pleasantly surprised when I discovered they fit together perfectly! I’ve alternated colours for each bag. The colours I have used are SU Riding Hood Red, Pear Pizzazz, and pool party for the mat, RH Red for the circle and then RH Red, Yo Yo Yellow and Tempting Turquoise for the presents.
A sweet gift they can pull out every year and remember our little boy! And they can regift the bag!
What crafts have you made this year for teachers? I’d love to hear about them 
Thanks for popping in
Happy Crafting
Aliessa
December card class is this Thursday 15th, 7.30pm at my house – $20
Here are 3 of the 4 crafts we will be making…
4 of this cute red tag
And 4 of the blue version
an inside shot
And 2 of this card
The 4th item is still to be made. My supplies got lost in the mail and have only just arrived, so I’m working quickly to get it together for Thursday night
It’s school holidays!! I’m loving not having to get up and push my kids to get ready every morning. It’s so nice to feel relaxed!
Thanks for dropping in today, have a great week!
Happy Crafting
Aliessa
Oh life, why do you fly by?? Can you believe it is Christmas again already? We put up our tree and decorations yesterday! We usually wait until the first week in December, but last year the holiday season was gone before we knew it, so when the question was asked last week, we decided now was a great time to get festive!
Since my last post we moved house. Not very far from where we have lived for the last 4 years, but a little closer to school for the kids (now we can walk when we feel like it!), and the house is bigger! We are no longer squashed in. The older 2 kids have their own rooms, I have a craft room (oh yay, oh yay, oh yay!), and all the stuff that used to be squeezed into cupboards and under beds and just be cluttering up the living area has a place under the house! We’re all loving the new place and I’m so glad we moved!
Anyway, onto the meat of the post – Christmas Card class. It’s been so long since I’ve held a card class, I’d almost forgotten how to get ready
Here are the cards we’ll be making:
Although you can’t see it in the photo, this last card is all shimmery! It looks so pretty IRL.
Details of the class:
Make 8 cards (2 each of 4 designs) for $20.
Thursday 17 November, 7.30pm at my place (in the craft room!)
Thanks for stopping in, happy crafting to you all!
Aliessa
I know it can’t just be my children that have to pushed every step of the way from the moment I get up each morning until we finally pull up at school, right? It’s not just me is it? Over the years I’ve made various charts to encourage the kids to move a little faster and they’ve all worked for a period of time – ususally until the chart won’t stick to the wall anymore or it’s torn or crushed or peices are missing. So, I was sitting at my kitchen table a few weeks ago, contemplating a new chart. I had watched my daughter that morning perform her usual stall tactics until I gave her a firm “this is what you need to do”, which she then made herself a checklist for. She moved much quicker then and enjoyed ticking off each task as she completed it.
This gave me an idea! As I sat looking at our pantry cupboard and it’s dirty front, I thought, “why can’t I clean that front and use my cricut to cut out vinyl words for a chart?” Why not indeed! So I got to work. I cleared off the cupboard front of the various papers that were blu tacked there, wiped it over and dried it. Then I made a list of tasks I wanted the kids to complete each morning and afternoon. Next I measured the space I had to work with and worked out how big the lettering would need to be.
As you can see, I seperated it into morning and afternoon (because afternoon’s are possibly harder than the mornings as far as homework goes! ). Then I have each child’s name with a red dot for each task. I am yet to make their faces to move from one dot to the next as they progress through.
The kids have been super excited about the prospect of the chart – just need mum to get moving on the last little element!
And just so you know – it took qute a long time to get all those words burnished on to the cupboard doors. So if you plan to do anything like this yourself and you have a few kiddies, leave yourself plenty of time. I did it over 2 days, because I was so knackered after one side!
What works for you to get the kids moving? I’d love to know, maybe other’s would too!
Thanks for stopping by today! Happy Crafting!
Aliessa
The School fete is this weekend! Come along and see all the exciting stalls and rides. All the classes will be performing a dance, then there is the orchestra and bands, the choir and other arts. It’s sure to be a fun day!
SATURDAY 10th SEPTEMBER 2011,
11am – 4pm, Mansfield State Primary School
Ham Road, Mansfield
On the school ovals.
So we’ve been busy making plenty of craft items for the arts and crafts stall. I have had a few serious health problems in the last 2 months (which is why I haven’t blogged in so long). As a result I’ve had a lot of time at home without being able to do much. Sitting for too long hasn’t been very comfortable, so I’ve had a bit of time to make some items for donation, but not as many as I had planned. Oh well! Here are some piccies of what I did get through…(I’ll give you warning, it’s a rather longish post)
flower peg magnets (18 sets of 4 of these)
Some Christmas tags in not-so-traditional colours of cream and chocolate brown. Each pack contains 4 tags…
To make these I started with 4 cream tags cut with my cricut, stamped some swirls/stars/snowflakes directly on to the tag. I added a bit of glitter to the swirls. I then added a 1/4 of a parisian lace doily (die cut with PTI die and big shot), and topped it with one of three things – a stamped christmas tree or flower from SU Season of Joy, or a snowflake cut with my cricut. Add a pretty bow and they’re done. The fourth tag was the same, just without one of those three things.
Some home baked goods tags. Each pack contains 4 tags for different home made treats. This design I CASED from Besty Veldman
So, for these tags I again used a cream tag cut on my cricut. I stamped the background image with the beautiful motif in the SU SAB (retired) Bliss set. The middle layer is PTI mat stack 1 stamp (hand cut – I don’t own their die), and the top layer is a 1 3/4 ” circle stamped with an image from PTI Everyday treats set. I used a few different images, and mixed them up in the bags.
Some more traditional coloured Christmas tags. Again, 4 in each pack, I made these sets in 3 different colours
To make these I die cut the cream tag base with PTI Mat stack 4 die. I then stamped a Mat Stack 4 background image in one of three colours, SU Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake or Pear Pizazz. Next I added a length of ribbon looped at the top and cut into tails at the bottom. I topped that with a circle of coloured cardstock (RH red or Old olive green), then another circle in cream stamped with a snowflake from SU Snow Swirled (in the co ordinating colour). Just for a little extra sparkle I adhered a small diamonte in the centre.
Baby tags – 4 in a pack. I love these, so, so cute!!
Again I started with a cream tag cut with my cricut. I used PTI Baby Button Bits stamp set to stamp and embellish. I stamped the tag with the swirl and the sentiment, then I stamped the pea pod, rattle and cup cake/pie on another piece of cream and cut them out. I used foam adhesive to stick them on the tag. Lastly I added some buttons in the right places, adds that extra bit of something! Each pack has 2 pea pod tags and 1 of each of the other 2.
And lastly some notebooks
The background is the lovely swirl from SU Baroque Motifs, the little butterfly is from PTI Postmarks, and the flower embellishment I made by die cutting 3 flowers in 3 sizes then layered them, holding them together with a brad.
The background for this one is PTI Background basics: Sheet Music. The sentiment is PTI Postmarks and the embelishment is a scallop circle topped with a cream circle stamped with SU Cheep Talk’s birdy .
Same as above, only the embellishment is 2 die cut butterflies.
For this notebook I used PTI Button Boutique stamp set. I made a button card by stamping button images and the price stripe on the left. Then I adhered it to the cover and stamped above it the Quality buttons.
For this one I’ve made the background with PTI Background Basics: Newsprint. Then I stamped a few different images from PTI Postmarks to make the smaller rectangle.
And the last notebook! I’ve used PTI Mendhi Medallion to stamp the background then used the faux silk technique. I saw this on a card that Betsy made and couldn’t wait to try it myself! The “sentiment” is from PTI Button Boutique. I think this one is my favourite
So that’s all that I have to show today. I did make a number of packs of embellishments (butterflies, birds, scallop circles, etc), but I neglected to take photos. I do apologise, as always, for the horrible quality of the photos. Today’s excuse? I was forced to take the photos on a rainy day.
I hope you can see them ok anyway. Real Life is much nicer, but that’s the way it goes
The craft stall at the fete will have a great variety of goodies on sale, not just paper craft. The talented mum’s, grandma’s, Aunties and friends of the school have been busy making hair clips, head bands, scarves, hair clip holders, crocheted top hand towels, embroidered tea towels, hand made jewellery (earrings, bracelets, necklaces), washers that look like handbags, christmas decorations, kitchen scourers that look like houses, beaded book marks, and so much more!
Thanks for stopping in, happy crafting!
Aliessa
Here’s a quick and inexpensive gift idea…
I recently made this wheat bag as a brithday gift for a friend. She is pregnant and I thought this would be ideal for all the aches and pains that go along with pregnancy.
A wheat bag is really simple to make. All you need is some fabric of your choice (apparently any type will do, but I have only ever used 100% cotton and courdroy), enough wheat to fill the bag approximately 3/4 full, your sewing machine and cotton to match. Sew up 3 sides of a bag (you choose the size), turn bag right sides out. 3/4 fill the bag with wheat. Turn raw edges of open end in and sew a narrow seam to close the bag. That’s it, you’re done!
To make it a gift, tie some raffia or pretty ribbon around and add an instruction tag. – Wheat bag instructions
Something I would like to try is to add some dried lavender buds with the wheat to give a lovely, relaxing fragrance.
Have you made a wheat bag before? If not maybe you could give it a try! I think I might make some mini ones for the school fete arts and crafts stall.
Thanks for stopping in today. Happy Crafting!
Aliessa
Hello everyone! July card class is upon us. This month I have planned mini milk cartons, carry tray and card.
Details of class:
Thursday July 14, 7.30pm
My house (address given on RSVP)
Cost $20 (includes 4 mini milk cartons, 1 carry tray and 2 cards (of 1 design)
Here are some piccies of what we’ll be making…
the tray with cartons in it
carton 1
carton 2
carton 3
carton 4
the card
Thanks for stopping in today!
Happy Crafting!
Aliessa
I was going back through posts on Amy’s blog one day a few weeks ago looking for something specific (what I can’t remember now), and came across a gorgeous little bird.
It looked so cute and Amy’s pattern and instructions are so easy I just had to have a go! My mum was visiting so we sat down together and made a couple
I’m thinking a couple of these might be good in the school fete art and craft stall…
Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Crafting
Aliessa
