MrsBeez

Mistletoe and wine – without the mistletoe

Posted on November 30, 2013 by MrsBeez

Craft packages ordered =0, craft packages received =0

Each month over at Anything But A Card Challenges one of the Design Team takes a turn in the spotlight and hosts a mini-challenge that lasts a week. You may remember that last month it was my turn and the theme was small is beautiful. This month it is the turn of Susan, who heads up the Anything But A Card blog and is also a super talented mixed media artist and graphic designer. You can find her blog here. The theme of her spotlight challenge is “recycle it.”

I’m recycling and old wine bottle as well as using up bits and bobs of scraps from my stash and a fabulous image from The Graphics Fairy.

First I coated the bottle with PVA and then with chunky glitter and faux snow. I’ve seen people use salt crystals but they also report that eventually these turn yellow. I’m hoping that the glitter may stay icy white. Once it was dry I gave it a quick spritz of hairspray to try and prevent it from brushing off.

I love this beautiful Father Christmas image from The Graphics Fairy. I ‘ve given it a coating of crystal clear glitter and then edged it with gold Dresden trim. To adhere it to the bottle I’ve used glue gel as this can cope with the rough glittery surface.

At the top I’ve recycled some ribbons that originally came from packaging. In fact one of the pieces still had the gift tag attached. Tucked in amongst the bows is a cluster of gold berries and some red berries that came off a Christmas cracker from a few years ago.

The finishing touch were one or two glittery die-cut snowflakes which, coincidently, were left over from my Anything But A Card Design Team piece for the next challenge which starts tomorrow (you can see what I did next Sunday!)

Once the bottle was complete, all I had to do was pop in some little fairy lights. These are tiny little battery operated ones. Tomorrow is the great outdoor light switch-on in the Beez household but I think these can be allowed to light up the rest of today!

Thanks for buzzing by.

Christmas angel

Posted on November 29, 2013 by MrsBeez

Craft packages ordered =1, craft packages received =2

Back safe and sound, but exhausted, after my trip to Hull. Having mentioned about Hull to Sheffield being a long train journey it turned out to be even longer as we got held up outside Selby. At least on arrival in Sheffield there was the sight of the Christmas tree to raise my spirits.

I have fond memories of Sheffield train station at Christmas. My grandparents would arrive their when they stayed with us. We would go and meet them and I can remember being so excited, standing beside the tree on the concourse, waiting for them to appear. After what seemed a lifetime my Grandad’s face would appear over the wall at the top of the stairs they had to walk down to reach us. The wall has gone now, and the station has been modernised, but the layout and the stairs remain the same and I often think of those times as I make my way to wherever I’m going and when I return.

Today I am sharing a little Christmas bauble that I made using a lovely angel image from The Gecko Galz.

I’ve learned from previous attempts, that trying to “float” an image inside a bauble is not as easy as it looks and so on this occasion have played safe! I’ve used a strip of vintage music manuscript, also from The Gecko Galz, and some ivory crochet lace around the centre of the bauble and topped it with the glittered image.

I’ve added some more lace and some wired, gold starry trim around the top of the bauble.

I thought these might be quite nice if they were personalised with someone’s name.

Despite the long and tedious journey, yesterday’s event in Hull was good fun. We had a bit of a smoothie making competition and some of our delegates came up with a great jingle which they were brave enough to perform to camera. You can check it out here and it would be great if you left a comment.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Christmas canvas

Posted on November 28, 2013 by MrsBeez

Craft packages ordered =1, craft packages received =0

Today I shall be wending my weary way back from Hull. It is always a long and tedious journey and there are no refreshments on the train. However, I must not grumble as the alternative, i.e. no trains at all, is infinitely worse! Therefore, today’s post is scheduled as I have a new mobile internet dongle and I have no idea as yet if it works and didn’t want to take any risks. I will confess it was a bit of a scramble to complete my project before I left home and when you see it, you will wonder what an earth could have taken so long. Don’t worry, I will tell you!

I love these mini canvases that Calico Crafts are currently selling. They do a whole range of sizes and this is one of the slightly larger ones but is still only about 6cm x 8cm. I am sharing this over at Sunday Stampers for the current challenge – gold. I apologise for rolling out my little rooftop trees once again, but I love them. Had I been able to find my stash of golden pears, you would be seeing an entirely different project but that will have to wait for another day.

I painted the canvas gold, changed my mind and covered it with red. I then used some PVA glue to create the raised part and left it to dry overnight. I have to thank Stamping Mathilda for this idea, although she doesn’t use PVA. Once dry, I added more red paint and then a little Vintage Photo distress ink. This was followed by a generous smudge of gilding wax.

I also stamped some script on to the central panel and heat embossed this in gold, you can just about make it out if you look really carefully. Then came the dilemma – what to fill the central panel with, you see I hadn’t really thought this bit through and this is where I wasted A LOT of time. I played with butterflies and gilding flakes and glitter and gold card and …. well the list was endless and the final result was zilch, except for very gluey, gold fingers. Then I spied two the two little leftover trees, remnants from last week’s Sunday Stampers project and they looked perfect!

Just in case you haven’t seen these little trees before they are the rooftop from a Dylusions little house stamp. I added in the words and some snow, just for good measure.

If you are allowed to love your own project then this is the one for me and as luck would have it, this blends in perfectly with my living room colour scheme. Disappointingly, the dim light when I photographed this doesn’t show it off at it’s best.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Feeling ropey

Posted on November 27, 2013 by MrsBeez

Craft packages ordered =0, craft packages received =0

By the time you are reading this I will, once again, be off on my work travels. I am, again, heading to Hull, a place I seem to have been to far too many times. However, this time may be a little different as it has just been announced that Hull will be the UKs City of Culture for 2014. I will be very honest and say that I find it hard to say that sentence with a straight face. A fact you may not know about Hull is that all its telephone boxes are white, rather than red.

So to today’s project and it’s time for the new challenge over at Every Inchie Monday where the theme is “rope.” My first thought was soap on a rope which, when I was younger, was one of the best things to get in your stocking. Back then, it usually came from Avon and was in the shape of a peach. I was reminded of that as the only rope I could find looked very much like the sort that had soap attached! Here are the inchies I came up with:

As you can see, I can squeeze Christmas out of anything! I separated the rope strands and then twisted a tiny bit of wire around one end to keep it altogether.

For the tree, I spritzed the rope with Dylusions, added a star and then some blobs of red stickles.

It was whilst I was making the tree that the idea of the beard came to me. I added an extra little strand for a moustache. The nose is a tiny red gem and the eyes are some black faux pearls. I used some Snow Writer for the hair.

Now I’m sure my fellow inchie makers will come up with some amazing artwork and inspirational interpretations of the theme, so be sure to buzz over and check them out.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Snow White

Posted on November 26, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Today I am sharing my second project for my guest designer spot over at City Crafter Challenge Blog. This week, for Challenge #187, the theme is “Snow White. Here’s the beautiful inspiration photo’:

I decided to make a snowy card:

I have some new dies and a snowflake embossing folder. I used the embossed snowflakes for the background then embossed some more card with dots, tore it into strips, added glitter and then used this in the foreground.

The die cut trees were also glittered. I find the easiest way to do this is to use spray adhesive and then apply the crystal clear glitter.

I tucked the deer family into the snowdrifts.

Now, if you’ve been particularly observant, you will have noticed that in some of the photo’s there is a hint of a sentiment. However, once I’d photographed the card I decided I didn’t like the look of the sentiment, although it was white, it was too yellow toned for this card so I took it off again!!

I hope you’ll buzz over to City Crafter and take a look at what the Design Team have been up to.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Little Red Riding Hood

Posted on November 25, 2013 by MrsBeez

Craft packages ordered =0, craft packages received =0

The start of a new week also sees the launch of a new challenge over at Crafty Boots Challenges. Chosen by the lovely Sandra, the theme for this fortnight is storybook characters. True to form, I dithered for ages over which character to go with before coming across some lovely vintage images over at The Graphics Fairy, including Little Red Riding Hood:

I used some designer paper from my stash, together with red cardstock and an old book page, inked the edges and layered them up.

I decoupaged the butterfly to add a little dimension.

One of my favourite things at the moment is Stickles glitter glue and I couldn’t resist adding a touch to the cloak and also to the flowers.

I’ve used a double strip of ribbon and a double bow across the bottom of the card.

The finishing touch was to add three little red sweetheart blossoms.

Be sure to buzz around to all the other Crafty Boots design team blogs and check out their wonderful creations. I hope you’ll be able to join us with your own project.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Count your blessings

Posted on November 24, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Today has been one of celebration as it is my eldest son’s birthday. I cannot believe how quickly the years have flown. I look at all 6ft 3 inches of him and wonder what happened to the little baby that arrived three weeks earlier than he should have done!

It has also been a day of getting organised and those of you who are of a nervous disposition when it comes to Christmas had better look away now. Mr Beez has been busy putting up our outdoor Christmas lights!!!! Don’t worry, they are not officially switched on until 1st December but we, or rather I, decided we didn’t want any last minute panics about broken bulbs and all the usual fandango that goes with Christmas lights. So we, or rather Mr Beez and eldest son, have been busy with bulbs, ladders and sticky stuff. There were the usual disagreements about the best way to tackle the job but there wasn’t any sulking this year!

My role in the proceedings is to lie low and keep quiet until it’s all over! So I used the opportunity to do a little crafting:

This little heart is made of wood that I have covered with muslin. The little image is from The Graphics Fairy and I’ve popped it inside a bottle cap and topped it with an epoxy domed sticker.

I’ve added some little paper flowers and roses, plus a little crinkled seam binding bow.

I do count my blessings, I have a lot to be thankful for especially my family. I would like to dedicate this to all my American friends and followers and wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving on Thursday.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Dedicated followers of fashion

Posted on November 23, 2013 by MrsBeez

Craft packages ordered =0, craft packages received = 1

A little break from Christmassy themed projects today and a little bit of retro fashion. As I’m just completing my December Design Team projects for The Gecko Galz I realised I still have quite a few from November and October to share with you. Nevertheless, I think this tag has a certain winter feel about it:

This uses a retro fashion image from The Gecko Galz Retro Fashion collage set and paper from the Miss Muffet Paper Pack. As I’m in Christmas mode, this lady reminds me Julia, the wife in the film “The Bishop’s Wife” one of my all time Christmas favourites starring my favourite actor Cary Grant.

I’ve used a black tag and mounted the image on black card, adding some pearls.

A seam binding bow and gorgeous white organza rose ribbon trim complete the look.

My second tag again uses an image from the Retro Fashion collage sheet and features more ladies that look as if they could star in a film with Cary Grant – maybe North by Northwest, my absolute favourite of all films?

I’ve used some fabulous ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon, a strip of black crochet lace and a black flower as embellishments.

Instead of ribbon, I used a scrap of black and silver net/tulle at the top.

Finally, a card;

I cut the original image into three and used foam pads to attach them to the background.

The backing paper is again from the Miss Muffet paper pack and I’ve layered it on cream card.

There’s a strip of pretty cream net lace and a gorgeous cranberry seam binding bow to finish it all off.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Snowy Owl

Posted on November 22, 2013 by MrsBeez

Craft packages ordered =0, craft packages received =0

As we have now had the first snowfall I decided it was OK to share this snowy little project with you:

This is an altered tin that uses a lovely owl image from The

The owl sits all huddled up under the snowy branches, keeping his eyes tightly closed, as if that will somehow make it all go away.

I decoupaged the image adding several layers and then gave it all a good coating of faux snow and chunky glitter.

I added in white moss, white punched fronds and little red berries.

There’s also some white leaf ribbon trim.

This project is for all of you that would really just like to hibernate!

Thanks for buzzing by.

More string and some real life snow!

Posted on November 21, 2013 by MrsBeez

Craft packages ordered =1, craft packages received =1

Yesterday evening we had our very first snow! It was very wet and was soon gone, but for a few magical hours everywhere was white. As you can imagine, I was a little giddy. I will now be on permanent snow watch and Mr Beez knows that the answer to the question “Has it snowed?” is always, always “yes.”

Today I am sharing a tag that I have made for the Sunday Stampers current challenge which is to use string:

The base of the tag is kraft card that I coloured with distress inks and then spritzed with water. Once dry, I stamped some script and then splattered on some white acrylic paint for a snowy look. The Merry Christmas was stamped over the top using Fired Brick distress ink.

I’ve added a strip of music manuscript and then some cherry baker’s twine.

The star is a Vintaj embellishment and I’ve stamped it with black Archival ink. I picked the star up for next to nothing at the Harrogate craft show and now I’ve used one I wish I’d bought more.