Secret Santa for £5.00

Many people join in with Secret Santa be it at work, with friends or family and now Facebook groups.

In one of the cardmaking groups I belong to we have a limit of £5.00 to buy a craft based Secret Santa gift, we then make a card that can't be traced back to us and post the gift and card off.

For £5.00 you can normally get a couple of bits in The Works etc but by planning ahead you can actually make your money go further and get an AWSOME Secret Santa gift for someone.

Shopping on sites like Every Crafts A Pound and Printable Heaven for example often have amazing deals and reductions so you can just add it to whatever you were buying for yourself and just put it to one side until it is needed.
Below is this year's Secret Santa gift so far and I have spent a total of £2.70. When I know who I am sending to I can now use the remaining money to buy something in their crafting style to personalize the completed gift

https://www.everycraftsapound.co.uk/MobileIndex.php

https://printableheaven.com

Very easy centre step card tutorial

Start with a peice of A4 card, I am using Crafters Companion Centura Pearl cardstock in turquoise. I have linked the products I used below.
With a pencil and ruler measure 2" in from the short side and 2" in from the long side and make a mark, do this in all 4 corners.

Then measure 1" along from that mark (towards the centre) and make another mark, repeat as before.

Using a scoreboard with the paper in a landscape position make a scoreline in the middle of the cardstock from long edge to long edge. Next score from the 2" mark and the 1" mark to the long edge avoiding the middle of the card stock as shown in the picture below.

The - - - - - in the picture indicates where you need to cut, fold the card down the middle using the scoreline made previously and holding the opening of the card away from you cut as shown in the picture above.

Hold the card with the opening facing towards you, make the scoreline nearest the bottom of the cardstock a mountain fold and the next scoreline up a valley fold, repeat on the score lines on the reverse of the card, it should then look like this 

To decorate you will need the following matts I have used papers by Helz Cuppleditch called Beach Life:

1 3/4" x 2 1/2" - 2 required 

4 "x 3 1/2"  - 2 required ( 1 in plain paper)

8 1/4" x 1 3/4" - 1 required 

Take the 8 1/4" x 1 3/4" peice and attach to the bottom of your card leaving a 1/4" boarder. The 4" x 3 1/2" peice of pattern paper goes on the middle section again leaving a 1/4" boarder. The 1 3/4" × 2 1/2" fix to the small side panels leaving a 1/4" gap

The 4" x 3 1/2" peice of plain cardstock fixes to the back of the card with a sentiment affixed.

You can then decorate your card.

This card fits into a C5 envelope.

https://www.theworks.co.uk/p/card-making-supplies/centura-pearl-a4-turquoise-card---10-sheet-pack/709650762466

https://www.everycraftsapound.co.uk/MobileDetail.php?Prod_ID=59334

https://www.everycraftsapound.co.uk/MobileDetail.php?Prod_ID=59852

https://www.everycraftsapound.co.uk/MobileDetail.php?Prod_ID=59849

https://www.everycraftsapound.co.uk/MobileDetail.php?Prod_ID=60301

The Works Shopping Spree

These gorgeous pearlescent papers were £2.50 for a pack of 10 and are 310GSM. They are absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to start making cards with them.

I found some more Christmas Village items on The Works website and could not resist! I adore the 6x6 and 12x12 papers from this collection and it has started a new craft addiction as I now need the complete collection! Just too cute 😍

Lastly I added to my Festive Wonder collection, I really love the 12x12 paper pad in the collection so thought I would try the reindeer and twines as well. The reindeer are gorgeous up close and I can't wait to use them

Every Crafts a pound

Craft haul- what I bought

I absolutely love the Christmas Village collection, I have the papers in 12x12 so couldn't resist a second pack of 6x6 for £1.00! I had quite a few ideas for cards so I also bought the stickers which I don't normally use, but they will work on my card ideas and I also got the bows,button and Noel stamp for the series (I have another order from else where with more from this range coming this week) Excited to get started with this super cute collection.

Next I chose these papers and stamp and die set from the sweet moments collection. I already have something else from this range so so I decided to snap these up to compliment the item I already had and give me extra options for cards.

I loved this embellishments from the time to sparkle range and think they will give a great finish to my Christmas cards.

Lastly I picked out from Simply Creative some more xmas embellishments (you can never have enough!) and then I also got a 12x12 festive paper pad as well as the Jolly holidays 6x6 pad.
I loved the Sheena embossing folder and there is a new technique I have been trying which I think will work really well with this folder to create a beautiful card. I thought the ink pads looked like an interesting colour to try out and play with although they are smaller than I thought they would be. I got the craft threads to go though various buttons. I loved the snow flakes for maybe a shaker card but have since had another idea so watch this space and then the sequins and bows were just pretty colours I know I will use.
All together I spent £30 (that did include a small delivery fee as I didn't spend enough for free delivery)
I placed my order on a Friday afternoon, I got notified when it had been picked and dispatched.
The courier is Dpd, you have to be available to sign for your parcel but Dpd keep you informed and you can track your parcel and change delivery date if needed.
The items were well packaged and everything arrived in good condition and had been checked against the invoice which was in the box.
Brilliant value for money and I will definitely be ordering again.

                               Oval Easel Card

You will need: 3 x oval dies in varying sizes.
Pink premium card, wet glue, baby bottle die, celebrations embossing folder, black ink, foam pads, die cutting machine, stamp block and sentiment stamp.

Take a peice of dark pink card and cut it to 3 3/4" x 10" saving the left over card for later, fold in half and place the largest die slightly overhanging the fold line as shown.

 Run through a die cutting machine and peel away the excess you will then have your card base as shown.

Take the excess card you saved earlier and cut one more large oval this time with no overhang.

Next take a peice of light pink card and cut it to 5.5"×5.5" place this into the embossing folder and run through a die cutting machine. Take the middle sized oval die and cut 2 ovals from the embossed cardstock.

Next you need to cut one baby bottle from the glitter paper and carefully remove the detail. Keep 3 of the s shape swirls for later.

Adhere the bottle to a light pink oval and then attach the light pink oval to the single large dark pink oval you cut earlier.

Take the card base and open it so the Ovals are one on top of the other. Adhere a light pink oval to the bottom of your card base.

Fold the top oval in half to the score line and burnish.

Adhere the single oval with the baby bottle to the folded over top of your card base.
Take the smallest die and cut it out using the dark pink cardstock. Stamp a thank you sentiment on and then decorate using the glitter swirls from earlier.

Attach this to the bottom oval of your card base using foam pads so that it holds the top of your card in a standing position when rested behind it. You now have a beautiful Oval Easel Card.

                    Newdoer markers review

I saw these on Amazon before Xmas and put them on my wishlist but when I didn't get them for Xmas I treated myself 2 days ago. They are currently £30 (free delivery) and you get 100 in the pack.

They come in sweet carry case with a draw system so no need to buy fancy storage! It doesn't take up much room for storing when not in use and the draw system is great for when you are working with them as it allows u to see all the colours and have easy access.
Sadly the markers are not numbered however if you use a permanent marker you can number the draws.

The markers themselves feel cheap ( but what do you expect for £30!?) The majority of the lids came away easily when I was making my colour chart and they do click on the end of the marker so you don't have a loose lid rolling around your desk.
They are duel tipped - one end is brush tipped the other end is a fine liner.
Surprisingly for a cheap markers they are really nice to use. They are comfortable to hold and the colours blend nicely.
There is no colourless blender in the pack.
I would definitely recommend these markers. They are brilliant for a beginner on a budget but equally an experienced colourist is going to get great results with them at a fraction of the cost of Copics.

Split Panel Card

For this card you will need: 11" x 4" and 3 1/4" x 2" Red Card Stock. 4" x 1 3/4"  and 3" x 1 3/4" patterned card stock. Altenew crafty life stamps. Bakers twine and embellishments.

Take your 11" x 4 1/4" red card stock and center score at 5 1/2 inches. Fold in half keeping scoreline at the top. Measure 2" from the top of the card and cut at the 2" mark. Use your off cut to create another panel measuring 4 1/4" x 2".

Take you 4" x 1 3/4" pattern paper and attach to the panel you just created and the small panel still attached to the card, leaving a small boarder.

Next glue you 3" x 1 3/4" pattern paper to you 3 1/4" x 2" peice of red cardstock again leaving a small boarder. Once dry flip the panel over so you are looking at the red card stock and glue along the top short edge and bottorm short edge. Carefully flip the panel back over and line the top of the panel up with the bottom of the flap still one your cardbase. Next position the offcut panel to the bottom of the cardbase and line up with the bottom of your freshly glued panel. When you are happy with the position apply pressue to adhere together.

 You should now have a card like the above photo that open upwards.

You can now add sentiment stamps, your bakers twine and embellishments to finish!

Check back soon for more tutorials.

Happy crafting!