Letter 'R' tote bag

It was my friend's birthday at the weekend and I couldn't find anything to get her so I decided to decorate a plain tote bag that I'd got from Hobby Craft. The bag looked a bit boring with just the letter on it so I put some buttons on the letter and also at the bottom of the straps.

 

  

She loved the bag and used it to carry all her other presents home! I've got 2 more plain bags to decorate so watch this space to see what I do with them!

Papercut butterfly pictures

I made a lot of these papercut butterfly pictures for Christmas presents this year. I found some great square box frames in Debenhams that meant I could make the butterfly wings stand out from the background so they look 3d. Think my favourite one is the bright red butterfly. It will look great in my sisters' red and white bedroom!

Butterfly papercut notebook

We're doing Secret Santa again at work this year. I had £1 left of my budget and couldn't find much under £2 in central London apart from this cheap notebook in Paperchase (although it was £1.50... I know, 50p over budget!). So I decided to cut a little butterfly to decorate the front and make it look pretty. I hope she likes it and doesn't guess too quickly who gave it to her.

Papercut Christmas card

Inspired by the laser cut christmas cards in Paperchase I decided to make my own version. Not a card for mass production as it took 4 hours to make!

I designed it on corel draw, flipped the image and then printed it on to card so I could cut it out from the back so you wouldn't see the lines. I'd forgotten how hard it is to cut card with a knife - it would probably have been easier to cut it from paper and glued it on the card.

Now I just gave to decide who to give it to!

Strawberry tote bag

I'm very proud of this tote bag I decorated for my Aunt's birthday - I think it turned out quite well considering I didn't really plan it. I've had the strawberry fabric for ages and now I've finally found a use for it (although there is still a lot left!). The fabric square is also a pocket, which will be handy to put keys in when she's out shopping.

The strawberry is made out of some red fabric that I also found stashed away in my cupboard. I ironed some bond-a-web to the back so it wouldn't fray. Unfortunately we didn't have any double sided bond-a-web so I still had to sew the strawberry on to the pocket. The stalk is made out of felt (I had to use felt somewhere!). The seeds are sewn on with white thread.

I found one of my old school uniform tags to use as a label. The reds match really well and finishes it off.

Now I've got 3 more plain tote bags to decorate for Christmas presents. Just got to decide what to do with them....

Butterfly card

It was my cousins 21st so I made her this butterfly card with some pretty butterfly paper I found in my local art shop.

Cath Kidston birthday card

For Christmas I got some lovely Cath Kidston note paper. I just couldn't resist using it on my cards...

I also used a Cath Kidston label for the message on the front and rubber stamped Happy Birthday inside it.