Candy Box Crafts - Castle Keep Money Boxes

I've had a lovely crafty weekend, decorating a couple of Castle Keep Money Boxes by those very talented guys at Candy Box Crafts.

These money box kits come in flat packed kit form and are made from mdf, in the UK (about 10 mins drive away from my house in Evesham), The kits come with instructions and fit together using the simple slot and tab method. It is a great little project for both young and old, and would make an excellent gift either decorated or in kit form.

The kit includes a plastic stopper for the base making the removal of any money really easy. The size of the money box is approximately 175mm x 102mm x 102 mm or for those in "old money" lol - 7.5 inches by 3.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

After assembling and gluing the kits together I began the fun of decorating them.

For the Pink Keep, I gave it a couple of coats of PaperArtsy's  acrylic paint in Candy Floss. I then glued some brick wall cardboard pieces  to the walls to give the keep a stone effect. These pieces were painted with the same paint and then Stardust Stickles was applied over the top. I added small dots of  perfect pearls around the door and windows Then finally I added some strips of adhesive pearls by Creative Expressions around the top and bottom perimeters.

For the Silver/Grey Keep, I used something completely different and something I had never used in my crafting before - FISH TANK GRAVEL.

I carefully glued individual pieces around the door and window frames  and allowed them to dry in place before covering the rest of the keep in gravel,  

After allowing the gravel and glue to dry thoroughly, I gave it if gave it a couple of coats of Indigo Blue's acrylic paint in Vodka Martini which again gave a very effective stone effect. 

Then for a bit of fun I added a small shield with the CBC logo on it, 

I can definitely imagine myself living in the girlie pink one as I have always wanted to be a Princess and I can imagine Roy from CBC living in the Silver Grey one, creating lots of wonderful kits for us all to play with. Hope you like them, please feel free to leave me a comment as I love to read them. - Happy Crafting.

2016 Desk Calendar

The idea for this project is not my own, I came across the idea whilst searching the internet and by watching many videos on You Tube, I have put this blog post together for those of you who prefer easy to follow photo tutorials .

Items Needed:

Empty CD case
Piece of cardboard - minimum 6.5 inches square
2 pieces of Designer Paper - minimum 8 inches square
Piece of coordinating card stock - minimum 6.5 inches square
2016 Calendar - there lots of free ones available to download/print out on the internet. Due to copyright laws I am not able to share the file for the calendar I used, but check out the following amazing blog:  https://scrappystickyinkymess.wordpress.com
Paper Trimmer, Scissors or craft knife
Adhesive
2 nesting dies of your choice - if you don't have dies then you can cut your apertures by hand

Instructions :

          Carefully disassemble your CD case, taking great care not to break the hinge tabs or the inside                                               tabs . Discard the part that the CD clips onto.

Using the case as a guide, cut a piece of card that is half an inch bigger than your CD case

Measure a border 3/4 inch wide around the edge of your card and then cut away the centre section  

                Decide which of your two coordinating papers you want to cover the frame with

Attach the frame to the centre of your paper, leaving a border of approx 5/8th inch all the way round

Mitre your corners, making sure you don't cut too close to the edges of your card 

(if you cut too close a bare cardboard edge will show on the finished calendar)

Mark a border inside the frame approx 5/8 inch and cut out the centre square.

Cut into the corners as shown by the dotted  lines in the photo below

Gently fold the edges of your paper around  the frame 

Glue or tape the folded edges around your frame  

Cut two squares from each of your coordinating paper and card stock,

 approx 1/8th inch smaller than your frame

Using the larger of your nesting dies, die-cut your chosen shape from the centre of your paper

Using the smaller of your nesting dies, die-cut your chosen shape from the centre of your card

Stick the two pieces together and attached them to your frame 

Trim each month of your chosen calendar to fit centrally behind the tabs in the CD case 

Slot the calendar into the CD case, (the tabs should hold it nicely in place) 

Reassemble your CD case so that the cover slants as shown below 

Attach your frame to the cover of the CD case, 

making sure that your calendar is displayed centrally in the aperture 

These calendars can be decorated as much or as little as you would like.

Here are the two I made, I would have made more but I have run out of CD cases so am on the hunt for some more - please feel free to message me if you have any questions about this project 

Happy Crafting 

Country View Crafts Challenge January 16 - Inspired by Bottles

This is my very first CVC challenge entry having just discovered the challenge page. The January 2016 theme is "Inspired by Bottles". 

I used Graphic 45's Steampunk Spells collection, (which is one of their older collection but definitely one of my favorites) and decorated an empty wine bottle. 

I also made a gift tag for the bottle, some cocktail umbrellas, drinks stirrers/mixers and decorated some coasters.

 I used water dyed with blue food colouring to decorate the inside of the bottle and the same food colouring to decorate the inside of the glass.

Graphic 45 - Rare Oddities, Gift Box, Cards and Notebook

I love watching all kinds of videos on You Tube, and this small collection of items was made with a specific You Tuber in mind. Her videos always put a smile on my face so as she is a huuuuuuge fan of Halloween and all things Spooky, I am going to send it and a few other spooky items surprise R.A.K.

10 x 8 gift box

5 x 4 cards

5 x 4 notebook

5 x 7 cards