Birthday, Wedding and Christmas Presents

Sorry in advance, time seems to have runaway from me and two weeks have flown by since I blogged!  I have been a  busy wee bee and not just at work.  You would think that the hospitals would calm down now and surgery lists would decrease, but no thats not how it works, it seems to go the opposite, with trying to get as much through as they can by running extra theatre lists - well thats what they're doing on our ward anyway.  I just worked a stretch of four days on, one day off, two days on, one day off and four days on! Phew! glad thats over :)

In between working I have actually found some mojo, and have been busy creating.  This time of year is'nt just Christmas presents for me, its a lot of birthdays too and a wedding present I wanted to get finished.  Theres lots to show you so sit back and relax!

My niece turned 22 this month - funny because it seems not that long ago I was feeding her a bottle!  She had a pretty low key celebration at home, and my gift to her was her favourite bottle of plonk, and a pair of earrings.  I had an old wine container at home from a previous Christmas, so I turned that into a gift container using some old MME papers that have been burning a hole in my stash for some time now - quite a satisfying achievement to get rid, sorry :) to use up some of those papers.  Ive also used a Tim Holtz ornate knob by drilling a hole through the lid of the box and popping some BoBunny flowers underneath it.

The other item I made was a mini album.  Another product I had in my stash for quite sometime - Maya Road heart shaped album.  The papers I chose were from Kaisercraft Chanteuse Collection - I used this because it matched the bridesmaids fabric (even though you don't see them in the album) and the dresses of Kims adorable little nieces.  I decided to keep it simple since theres not much room in them once you add papers and photos, and as it was I took a 'heart' out of the book, to give it more room.  I also wanted to focus on their family, so kept the photos and theme around that.

Ok, so after this I had some other gifts to make.  This wooden letter was an order from a friend of mine.  Again I used the last of my paper stash, this time BG Bittersweet - this one was one of my all time favourites.

For my lovely friend Karen I try to do something a little different.  Shes a scrapper as well, and has a shop in Invercargill called Inkspiration.  This year her whole family went for a holiday to Rarotonga, and put some of their photos on Facebook.  So rather than buy something I made her a Kaiser flipflop album.  She has been a very naughty elf and unwrapped it already lol.  And yes she loves it.
Over at Artistic Document I signed up for Secret Santa again this year.  My recipient who shall remain nameless at this stage, has been another very naughty elf and with some egging on by her fellow elf friends unwrapped her present early shock horror!  Im afraid Ive had to snitch and tell Santa on both of them lol!
My SS does the most amazing tree every year - this year she has hung it upside down.  So I decided my pressie had to be a bit different and considering she has enough scrapping stuff to open her own shop lol, I thought a Christmas decoration was in order.  I found this metal present in the chemist of all places and thought I could re-invent it.  The ribbon and metal tag I already had, and the wee Merry Christmas embellishment on the bow was an old piece in my Christmas stash from Making Memories.  The berry bunch on top and the glass bell inside the metal present I found at Crabtree and Evelyn.  I love it!  Was actually tempted to keep it, but don't tell :)

One of the last gifts Ive made is for a friend of ours who is as obsessed with Dr Who as Forbes and I are.  David lives in England so lucky him gets all the new releases way before we do, so he very kindly records them for us and sends them over.  We're very spoilt!  His wife Emma and I nursed together and I have always sent her something at Christmas, but this year I included David for keeping us updated with our much loved Dr.  He has posted a lot of heritage photos on his facebook page so I nicked one of them and made this frame for his office at home.  Its pretty safe on here - he doesnt know about my blog :)  The frame is Kaiser, the papers are Pink Paislee left over scraps, some Prima packaging, bling and flower, Dusty Attic chipboard, Melissa Frances resin heart, and seam binding ribbon. Ive sanded the frame to make it look a bit more rustic.

Phew! All done, a few other things to share before Christmas - 6 sleeps to go!!
Happy Scrapping

Christmas Crackers

Hi Everyone,

Its not long now til the big man arrives with gifts for all.  I love this time of year, thinking of what unique gifts or decorations I can come up with each year.  People seem to enjoy the handmade gift more I think because it shows  how much effort and thought you have really put into each gift.
Christmas crackers were on my design team list to make this month.  This turned into more a chore than I intended.  I had originally intended to decorate an old tin I had and fill it  with a glass Christmas decoration I had found at Crabtree & Evelyn.  Unfortunately I forgot to leave 1/4 of an inch at the top so the lid would fit on again, so it did'nt fit!!  What to do?  So I chopped off the bottom with a can opener and carried on, so my container turned into a Christmas Cracker.
The paper I have used is from last years Pink Paislee Christmas range - honestly I have so much Christmas themed paper that I have tried to be good this year.....................................................until I saw the new range from The Scrapcake, but thats a whole nother story :)

So heres the end result of my inital mistake :)

and heres a few close up shots.

I have used to Spellbinders Poinsettia and 2011 Christmas Ornaments to decorate the cracker.  The bauble ornament has been stamped with embossing ink and embossed with white powder.  The stamps are from Waltzing Mouse Stamps.  The triple bow is made with a bow maker.
To make the ends of the cracker.  I have pleated a strip of calico and used double sided tape to adhere it - hot glue did not work against the metal of the tin.  For the paper I would advise to have two strips of 12x12 cut in half and then pleated using an acordian fold method.  When I made mine I discovered when it was too late that I only had one sheet of the striped paper to go around each side, when I think it would've looked better with two strips joined together, so I had to make do.  So if you do use x2 pieces of paper you would have more of a pleated look that what I have.  The edges of the paper are punched with a Martha Stewart border punch.  Considering how things went Im pleased with how the cracker turned out .................mistakes and all! :)

So have a go, would love to see what you come up with!

Happy Scrapping
Megan

Welcome.............................................

To a new beginning!  Well thats the plan.  Ive been upfront before about my laxidasical attitude towards blogging - for me it tends to be a chore, bit like ironing, I put that off too lol!  But now I found myself in the situation where it had been nearly 6months since I had blogged, so time to start afresh and start with a goal I think, so Im going to try blogging once a week, or share everytime I scrap something new.

So here goes.

I must also mention gorgeous redhead I know, who seems to have amazing scrappy talent but also is a whiz on the computer.  The lovely Toni has helped me sort out my new blog.  She also has a blog I love to read because shes such a great story teller, wish I had her aptitude for blogging, sigh. Go check her out and you'll see what I mean  http://www.chickchat-toni.blogspot.com/

At the moment my creative juices are not flowing, and the pool of creativity seems to have been quite stagnant for awhile and in some ways Im not surprised.  First I came down with the Flu - that would be the womens' variety, not the mens!, then my Crohns Disease flared up,  then I got a kidney stone and reacted to the medication they put you on to pass them, causing me to have an irregular heart rate, and finally now I am well again.  All this over the last three months. Phew!
Work also seems to have become a chore.  We have had a lot of people leave since the February quake and had hardly anyone apply for those positions, so my shifts and everyone elses are not great.  Lots of nights and split shifts and extra shifts to help out.  So my problem could just be that is the end of the year, its been a tough year down here, and I need time out.  I have a week off at Christmas to spend with family and Im looking forward to it!

In June I became part of the Scrappin Patch family, joining as part of their OTP design team.  There are two of us doing OTP, me and Sarah Gough, who makes the most awesome cards and shes just got on board the design team at Zva Creative  GO SARAH!!
Needless to say with no creativity I have'nt been up to much.  Novembers DT kit included We R Memory Keepers papers Family Keepsake.  I thought they looked all patchwork/quilty so I decided on doing a wall hanging.  I purchased a frame from The Warehouse, and took the glass out.  I added some Melissa Frances resin frames, Petaloo flowers, punched some Martha Stewart butterflies, and a bit of Dusty Attic chipboard. The little houses and trees and popped up using foam magic mount, not that you can tell from my photo!  Its now on display in the shop if you want to see it in real life.

Thats all for now, tomorrow Im going to share a Christmas Decoration Ive been making. 
Have a great day!