Birthday wall hanging

More Urban Rhapsody from me today - I really do love these papers.

It was my mums birthday last month and because she has always kept all the cards I've made for her I thought I'd make something that could be displayed even after her birthday.

I used some chipboard which I covered in patterened paper on both sides and punched holes along the edges. I then laced them together using lots of yummy American Crafts ribbons and tied another ribbon at the top to hang it up.

I decorated the front with letters cut from scraps and a few blossoms. On the back I stuck photos from our recent holiday to Spain.

Just a reminder, have you checked out Guv's blog to see where the 40days blog hop is off to today and what yummyness is up for grabs?

Birthday Boys!!

The men in my family all seem to be having their Birthdays at once again...they do this to me every year ;) and as the last altered wine box went down so well...I thought I'd do another one!


This one is covered in papers from the same HOTP PS Kit that I used last time (you get tons in each kits...with matching ribbons and embellishments...and they are still on at half-price!!!) All I have added here is a charm (these are currently 70% off) and 3 little brads, and a stamped message. You could easily print happy birthday on the paper before you adhere it if you don't have a suitable stamp :)

As its my other half's Birthday today I had to make him a card...and I've used the cardstock from the PS Kit as the base, added a felt bird (from the die-cut sheets here, also 20% off), two buttons and doodled a message and a border. The felt bird was originally red, but I have coloured it with fabric inks and added a dot of acrylic paint and a tiny orange bead to make it look like the blackbirds we are currently taming in the back yard :)

Thats it from me today...I hope to get out in the sunshine...for a little al fresco crafting today...whatever you are up to...enjoy!

Happy days...

Hi everyone,

Here I am again with 2 projects both in honour of special, happy days. Firstly, a LO of the trip out Katy and I had on the morning of her birthday. And secondly, a cute idea for wrapping up a Fathers' day gift!

Lets start with the LO. Here I've used 3 of the Mira collection papers which are scrummy! They are totally on trend with all the flowers and colours and birds...there will be more projects coming up using these papers...because I just can't get enough of them!!! :) I've co-ordinated the papers here with some of the American Crafts ribbons (still on special offer), a couple of blooms, with foam spots as their centres {covered with orange glitter}. I've used a cute ribbon slider for the date and 1 of the yummy journalling cards...for...my journalling! To make the arrowhead, I simply cut the corner off a slide mount. Finally, I added a little acetate tag from one of the HOTP PS Kits.

My second project today is a decorated bottle box, for Fathers' Day. This box originally was given to my other half for Christmas with a bottle of his favourite tipple in...but now it houses a single Malt Whiskey! ;)

I covered the whole tube in one sheet of 12x12 from the HOTP PS Kits and adhered co-ordinating ribbon around both the top and the bottom (to cover the gap!) I used another of those fantastically beautiful journalling cards to make a giant gift tap and stamped *happy fathers' day* on it in Stazon.

As you can see I made an error in my stamping...stamping Bay instead of Day...*rolls eyes*...but rather than cover it up, I decided to make a feature out of my mistake and attached a smaller tag which reads *from your Dyslexic daughter-in-law*!!! I'm sure it will make him smile...jokes at my expense seem amuse most people!! lol The tag was made using one of the giant paper punches now only £5!!

That's all for now folks...have a great weekend...I'm off to SAG for some intensive scrapping and catching up with my girlfriends. So I should have lots of new ideas when I come back! :)

just a quickie from me {alix}

Hello crafters!

Life has been a bit hectic for me {and the family} lately, so I've not been around much...but as I have half an hour to myself now...I thought I'd spend it with you! :)


This is my latest project, a repurposed box {which used to contain cotton buds...how did crafters ever cope without these little beauties???}. I've embellished it with pp's, ribbon and a couple of cute charms, so its now a girlie gift box.

The papers I've used are from the lovely Siesta collection, very pretty and perfect for girlie projects. I've die cut a flower {using the Big Shot} from the same papers, and tied a thin ribbon all the way around, suspending one of the lovely heart charms, and tied a bow with a sheer ribbon from which I've suspended another charm, this one reads *glamour girl*. There are lots of gorgeous charms available in the webshop...here, and remember to stop by the Pound Stop for some bargain ribbon selections too!

Ok, that's me for today, but I hope to be back soon...and until then...*happy crafting* :)

Ta Daa...the monthly challenge starts here!!

Well hello again and welcome to the all new Monthy Challenge on Blog til you Drop!

We have decided to abandon the weekly challenges, and instead run single challenge for the whole month, to give people more time to join in! At the end of the month the DT will choose a winner and they will win...actually that is still under negotiation at CTYD HQ...but trust us...it will be good!! :)

Ok, so the first of these challenges is to *repurpose* something for your crafting. In my examples I've repurposed 2 lots of packaging {a wooden draw that contained small screws and a cotton bud pot} but you can use anything you like or have lying around waiting for a new *purpose*. Its a lot like recyling really :) A few suggestions might be bottle tops, magazine pictures, the ribbon from your Easter egg...you get the idea...

As always you can enter a card, LO, home decor item or ATC...whatever you like really...we try to be pretty inclusive to all crafters here at BTYD. Just e-mail a photo over to Beverley and leave a comment in this post so that we all know to go and check out what you've done! You can also click on the gallery icon at the top of the page and comment on other people's entries too which is fun...

To get you started here are my examples. Firstly a wall hanging {what is it with me and wall art atm!!!} that I've made from a wooden draw that contained small screws. I've painted it, lined each section with off-cuts of paper from the Coffee House collection, and then stamped some stars onto the paper using a wooden star as a stamp. Then I've added some photos, charms and buttons, and some of the amazing felt die-cuts which are available here. For my purposes I've roughed them up a bit by finger painting some paint onto the edges :) *i do love to get messy*

Then I've used my Cropadile to make holes for the sheer ribbon, and added another charm hanging at the bottom. I have to say I'm quite pleased with the end result!

My second example is very simple and uses a cardboard pot covered in stips of ribbon, and then embellished with an assortment of felt and paper flowers to give a fun, funky place to store all sorts of crafting bits and bobs!

Righty ho then, I hope I've given you something to think about...and you'll join in with the new style challenges...and I look forward to seeing all your creations!

Bargains...bargains...and bags!

Hi all!

A couple more ideas for you today...Firstly...carrying on my butterfly bonanza from last week...I've used more of the chipboard accents to make this cute butterfly hanger for my friend's scraproom!
The shapes were covered with pp's from the 12x12 Lucky Dip, and embellished with wire wings, star shaped brads, acrylic paint dots and some glass chips I had from a fish tank!! Its all tied together with ribbon from the satin Lucky Dip! Altogether a bit of bargain from start to finish, eh? lol

My second offering today is a bag which I've embellished. I bought the bag for £2 from a local shop and thought I'd jazz it up a bit with all the sale goodies!


I've adhered ribbon from the satin Lucky Dip in 3 colours along the bottom edge, then I attached 3 of the dark Yo-Yo's with a button and some embroidery cotton and made very long stitches to make the stems. There is a super bargain bag of buttons available here if you don't have any! Then I tied some more of the satin ribbon into 3 bows and a knot...and simply glued them on! Et voila...I have a funky new cropping bag!!

I hope you like what I've done...do leave me a comment and let me know what you think...especially if you think you might a go yourself!! And keep your eyes peeled on the webshop...there is new stuff going into the sale all the time :)

Bye for now x

Oh My Word!!

I am totally in love with these Bo Bunny My Word Albums!! The one I've used for this project is the Party one, but they're also available in Baby, Friend and Love too - and they're 20% off in the webshop!

To cover the pages of the album I used the We R Memory Keepers Promenade papers, which are beautiful heavy weight, double-sided papers. Having covered all the pages, front and back, I sanded and inked the edges - then it was time to decorate and add some photos! I used the Promenade layered chipboard tags, some satin and organza ribbons, some cute little charms from the "party" pack and finally the gorgeous black celtic border felt fusion.

Don't forget to check out the special offers in the webshop - but be quick, at these silly prices, they're selling fast!

winged things...

Hi everyone, Alix here! Have you seen these chipboard accent packs yet? They come in allsorts of shapes and themes, but this week I've been working with the wings selection...I hope you like what I've come up with :)

This is a dragonfly shape and I've covered it with paper from the Lucky Dip 12x12 selection, overlayed with two sets of vellum wings cut from the Lucky Dip Vellum selection and then wound ribbon around a kebab stick from the Lucky Dip Satin selection! I've shaped a piece of wire for the antennae and covered the body in seed green seed beads and blue glitter {sadly you can't see it in the photo...but it really shines and sparkles!} I'm going to give this as a wand to a special little girl i know...but it would equally look good in a bunch of {dried} flowers or tucked into a plant pot...anywhere really!

This butterfly shape I've made into a badge/brooch. I simply coloured it using a soft blue inkpad and stamped onto it using some shapes from the HOTP Thingamajigs set of stamps in black ink...a word of warning tho...as you can see...the chipboard is very shiny...so don't be like me...put your shape down on a flat surface if you want to stamp without slipping about!! The centres are embellished with a dot of acrylic paint , as is the body.

This last butterfly is my favourite tho...and it was the easiest to do! Again I coloured it using an inkpad, and I made antenna and a body with wire {threaded with some little polymer clay beads I made an age ago...} This time however, I decorated the body with felt shapes...you do remember how much I love felt, don't you? These shapes are cut out of the Felt Fusion heart border strip. Self adhesive, you just trim and peel...and the job is done!

Actually, I seem to be on a bit of a butterfly kick atm...and have a yummy LO to share next time I'm up!

But for now...thanks for dropping by...and go on...have a go at a winged thing yourself!!

Girly Things

Hiya today is my turn to show you what I have made. So I've done two girly projects.

The first is a great place to hide all those little crafty receipts from your other half. ;-). It's a folder to keep all your receipts safe. I used my Cricut to cut out the folder base, but there are loads of sites on the internet where you can download free templates. I covered the base and the file dividers in the fab Creative Imaginations papers. To decorate the front I cut out some flowers from another piece of 12x12 paper from the same company and used 3D foam to adhere them. I then threaded some of the girly charms onto some ribbon and added that along the top. These charms are brilliant and are on special offer in the shop with a massive 70% off, which makes them only 90p for 6 metal charms. Bargain!! They're not only girly ones but lots to choose from.
I then added some brads down the right hand side of the folder and also one to each of the tabs on the files.


My second piece is something different to send to a birthday girl other than a card. It's a little heart shaped bag and tag.
Again I used the Creative Imaginations papers for the basic shape. Can you tell I think these papers are fab? They are also a good weight too, just right for this sort of make.
To decorate the bag I added some eyelets to the "handle" and also to the middle of the flowers. These also have 25% off in the shop.
I added the "Dance" brad buddies , which have 50% off!! to the front of the bag.
The tag was made with the same papers. And I also cut out some of the flowers from another paper in the range and used 3D foam to adhere these on. Then I just added the "Happy Birthday" text.

So there you go two ideas for girly gifts!

Dad's Album

With all the Mother's day and Valentine's day cards and gifts going round I thought I'd do something different. So today I'm showing a little album that you can make for your Dad . It doesn't have to be for a Dad it could be for any male relative.

For the "pages" I have used the giant playing cards. The front page is covered with a paper from the Christmas 2006 HOTP kit. So it is quite versatile and not just for Christmas. The strip of transparency is also from HOTP. I added a little beer mug with a tiny little safety pin to the strip. The beer mug is from a set of charms, there are 6 in a pack and ... they are only 90p as they have 70% !!!! off. To add the title I cut out some of the circle letters and added a brad to adhere them.

For the 2nd and 3rd pages I again used some papers from the Christmas kit. I used the computer for all the text. On the 3rd page I used some of the lovely black glimmer paper and again added a charm with some ribbon. The little photo corners are made by cutting some triangles from a square of fabric swatch sticker. And just to let you know the fabric stickers have 75% off so they are only 45p!!!





Again the 4th and 5th pages were covered in the Christmas kit paper. The 4th page I added another fabric swatch sticker for a photo to go on. Another charm which says "beer beer" and that is held on by some ribbon and a brad too. And guess what the brads have 50% off too!! For the 5th page I cut out a rectangle so that some of the playing card showed through. I added a square piece of co-ordinating paper and cut out a spade to add to the corner. To finnish off this page I added a little silver domino. So this would be the "games" page .

For page 6 I again used the papers from the Christmas kit adding a strip of the fabric swatch sticker to the top. I then added some HOTP copper charms with the theme of travel. Page 7 was covered with the black glimmer paper but I cut out a circle so that the 8 of the playing card showed. I again added a transparency to the bottom and finally added some metal buttons.

To hold the album together I punched two holes and tied it all up with some ribbon.

With all the bargains to be had in the shop it works out to be a very inexpensive gift.

Papers are for life, not just for Christmas!

Who says Christmas ranges have to be used just for Christmas projects? Check out the gorgeous Holly Jolly Range by Fancy Pants - and don't let the name fool you - they're very versatile!!

When Guv sent us our new DT kits - I just knew that this Giant Butterfly from the CI Bare Elements Dimension pack was destined to be a wall hanging for my craft room! These packs are on special offer at the moment - and you get 3 12 x 12 sheets full of shapes too!

For this project I covered the Butterfly with the Snowflake paper from the Holly Jolly range, and then die cut my name from the Merrie Merrie paper. I added a butterfly and a heart from the die cut sheet and then added some flowers and a crown from the Fancy Pants Fashion Sense Felt (With Love) fabby little felt die cuts and you get LOADS in a pack!

For the actual hanging part, I plaited together 3 lengths of satin ribbon from this amazing clearance pack - 15m of ribbon for just £1!!

Challenge #28 - I'm in the mood for love.

The DT Gals have finally let me post a challenge of my own - and about time too! LOL. So here goes: As it is Valentine's Day next Thursday the challenge is simply to create something on the theme of love - could be a card, layout, altered item, ATC - cupcakes even!

Next, e-mail us a piccy to put in the challenge gallery (and possibly to feature in the link here on the blog) THEN post a comment so that we all know that you've taken part & can go take a look in the gallery. At the end of each month, the DT vote on their favourite from all the entries to win a prize!

Feel free to put a link to your blog in the comment but you must e-mail the image to us as well!

To get you in the mood (as it were!) here is a li'l gift box I've made for my upcoming class over at MCC. So if you want the instructions etc - you'll have to join me there! All the materials are from the Personal Shopper February 2007 Kit, which is on sale in the webshop now.

Be sure to pop back again tomorrow - there's a li'l announcement coming up!

Challenge #27 - Make your own embellishments!

Hi everyone!

Remember the days when crafting was about *making something* out of whatever you had to hand? Well this week I've gone a bit nostalgic...and I'm putting aside all those beautiful ready made embellishments in favour of something I've made myself...

My challenge to you is to do the same! You can enter a card, a LO, an altered item or an ATC...but the embellies must be all your own work...and not *bought*, OK?

Here are some ideas to get you going:

My first card is really far down the nostalgia track...its embroidered fuschias...done with an eyelet hole punch and some HOTP sheer ribbons from the Classic Collection {plus some green which I randomly had!} The greeting is from the HOTP word fragments.


My second card is a handmade shaker box card, made from a HOTP slide mount and two little pieces of acetate left from the HOTP acetate overlay we had months ago!! I've covered a blank card and the slide mount with pp's from the Boy to Men Busy Scrappers set, added a little chunky crystal glitter to the inside and a cute charm to the outside. I've also popped an offcut of ribbon from the HOTP Citrus Embellishment set and 4 gold square brads onto the box. Finally, I've drawn around the box and written my sentiment in by hand...do you remember hand writing? lol
How about a bunch of flowers to cheer the day along? These flowers on sticks {and hearts and butterflies too :) } are in all the shops atm...and I love them! Here I'm showing how many different styles of flowers you can make from just your offcuts of pp, a felt pen and some odd brads and charms. The large brads are the HOTP Really Big Brads. You could also use, felt, buttons, bottle tops...anything you like the look of to make the centres...let your imagination go wild!

Finally, I've made and embellished a box to give my loved one his favourite biscuits in on Valentines' Day. :-x I've used the same Boys to Men pp's, a HOTP alphabet sheet, some heart shaped brads from the Cooking set of Brad Buddies and a pair of scissors! Pretty cute, huh? :)

Ok, so you've seen my examples...do join in the Challenge and let me see what you can do. Simply e-mail your entry and then comment in this post to let us all know your work of art is in the gallery to be admired.

Good luck...and remember to check back at the end of the month to see if you are Feb's Challenge Winner!!

Mother's Day & New Home

Hello, well Mother's Day comes early this year on 2nd March so I thought I'd do mine early!

Here's a little pressie idea, a plant pot decoration. So easy to do you could get your children to make it. I found an old plastic drinking straw and decorated it. First I cut out some flowers using the friendly felt . As I'm not too good at drawing I used some chipboard flowers to act as a stencil. For the leaves I used a template free from the net. To add a bit of decoration I threaded some ribbon through one of the buttons that I had from a big bag of buttons that you can get from the Crop til you Drop webshop. And what a bargain!! A bag of buttons for only £1!! To the "stalk" I added more ribbon and a "Happy Mother's Day" which I printed off from my computer.

My second piece is a Mother's Day card. I had to use the Vintage Sara Papers from Hot Off The Press again for this one. They are so right for this sort of card. So I covered the card blank in the papers, tearing a co-ordinationg piece to add to the right side and also some little corners. To the corners I added the little star shapes. In the middle I used two big blooms held together with a big brad. The "MUM" was made by sponging distress inks onto vellum letters.


My third piece is a "New Home"card. I used the American Crafts papers to cover the card, adding a strip of co-ordinating paper to the side. The little house was just right so that went into the centre and then I added some buttons for a bit of dimension. Finally the "New Home" was printed out on my computer and layered onto some card.

Scrapping with scraps!!

Hi Guys,

I'm thinking that everyone is a bit skint in Jan/Feb, just like me...so I've done some projects that literally do use the last scraps of my kit, to show just what you can achieve with not much stash!!

OK...umm...no laughing please ;-p This is my first school photo and yes...I do want to run and hide now!! lol

I've used the remnants of 4 sheets of American Crafts The Goods pp's and a sheet of plain purple cardstock. I've made my own embellishments out of Friendly Felt and a couple of brads. I've journalled with a white pen, using my non-dominant hand...which is all wobbly and reminiscent of my 4 year old writing! Finally, I've stamped a huge bracket and an exclamation mark {fromt the HOTP Thingamajig stamp set} in white to tie the papers and my stylish shirt together!

Et voila...something out of *nothing.*



This little card really does use the scraps! If anyone remembers the Advent Calendar I made back in November...well the felt frame on this card is made by cutting around the waste from the title letters which I cut using a friend's Big Shot! I've embellished the frame with more felt, some butterflies, a circle and 2 different flowers all of which I punched out using regular punches. However please do be careful...in my enthusiastic jumping up and down to punch through the felt...I did break one of my punches!!! Ooooops! Finally, I added a jewel brad to the flower and inked the edges all the way around. Job done!

Finally, I've used the remnants of all those yummy sheets of Friendly Felt...did any of you notice just how much I loved this stuff!! I've made an assortment of embellishments ready for my next projects...very handy when you're in a bit of a hurry to have something ready made!

I hope you like what I've done? Do leave me a comment to let me know...and E-mail Beverley for any of these productts...apart from that...happy *scrapping*...and see you again soon! :)

A Vintage Set

My turn again and today I'm showing you a vintage set comprising of a tag, a door hanger and an ATC.

For this tag I cut out the basic tag shape from some card and covered it with the lovely Sara's vintage papers from HOTP. The little piece at the bottom is black glimmer paper torn and decorated with a fabric sticker and some ribbon and the vintage looking button. The dog check fabric square in the middle is also a fabric sticker. I added some little corner pieces by cutting out triangles from some of the vintage papers. The little stars are also from HOTP.





The door hanger is along the same lines again I covered the hanger shape with the lovely Sara vintage papers. Everything is made by HOTP bar the little charm . To add a vintagey feel I sanded the white button and the brads. I tied the little grandfather clock charm to some ribbon and then added it to the hook.








And finally the ATC. Again covered in the Sara's vintage papers with some torn corners. The little tag is also in the vintage paper range. I added the little stop watch charm with some ribbon. Then to finish off I added "wish" which is another HOTP product.







If you would like to buy any of these products you can email Beverley at sales@croptilyoudrop.co.uk as they aren't showing on the web shop at the moment.

Loving Aubrey!

Yep, I am TOTALLY in love with the Renae's House Aubrey Range from Creative Imaginations! Check them out in the webshop HERE and I guarantee you'll love 'em too!

I've used the papers, chipboard, cardstock stickers and brads for these 2 projects.

First up, a clipboard that I bought ages ago in the poundshop. First I painted round the edges with some purple acrylic paint. Then used the Floral paper to cover the front. I added a strip of the reverse of the Surprise paper to the bottom and added a chipboard flower and a cardstock sticker. I then added some scraps of ribbon to the clip, and added a notepad.

Then, with the scraps of paper I made the card. I covered the card blank with the Surprise paper and added a strip of the reverse side (the stripes) and a strip of the Floral paper. I then added a Heidi Swapp bloom with one of the Aubrey brads in the centre.

Don't forget to check out the webshop to see some of the other gorgeous new paper ranges!

Challenge 24!

Hi Everyone,

Its *that time* again...time to set a lovely new Challenge! This week I am thinking all about the New Year and new possibilities...so I challenge you to do something new...anything new! This is a very open challenge, you could try a new technique, use a new product, try a new craft...or even just use a new colour {one you usually avoid makes for an interesting challenge!!}

To get you started I've done a few *new* things myself:

I've tried my had at box making and I'm really pleased with the results! I've made this little cutie out of friendly felt {which is on an amazing special offer in the webshop}, embroidery thread and a button.





















Thinking about what other new ideas I could conjure up for this yummy felt...I hit upon the idea of making a little giftbag {I am always short of these and I love them because they are so much more fun than wrapping paper.}

All thats left now is for you to show me your creations. Remember this challenge is open to all types of paper crafter...cardmakers {maybe use a new sketch}, scrapbookers {maybe try a new technique} and I think this time we'd better include general crafters too {as my examples use no fabric...why should yours!! lol}

As usual send your entries by e-mail and be sure to post a comment so that we all know to go and see what you've done! There is a fabulous prize awarded at the end of the month to the favourite entry as judged by the DT...so go on...I bet we'll love what you do!!