Gingerloft Challenge # 7 ~ Bows ! ! !

It’s another fortnight closer to Christmas can you believe it! Where is the time going? I swear each time someone says the word ‘Christmas’ that it inches closer by a day without even blinking. 

This brings me to this fortnights challenge over at Gingerloft Challenges and it fits right in at home with the Jolly old man and his gifts .... BOWS.  Now I know you all have ribbon of some sort laying around, or in your stash so I would like to see you all play along with us this week! Big bows, little bows, single bows to double bows, I know you all have it in you!

This is what I came up with for this week’s theme, and I even stepped out of Christmas mode to whip up a quick Birthday card. 

For the card I used the ‘Take Time’ sentiment, I am so in love with it and it is perfect for so many occasions. It is actually one of the Gingerloft freebies so you can have it too! Just click here and it will take you straight to it!   

My second project, if you remember a few weeks ago I made for my nephew a special Santa key door hanger and my little gremlins requested or should I say ‘informed me’ (to be correct) that we had to have one too! I used image Christmas Door as a watermark in the background and I also changed the colour to red to make the black writing stand out more.  I love how it finished with the glitter bow, tinsel, the bells and I do love my ribbon especially my deep blood red wire ribbon. 

It really is beginning to look a lot Christmas around the home. All I need now is the whole family together! 2 weeks, 4 days and now counting till all the hearts are back in the home!!!

Challenges

Take Time Birthday Card

A Spoon Full of Suger - #131 Anything goes (Tuesdays)
Papertake Weekly - Cut it out - The silver embossed hearts are a die cut (Tuesdays)
Top Tip Tuesday - Layer on layer - I have 5 layers on the card front (Tuesdays)
* My Grafico - #76 Go Girly - It's pink with a huge pink bow, little bows, hearts, ribbon. (Wednesdays)
 Charismas Cardz - One for the girls - It's for a girl, it's pink with a huge pink bow, little bows, hearts, ribbon. (Thursdays)
Crafty Purple Frog - Flowers - I have flowers :) (Thursdays)
Cute Card Thursday - Blast from the past - I choose Challenge #130 A tweet and a flutter - I have the blue butterflies on the image / sentiment. (Thursdays)  **EDIT *** I WON - Random org but still :))
Delightful Challenges - Flower Power - I have flowers (Thursdays)
Character Cafe - Natural or Neutral Colour and some sparkle or glitter - I have used a wood grain DP paper behing the sentiment on the right and I have lots of white that is a neutral colour. For the sparkle/ glitter I have the glitery flowers.(Fridays)
Fun at Fairy Knoll - Family - I think this sentiment fits well for family and the card is for my sister. (Fridays)
Lots To Do - Embossing - I have the main card (pink) that is dry embossed with spots and I have the die-cut hearts that have been heat embossed with silver. (Fridays)
Paper Cutz Challenge - Anything goes (Fridays)

Santa's Magic Key Door Hanger

Die Cut Dreams - #75 Anything but a card (Mondays)
Tuesday Taggers - A decoration - (Tuesday)
Creative Belli Blog - Rs Red, Ribbon, Ric Rac anything (R) - I have red, red ribbon, red image, red bells. (Wednesdays)
Freshly Brewed - FBC #24 Winter/ Christmas theme - It is a Christmas decoration (Wednesdays)
* Penny's Papper-Crafty Challenge - #43 Photo Inpiration - The red bow stood out for me and I saw the way it's tails curl and spin and was looking for this effect in my project.  The bright yellow gold I picked out with the gold glitter bow but put the focus back on the red bow with adding the dangling red ribbon tails. (Wednesdays)
Paper Pretties - Clean and simple - It is simple, clean and streamlined. (Wednesdays)
* Aud Sentiments - Ho Ho Ho - Ok so I don't have the words so not sure if I qualify for entry but it is very much Santa related as it is his key. (Thursdays)
* Fun with Shapes & More - #71 Everything but a card - Its a door hanger decoration. (Firdays)
Sew Many Challenges - #34 Red and green - I have the red bows and the image is red and I have the green bells. (Fridays)
* Stamp & Create - Tis the season - This is for the season! (Fridays)
Winter Wonderland - Shape up - Its a door hanger decoration (Fridays)

Fair winds and following seas,

The Navy Wife

A treasure box for my treasured angel.

Ok I have been busy, really busy in fact making paper boxes for Christmas gifts and Yeah! I even got some orders for them as well so I have been more of a crafty girl of late than a blogger girl (please forgive me).  It is all good though as my paper boxes I really enjoy putting together and I love the fun I have embellishing them! I have three to show you today!

I am also again a little disappointed that I live in Australia as we don’t do Thanksgiving here, and at the moment we are about to roll into a heat wave of a summer and not a cool breezy fall like all the folks over in the US :( But... giving thanks has certainly been on my mind this week, especially what I am thankful for.
I am thankful for my sister Aunty Ree.  She is my sanity saver, my angel; my best friend and I love her from here to the beyond.  With hubby away majority of the time (we actually joke he about his temporary tenancy here when I move things or paint a wall, I always say I left a memo on the fridge ... Didn’t you see it?) and at most times as he is not instantly contactable she is often my lifeline when I am having ‘one of those bad days’.  I know I could not just turn up on anyone else’s doorstep but hers and just dump my kids on them, say ‘I’ve had enough’, turn and just walk out and take an hour for myself while I put all the pieces of my mind back together.   (Not that this happens often) but on the occasion(s) yes, I could be very tempted to leave my children on the side of the road with a “free” sign hanging round their neck ~ Specially at the moment as we go through the terrible twos!

She is truly a beautiful woman, she does so much for me and deserves to be spoilt, thanked and loved and that is why when I saw the disappointment in her face when she said she liked one of the boxes (she calls them my treasure boxes) I had made but told her it was for an order, that I knew I had to do something special for her.

So I have spent my week making boxes, lots and lots of boxes and one very special treasure box.  Here they are ~ You will need to scroll down for each box specifics (3 boxes in total) as I have listed them with the corresponding challenges I am entering them in.  (There are a few challenges for the 1st one, being as Christmas is almost on everyone’s challenge site at the moment).

This first one is a Christmas box for a colleague and she is leaving at Christmas and moving onto bigger things.  It is a shame to see her go and she will be missed by many.  The paper layers on the box all have heat embossed edges as well as the card.  The flower on the box is a prima flower base that I then added white glitter flower die-cuts on top of and finished with a red jewel centre.  The two flowers on the card I made using the white glitter cardstock die-cuts and have red jewelled centres as well.  On the card I have used red stickles above the pearls on the scalloped edged sentiment and I have used lace and again the red jewels as highlights, this time on the lace.  The image is a stamped image that I have embellished with pearls on both the card and box.  The ‘Believe’ tag has also been silver heat embossed and has 2 red pearls adding highlight and embellishment.  I love how this set came up!

Card and box.

Box top.

Box side.

Box base - Lace edge with red jewel highlight and the silver emboss on the card edges.

Box top and open bottom.

Rubber stamo fern swirl embossed with pearls.

Matching Card

Sentiment and stamp image (the stamp image is raised with foam tape to match the top raise of the gift box).

Flower on card (Top right)

The set together.

Challenges for the Christmas box and matching card : *
* Critter Sketch ~ #40 Texture – I have heat emboss, and stickles. (Mondays)Lexi's Creations ~ Traditional Christmas Colors – Red and white  (Mondays)Pollycraft ~ #70 Glittery Christmas – I have glitter (Mondays)Simon Says Stamp And Show  ~ Whatever makes you happy – I love making boxes and cards (Mondays)Stamp With Fun ~ #85 Square – The box is 15cm square (Mondays)Stamps R Us ~ Sparkles and scallops – I have sparkles in the glitter and the white flower paper and the pearls and the jewels.  And the sentiment has a scallop bottom edge. (Mondays)Flourishes Timeless Tuesdays ~ Just do it – I have been busy making boxes for Christmas gifts. (Tuesdays)Scrap Creations ~ Song Inspired – I was singing ‘Here comes Santa Clause’ while crafting away with this. (Tuesdays)Creative Belli ~ CBC #104 Old, new, borrowed or blue – The lace is old, the pearls are new, the rubber fern stamp is borrowed. (Wednesdays)
 Digistamps 4 Joy ~ Inspired by Christmas / Holiday season – this is a Christmas project (Wednesdays)Freshly Brewed ~ Show off your style – While I love to make cards I have a passion for alternate crafts such as treasure boxes. (Wednesdays)
 Melijen's Designs ~ Christmas – It is for Christmas (Wednesdays)* Simon Says Stamp ~ Sparkle – It sparkles with glitters, jewels, pearls and silver heat emboss. (Wednesdays)
The Creative Cottage Challenge Blog ~Someone special at Christmas – This is for someone special – 2nd entry  (Wednesdays)Crafty Purple Frog ~ Flowers – I have a flower on the box centre and two on the card (Thursdays)
I did it Creations~ #29 Traditional Christmas Colors - Red and white are Christmas colors (Fridays)
Paper Cutz ~ Project for Christmas – This is a Christmas gift (Fridays)
 Pattie’s Creations Design Challenge ~ Anything but a card – I have a box and a card (Fridays)
* Stamp and Create ~ #7 Tis the season - This is a Christmas project (Fridays)
Crazy 4 Challenges ~ C4C #63 Christmas - This is a Christmas project
2 Sisters ~ Christmas - This is a Christmas project (Saturdays)
Saturday Challenge ~ #109 Sparkle & Shine (Saturdays)
Totally Gorjuss ~ Christmas Colors - Red and white are Christmas colors (Saturdays)
* Bee Crafty ~ #42 Christmas 2 - This is a Christmas project (Saturdays)
One Stitch At A Time ~ Christmas Sparkle - This is a Christmas project with sparkles (Sundays)
The Crafty Pad ~ #97 Christmas Sparkle - This is a Christmas project with sparkles (Sundays)
* Stamping Vacation ~ Embellish it – Use a corner adornment - I have the flower in the top right hand corner of the card.


Next up is an adorable little box in a turquoise/blue/green and white card with orange embellishment highlights.  I made this box for a donation to my son’s school to add to their Christmas fundraising raffles.  The image is digital stamp (found it on my computer and have no idea when I acquired it or who it is from) and it has been embellished with turquoise jewels on the flower stamina and hot pink jewels on the flower stem swirls.  The butterfly on the top I made from hand with acetate, glitter, jewels and some Styrofoam.  The butterfly border on the base of the box has been punched and I have additionally added the orange butterflies that have been glittered and are positioned 3d style on the base. The orange ribbon around the top edge of the box and the flower the butterfly is sitting on is from my stash.  Again all edges of the card stock have been heat embossed with silver.

Open box.

Box side view.

Top view of box.

Digital stamp image - embellished with jewels.

Acetate handmade glitter butterfly.

No challenges for this box :(

Lastly and my favourite is the treasure box for Aunty Maree – This is a special box, I have over embellished it compared to the other boxes but this woman deserves it and I was not scrimping on her so she got the best of the best :) This is my way of thanking her for always being there and being the greatest best friend anyone could wish or want for.  I added a double sided tag to the box; one side is simply a ‘Thank you and I love you’ and the other side is a personal reminder of us all (It is a Winnie the Pooh quote and my terrible two is BFF with Winnie the Pooh! He sleeps, eats, showers and travels with her so I thought it was a rather cute gesture to add).  The butterfly on the top is a Christmas decoration I picked up from the $2 shop.  There is gold ric rac ribbon on the top of the box and a silver embossed butterfly border on the base.  The butterfly border also has 3d glitter purple butterflies (these look adorable).  I have also added a light purple jewelled border around the base of the box and around the topside of the top of the box.  There is also 3d glitter butterflies on the tag.  I love this box and I love all these purples colors melding into each other.

Open box.

Box top.

Digial stamp - embellished with jewels and showing jewels around top box edge.

Winnie the Pooh tag sentiment.

Love you and Thank you sentiment -on reverse on the tag

.

Silver embossed butterfly punch with 3d purple butterflies and the jewels around the box base edgeing.

Challenges for the purple thank you treasure box for Aunty Maree:* Paper Playtime #25 P.S. I love you – This is for someone I love (Mondays)* Stamp With Fun ~ #85 Square – The box is 15cm square (Mondays) 3rd entry 
The Crazy Challenge ~CCH #41 Thank you - It is a gift to say Thank you, and thank you is writing on the tag ( (Mondays) *EDIT* Made TOP 3
Creative Card Crew ~ Give Thanks - It is a gift to say Thank you as I am blessed to have a sister as beautiful as mine, and thank you is writing on the tag (Tuesdays)Digital Tuesday ~ #85 Anything with wings plus a digi – The swirls are a digital stamp image and I have a butterfly on the top and lots on the base of the box. (Tuesdays)* Tuesday Taggers ~ Peace, joy, love – I have LOVE on the tag and it is a gift for someone I love (Tuesdays)Crafts and Me Challenges ~ #17 Glitter  I have the gorgeous glitter butterfly on the top along with the smaller 3d glitter butterflies on the base (Wednesdays) 1st and only 1 entry allowed.Flutterby Wednesday ~#131 anything goes – I have butterflies – one on the top and lots on the base (Wednesdays) 2nd entry* Aud Sentiments ~ Thanks - It is a gift to say Thank you as I am blessed to have a sister as beautiful as mine, and thank you is writing on the tag (Thursdays)
* Sassy  Studio ~ Thank you - It is a gift to say Thank you as I am blessed to have a sister as beautiful as mine, and thank you is writing on the tag (Thursday)Shelly's Images ~ What you are thankful for - It is a gift to say Thank you as I am blessed to have a sister as beautiful as mine, and thank you is writing on the tag (Thursdays)Southern Girls ~ #6 Your favourite Color – My favourite color is PURPLE (Thursdays)
* Bah Humbug ~ #45 Lovely in Lilac  - It is purple and has all shades of purple (Fridays)
Fun At Fairy Knoll ~ Thankful - It is a gift to say Thank you as I am blessed to have a sister as beautiful as mine, and thank you is writing on the tag (Fridays)* Lots to Do  ~ Friends / Friendship – This is for my best friend and the tag (Winnie the pooh quote sentiment is friend related (Fridays)
Ellephantasitc Challenge ~ Christmas themed and or a butterfly - I have butterflies (Saturdays) 1st and only 1 entry alowed.

Wow ! Sorry it is such a long one! I should blog more often!
Fair winds and following seas.
The Navy Wife

I found Santa’s key amongst the veggie patch

I really cannot put into words how great and what wonders for your soul a few days out at the farm can do.  The kids and I have had a blast, and inspiration and creativity has blossomed from the hard work, blood, sweat and tears while tending to the garden. And it gets better!  I have found over near the tractor in the long and greatly over grown grass there is a link back to civilization! I can pick up a mobile phone signal.  Two bars is the best I can get but it’s enough and I am not complaining!

We spent the best part of the day tending to the veggie patch and working on some new seed beds.  This has been the 1^st year Maree (technically my Aunty, but we call ourselves sisters) and I have been allowed to run the patch all by ourselves and ginkies we have done so well with it!  Cannot wait till next year as we have some really big plans!

Chloe picking strawberries.

Yum yum tummy! Straight off the vine can it get any better!

Cucumbers!

Watermelons!

Corn and tomatoes!

Chloe's friend ... Mr Roo :)

Chloe & Dylan digging some holes for the new potatoes.

Angus and Chloe playing in the hay trailer :)

The tractor and I think it is time to mow ! I nearly got lost in all that grass lol.

We had the kids out helping us with their own little shovels (and of course dump trucks) to carry the dirt :) and we dug, played, laughed, chattered and nattered all day amongst kangaroos, turkeys and ladybugs.  We snacked on fresh picked strawberries, cherry tomatoes and best of all we played in the dirt, played with water and we got filthy dirty! We also got talking about Christmas and when children are involved that really means Santa, and what he is bringing lol.

This is really the younger ones first Christmas where they are starting to understand Santa and the question was raised on how does he get in? We don’t have a chimney and as we were broken into recently they all know mummy (Aunty Leesie) never leaves the doors or windows unlocked, so he won’t leave presents because he won’t be able to get in!  Well Aunty Leesie cannot allow that to happen! So after the kids went down she got a crafting to fix the problem. 

This is for my darling little nephew Angus.  He will be 3 at the start of December (and he is such a smart little fellow) that I thought this would make a sweet little gift for him to share with his sister, help put his head at rest and outsmart him on how Santa will deliver his presents.  I could not let his dreams of Santa shatter, so as Aunty Leesie does, she fixed the problem with this. 

I think it turned out beautifully! And the photos just do not do it justise :(

A close up of the bell at the top and the tinsel twine.

Close up of the wording.

I did personalise this from the original wording of the

poem to make it more personal for Angus.

I love this glitter bow!

Santa's key.  I added another bell in hopes on Christmas Eve

he will hear the bell as Santa comes to leave his pressents. lol

Challenges :-

Die Cut Dreams - #73 Make a Door Hanger - It’s a door hanger :) (Mondays) *EDIT* I made top 3 ! ! :)))

Lexi’s Creations - #26 Anything Goes - 2^nd Entry (Mondays)

A Crafty Little Place - #64 Red, White & Green (Tuesdays) I have the red ribbon, bows and tinsel twine, white card for the wording and in the twine and the green bells. (Tuesdays)

 Scrap Creations – Christmas - It is a Christmas project.

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday – FTTC92 Glitter - I have the glitter bow (Tuesdays)

Simon Says Stamp – Prince Charming – Any card/creation for a male and add a charm. - I made this for my nephew and the bells are charms. (Wednesday)

Penny’s Paper Craft - #42 Alter it in some way - Keys are usually on a key ring and never found just hanging on the outside door handle. (Wednesday)

ABC Challenge Blog – H is for ... Holiday - It is a Christmas project. (Wednesdays)

Other Lovelies – The letter ‘K’ – It is Santa’s “K”ey  - (Thursdays)

Cute Card Thursday - #138 Anything Goes - (Thursdays)
Shelly's Images - Anything goes Christmas (Thursdays)

Delightful Challenges – Glitter it up! - I have the glitter bow. (Thursdays)

Some odd Girl – Dimension - I have the huge glitter bow and the bells that stand out on the project all adding dimension, there is also the key on it's ribbon and it swings and sways. (Thursdays)

Crafty Purple Frog – Time for you to sparkle - 2^nd Entry I have the glitter bow. (Thursdays)

Sassy Studio – Anything goes - (Thursdays)

* Easy Craft Projects - #25 Red - I have the red ribbon, the red tinsel twine and the red glitter bow. (Fridays)

Whoopsi Daisy Challenge – Christmas - It is a Christmas project. (Sundays)

The request has now been placed by my two little darlings for mummy to make us one as well :) I'm not complaining as I loved putting this together and can't wait to make another lol!

Fair winds and following seas.

The Navy Wife