Belle and Boo Christmas Crackers

I am totally in love with Trimcraft's Belle and Boo Christmas collection. The papers and embellishments are so beautiful, I really wanted to make something special with them so I decided to make some Christmas crackers. These papers are a perfect weight for this project.

The crackers are actually so easy to make but I'm really happy with the way they look and they've been a big hit with friends and on my Trimcraft gallery.

Instructions:

1. Cut the cracker shape from paper using a cracker die or template. I used the Tonic A5 cracker die for mine.

2. Assemble the cracker (it really helps to roll it around a tube to give some shape first, I use the inner tube from cling film) and glue tabs in place. I used Cosmic Shimmer glue as it is quick drying and stays in place.

3. Cut strips of paper to decorate the centre and ends of the crackers. The Belle and Boo pack has papers which have strips of images perfect for this.

4. Tie the ends of the images with twine, attaching buttons or charms before tying bows.

Products used:

Trimcraft Belle and Boo Christmas 8x8 paper pack, wooden buttons

Trimcraft Glad Tidings Twine, Snowflake Metal Charms

Tonic A5 Cracker Die

My son loves these crackers- & has decided they are the perfect size to put Lego Minifigures in. I'd love to know what you would put in yours.

Thanks for visiting and commenting today.
Cathy x

Belle and Boo Christmas Card

Hi everyone. This week has been so busy and I can't quite believe it's back to school for the kids next week.

Today I'm sharing a card I've made using the Trimcraft Belle and Boo Christmas range. I love the Belle and Boo characters and the papers in this range are just fabulous, perfect for layering.

This is a sweet and simple card, featuring a decoupage image from the decoupage pad and finished with a wooden shape and button. The sentiment stamp is also from the Belle and Boo range.

Thanks for popping by today, I really do appreciate all your lovely comments xxx

Belle and Boo Brag Book

I wanted to use the Belle and Boo collection for something other than cards and came up with the idea of a Brag Book, designed for my Mum to show off pictures of her grandchildren.

The book started life as a 4"x12" strip of Core'dinations card, folded like this:

Full instructions can be found on my Trimcraft gallery but here are some photos showing how I've decorated the card, with space to add pictures and even a pocket for momentos such as train tickets. I just love the finished result- and so does Grandma!

Products used:

Trimcraft Belle and Boo 6x6 papers, Ribbon (pirate hat) and Toppers

Core'dinations card

Tonic Oval Layering Dies

Creative Expressions Milk Foundation Card with printed sentiment

Belle and Boo Birthday Card

First of all I have some very exciting news- my Pirate Shutter Card was named as project of the month on the Trimcraft website. You can read about it hereTrimcraft project of the month for April. This is especially exciting as I love Trimcraft products, particularly  Belle and Boo, and have already received a fantastic prize to make more lovely projects with.

Today's card is more Belle and Boo but this time it's a little girl's birthday card. I wanted the focus of the card to be the image and the fab papers but also wanted to add some pretty embellishments. I did this by die cutting and layering some flowers and adding lace and ribbon. I have also used a distress ink pad to add a slightly shabby chic look, which is a departure from my usual clean lines.

Products used: 

Trimcraft Belle and Boo 6x6 paper pad, Decoupage pad, Ribbon

Trimcraft Sweet Paris Pearls

Docrafts Lace Trim

Trimcraft First Edition Flower Dies

Craft UK card blank

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad Victorian Velvet

I would like to enter this card for these challenges:

Crafting Musketeers May Challenge Use a Die Cut

Allsorts Challenge April Showers Bring May Flowers

Belle and Boo Shutter Card

Time for a confession. I am hopeless with a craft knife. So when Tattered Lace brought out a die set that could make fantastic shutter cards, I bought it straight away. Better still, it contains all the layering dies needed to decorate the card too, so there is no need for hours of measuring and cutting.

I used the Belle and Boo 8x8 paper pad for this boy's birthday card and used one of the images from the decoupage pack.

Perhaps my favourite bit of the card is the rosette I made. For this I cut a thin strip of paper from the pad and scored it at 5mm intervals. I then concertina folded the paper and joined the ends together with tape. I flattened it out and stuck it onto a circle of card. Next I attatched two short strips of paper and two pieces of ribbon to make the tails. Finally I stuck 2 die cut circles on top and added a number.

Products used:

Tattered Lace Shutter Card die set (includes letter dies)

Trimcraft Belle and Boo 8x8 Paper Pad, Decoupage pad, Pirate Ribbon

Docrafts Papermania orange card 

Tonic Studios Circle and Scalloped Circle layering dies

Creative Expressions Foundation Card in Milk

Trimcraft 10 minute challenge card

Usually I spend lots of time on cards but when I saw the 10 minute card challenge on the Trimcraft website, I thought it would be interesting to see what I could make in such a short time. It also gave me an opportunity to use some of the Belle and Boo collection, with its fabulous images and fresh colour pallette.
I helped myself by using a ready made topper, doily and bow. I also used a favourite layout. All I had to do was trim the paper and layer the elements to create this simple but very pretty card.