In a Spin

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Hi everyone, welcome to my blog!

I've been back in work after a week's leave this week, so it's been a busy time.  I've also been getting ready for October and the run-up to Halloween - the best time of the year in my opinion.  In my "other" blogging persona, I'll be posting a Halloween-themed project every day next month, so I've been busy getting things ready.

So meanwhile, here's another card using the Home for Christmas paper.  I'm not usually a fan of cute Santas but I love this set!  I also used the Wondrous Wreath Stamp and die bundle (which was the set that got me into Stampin' Up!) and Mint Macaron, Cucumber Crush and Watermelon Wonder inks.

Hope you like it - and that'll I see you soon.

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Flippin' Christmas

Hello everyone, it's good to have you here!

I've been wanting to play with the circle spinner card die for some time and the Home for Christmas DSP inspired me to get going.  I really like this paper!

The dies make it so easy to create one of these cards - but these cards have a hidden panel inside.  You could hide a gift card or some vouchers inside, or just special message.

Here's the tutorial -

I hope you'll give this a try yourself - let me know how you get on!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Autumn Wishes

Hello everyone, and thank you for visiting.

It's been a funny old week.  The DH (Dear Husband) has been laid up with a bout of spondylitis (bad back to you and me) which has rather put a damper on our week off.  On the positive side, we've heard that we passed our dance test (it's on to rumba and tango now!) although we don't know our marks yet.  And I've had time to craft.

Next month I'm going to be taking part in a month-long blog hop (in my other persona - tell you more when we get there!) so I've been getting ahead with the projects, but there's still time for some Stampin' Up! playtime.  I did a bit of colour-blending directly on the embossing folder for the card above, then went over the raised bits with a sponge dauber dipped in Soft Suede ink.

I finished it off with a few scraps of paper from the Happy Haunting DSP set and stamped the sentiment from the companion stamp set.  

Hope you like it!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

It's a Gift!

Hello and thank you for visiting today.

If you've been looking at the projects on my blog, you might have noticed that I love cards that move or flip or pop up.  Paper engineering has fascinated me ever since I got my first pop-up book as a child.  I've always wanted to unscrew the inscrutable and take things to bits to see how they work.

Today I'm sharing a nifty little way of presenting a gift card, which I CASE'd from Susannah Jepson (Stampin' Suse)

Her's another version-

In the course of making these, I also discovered that you can shrink craft foam! Who knew?!
Here's the tutorial - 

The measurements again -

You need cardstock - 

For the outer part - 10" x 3 3/4", score at 1 1/4" and 6"
Inner pocket slider - 2 3/4" x 5 7/8", score at 1 1/4" and 5 3/8"

Thanks for watching!  

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

What a week!

Hello everyone, thank you for stopping by!

It's been quite a week here.  

David (my husband) and I enjoy ballroom and latin dancing (we started to learn so that we could waltz at our wedding) and we've recently started taking medal tests.  Last Sunday we were all set to take our Paso Doble exam (I LOVE the Paso Doble- such drama!) and two days before THE day David put his back out.  It's just as well there wasn't a drug test because he was dosed up to the eyeballs on painkillers.  It seemed to go OK, nevertheless - but we won't know for sure until we get the results. 

 On top of that my "day job" has kept me very busy, and David has been running round taking his parents to medical appointments, which hasn't helped his back any.  Thank heaven for crafting!

I used two stamp sets on the card - Flower Patch and Bravo!  I mixed the inks (dollars of red, yellow and orange) by rubbing the pads on my silicone mat and then inked up the stamps from the mat.   It was quick and easy to do, and just what I needed to de-stress myself.  

Hope you like it- and hope to see you again soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Perfectly Groomed

Hello bloggers and welcome!

Today’s tutorial is a continuation of last week’s. This time I've made the Bridegroom version.

I decided to make two videos because a single tutorial covering both versions would have been VERY long – so last time I concentrated on the construction of the box, this one is more about embellishing it. 

See the cute little bow tie?  I used a dining fork to help me tie it evenly.  You can buy gadgets to help you tie a bow but basically, they’re all just two posts with a space in between  and it’s not that easy to find one that will help you with teeny tiny bows.  The fork worked fine for me.  You can see how I did it in the video –

If you want the details of how I constructed the box then you can find it here.

Hope you enjoyed – see you again soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren.

Bohemian Rhapsody!

Hello everyone – welcome to my blog!

Here’s today’s quick share-

This is a CASE (Copy And Share Everything) from the preview that we Stmpin’ Up! Demonstrators got of the 2015-16 Annual Catalogue.  Yes, I know that we’re all excited about the new Autumn/Winter catalogue, but that doesn’t meant that the AC has gone away!

I absolutely love, love, LOVE the colours in the Bohemian DSP, they are so rich.  I hope you like them too – but there’s no reason why you couldn’t use other colours instead.

Here’s the sketch –

If you give this a try I’d love to see what you come up with – leave a link in the comments so I can visit!

See you soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Here comes the bride

Hello, lovely people who are visiting my blog - welcome1

Today I'm revisiting my Stay-closed box, which I've resized slightly.  This one is made from a piece of card 6 1/2 by 6 inched, scored at 3 and 6 inches on the long side and at 1 inch and 4 inches on the shorter side.  If you watch the tutorial, I explain the principles involved in resizing the box to suit your needs.  

There's a bit of a story attached to this box - which I do seem to have originated.   I'm normally the sort of person who takes someone else's idea and adapts it to suit my purpose.  However, just for once, I can lay claim to starting something.

Earlier this year I was making a stay-closed packet that I'd found in a publication from Hot off the Press, in a video for my YouTube channel.  The design called for the flaps at the base of the packet to be trimmed to about a 45 degree angle, and I was about to do that when I realised that, if I left that step out, it made a rather attractive shaped box - so I changed design direction there and then and pretended that had been my intention all along

I shared the picture in the Pootles Craft Forum group on Facebook, people said nice things about the box, made copies of it - and before I knew it I was seeing "my" box everywhere.  I was - and still am - delighted, especially when Dawn Griffith CASE'd it (I felt that I had truly ARRIVED at that point!), and I spotted a die-cut version on TV.  It also turned up for download in the Silhouette store in the form of a file for the Cameo or Portrait cutters.  I am truly thrilled!

Anyway, here's the tutorial.  (At a couple of points in the video you can hear a strange little noise, for which I apologise- it's the cat,snoring!)

Thanks for watching!

PS - next time we'll be making the masculine version - can't leave the guys out, can we?  See you soon!