Twin Hearts

Hello bloggists, and welcome.

Did you all have a fab festive season?  I do hope so, and that Santa brought you some lovely crafty goodies to play with.  Me, I'm saving my Christmas Present money for the new catalogue and for Sale-A-Bration.  You've probably already seen projects using the new items that are coming soon (very  soon...) and I've got some that I'll be showing you soon.

Today, though, I thought I'd take a look at my supplies and make something using items I've had for a while but not really done much with, and because I'd just been playing with envelope paper it was at the top of my mind, so to speak.  Here's what I did - 

I really like these colours together.  Not your usual Valentine colourway, but I think it works.  How about you?

See you again soon,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

PS Don't forget to show me pictures of what you've been making on my Facebook page - I really want to see them!

Triangle origami box

Hello bloggists and welcome.

I love paper.   I just do!  There's something very satisfying about taking a sheet of it and turning it into something-a greeting card,  a box, a flower... 

At one time, I was very interested in origami.   It's a fascinating subject and I was very intrigued at the way folding pieces of paper could create models of animals or boxes or just elegant shapes.  It doesn't need much equipment or take up much room.  You begin with the very easy folds and then progress to the more complex.

Today's project is a very simple fold.  It's modular origami, where a number of simple pieces lock together to create a more complex piece.

Here's how it goes together -

You can vary the size just by using smaller or larger squares of paper and tiny boxes made from shiny paper would make cute tree ornaments  (it's never too early to start planning for Christmas,  right?)

And on that happy note, I'll sign off!

Crafty Hugs

Keren

Kitty Cat Treat bag

Hello bloggists and welcome.   I hope that you all had a lovely holiday.  Perhaps you got some lovely crafty gifts, or perhaps some money to spend on yourself? I'm saving mine for the new SU catalogue.  Not long to wait now before you can get your hands on the yummy things that are coming up! 

At this time of year, I don't have much space for crafting so today's offering is a quick and easy project.  My mother in law sends our cat a Christmas present from her cat, so of course our cat has to send one back.  This little bag will hold a pouch of her favourite treats (Dreamiest,  if you're interested).  

Here's the video-

Thanks for visiting.  Have a great day and come back again soon. 

Crafty hugs,

Keren

Cup of Coffee Treat Pouch

Hello bloggists, welcome to my blog.

I’m not much of a coffee drinker.  I do love a cup of tea, but coffee just isn’t my thing- but I have plenty of friends who run on it! 

This little wallet  holds a surprising amount, and though I’ve sized it specifically to fit the coffee bag plus whitener, sugar and a bikkie, you could easily use it for something else.  After I’d finished it, I realised that it reminded me of a document wallet and if I resized it, I could use it for post-it notes(*pulls out calculator and begins writing down measurements)

 Here’s how I made it..

.

..and here are the measurements -

Last blog post before Christmas and I’ll be taking a rest on Christmas day – back next week.

Have a great festive season!

See you again soon,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Santa Cookie Cutter Card

Hello bloggists, welcome to my blog.

Christmas is almost upon us – where has the time gone?  When I was a little girl it felt like a lifetime between one Christmas and the next, and now the year just whizzes by!  There’s still time – just – to make some cards if you’re very quick, and this is a very quick card (for me, anyway!)

I resisted getting the Cookie Cutter punch and the Cookie Cutter Christmas stamps, but I’ve seen so many beautiful projects made with the bundle that in the end, resistance was futile and I had to give in.  The bundle retires when the Autumn/Winter catalogue ends on 3 January but stamps and punch will be available separately without the 10% bundle discount – so if, like me, you’ve put off getting these now’s your last chance for a saving.

And there’s a touch of “bring in the new” on this card as well...I’ve given you a sneaky peek of something that you’ll be able to get when the new catty comes into play on 4 January.  Take a look

See you again soon,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Simply Sketched 16

 Thank you for joining us for another Simply Sketched Saturday Challenge! 

We’re so excited to be sharing this hop with you.  The products used are all available in the current Annual, or seasonal, Stampin’ Up!® Catalogues*. 

Simply use the buttons at the bottom of the post to keep hopping.

This time it's Amanda Charlesworth's turn to set the sketch and this is what she came up with -

As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to use the Botanical Builders edge die.  I've interpreted the sketch rather freely, but I think you can still see a hint of Amanda's sketch design in there -

Whatch'a think?  Can I get away with it?

Anyway, I hope you are ready to proceed in an orderly fashion to the

Or, if you've come in half-way through the picture you might prefer to work your way backwards to the 

Thank you for visiting, and I will be seeing you soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Flippin' gift card!

Hello bloggists, and welcome.

You know I love action cards, right?    Here's today's card.  

Remove the belly band and pull the tab...

..to reveal a hidden message.  Keep pulling the tab and then...

...the flap fips over to reveal a surprise!

I saw a card like this on youTube some time ago, but the video just showed it in action, and didn't tell you how to make it.  I've been on a mission to find out how to do it ever since, and I finally found instructions in a book by Duncan Birmingham.  Here's how I made it -

Download the cutting diagram here - 

In the tutorial, I mentioned that there is a relationship between the size of the flap that flips over and the depth of the actuator.  The actuator is scored into four sections - the two outer ones are the tabs, the inner part is the action.  The formula for the action is (depth of flap minus 1tab)/2.  So, if the flap is 2 1/2 inches and the tabs are 1/2 inch, then the actuator needs to be (2 1/2 - 1/2)=2, divided by 2 = 1 inch.  Add two 1/2 inch tabs and the finished actuator should be 2 inches deep.  

It's worth practising this mechanism a few times so that you fully understand how it goes together, but I hope you agree that it's pretty impressive in action.

That's it for now, see you again soon,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Hot Chocolate

Hello bloggists, and welcome.  

There's something very cute about miniatures and when I came across a number of projects like this one on Pinterest I had to have a go at making my own version.  

I made it so that it's gift card holder as well as a card holder.  If you didn't want to add the gift card, you could glue the back panel to itself.  Or you could just tuck the Snowman Soup verse inside.  This is the one I like - 

When the weather outside is frightful, 
Snowman Soup can be delightful!

May it warm your spirit & soul, 
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

When you feel a chill or “burr”, 
Use the candy cane to stir

Add hot water & sip it slow, 
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Here's how I made it-

Of course, you could just fill the cup with Snowman Soup (hot chocolate mix, mini marshmallows, some chocolates and a candy cane) or some sweets and not bother with the cup holder for a very quick gift.

I hope you enjoyed this project, and if so, join me again soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Extra-large box

Hello bloggists and welcome.

Today's project is a big box.  I mean three sheets of A4 big, so not something that you'd make very often.  But I needed a big box to hold the Snowglobe I made  earlier - so here it is!

I will say that this did go through a couple of changes of design direction while I was making it - here's how it went together.

So that's it.  Hope you liked it.

See you again soon,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Snow globe

Hi bloggists, thanks for visiting. 

As the song says, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  I am writing this blog entry on my way home from work,  using my phone, I am on the bus because my husband has taken the car. The route goes through a number of housing estates and many families have Christmas trees and lights in the windows. . It's a real treat to see them, and makes me think I should be getting my deccies up.

Some of my favourite ornaments are things that I've created,  and I love this snow globe because I can change the image whenever I want to. I’ve had it a few years. .This year I have used Merry Tags to decorate it.

Here is the tutorial

Hope you like it. 

Crafty Hugs 

Keren 

Elegant Gift Box

Hello bloggists, and welcome.

I love this copper swiss-dot paper.  It's just SOOOO elegant.  I want a whole stack of it- and it's so sad that, because it's a speciality paper, there's only one sheet in the set.  

The good thing, though, is that it adds a real touch of class to any project.  So I used it to make a box for some earrings.  Here's how I made it.   

Would you like the cutting diagram?  You can download it here.

See you soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Driftwood

Hello bloggists!  My, it's good to have you visit!

As you will see from the picture above, I'm taking part in the Pootlers and Artful Stampers blog hop today.  I'm a Pootler - that is, one of Sam Hammond's team of Stampin' Up demonstrators, and the Artful Stampers are based in Australia.  

The hop theme was "anything goes" and I was feeling in need of some bright and cheerful colours so this is what I've made!

This hop is BIG.  I'm serious, it's massive.  It's so HUGE that there isn't a blog roll  or the usual next-previous buttons.  So if you want to see what everyone else has created, please use the link below to take you to the link-up.

An InLinkz Link-up

I know you'll find lots of great projects to inspire you.

Thanks for visiting and I do hope you'll come back again soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Leaf it out!

Hello bloggists, and thank you for joining me today.  

Looking out of my window today, most of the trees that line the road opposite have lost their leaves - there are only a few left clinging to the branches.  It's much colder today as well - we don't get extremes of hot or cold weather and because I live on the coast it's really quite mild by many people's standards, but for us it's cold - but sunny.

This is the view from my living room window as I'm writing this (and yes, I do realise how lucky I am to be living here!)

Not many leaves left at all!  Before they were all gone, and winter begins to take hold, I wanted to make one card with the Vintage Leaves stamps.  So I did!

I hope you enjoyed this one and thank you for stopping by.

My next blog post will be on Sunday, 4 December (not Saturday) because I'm taking part in a rather special blog hop - so please do come and see what we've all been up to, won't you?

Bye for now,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren