High Tide

Hello bloggists, and welcome.

Oh my, what a busy working week I have ahead of me.  I won’t bore you with the details but trust me, the day job is taking over my life.  Thank goodness I can craft to relax!

I enjoyed making this canvas.  I live by the sea, and walking on the beach – or even seeing the sunset over the sea – is very calming.  I love cardmaking, I truly do, but mixed media and altered art have played a big part in my crafty repertoire.  SU don’t sell paints in their colour palette – but with re-inkers and acrylic paints you can mix your own and that's what I've done.

Here's the tutorial - 

I usually send or give away the cards and projects I make , but this one is going up on the wall - or perhaps I'll prop it up on my desk so that I can see a calming picture when the day gets stressful.

That's it for now,

See you soon,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Sale-A-Bration - Mini Notebook

Hello bloggists, and welcome to another Sale-a-Bration Saturday, where I share a project that I've made using one of the items from the Sale-a-Bration catalogue.  

If you've seen the Sale-a-Bration catalogue, you might be wondering what on earth it has to do with this mini notebook!  After all, that's Floral Boutique DSP that you can see there.  But look closer!

Do you see those index cards peeping out along the edge there?  Here's a better picture!

They come with the Card Tin.  You get 9 of them, and I also used the chipboard packing that keeps them from getting damaged in transit to make part of the cover.

I will be completely honest and say that this project turned into a real nightmare.  It should have been easy - I've made quite a few similar notebooks over the years - but it took THREE goes before I got it right, and took me all day to film!  I have to get my filming done when I have the place to myself - I don't have a craft room, I work in my living room - so I get everything ready ahead of time.  I expected this one to take next to no time to film...there's no law against being wrong, is there?

I did it in the end, though...

Was it worth the effort?  I really hope so!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

PS - Thanks everyone who wished my husband a happy birthday - he really appreciated it!

Birthday Blast Easel Card

Hello bloggists, and welcome.

Sshh - can you keep a secret?  Tomorrow is my husband's birthday and I've made him a card.

 It's an easel card.  These are so easy to make and so much fun!

Here's how I made it -

What do you think?  Will he like it?

(Now I just have to make one for the cat to send him!)

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Rockabye Baby!

Hello bloggists,  and welcome.

I may have created a monster.   I can't now remember how it happened that the cat spotted that there are a lot of videos featuring cats and kittens on YouTube,  but she has.  The result is that she has taken to plonking herself right in front of the computer screen to watch her favourite programme,  preferably one with kittens and lots of mewing. 

So I am writing this on my tablet, because when I got in from work she was sitting ready, with a hopeful expression and I couldn't resist that smooshy little face!

Fortunately,  she gave me enough space to make this card

I'm not usually a fan of cutesy stamps, but I found the Moon Baby set so appealing I couldn't resist it.  

It's a rocker card, of course.   Here's the video tutorial. 

So that's it for today.   I hope you enjoyed it.

Back soon, as long as Mysti lets me near the computer! 

Crafty Hugs, 

Keren 

Up and Away!

Hello bloggists and welcome.

It’s Sale-a-Bration Saturday again and today I’ve made use of the Carried Away DSP, which coordinates with the Lift Me Up bundle.  I’m a real lover of hot air balloons, although I would think twice about going up in one (I’m told that going up is fine, but landing is whole different experience!). 

Today’s project is a pull-up card with a difference – the balloon and clouds “float” in the air when the slider is pulled. 

I was thinking of suspending the balloon from the top of the frame so that it could move freely, but in the end I decided to glue it to the band of clouds. 

Take a look at how I made it-

What do you think?  And what do you think about this year’s Sale-a-Bration freebies?  Aren't they fab?  I am having so much fun playing with them.  If you haven't seen them yet, you can see them by clicking on the picture at the bottom of the page.

So now I'm off to plan some more projects with the yummy supplies I've got from the new catalogue - so please do come back again soon to see what I've been up to!

Crafty Hugs, 

Keren

Double Dragonflies

Hello bloggists, and welcome.

It’s often said that there are no mistakes in crafting, only changes of design direction.  Today’s card went through quite a few of those and the finished article is really rather different to the idea I had in my head when I started!

I plan my projects ahead of time, I honestly do.  If I’m making a kinetic card or a box I try it out ahead of time to make sure I know how it all works and to see if there are any tricky steps ahead of time.  However, if it’s a straightforward card, I usually just check out how the colours work together, that the balance looks OK and so on.

I prepare the items I need so that I don’t have to stop halfway to go and fetch something.  (I usually manage to forget something all the same, though!).  If you take a look at the video, you’ll see what I mean-

I still haven’t found the first dragonfly I cut.  

One day I'll be organised. Just not today!

What do you think - did it all work out in the end?  Let me know!

Crafty hugs,

Keren

Falling in Love

Hello bloggists, and welcome.

I love pretty boxes!  As I child, I’d take a plain box and cover it with pretty paper, then keep my treasures in it. When I grew up and began teaching it was a point of pride to have classroom supplies sorted and displayed attractively, and I spend many hours covering cut-down cereal boxes to hold worksheets and notebooks – and my family had to put up with using the margarine that came in the prettiest tub, because once finished it would be washed, taken to school, and used to hold counters.

I spotted a heart-shaped box in the new SU catalogue on page 50 and I knew that I wanted to make one.  Here’s my version –

Isn’t that paper SOOO pretty – and what about those embellishments? And the doilies?   Gorgeous! 

Looking closely at the original, I think it was made using the same size die for the lid and the base, which will give a very snug fit.  I made mine using different size dies, so the fit is looser.

Here’s how I did it.

Hope you liked it, and thank you so much for visiting.

See you again soon?

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Hey, Chick!

Hello bloggists and welcome.

It's Saturday, and that means it's Sale-A-Bration day, when I will be featuring one of the items from this year's Sale-A-Bration catalogue.  

Today I've been playing with the Hey Chick! stamps.  I'll be honest, when I first spotted these I didn't think that they'd be my style - but they've grown on me.    In this part of the world, people do call one another "chick", so I can see myself using this set quite often.

I used them to make a peek-a-boo card, which is a style of card I've been longing to make for a while, but didn't have just the right stamps.  The cute chicks were just perfect.  It was easier to make than I thought it would be, too. 

Here's the tutorial.

The measurements for the card, if you'd like to try this yourself  -

Back -
1 piece 11x 5 3/4inches
Score at 3 1/2 and 7 inches

Front -
1 piece 6 1/8 by 5 3/4 inches
Score at 4 1/4 inches

Thanks for visiting!

See you soon,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Wooden Heart

Hello bloggists and welcome. 

Today's tutorial is part two of the Shabby Heart project.  I don't often do grungy and shabby projects these days but my crafty roots are firmly in the shabby, distressed and inky! Now and again it's fun to get messy again.

At the end of part one, I'd covered the mdf heart in crackled paid and sat;mped and inked.  So now it's time to finish it with some embellishments.

So there it is.  By the way, the little pot that the beeswax was melting in is the case from a jumbo tea light.  I wanted something that wouldn't leak and could stand the heat from the room scenter warmer.

That's it for today, and I hope you enjoyed this project.  Don't forget to join me for Sale-A-Bration Saturday!

See  you soon,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

BTS

Hello bloggists and welcome!

I'm showing you a different sort of photo today.  Usually I share a picture of the project that you'll find on my YouTube channel.  However, today's project is a two-parter (I’ve gone back to my grungy, altered-art, mixed media-y roots).  So I thought you might like to see this snap of my video set-up.

I use a webcam which fits on the bottom of the central pillar on the tripod – you can see it towards the top and centre of the picture.  I work on an iMac,  so there aren’t that many compatible webcams – mine’s a Logitech.  The lights clip on to the tripod and I’ve put daylight bulbs in them.  I was all set up to film the first Sale-A-Bration Saturday video when this was taken.

I'm working in my living room - I don't have a craft room.  The table is a folding picnic table which I've covered in wood-effect wallpaper.  When it gets too dirty, I just take the paper off and put a fresh piece on.

In the background, you can see the lid of my craft trolley and, in the box on the chair to the left, you can just spot Mysti taking a nap.  I put the box there for a few minutes while I sorted out the contents and she claimed it as her favourite sleeping spot.

So that's it for today.  You can see today's video in the usual place - 

Part 2 later this week - so see you then!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Box making for beginners

Hello bloggists, and welcome.

Today’s project is all about the box.  Specifically, it’s about how I go about creating a box to fit a particular item, and it’s “by popular demand” – by which I mean someone asked me to make a video about how I calculate the measurements I need for a box.

I created mine to fit a project that I’ll be sharing with you soon and it’s one of the easiest boxes to make – the “all in one” box or “pizza box” style.

Here’s the process –

Measure the length, width and depth of the item you want to box up – don’t forget to allow a bit extra for ease of access.  The calculation for the all-in-one box is –

Width = (Depth + Width + Depth)

Length = (Depth + Length + Depth + Length + Depth)

Here's the tutorial

And - oops!  I somehow forgot to schedule this post so it's going up late!  Terribly sorry folks, don't know how I managed to do that!

Hope it's a case of better late than never!  And before you ask, I have checked tomorrow's post IS ready to go.

Forget my head next ....

Crafty hugs,

Keren

Sale-A-Bration Saturday!

Hello bloggists, and welcome.

Well, it’s back to the day job for me.  The good news is that the Spring/Summer catalogue is now open for business and so is the Sale-A-Bration catalogue.

If you were trying to get onto the SU website on launch day you might have spotted that there were some technical problems and it was quite late in the day before they were sorted.  It was a bit fraught for a while, but it all came right in the end. 

So – have you got your copy yet?  If not, contact your demonstrator (and if you haven’t got one, get in touch with me).  You can get a digital version by clicking the pictures of the catalogues at the bottom of this blog.

Anyway, every Saturday until the end of March, I’ll be featuring one of the products from the Sale-A-Bration catalogue and today I’ve started with the Pretty Pockets.

Quick video today –

These are really useful to have around!  These are one of the option you can choose for FREE with every £45 you spend (before P & P) with SU between now and 31 March, but if they aren’t your cup of tea there are lots of other things you could pick. 

See you soon,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Dreaming of Dragonflies

Hello bloggists, and welcome to my first blog of 2017 - and my first post featuring stamps from the new Spring/Summer catalogue.

OK, I'm teasing you a little bit - but only a little bit, because the catalogue opens for business on 4 January, and this post is going up on 3 January, so not long to wait!  From tomorrow, I will put a link (at the bottom of the page) to the new catty (and the Sale-a-bration brochure as well...yay!) so if you haven't got a physical copy you can hold in your hand, you can still see what's new.

This gorgeous dragonfly is from one of the new sets.  I love dragonfly stamps.  It's a versatile image that works for a masculine card as well as softer, prettier cards.

I've seen dragonflies in real life only a few times and I vividly remember the first time because it scared me silly.  Where I grew up, there were playing fields with a small brook nearby and in the absence of any health and safety information, we children loved to play and paddle in the water.  

One sunny day, I was playing alone by the brook and looked up - and there was a dragonfly, just hovering above the water.  I was amazed at how BIG it was and then it just zipped away - and I screamed and ran.

I'd never seen one there before and I never saw one there again.   Anyway, here's how I used the stamps to make this card -

I didn't have this look in mind when I started to put the card together but it just sort of grew like this.  By the way, although the music paper is from the This Christmas set, the music isn't a Christmas song - it's a Bach prelude, so suitable for cards at any time of the year.

That's  it for now,

See you soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren