Today’s card is a bit different from the usual snow-scene-with-santa- and reindeer. I made this one with friends who live in Australia in mind, and as I write this it’s on its way to Queensland. When my children were small they loved Raymond Brigg’sFather Christmas on Holidayand this image reminds me of that book. I love this happy Santa who is enjoying some fun in the sun!
I’ve used
some different masking techniques on this card and I’m really pleased with the
way it turned out! Here’s how I made it –
I think that this stamp would be great on a retirement card – with the right sentiment, of course. Or just a "having a great time on holiday" card. What do you think? That's me done for today - got to crack on with the Christmas shopping (have you started yours yet?) Keep crafting, Keren Product List
Hello, and welcome! It's InspireINK Blog Hop day, when this blog links up with others the challenge to bring you lots of inspiration! This time the theme is -
In other words, a bag or a box or some way of packaging a gift for a Secret Santa. Here's how mine came out.
(The gift inside is a little manicure set. We have a price limit of £1 for Secret Santa at our office so it came from the Pound shop - what a bargain!)
After measuring the case of the manicure set, I drew a plan and worked out the dimensions of the card I was going to need. The case was 4 1/4" by 2 3/4" and about 1/2" deep so I wanted my finished box to be 4 1/2" by 3" by 3/4" deep. Here is the plan-
Did you notice the ribbon rose? I made that by tying knots in a length of double sided ribbon, then coiling it up and hot gluing it to a circle of card.
(Yes, there will be a tutorial - check my YouTube channel in the next few days!)
So that's my contribution to the hop. Next is Tina, so please click on the link below to see what she's been up to to inspire you!
Oh my golly gosh! Someone in my workplace remarked that the office Christmas party will be happening in three weeks! Christmas is just over a month away, can you believe it? And I have been so inspired by the lovely things in the Stampin' Up! catalogue that it's going to be touch and go whether or not I'll have time to share them all...so keep your eyes open because I may throw in the odd extra project or two next month!
Anyway, here's today's project I made this a few weeks ago and I'm just hoping that everything I used is still in stock - because things are selling out FAST!
For today’s project, I decided I wanted a change from the usual 5 ¾” by 4” card shape.
I always think that tall, slim cards are rather elegant, so that’s what I’ve made today.
This card uses some of the items that are in the annual
catalogue and were among my favourites last year.I was very happy to play with them again this
year.
I am teasing you a bit with this project, because I used the
white velveteen paper that was supposed to be available to the end of this
month, but it sold out super quickly!However, you could easily substitute Whisper White for the velveteen
paper and the card would look just as good.
Here’s the tutorial –
I'm rather pleased with the way this one turned out - what do you think?
All this week I've been blogging about the OnStage Local event in Birmingham. I'm nearly done, I promise, and today I have a project to share. It's the little basket I displayed my swaps in. Can you see what it's made of? That's right, it's a paper plate. It wasn't my idea - I originally saw it on Pinterest - and I loved how easy it is to make. Want to see how?
I finished the basket with a frill made from Joyous Noel Designer Series Paper, and a bit of the super gorgeous Tranquil Tide velvet ribbon. Lovely stuff! That's it for today - see you again soon! Keep crafting, Keren PS To see how I made the little bookmarks, check my YouTube channel here!
In my previous blog post, I told you about my journey up to Birmingham to attend OnStage. Today I'm blogging about the swaps I got in exchange for the little bookmarks that I made. Here's what I got...
Such a lot of lovely things! Of course, you can't really see what they are from the picture, so go to my YouTube channel to see them better.
At the end of the day, I made the journey back to south Wales with relatively few incidents - apart from the Sat Nav falling off its stand just before the turnoff for the M50 - and it was all over until the next time, which will be in April and will be back in Telford. I've already booked my hotel room!
Hello, and welcome! Today's blog is a bit different. No project today- normal service will be resumed shortly- instead I'm going to be telling you about the Onstage Local event in Birmingham. I'm writing this the day after the event so forgive me if I'm a bit space-happy right now! Warning - long blog! If you've seen my YouTube video showing you the goodies I got at Onstage (if you haven't you'll find it linked below) you'll know that the journey up was not uneventful. To begin with, I hired a car - my husband needed our car because he is a carer for his father and has to visit him a couple of times a day. I got an automatic - I wanted something easy to drive.
The controls seemed straightforward enough, although it did take me a few minutes to puzzle out the handbrake. I don't know why vehicle designers think that they have to think up cute ways of hiding the handbrake from view, but they do. I should mention that I am short. I'm 5'2", so I drive with my seat pretty far forward, and the handbrake on this car was about level with my left elbow - I could use it as an armrest when I wasn't using it to keep the car still.
I was on the motorway before I realised that I couldn't read the speedometer because the steering wheel was in the way - something I've never encountered before. A quick stop at the Services to adjust the driving seat height was called for.
For once, there were no real delays on the motorway, but it was still dark by the time I came off the M42, and I managed to misunderstand the Sat Nav's directions - at least, that's the only thing I can think of. The alternative is that the Sat Nav hates me. (I'd brought my own Sat Nav with me. The last time I'd had a hire car I hadn't been able to work out how to get the onboard Sat Nav to actually speak to me! I did try the volume control - it just made the radio deafening. I think all Sat Navs are in the same union.)
Anyway, I found myself driving down single-track lanes. In the dark. In the rain. (Did I mention that there was a storm? There was). In a strange car. If you encountered me and I dazzled you, it's because I couldn't work out how to turn off the main beam headlights after I'd managed to turn them on and I apologise...
I made it to the hotel in one piece, but I was TERRIFIED! By now it was pitch dark and the rain was coming down hard.
I will draw a veil over my attempts to park but there was a 17-point turn executed at one point, when I'd been panicked into turning into the wrong part of the car park by a closely-following vehicle. I staggered into the hotel and to my room, where I restored myself with a cheeky gin-and-orange, a long shower, and a short stint of TV watching.
After a good night's sleep and a good, if hurried breakfast, I set off for the Vox centre in the Genting arena, which is next to the NEC. I got lost looking for the car park, and had to ask for directions - twice - from the same car park steward, who I have to say was really helpful. It's not his fault I am a numpty. However, it did make me late and by the time I'd parked, walked to the conference centre and registered none of my team-mates were to be seen. I was very flustered by this time!
After a lot of What'sApp messaging (only possible because I realised I'd left my phone in my coat pocket - I said I was flustered! - and had to get it back from the cloakroom) I found them - or some of them - and could get on with enjoying the event.
What a great event it was, too! We got copies of the new catalogue (which opens for business in January) and the Sale-A-Bration brochure, as well as some lovely gifts. Stampin' Up! always spoils OnStage attendees but this time, because it was the 30th Anniversary of the business, they pulled out all the stops. Oh, and we are allowed to share pictures of everything except the inside of the catalogues - so check out my Facebook page later today to see the pictures of the display boards I took! This is a very long post, and I thank you for staying with me this far. If you want to see the goodies we got, I've made a video for YouTube!
See you again soon, Keep crafting, Keren PS - I will be showing you what I got in exchange for my swaps, so keep checking my YouTube channel.
When this blog goes live, I shall be (I hope!) away from home, attending the OnStage Local event in Birmingham. This one-day event for Stampin’ Up! demonstrators is being held today at locations throughout South Pacific and Europe, with the main event taking place in Florida. I am super excited, because this time we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Stampin' Up! and it is going to be AMAZING!
Usually there's a Spoiler policy in force - those demonstrators who attend the event aren't allowed to share pictures or information about what's coming up. This time, though, there is NO Spoiler policy, so we can take pictures and video and put them on our social media pages - so keep an eye on my Facebook page (although I'll probably be too busy ooh-ing and aah-ing to take many photos - I get carried away and forget to turn my phone on!)
I wasn't going to make swaps this time. Swapping is a big part of OnStage. We make multiples of something - usually a card or a 3D item - and swap with others who have done the same. It's not compulsory but it is encouraged and it's a great way of getting ideas for future projects.
However, on Monday, I decided that I'd be sorry if I didn't take some swaps with me, so I made some bookmarks. (Yes, I made bookmarks last time, but these are DIFFERENT bookmarks, OK?)
Here's what I did -
Check back next week to see what I get in exchange! Meanwhile, Keep crafting! Keren Product List
