Saturday 30 March 2019

Window Box Bridge card

Hello and welcome!



I've seen this style of card popping up all over the interwebs for some time now.  I've been terribly impressed with them, too.  I love the way that the sides of the card frame a scene but yet the whole thing folds flat to fit into an envelope.

When I see new style of pop-up or action card my first move is to sit down and try and figure out how it's made.  I've been learning about, and playing with paper engineering for some years now so I usually have a fair idea of where to start.

However, this one baffled me for some reason, and I had to watch several tutorials before I "got it".  I don't know why, because it's really very easy!  See what you think...



When you get down to basics, it's just another form of fold-flat box card/double Z fold card, but isn't it cute?  I love the way this one came out.  It reminds me of a window box full of plants.  

That's me for today!  

Keep Crafting,

Keren Product List

Wednesday 27 March 2019

Sending Love & Hugs

Hello, and welcome!
Aren’t the colours of spring so pretty?  Where I live, at this time of year, the daffodils are in full bloom and the grass is just starting to grow, and I’m definitely being inspired by the shades of yellow and fresh green that seem to be everywhere I look! 



Today’s card features those pretty colours.  It should have been an easy project, but somehow or other it didn’t quite go to plan.  If you want to see what happened, here’s the video.



I’m going to miss Lemon Lime Twist, which is one of the retiring In Colours.  I didn’t think I’d use much of it when I first saw it, but it grew on me and I’ve been using it quite a bit recently.  (If it’s one of your favourites – or if you love Berry Burst, Fresh Fig, Tranquil Tide or Powder Pink, the other retiring In Colours – don’t forget that they will be leaving us at the end of May - or earlier if they sell out). 

While I’m sad to see them go, I’m also very excited to find out what’s going to replace them.  One of the advantages of being a demonstrator is that you get to know about the new stuff before everyone else - which is fab!

OK, so the sun is shining and I'm off to enjoy some time out of doors.

See you again soon!

Keep Crafting,

Keren



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Saturday 23 March 2019

InspireINk blog hop - Easter


Hello and welcome! 

It’s InspireINK blog hop day today, and this time we’re getting ready for Easter.



I’ve been playing with one of my old favourite techniques, shaving-foam marbling, so I decided to use some fresh spring-flower-like colours and marble some boxes that just might hold some choccy eggs (as brought by the Easter Bunny) – or something else…
This technique is so easy, and it’s one of my favourites.   Back in my teaching days we used it a lot in art lessons with small children.  It’s “clean messy” - you get to splodge ink about but the shaving foam helps in the clean up!

If you’ve never tried this before, you need a shallow container big enough to fit your item to be marbled into, some shaving foam (the cheaper the better!) and some water-soluble colours.  I used re-inkers and Brushos. 

Spread a layer of shaving foam into your container, 



drop or spray the colours onto the foam 



and swirl them around a bit.



Then press your item onto the foam,



take it out again and scrape/wipe away the excess.  Job done!


I marbled the pizza box directly but for the treat container I marbled a sheet of card and then cut it to fit.  I used a template (see here for A4 paper and here for 8 ½ x 11 ) so I din’t have to sacrifice one of my containers to use as a pattern.  Then I embellished my treat container and mini pizza box with some stamped daffodils from the You're Inspiring set (love these!) coloured in with watercolour pencils for a delicate effect.   I’m really pleased with the way it turned out.

(If you want to see the whole project, I will be posting a tutorial on my YouTube channel in the near future.)

I hope you're enjoying the hop!  Thanks for dropping in, and do come again soon!

Keep crafting,

Keren
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Wednesday 20 March 2019

Monochrome card

Hello, and welcome!


I used to make a lot of tall slim cards at one time.  I'm not really sure why I stopped, because I think  these cards are very elegant.

             


You start with a square card and fold it in half for the base.  I started with an 8x8 inch piece of thick Very Vanilla for this one, so my finished card front is 4x8 inches and will fit in a standard DL envelope.

I kept it very simple for this one - just a bit of embossing and sponging. 

Here's how I made it - so quick and easy.

It doesn't take much in the way of supplies.  I die-cut the squares but you could easily punch them or just cut them with a trimmer.  Instead of the embossed edges you could layer slightly smaller squares - gold foil would look lovely, don't you think?

Keep crafting,

Keren


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Wednesday 13 March 2019

Happy Tails Z-Fold Card

Hello everyone, and welcome!

It's a short and sweet project today.  I was away from home (because of my day job) yesterday and I lost track of what day it was as a result so I almost didn't post this at all!  

I made this upright Z-fold card a couple of weeks ago, before I damaged myself while attempting to cook (I cannot emphasise enough how dangerous cookery is.  It should be left to the professionals!).  The burn is healing nicely, BTW.  It doesn't look very attractive, though, so I'm keeping it covered with a wristband.

I admit to being a crazy cat lady, but today I'm letting the dogs out - well, the dog, anyway!  When I was a small child one of my favourite TV programmes featured the biggest spotty dog you ever did see" and that was one of the things in my mind when I chose to use the spotty pattern on my dog (that and a Dalmatian that took a fancy to my sister and followed her home a few times!)

This kind of fancy fold is easy to do, but surprising in the way it opens.  I hope you give it a try and have fun with it!

Keep Crafting,

Keren






Saturday 9 March 2019

Care for a cupcake?


Hello, and welcome.

Have you seen the dies that co-ordinate with some of the Sale-A-Bration stamp sets yet?  They went on sale on 1 March and will be around until the end of the month, or while stocks last (which for some of them won’t be very long!)


I was thrilled to find the dies that go with the Hello Cupcake stamps.  I’ve used these stamps more than any of the other Sale-A-Bration items (and I am going to be so sorry to say goodbye to them).  I used the dies and the stamps to make this floating slider card.

Pull the tab and the sentiments are revealed!


It’s a variation of the double-slider card (sometimes called a Pushmi-Pullyu card).  I made a card like this a few weeks ago, and because the mechanism relies on a clear plastic strip to make it work I thought it would be perfect for the clear dome over the cupcake.

Here’s how I made it.



I had fun with this card, I hope you enjoyed it too!

Keep crafting

Keren
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Wednesday 6 March 2019

Box basics


Hello everyone, and welcome!

Today's project has been waiting to be published for almost a month!  I am still playing catch-up, so I hope you'll forgive me. I made this box to fit a notebook I wanted to send to my upline as a thank-you gift - I bound the notebook myself, using some retired DSP for the cover, so I needed a custom-sized box 

As I was doing the calculations for the  box, I had a lightbulb moment.  Up until now, I have done my working-out old-school - using paper & pencil and good old arithmetic. It suddenly struck me that I use Excel to make calculations in my day job, so why wasn't I using it to help me calculate my box dimensions?  

I am honestly ashamed that it has taken me until now to think of it.  




You can download the box calculator spreadsheet here.  

Keep crafting!

Keren (Disaster Magnet)

My latest adventure is to burn myself while cooking, so in future videos you may notice that I have a dressing on my wrist...I'm not having the best time of it right now...


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