Tuesday 29 November 2016

Charming!

Hello bloggists, and welcome.

It’s a quick project today, featuring the large letters thinlets.  I did think long and hard before I bought these, as I think I’ve said before, but in the end I couldn’t resist them;  I really like this font.

Having got them, I want to get some use out of them and I thought they’d be great for making personalised gifts.  Playing with shrink plastic is fun as well...

If you’ve never used shrink plastic, it can be quite scary when it starts to heat up and twist and curl, but be brave...it will lie flat in the end.  

I just went  with an initial for these keychain charms, but of course you could make all the letters in someone's name if you wanted.  

That’s all for today, see you soon!

Crafty Hugs,


Keren

Saturday 26 November 2016

You light up my life

Hello bloggists, thanks for visiting.
This project is what I've wanted to use these dies for ever since I saw them.  It took me a while to track down a clear plastic bauble that was big enough (it came from Ebay in the end!)  The tree came from Amazon - it's one of a set of 6 Scandinavian decor trees - and lights like the ones I use can be found there as well

I'm going to give this to my mother-in-law as her Christmas "card" - although I'll have to make a suitable box for it...so watch this space!

Here's the tutorial-


I hope you enjoyed this project.  

Thank you for stopping by.  See you soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Thursday 24 November 2016

Meowy Christmas everyone!

Hi bloggists, and welcome.
OK, I'm a crazy cat lady.  And if you think I'm sorry for it, think again.
I like dogs as well - but I LOVE cats.  I've said before that this cheeky little pussycat reminds me so much of our Persian girl, Mysti.  (Her full registered name is Callymichanti Bootylicious but I couldn't face going to the vet and having them call out "Bootylicious Howell, please!"  So we called her Mystique - although Boadicea would have suited her...)  I coloured it as close as I could to her natural colouring (she's a lilac).  Here she is helping me to film -



Here's the tutorial - 


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

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Tuesday 22 November 2016

Slip-sliding away

Hi bloggists, and welcome.

Today I'm sharing how I made this little box.  The lid slides down to reveal the gift inside - cute ,yeah?
I woke up one morning with the idea for the sliding mechanism.  (Yes, I craft in my sleep).  As a matter of fact, the idea I had didn't work as I wanted it, so it took a few attempts to get it right (but it sparked another idea...watch this space!)

Here's a link to the measurements and cutting diagram

And here's the tutorial

The wrap around the gift inside was made with the envelope punch board.  If you have this neat bit of kit, you NEED the Envelope Generator app from We R Memory Keepers.  (it's free, my favourite price!)

See you later, alligator!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Saturday 19 November 2016

Simply Sketched 15

 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.


Today's sketch was set by Anna Krol-

So this is what I came up with.  

I did struggle a bit with this one,so I hope you think it came out OK. . I wanted to use the new Stitched Shapes framelits. . They were supposed to be in the 2017 annual catalogue but SU decided to release them early - isn't that great? 

Now, to continue the hop, might I suggest that you proceed in an orderly fashion to the

Or if you're a free spirit and a bit of a rebel, maybe you'd prefer to go backwards through the hop, in which case please find your way to the
In any case, thank you for visiting and I hope to see you again soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren


Thursday 17 November 2016

By Popular Demand

Hello, bloggists, and welcome to my blog.


And calling today's project,"By popular demand".That's because it's based on something I showed you but I had received in my swaps at Onstage Local in Telford. One of my viewers asked if I could show how to make the little gift card bag. So I gave it a try.

This is how it turned out.

It's a really quick and easy project to make, and if you want to see how I did it, here's the video tutorial-

I hope you like it. With Christmas coming, this would be cute way of packaging a gift card– or two! 

That's it for now, but I hope I'll see you again soon.

Crafty hugs,
Keren 

PS -  it's Simply Sketched blog hop day on Saturday–see you there!

Tuesday 15 November 2016

Boxed in!

Hello bloggists and welcome to my blog. 

Last week I showed you the Christmas Tree ornament I decorated with the Pretty Kitty stamps. I really love that cheeky little cat,  she looks so much like my Mysti! As a matter of fact, Mysti isn't speaking to us right now. She's been given ear drops by the vet and her fur has gone spiky from the residue leaking out of her ears. We're definitely in her bad books. 

Anyway, today I am going to show you the box that I made to hold the ornament. It did go through a change of design direction as I was making it… 



Here’s the tutorial. 



Thank you for visiting today. I hope you come back again soon. 
Crafty Hugs

Keren. 

Saturday 12 November 2016

Thrifty Thank You card

Hello bloggists, and welcome.

When I'm exploring ideas for cards or craft projects, I usually try a few different variations of colour and arrange elements in different ways.  That usually means there are some pieces that don't get used.  I can't bring myself to throw those bits away and today's card is made from pieces left over from other projects.

Here's more about it - 


I think it came out well - how about you?

I'll be back again soon with another project.

Crafty hugs,

Keren

Thursday 10 November 2016

Meowy Christmas!

Hello bloggists, and welcome!

It's suddenly become much colder here.  September and October were really mild, but all of a sudden I'm starting to feel as if winter is coming!  I've put the flannel sheets on the bed and most nights I put a hot-water-bottle in to warm the bed up before getting in.   Time to start thinking about Christmas deccies! 



Stampin' Up! has lots of lovely Christmassy things in the Autumn/Winter catalogue, and I've used some of them in my bauble - the mica flakes, the ribbon, and the Pretty Pines dies-cuts - but the cheeky little cat tampering through the snow is from the Annual catalogue.  The Pretty Kitty stamps were among the first things I got from the 2016-17 catalogue;  that cat is just SO like my Mysti.  Here's a picture of her so you can see for yourself...


She loves helping me craft and has been known to put in a "puss"onal appearance when I'm filming.

Here's the video showing you how I made the bauble.

Thank you for visiting.  Please do call again, I'd love it if you did!

See you soon,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Tuesday 8 November 2016

Telford, Baby!

Hi bloggists, and thank you for visiting my blog today.  

Oh, what fun it is to be a Stampin' Up! demo.  There are so many benefits to joining, many of which I really didn't expect when I signed up (nearly two years ago now...time flies when you're having fun) and one of them is the chance to go to OnStage events.  These are held every 6 months, and two times out of three are "Local" events - for us in the UK, that means Telford and a wonderful get-together with team-mates

One of the reasons why we go is to get an advance look at the next catalogue (it'll be the Spring/Summer supplement, or the "Occasions" catalogue).  We get a chance to look at the new products and to play with some of them, and we can order in advance as well - so you can understand why we love to go!  And I can say with every confidence, you are going to love, love, LOVE some of the things SU have got for you.  I can't show you yet...but soon...

Today's video isn't a tutorial but I hope you'll get lots of ideas from it.  I'm showing you what I got in exchange for the swaps I took up with me.  (I managed to swap all of them this time!)  I do hope you enjoy looking at them.  (I should warn you, it's quite a long video - so feel free to wander off for a breather if you need to!)

Back with a project for you soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Saturday 5 November 2016

Sweet flowers

Hello bloggists, and thank you for visiting.
If all has gone according to plan, when this blog entry goes live I shall be at our SU Demonstrators’ conference (OnStage local) in Telford.  The conferences happen twice a year, and it’s where we get to see the new products that are coming up and to meet up with other SU demos. 
Part of the fun is swapping.  The idea is that you make multiple copies of something – a card front, a box, a bookmark – and then on the day you swap them.  You then come back with a pile of inspiration and ideas.

This time I’ve made some flowers with sweet centres.


I promise that I'll be showing you what I get in return for my swaps on Tuesday's YouTube-  hope I'll see you then!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

PS - if you want know more about joining in the fun of being a SU demo, drop me a line - I'd be happy to help!

Thursday 3 November 2016

Double flip-top box

Hello bloggists, and thank you for stopping by.
November already and before you know it, the festive season will be here.  It’s always handy to have some boxes around to package small presents, don’t you think?  Small items aren’t necessarily inexpensive (think about jewellery!) and even a gift that hasn’t cost much looks more impressive when nicely boxed up.

So today, I’m sharing this double-flip top box.


.I’ve seen  boxes like this in a number of places and so I wanted to have a go at making one.  The finished size of this one is 4 inches by 3 inches.

Here are the measurements –

And here’s the cutting diagram –


And if you visit my YouTube channel, you’ll find the tutorial.



Hope you enjoy - and do come back again soon, I'd love it if you do!

Crafty Hugs,


Keren

Tuesday 1 November 2016

Season of Joy

Hello bloggists, and thank you for visiting.  It’s a fairly simple card today.

I treated myself to the Large Letters thinlets dies a few weeks ago.  I dithered quite a bit before I bought them, I must confess. Alphabets are always useful and I really like this typeface.  But all the same... they cost quite a bit of money and I needed to be able to justify spending so much. 

What made it possible for me?  Well, I didn’t pay anything like the catalogue price.  Stampin’ Up demonstrators get a discount, so that reduced the cost.   We also get credited with “flex points” (sort of like a loyalty card scheme) on everything we order, and I had enough accumulated to be able to exchange them for a money-off voucher – and I had coupons from the incentive scheme SU ran in July.  All of this took a bit chunk out of the purchase price.   And finally, I made sure that I ordered them along with other items that came to more than £150, so I got a 10% in Stampin’ Rewards as well.  I do so LOVE being a demonstrator. Here's how I used the dies to make this card - 



I’m coming up to my second anniversary with SU and I can say in all honesty, I’m still loving every minute of being part of the family.  I’ll be going to our OnStage local conference at the weekend (I’ll show you what I’ve made to swap with other demos on Saturday) and I’m so excited – I’m looking forward to meeting face-to-face with my team-mates who I know from social media as well as getting an early sneak peek at what’s coming up in the Spring catalogue.  

If you want to know more about joining SU, please get in touch – I’ll be happy to help!

See you soon,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren