Front Page Detail

So, yesterday I spent some time playing with my This and That Bundle of goodies. I covered the front page of my journal and also did some bits to the first two pages inside.

Along with that, I covered a shopping list book which looks so lovely I have a feeling my shopping list might get really long just so that I can keep using it! Hee hee. Of course I would prefer to use it for my craft supply lists rather than food shopping, but having been blessed with my wonderful husband and two amazing sons who have hollow legs, it will be filled with eating supplies! But still a pleasure to use!

As I do more, I'll put up more photos!

See you soon

K x

Mr Brown - My Friend!

Sorry, no time to chat, it's playtime! :-*

Katie Crafting In The Garden!!

This afternoon my son's girlfriend spent a couple of hours in the garden making a birthday card for her Mum's 50th. I directed her a little here and there, but she did a sterling job despite being full of cold and feeling rather unwell. Well done Katie! Oh and thanks for the cups of tea Jacob!

THIS n THAT: It's More Than Smashing!

I am really excited to be able to show you This & That – Stampin’ Up! have their own equivalent of Smash! Including Stampin’ Up! Washi Tape!!! Can you believe it, Stampin' Up have brought out their own Washi Tape!

As always with Stampin' Up, the quality is outstanding! And as if that's not enough, there is also a fantastic offer! From today, 1 May until 31 May, Stampin’ Up are offering THE WHOLE KIT as a BUNDLE with 15% off the regular price as an introductory offer.

Item.                 Description.                                                                    Price

131268.             Epic Day This and That Journal.                               £9.95

130814.             Epic Day This and That Designer Series Paper.     £9.95

131463.             Remember This and That Rotary Stamp.                £5.50

131271.             Epic Day This and That Designer Stickers.             £4.50

131269.             Epic Day This and That Designer Washi Tape.      £4.50

133905.             Epic Day This and That Bundle.  Includes the five 

This and That products listed above. Only available in a bundle until May 31.  £29.24   15% Off Retail Value!

Epic Day This and That Bundle

Includes the five This and That products listed above. Only available in a bundle until May 31.  £29.24

15% Off Retail Value!

You can also view the online pdf document HERE

More products will be added to the range over the coming months!

To be one of the first to own your own This & That journal please contact me on karencurd@hotmail.co uk or text me on 07772 847353

If you are interested in attending a day of This N That'ing at the end of May please contact me for details.

 

Cupboard Trilogy Spring Flowers!

If we aren't going to get much sunshine we need to make it up ourselves, and this month's Challenge on the Cupboard Trilogy does just that with Spring Flowers.

So when we feel down in the dumps from the lack of that illusive yellow ball in the sky, we only need take a look at the DT examples in the Cupboard for a bit of cheer! Click here for some floral cheer!

Lets hope we'll be getting more of the real thing in time for the Bank Holidays this month!

See you soon

Karen x

Sneak Peak!!!

I am still thoroughly enjoying the Spring/Summer Catalogue as well as the 2012/2013 Annual Catalogue, what with it being so much bigger than the previous UK catalogues. Yet teasingly along comes a sneak peak from the 2013/2014 Annual Catalogue from Shellie! You will find Shellie's blog here.

These cards display new stamps, embossing folder and punch! A rather Moroccan feel if you ask me!

I'll add some more of my makes soon!

K x

Owl Fabrictastic!

I'm certainty no whizz with a sewing machine but really wanted to use some of my Twitterpated Fabric to make a birthday present for a very special little girl's 5th birthday. This is the result and I must say I'm very pleased with it as was 5 year old Scarlett! The three girls in the family, ie Scarlett and her big twin sisters, Annie and Martha, totally stole our hearts from their baby days and simply won't give them back! We don't see them as often as we would like to these days, but we love them to the moon and back and think of them often! Happy Birthday Scarlett x x

Color Refresh

Stampin' Up are Refreshing their colour charts for the start of the new annual catalogue on 1st July.  Some colours we will be saying farewell to, whilst it is hello to some new colours and welcome back to some previous In-Colours. 

Look below for the ins and outs of it all!

Angry Birds Punch Art!

I had a lot of fun with this one!  I have to admit I copied the design of each Angry Bird but I adapted it and this is what I came up with!  As the name suggests there is a lot of punching involved with punch art and this design was no exception.  I used a variety of Circle Punches; a Heart Punch used upside down for the yellow bird, which is unfortunately discontinued; the Owl Builder Punch which is where you get the little circles and the heart shaped noses and for the rest of the shapes I had to cut them out by hand.  The celebrate is part of the Outlined Occasions Stamp set which is also discontinued as it was part of 2012 SAB (I do have a spare one which I can sell if anyone is interested).

Punch Art is great fun and the only limit is your own imagination and creativity (and patience whilst dealing with tiny bits of sticky paper!)  Have a look at my post Twit Twoohoo; Owl Fun and see how versatile just one punch (Owl Builder Punch) can be.  Have fun!

Stamping; With Love!

 

In December my husband was spending whole evenings being very secretive on the computer, but being the lead up to Christmas I guessed that I ought not ask too many questions!  As it happens he was trying to ask me questions about certain preferences I had so it became clear that he was trying to design a stamp for the back of my cards.  I had to trust that he knew my tastes well enough to make one I liked.

Christmas Day came and I was thrilled with it!  Well done Paul! He put together the fact that I love hearts and that I also love postage stamp stamps and here you can see the result of that combination! 

 

It just so happens that the stamp fits perfectly inside the 1 3/4 inch Scallop Circle Punch by Stampin'Up!  If you put the punched circle back into the punch and line it up in the centre of each scallop and punch again you get the effect as shown in the picture above.  A bit fiddly but worth the effort as you get a lovely natural looking sunflower effect.

 

The great thing about having a punch like this one is that you can colour the ink to suit the card.  Some of the personal stamp designs you can get are pre-inked so not as versatile!  This stamp was adapted from a design Paul found on Etsy with a lady called Simone from DesignKandy in the U.S.  Alternatively there are some good ideas at The English Stamp Company, where you can custom make what you need by experimenting from a range of designs!

Need More Space!

My husband made this for me, but I think it may need an extension soon though!

Baptism Cards

Three commissioned  Baptism cards!

I could have just made three cards the same, but where is the fun in that?  The great thing about making your own cards is that you can tailor them to suit!  Whilst all three have the dove stamp (not Stampin' Up) they are all very different as you can see!  Can you spot what I did with the 'Lattice Bigz' die? Combining the 'Itty Bitty Shapes' punch with the 'Madison Avenue' stamp set is very affective I thought, even if they were a little fiddly! The 'Oh, Whale' stamp set was perfect for a little splash too, especially ideal for a teenager!

All stamps, punches & embossing folders available from Stampin'Up! Please contact me or leave a comment if you would like to know more!

I've been busy making!

 

Having had a weekend away where I made 40 cards and had a total of 7.5 hours sleep, I've increased my sleep intake and reduced card making production significantly since my return.  However I've have managed a few cards and the pictures here show some of them! I'll show my weekend away makes soon!

Happy Birthday to my Step Dad.

It's my Step Dad's birthday tomorrow and he's the Maintenance Manager at a big hotel in Great Yarmouth, so when I saw the amazing stamp Tool Shed in the current Stampin Up catalogue I just had to get it to make his card! 

The actual design is cased from Pinterest but I'm not sure who originally designed it. I added a few of my own personal touches of course, including the charming little brads I happened across in Craft & Candlelight on Bramford Road, Ipswich. Do pop in there for a look. Diane is lovely and will always order something for you if she doesn't have it, so long as it is available! Of course, if you would like anything from the Stampin Up catalogue you can give me a call!

Sale-a-bration Starts Today!

Today sees the start of Stampin Up's annual Sale-a-bration. As it is the Company's 25th anniversary, there are lots of extra choices.

If you spend £45 from any of the catalogues, you can choose a free item from the Sale-a-bration Brochure. 

Spend £90, choose two items. No limit! If you would like a Brochure and a copy of the new Spring/Summer Catalogue, please email me your details and I will pop one in the post to you :-)

Happy 2013!

It is so scary how fast the years pass and so true that it seems to go faster the older you get. When you sit thinking over things and remember how old you thought your Dad was on his 40th birthday back in 1987 and how young 40 really is now that you yourself have passed that landmark!  Or when you speak to your 19 year old son and mention that you were married in the 80's which are seriously the olden days! And when your home phone has been out of order for 5 days and the internet isn't therefore working and you start too feel like the Mayans must have been right and the world has come to an end - yet no internet existed when I was 19 and my parents remember a time when there was no such thing as a home phone!

I have seen huge technological advancements in my lifetime which are nothing on those seen by my parents and grandparents generations yet life isn't quite what we expected when I was in high school and we imagined flying cars would be our norm as adults! 

What is very much the norm now and I must say a pleasurable norm is coffee shops whilst in town. And today I've managed Starbucks and Nero! If I popped to Costa I could make it a hat trick! And a coffee crawl to boot! 

I'd just like to wish you a happy happy year in 2013. If you're a crafting friend, I hope it's an inspiration filled one at that! And if you've never been there I am letting you know that Pinterest is seriously bad for your time management so avoid it at all costs! 

Bye for now! 

Karen x

Cupboard Trilogy Design

January's design on 'The Cupboard Trilogy' was 'Anything Goes'. The Design Team made a project of their own choice and the challenge was to do your own take on it whilst keeping the same layout. 

I did a card for my son's 18th as my DT entry.  I had planned on posting this whilst the challenge was still active but due to being unwell I've only just got to being able to sort it.  Of course that means I'm feeling a fair bit better now which makes me smile! 

I will hopefully be blogging a bit more often if my health allows. I have a crafting weekend coming up so should certainly have a lot to report from that! 

See you soon my lovelies.

Karen x

AWOL

If my husband had disappeared for as long as I have from my blog when he was in the Army, he'd be in jail! Luckily I'm not in such trouble although I apologise for my absence. 

Here's my DT card for December!

Since I last blogged I have had the privilege of being invited to join The Cupboard Trilogy Design Team, which runs a monthly challenge with a badge award for your blog for top DT pick and a random generator picks a winner for a small prize.

It's a fun challenge with some lovely examples by the talented DT ladies. 

This month the challenge is titled Frosty Winter. Take a look at the website to see what it's all about and join in the fun if you fancy.

http://thecupboardtrilogychallenges.blogspot.co.uk

Apparently Christmas is coming!

It seems that no matter how much you bury your head in the mistletoe, Christmas still arrives in December every year! If you make your own Christmas cards, you really need to start earlier than October but for me this is positively early and may even mean I manage to make more than just two cards this year! I've always been rather put out at the materialism of the festive season causing decorations to appear in the shops earlier every year. However, I have realised that you do need to acknowledge it earlier than December if you want some homemade elements!

I've seem some people in the crafting world make a point of creating 5 cards a month throughout the year and may even adopt this policy next year myself, but this year alas I've actually only just made my second card! I had better get a move on and make it at least 3 by the end of today!

My First Swaps

There was a Stampin' Up Demonstrator/New Demo Interest training evening in Ipswich last Wednesday, run by Marisa and Becki, which I unfortunately wasn't able to make.  Today I'm meeting Marisa for our own little meeting which will, I'm sure, be every bit as nice. And in Costa too!  So I'm putting a picture on here of the first ever swap that I've made.  It's very simple but, I think, quite sweet! However, at the moment, the picture just isn't looking very good on my blog.  I promise it looks much nicer in real life!!!!

I'll add pictures of the three swaps Marisa was able pick up for me when I get home.  I'll also be in possession of the little pack of papers they used for the makes they did on the evening, so I'm looking forward to having a little play!!!

See you later x x