SAB 'Best Day Ever' stamp set

Another pair of cards made with this stamp set. It just shows how versatile it is. Here I have used the little triangles. I have stamped the sentiment then cut into individual words and layered up on dimensionals.











On the second card I have made little windmills out of the triangles. I have kept this very simple and not added a sentiment. The cotton ribbon is great for small bows.

SAB Best Day Ever, stamp set again.

Another few makes using the 'Best Day Ever' stamp set.

Loved making this zig zag card even though there is a lot of fussy cutting. The little flowers in the stamp set make lovely little bees.

 I stamped onto crushed curry card then cut out. The lines on the body are accentuated with a marker pen. A candy dot was used for the head..

Fot this card I decided to try a single colour theme although in different shades. Hello honey, daffodil delight and crushed curry. A little piece of bakers twine to finish it off.

SAB Best Day Ever stamp set

Sneek Peeks galore over the next few days.
Todays are made with the stamp set 'Best Day Ever' Its free with a £45 from the main catalogue or the spring/summer catalogue.

The choices in the SAB brochure are lovely. So you don't have to just stop at one item. SAB runs for three months and for every £45 spend you get a choice of a free item

These makes were for the SAB Stamping'Up! tour. I have seen a number of Project Life pages using this set. Thats my make for next week.

Spring summer catalogue and Sale A Bration

Well here it is folks. The new seasonal catalogue and SAB brochure. I will be sending them out between Christmas and New Year. You can start to purchase from 5th January. Either contact me to place your order or go online to my shop  www.karenwatts.stampinup.net The brochures are also there from5th January for you to look through.

This is a sneak peak at the card I made at the Stampin'Up! SAB tour. A demonstrators get together where we were shown some of the new products. Being able to order products early and get a discount are just two of the reasons I became a demonstrator, there are loads more, not least the number of new friends I have made. Joining during Sale a bration is a brilliant idea. contact me for a chat.

A Round Array Thank you

A quick post today
These are just 2 of the Thank You cards I sent out last month to my customers. The paper is the Autumn papers from the autumn winter catalogue. This catalogue ends on 5th January so if you want these lovely papers go online and order today from my online shop www.karenwatts.stampinup.net They are lovely and match with the Crushed Curry and Blackberry bliss inks and card as well as 3 others. Here I have used Cajun Craze, not a colour I use often.

I have just updated the classes page, have a look, come and learn a new hobby.
Off to finish my Christmas cards.

Fancy Fold

This card was for a special young lady, obviously it was a special birthday.
The fold was also one of Amanda's challenge WWWU's. This is something our team joins in on a weekly basis although my contribution was a bit late. But we all do it for the fun!
You can find instructions for the fold at thecraftspa.blogspot.co.uk Amanda makes some amazing things, just scroll back through her posts.

Come and make your own fancy fold card on Thursday January 15th. 7 - 9.30 £8 (you will have paper, card and ribbon to take home) , or have a couple of friends over to your own home minimum of 4, £10 per person message me for available dates. Booking is essential. I also need to know if you want a male or female theme card!
Here is another but not pink.

long time no blog....

Hello
Its ages since I last blogged and so much has changed. Firstly I have started a new job. Its only part time but it has taken me ages to re organise my routine. Then with Christmas so close I have spent hours making Christmas cards for friends, family and customers.
I have lots to share with you so here goes.
Weekly Deals
At the moment we know these are continuing until 5th January. This weeks has some really good deals and it is worth going online and ordering via my online shop. The dies have a good discount on them, I use both sets regularly. The 'in colour' marker pens are a great way of strting your collection. You can use these to ink stamps with so if you haven't got the ink pads these are a cheaper way to start getting the colours you want.
If you want further details message me. I have an order going in on Saturday if you would rather not order online.

I will be back tomorrow with some makes

Using neutrals

I haven't blogged this week as I have started a new job, working in school again and I am loving it.
But as the rain lashed down today I decided to sort through my neutral card stash and you can't do that without getting a bit of inspiration.
Using the festival of trees stamps and a bit of 'cherry cobbler' red to add to the neutral colours I cam up with these two little beauties.

The cherry cobbler with the chocolate chip card looks so lush and I used the bauble stamp from the tree set to make the snow on the crumb cake card.
What a fun afternoon. Shelves tidy and two more cards in my stash.

Flower Patch Concertina card

I had so much fun making this. Its a special card for a special person on a special birthday.

I started with  the letters (morning post, a retired stamp set that I love too much to not use), punching them out with the label love punch. I then punched the same label shape in the perfect plum card, cutting it in half to mount the letters on with a little surround.
Then I cut the tags out and started to think about the colours, shapes and stamps in the Flower Patch set and how I was going to use them.
I started with Elegant eggplant ink and card, perfect plum ink and card and the crisp cantaloupe from the in colours with Tangerine Tango.                    .
I put all the flowers onto blocks and then stamped them randomly. I used the matching dies to cut flows in elegant eggplant and perfect plum. I used the pansy punch and the Boho Blossoms              punch as well as a few perfect petals stamped and punched flowers. The die cut leaves are overstamped using pear pizzaz and garden green, ink and card.

 I worked one tag at a time, putting it together with one 3d leaf and flower and a few pearls. I threaded ribbon through the punched top of the tag.

 I then used the skinny letters to die cut the word happy. These had to go onto one page or the concertina book would have been too long.

The front I kept quite plain, using the sentiment from this set .

After completing the card I made a box for it to fit in as I needed to post it.  Here the card is in the box and finally all tied up and ready for its postal box.

Fringe Scissors meet Hardwood

Its been a funny old day so far. Had to go to Huddersfield to Yorkshire music library to deliver and pick up scores for the rehearsal tonight as we start work on Brigadoon. A funny tale of........ come and watch and find out in April.
Craft wise I have had a project in mind for a while to do in a workshop in January so I thought I would give it a go, iron out the problems time it to see how long it took etc. After 3 hours work I am only 1/2 way through! Might have to re think this one. This was taken in natural light at 3 o clock in the afternoon. Don't like winter.

At least this part shows off the fringe scissors and the wonderful Hardwood stamp which I love but haven't used as busy doing Christmas cards...... maybe I could incorporate it there too. Thinking.... This picture was taken using the flash. The system has cut the bottom part of the picture off but I hope you can see how the scissors work.

Decorated Candles

This makes a lovely gift, a decorated candle, a box to match and a card.
I have used Bearing Gifts for one set and Festival of Trees for the second set.

The Bearing gifts set uses the All is Calm designer paper and lost lagoon ribbon. The Festival of trees uses the Trim the Tree paper stack and Real Red satin ribbon from the seasonal catalogue.

A class to make one of these sets is only £8 Get in contact to book your place for Tuesday 11th November 7 - 9.30. Only 5 places.

Memory Keepers. Project Life

Well workshop over. It was so hectic I never got chance to take any pictures. All the ladies did really well making 1 of everything and stamping for the rest to put together at home.
Next workshop is 22nd November. My colleague Elaine is organising that one we are looking at making crackers and decorated table items.

Now for something different
How many photos have you got on your phone............ loads is the general answer. I decided I wanted to do something more with mine. Stampin'Up! have recent introduced Project Life. I have posted some pages earlier in the year but I' ve got better at it.






The weekend before the workshop I was taking part in my other hobby. I was doing my FIRST open water scuba dive. It was in a quarry near Morecambe. The water was a balmy 15 degrees!











I have stamped shoals of fish across the pages to
 link them together.

The Brown Trout were very large and came to be fed.












The black fish is a sturgeon. He was the largest of the lot. There were lots of small fish in shoals but they swam too quickly!

My husbands strange sense of humour!

Workshop 25th October 1.30 - 4.30

So much to tell you. I have been very busy preparing for the first Christmas workshop.

5,4,3,2,1 Get into Christmas

We will make 15 cards A choice of 3 programmes.
Get your Santa On, Endless Wishes and Festival of Trees
£30 including stamp set or £18 bring your stamp set with you

Using your chosen stamp set you will make 

5 very simple one layer cards, 

4 cards using matting and layering. 

3 cards adding ribbon and/or bling. 

2 requiring the big shot or other techniques and 

1 WOW card. 

All materials will be supplied just bring your adhesives, your trimmer,  and blocks. Also your stamp set if you haven't ordered one.

Booking is essential so we can ensure we everything you need ready and waiting for you. 

Closing date for bookings is 17th October

 This is the Get your Santa On set. Your WoW card makes a little box that contains a set of gift tags. Using traditional colours we use all stamps in the set.










Endless Wishes in cool colours. Using Not quite Navy, Soft Sky and Silver ink. I have added vellum and acetate. The wow card, a pop up box card.

 Lastly Festival of Trees. The stamp set is included in the price but not the punch. That is available to order as an extra.
The wow card contains a (battery) candle which flickers away behind the vellum









Please contact me to book your place email: karen@krafting.co.uk Booking closes on 17th October to enable us time to order all the materials and ensure we have everything well packaged for you at the workshop. We also have homemade cake and tea. :)

To Washi Tape or not to Washi Tape

I must admit to having a bit of a love for rolls of wash tape but I am still struggling to find a use for it! 

I have tried cards but always feel they look scruffy. Everyone else's cards look great using it then I had a lightbulb moment....... I am a fan of tearing paper, vellum etc I always tear the double sided tape and I was tearing the wash tape, when I cut it with scissors it looked so much better.
Many thanks to another lady on pintrest for this idea......I've used washi tape successfully!


 Gorgeous grunge being on the table was used first, in Always Artichoke, not a colour I have used much. Muddy green is what I would call it.

I then cut short lengths of washi tape and put it over the big blotches from the gorgeous grunge. It just added a splash of colour.


 I stamped a tree punched and added that on dimensionals. I think I wold like to colour the bauble with dazzling details just to give it a bit more bling.

Some random snowflakes and luscious Wild Wasabi ribbon and Voila  a card with washi tape that looks good.

The sentiment is from the Really Good Greetings set that you get free is you have a qualifying party in October. Ring now for more details.

Festival of Trees

This  Stampin'Up! product has been the highest seller for the last two weeks.
You really do not need to ask why, it is such good value for money, the stamp set with 13 stamps and the tree punch all for £24.95. Have you got yours? Message me now to order or go on line at
www.karenwatts.stampinup.net
and order through my online shop.

This is card number 3 from the 2nd Wednesday stamp class. Its another case from pinterest, so many brilliant ideas on there.
I have stamped the trees in two different shades of green to give a bit of depth, the lighter ones first then the darker green stamped in-between but over the lighter ones. Only the darker green trees have been decorated with baubles and gold tinsel. (The tinsel doesn't show very well on the photo). A bit of red ribbon and some gold sequins just finish it off.

 Stampin᾿ Up! Supplies

Table built by craftingbecky.com

Festival Of Trees Photopolymer Bundle

Real Red 3/8" Satin Woven Ribbon

Gold Sequin Trim

Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock