Weekly Deals

New weekly deals have been added to the special offers page.  New items have been added to the clearance rack.
Check out the online shop at www.karenwatts.stampinup.net

Festival of Trees

Well last week was so hectic. I was out every evening, not something that happens very often. I sing with All Souls and we have a concert in a few weeks, so we have two rehearsals every week. The music is lovely and very varied.

I also had two crafting parties.
For the first one I had been requested to do a Christmas 'make and take'. This is what everyone made and took home.

It is a lovely stamp set with a matching punch.
My friend Chris, the hostess fed us with the most wonderful Lemon Drizzle Cake she had made, then everyone shopped. A really successful evening.

Contact me to book your party.

Bearing Gifts

This has to be one of my favourite stamps.

I just love polar bears. I like stamping with this as there is just enough colouring. Its not as versatile as many stamp sets, its just so cute.

All stamped with momento ink and coloured with a water brush and inks. Getting the shadow onto the polar bear with smokey slate brings the polar bear to life. My next ones will have the polar bears hat covered with crystal glaze just to give it a pop.

The process of putting the stamped image onto a candle is interesting. I have stamped onto patterned tissue paper then coloured with the marker pens. You then wrap the tissue paper around the candle. You hold this tissue paper in place with greaseproof paper or baking parchment. When you use the heat gun to 'melt' the tissue paper into the candle you need to be careful not burn yourself. You can lift the baking parchment to see how the tissue paper is doing but if you need to heat further replace the parchment.

My first attempt without the parchment paper was very disappointing the candle was not smooth enough.

It is effective and makes a lovely gift when boxed, with a matching christmas card.




This is another class that will be listed over the next few days. Get in contact if you would like private class. Minimum 4 people. £15 Includes the stamp and one candle.

Endless Wishes

This first picture shows a selection of cards made with the Endless Wishes stamp set.

I have used 3 colours of ink. Night of navy, coastal cabana and silver. Using the different sized snowflakes in one colour. The smallest is the silver which doesn't show very well in the pictures. Each has been layered up with coastal cabana card.

This stamp set has such a wide selection of sentiments, I could have made another 1/2 doz cards each with a different one. Good value for money!

 I am running a class using this stamp set on Wednesday afternoon 29th October 2 -4 pm and 7.30 - 9.30.  Further details will be added to the Events, Classes and Workshop tab over the next week. Please get in contact if you want to reserve a place now.

White Christmas Star Book

This looks stunning but is actually quite easy to make once you have done your cutting out accurately.
So starting with the cutting. you need
5 x A4 Whisper white cut to 17cm x 14cm
5 x A4 Soft Sky to 19cm x 14cm
5 x A4 Lost Lagoon 20cm x 14cm
5 x A4 Night of Navy 16cm x 14cm.


I used the White Christmas stamp set as it lends itself to making 5 different pictures.
Starting with the whisper white card Stamp the trees onto the centre of each piece. Add the other items to each page until you have 5 pictures with as much detail as you want.

Score the white, soft sky and lost lagoon down the centre.

Now to put it together......
Fix tape to the front edges of each sheet of Lost Lagoon, carefully fix the soft sky to the tape, ensuring the front edges are level. Add the white in the same way. You should now have 5 little books, Join these 5 books together, gluing them together very carefully to ensure all front edges are level.

Use the star edge punch along the edges of the navy then die cut a cycle out of the centre. Fold and score the navy at 2cm intervals giving 2 valley and one mountain fold. Add this to the front of each picture.

To make the cover, cover a piece of card 10cm x 14cm with some dap. Lay ribbon around the book and tie in a bow. Stick the covers over the ribbon ensuring the ribbon over the spine allows the book to close.

Decorate the front.

These are my pages. It looks like I have cut a heart shape out but it is a circle!

This last picture is my cover. I have decorated it with the stars that come out of the edge punch.

Weekly Deals

These are now on the special offers page. In colour marker pawns are a must buy this week.

Inspiration Station

I also volunteered to do an Inspiration Station at the team training event. This is a picture of how my station looked.

I shall post details of each project over the next few days.