Triangle treat holders & big hits!

 Wow- I’ve been visited rather a lot recently- by lots of blog hopping crafters and its mostly down to a crafter in Germany. She’s called Jenni and she’s a talented lady ! Check out her blog here . She happened to see one of my Sale-a-bration cards (the one with the Good Neighbours set ) and kindly linked my blog. I couldn’t quite believe that I had 365 hits in just one day!!!! So thanks, Jenni, that really brightened my day!!

This picture is of a little triangular treat holder that I created just by making a triangle, tracing it onto some card so that each triangle joined to the last and then added a tab on one end. I made one for a friend I went to see and I wanted to take a little something but didn’ have time to pop to the shops!

Just add a handle, attached by brads and voila!- nice and easy. It only took about 15 minutes to make. I punched out pieces in the handle to make it look more interesting and quite like how its turned out. I know the photo isn’t great, but I have a ‘photo window’ time slot in the day when the light is best, and I’d missed it by an hour! It fits 4 little Ferraro Rocher chocolates ( the brown ones are quite delish).

Here’s a side shot- it’s easier to see what I’ve done. This particular holder is for Katie who’s just joined my team! We’re meeting up tonight and I’ve got a couple of little pressies to give her. I’ll show you the rest next post, but you’d get the same if you sign up with me. It’s such a great time to sign up with Stampin’ Up! and once you’ve purchased the Starter Kit, you’d never have to buy anything else or do a workshop if you didn’t want to. It’s not going to happen! -as I promise you, you’ll fall in love with Stampin’ Up! but that’s what I love about the company, there’s no pressure, and you can do as much or as little as you want!

Who wouldn’t want to make a saving of over £100? The starter kit is priced at £139 but contains over £249 of value in it- AND you get to choose your stamp sets out of the catalogue! Fancy it? Get in touch and I can give you more info! If you’re really quick and sign before the end of Feb, you get another stamp set up to the value of £38.95 free too.

I’ll tell you about the estate agent saga another time, but I need to keep on top of tidying this house, I have two more estate agents coming on Saturday. It’s nearly killing me keeping it tidy!! Off to tidy, then !!

Treat recipe, Cardstock, whisper white, pumpkin pie and tempting turquoise. Inks, tempting turquoise and pumpkin pie. Punches, butterfly and word window punch. Brads, from my own stash.

 

Craft Mates & Crazy Cleaning

Ok, I’m slow, extraordinarily slow. Had another catch up with the girls to craft. They had updated their blogs- practically straight away! Me? Its only 3 days later, but hey, I have an excuse! (don’t I always!!).

In light of the fact that I’m no clean freak and coupled with the fact that there is an estate agent checking out our home on Saturday, our house has been getting a LOT of love. Is it possible that too much cleaning can send you mad? Quite likely I reckon! Unfotunately, it has the side effect of turning you into the sort of Mummy that you really don’t want to be; ‘will you put that away’, ‘have you any idea how long that has taken me to clear up?! ‘please don’t make a cake, I’ve just cleaned the kitchen’.

It’s no good, I cannot be Mrs Neat & Tidy, no matter how hard I try. I will have to make a supreme effort once we have viewings, but owing to the size of this house, I could be tidying and cleaning all day, every day.

Phew! Glad that’s over. I have the distinct uneasy feeling that those reading this blog will be tut-tutting and wonder how I could have let the house get to the stage where it takes me a whole week (I kid you not!) to clean! Well, I’d much rather craft, chat and drink coffee. There, I said it! I’ve been doing too much confessing recently and its got me into trouble , so I’ll now stop.

Back to the craft!

 This was the project that Nicci brought. She’s the one that knows more stuff than we do- she could be our Mum really, except she’s younger than us and will probably kill me for saying it. To coin an American phrase, this treat holder is ’super cute’. It just needs stuffing with something sugary and you have the perfect mini-pressie.

See the faux stitching? It really finishes it off and it’s made out of a set of notelets that SU sell, called ‘Carousel Notes’.  A bit of measuring, scoring and cutting later, and you have this. It started out as a largish scalloped circle. She’s clever, that one!

We put most of the world to right. Helped down with a boxful of Werthers Original. Now I would’ve probably not have eaten so many, were it not for the fact that these were chocolate. Chocolate Werthers Original? Who’d have thought it. They were a present from Vicki, she’s much more thoughtful than me, and put them in a cute easy to fold box. I shall be ‘case’ing that soon!

I love the fact that when we get together, we encourage each other, share ideas and end up with great projects like these. Between the three of us, we could take Liverpool by storm!!

And here is Vicki’s . This house is so lovely, and so is the card- and by the end of Feb, you just cannot buy this set again. Shame really, its a gorgeous set of stamps, but its not too late- you could still place an order with me and get it FREE!

Back to houses again, aren’t we. I’ve earned this half hour rest. I’ve been tackling the bathroom (oh no!). It really isn’t my friend and after trying to put up some tiles on the side of the bath panel, I’ve realised why DIY is not my department! Why can’t they make decent adhesive. I tell you, I was about to go and put double sided sticky all over them, but thought better of it, and thought I’d leave the job to be completed by my better half (he’ll be soooo pleased with me..not!)

Better go, I have lots of things to put away and no place to put them! Sound familiar?- or maybe its just me!!

See you soon, hopefully when I’ve stopped tidying and had a chance to craft!!

 

Card recipes-

creamy caramel, mellow moss, certainly celery, whisper white, real red cardstock.

Real red, close to cocoa, mellow moss ink. So saffron and real red ribbon. Tall tales designer series paper.

Cobweb Valentine and a new team member?

Doesn’t look much does it? A bit of cutwork, a bit of stamping, a bit of layering!

I’ve been site hopping again; good ole Martha Stewart to be precise. This wasn’t hers, but a contributor called Jocelyn Worral and here’s the link with a printable template for cutting

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/cobweb-valentine-with-jocelyn . It’s not hard, just a bit fiddly. I had stamped my own ‘paper’ as I didn’t have much ‘love’ type paper. Don’t you often find that everything worth doing can be fiddly. I’ve been teaching my number three how to tie her shoelaces. She’s ecstatic and I often feel that when I’m conquering a new skill. I love the fact that our brains have such a capacity to learn. Sadly mine feels rather full and crammed most of the time, but its full of useless ’stuff’ rather than intelligent information!

Want to see what it’s like when you lift the little handle?

It would look nice hanging somewhere on Valentines day. It was supposed to be a card- you could write in between the spaces at the bottom. I’ll post a pic at the bottom, so you can actually see the hearts. It is clever and looking carefully at the template, I reckon it would pretty simple to convert to different shapes.

It’s been wet and a bit miserable too. I was very grateful for being on the right side of the road today as a lorry came down my friends road at such a speed and with such lack of care, it smashed off the opposite cars’ wingmirror. I ran around the car, trying to get the number plate, but it was going too fast. I felt really bad for those poor people coming back to find their car altered, and not in a good way. I made sure I bent mine right in, before I visited my friend!

I need to go and prepare something to make for tonight. My two Stampin’Up! buddies , Vicki and Nicci are coming round under the pretext of crafting- but probably we’ll get not so much done! I was going to use this cobweb heart, but reckon its too fiddly to be faffing with at 9pm!

I must say a big  Hello to Katie and her mum Diane. She’s considering  joining SU! and I’m looking forward to getting to know her. It’s a brilliant time to join as you get a free extra stamp set worth up to £38.95 but only if you do it before the end of Feb. It’s still a great idea after that, but just without the extra freebie! You’ll still get freebies from joining my team, so why not think about it? I do genuinely love doing workshops and I bet you would too.

My favourite phrase about Stampin’ Up! comes from a US demo who has the strap line ‘Every time I go to work, I end up at a party!!’. Get in touch, its really easy to join, and I’m available to answer all of your questions!!

Here’s the final pic, and toodle-oo until next time- I’ve got some interesting projects coming along soon! xx

 

All supplies from Stampin’Up. Cardstock whisper white and real red. Whisper white ribbon. Inks; Basic Black and Regal Rose. Stamps from Schoolbook Serif and Occasions.

Treat pouch and Liverpool Crop

Enormous apologies!- I suppose I’ve had a blogging holiday! Life has a habit of creeping up on you!! I have been doing lots of different things and have seen some friends for a change. Steve has noticed the house going to pot a little and when Will (2) after watching me hoover said ‘well done Mummy’- I thought that maybe I needed to stay home a little more!! Last Friday I was supposed to meet 4 different people in one day!! I’m not usually this popular but it was a nice change!

These treat pouches have been popular on ILWS, I do really like origami and paper piecing. Notice the lack of stamps- with paper this good- don’t think you need them!

Here’s a video link to a fab crafter demo’ing it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP494n6WPU8

I’m still trying to book a hall and it looks like I’ve secured one in Aigburth, Liverpool. Feb 27th it is (Sat ) and from 9:30-11:30. Sorry its a bit of an early start and on a Saturday morning too BUT- I had to book something and its a decent sized hall. There will be cake (homemade!)  and there will be tea and coffee. The initial charge will be £4 which will cover the hall, snack, drink and then any extra will go into a coffer and I may well purchase some basic craft/scrap supplies so if people want to have a go at something new, they can.

I would love to get an idea of who will be there, so if you want to come along- please let me know, as it would be helpful so I know how many tables to set out. I’ll be posting a map etc nearer the time. For the moment, it will be an adult only morning. I’m really looking forward to it and absolutely anyone is welcome- be you a scrapper, digi-scrapper, card maker, knitter etc. I reckon people will naturally veer towards people who are doing the same thing and my intention is for it to be a real community social event.

Better go and wake up Will! I need another tidy round. Have a friend coming round to scrapbook tonight- so that’ll be even more mess!! But really good mess!!

Have a go at this pouch. I’ve put a Ritter Sport inside (a mini one- its really really small). They’ll make great little gifts. Hope to back much sooner.

All supplies; Stampin Up. Paper is called Kaleidoscope and has 6 designs (2 of each) for £7.65. They’re double sided too which makes them ideal for projects like this.

Button-from the  playground pack.

Hearts everywhere!

I have a new heart! Its on my wrist- an interesting pale pink shade. No, I don’t have a tatoo!- but a heart burn! Somehow I caught my wrist over the kettle and after I’d held it under running water for a while, a lovely mark appeared that looks just like a heart. My friends at school say it must be a sign!- not sure what its a sign of..probably that I’ve burned myself!!

I was having a play with some new stamps that I got free from Stampin Up! because I’d done well as a demo! (See, there are real perks to this job!! ) I love letters, typography etc. and I am going to use these letters a LOT!  The card I’ve made is secured by the tab on the left and then it opens out like so…..

Hope you get the idea!! Thanks to you for visiting. I’ve had lots more visitors recently and it really makes my day to know that people have to come for a peek! Things are going to get a lot busier for me as I’m just finalising a date and location for a Liverpool scrapbooking crop/ card makers meet. Its hopefully going to be on Sat 27th Feb and I’ll confirm everything once I’ve booked the hall properly. Its quite exciting as I’ve always fancied going to one myself but as there is so little in this city going on for crafters, I decided to organise something myself.

I had a phone call from a lovely lady (Hi Denise!!) this week who’d got my details from the Stampin’Up! website and we got chatting about crafters meeting up and she told me about how BBC Radio Merseyside were appealing for crafty people to ring in and they could maybe get them together! I’ve spoken to great people from their ‘A Team’ and they said they’d promote it once I’ve finalised everything. So…if you’re anywhere near Liverpool (or in driving distance of) I’d love it if you let me know if this was something you’d be interested in coming too. More details to follow!….

Better go, after a day ‘lost’ , feeling the aftereffects of the swine flu jab this week, my house is looking unloved and distinctly ignored. The clothes are calling me and the dishwasher is inviting me to fill it (I own such courteous appliances!!). Off for a date with the kitchen then!! xx

 

Card recipe, Cardstock, Taken with Teal, Whisper White and Rose Red. Inks in the same colours. Stamp sets, ‘Occasions’ and ‘Schoolbook Serif’ and roller wheel ‘So Swirly’.  All supplies from Stampin’Up !

 

 

 

Chocolate Mini and Craft Classes

As soon as Christmas was over (in fact well before) I saw some extremely cute looking rabbit ears. I reckon the shops do it to make us panic that we’re not ready ever before we even need to think about it. Me, I’m thinking about Valentines Day. It has a habit of just creeeeping up on you and catching you completely off-guard. So, this year I will be ready (how many times have you heard people say that!!). I decided to tackle a token pressie for a man (ok, I meant Steve precisely) but it ended up looking so cute that I’m not sure I can give it to him! He bought me a sweet little bag with an extremely expensive chocolate in for Christmas. He’s getting to know me know after 16 years and knew I’d like the bag possibly more than the chocolate. As I carefully unpeeled the shape, I eyed it and announced that it would make a perfect template. ‘I knew you’d do that’ he said! So, this is what I made from the template. I’m sure this crafting malarky is a disease,- it changes the way you look at everyday objects. I do this so much now, I reckon I annoy myself!! Notice the small stamp? Its there to provide a bit of scale. The bag is so dinky that I think even a Ferraro Rocher might have to breathe in to fit inside!!!

Just like some people used to send all the ribbon off chocolate boxes my way, if you ever receive a nice looking box, you know how to recycle it;-my way!! I’ve escaped from the madness next door. My kids were creating a mural together but it all went a bit crazy and after the arguments as to how far over each others line they were drawing, they’ve now settled for individual paper and a flurry of pencil lines. They’re still off  school today; school said we could make a decision about sending them in ourselves. Well, I didn’t fancy an icy slip down our road and another mammothly slow drive to school. I feel much safer esconced in our little house, gobbling up the remains of the cinnamon rolls which have kept surprisingly well from Wednesday!

Did any of you notice the new look? No? Never mind. See the new tab at the top of the page? Stamping Classes ! Yay! I’ve finally sorted them out. The dates and details are all there and I want them to be fun evenings where you can do a little more than I’d do at a workshop and you’ll learn plenty to boot. Fancy it? Email  or phone me, at stampinupkeren@hotmail.co.uk or 0151 2289946 or even fill in a comment with your contact details and I’ll get back to you. We’ll do one card and one 3D project and you’re bound to learn something new. They’ll be at my house initially- but I’ve got plenty of room and I look  forward to seeing you!!

Ok, announcements over! If I could operate Photoshop I’d put a copy of the template up- if you’re interested, get in touch and I’ll see if I can send you a copy the snail mail way!

Happy creating xx

Box recipe, Bashful Blue and Whisper White cardstock, Certainly Celery ribbon. Certainly Celery, Night of Navy and Bordering Blue ink.  Occasionally and Darling Dots stamp sets. All supplies except gold jump rings from Stampin Up!

 

Snow Simple

Wow, what a to-do over some white stuff! I think we’ve been quite lucky in Liverpool. A bit of disruption but mostly we’ve been able to carry on and the bonus was that schools have been closed for the last 2.5 days! We had such a great snow day yesterday. I’ve put a few photo’s on so you can see. I love the fact that the kids had so much fun all together and there were so little disputes!!

The snow has also meant I’ve been extra busy and had little time to craft. This morning I got half an hour and decided to do something really really simple. All this white has inspired me to use more white space in my crafting. So here it is;

I know it might seem like one of my kids has made it, but I stand by it. You know, sometimes simple is better. These flowers are from another of the Sale-a-bration free sets. You only have until the end of February and then they’re gone and they’re not coming back!!

So, back to the snow and here are some of the kids having the best time…

 

 

The sledges are so cool and are so big that 2 of them could fit on at once. They were brand new 3 years ago and we’ve never had enough snow since. I was tempted to have a go but couldn’t get a look in. The pavement was a great sledding path and they all came in frozen, exhausted and incredibly happy. Maybe snow days should be part of the National Curriculum!

Here’s the snowballing episode. On the right you have a lover of them. To the left, you can see what happens when a two year old gets hit in the face by one. I can understand his upset, its not the greatest experience when you’ve never met snow before and your fingers and toes are a shade of Real Red !!

We finished off the day making Cinnamon Rolls;- not just any old ones, but Pioneer  Woman ones! (check out her link on the right). One of my great friends bought me her new cook book for my birthday and I had to try something out of it. The smell eminating out of the kitchen was awesome and whilst they took quite a while, the finished result was worth waiting for. I’m not sure I’ve converted the American measures completely accurately so maybe the recipe needs practising a bit more!!!

Here’s a pic of our attempt- imagine something less ‘bready’ than the supermarkets, full of soft and gooey cinnamon sugary scrumminess. Yep, don’t eat these if you’re counting the calories, but hey, an occasional treat never hurt anyone. Have a sniff and try to imagine!!

See you soon! xx

Card recipe, Whisper white card, ‘Happy Moments’ Sale-a-bration Stamp set, Basic Back Ink, SU chalks for colouring image, Button (designer buttons, playground) and rhinestone brad. Sentiment stamp from ‘Occasionally’ set.

 

 

New House Card & Sale-a-Bration !

Happy New Year!! Hope you all had a nice evening last night. We had a really chilled night watching a great film and having a mini party. To be honest, with 5 kids, you dont really need to invite anyone to feel like you are having a party!!! Last night, I got a little time to craft. I really haven’t had time the last week as we’ve had lots of people over for meals. This year should prove to be be exciting and challenging for us as we need to find a new house and its going to be interesting finding one in the right area for the right price. With this on my mind, I decided to make a new home card, kinda with me in mind!! I used the new stamp set ‘Good Neighbours’ which is now available free.. FREE?-

 

Da Dd DAAA! Ok, its Sale-a-Bration time- and this means what exactly?..

So- you want to see what the stamps look like? Well I’ve used the ‘Good Neighbours’ set already- here’s what the rest of the set looks like..

I LOVE this set, so this one is going to pop up in my blog a fair few times. If that doesn’t inspire you, then what about the other 3…. (oh, and I REFUSE to spell it any other way than ‘neighbours’. I love America, but NOT their spellings!!!)

So you fancy getting some? Some girls I know have put orders in that means they can earn all 4 sets!!!! Well, my diary is open and ready whether you fancy having a party in  your own home or just placing an order with that Christmas money you’ve got.

I’m looking forward to a few more days of no straightjacket routine. It all officially returns on Tuesday. So until then, I’m enjoying my relative freedom!! The children are loving the time away from school and I’m still trying to devise a way of avoiding taking them back! Maybe I should start my own school where we just craft all day? Fun for me- but I’m not sure it would do my kids any favours!!

Well, the kitchen is calling! I’ve done some hours in that place over the holiday! I feel like I’m permanently attached to the dishwasher! I’m supremely grateful for three non-people things in my house. No.1 The washing machine. No.2 The dishwasher and No.3 The Tumble Dryer ! I’d be well and truly challenged without them.

Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to seeing more of you!!

Card recipe.

Stamps- Good Neighbours

Cardstock; Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Tempting Turqoise

Ribbon; Certainly Celery. Glitter- Cosmo (Turqoise & Celery). Embroidery threads to match & staples from my own stash.

 

Triangle Tri-fold Cards and Crafts Beautiful

Oops! Where did the time go?! For some strange reason, I’ve been a little busy! I’m actually quite chilled and enjoying spending time with the kids! This little card has been made this morning while the kiddos were watching a film.

I had to get something made as tonight I’ve got two great Stampin’Up! demo’s coming for a crafty night. We each said we’d provide a project and I have really left it until last minute!!! I’m not sure we’ll get lots of crafting done, butI reckon it won’t be a quiet night!

I really need to get on the road and do some delivering of presents but as its snowing (yay!!!) and my tyres are being replaced tomorrow, I’m not sure whether I want to risk it. If any policemen are reading this (?!!), they’re not bald nor illegal – I’m just being ultra careful!! My littliest has just climbed up and asked me ‘how are you’! Several of mine have ben coming out with such funnies recently. My number 3 recently went to a friends house for lunch and told us they’d had ‘boiled mincepies’! Turned out, they were only warmed mincepies, but funny all the same.

I wanted to thank you all for stopping by and making this blog worthwhile! I really have appreciated all your lovely comments and the fact that anyone wants to look makes me really happy!! Once Christmas is over I’ll be posting my workshop schedule which I’m really excited about. I love teaching and can’t wait to get started. Watch this space! I also wanted to wish you all a really happy and peaceful Christmas. We love spending time together as a family thinking about what Christmas actually means and thanking God for sending His Son as a baby for each one of us!

Happy Christmas!!!

Love Keren xx

 

PS- this is what the card looks like when its closed. There’s a tutorial for this at www.splitcoaststampers.com Search for ‘triangle tri-fold cards’. Its busier than how I like to make cards, but it’ll do for all those Thankyou’s I’m going to need to send after Christmas!

PPS I’m in Crafts Beautiful again. I had projects in the December Special and I’m in the January issue too! Its really good fun and I’m loving doing it.

Card Recipe; Stamp Sets- Wow Flowers, Season of Joy, Darling Dots.

Cardstock, Rose red, Certainly Celery and Whisper White. Inks, Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue. Ribbon; Certainly Celery.

Bags and Bakers

Yesterday, my sewing machine nearly blew up. It went full speed by itself and burnt the pedal out. There was burning and smoke and kaputtt! I was in the middle of making these bags for Christmas. Even if the recipients see them, the real present will be inside. I’ll let you know what was in them after Christmas but for now I’ll remain schtum!! Fortunately I had an ancient hand operated Singer so now my biceps are improving dramatically!

Isn’t the fabric delish?! I’m going back for some more. I’ve also got some gorgeous green and cerise tulip material but that’s for when my muscles recover!

As I’m typing this, I’m sat on the front step of my house, keeping my eye on the kids as they do a Christmas cake sale. We were up pretty early this morning baking- but so far we’ve raised a tidy sum that the kids are using to buy Christmas presents for their friends.

I’ll post some pics of the cakes at the bottom of this post. They love shouting ‘cake sale’ and even my two year has been joining in the fun! We have very generous neighbours and passer bys!

As I looked at some of the stained glass cookies- I thought they’d make excellent tags or tree decorations- using acetate as the ‘window’. Watch this space- I’ll be posting once I’ve done them. I’ve been busy this week trying to keep up with the ‘12 tags of Christmas’. Check out Tim Holtz’s blog . I’ll post these once I’ve completed them. Its one tag a day and its a great way to get into the festive mood and have some lovely tags to make a great Christmassy display.

Well, I’d better get back to doing all those exciting Saturday jobs; 4 lots of uniform, washing, cleaning . Will have some more SU projects to show you next time!

Til’ then! xx