Sunday 28 April 2013

A little bit of Boxing Homework

Hi all my crafty friends,

Hope you are all having a chilled out weekend,perhaps managing to do a little crafting!


I have been meaning to write this blog for the last couple of days,but with one thing and another ,I have just managed to start it.
I suffer from sinus problems, and this week has been no exception. I have also have been constantly sneezing, so not too sure if I have a cold starting ,or perhaps a little bit of hay fever.
Does that suggest we are actually going to get a little bit of springtime?

Last Wednesdays Crafty friends meetup in Warrington was so enjoyable.We had a fantastic turn out, and many new members came along.Thank you all so much for joining us, and do hope to see you every fortnight.
  Many members brought in their boxes from home, which I had shown them how to make at our previous session .Their pictures are below and as you can see they are so different ,but are made using the exact same technique.
We as human beings are all so different, and the boxes are a prime example of this, as no two boxes where the exact same.





I am really enjoying showing the members such a variety of tecniques ,as I know they can take them away and make them into some amazing projects.
Please keep following the blog as I will be showing you so many other tecniques over the coming months.
If you would like to come along to our Crafty Friends meetup, just take a look at the  menu
 "where we meet up" this should have all the latest meetup dates.

Will be back shortly as I am just editing the pictures of the projects we focused on at our last meetup.

Speak soon all my crafty friends xx



 

Sunday 21 April 2013

Beautiful Butterflies-Stampin Up Style

Hi All

Sorry I have not been in blog land for a while,but hopefully you will love what I have to show you today.

Well we have to start with the wheather,thats what us Brits are known for.
It wouldn't be a conversation if the wheather wasn't mentioned.
This morning was lovely and bright, and it really stopped me feeling down in the dumps,but alas this did not continue.This afternoon we saw grey clouds appear ,and it has now started raining.
My little Westy dog has just poked his nose out of the patio doors ,felt the rain reversed,sighed and went to his bed.He does look rather sad now.......Poor Westy dog.......

You may well be wondering why I am mentioning butterflies in the title,well I thought with spring close by, we may well be seeing butterflies in the next couple of weeks.With this being a couple of weeks away my next best thing was to show you the not quite so real butterfly stamps which come from STAMPIN UP.

Although these are not real,they look truly amazing  and are perfect for all your crafty needs The styles are perfect for all sorts of papercrafting ,and with the with the stunning collections of the Stampin Up inks they look amazing in whatever colour they are stamped in.

Below are a number of stamps that are from the main STAMPIN UP  Catalogue page 115,this set has 7 stamps,excellent value for money,great versatlity.
I have used various STAMPIN UP ink colours to give you an idea what they look like when stamped.

A BIG BONUS is that the stamps also have a matching punch which are so easy to use, and they cut out the butterflies perfectly.I personally struggle cutting out perfectly ,but the punches save me having messy edges.


Stampin Ups Swallowtail super large stamp  has the WOW factor,you literally only need this stamp and it fills a card.Decorate with all sorts of mediums from chalks ,water paints ,glitters this stamp gives you great value for money.

If you like the look of these stamps and are close to Warrington why not pop into our crafty friends Craft group this coming Wednesday.The stamps will be out for you to have a look at and for you to have  give them a go.You can see the full address at the top of this page including times.

BELOW is the large Stampin Up SWALLOWTAIL STAMP which is stunning and is a favourite order of many people.I used the Stampin Up ink pad as my water colour palette and I was so pleased with how it turned out.
This stamp is on page 18 of the mini summer STAMPIN UP catalogue and well worth every penny at only £12.95.

Do hope you have enjoyed looking at these beautiful butterflies,they may not be real,but they are gorgeous little beauties and well worth adding to your crafty stash.Butterflies are a crafters dream and I know they are part of many peoples crafty stashes.

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend ,and hopefully I will be back mid week to show your the makes from the CRAFTY FRIENDS group this coming Wednesday.

Take care and speak soon.
TTFN

Wednesday 10 April 2013

Making an Origami Box In Craft group Warrington

Hi Everyone

 Just a quick post to say thank you to all the lovely ladies who came along to the crafty friends craft meetup in Lowton, Warrington today.
We all had a lovely morning ,chatting,crafting and swapping ideas.
Our group is for all sorts of crafts from papercafts to knitting,quilting,jewellery making and so much more.

This morning I did a CRAFT ALONG showing how to make origami paper boxes which I just love making. You can do so much with a box, dress it, and decorate it in 1001 ways.

The ladies who joined in where really pleased with their end result, and no doubt there home will have many boxes in different rooms.
Come on ladies let me have some phtographs of all the boxes you will now be making..................

Below are the boxes I made as samples for this mornings session ,and do hope you like them.They are perfect for all sorts of storage, from favours, to keeping you earings or small crafty bits and pieces in.



 Below are the boxes in close up ,the white box has beem embossed using embossing folders, and the top has been decorated with faux pearls and paper spiral roses, and edged in irridescent glitter.
The sides have been finished off with sheer oranza ribbon, and a co ordinating green faux mini buckle.




 The next 3 boxes I have decorated using the STAMPIN UP SECRET GARDEN STAMP SET which I usesd in a variation of ways from stamping with my stampin up ink pads in a selction of the most up to date colours.I have heat embossed the silver and pink box ,but it is the same flower that is in the set.

This stamp set is such a useful set, and you can do so much with it.
You can even get the matching dies  which cut out the stamped images for you which is fantastic if you stuggle with cutting out small bits.




If you come along to the group and would like to see these stamps please just ask and of course you can have a try out with them.I know you will be so impressed withese stamps.

Hope to put another post up within the next couple of days so don't forget visit us again in the near future.
Take care and speak soon.


Sunday 7 April 2013

A Serious Stamping Week-Stampin Up Crafty Projects

Hi Everyone

Hope you are all having a wonderfully relaxing Sunday.I was awakened very early this morning by extremely loud chirping birds in my garden.Every year about this time the birds try their haredst to wake me up extremely early,well they definately did this morning.
I lay in bed wondering do birds speak to each other ,and wondering what language they speak to each other in?

You can see where I am coming from as they travel thousands upon thousands of miles in a year and probably meet birds from many other countries,"yes" I am having one of those deep and mindful mornings.............

Hope you have have managed to get a little crafting in,I know many people have struggled to do this .The reason being the children are still off school as part of the Easter Holidays  in the UK ,some children had two weeks off, and others just the one week off depending where you live in the country.

I have been doing a little crafting ,and have been enjoying using my new crafty STAMPIN UP STASH that was delivered to me last week.I have a had a great time experimenting and trying out new papercafting tecniques.Below are a couple of pictures of the bits I have been working on and do hope you like them.





I also love working with material, and have made a lovely 3D effect picure using LAUARA ASHLEY FABRICS which co ordinately perfectly, and where finished off a with a selection of upcycled buttons.
I love the shabby chic feel and these represent this feel perfectly,so much so that I have 2 similar ones in my bedroom which are lovely as the 3d gives a different look to wall decor.
Here is the one I have just completed.




Just a quick REMINDER out next CRAFTY MEETUP is this Wednesday in Lowton Warrington which is very close to Wigan,St.Helens and is close to the major motorway networks.If you fancy joing us for a morning of craftiness or just to sit and have a coffee and learn new crafting tecqniques ,you would be most welcome to join us.

Our members all love their own style of crafting from paper crafting, crochet,quilting,knitting,jewellery making and many more.

If you have been thinking of starting a new hobby or need to get out and socialise this may be perfect for you .By coming along you may be able to decide which is going to be the perfect craft for you to have a go at. 

CRAFT- A- LONG THIS WEDNESDAY 10TH APRIL

This session we will be looking at making very simple origami boxes which are perfect for all sorts of gifts or even storing small crafty bits and peices.
I have lots of these boxes for gems ,small flowers etc
We will be making origami boxes and if we have enough time going over the  spiral flower tecniques ,which can be used to decorate the boxes.
If you would like to join me in making these, here is you craft Ingredient list for this session.

INGREDIENTS:

*  Card(or substantial paper) cut into squares,not very thick card as we will be doing a lot of folding .

* Scissors,bone folder or ruler if you do not have one 
* A circle template for the spiral roses( I use a plastic cup so anything like this would be fine
* Pencils ,pens to mark the circle
*  Wet glue for the roses(i use tacky glue,but whatever wet glue you you like to work with)Pritt sticks are not ideal for this type of work

If you have a craft tool box you will probably have all these in it,so just bring this along with you and please do not forget to label your items as many craft items are the same and we would hate for them to go missing.

I HAD BEEN making a number of boxes and baskets for the Easter period, and below are a couple which I thought I would show you.They where decorated with a Spring feel to them and where all stamped with the new STAMPIN UP SECRET GARDEN STAMP SET.

If you like this stamp set I will be bringing it along with me so you will be very welcome to use  it as it may be something that you would like to add to your crafty stash.

STAMPIN UP CATALOGUES:

If you have one of my catalogues from the last craft session or have picked one up from me recently,just to let you know I will be placing my order next Thursday. 

***  STAMPIN UP APRIL/MAY SPRING SPECIAL OFFER***

Order items of £35.00 or over and receive 10% off the order




Below is a mini version of the origami boxes that we will be making at the craft meetup in Lowton Warrington.I am working on a display of boxes to bring along on Wednesday for our session so keep checking back as I will have them up by tomorrow evening.



Will speak to you all soon,just off to get my lunch and back to making my display boxes.
Do not forget of you have any questions/queries please just contact myself Jackie jackeanne@yahoo.co.uk
or Sue at missdefied17@yahoo.co.uk.
Hope you are all having a lovely Sunday,take care xx