Wednesday 24 December 2014

My Christmas Top 10…and Weekly Deals!

First of all…Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you and yours. May Santa deliver you everything your dreamed of….. and may 2015 be the best year ever….

Thank you for visiting me and my little old blog – I really appreciate your support and your lovely comments…. and I hope that some of what I post is of use to you….

I found this really interesting so I just thought I would share the Craft Spa’s Top 10 Christmas projects… as voted by you …  as determined by the number of blog hits since September….

So in reverse order. Press on the photo to go to the original post…

At Number 10….

Amanda Bates, The Craft Spa, North Yorkshire 036Amanda Bates, The Craft Spa, North Yorkshire 037

At Number 9….

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At Number 8….

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At Number 7….

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At Number 6….

Holiday Home, Homemade Holiday, Amanda Bates, The Craft Spa, 2014 (1)

At Number 5….

Amanda Bates, The Craft Spa, North Yorkshire 038Amanda Bates, The Craft Spa, North Yorkshire 041

At Number 4…. This  made me laugh… so I will own up… This was a reject card… I wasn’t happy with my door…so I had the card on my re-make list…then the weeks kept passing by… so I put it on display…and everyone loved it… so what do I know…!!!

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At Number 3,2,1 …. will be posted later!!! Please feel free to post your own guesses in the meantime…. No 1 may be a surprise!!!

Doesn’t the Wonderful Wondrous Wreath feature a lot!!! Guess that was very popular after all…. So I am very happy to tell you that the Wonderful Wreath stamp set and framelits carry on …. so you can order those after Christmas and during Sale A Bration…..

But the other stamp set that heavily features… ie Holiday Home… those gorgeous houses and Santa & his sleigh…not carrying on… if you want them…you need to order before 5th January.

And – before I leave you for the Festive Season -  here are this week’s Weekly Deals…

2014_12_24 Weekly Deals_10858390_10152479901392102_4564197962902612513_n

So it’s now time for my Christmas Top 3…

Following on from my earlier post about the Top 10 projects shared on my blog…here is the final countdown…..

In 3rd position…

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So proving you like them big…..

And in 2nd position…

All is Calm, Double Display Card, Festival of Trees, Wonderful Wreath, by Amanda Bates, The Craft Spa (1)

So proving you like a fancy fold….

Which leaves you with number 1…

Wonderful Wreath, Santa, Punch Art Santa, by Amanda Bates, The Craft Spa  (2)

So proving that we are all still children at heart!!!! Surprised??  I am…. and even more so as this post has now just hit my Top 10 of all time…..

So that just leaves me time to say again …Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.

Tuesday 23 December 2014

Another White Christmas card

Wonderful Wreath, Santa, Amanda Bates, The Craft Spa 943

Another very quick share for today…

Just found another card I made but hadn’t yet shared…. A very simple little scene using a pre-made note card and the fabulous White Christmas stamp set.

But I am afraid that the stamp set is not available to buy for much longer (only till 5 January 2015)

My set is definitely a keeper… I have really REALLY enjoyed creating with this stamp set along with the perfect accompanying Holiday Home stamp set … which is also (BIG SNIFF HERE!!) not available after 5th Jan….. and definitely a keeper too!! That one is particularly precious to me….. gorgeous houses…and Santa & his sleigh too

White Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set

White Christmas Photopolymer stamp set £13.95

Holiday Home Photopolymer Stamp Set

Holiday Home photopolymer stamp set. £13.95

Monday 22 December 2014

Golden Ornamental Pines

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Just a very quick share for today.

Here is a very simple card made using the Encore Gold ink, Ornamental Pines and a few splodges from Gorgeous Grunge!

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I hope that you are all more ready for Christmas than I am….

I have ticked off quite a lot …but  many left to do… Next step… tree decoration ( sorry Julie W – there would only have been a bare tree photo today!!) …then house decoration!! Only 2 weeks later than usual….Ooops…

Again sorry for the bad photos… I really need Santa to deliver my replacement lights set…. not long to wait now…..

Friday 19 December 2014

Curvy Keepsakes Penguin– or should I call him Monty… or Pingu… or Erik…

Many Merry Stars, Amanda Bates, The Craft Spa 017

I have to admit…this is my favourite of my Curvy Keepsakes treat holders… he is SO cute… and I now have penguins over running my house….

Now I reckon this little penguin has become rather famous around SU! demo blogland. I can’t claim any credit for him as I have CASED him exactly. 

I did have a penguin on my Curvy Keepsakes To Do List…but I reckoned he was so perfect !! So I didn’t attempt to alter anything…. Thank you for sharing your fabulous creation with the world Lynn Starzl 

But I have to laugh as I have realised that my owl punch has only ever been used for penguins…. maybe I need to plot an owl punch class for next year….

Now if you have enjoyed my mini Christmas Curvy Keepsakes series… don’t forget to go to my Curvy Keepsakes Pinterest board…. loads more ideas for you there…. see you there…

Or if you want to see the many things that inspire me in my craft world …here I am on Pinterest….

Thursday 18 December 2014

Curvy Keepsakes Santa Belt Treat Holder

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This is definitely the quickest of my Curvy Treat Holders to make. And so it is of no surprise that there are lots of these to see around SU! demo blog-land.

I had based mine upon a well-loved previous After Eights treat holder I made way back when…well 2010 actually… it was a gift swap I made for our first Stampin’ Up! convention.

I just simplified it more for this years version… here he was then….

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And here were my instructions to make him ….

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Curvy Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

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Another entry in my Curvy Keepsakes for Christmas series….. today it is Rudolph’s turn… and he definitely has a very shiny nose. Have to say he does look so cute in the flesh…… especially in bulk as he is quick & easy to do…

The antlers are from Fall Fest framelits, holly from the 12 Days of Christmas, greeting from Project Life Holiday Cheers, and the rest is just punching…

Tuesday 16 December 2014

Oh! Bring us some Figgy Pudding

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Oh I so have that song in my head!!!

So here is my little Curvy Keepsakes christmas pudding. Almost good enough to eat….

And some tips to make for yourself….

Gorgeous Grunge “splats” make the raisins etc

The icing is made from the 2 3/8” scallop circle punch. 4 of them… The 2 on the handle sides were stuck on and then trimmed to shape. The other 2 were die cut over the pointy & slit side of the Curvy keepsakes die and then stuck on. ( Though I have just realised that I could maybe have die cut the scallops with the handle sides too – would have been even better….)

The greeting on the little tag is one of my favourite greetings this year – from the Project Life Holiday Cheer set… oh did I tell you …. that is carrying over!! (along with the PL Seasonal Snapshot range)

Wondering where the holly is from – that is from my favourite stamp set in the Autumn Winter Supplement – 12 Days of Christmas…

Monday 15 December 2014

Ho Ho Ho! Curvy Keepsakes Santa

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Following on from the popularity of my Wonderful Wondrous Wreath Santa blog post  as shown below…. this Curvy Keepsakes Santa just had to be made !!

Wasn’t room for the wreath as well though… though I have just had an idea!!! One for next year maybe! Now could that be a hint to a carryover product!!! Yes…my lovely wreaths will continue on into 2015…… phew!

Wonderful Wreath, Santa, Punch Art Santa, by Amanda Bates, The Craft Spa  (2)