Ombre Sponge Brayering Emboss Resist...

Another idea with the Bermuda Bay ombre pad... 

White embossed Wonderful Year greeting and couple of large Tin of Tags snowflakes...

Sponge brayered ink from the ombre pad for the Emboss Resist Technique .... 

Ombre-inked large snowflakes at random to finish off... plus Soft Sky Fancy Frost sequins... I have to admit that these Tin of Tags snowflakes are going to get plenty of action here at The Craft Spa...

I hope you are all having a wonderful August Bank Holiday...and managing to get a rest (or not as the case might prefer to be!)

And here is a group shot of the last 2 days' cards...

Exterminate? Wheelie Bin Fancy Dress!?

Gosh some of you are SO eagle-eyed…!

Since I shared my Project Life page at the weekend - I have had a few messages asking me what is at the front door of the house … So I went back to check… and had a giggle…and then thought…oh why not share!!!

So here is my largest Crafting project to date!! Though I cannot call it papercrafting as there is definitely more plastic than paper!!

And the story behind it…. every year our Great Ouseburn Spring Festival & Open Gardens has a Scarecrow Trail. We had always made a scarecrow – but this year we decided to do something a bit different!

Our excuse being that brand new Wheelie Bins had just been delivered on the Monday prior to the event… and I just said “ where are we going to hide this in our Open Garden this weekend!”

When all of a sudden a daft idea popped into my head – and so our Wheelie Bin Scarecrow Dalek was born… Oh! Such Happy Memories – really great crafting fun for all the family…

And great fun for the many visitors too…. though I think only the locals really understood the significance of the Wheelie Bin….

And you wouldn’t believe how many people had their photo taken next to our Dalek … just call me Madame Tussauds!! LOL!!!

Have Kids?  Live in Yorkshire? Fancy looking at gorgeous Gardens – and a great Scarecrow trail with daft ideas like this one!!

Well you know where to come – Great Ouseburn – just 15 minutes from Wetherby, Harrogate, York & Thirsk - on Bank Holiday Monday 4th May 2015. Plug over!

Garden Trugs using the Berry Basket die – and a Tutorial for an Extended Basket using less cardstock

Happy Easter to you all…I hope the Easter Bunny has been generous…
As my Easter Sunday Share - here is my Garden Trug range! With a tutorial for you too!
The extended double basket is slightly smaller than the previous double berry basket shared. I wanted the trug to fit my egg better so it wouldn’t roll around…but I kind of failed as the Egg is still slightly smaller than my trug! So much for my measurements!! But an oval aperture in an insert inside quickly fixes that!
But I did work out how to use less cardstock in the making of an extended basket! Details shared at the end of this blog post…
I also had a fail with the plant I bought for the single version too … the pot is slightly higher than the Berry Basket! So on the search for a lower pot….
So onto the extended Berry Basket…. see the link above for a video on a full Berry Basket…. but here are my tips…
Die Cut 2 Basket sides… Stamp as required…

Apply glue to one side of one Basket side ( I used Sticky Strip so you can see it!)

Adhere 2 Basket sides together… Note that I have positioned the sides so that all 6 slats are spaced apart equidistantly – which makes the basket narrower than the full Double Berry Basket version linked…

Cut 2 partial basket sides using 2 cardstock pieces of a minimum 3 1/2” Square size… I just used a scrap so it is slightly longer… Note I have just photoed one being cut so you can see what I am talking about…but you can easily do both at the same time (on top of each other or to each side of the die – or even cut one full side and then cut in half!)

Apply glue to bottom side of partial bases

Adhere one to each short Basket side. You could then even cover this base with a card piece (mine would be a piece 3” x 5 1/2”)

And to finish off… you will need 3 of the die-cut straight basket tops in total ….

The long Basket sides of my extended Basket were 5 3/4”.

Add 1/2” to allow for the overage on either side of the Basket when assembled… Which makes 6 1/4”.

Trim one Basket top length so that it is 6 1/4” long plus the small end tab. ( see RH length in photo)
Adhere the other 2 (folded on the score-lines as the die intended) using the small tabs.

Trim the other long side as necessary as the last part of your assembly..

You will notice that I assembled the short sides first and then the long… easier for me to eyeball that way!
One other thing to note… this was another project rejected for my production-line Easter Baskets class… this time because of the stamping…. lining up the Hardwood slats in bulk would have proven far too hard!!

MDS Berry Basket

Spotted this whilst spending some quality time on my favourite inspirational web site….yes you guessed it … Pinterest.

Jess Williams  at The Paper Caper - a very clever demo in Australia has produced and shared this great template she produced using My Digital Studio (MDS) that you just print and then cut with the Berry Basket die…

But the template bunny was chopped into by the slats… So a quick stamp, colour and fussy cutting of my favourite Happy Easter Bunny…and there you have it… open top Easter Berry Basket made easy!

Thanks for sharing your genius Jess… this project is just FUN! And SO clever….

Double Berry Basket for Two! Keeping it Simple!

 

Sometimes things just have to be kept simple! And this really was for me… as I even had the wreath image from For The New Two left over and ready to go! But it was just SO perfect…

So here is a simple way to present 2 chocolate Easter eggs at one go… a double Berry Basket…

Want to make one for yourself… you just need the Berry Basket die and go to fellow US demonstrator, LeeAnn Greff’s blog here to see a video tutorial she has posted on how to double it up…

Loving my Berry Basket die… I have a long list of Things I Want to Make…wonder how far I will get down it! 3 made so far….

Early Easter Sunday!? A round–up!

Looking at my blog hits recently…. you can tell that Easter is coming up and that us crafters are busy making our special treats for Easter.

So I thought I would do a quick round up post on previous Easter Project posts that have been proving popular on this blog at the moment!

Click on the project picture and you will be taken to the original blog post… many with tutorials… though please do bear in mind that some of the products used in these projects are no longer available to purchase from Stampin Up!

Tutorial for Tag Topper Punch Easter Chick

Giant Cadburys Creme Egg meets the tiny Easter Bunny!!

Small Tag Topper Punch Easter Basket Tutorial

Large Tag Topper Punch Easter Basket Tutorial

Easter Chick Fancy Favour Box with How To Pictorial

Easter Bunny Fancy Favour Box with a How To Pictorial

Easter Lindt Bunny Explosion Box

Top Note Die Easter Bunny Bag

Easter Lindor Chocolate Egg Butterfly

Nursery Suite & Easter Bunny Punch Art / Ferrero Rocher Holder

 

Many Marvellous Markers share

I have some customers interested in buying the markers but spreading the cost over 4 months. So would you care to join us?

Never be lost for a co-ordinating Stampin’ Up! colour again!

Quickest & cheapest way to build up your colour collection (apart from buying the full box at one go! )

Collect the full set of 38 colours over 4 months … and the fabulous Big Storage Box too.

Just £22.50 per month for 4 months. Includes P&P.  Deliveries April-July 2015

OR add 10 In Color markers for an extra £5.50 monthly (ie £28 per month) – or for a 5th month at £22.50…

 

All 38 colour marker pens in our 4 colour collections  in one sturdy carrying/storage case with extra space for 10 In Color markers.
RRP £89.95
* Dual tipped markers: 0.5 mm fine point and flexible brush
* Set of 38, packaged in rigid plastic case with handle
* Includes colours from all 4 colour collections (not Whisper White and Very Vanilla)
* Odorless, water-based dye ink
* Coordinate with Classic Stampin’ Pads and exclusive Stampin’ Up! Cardstock

8/10 markers will be posted to you monthly from April 2015. The big box will be delivered in the 4th month.

Just email me, Amanda Bates at thecraftspa@gmail.com  - by 24th March - for more details.

Personal Red Arrows Display over The Craft Spa in Great Ouseburn

Now you can’t get more different than this on this blog … but please bear with me! Or just go here to see todays crafty share….

I had a very exciting half an hour yesterday as the Red Arrows swooped around and over my house. They were coming out of the local RAF base at Linton on Ouse which is seconds from me as the crow flies!

I stood in the garden and snapped a few photos of the display they put on for me personally…..! So I thought I would share the moment! Think there may be a little Project Life page coming along too….

Annoyingly the best fly by was the first….when I didn’t have my camera… 9 of them together and they were SO close – you wouldn’t believe it! I am sure that a photo would have shown their serial numbers!

Red Arrows and my Willow Tree!

Red Arrows and my chimney!

Diving down behind my roof!

And over the church out the front on Main Street…you may have to squint to see them on this one….

It was all truly very exciting…. especially with the eruption of sound from the kids in the school playground each time they circled around and came back again…. Thank you to the Red Arrows for a special half-hour! Love living where I do!!

Large Painted Petals Wreath card

And here is the last card of the Painted Petals series we made this week. A large but straightforward 7 1/2” Square card for special ladies for Mothers Day or Birthday – or any occasion really!

So I used the fabulous – but often overlooked -  “leaves image” in the Crazy About you stamp set. And as it is a solid image…yup you guessed it – we were all kissing again! This time with Wild Wasabi on the I Love Lace background stamp & Pistachio Pudding on the leaf.

8 leaves – and a bit of hand cutting & finger squeezing to give definition later – and you have a great wreath. The leaves were just arranged around a circle which was just drawn around the outside of the largest circle framelit.

Tip for you though – make sure you stick the end leaf over the narrow stem part. ( we all naturally arrange it the other way ie placing the narrow stem under the leaf – which is fine for a dry run… but do the sticking the other way – as it is a lot simpler and faster! This will mean nothing as you read this – but it does makes total sense when you are doing it!

And the flowers are again just hand cut & defined using a thick mat and embossing stylus– mainly just the trio from the 5 flower image as they are the easier part to cut out…. I did actually start with cutting out the full 5 part flower and leaves image – but then I realised there would be an hour of cutting instead of the 15 minutes of this version – looked great but that 3/4 hour had to be cut!

The Mothers day wording is also from the Crazy About You stamp set. I LOVE that you can place the HAPPY next to the separate MOTHERS Day on the block and just stamp away. Though I have to admit that I cut away a tiny bit of surrounding plastic to achieve the exact same spacing between the words…

And this is die cut using the great shape in the Project Life Framelits set – just perfect for the banner shape needed…

And all finished off with a bit of simple stamping inside the card…

Oh and I have a few other variants to share of this card tomorrow….

Another Painted Petals card to go in the box! Plus NEW Sale A Bration products…And Weekly Deals updated…

Well the Painted Petals cards & box shared yesterday went down very well at todays class…

My friend and fellow crafter, Zoe was particularly delighted to make all of her 4 Mothers Day cards plus a spare for any occasion as well as a box for chocolates and a special make for Mothers Day presents…. More on the extras another day!

But I had to pop onto share Zoe’s version of the “Amazingly Amazing heart card” – made so as to fit the HAPPY MOTHERS DAY greeting – love this version Zoe…. told you I had to share! Thanks for letting me….

Oh and before  I go… here are this week’s Weekly Deals – I think I can see a “Happy Easter banner” being created here in March and a ribbon stock up too!

I will be ordering Sunday 1st March if you are after anything…. and do remember that you can earn a free Sale A Bration (SAB) item for every £45 you spend… and …even better… spend £50 + and you can have a free Craft Spa class in March too (worth £12.50)

And talking of Sale A Bration… I am delighted to tell you that there are 4 new items that you can earn for free during March. These are in addition to those previously published.

Little sneak peek pictures below… don’t know why the Coastal Cabana colour in the Thanks card etc looks like such a vivid green!! - but go here for full information…. I personally can’t wait to get my hands on those vellums and the large THANKS stamp!