Happy Craftmas!

Well I think its time to clear up the craft stuff to make room for Christmas.. I have managed to expand onto the dining room table and a little bit in the kitchen too.    Trouble is I can't even throw it all in the craft room and shut the door because I have a very special visitor coming over the holidays who likes to sleep in my craft room ! 

I forgot to take photos at my last class to show you what my ladies had made.  We had a busy day... interupted slightly by a wedding going on in the hotel and the bride turning up in a fire engine!  (Actually, we thought it was full of hunky firemen ... so that was a bit of a dissappointment!)  Anyway the bride and her bridesmaids looked lovely! 

Well we all managed to finish our card file project; its fantastic how each person made the project their own using different colours and different stamping techniques. Thank you to everyone who attended,  and to Madulla and Aimee who helped me clear up at the end of the day.

After Christmas there are some exciting offers coming from Stampin' Up... Sale-a-brations is one of them.... and the new Spring/Summer Catalogue will be launched.  So watch this space for the news!

Happy Craftmas everyone - I hope Santa brings you everything you wish for. .... and if not buy it yourself!

Crafty B! x

Note for the Diary: Next Class 26th January 1pm, Barrow upon Soar

Final Class of the Year

Come and have some serious crafting time with me on the 8th December at my last workshop of the year.  An all day seesion from 10am till 4pm where we will be making a superb card storage box and dividers.
 
The venue is the impressive Rothley Court Hotel!   Photo of Rothley Court and we will be in the McCauley Suite.  The cost will be £18 per person for this class which includes all materials.

Refreshments and Lunch are available at extra cost from the hotel, but please feel free to bring your own.

Places are limited, so please make sure you contact me asap to book.

Crafty B! xx

Got it canned???

Its in the can..... my latest creation is this beautiful stationery tin, using mostly Stampin' Up! supplies and lots of inspiration from numerous like-minded crafters! 


 

There's a little pocket for stamps, and one for gift tags.  The cards are deliberately left semi-naked (so to speak!) - you just pick the most appropriate embellishment from the stock in the tin.  You can use up left over ribbon and card to refill it. 

I have some ladies making these tonight at a workshop and I hope they are going to love it as much as I do!

And if you fancy crafting with me either at home or at my monthly workshops please get in contact, I'd love to share the craftiness with you.

Carry on Crafting!!

CraftyB! xx

80th Birthday Wishes

I had a commission (last minute as usual!) for an 80th birthday card for today 5th November... for someone who doesn't want anyone to know that she's 80 and doesnt want a fuss! Hah!  Definately asked the wrong person there then.  Wait till I tell her its splattered all over the internet!!

HAPPY 80TH BIRTHDAY ROSE!!

Boo?!

I kept telling myself and anyone that asks that "I don't do Halloween" ! but it seems that I do... well I must do, as I've now given two crafting workshops this week on the subject! 

We used a variety of supplies to make the Spells & Potions Mini Book including the Goulish Googlies Bundle from Stampin' Up!

And when I say they got "stuck in" I actually mean they got most of the glue all over themselves!  Main thing is everyone (including me) had a great afternoon and produced some fantastic keepsakes and decorations for Halloween.

Here's a few photos from the workshop

Look at the concentration!



They really do get stuck in!



Deanna's collection



Leanne's spooky treats!



Debbie's treats, no tricks!

Victoria's Spooky Set!

Hope to see you at my next workshop on the 17th November, when we'll be making some fantastic Christmas decorations!

CraftyB! xx

Crafty Friends....

My crafty friends came round to my house today to do what crafters do best... in between chatting (about crafting naturally!)... coffee... more crafty chatting...  lunch... and more coffee... crafting of course!! 

We wanted to make the decoration from the front of SU's Autumn/Winter Catalogue, and a Cone.  For a first attempt though we were all very pleased  with the results . (photos taken with phone so apologies if they aren't brill)

Diane's Christmas Star & Cone

Madulla's Christmas Star & Cone

Elaine's Halloween Decoration

Crafty B xx

Put the kettle on and settle down with this.....

 

2012-2013 Catalogue
 

Launched on the 1st October 2012.... The new, the fantastic, the beautiful and over 200 pages of lushness! The 2012-2013 Ideas Book & Catalogue from Stampin' Up! ... "be still my beating heart" !  LOL!!!

October Workshop

Saturday 20th October, 1pm till 5pm, Barrow-upon-Soar - we'll be creating some projects for Halloween!  Class fee £15, inc all materials and free refreshments!


Sample of Halloween Projects

Please call me to book your place.

Crafty B!! xx

Sunday Morning Gilding....

I had the opportunity of attending a workshop the other Sunday morning where we stamped using a special glue and then used metallic gilding flakes to highlight the image .... I was pretty pleased with my first attempt at this technique!   

Needless to say, I need more supplies to perfect the technique!!!

Crafty B! xx

YouTube

....those crafty people who are happy to share their work on YouTube are both funny and inspiring!  I have had quite a giggle to myself watching the videos but there are some great ideas being shared, and I think I have YouTube overload!

Check out France Martin for starters!!!

Crafty B! xx

Cant get enough boxes!

I found a lovely little box template somewhere on crafty cyber-space and this is my version, which I used as one of my class projects the other week......how cute is that!!??

Little Boxes

Its also going to be a Halloween project too...

This little beauty is one of my favorites... and it was a hit with the class too.

Carry on crafting!!

Crafty B! xx

ConGradulations!

 My friend at work graduated last week - an MSc from Loughborough Uni - and I just had to make a card for her!  (should have cleared my desk before I photographed it though!)

ConGradulations Card!

 

Working Lunches

Hi everyone,

The girls at work wanted another crafty lunchtime, how could I not oblige?!!

However, there's some funny going on with my computer and all the photos I upload are coming out sideways, so apologies as you'll have to tilt your head to the right to view these properly.... technology!

When I told them they were going to make their own pattered paper the jaws dropped!  

We used Stampin' Up! Greehouse Gala stamps set and three inks - Melon Mambo, Old Olive and Concord Crush.  I think they make a great colour combination

The girls did a great job!  

Exclusive Patterned Paper!

Crafty B x 

NEXT WORKSHOP: Christmas in August

Hi everyone!

Thanks to everyone who sent me a birthday card... they were all  fabulous!

So now back from holiday and working on my Christmas workshop on Saturday 18th August!

We will be making a fabulous wall decoration and a great decorated box and four cards all in lovely traditional Christmas colours.  The price is £20 which includes ALL materials, instructions, use of all the tools to complete the projects, a free raffle ticket and lashings of free tea and coffee and bikkies all afternoon.

We meet up at 1pm at The Bishop Beveridge Club at Barrow upon Soar and finish around 5pm.  Give me a call to book your place on 07598 966 410.

Sneaky pics of the samples will posted asap!

Crafty B! x

Fame at last!!

I was a bit surprised last Saturday when two chaps turned up to class.  Turns out they were from our local paper The Loughborough Echo and had come to see what the craft workshop was all about.   I nearly fainted when he got his camera out and said the pic would be in next week's edition.  Well here we are.... the famous four!!

Leanne, Marie, Lynda & Me

Crafty B! xx

Happy Birthday Monica!

What a fantastic day to have a milestone birthday!  My friend Monica is 60 today - she is mad about her garden so I hope she's sitting in it now sipping something cool.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MON!!




Apothecary Art

The stamps I used are from the Apothecary Art collection.

And just when i thought it was safe to put the gold mirri card away, I had to make a Golden Wedding card for someone at work!



Framelits Labels Collection

Click on the link to see the stamp set and Framelits in the Summer Mini Catalogue

Apothecary Art

Framelits Label Collection

See you soon!
Crafty B! x

Lunchtime Flower Power!

You can never have enough flowers!  And the gals at work are no exception and "forced me" (oh yeah?) to hold a lunchtime craft session in the office!  So armed with my bigshot, Flower Daisy 2 die and everything bar the kitchen sink, we set to and here's the result...  Pretty good for complete newbie crafters I'd say!

 

Sad News

For the last couple of weeks we've been anticipating some dreadful news and it finally came on Wednesday morning just before 6am, my friend and fellow crafter Marina Hayes passed away.  She loved crafting and came to my classes all last year - even though she was poorly and mostly in pain.  So my class on Saturday was dedicated to her.  God Bless you Marina.  xxx

Hold the bus!

.. is it me or is the year just whizzing by?!!  I got told off last week for not updating my blog! - oops, sorry!  I have been busy honest... !! 

So, just a reminder that my next class is Saturday 23rd June at The Bishop Beveridge Club in Barrow upon Soar -1pm till 5pm. £15  All materials are included in the price and the use of all the tools to make the projects.  Free refreshments as always! Email me at craftyb@live.co.uk or give me a call to book in.

We will be making three projects; the stunning Gerberas/Daisies (as shown in my last post), a 12x12 decorated bill holder - an example is my 2012 calender below - and decorating a A5 notebook to match  (I take mine everywhere with me!)

Hope to see you soon!

Crafty B! x

Crazy month!

Where has the month gone?  I just looked up and May is almost over!   My last class on the 19th seems ages ago now.....we set out to make a star book and tags and all my ladies finished their project - although it did get a bit fraught as 5pm loomed!  Unfortunately no photos, sorry!  Less chatting and more crafting!! ... but what the heck, we had a great afternoon!

We're going to be making these lovely flowers at my next class on the 23rd June - and a few other things too - using the Big Shot.   If you'd like to join in give me a call to book your place.

Crafty B x

Crazy week is over!

Its been mad panic over the last few weeks to get ready for a my very first craft fair, along with a class to prepare and organising a party for 150 all within 3 days of each other!  And that's not forgetting the wedding invites that need to be done by next Tuesday!

Everyone thinks I'm cool and calm ... that's just on the outside!!  Major flapper and worrier that's me!!! For a very good reason....my friend Wendy who agreed to do the craft fair with me had a last minute chance to go to Greece and couldn't help out on the day.  But I have to say she worked hard to get goodies ready for the stall. Mega thanks go to my friend Mona who stepped in and saved me!  We had a great day!


My version of the now infamous Gerbera!





My pretty craft stall!

Despite the unbelievable weather, we met some lovely people at the BUSCA Spring Fayre and hope to see some of them again at my monthly class!

Crafty B! x

April Freebie

Have a look at Special Offers for the latest promotion from Stampin' Up!

Weekend Star

Q. Craft Heaven?

A. Star Book Workshop in Harrogate with Dyan Reaveley!  

The workshop was booked before Christmas and its seems like we had waited forever it to come around.  All prepared, we set off with a satnav all programmed up, the AA Road Map 2011 as back up, and even printed directions just in case.  Let me tell you that we all doubted the satnav when it said turn left and drove straight on, right out of Harrogate!  The next executive decision was to turn left  "as it must be back that way".  When the dual carriageway turned into a lane, then a track and as we went over the cattle grid I knew it was hopeless... its got to be a river next I thought! Fortunately we spotted civilisation over yonder and followed a 4x4 (maybe that wasn't such a good idea thinking back!) and after a short while we arrived at our destination and settled in for our workshop.

Pupils as you may know come in all guises but when I say some people shouldn't be let out, even for a visit, I really mean it... however several of them did keep us amused all day!  

The project was a Star Book and here's some photos of mine - just the tags to finish off.....

Finally, the photo of the chest!  and a few more things as well!

Mocha Morning Chest

Mocha Morning Chest & Cards

Spice Cake on Pool Party

Spice Cake DSP  & Pool Party

Sale-a-bration Stamps

The Crafty Ladies!

Emma's Birthday Card!

B