Christmas Inspiration: Rotating Christmas Tree

Hi bloggers, we promised some Christmas inspiration this week and thats exactly what we are going to give you. Starting with this fabulous Rotating Christmas Tree from Kaisercraft!

This tree is part of Kaisercraft's Beyond the Page MDF range and therefore starts off as a completely blank canvas for you to decorate how you please...

Sarah at Crafts U Love had the pleasure of assembling the tree and decorating it with papers from the Bo Bunny Candy Cane Lane Paper collection.

Sarah was kind enough to give us a few tips on assembling the tree and has also provided a full list of products used below:

Tip No. 1

Before decorating the tree with any papers, make sure you paint around the edges of the tree pieces and base pieces. This will give the tree an overall neater look and may co-ordinate better with the range of papers you decide to use.

Tip No. 2

Kaisercraft have not provided any instructions with the kit so when it comes to screwing the base circles to the metal rotating plate, make sure you screw the metal plate to the larger of the two base circles first, then use the hole provided in the large base to align your screws when screwing the metal plate to the small base circle.

Tip No. 3

The size of the tree pieces may slightly overlap  a 12" x 12" sheet of cardstock, therefore make sure you paint the tops of the tree or plan to add an embellishment for decoration. In this example, Sarah used a Rosette die at the top of the tree to finish it off.

Products Needed:

12" x 12" Papers from the Bo Bunny Candy Cane Lane Paper Collection

Kaisercraft Beyond the Page MDF Rotating Christmas Tree

Rosette Die Cut

Woodware Large Circle Punch

Marianne COL1325 Collectables Banner Dies & Text Stamp Set 

Stickles Glitter Glue - Platinum

We plan to use this Christmas Tree at the tillpoint in the shop with some sweets around the bottom of the tree to offer customers over the festive season. This would look adorable in a hallway with treats on when greeting guests this Christmas or perhaps maybe as a feature on the coffee table or dining table.

Let us know if you plan to make one of these this Christmas and what you plan to use it for! 

At only £19.99, why not!

Create & Take: Birthday Tie

Happy Monday bloggers! We can't believe Christmas Eve is just a month away and we have been busy at Crafts U Love putting some Christmas ideas together to help your creativity flow during the month of December. So look out on the blog for some festive ideas! Also don't forget about our Christmas Jumper Day on Friday 12th December - which will be full of sparkly Christmas jumpers, a festive Create & Take, and lots of Christmassy treats!

But for today let's sum up last week's Create & Take which featured the Marianne Gentlemen's Tie die. Even leading up to Christmas we can't forget those birthdays that fall in the months of November and December. So without further ado lets get going with this birthday tie card for the men in our lives....

Products Needed:

A6 Kraft Card Blank

Graphic 45 Good Ol' Sport Cardstock - Big Score

Graphic 45 Good Ol' Sport Cardstock - Godd Ol' Sport

Graphic 45 Good Ol' Sport Cardstock - All Star

Graphic 45 Good Ol' Sport Cardstock - Cheer On

Graphic 45 Good Ol' Sport Cardstock - Teamwork

Bazzill Basics Cardstock - Java

Marianne CR1292 Gentlemen's Tie Die Set

Penny Black Special Wishes Clear Stamp Set

Nailheads 3mm - Black

Maya Road Trinklets Grosgrain Ribbon - Forest

Maya Road Trinklets Grosgrain Ribbon - Pebble

Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink Pad

Sponge Dauber

Instructions:

1. Cut the Big Score cardstock 14.2cm x 10cm. Distress the edges with some Walnut Stain ink and adhere to the card blank.

2. Cut the Java cardstock 10.9cm x 7.3cm.

3. Cut the Teamwork cardstock 10.5cm x 7cm. Distress the edges with Walnut Stain ink and adhere on top of the Java cardstock.

4. Die cut the Marianne tie die from Good Ol' Sport, All Star and Cheer On cardstock. Add a little bit of Walnut Stain ink to the ties and adhere them to the Teamwork cardstock.

5. Cut a piece of Forest grosgrain ribbon 2cm in length. Fold the ribbon in half and adhere the ends together with double sided tape to create a small loop. Repeat this for the Pebble grosgrain ribbon. Adhere both bits of ribbon to the top right of the card.

6. Adhere the Java cardstock to the top middle of the card, slightly overlapping the ribbons at the top.

7. Cut a piece of Teamwork cardstock 10cm x 1.7cm. Stamp the 'For your Birthday' sentiment onto the Teamwork cardstock, add a little bit of Walnut Stain distress ink and adhere to the card.

8. Finish by adding two black nailheads to the sentiment strip at the bottom.

This card would also be ideal for Father's Day just by simply changing the sentiment at the bottom.

We hope this has kick started your creativity for the week and we will be back with a few festive ideas that some of us have made at Crafts U Love this week!

Vintage Christmas Baubles

Hi bloggers, Sue M taught her second Christmas class of the season this week, a set of 3 MDF baubles, in various sizes. The room was full of Christmas cheer, with Christmas music playing in the background and festive treats being passed round the table as everyone busied themselves with making their bauble decorations. The picture above illustrates the biggest of the three baubles and each one has a different design and colour. Due to the popularity of this class, Sue will be teaching another class next Tuesday (25th November) and there are currently 2 spaces left, so if you fancy popping along, ring us up today to book your space!

The MDF bauble kits are also available online here for only £4.99 if you are unable to make the class.

If you love vintage and you love Christmas, you'll love making these baubles!

The Craft Awards 2014

We need your help in voting for us as your favourite independent craft retailer in the South! Show your support for Crafts U Love by voting for us in The Craft Awards 2014. There are lots of other categories you can vote in to have your say about all kinds of topics in the craft industry. We are not shortlisted for independent craft retailer in the South so simply follow the instructions in the picture above! By taking part in the voting for The Craft Awards 2014 you are also entered into a prize draw to win an iPad Air - so what more are you waiting for.... follow this link and vote today!

Vote now in The Craft Awards 2014

Create & Take: Jingle all the Way

Hi bloggers, we are well and truly into November now and the countdown is on for getting all those Christmas cards made and finding that perfect gift for everyone! Today we will be reviewing last Friday's Create & Take, Jingle all the Way, using the wonderful new collection of Taylored Expressions die cuts.

Products Needed;

A6 White Card Blank

Kaisercraft North Pole Cardstock - Candy Cane

Bazzill Basics Cardstock - Starmist

Bazzill Basics Cardstock - White Smoothie

Bazzill Basics Cardstock - Patch

Bazzill Basics Cardstock - Crimson

Taylored Expressions Jingle All the Way die

Taylored Expressions Little Bits Holly die

Taylored Expressions Sheet Music Embossing Folder

Red Hemp Cord

Crafts Too Clear Acrylic Stones

Instructions:

1. Cut the Candy Cane cardstock 9.8cm x 14.2cm. Adhere to the white card blank.

2. Cut the Starmist cardstock 7.6cm x 10.1cm and emboss with the Music Sheet embossing folder. Adhere to the middle of the card.

3. Die cut the Jingle all the Way die from White Smoothie cardstock. Adhere on top of the embossed music sheet.

4. Die cut the Holly die from Patch cardstock and Crimson cardstock. Adhere the berries to the holly leaves and then adhere to the left corner of the Jingle all the Way die cut.

5. Cut a piece of red twine approx. 23cm and tie into a bow. Adhere to the right corner of the Jingle all the Way die cut.

6. Finish by adhering a clear gem to the 'i' in 'Jingle'.

This card design is excellent for those last minute quick cards you might find yourself making in the last week before Christmas. Simple but effective!

Remember there will be no Create & Take this Friday (14th Nov) as we are still unpacking many boxes from the NEC Show. We hope to write one more post to review the NEC show with more pictures of the fun we had up there over the past weekend. We would like to thank everyone who came to visit our stand and we hope to see you all again soon!

NEC Hobbycrafts Show: In the Beginning

Anyone who has visited the NEC Hobbycrafts Show previously will have seen the Crafts U Love stand full of many many products. But we want to give you a glimpse into how that stand is put together and is transformed from an empty space into the stand you see at the show. As you can see above its quite a lonely space without all those thousands of products!

Lots and lots of boxes to unpack and hang onto racks.

We are very well known for the huge number of die cutting brands we stock and we couldn't let you down at the show so we've brought them all with us!

With the stand all up and ready to go we are just waiting for you, the customers. Come find us on Stand D03, with lots of fantastic new products including the We R Memory Keepers Pinwheel Board, new Silhouette Cameo 2 machine plus lots of Cricut offers and many products up to 50% off!!!

And you can't forget our fantastic demonstrators, Suzie Candlin with the Cricut Explore and Charry Wijers demonstrating We R Memory Keepers Punch Boards and Tonic Studios dies. So much to see and do, so please come along and say hello!

Hobbycraft Show at the NEC Birmingham

Hi bloggers, the biggest four days of the year have finally come around for the Hobbycraft Show NEC in Birmingham. Of course we will be there and there will be plenty on offer to buy including the new We R Memory Keeper's Pin wheel Board and the new Silhouette Cameo machine! Don't forget to check out our special Cricut offers for the show and you can't miss Suzie Candlin demonstrating the new Cricut Explore machine!

There is going to be so much to see and do at the Hobbycraft Show but definitely make time to pop by the Crafts U Love stand D03!

Look forward to seeing you there!