Birthday Card Book

Need somewhere to store your finished handmade greetings cards? Look no further than this Birthday Card Book made by Jo in her class from last Saturday. Each month has a handy pocket to store your handmade Birthday Card creations so you'll always be prepared for birthdays throughout the year. Let's take a closer look inside....

As you can see Jo used lots of lovely vintage papers to decorate the book and used the Joy! Crafts Grunge frames stamp set and Penny Black Life's Journals stamp set to make the labels on the pockets for each month. Jo also used Jen Long's Calendar Months die set to die cut each month.

Jo binded the book altogether using the Zutter Bind It All and designed it in a clever way so that the binding is hidden under the cover of the book so it can't be seen from the outside, making it look professional and stylish so you can leave it out on show.

Create & Take: Lavender Bouquet

Hi bloggers! We hope you have had a creative weekend! Today we want to share with you last week's Create & Take by Caz using the new Taylored Expressions stamp and die set, complimented by some lovely lavender cardstock and use of watercolour pencils. So let's get started....

Products Used:

Square Kraft Card Blank

Taylored Expressions Lavender Bouquet Stamp Set

Taylored Expressions Lavender Bouquet Die

Taylored Expressions Cable Knit Embossing Folder

Bazzill Basics Wild Pansy Cardstock

Bazzill Basics White Cardstock

Kraft cardstock

Impression Obsession Tied Line Die

Large X-Cut Corner Rounder Punch

Stickles Glitter Glue - Stardust

Lilac Dew Drops

Watercolour Pencils

Watercolour Brush

Tim Holtz Retractable Craft Pick

Versafine Inkpad - Onyx Black

Instructions:

1. Stamp the Lavender Bouquet image onto white card and cut around using the matching die included in the set. Colour the image with watercolour pencils.

2. Cut a piece of white card to 9.5cm x 9.5cm and use the Xcut Large Corner Rounder punch on all four corners.

3. Cut a piece of Wild Pansy cardstock 11.5cm x 11.5cm and emboss using the Cable Knit embossing folder. Use the Xcut Corner Rounder punch on all four corners.

4. Cut a piece of kraft cardstock 1" x 1". Use the craft pick to make holes down the left side of the cardstock and use a white pencil to add faux stitching.

5. Die cut the Tied Line from kraft cardstock.

6. Assemble all elements onto the card as shown in the picture above.

7. Add a dew drop to the centre of the knot in the Tied Line die cut.

8. Finish by adding some Stickles glitter glue to the flowers.

We love how simple and effective this card design is and can easily be interchangeable with some of the other stamp and matching die sets offered by Taylored Expressions. The colours in this card make it perfect for a Spring birthday or Thank you card!

Spring has Sprung

Hi bloggers, today we want to share with you Karen's beautiful cards from the Spring Demo Day. Karen was using some of the new Memory Box dies to create these wonderful Spring cards with sentiments for lots of different occasions. With beautiful muted greens and yellows, Karen has put together some wonderful compositions. Take a closer look below.....

Products that Karen used to make these cards are listed below:

Memory Box Contempo Birds

Memory Box Finnegan Fronds

Memory Box Forest Neighbours

Memory Box Branching Out

Taylored Expressions Burlap Embossing Folder

Authentique Durable Paper Collection

Penny Black So Lucky Stamp Set

Stay tuned on the blog this week to take a look at Charry's Spring Scrapbook page from our monthly Scrapbook Club.

Create & Take: Mine's A Pint!

Happy Monday bloggers! The sun is shining here in Surrey and we hope it is set to continue. Nothing beats a nice sunny day to get you in the creative frame of mind. Today we are going to share with you last Friday's Create & Take - something for the men in our lives! This card is great for giving money or gift cards as it uses the Die-namics Gift Card Grooves die. So let's get started....

Products Used:

Square Kraft Card Blank

Authentique Durable Cardstock - Statement Geo

Bazzill Basics Cardstock - Nightmist

Bazzill Basics Cardstock - Haley

Bazzill Basics Cardstock - Kraft

Personal Impressions Cheers Stamp Set

MFT Die-namics Gift Card Grooves Die Set

Versafine Ink Pad - Onyx Black

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Gathered Twigs

Watercolour Pencils

Instructions:

1. Cut a piece of Nightmist cardstock 13cm x 13cm and adhere to the card blank.

2. Cut a piece of Statement Geo cardstock 12.5cm x 12.5cm. Add a little distress ink around the edges and adhere to the card.

3. Cut a piece of Kraft cardstock 10.5cm x 9.5cm and add a little distress ink around the edges. Die cut one of the gift card groove slots from the top of the kraft card.

4. Stamp the image onto the kraft cardstock using black ink and colour the image with watercolour pencils.

5. Use 3D foam pads to stick the image to the card. Make sure you don't place any foam pads down the center of the card otherwise the money/gift card will not slot into place.

6. Cut a piece of Haley cardstock 12cm x 1.5cm and add a little distress ink around the edges. Make a fishtail cut at one end and stamp 'Mine's A Pint!'.

7. Adhere to the bottom of the gift card cardstock.

The Gift Card Grooves die is so versatile that you could use this concept on many different cards and as someone who sends money in birthday cards a lot I think this is a fantastic creative idea!

Tim Holtz Vintage Folio Part 2

Hi bloggers, today we want to share with you Sue M's completed Tim Holtz Mini Folio. Back in March Sue held part 1 of the Vintage Folio project where she filled the album with beautiful papers and gave it that distressed look using Tim Holtz distress inks. This week saw part 2 of the Vintage Folio project and Sue has done a fantastic job filling the folio with gorgeous paper embellishments and photos, so let's take a little look inside.....

These folios are a great way to scrapbook your photos and you can use any configuration of layouts, just pick your papers and embellishments and you're away. You can find the Tim Holtz Mini Folio here along with many other Tim Holtz accessories.

Spring Demo Day Summary

Hi bloggers, we hope you have all had a lovely weekend with lots of lovely sunshine to brighten our spirits. In this blog post we want to share with you some of the photos from our Spring Demo Day on Saturday. It was a fun day with lots of demos and workshops going on plus our beautiful Vintage Cafe serving up scrummy sandwiches and mouth watering cakes! Most of the photos our from the demonstrators and shows their work up close so even if you couldn't make it, you can still be inspired by their creations! Let's start with Stamping Caz....

Caz was demoing the new Elizabeth Craft glitters, which create a stunning professional finish to your cards. Check out a couple more examples below....

Jo was demoing the Sospeso Transparante range, creating some stunning flowers, take a look at these fab examples below.....

Next up is Alex who was demoing a range of products to make some cards ideal for giving to the men in our lives. Products included Woodware stamps, Die-namics die sets and Tim Holtz distress inks. Take a look at some of Alex's samples below....

Karen was also at the hall demonstrating a range of Memory Box dies all with a Spring theme in mind, we have one example below to show you but the rest will be shared in a blog post next week, so keep an eye out for that!

Up at the Crafts U Love Shop we had Sue Millard and Suzie Candlin. Suzie was demoing the Cricut Explore machine using a range of products to show you the versatility of the machine, including Cricut Vinyl,  normal cardstock, Cricut pens etc.

Sue Millard had a vintage altered art theme going on with her demo, showing us how to use the Stampendous Creative Palette with acrylic paints, stencils and stamps. Check out some of her fab samples below....

It was so nice to see a variation of styles and techniques at the demo day, something for everyone we hope. Thank you to everyone who came along and watched the demos and took part in the workshops.

Remember Create & Take is back on this week and we have a great men's gift card lined up for you using a new Personal Impressions stamp set and the Die-namics Gift Card Grooves set so make sure you don't miss out!

Spring Demo Day

Hello bloggers! We hope you have all had a lovely Easter and didn't eat too much chocolate! We are just around the corner from our Spring Demo Day so we are in full swing preparations for the big day tomorrow and the line up looks great. If you haven't had a chance to check out what's going on and who's demoing, we have a full break down in this blog post today.

The demo day will be taking place at two venues, the Crafts U Love Shop at Westcoats Farm in Charlwood and also at the Charlwood Parish Hall.

Demonstrators at the Shop: All day 10am - 4pm

Sue Millard

Sue's demo has had a last minute change of plan due to a delay in the Bloom Impression tools coming into stock so Sue will now be demoing a mixed media/altered art technique using the Stampendous Creative Palette. Sue has made some fabulous backgrounds using acrylic paints, stencils and stamps that look fab on a card, scrapbook page or home decor project! And you can bet that each example has an element of vintage thrown in!

Suzie Candlin

Well known for her demonstrations at shows and on Create and Craft, Suzie will be dmeoing all there is to know about the new Cricut Explore machine. From the basics to the advanced Cricut enthusiast, I'm sure there will be something worth watching at this Cricut demo. The Cricut Explore is the latest machine from Cricut, an electronic die cutting machine that works with the Cricut Design Space free online software to help you make polished DIY projects!

Demonstrators at Charlwood Parish Hall: All day 10am - 4pm (45 minute workshops will also be held between these times).

Stamping Caz

Caz will be having some glitterific fun using the new Elizabeth Craft Design glitters with a range of die cuts and masking techniques to make your cards come to life.

10.30am - 11.15am Workshop with Caz

Try out the new Elizabeth Craft Design glitters for yourself by making a lovely little card with Caz, with some masking and die cutting techniques. Here's a little sneak peek below....

This workshop is only £5 - to book your space call us on 01293 863576 or click here.

Karen Maccoy

Karen will be demonstrating some of the wonderful new Memory Box dies with a Spring theme in mind, using a range of beautiful papers and inks to show you how easy it is to put together beautiful cards and tags.

12pm - 12.45pm - Workshop with Karen

See how easy it is to put together your own tag by giving it a go at Karen's workshop, where you will be using some of the new Memory Box dies to create a 3D spring tag. Here's a sneak peek below....

This workshop is only £5 - to book your space call us on 01293 863576 or click here.

Jo Wojcik

Jo will be demonstrating the amazing Sospeso Transparante decoupage range. Sospeso Transparante is a volume decoupage decorative technique that allows you to make volume decorative elements for your projects in several easy steps.

1.15pm - 2pm - Workshop with Jo

Come and decorate a mini notebook with Sospeso flowers that you will learn to cut and shape to end up with a pretty notebook that you won't want to give away. Here's a little sneak peek below.....

This workshop is now FULLY BOOKED.

Alex Kamann

Come and see Alex demo some of the new Woodware stamps, specifically with a male theme in mind to show us how easy it is to design cards for men. Alex will also be demoing the new MFT gift card grooves die which turns a great card into a wonderful gift, all you need to do is buy the gift card to put in it!

2.15pm - 3pm - Workshop with Alex

Come along and make a wonderful card for the men using the new Woodware stamps and Tim Holtz distress inks. Check out the sneak peek below....

This workshop is only £5 - to book your space call us on 01293 863576 or click here.

This demo day definitely has something for everybody from cardmaking and decoupage to glitters and die cutting techniques. Pick up a new skill or just have some fun! 

There will also be a Vintage Cafe at the hall and don't forget to enter our raffle to win some fabulous crafting goodies!

We hope to see you all there!