Create & Take: Crazy Bird Halloween & Christmas

Hi Bloggers, today we want to share with you a Crazy Bird create and take with a choice of two themes. If you love Halloween then you will love our Crazy Bird Halloween card with a witches hat and broom. Or if you don't scare easily then maybe try your hand at our Crazy Bird Christmas card.

So let's get started....

Products Used:

Tim Holtz Crazy Birds Stamp and Die Set

Tim Holtz Crazy Things Stamp and Die Set

Lawn Fawn 12 x 12 Snowflake Bokeh Paper

Vintage Photo Distress Ink Pad

Watercolour Pencils

Waterbrush

Halloween Extras:

Tim Holtz Twisted Citron Distress Ink Pad

Tim Holtz Wilted Violet Distress Ink Pad

Tim Holtz Carved Pumpkin Distress Ink Pad

Poppystamps Christmas Delights stamp set (stars stamp)

Christmas Extras:

Tim Holtz Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink Pad

Penny Black Soft Grace stamp set (snowflake stamp)

Instructions:

1. Stamp a Crazy Bird onto patterned paper and die cut using the matching die. Stamp eyes onto white card and die cut. Use vintage photo distress ink to add colour to the tail, wings and edges of the bird.

2. Cut a circle from silver glitter card and cut half of the circle away to create a moon shape.

For Halloween Card....

3. Using a sponge dauber, swipe some Carved Pumpkin distress ink around the edges of the background paper.

4. Stamp the witches hat and broom onto white cardstock, colour with pencils and die cut. Assemble on the card as shown.

5. Use Twisted Citron and Wilted Violet to stamp some stars and add pen lines around the edge of the card. Finish by stamping a Halloween greeting.

For Christmas Card....

3. Using a sponge dauber, swipe some Mermaid Lagoon distress ink around the edges of the background paper. Stamp the snowflakes onto background paper using Mermaid Lagoon ink.

4. Stamp Christmas hat and candy cane onto white card, colour with pencils and die cut.

5. Assemble card as shown and finish by stamping a Christmas greeting.

Adding accessories to these Crazy Birds really makes them come to life and its so much fun playing around with the accessories for different themes and occasions. 

What type of Crazy Bird will you create?

Vintage Bauble Class

Hi bloggers, today we want to share with you Sue M's vintage class from Tuesday making some stunning vintage inspired bauble decorations.

Everyone got to make two baubles plus one box so that you could make one to keep for yourself and also one to giveaway as a gift.

To make the bauble, Sue used an ordinary plain glass bauble and used gold and silver GildenGlitz leaves to cover the bauble. Sue added a small vintage image with a touch of Stickles glitter glue to finish them off. This would be a perfect present idea for loved ones as you could use a photo to personalise the bauble.

To make the box, Sue used the new WRMK 1-2-3 Punch Board and picked out some beautiful vintage papers to match the style of the decoration. Sue also made the bow from the 1-2-3 punch board as well.

If you love Sue's vintage style then make sure you check the class list for Sue's next Vintage Workshop.

Create & Take: Birthday Bella

Hi bloggers, today we are catching up on another Create & Take, this time a card for the birthday girl using a new stamp from Stamping Bella.

So let's get started:

Products Used:

Stamping Bella Blossom Loves Balloons Stamp

Black Versafine Ink Pad

Watercolour Pencils

Elizabeth Craft Design Paris Edges Die Set

Maja Picking Flowers 12 x 12 Cardstock

Bazzill Basics Juneberry 12 x 12 Cardstock

Bazzill Basics White Smoothie 12 x 12 Cardstock

Woodware Small Daisy Punch

Tim Holtz Wilted Violet Distress Ink Pad

Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass Distress Ink Pad

Glitter Glue

Instructions:

1. Stamp the image onto white cardstock measuring 2.5 x 5 inches and colour with watercolour pencils. Using a sponge dauber, lightly swipe some tumbled glass ink around the edges.

2. Cut a piece of Juneberry cardstock to measure 2.75 x 5 inches. Mount the stamped image onto this cardstock.

3. Cut a piece of Maja paper to measure 5 x 5 inches.

4. Cut a piece of white smoothie to measure 2.5 x 5 inches and run through the die cutting machine with the Paris edge die.

5. Stick the patterned paper to the base of the card.

6. Stamp the wording onto a small piece of white cardstock with black ink. Swipe some Wilted Violet around the edges of the card. Punch out a small daisy flower from white cardstock and use Wilted Violet to colour the flower.

7. Assemble the card as shown and add some glitter glue to finish.

Stay tuned for more Create & Take posts later this week!

Create & Take: Poinsettia Pillow Box

Hi bloggers, today we want to catch you up on some of the Create & Takes from the previous few weeks that we have missed on the blog. Today's Create & Take is super fun, making these cute pillow boxes using a Sizzix die. The set actually comes with some dies to make the poinsettia pillow box, so you will have everything you need to make little Christmas present boxes.

So let's get started.....

Products Used:

Sizzix Jen Long  Pillow Box and Poinsettia Die Set (660660)

Authentique Christmastime Collection - Dots on Green Cardstock

Black Ink Pad

Bazzill Basics Cardstock in Red, Green and Taffy

Marianne Gold Gems

Stickles Gold Glitter Glue

Instructions:

1. Die cut the pillow box from dotty green cardstock twice and assemble by adding glue to the fold over flap.

2. Die cut the poinsettia detail twice and the poinsettia bold once from red cardstock.

3. Die cut the holly leaves twice from green cardstock.

4. Die cut the flower insert from either yellow cardstock or ink white cardstock with yellow ink.

5. Assemble and stick the poinsettia together.

6. Wrap a piece of white ribbon around the box and the bottom and top to create a loop for it to hang.

7. Cut a piece of Taffy cardstock to measure 2 x 2.5 inches and stamp with a Christmas greeting. Make a fishtail cut at the bottom of the card to create a banner shape. Dot some gold glitter glue around the edges.

8. Finish by adding a gem to the centre of the flower.

A close up of the other boxes using a variety of Christmas die cuts and stamps available at Crafts U Love.

These pillow boxes are a great way to add some crafting to your present giving this season and you can personalise to the person's personality.

Christmas Card Competition: The Winners

Hi bloggers, today we want to share with you the winners of our Christmas Card Competition.

Firstly check out the pictures below of all our fantastic entries, the judges definitely had a task on their hands to pick the top three. See if you can see yours!

So the 1st place winner of the Christmas Card Competition is............. Sheila Byrne. Well done Sheila! 

2nd place winner is........ Joanne Stott-Sargeant. Well done Joanne!

3rd place winner is........ Georgia Thompson. Well done Georgia!

Well done to the three lucky winners above. 

We would like to thank everyone who entered the Christmas Card competition and we appreciate all the effort that went into making your card entries. 

If you requested for your entry to be sent back to you, these will be sent out this week and should be safely back home with you shortly.

If you want some more Christmas inspiration then make sure you check out our Christmas Demo Day post from yesterday.

Christmas Demo Day Inspiration

Happy Tuesday bloggers! Today we want to share with you some inspiration from our Christmas Demo Event from our three fantastic demonstrators. For anyone who was able to get to the event, we hope you had been inspired by what you saw and that it got you excited for crafting for Christmas.

Caz was demoing the new Hero Arts Ombre Ink Pad Colours (Red & Green) with some of the new Hero Arts woodblock stamps and clear stamp sets. Caz also used some of the new Poppystamps stamps and their matching die sets.

We love this little treat bag made using the Lori Whitlock Sizzix Treat Bag Topper die set.

Charry was demoing the Penny Black stamps and die sets and had some beautiful examples to show you how you can make the most out of using them.

Charry shared her ideas on how you could use the same stamp for Christmas and non-Christmas by simply changing the colour combination and added some beautiful artistic effects using some Archival inks and Distress Ink Pads.

Jo demonstrated the We R Memory Keepers 1-2-3 Punch Board and created some wonderful examples to show you that the board can make so much more than just your average box, envelope or bow. Take a look at some of these inspiring creations...

Create some fabulous bows!

Treat Bags

and boxes

Jo also created some cards with the board as well...

A file folder card (instructions to make this come with the board)

As you can see from the photos there was an abundance of inspiration to get you in the Christmas mood with the added help of our festive Christmas music and mince pies.

All in all it was a fantastic day and we want to thank everyone for coming who watched, shopped and got inspired!

Also to those that bought raffle tickets and helped us raise £63 for St. Catherine's Hospice. The winners have been contacted and they are as follows:-

Winner of  Signed Tim Holtz Configuration Book - Christine Tagg

Winner of Collection of Dies - Tanya

Winner of Basket of Crafting Goodies - Fern

We will be sharing the winners of the Card Competition in our Card Competition post later this week. The winners have already been contacted and we want to thank everyone who sent us their cards and took part. 

If you requested for your card to be returned to you we will be sending them out this week.

If you have any questions about any of the products that were used in the demo event please do not hesitate to contact us. We hope you all had an enjoyable day and look forward to seeing you in the shop again soon.

Win a signed Tim Holtz Book

Hi bloggers, would you like to be the winner of this signed Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities Volume III Book?

If you're shouting at the screen "Yes, Yes, Yes" then read below to see what you need to do.

As part of  our Christmas Demo Event on Saturday 10th October, we are organising a raffle, in aid of St. Catherine's Hospice. Our top prize this time round is a signed Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities Volume III book kindly donated and signed by the man himself. Thanks Tim!

Raffle tickets will be available on the day at the event for £1 per ticket and there will be a few extra prizes up for grabs as well. (So if I were you I would buy a few!)

Tickets can only be purchased at the shop on the day so it's definitely worth making the effort to come and see us.

And don't forget........

We have 3 demonstrators who will be demoing some fantastic products including the 1-2-3 Punch Board from We R Memory Keepers, Penny Black stamps and dies and also new Ombre Hero Arts ink pads to get you inspired for crafting for Christmas.

Demonstrations start at 10am so we look forward to seeing you there!