Product Spotlight - Tonic Studios Essentials Stamp sets & Hampton Art Ink Cubes

Hello bloggers and today Caz is here with a few cards that she has made using the Tonic Studios Essentials Flower sets.  We have three different floral sets in stock. 

So let us introduce you to those before we look what Caz has made.

First up is Modern Buttonhole 

Love the fun style on this one.  This is the one

that Caz had chosen to use for today's post.

Traditional Spray is next and you can make some

beautiful blooms with this one.  It feels quite tropical in its style.

And thirdly, Traditional Spray Stamp set 2

which features some gorgeous Roses.  Perfect

for cards for so many occasions.

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First up a little description about the stamps and what

Caz loved about using them.

These stamps are Hardened Clear Stamps and make

stamping a pleasure.  Teamed up with a MISTI for perfect placement

or used with a mounting block for manual placement.  Caz loved the

feel of these stamps, the hardness meant they did not "squish" like 

so many other clear stamps do. So the stamped image was clear instead of blurred.

The packaging had nice examples of using the stamps, so often you

buy a stamp set and then are left to inspire yourself and these give

you a starting point.

The three styles of flowers mean there is something for everyone.

Caz loved the quirky feel of the Buttonhole Blooms, but it was hard decision as she saw the potential in all sets. 

This was the first card that Caz made first and you can see

the inkpads that she used too.  This was stamped onto the Elizabeth

Craft Designs Soft Finish cardstock so has some "texture" on the one side

therefore the stamping has texture too.

You can see that Caz has used the packaging example on the front

of the packet for her inspiration.  

A vision in yellow is up next.  These pretty flowers made using the 

Yellow and Orange ink pads from the Hampton Art Cubes

This was added to a small gift bag and tied shut with Tulle.

Lastly Caz got really inky with a bright mustard cardbase that needed toning down a little with some white pigment ink and a stencil.

Caz stamped the sprig in green and then overstamped "off target" in white

to create a shadow effect.

The inkpads were lovely to use.  For the bold/solid stamps you would be best to stamp a couple of times to give a smoother coverage, The MISTI of course would be perfect for this as the placement will be exact.  The colour sets are gorgeous.  Worst part will be choosing which colours to choose!

Pop on over to the website to see the sets and examples that there.

And let us know which set inspires you the most?

Until next time!

Happy Crafting.

Product Spotlight - Taylored Expressions Calendar Critters

Hi Bloggers

Back again, a little later than usual but we have been busy getting the orders out today and just ran out of time for the blog post.  But not to fear, we did not want to miss our regular Wednesday slot so its better late than never.

Today Caz has been making some projects with the Taylored Expressions Calendar Critters Rubber Stamps.   As the name implies these are perfect for making your own Calendars but work equally well as decorate for other project and you will see what Caz has done with them.

First off here are the Calendar Pages that she has made, unfortunately time restraints were in place and she only managed the first three months (apparently she had to sleep)  but I hope you can get the idea behind the pages.  The calendar was a free printable, which was printed onto white copy paper and cut down.  Mounted onto pieces of 6 x 6 card and decorated with various dies.  These could be used individually, bound with the Zutter Bind it all or bound with Book Rings. 

A frosty blue page for January, with this funny little Penguin.

This cute little dog holding the cutest little heart is perfect for February. 

Spring is on our mind with this adorable little lamb!

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Now onto a few more projects that Caz made.

These two little boxes were made with the WRMK Candy Box Punch Board

This one was made with a piece of paper measuring 7" x 7"

This one is a lovely size for a table gift for the Christmas Table

And this one was made with paper measuring 4" x 7"

Perfect size for a ferrero rocher chocolate (*to give you an idea of the size)

Add a ribbon hanger and these would be perfect hanging off the tree.

Of course both have been decorated with the Calendar Cuties

Last up a fun little card.  Caz wanted to play with the new

papers from the WRMK High Five Collection.  The florals on it

inspired her to create this fun and flowery Birthday Card with

some summery images and punched out flowers.

There is a die set that matches these Calendar Cuties, and as an extra treat you'll find the die set in the clearance section so grab a bargain and save yourself fussy cutting these stamps.

The dies can be found HERE

Until next week, keep on Crafting!

Product Spotlight - Sizziz Sophie Guilar - My Little House

Its Wednesday, again!  Where does the time fly? 

We have another Product in Spotlight and this week it is a die set that is a little older to us at Crafts U Love but sometimes these dies can get overlooked for some reason or another so Caz thought she would give her die set a work out and created 4 little houses that would look cute hanging from the Christmas Tree, filled with festive treats or look warm and cozy on the mantel piece with battery tea lights inside.

Sophie Guilar - My Little House

Here is the House as Sizzix has demonstrated it on their packaging.

As well as the house you get a round and square window, door, flower and Heart so there are lots of decorating possibilities.

The house from bottom to top measures 11cm

and the main body of the house measures 5.5cm x 5cm

And here are some that Caz has made.

With the stripy paper and Kraft Coloured card

it reminded Caz of a Gingerbread house so she used

the candy cane to decorate either side of the door. 

Add that cute little heart from the set and it finishes it off perfectly.

This one, and you can not see in the photo has the Opal Glitter

card on the roof giving it a shimmery finish.  Lovely and Festive!

The tree was cut twice and the top one folded in half to create a 3d tree.

This one is a bit more Rustic and Caz used the

Elizabeth Craft Designs Stone Paper Pad and this one

has a golden roof.  Caz's Moto, you can never have too much

glitter card at Christmas!

Last design is this simple but pretty house, a pastel plaid roof and

used a left over piece of the Marianne Wreath cut in gold. 

These houses were such fun to make, untold paper choices, placement of the windows and doors is totally up to you how you design it.  Caz used Acetate in the windows.   And when you place a battery operated tea light inside you have the soft glow shining through the windows.

I hope you like this weeks projects and are maybe inspired to make your own Little Houses.

NEW Product Spotlight - Marianne Pillow Box

Hi Crafters

Its Caz back again with this Wednesdays NEW Product Spotlight and I hope you enjoyed last weeks look at the Mini Alphabet Punch Boards.

This week I am taking a look at the Marianne Pillow Box set.  I must say I am rather partial to making 3d items, and boxes are my favourite and this time of year I can see  many uses for them.  From decorating the tree, place settings and gift gifting ideas.  These boxes are perfect for small gifts like jewelry, and also a novel way of gift giving someone money or a gift card.

Here is a look at the die set itself, so as well as the wonderful Pillow Box you also get 9 other dies that you can use to decorate your Pillow Boxes or other projects.  The assembled Pillow Box measures from the longest point to longest point 11cm.  If you measure midway (where to box curves inwards) it is 8.5cm.  It is 7.2cm wide and approx 3cm deep on the deepest part.

Decoration ideas are limitless and here are a few that I have made in the last

couple of days.  I will list underneath the items I used to decorate.

First up is this cutie with a Penny Black stamp set called Santas Helpers

Also decorated with a snipped off piece from the Marianne set called Wreath

which I cut from a piece of the Bazzill Gold Glitter Card Kings Crown

This glitter card is gorgeous to use, does not shed and die cuts like a dream.

(comes in 17 colours HERE)

Coloured with watercolour pencils and added Gold Glitter Glue.

How cute would this look on your Christmas Table with a tag with your

guests name on and filled with some delicious Christmas Treat?

Second up for my samples is a Pillow box that I decorated with an

Autumnal theme using some dies from Tonic.

Autumnal Oak Collection

I swiped the Embossed leaves with  Tonic Nuvo  Embellishment Mousse in Indian Gold

and once again I used the Bazzill Gold Glitter Card Kings Crown  for the acorn.

Owls are very popular and I love them!  Here was my simple decorated

Pillow Box made to look like an Owl.  

The wings were created by die cutting just the end parts of the pillow

box and cutting so it just left long pointed ovals.  The whole box was edged with

Distress ink and I used a old striped stamp for the owls tummy.

A scalloped Circle and Plain circle were used to create the eyes and

 some bling added to the centres.

This one was sort of my first "Failed" attempt at an owl. 

 But it turned out very funny, more chicken like and a bit wacky, 

too cute to not share!

  Someone will love him right?

For my "Chicken" I used some other dies from the Pillow Box set to decorate.

The Face and Wings are both cut from the heart that comes with the die set.

The eyelashes are from the flower, his feet are the snipped off ends of the Bow and the bow was what was left over once I cut down the ends for the feet.  How very resourceful of me :)

 My last Pillow Box and on this one I used the heart from the 

Pillow Box Die set to create a Acetate Window.

I then die cut the Marianne Wreath from the  Bazzill Gold Glitter Card Kings Crown

Cut it apart added glue to it and then stuck it down around the edge of the heart.

The Brown, Green and Bird is from the same Wreath set.  

Once again I used the Embellishment Mousse in Indian Gold 

to add some interest to the die cut pieces.

I really enjoyed using this die set, there are so many other things I could have done

if I didn't have to sleep!.  I am looking forward to creating with this for Christmas Time and I 

am planning to make one for the table for each of my family.

There are a few more examples of this Pillow Box that Marianne have used so click HERE to see those.

Until my next post next week!

Happy Crafting

Caz x

NEW Product Spotlight - Mini Alphabet Punch Board

Following the success of the Alphabet Punch Board from We R Memory Keepers they released a Mini Version which is a card makers, Scrappers and Paper Crafters dream!  

This item came into stock briefly some weeks ago and since then we have been chomping at the bit waiting for this to come back into stock and we are thrilled to say

"It's Back".

This handy size tool makes letters that are sized perfectly to make titles on pages or the main focal point words for cards as well of course for banners and Home Decor.  The letters/numbers measure 1.5 x 2.5 inches and you get complete instructions in the booklet which is included.  There is also a free app for those tech savvy crafters.

For those of you have already have the Alphabet Punch Board it works in exactly the same

way but in a smaller scale.

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So here are a few things that Caz has made with hers recently.

Here Caz has created the letters BILLY to make a card for a new family arrival.

The letters were made from patterned paper, edged with a little distress ink

and sparkly peel off dots added to it.  This was an oversized card

made from a piece of 12 x 12 folded in half.

This type of card would be fantastic framed as a little keepsake long after the 

card has been displayed.

Here again Caz has made a creation for the new baby and used

the Mini Alphabet Punch Board to add the ABC, 123.

This was a very large clip frame with spaces for the

parents to put their own photos in and decorated with the

Karen Burniston Farm Animals.

I think you will agree how lovely it is to make these really

personalised items for family and friends and something they will treasure.

Here is a little more inspiration to whet your appetite

A couple of eye catching cards where the focus is definitely the sentiment.

I am thinking you could make some fabulous cards in all sorts of themes

by just choosing the right word, papers and embellishments you could create

something with this board for anyone.  

Manly papers, metal and wooden embellishments a fab card for men.

Pastel colours and pretty embellishments for girls of all ages the ideas and lists go on!

Limited only by your imagination.

A banner for any occasion and team this with the 

WRMK Banner Punch Board

and you are onto  winning combination.  These punch

boards work so well together.

And lastly we have this gorgeous Scrapbook page that shows how great this 

Mini Alphabet Punch Board works for Scrapping too.

Of course if you want to go large the Original Alphabet Punch Board

is there for all the large projects.

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I do hope this post has inspired you to look at this handy gadget.  We are sure it will get many uses for most crafters and be a tool you reach for many times.