Krafted Keepsakes

First Birthday of 2012

2012-01-10T10:01:00.000+01:00

It is my MIL’s birthday today – Happy Birthday Mum!

As usual I have made her cards:

Something a little different

2012-01-09T09:20:00.000+01:00

I wanted to make some place name settings for our Boxing Day Christmas table. As I mentioned yesterday, friends were joining us to experience a typical English Christmas and I wanted to make it as special as possible for them.

I began with a basic Christmas tree and added the names inside:

These were designed and cut using my Craft Robo.

Once I had cut two frames for each name I glued them onto white tissue paper and then trimmed them.

The frames were then stuck onto a battery operated tea light using double sided tape.

End result:

Crackers

2012-01-08T12:05:00.000+01:00

As you know, every year I make my own Christmas Crackers and this year was no exception. This year I had to make a few more as friends of ours were joining us for Boxing Day, to experience a typical English Christmas.

Catch up time

2012-01-07T10:30:00.000+01:00

It was a busy time on the lead up to Christmas and I ended up making more than I usually do:

I made an oversized gift tag for a gift for my friend’s dog – I’ve not gone mad, it’s just easier to buy for his dog than him!

For my friend I made some Asian Chilli Jam from a Lorraine Pascale recipe

Happy New Year – not a good start

2012-01-06T10:20:00.002+01:00

Hope you all had a lovely New Year. We had a great time New Year’s Eve – nice family dinner; silly games; Jools Holland on the TV and celebrating New Year twice. We can’t help ourselves – we have to watch Big Ben and the London celebrations as well. We had a lazy New Year’s day – so, all in all, a good time.

Sadly, the good start did not continue. In the early hours of Tuesday morning I woke to the sound of the smoke alarm going off. We all charged out of bed, down the stairs and I discovered smoke pouring from the hob. Somehow, it had developed a fault and turned itself on. As it had heated up, it had heated the protective glass plates that we keep on it (to stop the cats turning it on by accident!). DH phoned the fire brigade and turned off the electric for the hob , DS grabbed the girls and we all got out safely. We must have looked a sorry sight standing on the street in our jim jams! The police and the firemen arrived very quickly and did a superb job in making the house safe. The smoke was very bad and although nothing is damaged, other than the hob, both DH and I have been suffering a bit from smoke inhalation.

We spent the day getting things sorted, from cleaning up the shattered glass, to visiting the insurance people, arranging an electrician and finally a trip to Ikea to get a new hob. The electrician came to make sure that the electric was safe and came on Wednesday to fit the new hob. Everything is now sorted (thank goodness).

Despite being very frightening, we all got out quickly & safely – this might not have been the case if we hadn’t had working smoke alarms. So, whilst wishing you all a happy, healthy & safe New Year, if you haven’t got a WORKING smoke alarm (or 2) please, please, go out and get yourselves one or put batteries in the ones you’ve got.

Stay safe,
Lesley x x

Happy 2012!!

2012-01-01T00:01:00.001+01:00

Happy New Year!!

Message from me: I am not sitting at my 'puter 1 minute into the New Year - this is a scheduled post and as this is posting I will be seeing in the New Year with a drink in hand!!

Dad & Grandad

2011-12-29T10:15:00.000+01:00

Today is my FIL’s birthday. I needed 2 cards: 1 for Dad & 1 for Grandad. My FIL is very good at DIY and has a keen interest in football – both themes that I could use in my designs.

Card blank embossed with my Cuttlebug A2 embossing folder – Tiny Bubbles (37-1229); surface lightly sanded. The spanners were cut using my Sizziz Sizzlit – phrase – Father (655292)

Card blank embossed with my Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing Folder – Plaid (657064). Image stamped onto white card and coloured with Copic Markers

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T09:30:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year!!

1 year already

2011-12-24T13:26:00.001+01:00

Our dear friends are celebrating their 1st anniversary today. How romantic to marry on Christmas eve? (see here for their wedding card)

Of course, I had to make a card – I couldn’t let their 1st anniversary pass without a special one.

I enjoy making this type of card – a real “one of a kind”!

Here’s wishing them both a very happy first anniversary and may they have many, many more!

and finally!

2011-12-19T11:30:00.000+01:00

for our dancing teacher

and for our friends . . . . . .

2011-12-16T10:15:00.000+01:00

and there’s more . . . . .

2011-12-15T11:10:00.000+01:00

For DH from me

For DH from DS

The Yearly Challenge

2011-12-14T10:00:00.000+01:00

As you know, DS is a bit of a brand slave and each year the challenge is to come up with two Christmas cards featuring the logo of his favourite brand.

Here are this year’s efforts:

A Christmas Project with a helpful cat

2011-12-12T09:25:00.000+01:00

DH decided that this year, for the first time, that he wanted something to hang on the front door. Having made his decision, he scoured the shops for something suitable but drew a blank. He then had a bit of a brainwave – I could make one. He was “kind” enough to buy the supplies and then left me to get on with it.

Result: One happy husband, one fake snow covered cat!

Christmas is coming

2011-12-09T11:30:00.000+01:00

I love making Christmas cards, I just don’t like making them in the summer.

Here are some of this year’s family cards:

50

2011-11-12T12:11:00.000+01:00

My cousin is 50 today. I wanted to make him an extra special card.

I dug out a photo of him when he was a baby, scanned it and used it as the base of my design.

Wasn’t he a cutie?

DH is 50 next year and he is slightly worried as to what I am going to come up with for him. Suggestions most welcome!!

Lest We Forget

2011-11-11T10:11:00.000+01:00

Yet another birthday

2011-11-04T09:15:00.000+01:00

And for another dear friend.

As always, I find designing cards for men more challenging. I don’t know why as the process is the same.

I decided on a “wine” themed card.

I started with a bronze coloured card blank

It was then embossed using my Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing Folder – Plaid (657064)

I cut a piece of corrugated card to size and cut the scalloped piece using my trusty craft robo

I glued the scalloped piece to the card

I added a piece of green ribbon around the corrugated card, then glued this in place.

Adding half a cork, the card is done.

My glamourpuss assistant

2011-11-03T11:00:00.000+01:00

As you can see, Poppy is my ever present assistant.

1st Birthday

2011-11-02T10:25:00.000+01:00

How time flies! It was our friend’s son’s first birthday this week.

As he was a Halloween baby I decided to use this as a starting point for the design.

Using my craft robo I designed and cut the components required.

The lattice frame was glued onto a dark blue pearlised card blank.

I made this cheeky fella using my Sizzix Sizzlits die “Kid in Pumpkin Costume” (655275). I used my Copic markers to give the pumpkin a bit of shading.

The finished card.

Back to Oriental

2011-11-01T12:05:00.001+01:00

Once again it is time to make my cousin’s birthday card. Over the years, I have made her many things with an Oriental theme so each year it becomes a little more difficult to come up with something different.

This card was based on the symbol “double happiness” which I designed and cut using my craft robo.

I cut a circle from a red pearlised card blank. The cut symbol was first put on tissue paper (and trimmed), then mounted onto the card, over the aperture. Finished with a gold circle frame, here is the finished card.

To better show why I used tissue, I put a battery tea light inside and took a photo.

and another

2011-10-31T22:18:00.002+01:00

I enjoyed making the typewriter card so much that I had to make another (see here for the other one)

I decided to make this one for my Aunt – quite appropriate as she bought herself one this summer.

First Anniversary

2011-10-28T09:29:00.001+02:00

My cousin’s son & his wife recently celebrated their 1st wedding anniversary.
I used one of their wedding pics, made it black & white and printed it onto printable canvas.

This was mounted onto silver paper and then a pinkish coloured card mount. I then added paper leaves & handmade paper roses.

Grace said...

fantastic as usual hope you got a good comment from Ben and Leanne, my Birthday card was great too and Sue was just as thrilled as well, make it all more pesonal when it is done for you alone thankyou
28 October 2011 11:25

Fish Update

2011-10-27T12:00:00.001+02:00

The pleco babies have continued to grow and Snorlax managed to raise 20+ in total. We have given away about 15 and have kept some for ourselves.
We only intended to keep 3 but as usual, events in our house made us revise our decision. Snorlax decided to go exploring; he managed to squeeze out of the back of the tank, where the lid goes over the glass. Sadly he didn’t survive the fall from the tank.
I was lucky enough to get a picture of a baby plec emerging from an egg.

Dear Friend’s Birthday

2011-10-26T11:01:00.000+02:00

Our dear friend celebrates her birthday the day after DH.

The typewriter was a “print & cut” using the Craft Robo. The image was coloured with my Copics (of course) and the greeting was printed on the computer, using a quirky typewriter font.

Birthdays

2011-10-25T10:30:00.001+02:00

On the tail of our anniversary it is DH’s birthday and our dear friend’s birthday.
Here’s what I came up with for DH’s birthday:

DH is an avid TV fan so DS wanted me to base his card on a TV. We get a lot of error messages on our TV so I decided to use this as a starting point – and added DH’s age to give the error code and the reason being “Birthday Service Only” .

Missing In Action

2011-10-24T12:45:00.001+02:00

Where has October disappeared to – seems to be a common complaint this year that the time is simply whipping by. Of course, I haven’t been idle (probably why the days have slipped by without me noticing!)

We seem to have a lot of celebrations in September/October – so over the next few days I will try to play catch up.

As you know, we celebrated DS’ 18th. This was followed by our wedding anniversary – guess what? DH didn’t get me an anniversary card! But of course, I made one for him.

Basing the card on a cupcake theme this is how it developed:

1. Stamped image onto card.

2. Coloured required images using my beloved Copic Markers.

3. Carefully cut out my stamped & coloured images.

4. Mounted the 3D elements with foam pads

Fishy news

2011-09-28T10:36:00.000+02:00

It hasn’t taken Amy (the Albino pleco) long to make herself at home.

Within a week of getting her, we discovered, to our delight, that she had taken quite a liking to our existing male pleco, Snorlax.

Such was their liking for one another that we soon found a load of eggs.

You can see the eggs – just above the gravel.

Within a few weeks we had tiny plecos.

Thank you

2011-09-27T11:29:00.000+02:00

DS had a lovely lot of presents and we thought it only right that he should send a lovely thank you note.

He asked me to make him some thank you notes and I used it as a golden opportunity to use one of my new stamps.

I stamped the image onto some nice bright white card, coloured it with my Copics, then cut it out.

The words were printed using the computer and then I mounted the image onto the card using foam blocks – sweet eh?

Busy Time

2011-09-26T15:21:00.001+02:00

It has been ages since I last posted – though if I had been asked, I wouldn’t have said it was so long.

As usual, it has been a busy time. I have been preparing for DS’ 18th birthday and also trying to get ahead with the family birthdays.

We celebrated DS’ 18th birthday just over a week ago. He had a wonderful birthday weekend, starting with a home cooked Chinese meal on the Saturday, setting him up nicely for his actual birthday on the Sunday.

DH saw a card in a local shop (“mock horror!”) that he liked and wanted me to adapt it. This is what I came up with:

I had no choice (and I wouldn’t have it any other way) but to make my card:

The card & numbers were cut using my Craft Robo and the footballer was stamped and then coloured with Copics.

I also made an 18th key and a gift box:

Both the key and the gift box were cut using the Robo. The gift box I designed and the key was from a template from one of the fantastic ladies over at UKScrappers.

My new addition

2011-08-15T16:50:00.001+02:00

Last week, my tank had two casualties. Whilst changing the bulb in the tank lid, my two adult pleco’s made a jump for it, completely un-noticed by DH or me. One was discovered the following day, kindly pointed out to us by our dear cats and the other remains a mystery.

This drama left Snorlax (the baby pleco) all on his own and me, very upset. DH kindly took me to the local fish shop to see if we could find another pleco to keep Snorlax company.

This is what we came home with . . . . .

. . . . . . . Amy, the albino pleco. She is an absolute beauty and gets on great with Snorlax and her other tank mates.

More July makes

2011-08-08T11:31:00.001+02:00

A card for our dancing teacher. . . . . .

A card for my Aunt – a keepsake of her visit . . . .

A card for DH’s aunt’s 80th birthday

Happy Birthday Paul

2011-08-07T10:30:00.000+02:00

Today is our dear friend Paul’s birthday.

He liked his card (he opened it early!!) – phew! So once again Paul, have a very happy birthday!

Where did July go??

2011-08-06T18:04:00.002+02:00

Apologies for the lack of blog posts but July simply seems to have disappeared – in my defence, July was a busy month.
I managed to finish the decorating that I had started (despite the cats helpfulness!); recycled an old denim jacket of mine; dealt with the usual end of school year fall out and took some time out for my aunt’s visit – oh, and I made some family/friends cards.
So, where to begin? I actually made something for myself. I had an old denim jacket that was in dire need of renovation. I had some spare denim from converting various jeans into shorts and thought I would have a go at re-inventing my jacket.
I am very pleased with the result and now I have a jacket that I can wear.

Father’s Day

2011-06-20T13:03:00.001+02:00

A belated Happy Father’s Day for yesterday. DH had a lovely day – a cd from DS, another cd from our 2 cats and his favourite meal in the evening.

I made 2 cards for DH: 1 from DS and one from the cats (I know, how sad am I!). I also made a card for my FIL.

DS wanted his card to incorporate a cupcake (mainly due to my recent bakes!)

I made this card from the girls – I based it on an eye test chart.

This one was for my FIL. He is a keen gardener, so I thought it would be nice to make a card with a deckchair in the garden (relaxing on Father Day sort of thing). I even included a miniature newspaper.

Anniversary card

2011-06-15T13:59:00.002+02:00

I am now able to show the anniversary card that I made last week, as it has been sent and received.

Similar in style to the engagement card (see previous post), but this time I added two silver horseshoes and some handmade paper roses.

Engagement

2011-06-08T13:27:00.001+02:00

I always have a list of cards to make in addition to items for the shop.

This card is a special one, well, all engagements are special, but this one has a story behind it. It is for a friend who I have known for 40 years! We started school together when we were 4! After leaving school we lost touch but Wendy found me on Facebook.

Imagine my surprise when she told me she was getting engaged to somebody we had both been to school with – how lovely!

Card information:

Dark blue aperture card blank embossed using Sizzix texturz “Lots Of Love”

Names were cut from light blue card using Sizzix decorative strip alphabet “Wingo Zingo”

Here’s wishing them both every happiness

The exam

2011-06-06T15:28:00.003+02:00

Just over a week ago we took our silver dance exam. We had to dance 4 ballroom and 4 Latin: waltz, quickstep, swing fox & tango; cha,cha,cha, rumba, salsa & jive. A little fanfare please – we PASSED. Our marks were comparable to last years, although this years exam was more difficult as we now know more steps. We equalled or bettered last years marks and I was overwhelmed (and very pleased) to see we had three 9- between us.
With the exam out of the way and with lessons not starting again until September we can now look forward to a summer of dancing (see previous post) – I can’t wait.
Thanks again to DH for being a great dancing partner and we are both looking forward to starting our third year, especially as we will be learning the Paso Doble.

I'd also like to thank everybody for their kind messages of support & congratulations - they were much appreciated. Also a big thank you to our son and our fellow students, who were absolutely fantastic supporters on the night - you are a nice bunch x x x x

Last dance

2011-05-19T15:07:00.002+02:00

This week we had our last dancing lesson for the season. As it was the last lesson, we were all asked to take along some food. I decided to make some muffins.

We had a lovely evening and we are already looking forward to when we start again in September, as third years. That’s not to say that we won’t be dancing before then – we have our exam (soon), various dance cafés during July & August, free dancing evenings in June, technique lessons in June and the opening ball in September. So really, we don’t stop dancing at all!

I also decided to make a card for our lovely dancing teacher – he has to put up with a lot from us (or should I say me), so I thought it would be nice to say thanks.

Based on the Union Jack (long standing joke as we’re the only Brits in the class!), I made my flag base from unusual colours. I then embossed it using the Cuttlebug folder – “thanks”. The letters were cut from purple card using my Sizzix alphabet decorative strip – “Wingo Zingo”.

Well, best get on as I have an engagement, anniversary card and 2 birthday cards to make, plus I want to use my craft robo oh, and I’ve just remembered that I need to make a father’s day card, as well as making new stock for the shop – what fun!

In the meantime - happy crafting!

Anniversary

2011-05-17T12:30:00.001+02:00

Our dear friends are celebrating their anniversary today and as usual I made a card for them.
I wanted to do something a little different. I started with one of my favourite stamps – a vintage style bride and groom.

I began by adding colour to the stamped image using my lovely Copic markers. I then punched lots of tiny, tiny flowers and from these I made the groom’s buttonhole and the bride’s bouquet and headdress. I used the left over flowers for the background (in the style of confetti).
The image was then trimmed, the corners rounded and I punched two holes for the ribbon. Colour was added to the edges of the image with a Copic marker. I threaded the ribbon and before tying the bow, stuck the completed image to a pale blue card blank. I then tied the bow, trimmed the ends and the card was complete.

May birthday

2011-05-05T17:03:00.001+02:00

I made this for a friend’s birthday this week. Rubber stamping, colouring with Copics, pretty papers and flowers with gem centres all combined to make this card.

Royal Wedding

2011-04-29T10:25:00.001+02:00

Something new

2011-04-11T12:04:00.002+02:00

I love learning new techniques. Over the last week or so I have been trying to improve my rubber stamping. More to the point, I have been trying to improve the colouring of my stamped image. I have tried coloured pencils, paints & pens but have had limited success . . . . then I came across Copic markers – all I can say is wow (and why didn’t I try them before??).

I love the way that you can blend the colours (though this took a bit of practice!!)

I am pleased with the results that I have got so far and I am looking forward to practicing a bit more with these markers.

A handbag

2011-04-04T10:59:00.001+02:00

As regular readers know, my MIL keeps all the cards that I make for her and my FIL in a handbag. Occasionally, I try to get a handbag somewhere into the theme of the cards that I make for her. (Mother’s Day 2010)

This year, I made a handbag to use as the gift wrap for her present.

Mother’s Day

2011-04-03T17:14:00.001+02:00

Happy Mother’s Day to those celebrating today (our Mother’s day isn’t until May here).

Here is the card that I made for my MIL

I made each rose – time consuming but well worth the effort.

Dinner gift

2011-03-15T11:50:00.001+01:00

It is customary here to take flowers or a nice pot plant when going to friends for dinner.

We had been invited to dinner by our newly married friends and we decided to do something a little different to the norm – but it still involved a pot plant.

1 year on

2011-03-01T13:04:00.001+01:00

It is a year today since we said goodbye to our MLC Winnie.

21

2011-02-21T12:20:00.001+01:00

This weekend, my cousin’s son celebrated his 21st birthday – where have the years gone??

The design for the card was based around the Chinese symbol for “good luck”.

Valentine’s card

2011-02-15T14:51:00.001+01:00

Hope you all had a lovely day yesterday. DH bought me a lovely Valentine’s card and we had Chinese takeaway for dinner – yum!

In true Krafted Keepsakes style, I made DH’s Valentines card. DH loved his card and I quote “it has the wow factor”. Nice to know I can still surprise him after all these years!

Happy Valentine’s day

2011-02-14T12:37:00.001+01:00

Happy Valentine’s day – have a wonderful time with your “someone special”

Snorlax update

2011-02-11T14:54:00.001+01:00

Here is the latest picture of Snorlax, taken on the 1st February. As you can see, he continues to thrive and seems to be growing daily. We think he is about 2 months old now (best guess).

Birthday & Ruby Anniversary

2011-02-07T19:22:00.004+01:00

Yesterday our friends, Paul & Hazel celebrated their Ruby Wedding anniversary and Hazel celebrated her birthday too.

Apologies for the lack of blog posts recently – I am just getting over a nasty bout of flu.

paul said...

we loved them and will be special in our collection of cards, thank you so much

8 February 2011 20:17

So special

2011-01-20T12:59:00.002+01:00

Last week I celebrated my birthday. I had a wonderful time – pampered and spoilt by DH & DS (thank you boys x x ). I had lots of lovely cards and presents and I received a beautiful handmade card from my dear friends, Paul and Hazel. As you may already know from previous posts, Paul and Hazel have taken up card making together and their creations are wonderful.

This is the card I was lucky enough to receive last week and I think it is the first card that I have ever had with my name on it. It is a joint effort (I made sure that I checked this out with Paul so that credit could be given correctly). I love the fact it has cats on it, especially one grey and one ginger (just like my terrible twosome!!). I love the unusual background and have asked Paul where he found it. All in all, a stunning card – thanks to you both x x

First birthday of 2011

2011-01-10T11:00:00.001+01:00

My MIL and I both have birthdays in the first couple of weeks in January.
As usual, I have made MIL’s cards – one for Mum and one for Nan. I have used a variety of techniques and I am pleased with the results. Hope Mum likes them too, especially as she keeps all her handmade cards (see here). It is largely due to the comments from Mum, my dear aunt and my dear friend Paul that Krafted Keepsakes came to be (thank you x x ).

Happy birthday Mum! x x

Mastered!

2011-01-04T14:33:00.001+01:00

As you will know from an earlier post, DH made 3 large florist bows for me as I couldn’t seem to manage it myself. I was thrilled with his creations and very surprised as DH is not at all crafty. However, I refused to be beaten.

Having watched DH making the bows, I decided to have another go myself.

Result!! Florist bow mastered!!

Snorlax

2011-01-03T14:13:00.001+01:00

Finally, a picture of my baby plec!

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T00:01:00.000+01:00

Wishing you all a very

happy & healthy 2011!!

Message from me: I am not sitting at my 'puter 1 minute into the New Year - this is a scheduled post and as this is posting I will be seeing in the New Year with a drink in hand!!

Fishy news. . . .

2010-12-30T12:30:00.000+01:00

My two bristlenose plecs have been busy making babies – well, they have been practicing a lot and the eggs have failed to survive. (See here)

On Tuesday evening, I was sitting at the computer and I happened to glance over to the fish tank where I saw something unexpected. On top of the “beehive” was a tiny fish! On closer inspection, I discovered, to my amazement, that it was a bristlenose plec. Obviously, “Daddy” plec has mastered the care of his eggs and one has survived. Baby plec has been (temporarily) named Snorlax by DS.

Further investigation revealed another batch of eggs underneath the bog wood, being well guarded by “Daddy” plec. I wonder if Snorlax will soon be joined by other baby plecs.

As soon as I can get a picture of Snorlax, I will post it on here for you all to see. He is currently 1cm long and very camera shy!! I hope (fingers crossed) that he survives.

Happy Birthday

2010-12-29T16:34:00.001+01:00

Today is my FIL’s birthday. He is a fan of jazz, which I used as a theme for his birthday cards.

Season’s Greetings

2010-12-25T09:30:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year!!

A Christmas Wedding

2010-12-24T09:30:00.000+01:00

Friends of ours are getting married today. How lovely – a Christmas wedding, but not in all this snow and cold but in warmer climes in South America!!

Using one of my wedding themed rubber stamps, I stamped the image onto parchment. I then spent hours (well, it felt like it!) carefully embossing on the reverse to raise the image. I then added the colour. The parchment piece was then mounted on the silver frame and the whole thing was glued to a self-cut aperture card blank.

. . . . and another

2010-12-23T10:21:00.000+01:00

Ribbon bows and gems make the tree, a gift embellishment for the pot and a star to finish.

First Christmas as Mr & Mrs

2010-12-22T10:00:00.000+01:00

This one speaks for itself. I made this for my cousin’s son and his wife – they married in October (see October post).

Used: Sizzix Texturz Polka Daisies, Ellison Thin Cuts Alphabet Tiffy Taffy, the holly came from the Christmas pud in theSizzix Sizzlit Christmas set. The berries are crystal gems. The greeting was printed on the computer.

Noel

2010-12-21T10:00:00.000+01:00

This card was made for our dancing teacher. I think he deserves a special card as he has to put up with a lot from us during the year, and it’s a nice way of showing him that he is appreciated.

Used: Sizzix decorative strip alphabet Wingo Zingo, Sizzix originals (green) Holly & Berries, Sizzix Texturz Polka Daisies.

First Christmas

2010-12-20T10:15:00.000+01:00

A first Christmas deserves a special card (any excuse eh?)

It is an easel card and I have used my lovely skiing snowman stamp as the basis of my design (as he is sooo cute!!). The letters were cut with my Sizzix decorative strip alphabet “Wingo Zingo”and the number was cut with my Sizzix decorative strip “Frosting Numbers”. I coloured the snowman with brushmarkers and the background with pastels.

Parents & Grandparents

2010-12-19T19:14:00.002+01:00

2010-12-17T10:58:00.000+01:00

Krafted Keepsakes tales of the unexpected

2010-12-15T10:00:00.001+01:00

DH is not a “crafty” man. Creativity is not his thing but something he admires in others (which is nice). However, on Saturday he came to my rescue.

I needed to make 3 large florist bows to hang on our bookcases. I had bought some ribbon and 3 hearts and I sat down to make said bows and the nightmare began.

Carefully following the instructions I began to wrap the ribbon – I was soon to realise that my ribbon wrap didn’t look like the one in the picture. I undid my ribbon wrap and had another go – once again it was wrong. Now, I am not one to give up easily but after several more attempts I was getting to the point where it would be going in the bin!

DH having watched the “performance” took over (absolutely unheard of). He laid all the components out, found a video on YouTube and set to work. I was blown away with the result and not only did he make one – he made all three!!

Judge the results for yourselves – I think he’s quite clever but I will master making these bows (I will not let it beat me!!)

Something a little different

2010-12-14T13:43:00.001+01:00

This year’s Christmas decorations have had to different due to our two fur covered hooligans (our beloved cats – see Moggie Mayhem for their antics!). So instead of our usual big Christmas tree we have a little one, out of the cats way. With a little imagination and some help from DH (see tomorrow’s post) the house looks and feels quite Christmassy.

Even my table decoration has had to be put on hold or so DH told me - “we can’t have the cats playing with that, they might get hurt”, sort of thing. But I had a different plan. At the weekend I bought a small table decoration, quite a plain one really - a built in candle holder, a bit of green and a few sparkly bits. I had some spare decorations which I cut up and added to the table decoration, placed the whole thing on a matching candle plate – now I have something that is right for the table but more to the point the cats can’t ruin it (especially as I cover it with a food net overnight!!).

The start of the Christmas cards

2010-12-06T09:45:00.003+01:00

We exchange our family Christmas cards on the 5th December, the Dutch Christmas day.
I always make our family Christmas cards. Here are this year’s efforts.
For DS from me:

As you know from previous blog posts, DS is a bit of a logo lover – can you spot the logo in this card?
For DS from his Dad:

For DH from me:

and last, but not least,
for DH from DS

paul said...
: nothing more I can say other than BRILLIANT we love em ... don't think we anywhere near you standard yet
9 December 2010 20:00

Thank you for your kind comments Paul

Crackers

2010-12-02T15:42:00.001+01:00

As usual, I have made my own Christmas crackers. It took me an afternoon to make 12 crackers.

Christmas is coming (already)!

2010-12-01T12:24:00.001+01:00

Once again Christmas is looming on the horizon. I don’t mean looming in a bad way, just with amazement at how quickly the time has gone since last Christmas.
Back in October I started my Christmas preparations, not because I was being efficient but simply because I had to get Christmas parcels in the post to distant places (& not so distant places!)
I always try to theme my Christmas wrapping: this year I chose quite a simple look based on some lovely gift wrap that I had found. The gift wrap is similar in look and feel to ordinary brown paper (the parcel type) but is printed with gold flourishes and swirls. It actually sounds better than I can describe it!
I made gift tags to match the paper -
I die cut the tags with a Sizzix Bigz Scallop tag die (middle sized tag) and then stamped the image using gold ink. I then coloured just the holly & berries. Threaded with gold coloured gift ribbon, they matched the paper perfectly.

2 Comments

paul said...
: love the tags and crackers do you put inserts in them if so what or is that a wait till the 25th ..lol
3 December 2010 10:24
Lesley @ Krafted Keepsakes said...
: Yes Paul, the crackers are complete with snap, gift and motto (with groaner jokes!!). The only thing not included is a hat - we have "non-throwaway" ones that we use each year.
3 December 2010 11:00

Cards for men

2010-11-12T12:15:00.000+01:00

I always find it challenging to design cards for men. In principle it should be no different to designing any other card but for some reason I find it difficult.

I needed a card for my cousin. I decided to use my new Sizzix embossing plate, Happy Birthday. I used a bronze card blank and embossed directly onto the blank card. I cut the happy birthday from white card (Sizzix Decorative Strip – Wingo Zingo).

Lest We Forget

2010-11-11T11:11:00.000+01:00

New Arrival–Part 2

2010-11-10T10:00:00.000+01:00

Now for the gift. I like to be different and I love being creative, especially with everyday items. Put the two together and what do you get – a nappy cake!

As with the crib (see yesterday’s post), I have never made a nappy cake before and in my naivety thought “how hard can it be?” Well, let me tell you: design – pretty straightforward; rolling the nappies – ok, once you establish a method; putting it all together - hard. I needed several pairs of hands just to keep things where they should be!! On the upside, once I had established what was going where, it all became a bit easier.

New Arrival–Part 1

2010-11-09T16:12:00.001+01:00

Today, I met my friend’s grandson for the first time. He is absolutely adorable and I was thrilled to be able to have a cuddle.

I made the card & gift before his arrival, so I kept to neutral colours. Today I will show you the card and tomorrow I will post pictures of the gift.

I wanted to try making a 3d crib. I mapped it all out first and then transferred my pattern to the white card. I drew and cut the crib by hand. I could have used my Craft Robo but never having made anything like this before, I wanted to get a “feel” for it.

Having constructed the crib, I lined the inside with some yellow and white stripey paper, made a pillow from a small piece of white card and a blanket from yellow gingham ribbon.

I then decided to make a box. Again, I could have used the robo to design & cut it but I decided to do it by hand.

Having cut my desired shape I then stamped the card with “precious baby”.

To protect the crib, I added acetate to the apertures.

I then made a tag so that I had somewhere to write my message.

A pair of knitted bootees (another of my makes!) and a yellow gingham bow either side to hold the box together and it’s done.

60th

2010-11-08T11:00:00.000+01:00

Last week our friend celebrated his 60th birthday. He had already had his best present – becoming a grandfather a few days before his birthday!

I used a white (5” x 7”) card blank. I covered the front in bronze metallic paper. I then embossed the front using one of my new Sizzix Texturz embossing plates (Happy Birthday Phrases). I cut a “60” from white card using my Sizzix Decorative Strip, Frosting Numbers. I used foam pads to mount the “60".

Now for the present.

Components:

4 wine glasses

1 terracotta wine cooler

1 nice bottle of red

gift wrap

purple foam sheets

long craft pipe cleaners

cellophane wrap

gift ribbon

4 “60”s cut from silver paper using the Sizzix Frosted Numbers die

Method

I covered the cut down wine glasses box with gift wrap. I then stuck the wine cooler box inside the wrapped gift box. I returned the cooler to its box and put the wine in the cooler. I cut the foam into 4 long lengths, which I then wrapped around the wine glasses. I used the “60”s and some double sided tape to secure the foam to the glasses. I then (carefully) wrapped the pipe cleaners around the stems of the glasses and used them to secure the glasses to the top of the wine bottle. The whole lot was then wrapped in cellophane and tied at the top with the gift ribbon.

Thank you’s

2010-11-05T10:30:00.003+01:00

I needed two thank you cards – one for my MIL to thank her for having us during our recent stay and the second for a kind lady who helped make a wish come true.

This is the one I made for my MIL. I embossed a piece of black linen card using my Cuttlebug Folder – Thanks. To make the embossing stand out a little more, I wiped the top part of the folder with a white ink pad. To finish off I added various coloured punched flowers with gem centres.

Now the second card has a story behind it. As you know, DH and I are having ballroom and Latin American dance lessons and we have just started our 2nd year of lessons. My MIL had wanted to see us dance so DH contacted a dance school close to where my in-laws live to see if it would be possible for us to join one of their classes so that his parents could see us dance. Well, the lady said yes. During his communications with the lady who runs the classes, DH discovered that a) she was Dutch and b) she had danced at our dance school here in NL.

We decided to take the dancing teacher back a little “taste of home” – kruidnoten, Sint & Piet speculaars, stroopwafels and a chocolate letter A. All meaningless items to the average Brit!! I also made her a Dutch themed thank you card (bedankt meaning thank you).

Once again I used my Cuttlebug Folders – this time D’vine swirls, the letters were cut using the Night & Day alphabet and the pictures are from some Dutch gift wrap, mounted on blue circles of card.

paul said...

We love what you have achived with the ink and embossing folder Lesley, stunning effect.

7 November 2010 19:22

Grandparents

2010-11-04T12:01:00.001+01:00

Earlier this year, our friends announced that they were going to be grandparents. Well, now they are grandparents and have a beautiful grandson!

Now you all know me, I can’t miss out on making a card for something as special as this.

Back to oriental

2010-10-27T13:57:00.001+02:00

I rescued the backing paper from a birthday present that DS had. In fact, it was a gift bag and I fell in love with it and had a feeling that I could use it to make a card.
I needed to make a card for my cousin (we share a love of all things oriental) and decided to base my design around the “gift bag” backing paper.

I punched lots of little flowers in pink & purple. I then folded them into quarters and glued them to the backing paper. Using my small embossing tool, I opened the flowers to give it a 3D effect. I them glued the backing paper to some matt gold paper to make the whole thing stand out. As you can see, this was then mounted on a black, linen textured card blank.

More dried flowers

2010-10-26T13:49:00.001+02:00

Following on from my previous efforts with dried flowers, I decided to have another go.

This time I used a dried pansy. The colours had remained quite strong after drying, so there was no need to recolour. Working with the colours of the pansy, I chose a mauve card blank.

I carefully mounted the pansy on white card and then added a layer of acetate to protect the pansy. I then mounted the whole lot onto gold card, finishing off with gold brads in the corners, to hold the acetate in place.

Wedding present – with a difference

2010-10-11T12:21:00.003+02:00

This weekend my cousin’s son got married. We were invited to the celebrations but unfortunately we were unable to go. We didn’t know what to get them so I decided to make a wedding present with a difference.

Take salt & pepper mills, 6 tea towels, 4 napkin rings and a basket.

Make a bouquet, veil, collar, tie & jacket front and this is what you get.

A bride & groom!!

Cover in cellophane, add some ribbon & hearts and it’s ready to go.

Hope they had a wonderful day and fingers crossed that they liked their present.

A get well card – a bit of tutorial

2010-10-07T13:57:00.003+02:00

Well, for my second post of today (yes, I know my posts are like buses – you don’t see one for ages then two come along together!) I thought I would show you all how I make a card from start to finish, hence the title, a bit of a tutorial.

I needed to make a get well card for a friend of ours. Not really knowing her likes/dislikes other than dancing, I decided to play safe and make an unusual card.

1. My card blank – pearly white, 250 gsm

2. Using my standard template I printed my details on the back and the greeting on the front.

3. Ready to be embossed with one of my favourite Cuttlebug folders – Stylized Flowers.

4. Lining up the folder so it doesn’t emboss over the text

and into the Big Shot it goes

5. Now for the butterfly.

Using my butterfly die (from the Sizzix seasonal set – Butterfly #5) I cut 3 butterflies: 1 x pink; 1 x lilac and 1 x silver.

6. Using on the body from the silver shape, which I stuck to the pink “base” shape.

7. Taking the lilac shape, I cut the pieces that I wanted and stuck those to the pink shape.

8. I added two crystal gems and the butterfly is complete.

I then glued the butterfly onto the embossed card.

9. Done!!

Now hopefully you have been able to follow my instructions.

Please remember © – use this “tutorial” for inspiration only. Don’t copy – it’s lazy!

paul said...

love the way you have given the info on how you made / put card together. from my point on view it's helpful to see other technics

7 October 2010 18:19

Especially for Paul . . .

2010-10-07T13:29:00.003+02:00

With reference to Paul’s comments about my cat card, here is a bit more information:

I traced around the Whiskas cat treat lid to get my shape, which I then cut out.

I then cut strips of pink and cream paper which I stuck, alternating the colours, to my cat shape. Once the shape was covered I embossed it using my Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug folder. I then stuck my covered & embossed shape onto some gold card and trimmed it to give a border. The nose is a heart shaped gem, the whiskers are gold peel-offs and the ears are cut from pink pearly paper. I drew the eyes and mouth by hand.

Hope this answers your question Paul.

paul said...

a crafty crafter ..lol what a brilliant idea using the whiskers lid honestly I really love the card thank you for letting me know how you put it together.

The last of the September birthdays

2010-10-02T01:56:00.002+02:00

The 30th is our friends birthday. With all the celebrations in September it can be difficult to continue to come up with unusual cards. This year I was lucky – I had been messing around with some flowers that I had dried and I decided to use these to make our friend’s card.

During the summer I had picked some hydrangea (hortensia) flowers and put them in my flower press. When I finally remembered them they were certainly dried but also quite colourless.

I trawled the web to see if it was possible to hand colour dried flowers and came across an article that gave instructions on how to colour dried flowers with pastels. Well, after a bit of trial and error I was beginning to have a bit of success.

I coloured some more, this time with blue pastels and used them to make this card.

Our friend loved it, especially when I told her that the flowers were from my garden.

September – a busy month

2010-09-30T13:19:00.003+02:00

September is a busy month around here: DS’ birthday, our anniversary, DH’s birthday and our friend’s birthday and they all fall within the space of two weeks.

We received a lovely handmade anniversary card from our dear friends, Paul & Hazel. Having just discovered the delights of owning a cuttlebug & big shot they are both coming up with some amazing creations (see previous post for DS’ birthday card).

Isn’t this a stunning card – made by Hazel (Thank you!)

DH celebrated his birthday yesterday. We got him up early so that he could open his presents and cards before he went to work. In the evening we cooked him a lovely meal which was followed by drinks with the neighbours.

DH is a difficult so & so to make a card for let alone two! As we are a cat mad house I decided to make him a cat themed card from me; and as DH is a Top Gear fan (like most men of a “certain age”) I decided to use a car theme for the card from DS.

The results:

I stuck strips of paper (alternating the colours) on a cat face shape that I had previously drawn & cut. I then embossed it with my Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug folder. The nose is a heart shaped gem, the whiskers are gold peel-offs and the ears are cut from pink pearly paper. I drew the eyes and mouth (which was a bit of a challenge as the surface was uneven due to the embossing!!).

paul said...

We love the cat card you did for Mark brilliant. Intrigued as to the components used, the cat face shape and the card used?

1 October 2010 10:51

Lesley @ Krafted Keepsakes said...

Glad you liked the card - so did Mark (lol).
Will get back to you on how I made it. Watch this space . . . . . .

2 October 2010 02:00

Birthday boy

2010-09-19T16:52:00.002+02:00

Yesterday we celebrated DS’ birthday. Regular readers will know that he is a bit of a logo lover, so it has become a bit of a tradition (and challenge!!) to make his birthday cards incorporating the Converse logo.
This year, things were made easier as DS has developed a musical interest – he is an amazing drummer (mainly self taught, with some help from his school’s music teacher) and he is teaching himself the acoustic guitar.

The guitar card is actually 3D, although the picture doesn’t really show this. I made the strings using a needle & thread.

DS also had another handmade card. This is from our dear friends, Paul & Hazel and is one of Hazel’s lovely creations (or maybe Paul made it??). Hazel recently got some new “toys” to create with. See here for more of her (their??) creations. I’m not sure who has been card making and therefore, who the credit should go to – I know it is Hazel’s hobby but also know, from reading Paul’s blog, that he couldn’t resist having a go too!

Anonymous said...
: So glad Sam liked the card ...just read his email to us. Had a little chuckle over the mystery who did it..lol well new toys can be boys toys as well (big clue). Now the cards have been recived I'll add photos to my blog over the weekend when all will be revealed.
24 September 2010 23:41

Fishy goings on . . . .

2010-09-10T00:47:00.001+02:00

It seems that my two plecs have been getting down & dirty. When I turned the tank light off tonight I saw something strange in the tank – further investigation revealed a cluster of eggs!

The eggs can be seen in the picture, just next to the plant pot and with “daddy” plec keeping a watchful eye over his babies to be. Isn’t nature wonderful?

At last

2010-08-17T19:21:00.001+02:00

For my regular readers, you will remember that back in February we had a chimney fire. (For those of you that aren’t, the story is here)

Six months, one week and one day later, I am relieved and pleased to say that the chimney has finally been fixed. Back in February we were issued with a prohibition notice – we were banned from using our fireplace. Well, we were banned but that didn’t mean to say we couldn’t. If we carried on using our fireplace and something else happened then a) we weren’t covered by the insurance and b) we would have to pay all the fire brigades costs. Needless to say – we didn’t use the fireplace! All we are waiting for now is a visit from the fire brigade’s safety officer to check that everything is in order and the ban is lifted.

The repair of the chimney took less than one day – the other six months and one week has been spent “communicating” with the insurance company, waiting for everyone and his mate to inspect the damage, make their reports and then decide whether to pay out or not. We even had one “inspector” come to see if we actually had a chimney – he must have been one of the worst people we have ever had to deal with. He spent just 10 minutes in the house, looked at a previous inspection report (which he then made his own) and barely spoke to us. How nice!! We seem to have spent the last six months dealing with people who say one thing and then do the complete opposite (my favourite sort of person, preferably on toast!).

So at long last, the saga of the chimney, that reached nightmare proportions at times, is finally over.

Roll on the winter (well, not too quickly , as it would be nice to have a bit of summer) and cosy Sunday afternoons in front of the fire.

Annoying

2010-07-29T13:05:00.002+02:00

Isn’t it absolutely annoying when you receive an invite and although you’d love to go – you can’t?
We have been invited to my cousin’s son’s wedding but unfortunately we can’t go as DS will be in the middle of his exams. We are so disappointed! Although it was only expected that we should reply to the bride-to-be’s parents, I decided to make reply cards for my cousin and her son & intended as well.
It wasn’t a card that I really wanted to make as I had been hoping that I would be making the opposite (yes, we’d love to, sort of card!).
This is what I came up with:

World cup update

2010-06-22T22:14:00.001+02:00

My nails needed doing, so this time I went for England & Nederland!

Father’s Day

2010-06-21T10:16:00.001+02:00

Happy Father’s Day! (Sorry it’s a day late!!)

DH had the Father’s Day he wanted – nice & quiet, doing what he pleased with a healthy dose of football watching thrown in for good measure!

As usual, I made cards for DH and my FIL. I didn’t get around to photographing the card I made for DH but I did manage to get a picture of the other one.

Well, best get on . . .lots to do today before the football starts!

Retirement

2010-06-16T12:24:00.001+02:00

A friend (and colleague of DH) is retiring. DH asked me to make a retirement card and I was stunned when he told me who it was for as I didn’t believe that he was anywhere near retiring!

I used some pretty butterfly paper as a background and used the dictionary definitions for “happy” and “retirement” as the basis for the design.

Summer anniversary

2010-06-14T12:20:00.001+02:00

I find that I make a lot of anniversary cards between May and September. It becomes increasingly difficult to come up with ideas, especially as I like to make the cards unique.

For this one, I made a woven raffia heart, added some white paper daisies with button centres. Only using nice, fresh summer colours made the design stand out (and I did hear that the recipients like it too!)

World cup time

2010-06-08T21:22:00.001+02:00

Are you world cup ready? I am - the garden is decorated and the flags are in the window and of course I had to have some portable world cup stuff . . . . .

What do you think??

End of the dancing season

2010-05-31T15:51:00.002+02:00

Two weeks ago we finished our dancing lessons for year 1. We have had a fantastic time learning all the dances and we can't wait for the season to begin again in September. All in all we had 30 lessons and learnt the: waltz, quickstep, swing fox, tango, cha,cha,cha, rumba, salsa, jive and the Viennese Waltz.

We’ve also been to the black & white ball and the Christmas ball along with a number of dance cafés throughout the year.

On Saturday we took our bronze dance exam. We had to dance four ballroom and four Latin dances (every dance we had learnt except the Viennese Waltz). I am very pleased to be able to say . . . . . WE PASSED!! We were marked independently and we each scored 8.5 for all the dances, with DH getting 8.5 for his cha,cha,cha (I got an 8+) and we both got an 8+ for the jive. (NB marks were out of 10). Not bad eh?

Thank you DH for being a wonderful dancing partner and I can’t wait for year 2 to begin – can you?

Anniversary time again

2010-05-18T10:30:00.000+02:00

Last year, our dear friends celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary and of course I made them a very special card (see here)

Well, it’s another year on and another card was required (where does the time go?).

Deciding on a cat theme (what a surprise!!), I came up with this – 2 cats side by side with their tails entwined.

50 + 50

2010-05-17T10:53:00.001+02:00

Friends of ours celebrated their 50th birthdays this weekend.

I decided to use the 1960’s as a starting point for their cards.

I found pictures of the two of them and using a nifty little program that I found on the net, gave then the “Warhol” treatment. I then cut the numbers from white card, mounted them on 3d foam stickers and their cards were done. On the inside I added a heart decorated pocket (colours to suit the individual card) for the gift.

I hope they like them and that they enjoyed their birthday celebrations.

And for the parents-to-be

2010-04-19T14:35:00.001+02:00

It wouldn’t have been right to have made a card for the grandparents-to-be and not for the parents-to-be would it? And of course, I couldn’t miss out on making another card, could I?

I’ve always wanted to make a card with the “baby on board” sign, so I did.

Using my lovely Swiss Dots folder for the embossing and some pale yellow gingham ribbon, it all seemed to come together rather well.

Good News

2010-04-15T15:17:00.001+02:00

Friends of ours have just told us that they are going to be grandparents this year (not that they are old enough yet!). Naturally, I had to make a card to celebrate this fantastic news.

I used the theme of time (as in countdown to the happy event)and my grandfather clock Sizzix die and marking the clock face 3, 6 and 9 (for the months).