Thursday 29 March 2012

My love affair with Stampin' Up and news!!!!

Hiya Crafty friends,

I've had such a lovely start to the week. I was the 'hostess' for a Stampin' Up party at my craft group and had a fabulous time with fantastic demos from our Stampin' Up demonstrator, Shirley, who I would have recommend before this, but will definitely recommend her even more now.

It was suppose to be a crafting morning , but stretched into a crafting afternoon too. Lots of fun was had by all :)



I had been saving up for AGES for this party, as I LOVE Stampin' Up products, but can't afford to buy from them very often. The hardest thing about it was to pick what I was going to buy. Sooooo many gorgeous things, sooo spoilt for choice. I can't wait for them to arrive, but even better I got freebies too from their Sale-abration offer and unexpectedly I got lots of hostess pounds too!!! Love freebies!!!

Because it was a party I had made a few little goodies, but silly me forgot to take picture, so I can't show you them :(

I did remember however to take pictures of the card I made this week for a friend of mine who's birthday was.







Remember to visit us on the 1st April for our new challenge and news about our Big Blog Birthday Bash month!!!!!



Happy Crafting
Click here for more graphics and gifs!

Monday 26 March 2012

Crafty Bloggers Network–Happy Bird-day-twit twoo

Hiya Crafty Friend,
Did you miss us last week? Smile As you are probably aware, the Crafty Bloggers Network challenge has now gone fortnightly, so now you have more time to work on your wonderful projects.

So, without much further ado, this fortnights! challenge…

The theme is…
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I knew I wanted to make an owl for this project, so set a little challenge for myself. To use the least amount of tools I could and I managed to just us two…yes…only two!Smile Which where the Xcut Scallop circle nesting dies and the xcut scalloped circle 5/8 nesting punch

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1. The brown scallop circle was cut with the 3rd smallest die and the white scallop circle was cut with the smallest die.
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2. Cut a circle using the 2nd smallest die, then place the smallest die on top, as shown in the picture.
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3. Cut two small circles using the 5/8 punch, then place the circle back in the punch (this can be quite fiddly) and use the ‘oval’ shapes  as shown in the picture. Keep the crescent shapes for later
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4. Cut two white circles with the 5/8 punch
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5. Use the crescent shapes, saved from step 3.
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6. Cut a small triangle of orange card for the beak (I know he looks a bit angry at the moment, but I promise he won’t in the end…lol Smile)
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7. Cut a circle using the 3rd smallest die and us the 2nd smallest dies twice on it, as shown below (keep the centre ‘waste’ for later)
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8. Using the waste from step 7 and cut the bottom off and place it under the bottom of the white scallop.
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9. Cut two circles from orange card, using the 5/8 punch and cut as in step 3. Place the ‘oval’ shape over the crescent, as shown.
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I finished off by adding a bit of white above the eyes and on the ears too, and coloured two clear gems with a black permanent marker for pupils in the eyes.
Glamor dust was also used on the whites of the ear an above the eyes.
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And here he is, my Mr Woo Open-mouthed smile
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This is Misty saying hello too Smile
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Looking forward to seeing all your entries

Happy crafting
Debbi

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Basic exploding box tutorial…

Hiya crafty friends,
Sorry I have been AWOL lately Embarrassed smile Life has been a bit hectic, but I'm back and raring to go now :)

After posting the wedding exploding box I made recently (Wedding Daze Part 1...) I have been asked by a few people if I could show how to make a exploding box. So I thought I'd first show you haw to to make the basic box itself, as decoration is purely down to who and what you are making it for. But I will decorate mine and post that too, at a later date

Exploding box tutorial
An exploding box is made up of three layers and a lid. So firstly we will start with the layers
1. Cut a piece of card 21cm x 21cm
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2. I used a hougie board to score all the way down at 7cm and 14cm respectfully.
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3. Turn the card 90 degrees clockwise
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4. And score again at 7cm and 14cm
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5. Now, as you can see, you are left with a grid. Cut out the four corner squares.
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And you will be left with this cross shape
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6. The same process is repeated for the next two layers using the following measurements:
Layer 2
· Cut card 19.5cm x 19.5cm
· Score at 6.5cm and 13cm
· Turn 90 degrees
· Score again at 6.5cm and 13cm
· Cut the four corner squares out

Layer 3
· Cut card 18cm x 18cm
· Score at 6cm and 12cm
· Turn 90 degrees
· Score again at 6cm and 12cm
· Cut the four corner squares out


Lid
1. Cut a piece of card 15.3cm by 15.3cm
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2. Score all the way down at 4cm, then turn 90 degrees clockwise
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3. Score again at 4cm and turn 90 degrees clockwise
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4. Repeat this twice more, and your card will look like this.
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5. Take a wedge out of the small corner square, as shown below then turn 90 degrees clockwise and repeat in the next small square
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6. Repeat this two more times and your card will look like this:
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7. Next, fold and crease, using a bone folder, each of the score lines
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8. Turn the card over, so the ‘right’ side is upwards (the side of the card you want to be on the outside of your lid) and place strong double sided tape to the four tabs in each corner.
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9. Take the backing off the double sided tape on one of the corner tabs and fold inward
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10. Bring the side of the lid upward to join the tab and line the edge of this with the fold of the tab, lining them up as close as you can and stick together.
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11. Repeat with the other three corners and you now have a lid.
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12. Now take the three layers we made at the beginning and fold and crease each of the scored lines.
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13. Take the largest layer and place strong double-sided tape within the scored square.
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14. Place the middle sized layer on top, making sure it’s within the larger layers scored square as shown in the picture below.
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15. Place some more tape within the scored square of the second layer and repeat the process with the third and last layer
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17. Bring all the four sides up to form a box
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18. Place the lid on top, and there you have your exploding box, ready to decorate however you like Smile
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Happy Crafting

Debbi x