Crazy 4 Challenges - Z

Good morning and today, well  in fact this month I am guest designer over at 

Crazy 4 Challenges

 thanks to the very lovely Frances Brynes invitation who is this months hostess.

Apparently yesterday was Z Day. So let's celebrate by including something starting with the letter Z on our cards.  You could make a Z Fold Card, use a zip or zip image, zinnia, zebra, zoo etc. Let's show the letter Z how much we love it!

So I decided to play with the new Karen Burniston Oval Pull card.  All the Pull cards

are fabulous and happen to create the "Z" style card.  Teamed with Mr Jinks  (OK just Jinks) from Karen Burniston her new adorable Monkey and it a cute/fun card.

The Oval Pull card comes with an optional "Pull" which have attached Jinks to.

Here you can see the card flat and all the detail.

The paper was an VERY old Bo Bunny paper which I found in a box, perfect

colours for a monkey card.

You can position your piece onto the pull part in the way you want, I chose to position Jinks

so you could just see his head when closed.

Here is the last picture and you can see when the card is opened

Jinks has moved all the way to the centre, I love the way his legs

move with him into the centre of the card really give him animation.

Here to can see the card standing from above, ahem, backwards Z here too :)

The New Karen Burniston are out later this month, being showcased at CHA very very soon.  Crafts U Love in the UK have these on Pre Order. www.craftsulove.co.uk

I will be back next Saturday with my next Crazy for Challenges and thank you to Frances for the invitation.

Materials Used : Jinks Karen Burniston, Oval Pull card Karen Burniston, Woodware Jungle Lead Punch, Bo Bunny paper (very old), Cheeky Monkey Clear Stamp set Karen Burniston.

Happy Christmas?

I hope you all had a Happy Christmas.  We had a lovely one with my Mum and Brother in Law coming for Christmas dinner, going out with Mum and my Brothers family for Boxing Day and then so far a mix of chillax and starting to decorate front room and hoping the days go mega slow until we get back to work on the 4th January.  Both Darren and I are very lucky we don't have to go back until the 4th, it gives us the longest time off together as a family of this year!!  As we didn't have much of a holiday together this past year. 

Here are a few pictures from my Christmas break so far..  I say a few but I found slightly more that I wanted to share with you :)  so bear with me .

First up is a picture of the gorgeous but very naughty Donuts Holes that Darren made with the

Gourmet 3 in 1 sweet treat maker.  Very yummy!  my Mum knows how much Darren loves baking and then eating the bakes! LOL  So we made these today.

Here is Caiden with his main pressie - a Halo Megablocks Phantom

And Darren is the poor guy that has to make all this Halo that Caiden gets.  All 900+ bricks!

He has a great collection of Halo Megablocks and plays with them and looks after them very well.  I was lucky to get a pre owned deal off ebay and for the price of this one

phantom we ended up getting 2 large vehicles so Darren as I type is in the process of

making that second one.

Sue my SIL found the perfect gift for me :)

Harvey in Warhammer heaven.  He had made an army list for Christmas

and between us, Nanny, Grandma, Grumps and Uncle Dave/Aunty Sue we got all on his list!

Here he is in full concentration and yesterday he could not wait to go to the yearly "Unboxing Day" at Warhammer store where people bring in all their new models and build and paint.

He is still loving Warhammer and taking his time building all the models he has got will take

a while, painting even longer!

Next up a FANTABULOUS machine called the SILHOUETTE MINT

machine.  I got this before Christmas but hadnt shared it before now.  It makes stamps that you design.  Once you have designed the stamp it literally comes out in less than a minute.

You then add the special MINT INK and wait 10 minutes for the ink to load

and then you are ready for approx 50 impressions.   Once run out you re ink.

I'll be doing a blog post dedicated to this machine very soon.

This was a stamp I designed for my Mum for her to use on the back of her cards.

This was a surprise gift from Darren for me and my Crafty Palace

Now TV and means I can get box sets and sky 1 in my shed.

YIPPEEE I can now watch Game of Thrones when it comes back :)

Christmas Day = family games and we enjoyed playing Simpsons Cluedo

which was Harvey's pressie.  We also played others but attention spans were waning

in the house as we had such an early morning!

Just the week before Christmas I went snowman crazy and I made

lots of these cute little guys :)  I ended up making about 15 of these and giving

them as little decorations to work friends.

Lots and lots of my facebook friends got one of these for Christmas.  Adult

colouring books are all the rage and my Mum got this for me. 

Once I get a chance I will enjoy doing this.

A cute collection of Owls :) from my boys - Pencil pot,

Cute hear no evil, speak no evil and see no evil owls

and a frame that has Darren and I's wedding photo.

Now with my new mint machine came yet again more frustration to not ever

being able to get on the family pc.  So I had the Mint, Minc, Silhouette and 

Craft Artist software all needing a PC to work but never getting access to it.

So I asked Darren if I could get myself a laptop just for my stuff and 

I have ended up with the gadget craft table in the front room.

We are redecorating hence the ripped off paper.  But it's very exciting to have 

a place I can use all my gadgets when I want to.  VERY VERY Lucky girl!

So as you can see all in all a lovely Christmas.  Everyone very happy

lovely time spent with family who we don't see enough of

(my brother and family and my BIL too)

Too much food, certainly too many donut holes!! LOL

As I said, I will be back very soon with a in depth look at the MINT MACHINE.

The machine starter kit is in stock at Crafts U LOVE but we are waiting

for the accessories to come in.  

I do hope you all had a lovely time with your family and friends.

Caz xx

A Birthday Card

I made this card for a lovely lady Joan who I work with.  Its her birthday 25th December so we always make sure we spoil her on her special birthday :)

I have been so busy lately with Christmas projects it was lovely to make something different and of course I could not wait to play with the NEW releases.. Coming January Karen Burniston Designs.

On this card I have used Baker the Beaver

Cake pop Up and Pull card Edges

I love the Cake Pop up and how the candles sit on top.

And Baker is totally adorable.  Without his tail he could easy pass for a Hamster I reacon.

Funny thing! I have only just noticed that I forgot to add his teeth!  

Opps - left those on my desk somewhere :)

The Pull card edges have been made for use with the Pull Cards

but as you can see here you can get some great shapes and use them on any cards.

I hope you like the card as much as I enjoyed making it.

and here below are pictures of the dies.

I will be back soon with more.

Oh and UK customers, the New Elizabeth Crafts are on order and should be

at Crafts U Love middle January

.

A few recent makes

A little round up of makes made recently :)

This years snowman soup was make using Memory Box and Sizzix 

I made these Rosettes with the WRMK Punch

and Taylored Expressions stamps

I made this Handmade stamp using my Mint machine! If there is interest I will

do a video or photos on this machine.

I made a few of these pretty boxes too

And a few more bits here :)

So you see I have been crafting, but not showing you all, I do apologise

and I hope to blog a bit more now I have access to my own laptop.

Cazx

Karen Burniston - December Challenge Day 2

Welcome bloggers, back again so soon?  Oh yes, its day 2 of the Karen Burniston Challenge and today I am sharing this cute little Jolly the Mouse card.  He is "Home for the holidays" in his little festive nest.  He has made it look so  beautiful, complete with Holly leaves, stocking hung with care (hand cut by me) and some pretty sparkly stickers that he found whilst scampering around my shed :)  He's trying to wait up for "scamperpaws" which is the mouse version of Santa, but he is just too tired.

For this card I have used the following :

By Karen Burniston - Elizabeth Craft Designs

Circle Accordion with the centre chopped out to make the red snowflake frame,

Jolly The Mouse, just slightly adjusted to put tail on other side and droopy, oh so tired eyelids,

Merry and Bright Stamps

By Elizabeth Craft Designs

Leaf and Berry Branches

Holly Leaves and Berries 

Sparkle Dot Peel offs

I really enjoyed this challenge, and playing with these dies.  A welcome break

from Snowman soup that I have been working on for the last million nights.. OK slight

exaggeration there but it feels like it :)

As usual don't forget to check out the links on the left

my uber talented Karen Burniston Team mates.

Caz xx

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge December - Home for the holidays

Hi Bloggers and today I am back with the December Challenge.  December!!  where did that come from?  I have been flat out for a few weeks.  Burning the candle at both ends to make sure I can fit it all in finally feeling a bit in control but I haven't made even one Christmas card yet.  {hangs head in shame}

 I have cheated a bit on this challenge, well not cheated  as such but my design is loosely based on what Karen wanted. But I was please how it came out until I read what I was supposed to do and thought "opps".  Luckily Karen loved it too so all is good :)

This is what Karen Burniston had asked us for - Home for the Holidays - Let's see how you can interpret the phrase. Use the House, Holiday House or Barn (or are you making a tree house?) or some sort of "home" on a Holiday card.

Now quite clearly there is no home on my creation today, but it has been made "for the home".  I don't know about you I love to make things to display in my home for Christmas.  Most of the time we make for others and it is nice to keep something for yourself.

I decided to make a banner with the Gift Card Accordion and it was very very simple to make

I choose some lovely red and green papers and card, accents of white and green and decorated with Rudy the gorgeous reindeer.

Rudy looks rather dashing with his shiny antlers don't you think!

The pages of the Gift Card accordion were decorated with the Flourish Gift Frame

I used the page connectors to attach to the string with Elizabeth Craft Designs Tape.

The NOEL was made using the Elizabeth Craft Designs Alphabet Set.

Additional decoration for the pages was made easy using other dies from Karen's collection.

Namely the Katie Label Accordion  and the Accordion Fancy Label.

Just look how simple making a really fancy looking banner can be?  and it looks lovely adorning my fireplace.

Right it most definitely is passed my bedtime again!  and I really need some shut eye so I can get working on Tuesdays challenge card... Just called me "last minute Caz"  its the way I roll :)

Until Tuesday, Oh, and don't forget to check out the amazing cards that the other ladies have

created on this challenge by checking out the links on the left hand side.

Caz x

Silhouette Mint?

I am eagerly waiting for my Silhouette Mint to arrive.  In the meantime I have been playing with the software to create my first stamps once it comes.  I have opened a Silhouette Mint Facebook group in English.  There seems to be a lot in interest and groups from other languages and whilst google tries its best to translate for me I find myself puzzled more often than not.  So if you would like to join the Facebook group send a request in.  

As soon as I get my machine I will be posting my creations and where to get it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/674080752732966/?fref=ts

Cazx

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - November pt 2

Hi there
Back again with part 2 today and I decided to stick with the Katie Pivot die to show you all what a 
fabulous die this is to have in your collection.

This time I followed Karen's video HERE.  And as well as the same die I seem to have made a matching pair colour wise too :)  guess I was tickled pink with this challenge this month!

Here is the front of the card.  And I have used the parcel from the Evergreen Pivot die set.

And the cute basket from Props 7 set (coming soon to Crafts U Love).

Here is the inside and you can see all 4 of the panels.  I reached for the same

butterfly embossing folder and swiped over with white pigment ink to highlight the embossing.

Lastly a closer look at Lucky who I have cut out in Elizabeth Craft Designs

Velvet sampler pack  you can just about see Lucky's softness here :)

Now I know I have a few people from the UK that purchase from Crafts U Love but if you are in the USA you might want to check out the amazing deal that Elizabeth Crafts have right now for those that want to purchase from them.

To coincide with the November Designer Challenge, every purchase made over $40 of Karen Burniston's Pop It Ups will receive a FREE $10 Gift Card. You will receive your Gift Card with your order in the mail and your Gift Card can be used on the Elizabeth Craft Designs website. This offer only applies to purchases made on our website between Tuesday 17th November and Thursday 19th November.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - November

Hi Crafters and today and I am here with my first of two designer challenge cards for November and this month's challenge was :

Pop it Ups Video Techniques - Choose any technique from any of my Pop it Ups videos going back to the beginning and use it for a card of any theme. Put your spin on the video techniques and make them even better! It's your take on (say) an Explosion, Double Pivot, Pivot Accordion, Floating Floor, Double Lorna, Bridge Spinner, Double high Pivot, etc. Peruse my videos here:https://www.youtube.com/playlist

I chose Karen's video HERE which is the DOUBLE HIGH KATIE PIVOT

By using the double high technique it gives you even more space to add your decorations and I chose Buster and Whiskers to adorn my card.

Now you may notice that mine is a slightly different shape to Karen's. That is

due to the position that I placed the Pivot die on the folded paper at which has given me a different shape.  So you can play around with the die placement to get the the shape you would like.

Here is a close up of Whiskers.  I used white card and ink pads

to give her the colour.  Lots of inking with daubers to tie it all in together.

Here are both Whiskers and Buster, Best of friends.  There isn't a sentiment on this 

card at the moment.  But you could use it for so many different occasions.

Now I did use a lot of dies for this card and I will list them below :

Whiskers the cat

Buster the dog

Butterfly Embossing Folder

Katie Label Pivot

Butterfly from Butterfly set

Heart from Heart Pivot set

You can purchase your dies from Crafts U Love in the UK

or from Elizabeth Craft Designs HERE

Other Items Used :

The paper used was a very old Bo Bunny from my stash 

and the heart flowers are Penny Black.

Ink colour is Abandoned Coral

I will be back tomorrow with my second card for the challenge and don't forget

to check out my talented team mates.  Links on the left of my blog 

See you soon

Caz xx

Everythings more fun with crafts!

Last week Caiden had to take hamper goods in for his class hamper.  These are for the Christmas fair and this year they have assigned each class to a country for their hamper goodies.  Caidens class was assigned England and to me think of the English and you think of our love of a good cup of tea and maybe a biscuit to dunk.  I went to the shop and got my teabags and hobnobs and thought to meself, job done... but then I thought surely I can make this more interesting. Afterall all these classes are competing for a small prize for best hamper.  So the "Crafty" in Stamping Caz's Crafty Palace got started and decorated my hamper goods.

Wrapped in Tulle and ribbons I die cut the old Sizzix Karen Burniston cup

from Red, White and Blue - I was actually decorating in UK colours and not

the England as I was supposed (opps) 

The "You're my cup of tea" stamp is from Penny Black

and the rabbit is of course "Lucky" from the new release Karen Burniston.

I styled Lucky to be the perfect "English Gent" with his bowler hat and mustache :)

Lucky will be hopping into Crafts U Love - we've just not got a date yet

as our supplier has not got theirs yet.  Rest assured though they will

hop in as soon as we can order.

See how much more fun this looks with a little Crafters magic!

Christmas Pivot

Hi crafters
I am here today with a cute little Christmas Pivot card.  These Karen Burniston Pivots are super easy to create.  You'll not realise just how easy until you try.

This one is called the Katie Label Pivot.  To use the die simply line up the nubs of the die onto the centre fold of a card and Voila!

On the inside pivot and I do apologise for not including a picture, I stamped a Merry Christmas

greeting.

The Penny Black stamp worked perfectly.  It is from a set called Deck the Halls.

I used a Stitched Holly Border on the front of the card which is Poppy Stamps.

All items from Crafts U Love

Create and Takes

Today I thought I would share some cards that I made over the last few months for the Create and Takesat Crafts U Love.  Create and Take is every Friday and customers can pop in from 10.30am and create the card that we have designed from the kits that we have made.  I say we, but it has been my job for a few months now.  I try and make things that will suit all tastes but obviously I favour the cute and colourful!

This one was made with a Stamping Bella stamp and the Paris Edges from 

Elizabeth Crafts/Karen Burniston

Unless you've been living under a rock you would know this CRAZY BIRD is from Tim Holtz

The Snowflakes are from a Penny Black set.

Again this CRAZY Halloween Bird is from Tim Holtz

Next up a Stamping Bella stamp and snowflakes from Sweet Dixie.

LOVED this one.  Reindeer and Words from Poppy Stamps

These cute pillow boxes were made using a Sizzix set.

The Reindeer is Rudy from Karen Burniston

Poinsettia is from the Sizzix Pillow Box set

and the Polar bears are from Penny Black

I think this one was from last year but I just saw it so thought I would share.

I used the Karen Burniston Lorna Label Pop up and Woodware Robin.

This one is Memory Box die, Marianne leaves and Joy Crafts Stamp.

Another cutie from MFT for the cats, Marianne for the filmstrip.

And lastly a peaceful Fox from Marianne, the trees and Embossing

folder also from Marianne.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at the different cards today.

Till next time!!

Caz xx