Laminated stencil technique

Morning crafty people,

Welcome to this new Resourceful Crafting section of my blog.

It's a nice bright day here today and I'm busy prepping for my Brusho Box class on Sunday.
I'm so looking forward to catching up with the ladies and seeing what they create!

Anyhow my mission for this years crafting is to dedicate time to being as resourceful as possible.
I know, we all LOVE new stash but, I'm challenging myself to utilise what I already have for this new area of my blog.

Upcycle/Recycle!

So today I'm sharing a technique we'll be using on Sunday with our Brusho's.
I wanted a stencil of the Umbrella Man so I've used my laminator to create this.
I simply ran a plain piece of card in a laminator sheet through the laminator and used this to cut my die.
The result is a wipeable stencil, so I'm one happy bunny with this result!

A quick example of how it works.

Lots more to come in this upcycle/recycle section of my blog.
Thanks for popping by today, really appreciated.
Love and Crafty Hugs xKx

Lavinia Stamps January Challenge, Anything Goes

Evening everyone,
The 2nd of January saw the start of the New Years
Lavinia Stamps blog challenge, nice and easy with the theme of "Anything Goes"
Now the prize is a fantastic £40 to spend in the
Lavinia Stamps Web Shop so well worth entering!
The rest of the DT have provided fantastic inspiration as always so why not pop over and have a look.
Please read the rules about using Lavinia products for your entry.
You don't need to have a blog either you can enter by email link Here
I'll leave you with my inspiration, an Ikea mirror,
Celtic Dream Elegance Die, some chalky paints and torn book pages.
Thanks so much for looking, crafty hugs xKx

Crafty Workshop Days

Good afternoon all,

Hope you're enjoy in your weekend before everything fully returns to normal tomorrow after the Christmas and New Year break.

I know a lot of people have had colds and flu and other difficulties to contend with but I do wish each and everyone of you a Healthy, Happy and Peaceful 2015.

My family had a challenging time over Christmas which we are currently dealing with and we made the most of the little time we spent together with everything going on.

Anyway onto crafting and the next Sunday session at Crockenhill is on the 18th Jan.

We are transforming a storage unit that can be used for craft or other storage but is simply perfect for Brusho storage.

I've had a few enquiries from new people and am offering for them to come along and have a cuppa, see what we get up to and join in if they wish.

We'll also be looking at projects for the next sessions.

So it's looking set to be a great fun crafty day, it will be lovely to catch up with the ladies and meet new faces too.

There's limited space for this same workshop in Bristol on the 28th Feb and I'm taking bookings for a new project for Warwickshire on the 1st March.

For any further info or details please email craftyk@hotmail.co.uk

Here's to much happy crafting,

Love n Hugs xXx

A Special Gift

Hello Bloggers,

I transformed this Candy Box Crafts Advent Kit to give to my great niece who's soon to be One.

I wanted to give her a special keepsake and with her birthday being so close to Christmas it seemed just perfect.

I spotted these gorgeous papers from Papermania and was immediately drawn to the Nordic style

with the addition of some DecoArt chalky finish paint in Timeless.

The kit comes complete with the numbers and I added some bakers twine to the drawers so little fingers can easily open them.

This is really what I'm all about, I've always made these sort of gifts for friends and family, I love to give really personal keepsakes.

I'll personalise this on the back for my great niece.

My daughter, 27, has a handcrafted fabric advent and I still love filling it as much as she loves opening it! 

Special memories...

Thanks for looking, hope you feel inspired.

Crafty Hugs xXx

Christmas with Designs by Ryn and the blog candy winner announced!

Evening folks,

Gosh where's the time going?!...
I've finally got my Christmas cards designed now I just need to get them all made!
I will be adding a few more with different stamps and designs but this is what I've come up with so far.
I played around with Designs by Ryn Winter stamps and this is what I came up with

When I announced the Kent and Bristol Brusho/craft box workshop for January I also announced a blog candy giveaway.

I'm delighted to say the workshops have proved popular so please book soon if you are interested in a place.

The giveaway was sponsored by the lovely Bev from Bee Crafty who donated as a prize the following two stamps that I used on my design.

This was a list of everyone who commented on the post and got entered into the draw.

Thank you all very much for taking part, supporting and leaving supportive comments, I so appreciate each and every one.

1 Naomi Mahon

2 Jennifer Johnston

3 Yvonne Froehlich

4 Lynda Hall

5 Claire Byrne

6 Jane Barber

7 Anne Cole

8 Zoe Bateman

9 Rosslyn Rose

10 Kellie Davison

11 Terri Cope

12 Lorraine Crosby

13 Denyse C

14 Kirsten Childe

and the winner chosen by Random.org is

No 3 Yvonne Froehlich

Big congratulations Yvonne! 

I'll pop your prize in the post...

Thank so much again everyone!

Crafty hugs xKx 

November Workshop Review

Cor it's a bit white and frosty out there this morning, Jack Frost was busy last night!
I had a lovely day yesterday at my good friend Lisa's Christmas party workshop in Maidstone, it was fabulous!
If you haven't checked out her website, shop or events here's the Link
Anyway I've got a busy weekend ahead, sorting the house to get decorations up and getting Christmas cards done but here's the review of last weekend's class. Future class info and reviews will be here on my blog or via an email newsletter to contacts. If you are interested in any of the classes I run in Kent, Bristol or Warwickshire please email me at craftyk@hotmail.co.uk for further info and newsletter updates and I'll add you to the list.
Ok, so we had a fun, relaxed day decorating an MDF set of six coasters and a box from
Candy Box Crafts.
We used various painting techniques for this session and the coasters were also sealed to make them wipeable and more robust.
I introduced paints and products from the DecoArt range into the class which are really super and so versatile!
As part of the Community Helping Artist Program I will be uploading a tutorial to their website with the technique and products we used and I'll share the link here on my blog.
The next class is booking fast for the 18th January, we'll be decorating the Candy Box Crafts new Brush storage unit. Of course it doesn't have to store Brusho's but for me it's ideal to keep these little pots of vibrant colour in.
The techniques for decorating will be using your Brusho's and I'm looking forward to this class very much.
It's also booking fast for Bristol on the 28th Feb, contact me if interested.
So I'll leave you with sneaky pics of the last class, I was so impressed with the ideas and inspiration that the ladies came up with, fabulous!
I'll be blogging again this weekend to reveal the winner of the blog candy giveaway from my earlier post, watch this space!
Have a great day and thank you for dropping by xKx

Lavinia Stamps Challenge - Add a Flower

Here are the last of my Lavinia Stamps challenge makes of this year " Add a Flower"
For the first I've used Zen flower 1 and a flower from the
Zen small flower pack.
My second make uses Zen flower 2 and Fir Cones.

You don't need a blog to join in this challenge, you can enter by email too! 
Using Lavinia Stamps or the New Dies.
Here's the LINK!
The prize is a whopping £40 to spend in the online shop.
The DT members have super inspiration on The Blog so take a look and join in the fun, we'd love to see your entries.
Thanks so much for your visit today, I'll leave you with my makes xKx