Tuesday 31 March 2015

Butterfly Bokeh


Hello bloggers, welcome to my blog.


For this week’s project I’ve made a Bokeh background.  Bokeh is a photographic effect and the look has become very popular in papercrafts just recently.  Here’s my take on the technique.


I’d love to see your projects- if you’d like to share, please visit my Facebook page and post a picture.


Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Tweety Sweety!

Hello everyone, welcome to my blog, and thank you for visiting.  I truly appreciate that you've taken time to drop by.

Another kinetic project today.  I've been fascinated by the double pull-out slider mechanism ever since i first came across it - it was a "How do they DO that?" moment, I just couldn't work out how it was done.  


Fortunately for my sanity, I saw it demonstrated on TV and it was EASY!  This is a variation on the basic method so that, when the tab is pulled, a small drawer delivers a sweet treat.



I won't go into measurements in detail because, if you're going to be making one of these, you'll want to size it to fit your little gift.  To calculate the size of paper you'll need, there's a great resource at www.thecraftyowl.co.uk/boxbuster.  Just a couple of points to remember - 

The sleeve needs to be a little bit bigger that the drawer so that it can move freely.  I added 1/8 inch to the width & height, so if your drawer - like mine - was 4 1/2" by 2 1/2 " by 1/2" you would need card 4 1/2 by 6 3/4 (2 1/2 + 1/8" + 1/2" +1/8" +2 1/2" +1/8" + 1/2" +1/8" + 1/4" for the overlap) and score at 2 5/8, 3 1/4, 5 7/8,  and 6 1/2.

Lay everything out and do a dummy run  on some scrap card before you try this with your good card - it's amazingly easy to get things upside-down and back to front!  Guess why I say that?  

I hope you like it - please let me know if you make one of these, and I'd love you to share  pictures of your projects on my Facebook page (the link is over to the right).

See you soon!  

xxx Keren

Tuesday 17 March 2015

Magical Marquee Card

Hello bloggers! Thank you for visiting my blog, and a special welcome to those of you who have recently closed to follow my blog or subscribe to my YouTube channel.  I am always delighted when someone signs up!

Today's project uses the Guy Greetings stamp set and Maritime DSP. I can see the Bristol Channel from my living room window - Swansea is a seaport.   I grew up in the South Wales valleys, so living by the seaside is a great blessing for me. My husband is a local boy and his father was a Shipping Agent.  He has fond childhood memories of accompanying his father onto ships  - so anything nautical gets his vote.  And I think he's just the best, so the "World's Greatest Husband" sentiment just had to be done!

As you may know, I have a great love for kinetic cards and this card has a surprise inside.  

Remove the belly band and - 
Two flaps slide aside to reveal the stamped image.

Here's the tutorial - 



Measurements - 

Night of Navy card - 10" by 5", score on the long side at 2.5" and 7.5"
Sliders - 3" by 2, score at 0.5" (if you don't have the Banners framelits you will need to cut a triangle out of the sliders - cut in to  a point about half an inch from the unsecured side and adjust if you need to.)
Real Red card - 3" by 5"
DSP  for front - 4.75" square, cut in half

Rosette - 1.5" by 12", score at .25" intervals
Belly band - 2"by 10"

Thank you for visiting and I do hope you enjoyed the project.  See you soon!
Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Tuesday 10 March 2015

You're a star..

Hi everyone, welcome to my blog.  Thank you, everyone who's been so kind about the little self-closing box I blogged last week...I'm so glad you liked it!  It was a design I came across some time ago, and my main contribution to the design was the fancy top.

Today's project is one of those cute little folding box cards.  
I like to make these square, so I trim my cardstock.  This means I have card left over to make the struts to hold the embellishments.  

Measurements - Card cut to 5" x 10 1/2" 
Score on the long side at 2 1/2", 5", & 1/2" and 10"
Score on the short side at 2 1/2", stopping at the third score mark.  

Would you like a template?  You can download one here.

The decorative paper is cut into 2 1/4" squares.

Full instructions - including how I coloured the glitter paper stars - on my YouTube channel.



Tuesday 3 March 2015

Stacked with Love

Hello bloggers and welcome to my blog!

Did you take part in the Pootlers Blog Hop over the weekend?  If so, I hope you enjoyed it.  To add to the fun, we offered some blog candy (a bundle of Best Year Ever Sale-A-Bration goodies) to one lucky hopper and I am pleased to say that the winner is – (drumroll....)


Shirley Waterhouse

Congratulations Shirley – please email me (keren.howell@ntlworld.com) with your postal address!

Back to Business As Usual – today’s project is this pretty little gift box.  




It holds itself closed – to get at the contents you just squeeze gently at the outer edges – and would hold a few sweets or a small gift (some jewellery for Mum on Mothering Sunday, perhaps?) I've also made a batch of these boxes to hold mini Easter Eggs.  They're quick and easy to do.

The measurements for the box – 
Cardstock – 8 ½ inches by 6.
Score at 4 inches and 8 inches along the long edge
Score at 1 inch and 5 inches on the short edge.
Make a small mark on the score line on the long edge at 2 inches and another at 6 inches.
(See here for a diagram)
You can see how it goes together in the tutorial.


I finished off the project with a bow from the Calypso Coral Ribbon and added  a tiny rolled crepe paper rose (see here if you want to know more about making the roses).  

I hope you enjoyed the project.  Do, please leave a comment to let me know if you tried this - and I'd love it if you followed either this blog or my Facebook page!

See you again soon!

xxx Keren

UPDATE- I've been told that some people are having trouble getting their box to sit flat.  I think it's because the tension that the design relies on for the self-closing action is too tight.  If you cut the card about 1/4 inch deeper (that is, 8 1/2 by 6 1/4)  so that the base flaps are 1 1/4 inch deep, this may help.