I'm so excited and

I just cant hide it! So I should warn you this is going to be a long post ... but I hope that as you read it you will be as excited as I am ...

Well we have just finished our last Christmas meal and our last Christmas guest has just left. I hope you all had as wonderful time as we did.

Now the celebrations are over can’t wait any longer! I am very excited about this but I promised myself I would wait until after Christmas to share three fun new things with you for the New Year.








Create Your Dreams


I am really excited about being able to offer you this, my first on line course. There are lots of reasons that I am excited about this but mostly because of the difference it could make to you when you want to make your dreams a reality, make positive changes in your life and achieve your goals.


Like many people, last Christmas I found myself thinking about what I wanted to change during the next year and what I wanted to achieve. Like many people this is something I had done for many years and when I looked back over the lists from the previous year’s many of the things would be the same. Each year I was making resolutions and then not sticking to them.



So as I thought things through last year I decided I was going to do things differently. In my non craft life I am a life and business performance coach so I decided to apply some of the techniques I help other used with great success to myself. I combined them with my love of crafting. The results – well they have been many and positive and I have had a great time achieving them during what has been a year of massive change for me.


As many of us are thinking about the new year at the moment, this is the ideal time of year to start this course, but you could chose to start it whenever you want.


So what does this course offer you? During the course you will learn a process which will position you to succeed in reaching your goals, in creating your dreams.

For the first month you will receive weekly prompts which will help you

• clarify your dreams and exactly what it is you would like to achieve


• work out how you would like to do this and what experiences you would like along the way


• create a system which will support you in making these dreams come true. This system can be stand alone or can be adapted to work with any diary or planning system that you use (either paper based or electronic)
  

For the next year you will achieve a monthly prompt to help you along your journey. Each prompt will contain a fun project which will help you towards your goal and will help you see how far you have already come.

Additionally, you will have access to a special blog on which you will find regular motivational quotes, additional support and inspiration and on which we can share our journeys.

At the end of the year not only will you have achieved the things you set out to achieve but you will have learnt a process for creating the reality of your dreams
This course is available to everyone and will cost you just £10.00 so if you would like to sign up to achieve your dreams just email me at bekka@feeling-crafty.co.uk If you have any questions please feel free to ask them

Card Making Classes in Dunstable

Starting on Saturday 31 January I am going to be running monthly card making classes at Priory House in Dunstable. The first class is going to focus on Love and Valentines cards – be sure to check back on the blog to see the cards and treats we are going to be making. If you are in the area, and would like to come, please contact me as soon as possible to book your place.

Sale-A-Bration

For more than ten years, the Sale-A-Bration promotion has been one of Stampin’ Up!’s biggest promotions of the year. That’s why I am very excited that we are having our first Sale-A-Bration in January. With rewards for customers, hostesses, new recruits, Sale-A-Bration gives everyone a reason to celebrate!

So how does it work? During our Sale-A-Bration you have the chance to receive one or more of four special stamp sets FREE – yes you read that right - free. These stamp sets will only ever be available during the Sale-A-Bration period which runs from 1 January to 28 February 2009.

As a customer you will earn one free set of these exclusive stamp sets for each £45 that you spend (before post and packing), so if you spend £90 you will earn two sets etc etc.

If you chose to host a Stampin’ Up! Party during Sale-A-Bration there are even more reasons to celebrate. If you host a party you can choose a free Sale-A-Bration set for each £300 of sales at your party.

If you have been considering becoming a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator there are extra benefits for you too – you will be able to select an additional set of Stamps from the main catalogue free.

And that is not all – I will match that offer from Stampin’ Up! and you can have another free set from me – all in addition to the £240 worth of goodies you get for £135 when you purchase your starter kit. Don’t worry if you don’t want to host parties you can sign up just to enjoy the demonstrator discount – there is room in my team for everyone. Contact me today if you would like to take part in this offer or find out more about becoming a demonstrator.

To see details of the lovely Sale-A-Bration Stamp Sets click on the picture below

So are you excited now to? Thank you for reading this far

Happy Crafting

Bekka

Seasons Greetings

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas

love

Bekka

Sorry I am not here at the moment, please leave your message after the post!

Hello! Remember me – I am so sorry I have been such a bad blogger.

With just over a week to Christmas things have been somewhat hectic round here – I hope you are all getting time to enjoy the build up, everywhere I look there are lovely sparkly lights and everything is so pretty.

I have been busy in my craft space getting ready for the Dunstable Christmas Extravaganza this Saturday (20 December). As part of the town’s Christmas preparations they are having a number of events during the day and evening all designed to be a lot of fun and to help people get ready for Christmas. I will be in Priory House (where Tourist Information is) between 10 am and 4pm. If you come and see me you will have the chance to make some cards, get a few stocking fillers, win prizes and much more! If you are in the area it would be wonderful to meet you.

I am also going to be running a monthly class at Priory House starting on 31 January 2009. I will post more details soon, but in the mean time put the date in your diary!

I will also post some photos as soon as I have had a chance to take them.

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Crafting

Bekka

Never a dull moment!

Goodness don’t things get busy at this time of year! Yesterday we went for a family lunch, which ended up taking the whole day! It was lovely to see everyone and it was a good thing we all had lots to talk about. We had pre-booked in a nice looking pub, sent our food order in weeks ago, but despite that had to wait well over an hour for our starters. There was then another wait of at least an hour for our main courses which when they arrived were cold, looked terrible and some of them were not what we ordered. At that point we gave up! Having had a wonderful demonstration of poor customer service we left and went to an all you can eat Chinese Buffet in the nearest town. So the lunch that started at 1 did not finish until about 7pm!

On a craftier note I have been very busy making my Christmas Cards and hope to get them in the post this week. I have made well over 100 now and have still not finished, its hard to believe that I have pruned my list this year. I will share the cards we are sending in batches between now and Christmas so for today here are a few using the Season of Joy stamp set from Stampin’ Up!

As well as making some Christmas Gifts (which I cant share here!) I have also been making some things for the Dunstable Christmas Extravaganza. I have been asked to do a card making stand as part of the town’s festivities which I am really excited about. The Extravaganza is on 2o December and I will be based in Priory House, the local Heritage Centre. As well as card making I aim to have a number of gifts and stocking fillers people can buy. Aside from this there is lots else going on including Father Christmas so if you are in the area it would be lovely to meet you so please pop in and say hello.

One of the things I have made for the Extravaganza is some bookmarks. These use my favourite ribbons and some of the adorable Hodge Podge Hardware from Stampin’ Up! The stamp set I have used is A Tree for All Seasons. If you would like directions on how to make them drop me an email. I am really pleased with how these have turned out and its going to be hard to part with them!



Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting

Bekka

Dazzling December Offers

Hello – were you starting to wonder if I had stayed at Centre Parcs? We had a wonderful time there, it even snowed and I could quite happily have stayed but life called and has been keeping me rather busy. I did manage to finish knitting a scarf while I was away (no picture for you as it’s a Christmas Pressie for someone who has been known to read this blog).

Anyway I have finally made it back here in time to tell you about some very special offers I have for you. When I think about December I think about friends, about giving, about Christmas and of course parties, so the offers I have for you this month are designed to reflect all those things – they are my gifts to you.

This is quite a long post so you may want to grab a nice warm cup of coffee, sit down, relax and read – think of it as Christmas planning / shopping the easy way!

Would you like to win some amazing craft goodies? Would you like to get fantastic value for money when you shop (for yourself or for others)? Would you like to spend time with friends doing something fun? Would you like to know how?

December Prize Draw

During December if you place an order with me you will earn entries into an amazing prize draw – for every £10 you spend (excluding post and packing) you will get one entry. I will let you know more about the prize as we go through December but it will include a set of stamps, ink, card, ribbon and some other goodies for you. On 31 December all the entries will be put into a hat and one lucky winner will be drawn out. The more you spend the more chances you will have to win this prize.

Now while that looks good it’s not all that is on offer for you ...

Dazzling December Special Offer*

Everyone who places an order with me could get something for nothing ...
All orders placed with me will receive handmade gift tags. You will get at least one tag, with an additional tag for each £10 spent before post and packing. You will have the choice of Christmas or non Christmas themed tags.

If you place and order for more than £50 before post and packing you will get £5 worth of goods of your choice FREE (and of course at least 5 entries into the December Draw and at least five handmade gift tags)

If you place and order for more than £100 before post and packing you will get £10 worth of goods of your choice FREE (and at least 10 entries into the prize draw and at least 10 handmade gift tags)

If you place and order for more than £150 before post and packing you will get £15 worth of goods of your choice FREE plus your normal hostess benefits – so that is at least another £15 worth of goods of your choice and a set of hostess exclusive stamps. You can find details of these on pages of the catalogue. But that is not all – the Hostess promotion is still running so you get another selected stamp set free – click here for details. Yes you did read that right - £30 worth of free goods, and two stamp sets and at least 15 entries into the prize draw and at least 15 handmade gift tags.

Now this is a great chance to sit back, relax, get your gift list and your wish lists out and get some Christmas shopping done. When you place your order you can choose if you would like the gifts delivered direct to your door or if you would like to take advantage of my gift service you will need to place your order by 5 December to ensure delivery in time for Christmas.

You may also want to start planning how you are going to spend any Christmas Money that Santa brings your way – don’t forget this offer runs until the end of December.

Party Time

If you are looking for something fun to do with your friends why not host a Stampin’ Up! Party (the Dazzling December Special Offers all still apply). Spend a few hours with your friends, chatting, laughing and doing something creative. I have some dates available during December, both before Christmas and between Christmas and New Year. So if you are looking for something fun to do why not contact me and book a party.

You are not however limited to my availability! If you would like to arrange a crafty session with friends and family contact me to discuss what you would like to do and how much you would like to spend. I will design some projects for you with easy to follow instructions and put together an order with you containing all the things you will need. This will also mean any Stamp Sets you get and items you and your friends and family don’t use are yours to keep! If you are looking for something fun to do as a family this could be just the thing – it’s flexible, it’s fun, it’s suitable for all ages, it’s not dependent on the weather and is a great way to spend time together.

So how was your coffee? I will be back with more projects to share in the next few days.

In other news I also wanted to share that this blog has been nominated for an award! Not once but twice - I am really very flattered. The lovely and very talented Kate and the equally inspirational Carole both sent me this award. Thank you both. As part of this award I get to nominate 7 blogs for you to enjoy so hard to get to only 7 but here goes:
Ali – simply stylish
Suzan – amazing creations
Maryanne – love her photos
Monica – inspirational in so many ways
Jules – fabulous cards from a fabulous lady
Sally – scrummy use of colour from someone who always makes me smile
Jo – one amazing, creative and lovely lady

I am sure you will enjoy looking at these blogs – I know I do. I look forward to catching up with you all soon

Happy Crafting and Shopping

Bekka


* Please note that these offers are made by me and not Stampin’ Up. Unfortunately they are only available to those who are resident in the UK

A Huge Thank You ...

Firstly I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who contributed to my Christmas Cards for Children In Need Event. In the end I ran three sessions, the final one of which was last night and I am thrilled to tell you that we have raised £276 for Children In Need and we are still counting!

Thank you all so much. On top of this almost all the people who came had never made cards before so a special well done goes out to them. Oh and I have some cards left over which I am going to send to the lovely Kate who is organising a collection of Christmas Cards for Great Ormand Street Hospital. You can find out all about it here.

Things here have been really busy and there has been not time for any other crafting – so I thought I would share the cards we all made for Children in Need. I have dotted them through this post for you.

This weekend we are going to centre parcs with some friends – I am looking forward to a few days away. I may even try some knitting with the scrummy wool that jumped into my bag while I was at the NEC last week.

While I am gone I wanted to leave you with a thought ... its only 36 days until Christmas! I know – very scary (why do you think I am running away and hiding this weekend!)

Now that your panic attack is over I would like to offer you some help ...

It’s never too late to plan – if you want a copy of the directions for my Christmas Planner send me an email and I will email them to you.

Christmas Cards – its not too late to order what you need to make your own Christmas Cards – with every set of Christmas Stamps ordered from me I will send you an idea sheet of possible projects (complete with measurements).

My Wish List Service – a way to make sure you get what you want under the tree, without having to do the shopping and wrapping yourself. All you need to do is email me the list of Stampin’ Up! goodies you would like and then either ask your friends and loved ones to contact me to purchase something from it, or send me their details and I will contact them. Then you just sit back, relax and dream about what you will make with your goodies. I can even arrange for the gifts to be wrapped.

My Gift Service – why not buy people something creative for Christmas – there are lots of gift ideas in the Stampin’ Up! Idea Book and Catalogue. If you need some inspiration check out this link. If you place your order with me I will provide you with some handmade gift tags to go with these gifts, and if you have them delivered to me I will even wrap them for you before posting them on to you or the lucky recipient. Now you can make your money go even further – if you place an order for £150 or more you will also earn hostess benefits and at the moment in addition to the £15 of free products and the exclusive hostess stamps you can choose an additional stamp set free – the details are here.

Christmas Gifts and Decorations – if you look back over the last few weeks I have shared some ideas with you – and will share more over the next few weeks. Don’t forget if you want to use Rub On’s or Textured Card Stock for your projects now is the time to order them – if you place an order of £20 or more they are 20% off – amazing value – it makes the textured card stock cheaper than Bazzil and will coordinate beautifully - the details are here .

So have fun and Happy Crafting

Bekka

What time of year is it?

The November issue of the Feeling Crafty Newsletter has been sent out. If you are on our mailing list and have not received it please check in your spam folder and if it is still hiding from you please email me (bekka@feeling-crafty.co.uk) and I will send you another copy. If you are not on the mailing list yet just drop me a note and I will add you and send you a copy of the November Issue.

I could not leave you without a card so here, as a relief from all the Christmas Cards, is the one I made for the beach party we went to at the weekend – yes the friend concerned knew it was November and that we were in the UK! It certainly felt odd going out with a sun hat on in the pouring rain but it was a good party!
The card was made using the Summer By The Sea Stamp Set. It was stamped on Kraft Card using Chocolate Chip Ink - I love Kraft card and the 60 was hand cut from the coordinating papers that are available as a level 1 hostess set. I watercoloured the image with assorted colours from the soft subtles and neutrals sets and then used the Stampin' Pastels to shade the card a small amount of Mellow Moss Taffeta ribbon and the card was done. It was fun bringing a little summer to my craft space!

Thank you for stopping by

Happy Crafting

Bekka

Rub On some Happiness

Today is the first day of another very special offer from Stampin’ Up! to celebrate their 20th Birthday and their first year in Europe.

If you place an order with me for £20 or more between now and the 30th November you will qualify to purchase the Rub Ons and the Textured Card stock at a massive 20% off.

The rub ons can be found on page 77 of the current idea book and catalogue and the textured card can be found on pages 67-69. Here are the details along with the amazing discounted prices.

These products are new in the UK and this is the ideal time to try them ... but what on? The rub ons are easy to apply to paper, card, ribbon and any other non porous surface so the possibilities are endless. I have made some samples to show you some ideas – decorating notebooks, candles, mirrors, tea light holders, flower vases, ribbons.

Then there are things like picture frames, Christmas baubles, bottles of toiletries, jars of homemade jam and oh so many more things that would make lovely Christmas gifts.

Oh and of course cards and scrapbook pages! Here is a card I made using them – the large flower, the greeting and the dots on the ribbon were all done with rub ons.

Now if you look closely at this card you will see I have used the textured card – it is a wonderful and quick way of adding depth to your creations and if you have not tried it before it is currently at an amazing price of £7.40 on this offer making it cheaper than the non textured card stock but hurry – this offer only lasts 20 days ...

As if this offer was not already amazing, if you place an order with me on or before Friday 14th November I will make a donation to Children In Need on your behalf and enter you into one of the BBC’s Pudsey Scratch Card Games that I am running giving you the chance to win a small handmade gift from me. You can find out more about what Feeling Crafty is doing for Children In Need here.

So to summarise – for the next 20 days spend £20 on products, get 20% off Rub Ons and Textured Card Stock.

So what will you do with yours – I would love to hear your ideas and to see what you come up with.

Happy Crafting

Bekka

Snowfall

No, its not snowing here again, and actually for the first time in what feels like ages it has not been raining! Despite the sunshine today I made lots of cards – there seem to be a lot of birthdays amongst my friends and families at this time of year so I will share those once they are with the people who will be celebrating over the next week or so.


I can share another Christmas Card with you – well one card and three colour ways. These cards were quick to make and ideal for this busy time of year. We will be making a card very similar to this at the Christmas Cards for Children In Need next week. There are still places available so if you would like to join us so please let me know as soon as possible. Don’t forget that there are other ways you can join in even if you can’t join us – read all about it here.

These cards were made with the Snow Burst stamp set from Stampin’ Up!. The images were stamped randomly on the top half of a piece of Whisper White card, the celebrate greeting comes from the welcome words stamp set.
All that was needed after that was a strip of coordinating ribbon before the panel was mounted on matching card.

I have also made a Christmas Decoration this afternoon. It was made from 12 scalloped squares rolled up to make the cones, these were mounted facing alternate ways onto a scalloped circle which was then decorated with a stamped circle. Another scalloped circle with decorated circle were added to the other side. Dazzling Diamonds were then stuck inside each cone and in the centre of the snowflake . It was fun to make and if you would like more detailed instructions drop me an email and I will send them to you.
I will be back with more cards over the weekend

Happy Crafting

Bekka

Christmas Cards

How are your Christmas preparations going? I am feeling a little concerned with the length of my Christmas Card List and last night my Christmas Stamps were calling. Here is what I came up with using the Season Of Joy Stamp Set. What do you think?


The colours used are Rose Red and Old Olive. The flower was made by stamping the image on Whisper White and then onto Vellum card. Each was then cut out, the petals pinched to give them some shape and then they were joined together with a jewelled brad from the pretties kit – now there is a box full of loveliness if ever I saw one! The stamps are all from the Season of Joy set. The tree was layered onto Rose Red and the corners shaped with a small circle punch before it was layered onto Old Olive.

I enjoyed making this card and its one done from the list - still lots more to go!
If you would like to learn to make your own Christmas Cards now is a great time to book a place at my Christmas Cards for Children in Need event on November 14th or book a party and take advantage of the latest special offer from Stampin’ Up!

Happy Crafting

Bekka

Christmas Parties

One of the things that many people enjoy about Christmas is the chance to get together with friends. Its also a time when we have a lot to get ready so why not combine the two and get yourself some lovely free gifts?


During November and December Stampin’ Up! Have a wonderful promotion for you. If you host a qualifying workshop you will not only get the usual hostess benefits of free products and exclusive stamps (you can find out all about them on pages 7 to 14 of the catalogue – click here for an online copy) you can also select another one of six sets worth up to £24.95 for Free – Yes Free. At this workshop you and your friends will have a great time making a project or two.


Check out this leaflet!


So let’s just recap – that’s fun with your friends, getting ready for Christmas, being shown how you can make cards and gifts for Christmas, and lots of free gifts for you! What are you waiting for – book a workshop with me today.


There are other ways you can take advantage of this offer . If you place a qualifying order with me (that is an order for £150 or more before post and packing) as well as arranging for your products to be shipped straight to your door I will send you a project sheet with instructions on how to make a selection of Christmas cards and gifts. This offer makes it a great time to order the things on your wish list – or you could get together with a group of friends and share the free stamps and products between you.


If you don’t live near me and would like to find a demonstrator nearer to you let me know and I will help you locate someone.


Why not order all the products you need to get your Christmas Cards and gifts made now and benefit from this offer.


Over the next couple of weeks I will be sharing lots more Christmas Card ideas with you so check back soon for more ideas


Happy Crafting and hostessing!



Bekka

Children in Need

Its time to reveal the second project I have been working on. Children In Need has been raising money to positively change the lives of disadvantaged children for longer than I care to remember and since my student days I have tried to get involved in some way. This year I am taking it one step further and actually organising a fund raising event – Christmas Cards for Children In Need.

If you would like to know more about Children in Need check their website here

As well as raising funds for Children In Need this fun event will help you get ready for Christmas. In addition to learning how to make five different Christmas Cards and a Christmas decoration we will play some fun games together to support our fund raising activities.
Children In Need is on November 14th and that day there will be two chances to attend a Christmas Cards for Children In Need Event, one at 2.30pm and one at 7.30pm. Each event will last between two and two and a half hours and will be held at the Little Theatre in Dunstable Bedfordshire.

If you would like to attend and support this wonderful cause you will need to reserve a place in advance. The minimum donation for each session will be £10.00 and all profits will go to Children In Need. If you have any questions or would like to reserve your place contact me as soon as possible – bekka@feeling-crafty.co.uk

If you are in the UK and would like to play along but can’t make the sessions in Dunstable the good news is that you can! I am also offering you a Pudsey Party in a Box – contact me for the details.

I know a lot of crafters love the chance to give something to someone else or to a good cause so it would be great to know what you are doing for Children In Need or to raise money for a charity that is important to you.

I look forward to hearing from you

Happy Crafting and giving

Bekka

Happy Halloween

Boo!

Hello everyone

Just a quick post today to wish you Happy Halloween.

If you would like details of how to make this project just drop me a line.

Check back tomorrow for details of a project I am very excited about – raising funds for Children In Need – that is assuming we survive the fancy dress dinner we are going to tonight.

Happy Crafting

Bekka

Let it Snow!

It has been an eventful morning so far. I woke up this morning and the garden was covered in snow, OK so it is only a light covering but hey it is snow!
Ideal to get us in the mood for what comes next – its not often the British Weather co-operates like this! Earlier this week I mentioned that I had been working on a project I was not able to share yet ... well I can now!

I was very flattered to be asked to be a Guest Card Designed on Its a Creative World – a fab blog which provides daily ideas for crafty things to do – if you have not checked it out before it is well worth a visit, but I should warn you that there is a photo of me there.

I shared some Christmas Cards with the readers there so here they are for you too. Now I don’t know about you, but there are lots of people I would like to send handmade Christmas Cards too, but time is short, so I need my cards to be easy to make in bulk, look good and not take too much time! I also like to be able to vary the design without having to invest in too many different supplies.

This first set of cards is made using the Season of Joy Stamp Set from Stampin’ Up! I have also used Stampin’ Up! Cardstock in Taken with Teal and Rose Red – I love this combination - its festive, slightly different, and oh so rich, warm and cosy looking. Both cards were made by embossing the tree image in silver and then cutting it out and matting it on a contrasting panel. The tree panel was then mounted onto a larger co-ordinating decorated panel.

For the first card the panel was made by randomly stamping and embossing another stamp from this set. A Stampin’ Around Wheel was used to create the pattern on the cardstock for the second card. If you have not used these before they are a fantastic fast way to get a continuous pattern, ideal for this time of year. I also added some Chocolate Chip card.

A quick dash of ribbon and each of these cards was complete.

The second set again uses the same colours of cardstock with the addition of some serious bling! The images are from a set of stamps called Flaky Friends. These were coloured with co-ordinating marker pens (one of my favourite things to do in front of the TV) and then were covered with Dazzling Diamonds Glitter (not done in front of the TV!). Each was then matted and mounted onto a contrasting coloured background that had been stamped with Versamark ink. Again I added a little ribbon or some more glitter and the card was done. These are even more sparkly in real life - you can blame my photographic skills.


The final card I would like to share with you is just as quick and I love how it has turned out. It uses the same technique as I used for the picture in the post below.

I wanted to try and make a card using non traditional colours. I stamped the tree image from the Season of Joy stamp set and some Snowflake images with Versamark ink on Regal Rose Cardstock. After I embossed them with clear embossing powder I used a dauber to rub Elegant Eggplant ink all over the cardstock in small circular movements. The finished panel which appears almost suede like was then matted on Taken with Teal card, mounted onto Elegant Eggplant card and then onto a Regal Rose Card base.

If you would like more detailed instructions please just ask

Happy Crafting

Bekka

PS Have you made your Christmas Wish List Yet - dont forget my Christmas Wish List Service all the details are here

Where did the week go?

Gosh! Has it been a week since I last posted – the time has absolutely flown by. Things have been really busy and I have been very touched by all the people who have stopped by and asked for copies of the instructions for the Christmas Planner. I hope you are all enjoying making them.

I have been busy working on a couple of projects that I can’t share yet – it’s all very exciting and I am looking forward to sharing them with you later this week. I spent Friday evening with a lovely group of girlies who were new to stamping *waves to them all * we laughed lots as we made cards and calorie free cupcakes. Don’t forget the Birthday Stamp Special offer only runs until the end of the month so if you are thinking of ordering – contact me NOW – I would hate you to miss out. Yesterday I spent the afternoon with some other Stampin’ Up! Demo’s from the Midlands. What a smashing bunch they are. We made all sorts of things. I will share some pictures of these creations soon.

The picture at the top of this post is something I have wanted to make since I saw something similar on another blog. This would make a lovely Christmas Pressie for a friend and it was fun to make. I used Bashful Blue and Chocolate Chip - I love blue and brown together. I took a strip of Bashful Blue Card and stamped the flower from the Season of Joy Stamp with Versamark Ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I then rubbed Chocolate Chip ink all over the panel in small circular movements. I love the texture this gives, shiny blue flowers on a background that reminds me of suede. I then mounted this on Bashful Blue card. I also added the word friendship from the Wonderful Words Stamp Set stamped in Chocolate Chip. A quick scalloped edge and some Double Stitched Chocolate Chip Ribbon with a layer of Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon on top and a length of Chocolate Chip ribbon and it was ready to put in the frame. The finished picture is 14cm square.

To finish here are a couple of quick snaps of a set of invite cards I made to cheer a friend up. Again this idea would make a lovely personal low cost Christmas gift. The invitations could be for anything – going for a walk together, sharing a cup of coffee or something more adventurous if you want! I often treat my other half to tickets to the show of his choice and this would make an interesting way of presenting it.

Back with more exciting things later this week

Happy Crafting

Bekka

Christmas Wish Lists

Thank you for all the lovely comments about my Christmas Planner. Something very exciting has happened – it has been picked up by Organised Christmas.com and featured here on Christmas Planner.com I am very flattered and wanted to say a big hello to all of you who found your way here from there.

Now one of the sections in the planner was for your wish list. I want to encourage you to make a wish list for yourself – I don’t know about you but I am not a very good actress and find it really hard to hide my disappointment when someone gives me something I don’t want or need. I really don’t want to hurt their feelings as I know they have gone to a lot of trouble and effort to get me something. Writing a wish list and letting people know about it is a great way of avoiding that happening – the only trouble is some of the surprise and magic goes if you know who is getting you what

So for those of you in the UK I also wanted to tell you about an opportunity I am offering for Christmas – the chance to get the things you want from the current Stampin’ Up! Catalogue and still have a lovely surprise on Christmas Morning. How can that work I hear you ask ... well I am offering a Christmas Wish List Service. You make a wish list from the catalogue and email it to me a bekka@feeling-crafty.co.uk along with your name. You then give my contact details to anyone who asks what you want for Christmas. Between us we will then arrange your Christmas gifts which I will ship, gift wrapped and with a handmade tag ready for them to give you on Christmas Day. How good would that be – stress free shopping for your loved ones, a gift you will adore and a nice surprise all at the same time? So send me that email with your wish list and I will add you to my wish list service.

Back soon with more Birthday and Christmas inspirations!

Happy Crafting

Bekka

PS - I have some spaces available in a Stampin' 10 Club and a Ribbon Dozen Share - if you are interested or would like details let me know as soon as possible

The Christmas Countdown has Started ...

UK Special Offer Alert – read to the bottom of the post to find it!

How would you describe your approach to Christmas? Are you wonderfully organised and have everything planned for the next Christmas before the end of Boxing Day, or do you spend the whole year thinking its ages away and then end up rushing round like a mad thing on Christmas Eve?


I guess most of us are somewhere in between, but I do have to confess to always being surprised when December arrives and then finding I have left everything to the last moment.

Well this year I would like things to be different. A good friend pointed out to me that Christmas is only just over 10 weeks away (thank you Stacy!). Now that sounded very close to me! So I decided that I needed a plan and that if there was to be a plan there had to be somewhere pretty for it to live so that I would be happy to look at it often.

So here is my Christmas Planner for this year – it is made with elements of the scrummy I Wish kit from Stampin’ Up! The papers are delicious and did you spot the textured card? So lovely to work with and to touch... The elements that come in the kit made this very easy to put together, and I have most of the kit left to make more projects with. If you want to see the full kit it is on page 73 of the catalogue – just click here or on the picture of the catalogue on the right of the blog.

The planner itself is made from one piece of carstock, folded to create the pockets, then stamped and decorated.

In these pockets I have created a range of inserts – Christmas Card Lists, Shopping Lists, To Do Lists, and of course a wish list of everyone! I also have party planner, meal planner and gift list inserts but forgot to take photos of them ...

The planner folds up so that I can carry it round with me and I have added some ribbon to make sure I don’t loose the plot, I mean plan.

If you would like instructions for the planner please send me an email - bekka@feeling-crafty.co.uk

As I mentioned in the first post on this blog I will be offering you a number of Christmas Projects over the coming weeks to help you have a special, wonderful and crafty Christmas.

To encourage you to join me on this journey, and to help you get in the mood, I have a special offer for you. If you are in the UK and place an order with me for the I Wish Kit, I will send you some co-ordinating goodies and a collection of special project ideas that I have designed to be made from the kit.

Happy Christmas Crafting

Bekka

PS: Dont forget that the birthday offer is still running - you have until the end of the month to order selected stamps at 20% off - check out this post here