The Ferrero Christmas Puddings and Stars were a great hit.

I hope your Christmas was a fabulous time and you had a chance to rest on Boxing Day and play with all your new goodies. We had two Christmas dinners one in Waikanae and one at our place and for them both I made 19 Christmas Puddings and Stars using Ferrero Rocher chocolates in the centre.

   

Here's the instructions for making the lattice shape using the Big Shot and the Lattice Die, how you decorate it is up to you. You can be more complicated like the Christmas Pudding or simpler like the star. I'm glad I had them half & half I would never have finished all 19 if they were all puddings. The possibilities are endless I think, wedding favours, baby shower gifts almost anything could be celebrated with a decorated Ferrero Rocher chocolate in the 
right colours.

 Lattice Die

 



   

Merry Christmas Wishes and Blog Platform Move

 Wishing you all a fabulous Christmas and a Happy New Year with time to spend with your loved ones and of course crafting. Thank you so much to all of you who have joined me in my crafting endeavours this year, been part of my team, at classes, at workshops and by interacting with the posts on Facebook and here on the blog. 

I'll be back on the 27th December with more inspiration for you all.

Merry Christmas!!

Change of Blogging Platform.  

Blogger has given me great service for the nearly eight years I've hosted my blog with them.  Yes, even before I became a Stampin' Up!® demonstrator.

Over the last few weeks my son Lachlan has been building me a new blog using a wordpress.org template so I can incorporate the online world more easily into my Stampin' Up!® business.  Check it out here!  I don't think you'll notice a lot of difference as it looks like a slightly tweaked version of this one.

If you have this blog's URL in your favourites don't worry it will be set up to so it forwards to http://kerynscards.com and the new blog.

For those of you who have this blog in a reader the feed URL for the new blog is http://kerynscards.com/feed. 

 

Tips & Tricks Friday - Sneaky Ribbon Tying

Ribbon tying is not one of my strong points.  In fact before learning this trick I really didn't use ribbon on my cards at all.  I couldn't seem to get my fingers working in the right directions to get the tight and pretty bows with all the ends going the right way.

Now I use ribbon for everything.  Here is yesterday's ribbon project - a quick and easy decoration for a Christmas present.

To tie the ribbon on the box I made a belly band from the 1" Cherry Cobbler Stitched Edge Grosgrain ribbon and tied the three pieces of coordinating all at the same time as shown in the video.

I filmed this video in 2010 so some of the products in the video are well and truly retired but the basic concept is still the same.

If you can't see the embedded video in this post click on this link - blogger seems to be playing up this morning.

Don't forget to order your Valentine's Supplies

I know with the Christmas preparations and the kids finishing school, along with the summer holidays it could be very likely that you'll leave your Valentine's day preparations to the very last minute or not at all.  Stampin' Up!® have released their Valentine's offering now so it doesn't get forgotten and when it arrives it can be put aside for crafting later at a hopefully more restful time. 

Remember not to look at some of the products as Valentine's Day only, particularly the Monsters and the card kit, which could be used all year round.

 

Best of 25 Years - Best of Love (Clear Mount - $31.95)

All these products can be ordered by Email or sent directly to you by ordering through my online store.  Click on the photos for more information.

Occasions Card Wednesday - Happy New Year

I don't make a lot of New Year's Day cards but there is always one or two people that have had an absolutely shocking year and need a wish for the next one to be so much better.  I find it very hard to justify purchasing a stamp set for just a couple of cards so I was pleased to find the 'Best New Year Stamp Brush Set' for My Digital Studio. 

The price was only $4.50 for the two stamp brushes in the set and I was also able to change the size and the colour to be the size I wanted for my project.

There are two parts to the image above and when I put them together in MDS I wanted them to stay together.  Everything I did to one I wanted to be able to do to the other and I wanted them to stay in proportion.  I could have manipulated each image separately, lining each one up by eye to make sure it was the same but I remembered a trick I'd learnt in an MDS digital class.  You can group the images together and the software treats them as one image.

Here's how my project looked after I'd dragged the two stamp brush images over from the Resource Palette and placed the second one so I had room to add my stars.

Once I was happy was the placement I selected both images, by holding down the Ctrl key then used my right mouse button to bring up the menu and chose Group.  Now these two images will be treated as one by the MDS software.

This is what I used to make this project: - 

My Digital Studio - 130646
or
My Digital Studio 30 day Free Trial - 130910
Midnight Muse A4 Cardstock - 127546
Shimmery White A4 Cardstock - 121717
Silver Glimmer Paper - 124005
Small Star Punch (Retired)
Stampin' Dimensionals - 104430
(necessary to stick any cardstock to textured Glimmer Paper)




Everything used to make this project can be purchased through me. Click on the 'Shop 24/7' button below or Email me to place your order. 

This Week's MDS Downloads - New Year's, Christmas and More

So many great downloads this week to help you with your New Year's cards, Christmas decorations and the scrapbook pages to preserve your memories after the event.

My choice this week is the 'Best New Year' stamp brush set.  I don't make a lot of New Year's cards so this is great value at $4.50 for the few I do make.

While these downloads will work in other graphics programmes they work best with 'My Digital Studio'.  At $27.95 the software is great value and there is a 30 day trial so you can try it out first. 

  Best New Year Stamp Brush Set - Digital Download

Price: $4.50

Letter From Santa - Digital Download

Price: $4.50

Story of Us Photobook - Digital Download

Price: $20.95

Gift Bow Punches - Digital Download

$3.50

Chevron Ribbon - Digital Download

$8.50

Merry, Joy & Cheer Stamp Brush Set - Digital Download

 $4.50

Remember the Joy Pocket Cards - Digital Download

$9.50

Click on the links above for more information about each digital download and to purchase your choices through my Online Store.  

Classes/Events - Sale A Bration Sneak Peek

One of the bonuses of being a Stampin' Up!® is having the chance to get our hands on product, by purchasing it or earning it, before anyone else.  It's a great way for Stampin' Up!® to get samples out there.  One of my first choices from the Sale A Bration brochure, coming on the 28th January was the 'Twisty Treat Kit'.

 

Here's my first treat made for a door prize for my Sale A Bration workshops in the New Year.  If you were planning a Sale A Bration workshop don't forget to choose your date.

Events Coming Up!



Craft At Keryn's - 5th February - 9:30am to 12:30pm - Join me for a fun craft & chat session.  Bring your current projects and use my stamp sets, ink pads & tools.

If that date doesn't work for you don't worry get a group of friends together and I can come to you.  Check out the dates I have available and see if there's one that works for you. 

Lachlan is home now and Cam finishes school for the year on Thursday so I don't have any more events planned until  the 5th February, just after Cameron returns to school in 2014.  There will be a scattering of workshop dates and you can always place orders directly with me or online.

Click on the links above to book your place or to get more information.  Places are limited for most events.