Oh bubbles

This so represents my crafting journey. A friend showed me a picture of her 'go to' card when short for time. It represents anything from birthday to thank you and much more. The stamp captivated me. It's simplicity and charm was so lovely I just knew I had to have one. And that is what my crafting journey has been like. If I see it, I like it, I have to have it. I need it. How many of us crafters have felt that 'need'.
Of late I've tried to stop myself from doing that and keeping to my style but flowers are my passion and this was so different that I tootled off to the internet and bought a couple.

I purchased the stamps from The Stamp Hut (another great on-line craft store) and the Card Candi you can get from most craft retailers. I had mine in my stash for a while, and I've been lucky enough to live close to the Craftwork Cards Garforth factory shop.

These stamps are both by Woodware and are their bubbles range. Bubble Bloom 'Felicity' includes the sentiment 'a little something just for you'; and Mini Bubble Blooms - Annie includes the sentiment Sparkle on your birthday.

I have copied the stamp but not my friend's card and hope you like it.
I'm in love with bubbles! It is so quick to make I can see why she uses it to run them up when she needs something quickly.

Woodware - Bubble Bloom 'Felicity'

Woodware - Mini Bubble Blooms - Annie

It may not be my 'go to' card but it will certainly get some usage in the weeks to come. Different colours, card candi, gems, coloured inks or a bit of Zentangle and one stamp can look so different.

Hope you like them as much as I do.
Thank you for stopping by
Whilst searching for the link for Craftwork Cards I read the unfortunate news that they have gone into voluntary liquidation last month. So sad after 30 years. So important to support our local businesses. I do wish them well.

Something different

My best friend Luciele, who by the way introduced to me to this crazy world of card making, and myself decided to add another string to our bow with some 3D creativity. A trip to IKEA and several box frames later and we had the frames and all that was left was the imagination.
A week later and Luce (my name for her, amongst others!!!) has completed all her boxes and I've done a magnificent One. These things take some consideration you know.

Anyway this was quite fun and a pleasant diversion from card making, though and something tells me we've not quite seen the last of this little venture. 😉
Welcome to my little one, from two angles of course! I used an image and sentiment from the Stampin' Up! stamp set Beautiful You.

And of course not to mention the numerous ones created by my bestie.

You may recognise this image from my Decoupage card. Now you know where I got it from.

 A little westie dog in pyramage

 I do like this sentiment and it displays so well too. Love how she's added little flowers around it.

 And this is a narrower frame but still a box frame and here we have that lovely sentiment again.

 And finally another one of Luce's lovely sentiments. You may remember I borrowed these earlier and went on to make some cards with some of them. Hmm, they may just make their way into one of these lovely frames.

I had fun making mine and I'm looking forward to making some more. I know Luce enjoyed making hers since she went back for more 😊With a craft fair in November in time for Christmas you never know, this time next year we'll be millionaires!!!

Hope you like them as much as we liked making them.
Thank you for stopping by.

Decoupage

I have seen some beautiful decoupage cards over the years although it was not something that I particularly excelled at.

Then my friend gave me a decoupage sheet of a beautiful cameo of a lady in a hat. It was so pretty I just had to give it a go.
Scissors in hand I started to snip. I made a few mistakes but when layered together I felt you couldn't tell.
I decided to keep with the monochrome effect.

I trimmed it up with some little pearl beads and thought I'd put one to reflect an earring.
I was really pleased with the end result. I have made others since as in my grandson's Rock On card but I always look at this and think 'how lovely'.

Hope you like it as much as I do.

Thank you for stopping by

Die Cutting Essentials 36

I love to browse the craft magazines in the supermarket. If something catches my eye I just can't resist buying it.

My latest purchase was Die Cutting Essentials issue 36. The freebie, and who doesn't love one of those? is a selection of dies called Underwater Friends.

The goldfish bowl die is a pretty decent size and so I immediately thought shaker card and threw it in my shopping trolley.
And why don't those things ever go where you want them to? You'd think they'd have a streamlined model by now wouldn't you? Anyway, shaker card.

Took a few attempts and it didn't quite go as planned but I'm still pretty chuffed with how it turned out.

My latest learning curve was the use of wax paper to build your shaker foam. Thanks to Sam at Mixed Up Crafts for that, it makes it so much easier.
Interestingly Sam uses the dust from her dust buddy to brush around the inside edges of the foam to prevent shaker contents from sticking.
TOP TIP I have found talcum powder works just as well too. Ooo my first top tip 😊. Here's hoping it's not my last.

I die cut all my pieces out first. Most of my sequins are purple, courtesy of a work colleague with a purple passion. I do have a few silver ones though and thought that would break up the colour and also reflect moving water. That's what I thought anyway, before they went walkabout!!

I think the card's colouring is appealing to young children. My husband liked it anyway so I'll say no more about that 😉

I do hope you like the finished product.
Thanks for stopping by.
Karen

Joy of still working

Hi again
One of the joys of still having to go to work, (OK the only joy!) albeit for three days a week is that I am a member of a work craft club. We have knitters, crocheters, quilters, card makers and umpteen new skills being shared on a regular basis.

One of the ladies recently raised £1000 for the Yorkshire air ambulance through her sale of cards to friends and colleagues. What a magnificent achievement. Together we raise funds  every September for McMillan through the sale of cards, tea bag pouches alongside the obligatory cake and recently for the Haven breast cancer charity.

These are a fabulous group of very talented ladies and I am very proud to be a part of them.

Recently I held a class, with another member, for new card makers, making cards for a dog charity. This particular charity is very dear to our treasurer and she supports it throughout the year.

Here are just a handful of these cards, before they go on sale, just to show how terrific these ladies are. This was enormous fun and I am so looking forward to the next one which will be shaped cards.

My photography skills are not so good but aren't they lovely? And especially for new ladies learning what to do.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you call back again as I'm bound to share some more of our crafty antics.

Verse Cards

Having stamped all those verses earlier, I couldn't wait to craft up a storm with them.

Into the first craft mix I added my new love, the Stampin' Up! Flower Shop stamps and Pansy punch. They are so pretty and versatile. So glad I managed to get them before they left for good.

I kept this simple and liked it. It shows off the flowers AND the verse.

For the next I used the last of some Stampin' Up! DSP from a kit I had. Very pretty but also busy so didn't need much else on it.

I used another verse on the inside using the same DSP.

Can't wait to use more of these verses. They were a joy to use and in a quick clear out I also found I have several pretty cool ones of my own!!!

Hope you like them and thank you for stopping by.

Stamping Verses

I spent some time with my best friend the other day and she was showing me some amazing verse stamps she has accumulated in her collection. Although she has been crafting for many years she has only recently got into stamping and has used them to make some amazing centrepieces to her cards. As she is away this weekend celebrating her birthday with her husband I have been trusted with them. Yeah. So guess who's been having a play.

I thought I would make up several stamped verses and then consider how I would use them later.

I've stamped quite a few and die cut or punched them out ready to use on a card or project.

Some are simply inked and some are heat embossed. I am loving my new cocoa coloured embossing powder and I have just the card in mind for it. Doesn't show up very well in the picture.

I'm quite pleased with them. I've certainly stamped more than I need. I thought I could stamp several out now and store them for later use to avoid borrowing the stamps again. Not how I usually craft my cards but needs must as they say.

Some are inspiring me to make a certain type of card and some haven't quite hit the spot yet. But, as my dear late mum would have said "They're not eating anything" and indeed they are not, so I shall return to these at a later date.

Meanwhile I am off to craft up a storm with a few of them.

Thanks for stopping by

Rock On

My youngest grandson has just turned 12 years old. Like his siblings he has quite a passion for music and owns several guitars as well as a keyboard. Did I tell you he is pretty good? No? Well shame on me because he is quite exceptional on the guitar. And he is self taught.
If he continues to practice like he does he could rival my guitar favourite Eric Clapton, and perhaps yours too, in years to come.

I reckon you've guessed it, I wanted to make him a rock star card.

I came across a decoupage sheet in my stash with guitars as the theme and thought 'that'll do nicely'.

He's looking forward to being 12. Just one more year and he's a teenager and never more to be chucked under the chin or have hair ruffled. Be young forever I say. Well I would wouldn't I?

Anyway, I played about with a few stamps but in the end decided to stick with the decoupage card. It says everything about him and to be honest, whilst I know he'll like the card he'll be just as interested in the birthday money inside. But that's kids for you.

This is the card using the sheet I bought from Splash when it used to be Le Pashe. I love their Flippin' Men, Flippin' Women and Wrinklies range and hope to show you some of those in the coming weeks.

I think he liked it and hope you do too.

Thank you for stopping by
Karen

Time to get Organised

Now usually birthdays take me by surprise and I panic that I have nothing ready so this year is going to be different. (Hope these are not famous last words)

I have a birthday book but once a birthday is listed I hardly ever open it again and hence the panic.
So what can I do to be more organised? I decided that whatever it is I do it has to be really visible and on my craft table.
I trawled Pinterest and YouTube and finally found something that wasn't exactly what I wanted but it was adaptable.

I set to and made a box to house twelve tabs to represent each month.
To work for me I decided to have the next month's occasions visible rather than the current so I could really be prepared in advanced. When finished just move to the back to reveal the next month.

Now I know it's not world changing but it will work for me (fingers crossed).

The You Tube video that inspired me was a very nice 3x3 card box.
I swapped cards for dividers for each month of year.

If you want to know how to make the box have a look at You Tube tutorial by Intatwyne Designs here.

This is the finished product I have made and whilst it has a few flaws I am pretty pleased with it.

Thanks for stopping by.

An epidemic

I am a member of Facebook group called Pootles. Pootles is Samantha Hammond Donald, a Stampin' Up" demonstrator. As well as successfully showcasing the Stampin' Up! products Sam is a pretty nifty crafty herself. Welcome the desk top pen holder. This was put together by Sam and posted on her blog, on YouTube and onto the Pootles group. Well whey hey did that creation hit the ground running or what?

The world and his wife had a go at making this desk tidy and it was no good, I was bit by this bug myself. Twice.

My first attempt used up some Hunkydory card I had laying around and this was the result:

I loved it although I did go a tad wrong with the middle box on the right. They are all meant to reinforced but I cut this too short to do the reinforcing !

My second attempt I used black cardstock and covered it in some designer paper. This epidemic definitely caused a rash.

Hoping my friend likes one for her craft table, that will solve the problem of having two.
If you want to know how to make this desk tidy take a look at Sam's blog here. It also shows the You Tube video if that is your preference

Thank you for stopping by

Wicked

My friend and colleague's birthday was on the 3rd of June and it is never difficult to know what to make her. As a lover of all things pig she has previously had a pig card. So not again.

As a bay city rollers fan she's had a card on that theme before and cowgirl card with a visit to see Calamity Jane imminent. (So wish I had taken pictures of these last two 😞).
This year we're off to see Wicked. Easy I thought. Famous last words! Of course if Halloween was in June it wouldn't be a problem, but it isn't.

I searched high and low for a stamp or die set to fit but nothing doing. Until. Last ditch chance I tried Create and Craft and found a clear stamp set with a stamp that screamed WICKED so I had to have it.
As well as a wicked word stamp it also has a pumpkin, wizard, spider, cobweb, ghost, witch, I put a spell on you and a terrific BOO!.
The stamp set itself is by a company called Bert and Gert's Merchant Stores. The link will take you to their Facebook page. Confession, I had never heard of them before but they certainly saved the day.

I tried to keep it authentic with blacks, greens and purples for the background too. Not a great ensemble of colours but it really suits the theme. Oh, and I used silver glitter and black glitter jewels by cosmic shimmer. They get everywhere. If anyone knows of a way to use these without everything looking like it's full of black heads, please let me know!

I've also seen a few 'pop up' cards recently and thought it would be good to include one in this card. I thought as it pops up it would either have WICKED or the BOO pop up. That took some considering I can tell you but BOO won the day with another witch and a pumpkin.

I was really pleased with the outcome especially the pop up. I did add one final touch to the inside by stamping the ghost, cutting it out and have it hover over the pop up. The paper is bats by the way but I forgot I was having it tent fold and they're all flying the wrong way!! Duh.

Hope you like it because the lady in question thought it was brilliant..
Thanks for popping by.

CRAFT

CRAFT, the acronym for Can't Remember A Flipping Thing. It affects us all sooner or later. Just wish it was later rather than sooner in my case.

Recently I was in a state of panic. Why you may ask. A swiftly looming birthday. And not just any old birthday Oh no. My best friend had a birthday in May and I was so not ready for it. No gift purchased and definitely no card made. This really would not do.
I like my cards for friends to be thought through so I'm not happy to just pick something out of my hoard.

As my dear friend and a fellow paper crafter, a hand made card is not just important but it has to suit her personality. She was having a weekend away with her hubby too who had a birthday the day after. Very convenient. The only way she can forget his is if she forgets her own too!! This gave her a chance to glam up which she likes to do now and then so an idea raised its head.

I have a You've Got Style stamp set from Stampin Up! So, stamps ready, card ready, inks ready, beautiful DSP ready, matching ribbon ready, watercolour pencils ready. Time to create a masterpiece? maybe not quite ready.😟.

Had a bit of fun with this and I coloured the jacket the same colour as one she made for herself several years ago.

The inner frame says Happy Birthday Bestie Aged to perfection. which of course she is !!

It went pretty much as planned which makes a change. The striped pattern is a beautiful shade of green with foiling. It doesn't show up too well in the picture. Better have some photography lessons I think.

I can confirm the old bird liked it.

Thanks for stopping by

Karen

Hi and Welcome

Hi, my name is Karen, Campo to my friends and hence Campos Crazy Crafting.
As a child I adored making things. I would crochet and knit and sew and be quite content. As an adult work got in the way and whilst I made clothes for my daughter as a young child and knit jumpers for my husband it generally waned until I was crafting no more. 

And then I was introduced to card making by my dear friend some six years ago and all those missed years came flooding back. I was hooked, and my passion for all things card and paper just grew from there.
What started out as a little card making kit, grew to room sized proportions. She did warn me to be fair but I 'needed' everything, as I'm sure fellow crafters can relate to.

Now we live in a humble little bungalow with no additional rooms so hiding all my hoard of stash became as creative as it was to use it. Garden shed, indoor cupboards, under bed boxes it threatened to take over.
The times my poor husband opened a cupboard to find I'd taken it over and he just shrugged and rolled his eyes heavenward I have lost count. 

But I do now have a little space of my own, albeit a corner, and it is my little bit of heaven where I can get lost for hours creating heaven knows what masterpieces.

I do hope you'll join me and share in my joys and also my sorrows as the masterpiece I expect turns, not for the first time, into a giant flop. 

My flip flop that flopped

My aforementioned dear friend will join me too although shh cos she doesn't know it yet!! To start I am sharing a few of my creations from the early years to date starting with my take on a flip flop, and flop it did, to the current pop up book card which didn't. 

A Christmas card for a dear aunt

50th card for a colleague

tuxedo card for a colleagues mum's 80th birthday

A pop out book card

Along my journey I hope to pick up new skills, sharing tutorials, improved pictures and ultimately videos.

If you've read this far, thank you.
Karen