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Give Thanks: A Thanksgiving project VIDEO (+ free downloadable journaling card)

on November 16, 2011

{Scroll to the bottom to see more pics and the videos}

Its that time of year again.
Orange and red and yellow and golden brown.
Cinnamon and nutmeg and ginger.
Apples and chestnuts and PUMPKINS!

I’m pretty sure that if it was a competition, Autumn would totally win.

Even though I am on the wrong side of the world to call Thanksgiving one of my national holidays, we usually still celebrate it in our house. Every year we spend the day with our good friends Jeremy and Sarah and a gang of other people to celebrate gratitude. It’s so lovely to take a moment from the hustle and bustle of life, sit down and reflect upon all the things in your life that you are truly thankful for.

A few years ago I made a project to take to Thanksgiving Dinner, and it was really fun. I mean REALLY fun. I’m sure there were a few laughter induced tears as we read out the notes that each person had jotted down on their journaling card. Of course there was the usual ‘i am thankful for my wife, my family…’ but there were also a few unique, funny answers too. When I shared that project with you, I gave my viewers a chance to download the journaling card that i had made for the project (click the link at the start of the paragraph if you wanna go get it for yourself).

Last week as I drove along the tree-lined, windy British roads on the way to work, all of a sudden I felt Autumnal. The trees had exploded into vibrant colours and bright, rich leaves floated down through the air, falling like confetti onto the bonnet of the car. It was so beautiful…& I started to get excited.

Thanksgiving is on its way, and before I start thinking about the food side of things I wanted to make a project for the table this year. Once again I designed my own journaling card to use as the basis of the project, one for each person in attendance.

This time I have made a video tutorial which walks through how i made this project, so that you can make one too if you like. Kinda like a free craft class i guess. Also, just like the last time, you can download the journaling card so you can use this on your projects. All you need to do is to click on the sign up tab at the top and become a free member. This will give you access to all the free digital downloadable elements. Be sure to also sign up to our newsletter so that we can let you know when new stuff is available. Also, all newsletter subscribers are automatically entered into any competitions we run on Hungry Heffy Crafts. Great, huh?

Here’s the videos, I had to do them in two parts, and there are some more photos below that so you can see more of the project.

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Tea Mini Book Video Tutorial

on October 20, 2010

I did promise… :0)

A few weeks ago I showed you a project that I made for Sarah: a little book that held a variety of tasty fruit tea sachets. It was lots of fun to make, and lots of you asked for a tutorial so that you could make one for yourself.

Although it works really well to hold these little sachets, you could also simply use the pockets to hold tags, photos, journaling, memorabelia and so much more, which makes this project really flexible…and i must say, it is really fun to make!

I split the tutorial into two videos to make it easier to follow and easier to download – so here they are below for your viewing pleasure!

Please feel free to share this tutorial with your friends, all I ask is that you link back to this page so they can check out my other projects too.

Don’t forget that the giveaway closes tomorrow night (Thursday 22nd Oct) and a winner will be chosen at random to win some crafty goodness. Just subscribe to our newsletter to enter! For more details, check out this post!

Good luck everyone, and enjoy the tutorial!

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Improve your scrapbook design skills- Title placement

on March 11, 2010

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Ever had one of those moments when you look at a scrapbook page or craft project and you clench your fists, grit your teeth, screw up your nose and growl as you suddenly realise: I shouldn’t have put that there or that would have looked better over here instead of there. Don’t worry, we all have these moments, and I have definitely had a few in my time, but I am happy to say that I have not experienced many moments like this recently. Why? Because I always try to learn from my mistakes!!

So today, a video tip for you. I want to share with you a way in which I have changed a piece of waste material into a usable, functionable, practical craft tool/product that will actually help you improve your design skills.

I hope you enjoy the video and like the layout featured in it. The page is, of course, of my furbaby Miya. In complete contrast to her last layout entitled ‘Silver String’, which focused on embellishments and vibrant bursts of colour, this layout is all about the story. I have kept the lines straight and clean, and added just a little touch of colour to make the journaling pop and to add a little interest to the page.

I think this page must take the record for the least amount of pattern paper used on a layout ever, but the little bit that you can see is from Crate paper. Stamps used are Hero Arts Swirl with flowers stamp and Whoo Loves You clear set, Imaginisce, Artemio, and Studio Calico. Letter stickers are doodlebug Loopy lou alpha stickers and Making Memories Cork Alpha and ink used includes Tim Holtz Distress ink in Shabby Shutters, Chalk ink in Chestnut Roan, and Archival ink in brown.

And if you want to have a little giggle, you can read what the journaling from the layout below.

Thanks for popping by and please feel free to share this video with others, linking back to this website or the YouTube page. And feel free to leave me a comment here

Journaling reads:

Having a house with a garden meant it was only a matter of time before you got outside to roam free, but it was still difficult for me. I would worry about you, about other animals, dangerous equipment, tall buildings, and of course the traffic. We thought it would be a good idea to let you get used to outside life by short spells in the garden: five minutes, then ten minutes, then a little longer. It was summer ’09, and when I returned from work you would look forward to a little outside time. I will never forget one particular day.
I was in the craft room, and every 20 minutes I would pop downstairs and give you a call at the back door and you would come running. After a few times, I realised that I hadn’t checked on you in a while. I was just about to go and check on you when I heard a little ‘trrrrrumm’ noise, and then you scurried up the stairs and into the craft room demanding attention.
You had brought back your first present.
Many a story I have heard about cats bringing presents into the house: birds, mice and more, but not you. You brought a tub of fish food! I took it off you to inspect, but you were so proud of yourself, rubbing around my feet and pawing at me to give it back to you. Feeling rather puzzled, I went out into the back garden to have a look around, but I could not for the life of me figure out where this tub of fish food had come from. Where did you get it? In a garage, or were you in someones house? How far did you carry it? You must have had to jump over fences! You complained until I gave you back your prize, and purring with delight you insisted in carrying the little blue tub around with pride. It wasn’t until weeks later we found out that it belonged to our neighbour Sue who told us of the mysterious disappearance of the fish food she had bought to feed the tadpoles in her pond. We were so proud of your hunting skills that we couldn’t help but share the funny story of your first catch.

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