About Me

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I'm Lesley and I've been a crafter all my life. I discovered paper crafting about 30 years ago and this is now my great passion.

Sunday, 20 August 2023

It's the C word!

 I know that some people haven't had a summer holiday yet, and for most of us in the UK, the weather has been lousy lately, but I have been having such fun playing with my pre-order from the Stampin'Up! mini catalogue. There are so many gorgeous suites in there, that I had to try to be restrained and not order all of them.

I'm not allowed to share the inside of the catalogue but I am sharing the first of my makes with some new products. 


I fell instantly for these stamps - Festive and Fun, thinking how much the grandchildren would love them. As my family is steadily growing now with the addition of beautiful grandchildren, these were top of my list. the papers are from the Merry, Bold and Bright suite. I mixed the two together as I am sure I will get more mileage out of both this way. The colours are really vibrant and they inspired my choice of  colours for the stamped images. 


There are more exciting projects to come with these products, too!

If you would like to order your supplies (min £35 or 40 Euros) through my online shop and  quote the host code FN3HP9CN at checkout for a free card kit from me if you are in uk. You will need the stamps to make the card and can order direct from my SU store if you live in UK, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, France, Belgium or Ireland. Remember you can't order these stamps and DSP  until 6th September as that is when the new mini catalogue goes live.

You can order at https:www.stampinup.uk?demoid=5060154

or go to www.stampinup.com, click on your country code (top left) and search for me by name in the top green bar - Lesley Kilby - and my photo should pop up!  


Chat soon,


Lesley


SU products I've used so you can order from 6th September:

Festive and Fun stamp set  #162078

Merry, Bold & Bright DSP  #161945

Friday, 18 August 2023

wedding album


Today, I'm sharing something different - a walkthrough video of a wedding album I made as a gift for a special couple. It is 9" x 9" x 3" deep and has room for well over 100 photos.

Sometimes, people see my albums and think I have bought a ready made one and just stuck on a few pretty papers but I make them from scratch - from a huge pile of chipboard, various weights and colours of card, designer papers, magnets, a lake of adhesive, and lots of love. I don't make them to sell usually, as they take so much time and the cost of the "ingredients" alone would be more than most people would want to pay and that is before I have costed in my time, equipment and skill. 

Most of the photo mats are sized for 6" x 4" (a few are 3 1/2"x 5 1/2" or 4"x 4" photos so that minimal trimming should be needed.  I make these to be filled by recipients who are not normally craters so I try to keep it easy I used Stamperia You & Me Collection 12 x 12 design papers and background papers and some of the many Heartfelt Creations dies that I have. You might notice that I am partial to waterfall layouts on pages because you can add so many photos. Every page has a full sized pull out in a side pocket and each one has a decorative punched edge. These are decorated with the beautiful baroque papers by Craft Consortium Ltd. These papers are just so elegant and classic. I do love a deep pocket too - where you can stuff the invitation, order of service, menu and any other keepsakes of the special day. 



I am indebted to Scrap and Create for her method of reducing the design I used on the front cover, to French Gwen for her use of pretty papers and also to countless tutorials and inspiration from generous crafters I have studied over the years to learn  how to make albums. Thank you all. 

If I have inspired anyone to begin making mini albums, feel free to message me and I will be happy to recommend a starting point for you. 


I hope you enjoy seeing this album. Please leave me some love on YouTube if you do and a few kind words below would help my posts be more visible, too. I don't pretend to understand the social media algorythms  - I just know it helps. 


See you soon,


Lesley

Wednesday, 16 August 2023

New Christmas mini catalogue

 


Great news!!!!!!

There is a new mini catalogue stuffed full of Christmas and winter themed goodies, that you can order from 6th September. 

One of the big advantages of being a Stampin'Up! demonstrator is that I get to place a preorder before new products are available for customers to order. The early access idea is obviously so we can make samples to show everyone so that customers can really see the products and know what they want to order on the release date. 

I think one of the surprising points of being a demo for me was that I have made so many friends through SU - both other demos and customers. Crafting together is a fantastic way of connecting with people all over the world and we do this because we are simply enjoying what we do and love sharing it with others.

We also get discount! This starts from the outset! You can build your own starter kit by selecting £130 of products for only £99 (includes shipping). Thats a great offer! 

If you would like more info on the perks of joining up, please contact me. I'll be there to hold your hand, if needed, every step of the way. You can be your own best customer or start a new business venture. There is no pressure and if it doesn't work for you, no problem; you can just return to being one of my customers again. You can shop online with me and/or join my team if you live in UK,  Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, France, Belgium.

I'm here at    lkilby3591@gmail.com    

Chat soon,

Lesley

Tuesday, 15 August 2023

Bookmark card


Hello everyone,

Do you have friends who enjoy settling down with a good book? Or even Grandchildren who are into reading? Well, today, I am sharing a card with  a little corner decoration that lifts off and can be used as a pretty book mark - a card and a little gift in one. 

Its very quick to make and you could have a little stash ready with "Just for you" or something that is always appropriate.


Dimensions:

Base: 4 1/8 x 5 1/2 inches                 10.5 x 14 cms

DSP    3 7/8 x 5 1/4                           10 x 13.5

Top card

Base:    3 3/8 x 4 1/4                          8.5 x11.2

white card: 6 1/4 x 4 1/4                    16 x 10.8            score in half along long side

bookmark DSP     5 x 5                      12.5 x 12.5

circles 2 5/8, 2 3/8                              6.5, 6

scrap ribbon


1.    Adhere DSP to base. Score white  card in  half and adher to top base layer . 

2.    Adhere top card on centre of base

3.    fold 5" square in quarters. fold over one corner as shown in video and cut off the opposite quarter. fold to form pocket and stick together enclosing scrap of ribbon to act as pull to remove bookmark.. 

4.    Layer Daisy decoration, add yellow to daisy centre with dauber and stick on smaller circle with any leaves. place and glue on folded aquare. 

5.    Slip corner element over right corner of top card and find pleasing place for larger circle. Glue larger circle gently onto card and only add pressure when in right place. 

6.     Stamp sentiment and die cut. Add strip DSP for contrast plus any other embellishments.

Simples!

I made mine with retired papers and stamps - this idea will work with many different DSP and stamp sets - why not give it a go? 

As always, please leave me kind words below if you try this project. Will suit so many different designs of paper, so happy craftiung everyone.

If you would like to order supplies and don't have a SU demo, I would love to help you.


You can contact me via messenger or email: lkilby3591@gmail.com

Thanks so much for stopping by - I appreciate you all so much.

Lesley x


Triple Layer stand up card with Happy Harvest

    Good morning everyone,  I have another fun fold card with the Happy Harvest collection from Craft Consortium today.  There are instructi...