News & Updates from Joan King - Kingcrafts

Well its that time of the year again - Christmas. One of the few things I like about Christmas is the New Zealand national Christmas tree. They line every street just about in the city where I live and many other centres of New Zealand.

Depending on the weather they start blooming around late November and are in full bloom around now. They look awesome with their red flowers. We have one outside the front of our house but sadly they dont hold onto their flowers for much past the end of December.

I suppose that is why they call it the National Christmas Tree.Here are two of my latest Christmas designs for 2022.

I wish everyone a very merry Christmas and I pray we get a reasonable 2023.

Summer is nearly here and we are certainly getting some warmer days now and hot ones for most to look forward to.

Last weekend my husband and I decided to run and Open Day weekend which we havent done for a long while due to covid restrictions etc.

I must say it wasnt one of our best ones which did surprise me a little being so close to Christmas now but I think the economy, food and utility prices have risen so much people are just cutting back now on what they can and cannot afford.

Quite understandable. We will try another one in December then take a break for a while during the summer months. I have attached photos of our displays.

We recently had Cyclone Fila go through where we live by the sea. Fortunately the damage was small but it left us with an amazing evening sky. This was taken outside in our back garden.

I have just completed two new designs this week which are floral bracket style cards with decoupage, greetings, and matching envelope.

Hope you like them. Happy crafting

I expect a number of you may have heard the sad news that the people of Tonga in the Pacific had an erupting volcano last week.

It has devastated a lot of the islands and one completely and there is only a small part of it left it seems.

Due to their lack of being able to communicate as much was destroyed things are only now starting to come out.

It was largest behind Pinotubo some years ago and it had Tsunami effects around the world and a large shock wave that was felt around the world as well.

It affected our weather (summer at the moment) with high temperatures in the 30s for us and we got an amazing sunset which they believe carried a lot of the ash making it so vibrant so I have attached a photograph of where we live so you can see it.

You wouldnt believe it unless you saw it. Its settling now though and we have just had our first bit of rain for a few months (38mm).

Not a lot but most welcome.I am showcasing two of my latest baby designs and there are another two made for a different ethnicity.

I hope you like them. Dont forget to download my design which is the current freebie of the week and there is a great video running also to show how it is all done.

Today my grand daughter Brooklyn who is 5 phoned me and asked if she could come around to spend some time with me.

I can never refuse. She loves crafting and today I was making up some craft supplies for an order using my Big Shot Plus die cutter.

I have never let her use it as it would be too heavy for her to turn the handle. She settled down with me and asked me what I was doing so I showed her how I was making fancy blank cards.

Well it didnt take her long to want to be part of what I was doing.

We all know what young children can be like, they never like to listen to instructions to keep themselves safe and of course they know everything.

I told her that once it came out of the machine I then had to pop out all the pieces with a fine point tool.

I was somewhat nervous about her wanting to do this herself as if she wasnt careful she could stick the tool into her fingers or hand but she had listened to me and repeated everything I said and told me she would be careful because she didnt want to hurt herself.

I couldnt believe she had listened to me so I let her have a go and my goodness she certainly knew what she was doing and she kept her left hand well away from the piercing tool and got rid of all the pieces and cleaned up after herself.

She has become my new crafting buddy and she didnt want to go home. I carried on this afternoon on my own and I realised how much I missed her help as it meant I had to do everything myself......

Here is a photo of her just getting ready to go home. Each time she comes we do something different in crafting.

What to do next I wonder.