Victorian 60th Birthday Card

Evening All

What a gorgeous day it has been today, I was actually really happy at being able to get some washing out on the line for a change!!

So, what have I been up to?

Well I didn't tidy the craft room on Friday as I posted it was done today instead.  I had managed to find something else to take up my time :o)  A basket and card order which was fab. 

I love having orders and actually having a reason to craft instead of just making things up for markets, I mean I enjoy that as well but its more generic and I tend not to challenge myself.

David purchased some new style baskets and they are lovely looking, I am very pleased with them.

The card I made was 8x8 and its such a great size to work with.  It was required for an older more elegant lady so it was a good opportunity to get away from cute animals and bears etc.

I used a Kraft card as the base, extra strong double sided tape, double sided tape, wet glue, large foam pads, a piece of silver Mirri Card, a piece of lace style card, a piece of rose background paper, a couple of birthday sentiments, a Victorian topper, some cream ribbon with some glass bead droplets, some brown gems, some turquoise gems, a paper flower and some flowers put together using a technique that Ali Reeve from "Stamps Away" used on some background paper for a card she made.

So to make these simply cut out varying sizes of flower shapes from decoupage paper so that they could be layered up when finished.  I then scrunched them up to give a crumpled look.  Popped some coffee in he bottom of a bowl and added just a small amount of water from a hot kettle to dissolve, the flower shapes were then all dipped in and covered in the coffee.  I placed them on a piece of tin foil just to give them someplace safe to dry, before I left them though I sprinkled some more coffee granules on top to give flecks of deeper colour, left them just for a few minutes and then dried them off with a piece of kitchen towel and left to dry.

Once the flowers were fully dry I stuck the layers together with wet glue, shaped them some more, and added gem centres just to add a little sparkle and to tie them in with the rest of the card.  I also cut out leaves and used the same tecnique.  The finished flowers were attached to the card with wet glue and foam pads on the small one to give it a little height.

I was very pleased with the finished card, mainly because it signals the end of my crafty block!!

So thats what I did Friday. 

Saturday I got my things together for the "Granny Would Be Proud" Market held in the Hillhead Bookclub Bar & Restaurant across from Waitrose on Byres Road in Glasgows West End.  It was a great day, met some very lovely crafters as always and had a cupcake to die for made by "The Sweet Hut", oh it was just scrummy!!

Well, thats all for tonight, Happy Crafting xx



To Tidy or Not To Tidy.......

It's Friday everyone!!

I know all you crafters out there will know the dread that comes when you look in the craft room and its just a huge mess that just needs a good tidy.  This week I have done everything to stop myself from tidying it out, I have even done the garden which is not one of my favourite tasks either but obviously the better of the two. 

Today I cannot procrastinate anymore as there are no other jobs I can do instead it is going to be done, really........honest.......I mean I am even writing a blog to delay the inevitable!!

Wish me luck people, may be gone a while!!  If I'm not lost I will end up doing something crafty, actually hoping that cleaning the room will bring back the urge to craft & create stuff again, maybe my mojo is hiding in there someplace?

Anyhoo,

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Happy Crafting :0)

Amanda

Basic Cute Critters Cards

Hello Friends

Just a quick post showing the last of the basic cards that I have put together, just shows that things don't have to be that complicated.

I have received a few Christmas kits and will be trying to make these all different and unique and totally different from what can be bought in store.  Well this is the plan anyway, still not quite got back into things yet.

That's it for tonight. 

I am still doing loads of crochet squares for my blanket, not sure it will be finished for the winter but isn't that always the way!

I have also been doing some Kumihimo Jewellery and keyrings which is so relaxing and takes up no area at all, pictures to follow once I have enough different patterns to show exactly what can be created.

Happy Crafting Everyone!!

Amanda

Basic Cute Critters Cards

Good Day People

I know, two days in a row!!

Just thought I would post some more of the cards I put together over the weekend.  These are all square cards and I used some basic inserts in matching colours but with scalloped edges just to jazz things up a bit.

Again I have used the remainder of the stamped images that I had, layered these up with some matching card, added some peel-offs, ribbon and other embellishments and finished by popping in cello bags. 

Keeping it simple for the moment.

Happy Crafting!!

Amanda

Basic Cute Critters Cards & Die Cut Butterflies

Hey All

I have to apologise for the sheer lack of posts on the Blog front, my crafty block still hasn't lifted.  However, this week I dug out a few wee bits of leftover card & toppers etc and stuck a few different cards together.

In this batch I actually used inserts, just very basic colours to match the cards with a simple verse, it actually makes a huge difference to the finished look of the card and so I am going to aim to do this from now on with all the cards I make.

The cards feature some of the stamps which I coloured right at the very start of the Blog, yip I still have some of these, batch stamping might not be something I do again as it has taken some time to use all of these even though I have decoupaged them up.  It does get slightly samey!!

In a crafty mag that I had delivered through the door a while back there was a section on drawing your own borders and other features on your cards to give them a different kind of look.  I used a black Promarker fine liner and drew two overlapping wavy borders which look great and then coloured these in the colours that were used on the toppers.  The Promarkers give a very seamless finish so they do not look hand coloured.

These are so very simple to pop together, all you need is a die cutting system, maybe a Cricut or even a Cuttlebug or Grand Calibre with the lovely dies to make your bits.  I have cut out some butterflies and simply layered these up and left the wings loose, then use double sided tape to pop onto  contrasting card.  For the glitter strip I again used double sided sticky tape with some cloth embellishments and then sprinkled with the correct coloured glitter and cut into strips to fit, such a quick way to add some sparkle for your cards.

To finish I just pop my stamp on the back and place into a cello bag with an envelope to keep card pristine.

Happy crafting people!!

Amanda

Zeus the German Shepard Scrapped

Evening Everyone

I still haven't found my mojo :o(

Managed to make a couple of batches of nice fresh full of softening oil bath bombs for this weekends fair at Finlaystone Country Estate but that has been it.  Maybe being in the presence of some creative people at the fair will help to give me the shake I need to get back at it.

Anyone any tips for crafters block??

I have some new kits coming from C&C hopefully over the next few days so maybe that will inspire me, fingers crossed.

On the plus side I have been at the gym every day this week and feeling much better for it.  Exercise, loads of water & fruit, it actually does work i am amazed to learn................again!!

So here are a coupe of Craft Artist pages that I worked on using pictures of my sister wee baby;

This was the first toy big Zeus had, kept him happy when he was not well

Left a space so that some text or another picture can be added after printing

A nice Christmas card maybe?

I will keep you all posted on hove my event goes over the weekend.

Hope you are all well,  Happy Crafting!!

Amanda xx

Craft Artist Mixed Pages & Cards

Hey Guys

I haven't been around much lately as I have been concentrating on getting in as much driving practise as possible which is alot more tiring than I had realised!!

I am pleased to say that I finally passed my test on Monday afternoon, I still cant quite believe it, first time aswell!

Between times I have finished the basic square for my baby blanket and I am learning myself to knit as I really really want to send some hats in for the innocent smoothie big knit which is on every year.  It a great cause and if you keep an eye on their website you will get the details for this year when they are released;

http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/bigknit/

I have also been spending some time getting to grips with the Craft Artist programme, I do have to say though there is loads to learn and their Daisy Trail site is a great place for help, I am loving it.

Here are some of the pages that I have been creating;

Just some pages with the red squirrel that I was lucky enough to get pictures of when I was in Aberdeen

Changed a photo to pop art, cut-out and copied and pasted to create a background.

Pictures of my other half's niece baking cookies one Xmas

Messing about with a new digikit & created a little boys card

card insert

A fathers day card for my sister to give, I printed out extra pieces and decoupaged this

Personalised insert

And that's all for me just now folks, I am off to the gym, just the next thing on my list of things to achieve.

Hope everyone is well

Much Love

Amanda x

Bon Jovi Scrapped

Hey All

Just a quick post to show the scrap pages I completed with Craft Artist using the photos from my Bon Jovi Concert last year.  I bought the programme for cards but it really lends itself to storing your memories.

I also did my first Christmas page using the programme, this came about from watching Dawn Bibby's Christmas show on C&C.

Its going to be great for my Christmas cards this year, easier to personalise.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend peeps.

Amanda xx

Fathers Day Card using Craft Artist Professional

Good Evening!!

I do hope everyone is enjoying the lovely weather and extra days holidays celebrating the queens 60 year rein.  If you are having a party, enjoy!

Well what have I been up to, not too much is the answer to that.  I have done a little crochet, played about on Craft Artist and spent some time today cutting out some decoupage sheets so that I have plenty of toppers ready for making a batch of cards up.

I have used Craft Artist to make up my Dad's Fathers Day card.  I showed the basic digital page a couple of days ago but I have now printed this and created a decoupaged card.  To create the decoupage all I did was open another two blank pages and copy the elements that I was going to build up onto them, all I had to do then was press print, the main work was done.

This is the completed card;

Layers make the card really stand out.

I have added real twine to the card to give it a authentic feel.



Holes punched in the card and real metal grommets in different colour add a realistic element to the once that have already been printed.

Grommets before they are punched

Hole punch with different size settings



I have used an epoxy cover on the faux buttons to give a lovely shine.

This just shows the build up of layers using foam pads, there is also a smaller epoxy cover on the silver button.

Its always a great idea to have toppers ready for any unexpected or quick cards that you may need.  Cutting out the bits is not something I enjoy so usually do this when there is something good on the TV, cutting keeps my hands busy, tonight it was Lord of the Rings.  I managed to get 26 toppers ready just to be built up with the foam pads, I am pleased with that. 

A good tip is to use the cello bags that you would use for your finished cards to keep the bits in till you are ready to make your cards.  This keeps the bits in pristine condition and all together.

I purchased most of my decoupage from http://www.lapashe.com/ they are so reasonably priced and delivery is really swift.  It is very difficult to find good embellishments for men's cards but they really do have plenty of choice here.

I also print out elements to decoupage from Cd's that I have purchased.  Of course there is the option of going for die cut decoupage and there are many companies that offer this, Create & Craft is a one stop shop for mostly anything you would need. 

That's me for the time being, I am going to get my mojo back, you can be sure of it.

Happy crafting.

Amanda x