Do you get the most...

...out of your craft equipment?

I'm probably as guilty as the next person - I buy something and only ever use it the way it says on the box/tin/pack.

If you are busy (and who isn't these days) the time you have available for crafting is limited and you don't always have the luxury of playing around with pieces of equipment to see if they can do more...this is a shame because craft equipment can be expensive and in this current financial climate, who can afford to buy things that will only be used occasionally when there is the possibility that they could be in use on a regular basis.

Take the We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch board...

Would you have thought that you could make this cute gift box...

...isn't it great and you can even add apertures if you want the contents to be seen.
Andy Pearson (Pinnacle Crafts) held a demo day above the shop yesterday...

 ...and he shared a lot of his ideas and those that he had found on places like YouTube. These boxes were one of the favourites of the day...

 ...and the samples got a lot of handling. Andy said these boxes were not his idea but he had found some videos by a lady called Deb Valder. I only look at YouTube occasionally so I probably would not have found these - thank you Andy for bringing this idea to my attention and thank you for another great demo day.

So of course, when I got home I had to have a go...

 ...out came my Envelope Punch board...

 ...a paper cutter and a scoreboard...

 ...some pretty CS, ribbon & DST.
In next to no time I had this...

...my own little gift box (I didn't put a window in mine)...

...as I was in a hurry to get it done...

...these boxes are adorable and even have a lid to help keep the contents secure.

With Easter coming up, I thought this CS would be perfect because of the Spring-time colours - just imagine one of these full of tiny chocolate eggs.

Change the colour scheme and you have favour boxes for the wedding table or gift boxes for the bridesmaids.

You can get 3 of these out of 2 sheets of 12x12 or one out of a sheet of A4. This is an ideal way to make a dent in that mountain of PP & CS.

So an envelope maker can do so much more - I made cutlery holders at Christmas. I've made bon-bons (crackers) and a wrap over box that will hold two crème eggs. Now I know I can make these cuties as well..........................................................................

November has arrived...

...but from the temperatures you would never believe it.

Yesterday was 1st November and after experiencing the warmest Halloween on record (in the mid twenties as far as degrees C are concerned) it was a bit of a shame to wake up to a dull, drizzly morning - but the temps were showing 16C before 8am.

Anyhoo...

November has arrived and that means that Christmas is that much closer.

Kerryanne English over at the Shabby Art Boutique kicked-off her 5th "Simply Christmas" event with the posting of this year's free downloadable planner - it is beautiful. Lovely vintage style pages to print off and make a planner to suit your needs. Unfortunately, my printer has decided to die - something else to go on the replacement list.

Still, undaunted...I met my friend Hilary for breakfast over at Barleylands and then we toddled off to Pinnacle Crafts for one of Andy Pearson's "Demo Day" events.

As we entered the workroom this is what was on display...

 ...a lovely table setting in frosty blues & white...

...one finished Advent - beautifully lit up with battery tea-lights and decorated with poinsettias...

 ...and some lovely personalised crackers for his family's Christmas table (which unfortunately will have to be re-done as Andy used red & white and Joanne wanted red & cream - oops!).

Andy demoed some lovely ideas for finishing touches and last minute makes for Christmas.

When I got home I thought I'd have a play.

So grabbing my newly purchased...

...Envelope score & punch board...

 ...an assortment of CS from my stash...

 ...my un-used Spellbinders Poinsettia die set (**hangs head in shame** - in fairness, I really wanted the "Tattered Poinsettia" Sizzix die which I managed to get a couple of days later so this one got put away and forgotten)...

...a selection of ribbons...

 ...and my "Holiday Greens".
I die-cut two lots of the poinsettias...

...and as you can see, if you just stick them together they look very flat...

...so a bit of curling was in order - much better.
Some 'greenery' cut from kraft card...

 ...I was using up some CS scraps so the die-cuts are all slightly different.
Having cut an envelope from white CS, suitable for a 6x4 card, and lining it with the glitter card...

 ...I then decorated it with some ribbon and the die-cuts. I was going to put two poinsettias on the outside but it looked 'too much' with the bow.

Here is the finished item...

...and as you can see, it is a cutlery holder - ready and waiting to decorate the Christmas table.

Thank you Andy for the inspiration. This was so quick & easy to make and you could do it in any colour you like so that it co-ordinates with your own colour scheme.

Next week Andy is holding a "Finishing Touches" workshop at Pinnacles. It is an all-day event and I'm really looking forward to what other ideas he has in store.......................................................

A birthday card...

...for an 80th Birthday.

I was asked by a colleague to make an 80th birthday card for her Dad - the remit was very sketchy..."He does a bit of gardening"...

I struggled to come up with something but in the end went with an easel card made to look like a garden shed...

...the shed was made from a sheet of Carta Bella PP from their "Sew Lovely" range - Woodgrain. This PP was the perfect weight and had a lovely texture to it that made the woodgrain seem very real.
Most of the other items on the card come from the Craftwork Cards "Potting Shed" range...

 ...the dotty PP with the thistles in the corners was used on the base. Card Candi added colour & texture in the corners and was added to a cluster of mini rosettes to create a hanging basket...

 ...the greenery was added by hand using a Distress Marker. The wheelbarrow...

was die cut decoupage and was luckily the right size.

All the sentiment panels came from the Potting Shed paper pack and the '80' was actually silver peel-offs coloured with a copper coloured Sharpie pen (why is it you never have the right colour for things like this?).

To be honest, I wasn't sure about the finished card - after all, 80 is a pretty big deal for a birthday. However, my colleague loved it and so did her family and as the party was yesterday there is no problem sharing it now.

Do you have problems coming up with ideas when the remit is vague?.........................................

As we head towards...

...the end of August - there is already a chilly feel to mornings.

Autumn seems to be arriving early here in the UK.

Many folk are getting their children ready to return to school after the Summer break and there are lots of crafters out there who are already in full "Christmas" mode (sorry Suzie, had to use the "C" word). However, there is another event that is only just over two months away - Halloween.

Now here in the UK we don't seem to celebrate this event to the same extent as our friends across The Pond but it has become more popular in recent years and whilst our British 'stiff upper lip' might frown on the knocking on doors 'trick or treating' part of the of the occasion, many folk now have Halloween parties...and not just for the kiddies - grown-ups (???) are having fun dressing up and attending themed parties.

Parties take a fair bit of organising when there are costumes and decorations to sort out so I thought I would show you a quick treat bag that can be used for kiddies and grown-ups alike.

Using my WRMK gift bag score/punch board I made a simple bag from a sheet of white A4 CS...

 ...I kept everything B/W for simplicity...

 ...the lovely image is from Nicecrane Designs (as is the bat) and is just one of a fabulous selection of pre-coloured or B/W images that Ignacio has available on site.
Oh, and if you are wondering what to put in the bags...

...Loom bands are just the right bit of fun for the occasion as they come in some super Halloween-type colours and many glow in the dark.
So why don't you make a start now...

...and that will be something that you can tick off the list ready for your spooky event.

The Nicecrane site has been down for updating but is now open again and there are lots of new items so do hop over and take a look here and whilst you are at it...pay a visit to the Nicecrane blog to see all the super things that the DT have been making..............................................................................

Playtime...

...and time to try one of my new toys.

At the last members weekend at Pinnacle Crafts I managed to grab the We R Memory Keepers...

...Gift Bag punch board - something that I have wanted for a while. I already had the box making board but after seeing the gift bag board demonstrated it went onto my 'wish list'.
I thought I'd have a bit of a play as I wanted to make some small jewellery size bags...

 ...and I also wanted to try some different materials to see how the bags turned out.
This bag was very straight forward...

...a sheet of 12x12 gold CS (Papermania Christmas Stack) cut in half made the perfect size bag and I was able to decorate it with a digi image (Bugaboo Stamps) and some pretty wire-edged ribbon. The ribbon not only adds to the decoration but also closes the bag. The colours match very well with the cuff bracelet that will go inside.
I wanted to try some fancy acetate and see if I could adjust the sizing...

...I made a bit of a boo-boo over the size that I cut the acetate but with a bit of fiddling, I was able to come up with a bag approx. half the width of the gold bag. A bit too much faffing about for my liking although I was pleased with the result. I think I'll stick with 12x12 CS and acetate as the bag size is just right for what I will be putting inside.

As you can see, I've also been making a few more Loom band cuffs. I really do like the aqua colour gel-bands mixed with the white solid bands.

I have to say, I'm pleased with my Gift Bag Board. With the stacks of CS I have I'll be able to make plenty of bags and hopefully make a bit of a dent in some of the stash that I probably wouldn't use for scrapping or card making (you know the stuff I mean - had to have it at the time but never used it and now can't understand why I bought it in the first place). Yes, I have to say that this was a purchase that was worth the wait and I will be making good use of..........................................................

Crafting with...

...Kraft.

I love the natural feel Kraft card gives to a project but boy does it come in a range of shades - anything from a light 'grubby' beige to the darker 'looks like wet sand' colour.

If you are a card maker, you will probably be aware that card blanks usually come from the darker end of the colour range. So if you want something paler, this means making your own. Not a problem, after all we are crafters and we make stuff. The sticking point comes over "time" - cutting & folding card blanks adds time to your projects, especially if you are making a batch of cards. Then there are the envelopes...

How many times have you merrily made a card from scratch only to find that it doesn't fit in a standard size envelope? Again, not a problem as we can make our own but once again we have the time factor.

Time is a big issue for many folk who enjoy crafting but 'life' limits the amount of time they have available in which to do it.

Then we come to the problem of colouring straight onto kraft card.

Pencils seem to work quite well irrespective of the darkness of the card and the Derwent Inktense pencils are rich enough to give a good depth of colour as I found here...

 

...and the Derwent Coloursoft pencils also gave a nice effect...



 ...especially when keeping to a limited selection of colours and only shading parts of the image.

But...

You knew there was going to be a 'but' didn't you. My preferred medium for colouring is alcohol pens and trying them on scraps of kraft card that I had really wasn't doing anything for me. The colour of the card was too dark for the pens to really be noticed. Then I tried Crafter's Companion Neenah card in the colour "Desert Storm". Wow, what a difference. The smoothness of the card is perfect for colouring with alcohol pens and the kraft colour is pale enough to allow the colours to show.

So I printed off some of the cute Grace Drayton images...

 ...and got stuck in...

 ...I did find that it was necessary to use stronger tones than I would normally reach for but it was so great being back in my comfort zone with my pens.
What about this little cutie...

 ...isn't she adorable. Now if you look at this image you may think that I have used something white on the bib area. In fact, I used a very pale aqua shade (BT1) and I think the blue has toned down the yellow tinge of the card making it look almost white.

All the images used have come from Nicecrane Designs and are from the following digi sets...

..."A Garden of Friends" which you can find here...

...and the Grace Drayton "Nursery Rhymes" that you can find here.

My printer is still playing silly wotsits so I'm having difficulty printing the latest images from Nicecrane - boy are there some super ones. Do hop over to the Nicecrane blog to catch up with what the rest of the DT have been playing with. There is some fabulous work over there............................

Scenes & Backgrounds...

...and whether to colour or not.

A lot of folk are hesitant to use stamps or digi-images that contain a subject and a background scene.

It can be difficult to decide just how much detail you put into the background without losing the focus on the subject.

There are lots of techniques that you can consider.

This is the preview page for one of the new Nicecrane Designs images...

...as you can see, the main subject has been given some colour but the background has only had certain areas highlighted with colour.
Using another of the images from this new collection, I coloured everything using alcohol pens...

...and this was the completed image.
If you look a bit closer, you can see that the background has been kept fairly simple...

...and the colours have been kept quite pale and the number of shades limited.
The foreground is quite 'busy' but it is still possible to keep things simple by using paler shades...

...you will also notice that although it is obvious that this is a dandelion meadow, the detail doesn't have to be perfect to convey that fact. Just a few splashes of colour will do the job.
With this image there is a lot 'going on' in the area surrounding the central characters...

...and whilst you would not want the background to overpower the image, there are elements that you still want to 'see'.
The gathers in the drapes and the creases in the bedding...

...all add to the feel of the picture...

...and the quilted side to the bed are all design elements that you wouldn't want to be missed. You can still highlight these areas with subtle shading so that you know they are there but they are part of the picture as a whole - not a dominant feature.

The "Little Picture Song" DSL sheet from Nicecrane designs offers so many possibilities for you to explore with the colouring.

If you would like this design sheet...

...you can pick it up here (DSL link to be added). Or if you prefer something already coloured and ready for use, take a look here.

I have used the two coloured images to create some simple cards...

...the PPs used are from a paper stack by "Joy"...

 ...they give a vintage feel to the cards...

 ...which need little extra embellishment. The 'balloon' card just has a few Prima paper blooms & pearls added to pick out the design of the paper...

 ...and the 'bed' card just has a few pearls in a couple of the corners. Do hop over to the Nicecrane Design blog to see what other members of the DT have created with these images.

Remember the multi-fold card from an earlier post?

Well, the cut of the folds actually allows the card to stand up even when completely folded...

...so for those folk who get lots of cards for their birthdays, this is an ideal design to use because it will still stand up on the mantle without taking up too much space............................................