Makes 5, 6 and 7...358 to go

I spotted a free digi stamp online so decided to print out a few and make some cards. I have packaged them all up ready to sell at my next craft stall :) 

Time for something a bit different

Its my grans birthday next week and this week I spent a couple of evenings planning and making her Birthday card.

I decided I wanted to try something a bit different and rather then using stamps with animals or people in them I would use a floral stamp. I ended up getting a digi stamp from Tiffany Doodles which is a website I have never used before but will definitely be using again.

I found a stamp with a pansy in a pot which I thought my nan would really like, it took a bit of experimenting to work out the shading with my pro markers but after a few attempts I managed to get it right. I decided to keep the card quite simple and used a recycled card blank teamed with some floral patterned paper and a piece of colored pattered paper at either corner. I then cut out the stamped image and mounted it on the card using silicone glue to give it some dimension. I printed my own greeting and distressed it using the Tim Holtz distress ink pad.

Overall I really like this card it's very different from the other cards I have made but I certainly will be using this style again.

Quick Card

Here's another card I made using a digi stamp from Whimsie Doodles.

Another Quick Card

Just another quick post this evening, here is another card I made using a whimsie doodle digital stamp. I loved this stamp when I saw it, a nice cute image and a great sentiment. 

I made a simple card by mounting the stamp on some blue card stock and then covering a 6x6 card blank in some blue paper from the potobello road collection. 

Teddy Bear Card

Today I spent my day reorganizing and tidying most of my flat, yes it is as boring as it sounds. The flat is super tidy and organized now though so I rewarded myself with some chill out craft time this evening.

I have been colouring in a few of my digi stamps so I have a supply of ready coloured images to use when wanting to make a card quickly. I made one card tonight using a cute teddy bear stamp.

I coloured and shaded the bear using my pro markers and then cut him out using my scissors and craft knife, Im thinking of investing in some of those special decoupage scissors as it so fiddly doing it with the big scissors and knife. I also cut out the heart shaped balloons separately. I used some of the airmail style paper from the Portobello Road collection and cut this to form a large strip down the centre of my cardstock.  I stuck the bear on and then used 3D foam pads to attach the balloons so they had a sort of floating effect. I then found some old elastic that I had laying around in my sewing box and stuck this on with pva glue to make the balloon strings. Overall I am happy with this card I really feel like I am getting better at this whole crafting thing :) Not sure if this card needs something else though, it just feels like something is missing from it not sure what though, any suggestions?

I am going to be entering this card into the I love Promarkers challenge which this week is an anything goes theme.

Scarf update

So this was meant to be a quick post to update you on the progress of my scarf. Unfortunately progress has almost ground to a halt as the stitches have got so tight that it is impossible to knit the next row. I think I'm going to do a bit more reading on knitting and then start again on a whole new scarf.

Tonight I have been having a bit of a spring clean of my flat and tidied the living room, kitchen and bathroom I have been epically busy since November last year that a good sort out was long overdue. This didn't leave me much time for crafting but I managed to cram in half an hour or so of creative time before bed.

As the scarf was a complete no go I got out my promarkers. I had printed out some more digi stamps earlier in the evening which I am planning to use to make some cards, some for particular occasions but some for challenges which I am becoming addicted to. I just love making cards for the challenges but also love seeing how other people have interpreted the theme.

I love using my pro markers I find it really relaxing to just sit and colour in the different images. I mainly do animals but am trying to learn how to get skin tones correct so tonight have been working on this cute stamp of a girl with a cupcake. It's still not finished got a bit too tired to concentrate on it, am going to finish that off tomorrow.

Quick Card

Tonight I made a quick card to enter in to the latest challenge on the I love Promarkers blog. I had to get  the train to work at 7am this morning so by the time I got round to crafting time I was pretty tired so decided to work on a quick and simple design.

I used Promarkers to colour in a cute image of a hamster eating a cupcake and then added a little bit of shading to the image. I then cut this image out and decided it would look best on a slightly unusual size card. I cut my cardstock down to make a 15cm by 15cm square and then folded this in half. I then covered one side of the card with some super cute cloud paper. I positioned the hamster in one corner of the card attached a chip board sentiment and some heart shaped buttons in various colours.

Overall considering this is only about the fifth card I have made I'm really happy with the way this card has turned out. It only took me about an hour to make and was a nice chill out activity after a long day in the office.

WOYWW

So last week whilst blog hopping I stumbled across this fantastic post where each Wednesday crafters from all over the world congregate on Julia's blog to share pictures of their work desks and the a particular projects they have on them on that Wednesday.

I only discovered the blog a few days ago and have to admit that I have been hooked ever since. It is so interesting to see how other people organise their work spaces, its also great to see that the people that post vary from novice crafters like me to some real craft artists whose work just amazes me.     

So far I don't actually have a desk solely for craft so kind of just spread out in the kitchen or lounge. This week I have been working on Thank You cards and decided to do something a bit unconventional so have done a thank you card with a panda on. As you can see from the first picture I used my large collection of pro markers to colour in the digi stamp.

I store my promarkers in a old sweet tin and to be honest its not great it is hard to find which colour I am looking for and its impossible to keep the pens in colour groups which makes it quicker to get the colours needed for blending. Some sort of storage solution needs to be purchased asap. 

As you can see from the above picture my desk gets a bit messy when I am fully immersed in a project. In the background you can see a pad of multi coloured card stock which I purchased in Lidl at the weekend it was a bargain at 1.99 for a pack of 25 sheets. You can also see my self healing cutting mat which I love I use it for everything not just cutting, it makes it much easier to tidy up when I am done if all the bits and bobs are on the mat. You can also see double sided sticky tape which I think every crafter is a little bit in love with, and my craft knife and scissors which I used to cut out all the elements of my digi stamp.

This is the final card not 100% happy with it but pleased as its the first card of this type that I have made. I used a digi stamp which I cut into individual elements and mounted them on different levels of my folded piece of card. The bamboo canes were fiddely to cut out so I don't think they look as neat as I would like. The sentiment circle I did in green and then added stamps I think it would look more effective in a purple colour rather then blending in with the foliage in the rest of the image. I added some glitter glue to the card to make it a bit more interesting. Overall I like the image but think the way I have set up the card could be better I think I would give it 6/10.

I look forward to looking at what everyone else has on there desk this Wednesday.

First Attempt at using Pro Markers

This morning I have been using my new pro markers with some digi stamps. I had researched pro markers on a number of blogs and thought they would be a great choice to colour in stamped images. I have seen some really amazing colouring online and wanted to try it out for myself.

Im going to be honest, its not as easy as many of the online video tutorials make it look, but its great fun experimenting to try and get the shading right. I have coloured in two of the same hamster images and even here I can see an improvement between my first and second attempt. Hopefully you can too.

My first attempt is the one on the right hand side and the second attempt is the one on the left. I prefer my second attempt I think that the shadows and shading look better on it. I tried to add a fur texture to my first attempt by layering a lighter sand coloured promarker over the honeycomb one. I am not totally happy with the effect which is why on the second image I just added shadows by using a combination of spice and honeycomb coloured markers.

Overall I am happy with how the image turned out for a first attempt but I can definitely improve, I want the image to be less streaky and marked. I currently only have 20 pro markers I have Rubber Stamp set one and two which are priced at £15 each. In order to improve I decided to order more colours so am waiting for a delivery of another 30 pens as well as a blender pen.

I really enjoyed using the pro markers and can see it becoming very addictive!