Boofle

I love boofle I think he is such a cute character so I was really excited when boofle crafting supplies were released earlier this year.

I have some of the boofle embossing folders but so far only one stamp that came free in the last issue of Do Crafts magazine. I did a quick card with this free stamp as an experiment and I am fairly happy with the result as it was something I throw together in half an hour.

The card was done on some of the square papermania recycled card blanks. The paper used to back the image was from some freebie paper I had in a magazine ages and and the image was coloured with promarkers. I added some ribbon along the fold to give the card some extra interest. 

Mothers Day Card Pt 2

Just a quick post to show you the Mothers day card I have made for my mum this evening.

I am really happy with the way the stamped image turned out but not at all happy with the rest of the card I don't think the front flap really matches the design at all. I guess craft is a learning curve and not every project can be perfect.

I am still going to enter my card for the latest challenge over at passion for promarkers. Nothing ventured nothing gained I suppose.

Apologies for the photo still no camera and I cant get blogger to rotate the photo either gaaaah I despair with technology this evening.

Mothers Day Card

Just a quick post to show you all the mothers day card I have been working on for my gran. It's a pro marker coloured image of some teddy bears.

I mounted the image on some embossed dark card stock and put it on to a maroon coloured card. I added a stamped sentiment which I also mounted on some pink card stock. I decided the card looked a bit plain so added some glitter glue round the sentiment and some heart buttons to try and jazz it up a bit.

I'm still not sure its completely finished any suggestions to extra bits I could add.

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.

Stash Storage

As I mentioned in a previous post over the last two months I have amassed a huge amount of stash for a whole range of crafts. I seem to be one of those people that when I take up a hobby I really go for it.

I had been storing all this stash in various ice cream tubs and larger crates as well as just piled up on the floor. This meant it was right faff to find what I was looking for and wasn’t good for keeping things neat tidy and organised.

Most of my stash in some sort of order

Over Christmas I was lucky enough to receive a beautiful sewing box which I have used to store all my embroidery, cross stitch and sewing machine accessories in. This means it is much easier to locate exactly what I am looking for and all the threads are organised by colour and all the needles by size.

I also received a small draw system that included four draws that were all split into little sections. The sections were variable in size because you could move the dividers around to suit what you needed. The top of the draw section also opens up to reveal a large compartment.

Sewing box 

I have used this to store embellishments of varying kinds and some stamping materials. I had amassed a huge amount of sequins, beads, buttons, stickers etc. which I split up into each of the sections.

I also used it to store some of my smaller tools and basic materials including glue spreaders, foam pads, small craft knife, quilling tool and small alphabet stamps. The draws are all see through so I think this will make it much easier to find the particular embellishment or tool I am looking for each craft project.

Over Christmas Dunelm Mill had a sale as well as a further 20% of certain products, I took advantage of this by purchasing a mid size three draw system for only £7.99 which I have used to store larger tools, paper, cardstock and various glues, glitters, stamps and inks. It is completely full with a wide array of products all ready.

I still haven’t managed to store everything I have bought, I have 50 pro markers which are currently in a roses tin which is fine for keeping it tidy but makes things difficult when looking for a particular colour pen. I still have lots of paper which I have stored in a large wooden box and a number of balls of wool which are also in the same box; not to mention the enormous amount of magazines I have purchased over the last 2 months. At first I considered just removing the pages I was interested in and recycling the rest of the magazine but have actually changed my mind and decided to keep all the magazines as I think they will come in handy when looking for inspiration, information and instruction-now just need to figure out how to store them. 

Decoupage for Beginners

Today I have made two cards using a combination of coloured digi stamps and some decoupage techniques.

I had two identical images and coloured them both in, I then decided on the elements of the image that I wanted to have raised. For the single robin I decided this would be the hat and the holly branch. I then cut one image out as a whole and cut around the edges, I think a better effect could be achieved if the image was a uniform shape for example an oval but to achieve this I would need some sort of die cut machine which as of yet I don't own. On the identical image I cut out the hat and holly branch I used the scissors to cut out the basic shape and then the craft knife to do the more intricate bits, it was a bit of a faff but I got there in the end. I then affixed them to the matching image using foam pads, I used two foam pads on top of each other to make sure I got a really good 3D effect. I then stuck the whole thing onto a A5 card.

The second image I did was from a digi stamp of some love birds, I decided to try and make it more christmasy by changing the love birds into robins and adding some snow effects. It's not as Christmasy as I would like but I think the 3D decoupage effect on this card is really good.

3D Robin (camera doesn't show 3D hat or holly very well) 

As you can see I only made one or two elements 3D in these cards and stuck with quite simple images, I really enjoyed the technique and the effect it gave so may give it a go with some more complex designs in future.

Lovebirds changed to Robins (camera doesn't show the 3D effect well) 

Pro Markers Part 2

So after my attempt at colouring in the hamster digi stamps with pro markers earlier, I decided to give it another go, and this time make the stamp into a Christmas card for some friends.

I was much more careful with the merging and blending of colours this time and took a separate piece of card to use as a sort of palette. This enabled me to try different colour combinations and blending techniques out before using them on the final image.

I was much happier with the outcome of this image then I was with the two previous, the shadows aren't perfect but they give the impression I was looking for. I teamed the image up with a tartan paper with shades that matched the colours I had used on the mouse's clothes. I added some faux stitching round the edge of the paper to add to the handmade impression. The mouse image was adjoined to the card using foam pads it gives the card a 3D effect (not too obvious in the photo) I then used some Christmas stamps to create a pattern along the top, the stamps were a cheap assorted pack from Ebay so I think that combined with too much ink meant they didn't come out perfectly but I kind of like the more handmade effect the extra ink around the edges gives. I added the personal touch by stamping my friends names along the bottom. Overall pretty pleased with this card. 

I have decided to enter this card in the Celebrations Mega Challenge at Passion for Promarkers. It's the first time I have entered a competition and my first attempt at using pro markers on a card so I don't hold out much hope, but you cant win if you don't enter.

http://promarkerchallenge.blogspot.com/