The Waiting is the Hardest Part!

Hi there! I'm at my parents house for the weekend and I'm absolutely bubbling over with ideas for what I can make when I get back home. I recently got a big haul from Simon Says Stamp - it was birthday at the end of July and I got money towards a crafty spree - and I'm waiting on a later small one aswell when Ranger was 25% off.

I also finally bit the bullet and ordered the Big Daddy of foam tape rolls - the 3M one. It killed me to spend that much on foam tape but I know I won't regret it because I have been out of foam tape for, like, a month! And I can't live without it. Making a totally flat card is really hard! I got super chap tape on eBay and oh it's terrible. Its sticking to everything but the cardstock! My fingers and scissors in particular were covered in ooey gooey marshmallow like stuff! So I'll be so happy when that arrives. Plus I got it at a bargain price on Amazon - it worked out at roughly €32.

Finally, I literally just ordered a 48 pack Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and I'm so so excited. I saw them for €55 and I couldn't not buy them because I have wanted them for the LONGEST time and they are normally well out of my price range! I was going to buy the 60 pack but I have seen a lot of people saying you probably don't need all of them since they blend so well. Plus I already have the Akashiya Sai Brush Markers that I love so they'll help to fill in any blanks.

Ohhh I miss you craft desk! I'll be home soon!!

Catch Up Crafting

My boyfriend is in his final year in college and has been doing his final exams. Since we live in a small apartment I essentially moved back in with the parents for three weeks to give him space and quietness to study and to work on his dissertation. This meant I was away from my craft desk. And I totally underestimated how much I would miss it! I was miserable without being able to craft! I crocheted a fair bit which took the edge off, but I was craving a paper project!

So, I'm finally finally back home now and able to get back to crafting! I have made several cards since I've been back - a Fathers Day one for my Dad, which I'll give him on the 19th and two custom orders on my Etsy shop. One I cannot show since the bride is very private but the other I can and I love how it turned out. They requested a vintage style wedding card. Here they are:

Fathers Day Card

For the Fathers Day card I decided to use the Lawn Fawn Beep Boop Birthday stamp set. I often joke around with my parents saying 'Hi Parental units or Maternal/Paternal unit!' so I thought a robot card would be really fun.

I used the balloon in the set side by side to make larger balloons which I coloured green. I then clear embossed the sentiment and coloured over it in black to give the impression of those old computer screens which used green font on black backgrounds.

I watercoloured the background and I sprinkled a small amount of copper and verdigris embossing powder on robot me to give the impression of wear. All in all I think it came out super cute and I know my Dad will love it :)

Vintage Wedding Card

For the wedding card I chose mostly Prima papers from various paper packs. I fussy cut out the images and put together a layout. I added jute ribbon for texture (and because I love jute!) and I very lightly inked the edges of some of the papers with Tim Holtz distress ink in Brushed Corduroy.

I heat embossed the sentiment in Copper embossing powder and used Tim Holtz mini screw style brads on each side.

Its fairly rare that I make a card with no colouring and stamping (apart from sentiment) and I'm really happy with the outcome. I definitely want to try more cards like this.

Well I'm off to play with my craft supplies again. I'd love to here any comments or thoughts! Thanks for stopping by! :)

Emboss It: Simon Says Stamp Monday Challange

Today's blog post is my entry to this weeks Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which is called Emboss It. I really wanted to use my embossing powders and heat tool, but since my little craft nook is not yet set up with a power adapter I had to scrap that idea! So I decided to use one of my few embossing folders and see what I could come up with! (Few because of lack of funds, not interest. If I had money I'm fairly sure I'd buy every embossing folder in sight!

I used a Spellbinders folder, I can't remember the name off the top of my head. (I'll update when I can check it!) and I had a really hard time getting it through my Big Shot! I tried with all tabs open and it was still a no go. In the end I ran it through on a cutting plate, all tabs down but no cutting plate on top. It worked beautifully but I'm not sure if that's ok to do? I did not have this trouble with my other embossing folders.

Anywho! I wanted my card to feel warm so I inked up the embossed image with Distress Ink in Rusty Hinge. I then cut some strips of pattern paper (with sparkles!) and adhered them on one side. I used the Simon Says Stamp painted thanks die (free with an order from Simon!) with gold cardstock and I also diecut it a few times on plain cardstock and glued them together with Tombo Mono Multi Glue, to give it just a little dimension. I added some sequins and some clear Wink of Stella to some of the raised flowers and the front was done!

I used some of the same pattern paper leftovers for the inside of the card. Quick Tip!: I wanted the brownish strips to be pretty thin and I didn't want to used liquid glue so before cutting them down to size I used double sided tape on the back of the paper. Once the strips were cut I could peel the backing off the tape and stick into place! Handy!

Ok, I have rambled enough! Time for photos!

Front

Inside

Close up

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out the card! Have a great day  :D

A New Craft Space!

A few weeks ago I moved into my boyfriends apartment. I love living there with him and its so much fun. On top of that, I got to set up my very own craft space there! Its a small place so I knew I had to maximise space and make the most of it! I decided to go with IKEA products for several reasons: 1.)They were relatively cheap  2.)They are flatpacked, which is literally the only way you could get furniture in, since the entrance is a bit convoluted! 3.)I get to set them up myself! Number three might not be a bonus to some people but I love being in charge and I love working with my hands, so I was pretty happy :) Oh! And of course, I got to go to IKEA. (I could shop there for hours)

In the end I decided on three pieces of furniture.I got the Adils/Linnmon desk, the Skalberg/Sporren chair (which is SUPER comfortable by the way!) and a small Billy bookcase for all my supplies. (You can see links to these items at the bottom of the post if you'd like to check them out for yourself). Putting them together was a doddle for the most part, the exception being entirely my own fault because I forgot to bring over a hammer. However I improvised with a tin of chickpeas and it got the job done! (The state of the chickpeas is unknown but presumed mushy)

 Here is the space I decided to use as my crafting nook (with my boyfriends blessing!) and with the bookshelf up.

And here it is after all the furniture was set up. Just look at how the space takes advantage of all that natural light coming in! I love it :)

Finally, here is the space at night time with all of my supplies in place.

All I need now is a lamp so that I can work at night time as well as day time (because you never know when the mood strikes!). I'm definitely going to need more storage because my stuff is already bursting out of those shelves, but for now I will make do!

Its small, but its mine and I just love it!

Links to the products used:

• The Adils/Linnmon desk 
• The Skalberg/Sporren chair 
• The Billy bookcase 

Ever After SimonSaysStamp Challenge Entry!

Today I entered my first ever challenge! The Simon Says Stamp & Show blog has a challenge open called 'Ever After'. The idea is to create something fairytale inspired! I love the idea of challenges, especially on a day where I want top create something but I'm not sure what. Having a theme is great because it gives you a starting point without dictating exactly what you make! I'm pretty happy with how the tag came out.

I decided to make a tag with a quote by W.H Auden - "The way to read fairytales is to throw yourself in". I used blues and golds and wanted to create a tag that kind of 'glowed' rather than sparkled. I'd love to hear what you think so please feel free to give me your thoughts/feedback. Now for some photos! :)




View from the front

I tried to add a lot of texture.

More texture.



Using a flash - trying to show the 'glow'

The 'glow'

Allow me to introduce myself!

Hello all. I wanted to make a blog so that I could share my crafty adventures with others. So I thought I would start out by telling you all what I'm interested in! I'll just throw down my list and who knows, maybe we'll have something in common. So in no particular order!

Papercrafting, polymer clay, knitting, computers, video/computer games, consoles, sewing, beading and making jewellery, animals, nature, wildlife, learning, cinema, reading, crafts in general, shopping, sci-fi, science, mythology, veterinary medicine.

Phew! Well, thats all I can think of off the top of my head. I promise next time there will be a proper post. I just didn't wanna dive straight in there!