Butterfly stepper card

This is my DT project for the WOW! Feb colour challenge using fluorescent colours.  I wasn't too sure about the colours when I saw them in their jars - a bit brighter than my usual choices, but they are lovely when embossed, and I am a convert! also found I was able to emboss small panels and then punch shapes out of them without any cracking or flaking - brilliant! 

Went to Make it show at Farnborough last Friday, and spent way too much! Had a lot of fun though, and already started experimenting with my new stash. Strangely for me, didn't buy many stamps this time, but tons of card and paper, plus Flitter Glue (not tried that yet) embossing paste, punches and some fabulous dies.

Off now to get ready for this afternoons class

thanks for stopping by. Happy crafting!

Debs x

WOYWW 142 - an almost clear desk!

This is my desk today, almost clear! (For me lol!!)  A pile of paper ready to be sorted for my next class, at the back my little box of WOW! Stamps - an old washing tablet box covered in pretty paper and awaiting embellishments! 

(The WOW! Feb embossing challenge is still open til 29/2, with a nice prize for the winner or 12 embossing powders of your choice in a carry case - still time to enter!!)

 And this was my work table on Monday - lots of Pro Markers, finishing off my paper weaving projects, and with a special Helper!

My husband is keen on clocks and pocket watches, and is also a good photographer, so I asked him to take some pics of them last year, and set about turning them into toppers, backing papers and borders.  Not really done anything with them, but thought I would share them. My hubby isn't into the 'traditional' men's stuff of football/rugby etc (although if it has an engine and wheels he will watch it lol!) so I have to stretch the brain cells to come up with ideas for cards for him, and using his own photos was great.  I have also created sets of papers and toppers from pics of CD's, music tapes (!), fountain pens, DIY tools, beer, wine  etc - it's fun creating my own papers, so I really should get around to doing something more with them.

For those who are wondering why I am blathering on, take a look at Julia's blog where Weds is the day for world travel!  We get the chance to check out crafter's work across the world, and share pics of our work desks, tidy or messy, empty or full!

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Here's to using up leftovers!

Many of you already know that I run regular craft classes, so I thought I would share the aftermath of my Weds night class.......

 This first pic is all the stamps and Distress Inks piled high on my table, ready for cleaning and sorting.  We always end up throwing everything in the crates at the end of the night, and I start my day with a cuppa and a sort out!  Well, this particular class used a lot of card pre-cut to size, and I had an awful lot of identical sized strips of card left afterwards.........................

Being a typical crafter, I didn't want to throw it away, lots of good quality card, what could I do with it...hmmmmm..............the craft brain went into overdrive and started thinking about weaving the strips together to make a decorative background, so out came a set of Penny Black stamps I've been wanting to play with, and my trusty Pro Markers, and I had so much fun!

I coloured some strips to match my main stamped image, and left some white, then wove them together in a basket weave pattern.  The main trick is to stick one end of each strip (just one direction to start with) in place with double sided, then to weave the strips thru from the other direction until you're happy with the layout, then attach double sided tape to the underside of the end of each strip and fix each one in place as you go.  I found using the lines on my craft mat invaluable to line up the strips evenly along both edges!

They looked a bit boring on a plain white background, so I stamped a quick background with one of the small flower stamps from the set (Micey Day) and quickly coloured the centre of the daisies to match and presto! Big improvement. See what you think.............

And as I had so many strips, I made quite a few cards, but can only give you a quick peek of one here, as they are now destined for Making Cards magazine, along with a set of tea bag folding cards I've been working on.  Again, I had a ball making these, not having tried tea bag folding before, so I made flowers, medallions and butterflies, and made a beaded body for my folded butterfly out of twisted wire, and it came out pretty good! But that's for another post......

For all those who asked, I will get around to a TP mini album soon, and show you how to make one from scratch, and the finished sample...it's on the crafty to do list!!!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a fab crafty weekend

Debs x

WOYWW 141 and the Craft Room Workout!

It has been a really busy week, and I couldn't believe it when I realised that the last time I blogged was a whole week ago! And here I am again, wondering where that week went lol!!  I think I've learned my lesson about scheduling classes so close together.  I have run 4 classes in the last week, and what with packing kits, sorting the toolkits after each one ready for the next, and finishing my samples for the NEC trade show, I am pooped! 


So, I thought I would share with you what I've spent the last 45 mins doing................

 BEFORE...... this is the Cuttlebug work station, aka the kitchen counter (can you tell???? lol!) 


and you can just see at the bottom right of the pic, a big carrier bag full of......... loo rolls.


I needed to flatten these, and a pile of kitchen roll tubes, ready for a future class where we will be making TP mini albums. For those who have never seen them, these are cute little mini scrapbooks/brag albums made from.............you guessed it..... loo roll inner tubes!


Now for the AFTER............

A whole carrier bag full reduced to a few square inches! All neat and ready to go. 


Now for that workout bit, it took 45 mins of manual labour on the Cuttlebug to achieve this, and it was hot work! Who needs Zumba classes when you have a Cuttlebug and a bag full of loo rolls???  Doesn't sound that great, does it!!!??

An now for something completely different.........................  this is the men's Valentine's card I made for the WOW! Embossing Powders design team blog. Random hearts and sentiments stamped all over the inner pop out section and embossed in Platinum, and the sparkly heart dangling in the aperture is embossed in 2 different colours, one on each side of the heart so you get a really cool effect as it rotates.

OK,  I am off to load up the car for tonight's class, and when I get back, or possibly tomorrow morning, I will scoot round as many desks as I can in the weekly snoopathon hosted over at the Stamping Ground


Thanks for stopping by


debs x

WOYWW 140 - where did that week go??

 Where on earth did the past week go ? the last few days have just flown by, and there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done!

This is my desk/dining room table today, stacked with leftover matchbox easel cards from last week, my Pro Marker colour chart, as yesterday I was working on samples for Saturday's class. The pile of samples for the class being buried under the big roll of paper on the right of the desk.  Said roll having been used as backdrop to try to improve my photos for my DT samples - I am definitely no David Bailey!

The eagle-eyed amongst you might spot the tester pot of paint sitting in a little white box in the middle of the table - I am in the process of painting a papier mache box ready for decorating, only had to move it from the kitchen cos it was in the way of that important work aid - the kettle!!

Oh, did I mention that whopping great box on the left??? Full of other boxes hopefully awaiting altering and decorating - otherwise known as the place boxes in our house get dumped lovingly placed awaiting a makeover!

I thought I would share with you some of my DT work for the WOW! Embossing team, on the theme of Valentine's Day, as it's so close!  These 2 were made using WOW! stamps and Embossing powders, and are gloriously girlie in red and pink :-)  There is a men's Valentine's card too, but I will save that for another day :-)

  

Happy WOYWW everyone, and if you're not sure what I'm blathering about,hop on over to the wonderful Julia's blog, where you can snoop into lots of crafty desks around the world

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Matchbox Easel cards and Pro Marker Storage!

Hi everyone, my recent obsession with boxes has carried over into my classes, and I thought I would share with you a pic of the Matchbox Easel Cards we made last night.

I love these little boxes as they are so versatile. They are a basic square easel card, mounted on a square 'matchbox' in a sleeve. I can personally vouch for the fact that they hold up to 9 Lindor choccies - but only 3 left now! ;-)  They can be for any occasion, we made some for valentine's day, and birthdays. I decided to go with a contemporary black and white stamped design, adding a bold colour accent in the punched images - I think they look fab!

I am entering the one on the right of the pic (with the heart!) in the Oldie but Goodie Challenge cos I've had the cute heart with a birdie stamp for ages and this is the first time I've used it! Also the Allsorts Challenge with one or More Hearts as the theme.

I  also thought I'd share with you a 'tidy tip', as I am rather prone to showing my messy workspace onn my postings, so I thought I would show that I do have some semblance of organisation!  Also, Di over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop is on a mammoth stamps re-org, and inspired me to show some organisation!

One of my biggies with organising my stash is that I need to be able to cart it around to the classes that I run, and so I have several chests of drawers, with lots of organiser boxes holding inks, different paper and card etc.  I use my Pro Markers all the time, both at home and at workshops, so I needed something portable, but that would let me organise my pens into colour families - I have about 75 pens, and want them all in one place.  I wasn't keen on the Letraset storage wallets, and lots of other wallets are really pricey, so here is my solution:

 

This is a toiletries bag, with a number of separate see thru zipped compartments, all of which are attached to the main case by velcro strips and so can be pulled out of the case as required, or I can just unzip the relevant compartment. The middle compartment even has a small zipped mesh outer pocket that holds my ultra fnine nibs - perfect! And the whole thing zips closed and fits nicely into my drawer when not in use.  And the best bit??? This cost me £3 on Ebay!

  

So, that's me for Thurs night. I'm demo'ing this Sunday at Hobbycraft, with a Valentine's theme - by the time Valentine's Day actually arrives I will be heartily sick of hearts! 

Thanks for stopping by

Debs xx