Sunday 30 August 2020

Covid and me

 Okay, be honest now, who is as fed up with this Covid virus as I am? So far husband and I have managed to stay healthy, so I'm grateful for that, but just generally bored, sick and tired of staying at home, and hating to wear a mask every time I need to go shopping. We're fortunate that grocery delivery slots have opened up now and thank goodness for Amazon! They deserve a prize for keeping us sane. I really hate it when people criticise them, as they were delivering from the beginning and it always comes on time (at least here). I made some face masks (not as easy as it looks) and bought a couple more, but none of them are comfortable to wear for more than an hour.

Those of us who do crafts are really fortunate, however. I do know a couple of women who live alone, have no hobbies, don't read, don't garden, don't drive..... and now they're depressed. Well, if that were me, I'd be downright suicidal! On the other hand, crafting gets a little old after a while, too. Yet I carry on, sort of.


Unfortunately, I've had to make a few of these sympathy cards lately. I ordered the die (above) and some stamps, but sympathy cards are not my favourite thing to make. It usually means someone has died (in every case for us, thankfully, not from the virus). It's also difficult trying to decide what colours (nothing too bright), stamps, paper, etc. to use.


This card (above) was for a friend's birthday. I used the Tim Holtz/Sizzix dies to make the flowers and coloured them with Distress Ink and gel pens. As with all my cards, I spend much longer on the planning than on the actual making of the card. I end up looking at Pinterest, CraftWorld, Split Coast Stampers and other websites for inspiration, but then whatever I make never looks like the original anyway. Maybe it's not meant to?


For example, I saw this card (above) on the Internet and just loved it! So of course I had to order the die (Tim Holtz/Sizzlets again for both the flowers and the lattice dies) and try to copy the general idea. I did make one myself but mine was not this beautiful however! It never is!!! 



When I see them side-by-side I can see what I missed: the original has a grass border and the flowers are smaller (or maybe the card is larger?). Ah well, my recipient liked it anyway. I never seem to have the RIGHT colour ink, paper, or the right die, despite having a fairly large stash (though it's constantly growing).

My Stampin' Up stamps are all about 10 years old and still in their original boxes. These are just a few of them. 



And my other stamps are in mostly plastic bins (about six of them this size (below). I have one box for just sentiments, the other three are mostly not sentiments.




And of course, two boxes of punches (remember those??) and on and on. Yet, as I said, I never have just the right one! Sigh....oh well, I suppose I'm doing my best to keep the craft industry alive. How about you? I'd love for you to leave some comments so I can see what you've been up to or some suggestions for organising, perhaps.

I'm also really still struggling with my Gemini Jr. but that's a story for another day. 






Saturday 16 May 2020

Still truckin' along....slowly

Well, I'm still here, still trucking along with crafting. I've managed to accumulate a few new stamps and some other things. Mostly I'm just loving the experimenting with techniques from YouTube. It's really amazing all the wonderful ideas you can pick up there. For example, I am in love with the water colour effects ("Easy Watercolor Stamping Techniques" for cardmaking) as demonstrated by Jennifer McGuire. If you haven't checked her out, please treat yourself. She's amazing!

Another person I love to watch is GinaK. She has her own line of stamps and more, but she has some wonderful techniques. For something really fun and different, look at her "Outside the Box" video. Her cards tend to have a clean, simple look and you don't need to invest heavily in lots of things you don't have.

My youngest grand-daughter in the US, is turning 10 years old in a couple of weeks. She's at that hard-to-please age: too old for a lot of children's cards, but not yet quite old enough for the teen themes. I ended up doing this one;


I can't honestly say I love this one, but I think it sort of fits. I first thought it was boring and plain, so I added some gems in a few places, then the die cut out of the same paper as the frame, so that made it a little better.  I used my (very old) Cosmic Shimmer (I think Cosmic Shimmer may now have a different name) paints to colour the fairies' wings:


She'll have to move it around in the light to see the gold shine but it did make the card a bit more jazzy. 

In the last  post I wrote about my new Tim Holtz glass media mat and the Stamping Platform. I've used both of them now and can report I am over the moon with both. The stamping platform is larger than my old one, so much more useful. And I've watched the YouTube video where he shows how to use it and the differences in how inks work on the glass versus the craft mat. Who'd have thought!!!

And here's one more I did for someone. This was an ultra simple, plain card but the recipient liked it, so that's all that counts. I played with my Gemini Jr. to do this, but frankly I prefer my old hand-cranked Big Shot for most die cutting. The Gemini seems to not cut so evenly, but I may not have my sandwich just right yet.


That's all for now. Please feel free to leave comments. It would be nice to just know that someone is looking at this blog....




Saturday 9 May 2020

DANGER ahead...

Yes, this "Stay at Home" routine is getting dangerously expensive. So far, I've bought about a dozen dies and stamps, the Tim Holtz craft mat, and the Tim Holtz stamp platform. Of course I had to have the protective sleeve for the stamp platform, too!

I wasn't too sure about this media mat. I'd seen him demo it but didn't know if I'd really like it. However, I've fallen in love with it now. It's so easy for blending and for watercolour, and easy to clean.

This was just delivered yesterday. I had another one but I stupidly did some heat embossing on the card while it was still on the platform and the rubber mat is now all wavy and I can't get a good stamp image. I "researched" several other brands for replacing it, then settled on this one. I haven't used it yet but will within the next few days, I'm sure. Of course there have been a few other things too. Amazon and a few other delivery services have now become frequent visitors! After all, we have to do our bit to support the economy, don't we? 

But seriously, I am using these things. I've made more cards in the last few weeks than in the last few years, I think. I've also been experimenting with a few new techniques. I've discovered a couple of favourite YouTube video demonstrators, like Jennifer McGuire and GinaK. They both do amazing things. I'm learning (not quite there yet) to do blending with Distress inks and Distress Oxide inks. Also to do the watercolour techniques (a Jennifer McGuire revelation). It's fun and a good way to pass the time since we're supposed to be in isolation.


This one (above) was pretty bog-standard but I did have fun making the butterflies. The patterned paper matched the blue in the stamped image, but it doesn't show up well in the photo. The recipient said she loved it, so that was good! I used my stamping platform to get the two colours on the flowers. I don't know why these stamping platforms weren't invented long ago.....they're a godsend for stampers.


This one (above) was just a play-around with blending colours. I'd seen some similar cards on Pinterest and was trying to do the same. The main stamp was a bit crooked and I wasn't satisfied with the blended background so it's gone into my "just a prototype" file for now!


This one I loved. Simple but pretty. I coloured the flowers using Cosmic Shimmers paints. If you're not familiar with them, they come in little round tubs and you just wet your brush, then dip into the tub to get the paint. The colours have a sort of shimmer or metallic quality that's really lovely. I sent this one to a friend who lives alone in an assisted living accommodation and she called to say she loved it. I think sometimes just sending a card for no reason is really uplifting. People usually love to get cards because it lets them know that someone is thinking of them.

So, that's one of the things I've been doing to keep sane in this crazy time. Plus a few books, lots of time spent looking at Pinterest, and watching mindless television. How about you?


Tuesday 17 March 2020

Every Cloud.....

Yes, this COVID-19/Corona virus is a very dark and dense cloud, but even it has a slight silver lining for some of us. Crafters and writers are finding a little extra time to ply their craft. Here in England, the government has asked that anyone with a sniffle, or anyone over 70, or anyone with underlying health issues, does "self-isolation" for up to 12 weeks! Yikes! I doubt that many of us can last that long without going bonkers, but a few weeks will give us a little time to play. Our churches are closed, along with cinemas, pubs, some restaurants, sports clubs, and more.

As for me, I plan to rediscover some of my supplies and put them to use making cards, perhaps a scrapbook page or two, and also just getting some reading done. I've finally got my craft room sorted enough to do a little work:

Obviously I still have a long way to go, but considering I went from a large cabin to a smallish bedroom, I feel pretty satisfied.



Unfortunately, I had to give up my work table as there is no possible way to squeeze it in. However, I found a sort-of-solution: a folding table:

It's not as large as my work table was, but it's really big enough. When it's not in use, it folds flat and stacks against the wall. It's very sturdy and just the right height. I'll just use it in the middle of the room, which will give me enough room (barely) to get around it to get my supplies out. Hey ho...we make do with what we've got, don't we? I got this from Amazon...as we do!

Now, to get to work!


 

Wednesday 11 March 2020

New Craft Digs!

I really must  change that photo in the header...we've just moved and (sob!) I don't have my lovely craft cabin anymore. I've squeezed everything into a bedroom in our new house. It's not all bad, however. I found with the cabin (and British weather) I just went into the cabin less and less. Now that I'm in the house and my computer is here in the craftroom also, I'm spending more time in here. It's been a couple of weeks getting organized (that's "organised" with an "s" for my UK readers) but I'm nearly there. I'll take some photos soon but it's still a work-in-progress at the moment!

One of the benefits of the move is that in packing and unpacking, I've discovered supplies I'd forgot I had, and some that I still have to scratch my head and wonder what it is and what I have to do with it! Of course, this is about 16-17 years of collecting, so it's no small matter. When I started in card-making, all my supplies fit into a large shoe box. Then I met some wonderful crafting friends (we still meet up monthly after more than 12 years) and we started attending craft shows, sharing tips, feeding each other's craft envy, trying new techniques... and craft supplies just seemed to multiply exponentially. If you're a crafter, you know how that happens.

So here's a taste of what I've been doing for the move:




I'm getting there, slowly but surely. It won't be as neat as my old craft cabin but maybe it's as good or better as far as getting me to actually work in it! Please watch this space if you're interested.