Cardmaking Again

 Well, I've been busy but don't have a whole lot to show for it. I must be the worst cardmaker in the world. It takes me days to decided on just the right paper, just the right stamp and die, etc. Then I usually end up doing it over about three times before I finish it! My latest card took two days, then as I was about to pop it into the envelope, I noticed a big black ink smudge on the front. At that point I was ready to blow up my craft room and swear off ever crafting again.

This is the card. I managed to save it by using some glittery washi tape. It doesn't look too good in this photo but it really did look nice. The washi tape, although it doesn't look like it here, was the exact colour of the soft aqua-blue. I also tried out my new Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen and was really pleased with the result.

It has to be held in the right light to see it, but I used the gold on the edges of the flower. I'd really like to learn how to take photos of my cards to show their true colours. On SplitCoast Stampers, some of the photos look downright professional. I'm going to make it my "quest" to learn how to do that! I usually take photos with my Samsung Galaxy S9 phone but it never really does a good job. I have plenty of other cameras but I've just been too lazy to get them out of the closet.

As for the pens, they're great. There were three in the pack (silver, gold, copper) for a little over £6 from CraftStash, my favourite supplier. I really was looking for a pen called Wink of Stella but everywhere I looked, they were out of stock. I still have that one coming from Amazon, but I think they get it from a USA source so it takes awhile. I can wait.

All this was the result of our recent Craft Day. I've been meeting with three other crafters for about 15 years, once per month. The COVID crisis lockdown here has meant we couldn't get together for about a year and a half, but we finally did last weekend. It felt great. One of us, Barbara, brought out BAGS of cards she's been making during lockdown. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your views, Amazon and a few other craft stores have been open for online shopping so we've all been shopping.

By the way, Blogger keeps flagging words as being spelled wrong, but it's the problem of British spelling vs American spelling. As an American who has lived in England for almost 20 years, I've developed a schizophrenic spelling complex. Spelling was always my very best subject but now I get confused. So favorite/favourite, color/colour, etc. is what we're stuck with.

My New Gemini Mini

 Well, here I am AGAIN...not a year later! I've been wanting a little die cutter that I can take to Craft Day or take along anywhere really. After researching for three days and many hours (!) I decided to try the Gemini Mini. It arrived today and I of course had to try it immediately. 

This is the Gemini as I received it, with the accessories. It only came with one folder but I purchased an extra set of 3. It's a good thing as the folders do get quite marked up from the cutting.

I used a very small and intricate die. It's the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Framelits #662270. But I actually got quite a few on the first cut.

 I can tell I'm going to love this little thing. I've got it right on my desktop and it hardly takes  up any room. It only weighs about the same as my phone and fits right into my palm!

I am really cramped for space now. In our previous house I had a whole cabin in the back garden that was twice the size of my current room (a spare bedroom). It's really put a damper on my output. 

 

This was my beloved craft house! And this is my current craft room.

I'm not really complaining as I know some crafters have less space than this, but can't help missing my old one. Our new house is much better though, so I'll have to somehow make this work. I need to get rid of a lot of my stash as the problem is that there is so much it's hard to get working by the time I go through everything to find what I want, then find room to do it. 

My work table is a portable fold-up I got from Amazon. It's really very handy and I thought I'd fold it up when I wasn't using it, but I've found that it's actually easier to leave it up and just move it around if I need something behind it.

Oh well. Off to play with my new mini! Now if the government will just lift our COVID restrictions so we can go to crops and craft days again!

Still here....

 Hello. I'm still here and we're still under COVID restrictions more than a year later! We have no restaurants, no meeting friends in coffee shops, no going out with face masks, no visiting anyone's home (which includes getting together for craft days!), no meeting up outside with more than six people, no non-essential shops open, and no libraries, zoos, parks, etc. open, so life is pretty slow now. I had my second COVID vaccination yesterday, however, so I'm feeling a little more hopeful now. A few restrictions, like non-essential shops can open now, and more of the restrictions are due to be lifted in mid-May, but I doubt that life will ever be back to "normal" again.

You'd think I'd have enjoyed all this time at home to do lots of crafting, but I feel like I've been in a dark tunnel for the past year. At least we're now having longer daylight hours, which also helps the mood. Our Spring here in southeast England has been unusually cold despite a few sunny days. 

When I do play with my craft supplies, it's always cards. Scrapbooking isn't even on my radar right now since I can't feel very inspired about scrapbooking about staying in the house for a year! On the bright side, I haven't had to make any sympathy cards for awhile! Now it's all birthday cards, which is much better.

This last card has a blue line across it because I used the wrong camera setting, so had to try to save it as a .jpg. I really am all thumbs when it comes to editing graphics. I use Photoshop Elements 2018 and all I can do is adjust colours, resize images, etc. The basic stuff. I've got to get better at this, both editing AND card-making, or give it up!

Hope things are improving for crafters. Best wishes to everyone.