KarmaCraftBlog

A couple of medallions...

2012-03-07T13:05:00.001-08:00

I had a go at colouring in some medallions with ProMarkers. I was hoping for better-looking results on the pink and purple one. I'm more pleased with the orange, yellow and green one.

I made these on Saturday, when Wendy and I managed to stay out of the shops and actually get some crafting done.

Much crafting was had by all last weekend. More to come!

Happy Birthday Jessie!

2012-02-18T05:13:00.001-08:00

I'm on the ball today. Managed to make a card for my niece's birthday.

I got to use my recently-unearthed Smirks stamps. Hooray!

Copic and ProMarker Matchup!

2012-02-11T08:36:00.000-08:00

I started my solvent-based marker collection with Copics and when my preferred retailer started selling ProMarkers, I made the switch.

Not to be wasteful, I decided to go about matching my existing Copics up with their nearest ProMarker counterpart and fill in the square on the colour chart so I don't double up when buying ProMarkers.

I tried to look online for a list of matches but I didn't have much luck. So as a service, I will list my own Copics and the ProMarker colours that are close enough to them.

Please note: If you have colour OCD, this may not be good enough for you. ;) Yes, you know who you are... ;)

I only have 13 copics plus a blender pen, so this will be a short list.

E0000 is closest to Almond.
E00 is closest to Blush.
R11 is closest to Soft Peach.
YG11 is closest to Meadow Green. Thanks to Lili of the Valley for this one.
G14 is closest to Grass.
G05 is closest to Emerald.
BG10 is closest to Pastel Green.
BG49 is closest to Petrol Blue, although Marine is also a good match.
B97 is closest to Midnight Blue.
BV00 is closest to Lavender.

There are three more in my collection I am attempting to match:
E02 - I think this one may be Peach or Apricot.
BV04 - Search me. I thought it was Prussian Blue but it just isn't...
B93 - Blue Pearl is too purple, Duck Egg is too green. It's right in the middle of those. It would make a really gorgeous gradient though. It's a skotche darker than Denim blue and less purple than cornflower. Hmm...

My work is not quite done. Any ideas or suggestions? Please comment. Perhaps we could build up a Copic/Promarker matching database with our combined experiences. Please click the title of this post and send the link to anyone you think might be interested. We could be helping the greater craft community here.

Stuffed Butternut Squash

2012-02-08T04:00:00.001-08:00

I was doing the shopping yesterday and saw a spice packet for stuffed butternut squash. I had to have it. It's lunchtime, baby!

Matryoshka Card

2012-02-05T08:58:00.001-08:00

I made six cards today at the crop. I had a great time playing with my ProMarkers.

Neapolitan Blues

2012-02-04T11:30:00.001-08:00

I've been playing with my Marianne Designs Creatables flower dies today. I love making these little beauties, and I'm using up my scraps. Loving it!

Not sure why the photo is upside down, but it doesn't matter much. ;)

Pound shop find!

2012-01-21T04:41:00.001-08:00

It's rare that I find something this good at the pound shop. Here it is! A pair of earrings made of eight ultra-light metal flowers suspended from a larger rosette. I bought the three pairs I could find on the shelf. I will be taking my pliers to them and separating the pieces. I'll show you what I use them for soon... Here's hoping anyway!

Cards from the Scraps

2012-01-16T01:00:00.000-08:00

There was a later class in the Pretty Paper Party about paper weaving. I incorporated this into my stash dive when making some cards out of the smaller scraps when I was done making pages. First, I wove the papers on straight, and for the second one, I wove them separately and stuck them on at an angle. I like them both. :)

Art of Crochet Square 91

2012-01-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

This one went quickly. I forgot how "holey" designs take so much less time!

Short and sweet-- less talking, more crafting!

Debden 2009

2012-01-14T01:00:00.000-08:00

This page is the last one I did with my stash dive. I have smaller pieces now to make cards with. I think I have filed them in my scraps only section.

I'm a lot happier with this one than I was with the previous one. This one uses strips of paper, anchoring the paper to the top and the bottom of the layout. I punctuated it with flowers punched with EK Success retro flowers and button middles.

Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party is still on in this house! I'm going to go through each class slowly as and when I have time. I'm really enjoying it.

Art of Crochet Square 90

2012-01-13T01:00:00.000-08:00

Could I finally be getting the hang of putting the designs in the middle where they belong?? Looks like it...

M&M World

2012-01-12T01:00:00.000-08:00

Another page from my creative stash dive. You may have noticed the letter blocks on the previous two pages. These are most of the rest of them. I'm not very good at clustering embellishments yet, and I did intend to make a cluster but the photos sort of took over and I didn't really have any room for anything else. I still have a lot to learn as a scrapper.

Art of Crochet Square 89

2012-01-11T01:00:00.000-08:00

This was not the square I was looking forward to doing right after I'd made those sofa cushions for my Mother-In-Law. This pattern was the one I used on the cushions, and after making two large ones, this basketweave was the last thing I wanted to make! But I soldiered on.

Debden 2010...

2012-01-10T01:00:00.000-08:00

In 2008, 2009 and 2010, a group of us would hire out the conference room at Debden House in Loughton and stay there for the weekend. We would arrive on a Friday afternoon, set up all our crafty stuff, have dinner, craft into the night, trundle up to bed, come down for breakfast and a full day of free-form craft time (no classes scheduled, just do what you like), lunch, dinner, some tv (there was a huge plasma on one wall of the conference room), and late-night belly laughing and just a little bit of drinking... some more than most... followed by Sunday breakfast, more crafting, Sunday lunch and packing up and going home at about 4pm. Usually sometime before the lunch we would all pile outside to set up some photos. This is the group shot that we took in 2010.

This is another layout made with my "stash dive" from Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party (see link). Pleating is the order of the day here. I did some box pleats on a border-punched piece at the top, and I fanned out some bits along the side with the striped paper. Fun!!

Art of Crochet Square 88

2012-01-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to my readers!! This is my first post of the year.

I have been otherwise engaged since late November. I decided to develop and teach beginners' cardmaking course. If you know anyone in the East London (UK) area who would like to start at square one and see what it's all about, send them to my website. I teach at set venues or in students' homes, party-style.

Shameless plugs aside, I have been crocheting a bit. I had laid my crochet squares aside so I could make two sofa cushions for my mother-in-law for Christmas as I did last year. I worked like mad on them and finished them in record time, then went back to the squares after about a week off.

This one was fun to re-visit in a different colour combination. I love colourwork. This one requires that I carry the most-used colour up the side of the work and I don't think I quite have the hang of keeping it neat. I may have to hide it when I sew it all together.

Getting back on the partwork horse lit a fire under me so I've been churning out squares like mad! I still have a few to make before I catch up with deliveries, but what is more exciting for me is that I have the instructions to assemble the third quarter of the throw! I will be doing that in the next few days, I hope. Then I can get back to the crochet.

Friends Come Rain or Come Shine

2011-11-25T05:14:00.000-08:00

Another Pretty Paper Party piece! This one is part of my first ever "Creative Stash Dive." It's a great way of pulling out papers you have but don't manage to use and get them on pages!! I had a blast with this Creative Stash Dive and I will be doing more. But for now, the following pages (until I say otherwise) were the result of this Dive. :)

In this photo are me and the other two Musketeers- from left to right, Aroma-Miss (Karen), All-Those (Wendy), and Portly (me). Missing is the fourth Musketeer, Dartan-Lyn.

She's Barking Mad!

2011-11-22T04:31:00.001-08:00

This layout was done as part of Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party. (See below for link.) I got brave and took different patterned papers (I even mixed manufacturers) to make this! Not a solid in sight!! Usually I stick to one manufacturer for my paper-matching but I added two sheets from elsewhere into the mix and used both sides of one.

Most of the patterned paper is Bloom and Grow from My Mind's Eye. The rest.... who knows???

Art of Crochet Square 87

2011-11-09T01:00:00.000-08:00

Could it be??? Could I have properly centred a cross-stitched design on one of my squares?

It certainly looks like I did...

Birthday Bears

2011-11-08T01:00:00.000-08:00

I can't remember the font I used for this title, sorry... could be Elephants in Cherry Trees, but then again, maybe not... sorry. Something has to fall out of my brain eventually and this time it was a font. Oops.

I rarely do a DLO but there were a few pictures for this event and one was large, so... on it went. :) Again, stunning lack of embellishment. Fascinating!

Brollly Dollies

2011-11-07T01:00:00.000-08:00

I love this quirky umbrella paper. Keep your eyes peeled because I used a bit of it in a few upcoming pages!

This time, however, I used it for an umbrella-themed page. The rest have nothing to do with umbrellas.

The title was die-cut using my Craft Robo, the Marketing Script font, and the Weld function in Silhouette Studio. Hooray! It works!

Joyriding

2011-11-06T01:00:00.000-07:00

It's Pattern-tastic!

This is what I do when I come to the end of a paper collection: I just lob a bunch of my favourites together to make up a background of sorts. The title was scribbled with a black Sharpie.

Brighton Belle

2011-11-05T01:00:00.000-07:00

More BasicGrey loveliness and my new Papermania stamps.

I don't know why but I just didn't feel like doing much on the embellishment front last month. Sometimes I do just "phone it in." I don't think every page has to be an all-out mega effort really. Just keeping it simple.

Ex-Ter-Min-Ate!

2011-11-04T01:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you Basic Grey for making the perfect background to make this layout just a little disturbing. :) The title is die-cut with the Craft Robo using Chintzy CPU font.

No Daleks were harmed in the making of this scrapbook page.

Steam

2011-11-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

Another outing for Basic Grey's Oliver collection and matching Bazzill cardstock, simply does it.

A first outing for my new papermania stamp set, it's a set of ribbons and greetings that are meant to fit inside. I skipped the greetings and wrote inside the ribbons myself.

Art of Crochet Square 86

2011-11-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

In different light, this lilac colour looks a bit like baby blue! I loved this textured square. I had a bit of tension trouble on the bottom but I think it's due to the fact that the stitches are done alternately in the back loop then front loop etc. It will compact the row and make the original chain look a bit bulky. It should be fine once it becomes part of the throw.

Exhibitors

2011-11-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

More pictures of my babies at the railway exhibition. This one takes full advantage of a bubbly BasicGrey patterned paper background and some cardstock mats, borders and die-cut title. Ta-Da!!

Dinner...

2011-10-31T01:00:00.000-07:00

This paper was already a collage-style layout so I just added the photos with white mats to make them stand out a bit and cut around certain elements, tucking the photos underneath.

She is Small and Very Funny.

2011-10-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

I just love these pictures of my two babies making each other laugh.

There's not an embellishment in sight on this simple page. Just the use of a border punch and that's about it.

Art of Crochet Square 85

2011-10-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

Hmm... it still looks like a kid did it.. but I think I'm just getting the hang of chain stitch.

Angel Sketch Card

2011-10-24T01:00:00.000-07:00

There were two scrapbook sketch challenges at the retreat and two card ones. This is the second card sketch. I used an angel stamp that I had bought that day, my ocean depth chalk ink, two flower punches, bling, some squares of scrap and that's just about it!

Birdie Sketch Card

2011-10-23T01:00:00.000-07:00

Aww, isn't it sweet? I think it is anyway. It's a card that I made for a sketch challenge that was provided in our welcome packs from the retreat. It has on it some swirly stamps in Jumbo Java chalk ink, some Basic Grey birds stamped in Ocean Depth chalk ink, and some scraps of Basic Grey cardstock I had lying around. I punched a pair of flowers too, curling the top one up a bit, and putting some bling in the middle. Add three more giant bits of bling in the top and there you go. My sketch entry!

My class with Zoe

2011-10-22T01:00:00.000-07:00

This was the Artistic Etchings class from Zoe Pierson at the Cardinal Colours retreat. I really enjoyed this one too. Zoe's cards are clean-looking but usually show a new and different technique. This one was great. We layered punched border strips, made stripey butterflies, even ruffled ribbon-- and feathers!!! The feather-ruffling came when the ribbon-ruffling wasn't going too well. Some of us (no names!) were swearing like troopers! Fun!!! Zoe Rocks!

Botanical Cards

2011-10-21T01:00:00.000-07:00

This was one marathon of a class-- quite fast-paced. I needed to get the extra couple of cards done in my spare time during the retreat!

I rarely use kits, but this paper set from Craftwork Cards really is gorgeous, and adding a splash of colour with Promarkers was a breeze too. So much fun!

Here, Kitty Kitty...

2011-10-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

This little kitty blanket was featured in Art of Crochet magazine, the partwork I've been getting for well over a year now. I really enjoyed this blanket. It was done in the round, and started with a chain. All I had to do was keep going round in an oval and then add ears and go round again and again and again... six times. A few embroidered features and that's it!

I made the blankie for Miss Murtle (yes, spelled like that), my friend's kitty. Last time I saw her, she was eyeing it with uncertainty. Perhaps she will make friends with it one day.

Art of Crochet Square 84

2011-10-19T01:00:00.000-07:00

Another granny square. :) There seem to be a lot of these. It's really nice though-- they are laid out on the throw in a diagonal line. It gives form to the throw. Cool.

Two Title Pages

2011-10-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

Here's two title pages I made for my scrapbooks. My title pages have evolved over the years, but they always have the same words on them: Our name, the year, and the months of the year covered in the scrapbook. I don't like my books to get too huge and unwieldy, so I used to divide my years into 4 albums, but now I can fit them into two. I haven't got babies anymore, and sadly I'm not as snap-happy as I once was. Hopefully, this is just a phase and I will start taking more photos.

Title pages are a great opportunity to keep it simple and just add a minimum of decorations just to punch it up a little. On both of these, I used border stickers, my Robo cut font and not much else. I left room on the 2011 one to put months in if I need to. I'm not sure yet how many albums this year's pages will be in.

Touch of Class

2011-10-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

This was a great class by S-J. It was meant to be a class on White Space, but S-J said it kinda got away from her. I know exactly what she means! That happens to me all the time. I love the result of this class and I will be doing this type of LO more often for sure.

Delicious!

2011-10-16T01:00:00.000-07:00

This page was made in Anita's Fun in the Sun class at the Cardinal Colours retreat. I took this picture on purpose because I had seen in the sneak peek that there were ice cream motifs in the page kit and we had found a Baskin Robbins locally. I was thrilled that the wallpaper in there matched the paper too, so this was actually a photo taken on purpose to make a layout. I loved this class, and I love the paper and stickers. I have loads left over too. I mght make some cards with the rest, for summer birthdays.

Scrub-a-Dub

2011-10-15T01:00:00.000-07:00

This was made using another sketch given out at the Cardinal Colours retreat. This was a great way to use those diddy little scraps that I wanted to make the most of. The title was written free-hand with white Enamel Accents and a circle of pearls was put around it. The journaling was hand-written.

Cake

2011-10-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

This was Cameron's birthday cake-- a bought Tesco one with a plastic train full of candles. I used Basic Grey Sugar Rush scraps to make this LO and I followed a sketch that was given out at the Cardinal Colours Seaside Retreat. The title was stamped using a Papermania outline alphabet stamp set and filled in with black Enamel Accents by Ranger. It makes them look a bit like Thickers without actually buying a set and having leftover letters... my pet peeve. Other times, if I want a Thickers look, I will cut several identical titles out on the Robo and layer them up to give them the thickness. This method's good for on the go, as long as you have a place to let the page dry. I took this page up to my room to dry to keep my scrapping space clear.

Tandoori Nights

2011-10-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

The paper and card for this had been lingering at the bottom of my scrap box for ages. I was deliberating over the perfect font, then I forgot about it.

The light wasn't great when I photographed this layout, sorry about that. :(

Art of Crochet Square 83

2011-10-12T01:00:00.000-07:00

I still need some help on doing cross-stitch on crochet fabric. I think it's a great way to decorate the fabric, but if you look at the top, the design is angular, and at the bottom it's straight. This design should be angular. I don't know what happened there... Hmm. And no matter how hard I try, I can't get the design centred on the square either!

And by my calculations, I have precious little time to improve my skills before my throw is done!

Buddies

2011-10-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

These pictures were quite dark, so I needed to use some dark paper so as not to make the photos look even darker than they were!

I drew around the photos and added a little bit of contrast with a white photo marking pencil. It looks a bit like chalk! The title is cut on the Robo and then outlined. I broke up the vast background by adding a border sticker. Simple again!

Lego Aircraft Carrier

2011-10-10T01:00:00.000-07:00

Continuing on with the simple theme, this double layout is made with two sheets of patterned paper stuck together by the strips that identify them when you buy them. This gives a continuity across the layout. I simply stamped the title (a bit unevenly now that I look at it) and laid the photos out and that's it.

Sometimes I tend to try and blow through layouts with pictures of things I'm not particularly interested in. I've got nothing to write about them in the journaling and I just don't find the photos that inspiring, but I know that the photos were taken because they do interest some people in the family. So I really do need to pay them some attention and get them into the album. So I soldier on.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.. or is it?

2011-10-09T01:00:00.000-07:00

This is one of my first ever font stamp sets. It's quirky, but I wasn't expecting it to change my title just by being the way it is... it looks like Chippy Chippy Bang Bang! Ah well...

Mouse Mask

2011-10-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

I only had one not-very-good photo of this, and I thought it was so cute, so I had to use it! The patterned paper under the photo says in several places, "I love you for who you are." I wanted to show this part of the paper off and use it as journaling. The title was stamped in an outline font to let the striped pattern show through. Simple as.

Bathtime Bears

2011-10-07T01:00:00.000-07:00

When I was looking through the photos I got off of Matt's phone, this one was a must-print. Someone bothered to go to the trouble of setting up all the "monsters" (that's what we call the stuffed animals) around the bathtub! I thought I'd use the seahorse paper that Karen gave me and keep it fairly simple. I stamped around the photo with a swirl border. I tore the edge of the bottom piece of paper but I've done that to death lately so I decided to roll bits of it to different lengths like I've seen on other people's pages. I like it. :) Simple stamped title, a line of journaling along the page width and that's really it. Another simple one.

Go Baby Go Baby Go!

2011-10-06T01:00:00.000-07:00

Here's my daughter riding her bike. She got so confident that Nanny had to run after her!

I used Two Scoops paper and a sheet of Bazzill, keeping it quite simple. For the title, I cut a rectangle into triangles and wrote the title out banner-style. Two tiny journal spots from my papermania set and that's it. I think it's ok not to make your pages elaborate. It's the memories that matter and I'd rather get the pages in the album and done, ready for the next ones. The kids love looking at their scrapbooks and it's nice if they can talk about things that happened quite recently whilst looking at the photos in the album.

Art of Crochet Square 82

2011-10-05T01:00:00.000-07:00

I love this pattern-- it's an eyelet square. It's basically got holes in it, and you do a blanket stitch around the holes, so that the "top" of the blanket stitch goes round the hole. I loved making it. I might do a scarf in this, it looks like it'll be fun in a chunky yarn!

Plant

2011-10-04T01:00:00.000-07:00

This one was a plain and simple, yet effective layout. It uses a solid coloured Basic Grey sheet as a background, some monograms for the title, hand-outlined with a Sharpie, and I stamped the corners with a swirl stamp. The design didn't pick up fully on the bottom right corner but I think it looks distressed (much like I did when I saw it didn't print) and I think it's fitting.

The pictures are of my two babies planting cherry tomatoes. Stay tuned for the result photos.

Little Miss Attitude

2011-10-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

I took a look at this photo that Daddy took of my daughter at a railway exhibition and thought, "Look at Little Miss Attitude!" So the title was born.

I used some paper that was given to me by Karen. Go show her some love by visiting her blog. She makes gorgeous things.

I used my large Martha Stewart daisy punch to make two borders, added some flowers and bling, and for once in a long time, I decided the title would look best in a font I had on my computer, so I dusted off the Craft Robo. I did miss my robo terribly, but usually I like to finish what I start where scrapbooking is concerned, and that means stamping out a title or using my QuicKutz. I held on for a bit and waited until I got home and cut the word "Attitude" out using Marketing Script, one of my new favourite fonts. It welds well. If you use the Robo, you'll know what I mean.

Mission Control

2011-10-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

This lovely paper is from the Basic Grey "Oliver" range. I love it! I am now making my way through this paper, so watch out for the rest of it shortly.

I took advantage of the double-sided nature of the paper by cutting out a polygon and folding the triangles outward. Basically you mark out a circle and make pizza-style slicees in it. Then you fold it out. You can stick the triangles down however you wish, in the end I don't think it matters if it comes unstuck because by the time it does, it will be in a page protector and that will hold them down.

The photos are of Victoria's multi-screen bedroom. Her computer and telly are arranged so that she can see them both, like working in Mission control. Hence the title.

Maxine and Me

2011-10-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

I've carried on using my leftover BasicGrey scraps in this one. I doodled the flower and stem on the reverse of the patterned paper, cut it out and re-drew the line on the other side. Why? Because I don't trust myself to get the shape right the first time. :) I used a Papermania stamp set to make the tiny journaling spot in the corner of the photo. The bird is in the set too, along with a cage and a bird that faces the other direction. Useful.

Nanny and Vix

2011-09-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

This LO is a good way to show off and use up little odd bits of your favourite collection pack. I cut a motif out of one scrap and stuck it on a solid coloured scrap, used another for the title, and with the other two, I put a little cut-out motif and drew on little stitches. Next time, I may use real stitches. :)

Art of Crochet Square 81

2011-09-29T02:30:00.000-07:00

I love this colour and texture... lovely square. Next!!!

My Crazy Kids

2011-09-24T01:00:00.000-07:00

These photos are of my kids putting their t-shirts over their heads, impersonating a Beavis and Butt-Head moment. I used paper from Basic Grey's Sugar Rush Collection (I think!). I punched some edges of paper and intersected them to make a space for the QuicKutz title and to break up the background a bit. Add a couple of tiny journalling spots from a Papermania stamp set, and voila. Page done.

Training

2011-09-23T01:00:00.000-07:00

This is my first use of the Basic Grey Oliver collection. I love the colours. Perfect for boys. There are also some train motifs hidden in there, which is quite useful for us as a family full of train lovers.

The photos are of my son using a touch-screen control on his Grandad's model railway.

Wils and Kate

2011-09-22T01:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, has a brand-new spelling of his nickname due to my refusal to stamp it in two goes. I only had one L, so I only used one L. So there.

The kids made crowns to wear to school. Well, actually, I made the crowns. But they proudly wore them to school.

The page makes a lot of use of the Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch. I also took advantage of my Fiskars border stamps and border punch. The title is stamped with a Stampendous alpha. I've lost track of which Basic Grey I used with this, but it could be Lemonade.

Art of Crochet Square 80

2011-09-21T05:59:00.001-07:00

Another nice, solid square with cross-stitches on top. :) The completion of square 80 signifies that I am 75% finished with this partwork! Exciting.

Art of Crochet Square 79

2011-09-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

Another little embroidered person. I'm getting a little better at this one... just in time to not need to make it anymore. :)

Art of Crochet Square 78

2011-09-07T01:00:00.000-07:00

I like a bit of mesh. This one's fun, fast, and flexible, and all chains. I'm thinking I might have a use for all that decorative yarn after all... I can only make chain-stitch with it because it's so hard to find where to stitch into if you do any further layers, but this one shouldn't be too difficult as it is mostly chains and then working into chain spaces.

Scrapology August Scrapbook Challenge!

2011-09-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

I'm scooting in at the last minute for entering this month's Scrapology challenge. Here's my page. I loved the sketch and I'm glad for the opportunity to take part.

I used a pink and grey organza ribbon for the ribbon circle, stitching a "channel" around it as I went so that I could do some tweaking after I got the ribbon in. The title is stamped with a Papermania alphabet set and I went over it with black Enamel Accents to give a bit of a "thickers" look to them. The flower and cherry embellishments were hand-doodled, cut out, then re-outlined before being layered up and put on the layout. The paper is all Basic Grey and Bazzill, but I can't tell you the specifics. I think most of it is Lemonade and there's a bit of Euphoria in there too... the solid colour pink is Vintage Pink by Bazzill. I used a Martha Stewart loop border punch on that. :)

Thank you Scrapology for yet another great challenge!!

Art of Crochet Square 77

2011-08-31T01:00:00.000-07:00

I think I'm getting lazy, honestly! It didn't seem all that difficult a thing to do, to center this bit of cross-stitch. What's wrong with me????

Art of Crochet Square 76

2011-08-24T01:00:00.000-07:00

Another granny square. I'll never get tired of these! And they go so fast too.

Art of Crochet Square 75

2011-08-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

Another rainbow bobbly square. I think I can't possibly have many more of these to do. I have done more than four, and it looks like there's more than one on each quarter of the throw so that makes sense... As it's colourwork I really do love this one. It does come out slightly different every time I make it though. It's almost as though I'm interpreting the instructions differently as I get more and more proficient at crochet. Sometimes it's a disaster, other times it's a success. Very odd.

Art of Crochet Square 74

2011-08-10T01:00:00.000-07:00

I don't think I'm ever going to be satisfied with this pattern. This was square number 2 in the series and I've done it twice more since then and I still can't seem to get it right. The first one was on the HUGE side, and this one looks a bit teeny. *sigh*

FPC Friday - Tuberose

2011-08-05T01:00:00.000-07:00

Ooh, pretty. I love it. It's simple, it's sophisticated, and it's a repetitive make which means that once through and you've learned it! Eight full-size blossoms and two buds, done. I love the Tuberose!

It does have little stamens inside each flower. here's a close-up:

Art of Crochet Square 73

2011-08-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

Can you see it? It looks a little dark to me. Sorry...

This square provided a good opportunity to remember how to do colourwork. I love the idea of dropping the yarn and just picking up another colour and working it for a while, dropping it and picking up the original one, etc etc, just... well, it just works! I just taught a friend of mine how to change colours and she was thrilled with how easy it was too. I don't know why I always think these things must be complicated. :)

The Cadbury's Chapter

2011-07-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

Here's another "chapter" in my scrapbook. When I got the pics back from the kids' trip to Cadbury World, I didn't have much to say about it, so I just thought I'd condense it and keep it simple.

Names of the kids who went,

Cadbury-style colour scheme,

A few chocolate-themed embellishments from a stamp set borrowed from Krafty Karen,

A smudge or two of Jumbo Java ink, which I borrowed from Wendy,

One font chosen from my stamp set for the entire set of pages,

And there you are-- a chapter! Dead simple, and done in a flash.

FPC Friday: Dahlia and flourishes

2011-07-29T01:00:00.000-07:00

The flower featured on this card is the dahlia from book 2, made in a darker red than the example on the cover.

This flower was bigger than I thought it would be, but it is so lovely. Instead of leaves, I put it with some green flourishes, which sadly get a little lost on the black and white background I made earlier. I'm pleased with it and may try making it again in different colours. It's quite a rich-looking one and has already gone to a good home. It was eventually made into a thank-you card for my neighbour and her other-half for taking my little girl to the hospital one night when she bumped her head. I'm sure she's put it in a safe place. :)

Scrapology July Scrapbook Challenge

2011-07-28T01:00:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've been out of the scrapology loop for a little while. I went back to check and sure enough, I hadn't uploaded my July scrapbooking challenge! Well, here it is.

I didn't have any spray with me, and I really wish I did because this didn't come out the way I really wanted it to... c'est la vie. Happy Accident!

The paper is Basic Grey Lemonade and matching Bazzill. For my circle, I punched around it with a Martha Stewart Corner Punch. This works because the MS punches don't force you to place a corner into the corner punch. You can punch straight-on. I just matched up some reference points and luckily, it went around more or less evenly and I was successful! I did it flying by the seat of my pants to see if it worked. If it didn't work I was going to just make a bigger or smaller circle depending on how the patterns matched up, but as luck would have it, I didn't have to do that. Hooray!

And yes, if I remembered the size of that circle I would have shared it with you. I'm not much help am I? Sorry...

Art of Crochet Square 72

2011-07-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

Sailor blue with a red asterisk long-stitched onto the front. :) Nothing new... but hey, it's a post. :)

In other crochet news, I have orders for two more bags and I am making a kitty-cat blanket for London Karen's new cat Miss Murtle. (yes, spelled like Turtle.) She's a lovely little kitty and so well-behaved for only a kitten. I hope she loves the blanket!

For anyone who subscribes to Art of Crochet, the kitty-cat blanket is in issue 76 (or could be 74, I'm rubbish at remembering these things) and it's featured on the front cover. More on that later... (looks at blog schedule) perhaps in mid-September.

Oops... Sorry!

2011-07-26T06:31:00.000-07:00

I ran out of posts!

By way of an apology, here is a crochet treat: One half of the throw has been finished and put together!!!

It was a real treat for me... I have another 30 squares nearly, which is enough for another quarter, but I'm not sure when the instructions to assemble them will arrive. The instructions on how to put together the second quarter of the throw (theoretically, done by issue 60) came in issue 77! I have now completed the squares through to 79. You will get them one per week as usual. I'm a bit ahead of things at the moment...if I choose to be!

Sorry about the relative silence... I have a lot of blogging to do!

Art of Crochet Square 71

2011-07-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

Ooh, a bit blurry this one.... sorry about that... not much to say, a plain square with a little embroidered star on it.

Art of Crochet Square 70

2011-07-06T01:00:00.000-07:00

Colourwork again. Loving it. :)

Scrapology June Scrapbook Challenge!

2011-07-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I made it, it's after midnight... hmm....

Here's my Scrapology challenge for June, pipped in around the deadline.. Oops...

Teardrop Flowers and Golden Glow

2011-07-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

This week's card is made with something old and something new. The purple flower is the Teardrop Flower from book 9. It has frilled petals, and used a technique that was new to me. The large yellow flowers are Golden Glow from Book 2. There are a couple of flowers from Book 1 in there too- can you spot them?

Shimmering Fish 3D Card

2011-06-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

Take a peek into the mysterious undersea world on this card. It's got layers!

This card was only a mock-up for a class I was going to teach. My plan fell through but this is still something I am going to teach in the near future, maybe informally to a small group of friends at first.

This is not the first 3D card I've made, but it is the first one that I have assembled flat. It pops up into a 3D shape but it also fits flat into a6x6 envelope. Sweet!

Art of Crochet Square 69

2011-06-29T01:00:00.000-07:00

Another granny. I do love these! I am amassing a great deal of them though. :)

I [heart] my bag!

2011-06-28T01:00:00.000-07:00

Another simple one, because I think the paper is great on its own. All I did was a little cutting around certain elements and some stickles to brighten it up. The two photos are matted on a finely-patterned paper from the same range (Basic Grey Euphoria) and punched along the edges with the Threading water punch. Simple.

Goofy Goober

2011-06-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

This is definitely one to show his first girlfriend. :) This goofy picture of my boy was taken by my daughter while they were being silly. It's a good capture of what they are like together.

Basic Grey Euphoria and Bazzill scraps, stamped title hand-cut out afterward. Threading water punch on borders.

Blowing Bubbles

2011-06-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

Another clean and simple LO with Basic Grey Indian Summer paper and Bazzill cardstock mats on the photos. I punched the bottom edges with the Doily lace punch but I think it gets swallowed up by the background paper. I didn't embellish this because I thought that the patterned paper really needed to be on its own.

Hmmm.... not sure about this one.

2011-06-25T01:00:00.001-07:00

I'm not really sure this one worked... I wanted to have some "white space" to show the leaves but I think I went a bit nuts with the flowers in the upper left and it's a bit skee-whiff now. Ah well, chalk this one up to lessons learned. It's the last of my Basic Grey Indian Summer set.

Geraldton Wax and some fillers

2011-06-24T01:00:00.000-07:00

sometimes when I spend a long time on a spray of flowers, I wait ages to put it on a card. I thought it best not to keep doing that, or I'd have badly damaged flowers waiting to go onto cards. Here's the Geraldton Wax spray, with two different filler flowers to fill in any gaps, mounted onto a Diane's Daughters background with some borders cut with wafer-thin dies.

The Geraldton Wax was a fun flower to make. It brought back some quilling skills and there was a lot of colouring involved. I need to get that right, I'm still not terribly used to doing colouring of flowers. We live and learn!

Scooter-riffic

2011-06-23T01:00:00.001-07:00

Busy layout, this one... I have come to the end of my Hello Luscious paper for the moment... I have been going through my Basic Grey box to see what I had left and out came this- Euphoria!

I used some paper flowers from my bitty box, some die-cut leaves, some little tiny journalling bits inked around the edges, papermania alpha stamps for the title, and voila.

Pics of my kids on their scooters.

Art of Crochet Square 68

2011-06-22T01:00:00.000-07:00

This white square with two centre colours is one of the four centre squares of the throw. I believe this is the third such square I've made, which means I'm well on my way into the third quarter of the throw, and yet we have had no further instructions on assembling the second quarter of the throw. Odd...

Fairy Goodie Bags

2011-06-21T01:00:00.000-07:00

Here are the party bags that I gave out at the party to match the invitations. They're made from C5 envelopes, sealed, scored, and folded to make bags. While they were still flat I brayered some ink on and stamped the fairies again. I punched the top edges of the bags so that they made a nice edge when folded over and I added some patterned paper that came free on the cover of a craft mag as toppers.

The ones in the back row have little diagonally-folded squares of patterned paper because I put little planes into the boys' bags and they stuck out the top of the bag. I had to find an alternate way of closing those. Again, work of genius or epic fail? You decide.

Fairy Party Invites

2011-06-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

I can't decide if this is a work of genius or an epic fail. These are my daughter's party invitations that she handed out at school. They are ATC sized and have all the party details on the back.

For the grown-ups out there, it looks a bit like the fairy is having a wee-wee and it's made itself into an exclamation point. Depending on how the stamping went on these cards, they do sometimes look like the exclamation point is attached to the fairy's body and well... no comment. :( Nobody at the party mentioned it so I guess it only looks bad if you have a dirty mind...

Do you have a dirty mind?

This invitation is made with cardstock from PayPerBox. The green is a lovely sparkly card with a golden sheen. Very Tinkerbell in my opinion. I stamped the fairies and message with Versafine. The stamp set is from Personal Impressions. They do so many sets nowadays I don't know if you'll find it... but it's a lovely set of fairy silhouettes. The wings have micro-fine white irridescent glitter on them. My daughter helped with that part and she had a great time.

Koochie Copey

2011-06-19T01:00:00.001-07:00

Meet Koochie Copey. I don't remember whether I blogged him or not, but Koochie is a crocheted version of a toy owned by a character in a TV show called Bob's Burgers.

It became sort of an in-joke with a friend of mine, and eventually another friend too, so there are two Koochie Copeys in existence, both made by my fair hand. The second is not yet finished. I plan on making a third eventually but my crochet to-do list is getting a little long.

There are some basic rules to making amigurumi (little crocheted doll characters) and I just followed them and crocheted, making notes as I went, and out came this little guy. His bottom is a cheap tupperware-like lid, and he's stuffed with poly fibrefill.

The scrapbook page is made with bazzill cardstock and paper and stickers from the Basic Grey Hello Luscious range. The title is stamped with Papermania alphabet stamps and hand-written journaling is below.

"Things could be better, Koochie... things could be better."

If you often find yourself thinking that things could be better, perhaps you need a Koochie Copey.

Check out Bob's Burgers!!!

Cyber Crop class 3 done!

2011-06-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

I've done the third cybercrop class at ATDML - here it is.

I didn't have the paper that the lesson uses but I took the sunburst shape and drew it on the back of the patterned paper I did use which was Basic Grey Fusion.

Cyber cropping update

2011-06-18T09:30:00.001-07:00

Hi there, here's another page based on the double LO class in the ATDML cybercrop. I took on board the embellishment clusters and the cluster of photos, but I wanted a single LO, so I squashed it all in. :)

Cyber Cropping today

2011-06-18T05:34:00.000-07:00

Hey! Guess what!

A Trip Down Memory Lane is having a cybercrop today. Check out their blog to join in!

The first class was issued last night at 7pm. I have just done it now.

The kits for the cybercrop sold out before I even knew they were for sale, so I am using all my own stash for the classes, which is good because I need to do some stash-busting.

This LO was made from scraps from the Basic Grey "Hang 10" collection and lots of green Bazzill. Flowers from my bitty box, mostly Primas but it's a mixed bag nowadays. Some e-bling and QVC stick-on pearls.

Bocca Della Verita

2011-06-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

It's an odd one... a friend and I were at Clacket Lane Services and she saw this thing and was like a little kid at Christmas! We were running all over the place looking for 20p coins so we could put our hand in the plastic guy's mouth and get a fortune.

It's kind of creepy but fun nonetheless. :)

Go on, have a guess... it's Basic Grey Hello Luscious!!!! Co-ordinating stickers and my QuicKutz Star Minis alphabet for the title, cut from Bazzill cardstock. No surprises there!

Spring is Here

2011-06-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

If I had this one to do over, I'd probably have matted the flowers onto some off-white card before mounting them on this card. They are looking a bit lost!

I apologise for being a bit lax on the Floral Punch Craft front of late. My usual Tuesday-night punchcraft sessions have been taken up by other things these past few weeks and I haven't had time to make anything, let alone photograph or blog! I did a few though, and they will be upcoming.

The Spring Is Here arrangement is available in Floral Punch Craft II by Leone Em. I bought my copy at Cardinal Colours in the UK. Tools and punches are also available from there.

On Balance

2011-06-16T01:00:00.000-07:00

I took these cute pictures of my son and daughter using a balance beam on our way to the park in Forest Gate, East London. They are stuck together like glue, these two. Victoria really doesn't need help balancing. She goes to Tumble Tots and has been since the age of six months, so her balance and safety awareness are very finely tuned. She just likes to hold her brother's hand.

As usual for the moment, the paper is Basic Grey, Hello Luscious! I used some of the co-ordinating stickers for this one. I punched the photo mats with a fiskars threading water punch. The journaling block is stamped with a dovecraft stamp that I've used many times before, and the title is die-cut with the QuicKutz Star Minis alphabet. I don't have many alphabets for my QuicKutz, and this one has got a great deal of use over the years. It's convenient to carry in my scrap tote and it's good to know it's there when I need it. Definitely an old favourite.

Crochet Bags!

2011-06-15T01:00:00.000-07:00

Once in a while you find a fantastic yarn that inspires you to use it sparingly, but effectively, in a project that is going to get a good outing. This is the second time this has happened to me.

It was in a clearance bin at Teasels, a yarn shop near Bakers Arms in Leyton/Walthamstow (debatable, but I think it does come under Leyton) in East London. It was a wiggly yarn with many colours, but the main colour was a teal, with inclusions of cobalt, rose, some gold, a little green and some white. I wanted something small so I didn't risk running out of the stuff, so I found a pattern I liked it Carry-Alongs, a crochet bag book that I got from Wendy for my birtday. I liked a stitch pattern in it but not the entire bag itself, so I took the stitch pattern and made it into a little bag, alternating the really cool yarn with black DK for contrast.

I played it by ear, remembering to make little flaps to sew round the plastic circular handles. It was too small for me, but it was quickly snapped up by my little one, and as you can see, she loves it.

Thank-you to the author of Carry Alongs for the pattern of stitches that show off my yarn so nicely.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, the bag went down so well when I showed it to people at the social club that I am now making a few for gifts. Wow!

Friendship Bracelets

2011-06-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

This time, the subject of the page is a "bloggable" item as well, so you're getting two entries for the price of one (which is absolutely free, so it's really not that good a deal after all, is it, but I digress). The two hands are my daughter and her friend, wearing bracelets that I made out of number 10 crochet thread and some plastic pearly beads. I wanted to have a go at beading and this was a simple enough project to do. I made a bracelet for my daughter and then her friend saw me making it and wanted one too so I made her one. It was on one of our Thursday night play-dates. If you want to see the bracelets closer-up, you can click on this page and it should enlarge it for you, but I don't know what kind of detail you'll get.

The page itself is Basic Grey Hello Luscious and Bazzill cardstock, edges punched with the Martha Stewart doily lace border punch (one of my favourites), some die-cuts from my sizzlits, and another appearance by the accordion flower. I also put on a layered flower made from the wafer-thin dies. I can't remember which one, but it's light blue metal. Marianne D's, perhaps? My title is stamped on with Papermania and hand-written. The journaling block is a dovecraft stamp, and I added liquid pearls to the bottom of it to reflect the beads in the bracelets.

Twilight Picnic

2011-06-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, Vampire fans, don't get all excited. The Twilight Picnic was the school's theme for World Book Night. The kids brought sleeping bags, pyjamas, a teddy and their favourite book and all sat together drinking hot chocolate and reading. Recipe for disaster if you ask me, the hot chocolate was too hot and all that stuff had to be schlepped to and from the school by the poor parents in the rain for the sake of one hour of sitting and reading. The first problem was solved by there being some cold water on hand to top up the hot choc with to cool it down. The rest of it remained but when we saw how they enjoyed it, I think most of us would have carried the lot down to the school again.

More Hello Luscious and Bazzill, some of the stickers that came with the Hello Luscious pack, and that is really about it. Title is stamped with one of my three Papermania sets again. Nice simple layout, keeps the attention on the photo, where it belongs.

The line at the top is just a shadow, it's not a different colour or anything.

ConCenTraTion...

2011-06-12T01:00:00.002-07:00

This is a page made with my newest Basic Grey set, Hello Luscious. It's also got some swirls cut from Sizzlits dies in Bazzill Java cardstock scraps I had lying around. The little ribbon banner is a Nestabilities die, but not the nesting kind. I borrowed it from Wendy on our "National Scrap Day." We decided to take the "book" out of National Scrapbook Day and try to do something useful with our stash of scraps. We spent a few hours die-cutting and I'm very pleased with the result!

Anyway, back to the page... Hello luscious paper, the sizzlit swirls, the Nestie ribbon banner (which will display the date when I remember what it was)... the flower at the top is a circle of accordion-folded paper with circles on both sides to hold it together. The title is a Papermania stamped alphabet, stamped onto patterned paper and cut out. I love this alphabet stamp set because it is so chunky and shows off the patterned paper so well.

The photos are of my son doing his homework while his sister is in drama class.

Graffiti Giggles...

2011-06-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, I know, graffiti is no joke. It's not art, it's criminal damage. I'm all for painting if you buy your own flippin canvas and don't use public (or private!) property. But this one really did make me smile.

I saw it by the Leytonstone High Road station entrance today.

In case you can't read it, it says:

I moustache you a question but I'm shavin it for later.

I got a giggle out of it. Writing something amusing on the wall is better than just writing a word, or your name, or racist gubbins. It is, however, the lesser of two evils. Don't write on the walls, people... unless the owner of said wall has paid you to do so.