Sunday 29 December 2013

No you cannot look at the bed!

After cleaning out the bathroom cupboards - a job I've been deferring for a while - it was back to the tidy desk project. (I've always found the best way to make myself tackle daunting jobs is to set myself an even less appealing one!)

Now I can see ALL of the top of my main desk. Yes the work 'main' does mean there is another smaller dask to clear. And yes that shelf could probably be better organised ...

 Needless to say I then had to reward myself with some colouring ...
As the title of this post suggests there is still plenty to deal with before I allow myself to use this on the card I have in mind - it will involve on of the new die sets I was given for Christmas :)

Later - look what I found - a half painted Kaisercraft ribbon storage unit, started YEARS ago! So of course I had to paint it before going on with the tidying ...


But I did get another shelf organised ...



Saturday 28 December 2013

Chaos Theory

 If I remember correctly from high school science the chaos theory goes something along the lines of without work all systems tend toward disorder. It's time to put in some work - here goes yet another attempt to bring order to my haven. I've cleared away most of the Christmas card-making clutter and can show a bit of clear desk -


and some clear floor area beneath said desk (so I have somewhere to stand as I clear the rest of the desk) -

Much of the Christmas paper and card has gone into my brilliant verge-shopping find - it holds 12" x 12" card and paper!!
Now to reward myself - off to make a card :), then more work ...

Sunday 20 October 2013

Not quite the same!

Here is the result of yesterday's sketch (see below). I tried for ages to force the sketch to work but it just wasn't happening. I've added Fiskars Cameo Ovations stamps coloured with an Aged Mahogany Distress Marker (Distress Ink colour for the Butterfly is Fired Brick) plus some orange Kaiser Rhinestones.

Nothing like the sketch but I'm happy with the end result :) The butterfly is stamped over the chevron paper.


Saturday 19 October 2013

Trying a sketch

Wow - two posts in one day - anyone would think I had some time to myself!

I've come home from work with some homework - we have heaps of gorgeous new BoBunny papers in the shop and I ooh'd and aah'd over the Autumn range. Now to actually use it!  Hmmm - where to start? Decided to head to the BoBunny website - needless to say this range will be featured NEXT week - Murphy's Law!! However I found a scrapbooking sketch that holds promise:



Let's see what I can do with building thumb

and building thumband building thumb and building thumb

I also HAD to bring home a Darkroom Door Eclectic Butterfly for my collection (like I need any more butterflies, but this one is stunning!).

Butterfly - Eclectic Stamp - NEW


Stay tuned ...  (Yes Nat, the papers are rather orange!!)

Friday 18 October 2013

More than one fold!

Whilst surfing this morning (a girl's got to get her exercise, right?) I saw a challenge called 'more than one fold'. The card below certainly fits the bill:

If you come to the class at Crafty Capers you too can then go home and make cards like this - the paper is from the Kaisercraft Lady Rose collection. Note my sneaky inclusion of one of my hand-painted kitchen tiles. :D





I did get real exercise today - we are now the owners of TWO Rhodesian Ridgebacks (not my idea but I am warming to them) so my pedometer now reads 12006 steps at 9.06am - we won't go into whose dogs they are and that HE is meant to be exercising them, not swanning off Rogaining for the weekend.

Monday 16 September 2013

Day 3 - Green

Sort of cheating here - this is for work but hey - I made it at home so I'm going to count it! A fun card using Kaisercraft Collectables and the new Santa's List papers. It is an action card sure to appeal to children (and the inner child in many adults). If you want to see the whole card and how it works, drop in to the shop in a couple of weeks, when it will be back from the printer's.






Sunday 15 September 2013

Challenge day 2 - can I call this red?

So far so good - two days, two cards. This is a possible for my Tuesday craft group, and it gets my Christmas cards started.
I've used Sizzix Bigz and Movers and Shapers dies for the deer and a Carl Craft punch for the star. Shabby Shutters Distress ink around the music (Kaisercraft paper ?Papa Noel - I'll check that later). This is a normal A5 folded in half card - my camera is widening things for some reason!


Saturday 14 September 2013

Personal Challenge - Card a Day

Having to put together a quick card today which I need for Austen's birthday tomorrow, I am setting myself the challenge of a card a day for as long as I can. I plan to work through the colours of the rainbow (not necessarily in order as I've started with blue today). Then I'll go to other colours such as pink, plus all my gorgeous new Distress Marker colours. Hopefully this way I can re-stock my stash with some up-to-date cards.

I'd love it if anyone reading this decides to join me - add a comment below this post.



Today's card used blue cardstock, a Sizzix die which I love and use heaps, and two SU stamp sets I bought ages ago and had not used.
I'll add to my personal challenge -I plan to try to use lots of my unused toys too. I've been neglecting my home cardmaking lately - time to address that. Off to finish adding Stickles to the card - I'll post the photo tomorrow... (as you can see I have now done that!).

Friday 5 July 2013

Silver Die-Cut and Embossed Flowers - Instructions


Many of Crafty Capers' customers have asked how I made the pink, silver and white card on display in the shop near the Spellbinders dies. *Note - my own dies differ from the set used in the shop.

Die-cutting Techniques for Pink and Silver Die-cut Flowers Card
Requirements - In addition to the pink and silver cardstock and Spellbinder dies, you will want
  • Post-it notes
  • Waxed lunch wrap
  • Baking paper

Die-cutting Basics
For dies with narrow or intricate areas, we have found best results using
  1. a layer of waxed lunch wrap against the cutting edge of the Spellbinder die,
  2. a layer of baking paper over the waxed lunch wrap
  3. your cardstock (textured side towards baking paper)
Assess your die-cut from behind after the first run through the BigShot (or Cuttlebug). If necessary move to another area on the plate and re-run through machine. Repeat if reqired. (If you have seen 'Madagascar' think like a lemur - "I like to move it, move it").

Note from Jill  - I use a BigShot die-cutting machine at work and at home.  If you are using a Cuttlebug check manufacturer's instructions for plate combinations and no. of rubber mat/s used for embossing.

Instructions
Use sample die-cut shapes to design your layout.







Use the sticky part of a Post-it Note to anchor the die in place for the first cut on the pink card. I have left the layers of lunch wrap and baking paper inside the die from when I cut my sample shapes and they are kept in place throughout the cutting stages on this card.


Run pink layer with attached die through the die-cutting machine.
Reposition the die, adhere with a Post-it note and run layer through machine again.





Apply double-sided tape to back of pink layer. 
Adhere pink layer to silver layer.

Re-seat the die in the first cut-out area of the pink layer and adhere firmly with a Post-it note.
Place this layer face down on the Multipurpose platform. The smooth surface of the die will be against the platform.





 Lay rubber embossing mats over the back of the silver layer (It looks white on photo).










 Add the three thicknesses of card as a shim, and ONE acrylic plate. Run this through the BigShot to emboss first flower on silver layer.





Reposition the die over the second (unembossed) cut-out area on the pink layer and adhere firmly with a Post-it note.



Place layer face down on Multipurpose platform.The sample shape on photo indicates where the die is underneath this layer.

 Lay the rubber embossing mats ONLY over the area with the metal die under it.
 Add card shim and ONE acrylic plate only over rubber mats, and run through the machine
.Remove die and adhere ribbon across the layer adhering the ends behind the layer.









Complete your card by adding a bow and adhering to a white card base.

Saturday 29 June 2013

Summer Holiday

Yes I know it is WINTER here is Australia, but the June 2013 Spectrum Noir challenge is all about SUMMER. The challenge is to create any card or project, using Spectrum Noir pens to colour your image, making sure it has a summer theme (you can colour a summery image, use colourful patterned/backing papers, summer-themed embellishments…whatever you choose!), and you can play along with us!
Here is my take on the challenge - I was inspired by my laptop screensaver for the beach scene. THIS IS HAND-DRAWN using the Spectrum Noir pens - it is NOT a screen shot.




I printed the free digital image from  Digital Two for Tuesday with the lyrics of the 'Summer Holiday' song from Cliff Richard onto Quill 210gsm multiboard.
The sky is IB1, the ocean IB2 and IB3. There is some IG1 near the shore and just above the horizon. The surf is done by leaving white spaces, NOT by using the blender pen.
Similarly the foam on the sand (TN1) is done by leaving white areas and dotting the TN1 where I wanted it.
The dresses use CR2, CR3 and CR5 and DR2 and DR3. Skin tones are FS2 and FS3. Left-hand girl's hair uses TN1, TN2 and EB3.
A Darice embossing folder was used on Kraft card, wiped over with a white Tsukineko ink pad after embossing. The frame was shaped from the Kraft card.

Monday 24 June 2013

New Blinkie

Note the new Spectrum Noir blinkie (top right) - I am really chuffed with this - pretty sure I'm first in Australia with instructor status!!
Looking forward to teaching new Spectrum Noir classes in the next month or so - can't wait.

Thursday 30 May 2013

More purple!!

This is the last for this month - I promise. Spectrum Noir's best ever challenge closes today. (But there will be a new challenge next month!) (Those who know me will know why I think a challenge of this colour is the best ever). I am really happy with this card.

I've used Spectrum Noir pens PL1, PL2 and PL3. The stamp is from Stamp-It Australia (not to be confused with SU products). The ribbon was white organza - it's coloured with the PL3. The embossing folder is from Cuttlebug - yes there should be a bird there but I de-bossed him into a grass stem so he wouldn't eat the butterfly! There is American Craft Grape cardstock framing the embossed layer. To do the wording (a Cheery Lyn die) I coloured a long strip of white blending card with three stripes of colour - blended - then die-cut it.


Saturday 25 May 2013

Purple #3

Yet another purple card for the Spectrum Noir challenge -
The stamps are from a Flourishes set - April Showers. The wording is two Cheery Lyn Designs dies - B226 Happy and another for Birthday. The paper is from Graphic45's Secret Garden range. Thanks Lynn for the card fold! Spectrum pens used are HB1, HB3 and LV2. Also BT2, BT4 and LG5 for the leaves, and HB1 and IG1 and 2 for the bucket. Palette / tip-to-tip blending used where necessary.
Here is a close-up of the tulips:

Purple #2

Following on from my last post, here is my second entry for the challenge: My Spectrum Noir component on this is the glass in the middle of the split pin - it was light green glass so I coloured it with PL5. The ribbon was already this colour but I could have used PL1 and LV2 for the same effect on a white organza ribbon. Again the stamp is from siset 014 (Stamp-It) and the embossing folder used is from Cuttlebug.




Purple #1!

This month's Spectrum Noir challenge topic is "purple" - how can I not enter??? I've done three entries for this one. This was my first one - I'm making sets of small Thank You cards just using stripes of blended colour from the one family plus black stamped images. The wording is from a Stamp-It set (siset014 from memory) and the stamp was a Traplet Craft Stamper freebie. Spectrum Noir pens used were blender pen, LV1, LV2; plus LV3 for the card base. I coloured the RIGHT hand 1/4 with the blender then over that once with the LV1. LV1 on the 2nd-from-the-right strip, LV1 on the third-from-the-right strip, LV2 once over this 3rd-from-the-right strip, LV2 on the LHS strip. White bazzill coloured with LV3 only around edges for card base. (The card below uses the turquoise set BT1,2,3 and 4.)

Friday 3 May 2013

Colouring 'Gorjuss' with Spectrum Noirs



The following steps through my first attempt at colouring my new 'Gorjuss - You Brought Me Love' stamp (GOR 907106).

The image was stamped with Memento 'London Fog' onto blending card (purchased from Crafty Capers) as I wanted a soft outline. Sorry about photo quality here - cardstock is actually white!
  My downloaded and completed colour chart was used to select Spectrum Noir colours to match thesuggested colours on the stamp as follows:
Skin: FS2 with FS5 for shadowed areas + BG2 - see note * belowbeside first picture.
Cheeks: PP3 with FS6 to soften
Petticoat, socks, bows: Blender pen and BG1 (+BGR3 for socks)
Dress: BT9 and BT8 with  BGR4 shadow base under medium and dark areas as photographed further down.
                                          Hair: IG5, IG8, IG10 and True Black

For the skin I wanted a very pale tone with pinkish grey shadows. I'm happy with the final result.
I feel the finished cheeks are a bit too pink and would probably palette-blend PP3 and FS6 for a softer pink next time.
My addition of a warm grey to the dress on the shaded areas was because only the BT9 and 8 matched the colour I wanted but I felt the image I was matching had grey tones in the shadows.

 I tend to colour the lighter skin areas before darker hair and clothing, my logic being that if I do the dark areas first the lighter solvent-rich colours may push away my dark areas.




So - legs coloured first, then arms, then shoulders/chest, then face. (*After colouring the legs with FS2 and FS5 I added BG2 to the areas of darkest shadow at top of legs and reblended the area - BG2 chosen as a  warm grey. I did the same at the side of her neck.)



  



 
 
Dress coloured next, laying down light area then BGR shadow. First image here shows BT8 and BGR4 on lower part of dress. (Top bit has had BT9 blended with BT8). BT9 and BT8 then blended repeatedly over this base.

Shoes in same colours as dress.


Petticoat next, then socks. Blender pen over whole white area then BG1 touched onto shadow areas; softened with blender pen if necessary. Same technique for her bows. The socks were a challenge - my BGR3 nib is 'wide' and the pen very juicy so I used tip-to-tip from BGR3 onto BG1 (narrower nib, less juicy pen) to colour the outer edges of the stripes on the socks.


 
Dots on dress drawn on with Copic black 0.03 multiliner.

Bows outlined and dotted with multiliner. Eyes retouched with multiliner.
Borders of hair and areas beside neck done with multiliner.


Hair coloured (as 2 groups - right of part first then left of part) by applying IG5 to 'shiny' areas of hair. IG8 flicked in from centre of part into IG5. Ditto IG10 then True Black.

My next job will be to put Gorjuss onto a card - hopefully some time this weekend.

I can't wait to try colouring her in purples for this month's Spectrum Noir Challenge.


Thursday 18 April 2013

Will walk for fruit cake

We're holidaying in Walpole this week. We've kayaked off Coalmine Beach, caught fish for dinner (black bream) and today we did the Nuyts Wilderness Trail out to Thomspon Cove. It was a 6.67km walk each way. It took from 8.45am until 2.40pm and we're shattered! It was the thought of fruit cake that kept us going the last 2 km!

Here are a couple of the locals at our caravan park:

                                                 Fruit cake? Did someone say fruit cake?

Humph - no one offered me any fruit cake. And they pulled their fish back out of my mouth before I could swallow it. "Not happy, Jan."