This blog is a record of my creative journey. I love to share my passion for paper crafting so I design projects and then create tutorials and workshops to show you how to make them. Please feel free to wander around to check out all the things I share both here, in my ETSY shop and over on my You Tube channel. Thank you for popping by!
This was a great day to pick to do this tag as it is freezing outside! I should be painting the utility but it is so chilly out there (no radiator!!) I decided to stay in my cozy craft room to play!!! This weeks tag theme is Keeping Warm and I just had to wrap up my tag! So giving my tag some personality I drew some eyes and then added a paper hat and scarf with fluffy wool trim!!! (relatively quick for me!!!!)
As I was working I realised it would be easy to make this tag completely reversible and so I did. Side one looks decidedly frosty!!!
And side two is looking much more thawed and cozy!
I am going to have to brave the utility to make a hot cup of chocolate and then I am going to come back here and nip over to Tag Tuesday to see what the team have been up to this week (click on the link if you want to come along).
My son got all excited this morning as the weatherman predicted snow on Sunday. He is hoping for the snowed in kind and not just a dusting!!! Have a great weekend and be cozy wherever you are x
Hi to all my WOYWW friends - and of course anyone else that happens by this way! I hope you are all having a wonderful day wherever you are in the world. I am sharing number 2 desk today as that is where the action has been this week. I have been videoing like crazy and my You Tube Channel is filling up nicely and I am getting quicker and I hope slicker at making videos!!! I am having a ball.
This is the view you never get to see on camera!!!! I hope the view on all my videos looks like calm and organised creativity - This is craft mat exit left, right and up! Where all the stuff is shoved as it is used and no longer required to be in shot! Actually the only bit that gets on camera is inside the little bits of tape - The tape shows me I am keeping my hands in shot. The Graphic 45 paper was there to take a shot of a finished set of tags that I videoed the making of so I can share it once a swap is completed. A bit of Christmas fun I am joining in with over at Tag Tuesday. Actually I made another video of this weeks music themed tag - I had such fun doing a fast forward film of how I made it.
What do I do with all my tags? I was putting them on a wall - some of you may remember it was a very pink wall and they didn't look quite right (too much vivid colour didn't make a great display wall) so all the tags I have lovingly made are now in this bag!!!! They should be on the wall behind my camera but I just haven't gotten around to it yet! The xylophone tag on the top of the pile is the one I made the fast forward video I was just telling you about (click here if you want to see it! (10 mins of very fast crafting indeed)). Once I get the tags displayed I think they will become my inspiration wall.
Some of you may notice my Blog Background has changed - something I learnt how to do this week when I also learnt how to alter the background on my You Tube Channel. By next WOYWW I may manage to do the top bit of my blog (I think it is a banner or is it a header!!!????)
I am looking forward to catching up with you all over a cup of coffee today. If you are new around here and wonder what I am talking about then follow this link to join in the biggest desk hop in town - hop this way please!!!
Today is the day I have been working towards for over a year now. I have learnt much (so much that I am surprised my brain hasn't exploded!) and finally I am putting all that knowledge to the test - so fingers crossed for me. I feel like I want to add a fanfare to this blog post but there is always something new to learn!!!!
This is the banner for my new shop.
I will be selling templates with photo and video instructions. As yet the shelves in my shop are a bit bare but I will work hard to fill them. So today I am announcing the availability of my first project template. If you follow my blog you may have seen a sneak peek of this project on one of my WOYWW posts. The lovely comments I received made me choose this as my first item to offer for sale. Here is a taste of what you can make if you decide to purchase my template and the two video tutorials that accompany it.
As you can see it is a very versatile template that is great fun to make and great fun to give. I will be releasing more design ideas for using this template over the coming weeks so if you intend to purchase this item (and I am keeping my fingers crossed that you do!!) don't forget to sign up and follow my Blog and my You Tube Channel to make sure you do not miss out on the inspiration.
I hope to add a links page soon (.....again when I learn how to do it!) so that anyone that purchases a template can share their own interpretations and design ideas for using my template. I can't wait to see what everyone makes. It is so exciting.
I started this blog at the beginning of the year to keep a track of my progress towards starting my own internet crafting business and almost a year later - TODAY IS THE DAY!
My Blog has introduced me to all the other wonderful folk who blog and craft out there and I have had and am having such fun. I have met lots of lovely people (virtually!) and thank you for all your kind words of encouragement. I am definitely going to carry on blogging ('cause I love it!) and hope to still make time to participate in the wonderful challenges I have been playing along with.
So without further ado here is the link to my brand new shop:
I was having withdrawal symptoms and needed a tag fix!!!! I have missed two weeks of Tag Tuesday and that is not like me at all so I must have been busy!!! I had a lovely play yesterday to make up for it and here is my Music inspired tag. The idea popped into my head night before last and I have had great fun making it. My hands were looking very glamourous covered in ink and bits of hot glue strings!!
I decided to leave my video camera running while I made this - a bit of an experiment - not really a tutorial but it gives you an idea of what I got up to yesterday!
A 10 minute recap of an 'almost' all day project!!!!!
I am looking forward to catching up with everyone over at Tag Tuesday and seeing what they have all been making for the past 2 challenges and this one of course.
Then it is put my thinking cap on as I have decided to spend Sunday making my tags for the Christmas Tag swap.........what to do - Note to self: I have to make sure I can get them in an envelope!!!!!!
I have been working hard since my last post and almost have project number 2 ready to add to my shop. I am on the final edits to the pattern and I also want to make a third video to go with the main video tutorials that will accompany this set of card patterns (small clue before the big reveal!!)
This week I realised that my craft business is about selling templates for great paper crafting projects I have designed (if I say so myself!!!) and personal virtual tuition, a private class with me that my customers can attend whenever and how often they like! I want to be sure that anyone that buys from me knows I will (virtually) hold their hand every step of the way, giving clear and detailed instruction so they can be sure to make a project they will love. I think with a few tweaks I just wrote my company mission statement!!!!
So taking a short break from project number two I want to share a design idea for anyone that has purchased or will purchase the Surprise Package Template which was the first item on the virtual shelves of my brand new shop.
Introducing the Comic Strip Surprise Package.
This design would be fab to make for a youngster, teen or that always young at heart lover of comics in your life. A great design for the boys in our lives which is always a bonus when it comes to card making inspiration.
I have made a video that shows of the detail of the comic strip design. It is a bonus mini tutorial to any customer that buys my Surprise Package Template. I am hoping that all my design idea videos will now and in the future help me promote my business and generate interest in what I do and of course turn interest into sales ;-) !!!
Thank you so much for joining me on my crafting journey and being interested enough to click the follow link. If you like what you see here then please pass the link of my blog and brand new shop to your friends.
This week I have on my desk for your perusal a layout I started at a crop on Saturday which I finish yesterday. I have a card that was inspired by the paper roses I made for the layout, two samples for the template I have just put in my internet shop and all the halloween bits and bobs waiting for a box to magically appear and tidy them away!! Will it arrive before Christmas I wonder!
Here is a close up of the layout. I bought some fab papers from Jacqui at Crafty Island. I loved the bright colours and they went perfectly with the Fun Fair photos - my little boy with the big Candy Floss is now almost 14 so it has taken me a while to scrap these!!!! Just waiting for the perfect papers.
For a while now I have wanted to make you a video to show you how much I have learnt from the first one I took with my phone so I made a card with the same Cratepaper 'On Trend' papers that I used on the Layout and thought I would feature how to make paper roses in the tutorial. So here is a close up of the card for those of you in a hurry.....
.......and if you have 10 minutes to spare here is the video tutorial. Hope you like it. These roses are so easy to make and look so effective.
I must apologise for my lack of visiting last week. I just don't know where the time went. I am going to visit everyone this week that visited me last week. It is not like me as I do very much like my WOYWW fix each week. You can tell how busy I have been as I haven't posted on my blog at all since last WOYWW either (follow the link if you don't know what WOYWW is - after reading this of course!! :-))
So on my desk and endeavouring to keep it short, for a change!! I bought two fab stamps from the aptly named Gorjuss range and I have been having loads of fun colouring in as you can see. They are a couple of samples for my class on Friday. I am hoping that I have done Christmas with a twist. I am covered in glamour dust as I have been adding just the tiniest touch of sparkle. As you can see I am almost there - just some of the fiddly cutting with a craft knife left to do.
In my second and final photo my guillotine is acting as a card stand whilst these samples dry off. I loved doing the splodges to make a snowy background on the bottom card. I also had fun using the lovely Iced Spruce and Peacock feathers distress inks to get what I hope is another alternative colour combo - the iced spruce makes it look like it could snow for days - I am not sure that that tree trunk will stand up to much more!
I am off to nosy around before I get back to finishing my samples off....colouring in, nosing, colouring in, nosing sounds like a perfect mornings work to me!!!
