My first boxes!

 Hello again,

These are the boxes I decorated for the craft event.  I found it quite tricky to photograph them.  If anyone has any tips for photographing boxes please let me know!

They were all wooden boxes that I bought from QD, I used acrylic paints and emulsion match pots - either seemed to work really well, but I needed to put two coats on.

The decoration was from stickers I had in my stash - stickers that haven't seen the light of day for some time.  In fact I used to look at them and wonder what I was going to do with them.  So it really does pay not to throw things away - well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Once I painted and decorated them, I applied a coat of varnish, this helped to seal on the stickers and give the boxes a nice smooth finish.  I have lined them all with co-ordinating felt. 

One thing I discovered was that painting a few boxes at a time works better than just doing one because you can keep painting as there is time to allow the coats of paint to dry as you go from box to box. 

I hope you like them.  I certainly enjoyed making them.  I wonder what the visitors to the craft event will think?

Until next time,

Happy Crafting!

Cars and bikes

Hi there!

Here are some of the male themed cards I made yesterday.  I started them as a bit of an experiment.  I rarely stamp and emboss on black card so I wanted to see how this worked out.  I decided that cars and bikes would look good on black with either gold or silver embossing.  But I also wanted to try out different types of card. 

I had grabbed some glossy, pearlescent and matt black card to try.  The glossy card was the trickest.  I had to make sure there was a good covering of dust from my anti-static bag (brushing talc on the cards with a paint brush also works).  Both the pearlescent and matt black card worked well giving slightly different finishes.

I used papers from Kanban Industriana and Mechanica papers pads for the backgrounds and Spellbinders labels for the die-cut shapes.  As you can see there was one shape that suited the car and bike shape better and I also used the frame shape left by the die-cut a couple of times.

Hope you like them.

Until next time,

Happy Crafting

Update

Hi bloggers!

How has your weekend been?  I know I shouldn't complain but I am really feeling the lost hour today, I need all the time I can get my hands on.  I've been busy making cards and boxes for a craft event happening in Stowmarket this coming Friday.  It's called a Vintage Tea Party at the John Peel Centre, my first proper craft event so I have mixed feelings - excitement and a kind of yikes!  

I've got quite a few cards to take, but I have added some boxes I have decorated (pictures and separate post coming) and I have also made some male themed cards.

Also, just wanted to use this to also let you know how the hearts I made sold, they did really well.  Out of 18 at I made, there were 8 left.  I was going to try the technique out on the wooden boxes that I bought from QD, but then I had other ideas. 

I just can't help myself from trying something different.   Is this a failing?  I'm not sure.  I've read lots about finding my own niche and creating my own trademark style, but I do love variety.  Perhaps that is my niche.  It's early days yet and I do want to try lots of different techniques before I claim any sort of niche.

I'm going to be putting some more posts on today.  Have a look and see what you think of my efforts.

Until next time,

Keep crafting!

Hearts ... I'm seeing hearts!!

Hi there!

I have been painting and stamping and embossing most of last weekend to get these hearts ready for sale.  It's been great fun digging about in my stamps stash looking for stamps that might work and then practicing designs on heart shapes drawn on copy paper with my versa mark black ink pad. 

As before, I used emulsion paints from some tester pots I had and then stamped using clear versa mark ink and then used white / gold / silver embossing powder. 

These creations are now up for sale in the cafe situated next to the charity I work for.  There's not much time until Mothers' Day, so I hope they sell well.  I need to get more organised with my planning and work a lot more in advance.   

Next up is a craft fair event in Stowmarket on 30th March at the John Peel Centre.  I've got some wooden boxes (the ones you can find in the discount stores - I found mine in QD) that I have painted and I might just do some stamping and embossing on them. I think I could be addicted to this technique now! It looks so pretty and it is very simple.

But I do want to try other methods too.  I am always looking to increase my technique repertoire (is there such a thing? - more importantly - have I spelt it right?)

Anyway watch this space to see how I get on!!

Happy crafting.

Hearts

Hi there

I have made some hearts using my rubber stamps and embossing powder.  The hearts are made out of MDF.  I have covered them with matt emulsion paint from left over tester pots.  Once the paint was dry I stamped images using Versa Mark ink and then used a variety of embossing powder colours (white, gold and silver). 

The stamps I used on the two top images are from the Inkylicious wild flowers stamps.  They are really lovely images and the solid designs are perfect for silhouette stamping.

One thing I did discover was that it is best to melt the embossing powder on a low heat setting.  It takes longer, but if you apply the high heat setting you risk burning the paint and the embossing powder.  What I am really pleased about is that the detail of the stamps was retained. 

I have made these hearts for the local charity that I work for to sell for Mothers' Day.  Owing to how well these turned out, I've got to make a lot more!  I let you know how well they sell.

Happy crafting!