Sunday 26 March 2017

Magazine Makes #6 and a Craft Room UPDATE

Hello! I think all the horrid germs we have all been fighting for three weeks have gone. Been pretty miserable for a while, but the weather has perked up no end just in time for Mother's Day and so I have a card to share that I made with one of the sets of my magazine stamps. I'll also have a craft room update at the end of this post too.This is quite a long post, so maybe get a cuppa ;)



You can tell just how nice it's been with the sunshine as I managed to take a picture of the card outside for once. If you're curious about those bunnies, they are from Raindrop Crafts on Etsy.

On to the card! I started out with a piece of watercolour card and smooshed some Picked Raspberry and Spun Sugar distress ink onto it using an old cellophane wrapper - all I could find at the time. I added some splatters from my white and white gold Gansai Tambi and also some of my Pink Champagne Sparkle Pen.



Once dry I die cut it with my WPlus9 Sunshine Layers die. I also die cut the tea cup from the magazine set in some scrap grey card I had in my Raskog cart. I stamped the flowers from the set in Ranger Archival Jet Black ink onto some scrap watercolour card and coloured with distress inks very lightly.

I adhered the panel with fun foam to a pink A2 card blank and glued the tea cup and then the flowers on top with glossy accents - my multi medium matte is running empty, and I think this is a great alternative.

I stamped the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black onto some scrap card and popped it up on foam pads. In case you're wondering what happened to the Happy, I didn't like the font it was in, so decided not to add it. It was very different to the Mother's Day. I then added some enamel accents in pink and white.



Not bad for a last minute card made on Mother's Day morning!

I'm going to link this up to the 30 Day Colouring Challenge and also Pixie's Snippets Playground Week 273 and 274 (happy to just play and not be entered for the prizes)

Now onto my Craft Room. So the last post had me wallpapering and I'm happy to tell you it then got painted and my husband started moving his stuff in and I started moving my stuff out into what was his room. I posted a picture over on Instagram 10 days ago to show I had my desk in my new room and I finally managed some colouring a couple of days later. I moved my last box in and I'm now using it every day, for colouring and also to tidy up and work out where everything is going to go. 


Here's the view from the door - the room is in the garden so you can see the sunshine flowing in! I have two bookcases my husband no longer wanted which have doors, and another Billy bookcase that a friend was wanting rid of. I still have stuff in boxes, and there are also some boxes and a large storage unit that is my husband's in there, but I have projects under way, so it is being well used already.


Here's my desk - look at that big window! Yay! The other room wasn't dark, but having my desk at a window is such a joy. I can look out and get light in at the same time. It is not a very big room, but it has enough space for me and my toys and it is so nice not to have to share space with the spare room. My husband is much happier with that and has started listening to his CDs again and reading his books. It is such a win win situation. The only downside is that when it rains I have to wear a coat and run out, and also I can't come out here if I'm the only adult in the house as the kiddies aren't quite big enough to self supervise, BUT these are minor issues in the grand scheme of things. I am very happy indeed.

Would you like a video tour when it is all up and running properly? I need curtains and to get my video arm up again, so it may be a month or so before I'm completely happy, but I'd love to share my happiness with you all then.

Thank you so much for popping by today and I wish you all a marvellous and sunny week ahead! 

Here is a list of the supplies used on this card. I have signed up to affiliate links on some products (currently only Simon Says Stamp). If you purchase any item after clicking on an affiliate link, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps in a small way to support the running of my blog and is very much appreciated, thank you!


Tuesday 7 March 2017

Chalkboard Project - Trying Something Different!

Hi Everyone! Hope you are all having a good week so far? We've actually had some sun here in Yorkshire and it's starting to feel a little bit like Spring - wonders will never cease ;)

Anyway, thank you for all your positive comments on the current room redecorations. We are currently in the process of moving stuff from one room to another and setting up, so I will update you next week on what has been going on.

This week, I want to share with you a little project I've been working on for a while. It's not a very big home decor project, but it needed working out and time without kiddies hanging about - something that doesn't happen that often.... It's my Chalkboard Fireplace! 



Bet you're wondering what on earth this is all about? Well I will tell you! When we moved in, there was a gas fire here. For various reasons (kiddies, lack of use etc), we had it capped off and I had a think about what we could do with the space. We didn't want to take out the fireplace surround as it's a nice and useful feature, so having seen a nice chalkboard that Leigh Penner had made some time ago, I wondered if I could do the same with this... and I could! We got the old fire removed and I got to work over a period of weeks.

I sourced:

1) A piece of birch plywood bigger than the hole and some coarse sandpaper for the edges of the board and a face mask to avoid inhaling the dust - from my local Handyman shop who is SO helpful!!

2) Some Blackboard paint from Wilkinsons and some cheap paint brushes


4) Some No More Nails adhesive to stick it on 

Altogether I think it came to about £14 for the materials.

All I did was sand down the edges of the board and then paint it. I had to give it three coats and put the last one on quite thickly. It needs a couple of hours to dry in between, so I did it over about a week outside when I was fairly sure it was not going to pour with rain. Once dry it was simple to put a bead of No More Nails round the outside of the board and stick it in place. I needed 24 hours for it to bond properly and also had to put something weighty up against it to hold it in place. My piano stool with some plastic sheeting on it worked well!

A quick trip to the supermarket for some cheap chalk and I've been having fun.




Here is a list of the supplies used on this project. I have signed up to affiliate links on some products (currently only Simon Says Stamp). If you purchase any item after clicking on an affiliate link, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps in a small way to support the running of my blog and is very much appreciated, thank you! 





Thank you so much for visiting today. I had a lot of fun with this project and am really pleased with how it has turned out. The girls are excited to have something they can draw on that's not paper and I can get excited that it's not the walls!

Saturday 4 March 2017

Flower Challenge #6

Well, hope you had fin with last month's challenge - so much talent out there! This month it's everyone's favourite topic - ANYTHING GOES! So basically, go to town and enjoy yourselves.



I've got back into sewing this year and have started pairing it up with my cards as well. It adds a rather nice touch, at least I think so!



I started by stamping the large SMILE onto some Neenah 110lb card stock with Memento Tuxedo Black. I then coloured in the flowers with my Copics - very basic shading!

I cut it to size and used my Edge Essentials die from Reverse Confetti to add the stitched detail across the top and the bottom and then sewed across it with some yellow embroidery thread (floss!). I do love the added detail this gives.

I then simply added it to a red A2 (US) card base with some foam tape.



Here is a list of the supplies used on this card. I have signed up to affiliate links on some products (currently only Simon Says Stamp). If you purchase any item after clicking on an affiliate link, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps in a small way to support the running of my blog and is very much appreciated, thank you! 




I do hope you have a go at the challenge this month - you have until 25th to enter. Thank you for popping by as usual!

Wednesday 1 March 2017

Craft Room Goings On - An Update!

Hello Everyone! If you follow me on Instagram, you'll have seen me posting pictures of things happening in the craft room that mean I won't be doing much crafting for a while. I thought I'd do a longer post and explanation and update all in one on my blog.

In short, I'm moving out. Moving out of the craft room that is! I've been sharing space with the spare room and it's time that room had a bit of TLC. When we got our loft conversion on 4 years ago, our builder put his foot through the ceiling into this room. He fixed it and replastered it, but it still hadn't been properly painted (I know, I know.....). 
 

So that is finally being done. One corner has been prone to mould, so that was stripped of wall paper...
 

You can tell that there were shelves there at one point - and nice yellow paint.... Today I papered it with lining paper ready to be painted and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with my handiwork - not bad for a first attempt and some super cheap paper and paste from Poundworld!


I am excited to get painting!  

Once it is all clean and fresh, and we have new curtains, my husband will move his things out of a room which we built to replace the old garage (asbestos panels, so was quickly removed when we moved in) and I will move my things in. It's a fully insulated room, and although not huge, it will all be mine and suit both of us better - and I can finally get curtains in it after 5 years ;)

So, I won't be creating too much, other than a post I have for the upcoming Flower Challenge on 4th, but once I am done with IKEA furniture building and my crafty mojo is back, I will share a little craft room tour on my YouTube channel.

Thank you for taking the time to read. The colouring challenge started today so I am also excited to be taking part tomorrow - painting walls counts!




Blog design by aleelilydesigns