About Me

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I'm a retired primary school teacher, who started paper crafting in 2008, when I had a fancy to make my own Christmas cards. Since then, I have tried all sorts of techniques and styles - and I kind of like them all. I have been lucky enough to be on blog teams and large design teams and to do a bit of freelance demonstrating - and I love the challenge of working with different products. My crafting style is very varied - from junk journaling and art journaling, bookbinding and journal making, to quilting and patchwork - and of course I still make cards. This variety keeps me interested - and my crafty stash growing!! I'm always seeking inspiration for new projects.

Saturday 26 June 2021

A Lovely Day

Today's card was for my lovely sister-in-law's birthday.  I used Hunkydory Peony Dreams - A Lovely Day for both the topper and patterned card. To that, I added some pink Core'dinations card and silver mirror card, cut with Crafter's Companion Stitched Squares and Inverted Stitched Lace Scalloped Squares.  I love this palette of pink and blue!! 


Happy crafting!!
Cxx

Monday 21 June 2021

Retro Ride

Today's share is the 30th birthday card I made  for my stepson's recent 30th birthday.


The topper is from Hunkydory's Pick 'n' Mix - A Retro Ride, teamed with gold mirror card, Kanban textured blue mirror card, blue Core'dinations and a piece of digi printed paper. I also used Crafter's Companion Stitched Edge square dies and First Edition Number dies. 

Happy crafting,
Cxxx

Tuesday 15 June 2021

Art Reboot #5 Natural things

Today's prompt was to use natural things in your journal - either to stick in, or to make marks.

I had a mosey round my garden and picked some raggedy old pansies, a geranium flower and a lavender stalk. I also picked up some dead leaves, a crumbling piece of stick and a feather.


I covered the pages of the journal with paper - I am definitely preferring having something other than white to work on, and added a couple of pieces of paper.


I stuck the petals and crumbled leaves on, and used the stick and feather to paint with. 

Happy crafting,
Cxxx

Monday 14 June 2021

Art Reboot #4 Cut some shapes....

 Absolutely loved today's prompt to cut some simple shapes out, and to arrange them in a fun way! Simple as - and really enjoyable. I picked some papers out of the box of "papers I don't really like - or have had since the Stone Age - and am never likely to use", and cut away!!

Really loving the end result!

Happy crafting!
Cxxx

Sunday 13 June 2021

Art Reboot #3 If I were a flower....

Today's prompt was - If you were a flower, what would you be. I had to think about this - and in the end I went for a flower that I love in my garden - and was planting this morning! It is the good old Busy Lizzie - or Impatiens. And the guide was to paint it in a whimsical way. 

I have always loved Busy Lizzies as, in the right spot, they need little fuss, and really flourish and produce loads of flowers. And in a way, that is me - I flourish when I am in the right place! I also think the name suits me too. I am always busy - on the go, and doing things - and can be quite impatient!

So, I said yesterday, I wanted to be less planned and use less materials - and I think I managed that. Quite whether my painting is whimsical - I really have no idea.



Back tomorrow. Happy crafting.

Cxxx

Saturday 12 June 2021

Art Reboot #2 My biggest priority right now....

Day 2 of Kasia Avery's Art Reboot, and today's prompt was "My biggest priority right now....". And we had to apply paint with an old toothbrush. 

Decided to go for bright colours today - but I do think I am being a bit too organised. Tomorrow I'll try to be more spontaneous - and less planned with the colours. And maybe less products too! 


That said, the whole preparation process did make me happy!! 😂😂

Happy crafting,
Cxxx

Friday 11 June 2021

Art Reboot #1 Things to be grateful for

Have been feeling quite lacking in inspiration with my crafting for a while. I am making cards for friends and family - but have lost the inspiration to do any messy stuff. So, when I received the email from Everything Art entitled "Lost your mojo?", I found myself signing up to the #ArtReboot. I haven't really art journaled before, but bought a Pink Pig pad at the start of the first lockdown with the intention of having a go. Apart from one, half-hearted attempt, it has been shut away in the drawer ever since. I love mixed media - and have a cupboard full of paints, sprays, paints, pastes, inks, stencils etc etc - some of which haven't seen the light of day for quite a while. 

Day 1's prompt was: 6 or 8 things you are grateful for today.  And the guidelines were: divide your page into 6 or 8 parts and fill each one with scribbling, doodles, collage etc.


These were the materials I ended up using. And this was what I came up with. 

And following the three golden rules: 
1 - We're here to create - not create jaw-dropping are pieces;
2 - No art/page/spread is ever finished until you decide you're done with it;
3- You owe yourself kindness - accept, acknowledge and celebrate what you've done.

.... I shall say that I am happy with what I have done and just leave it there.

Happy crafting,
Cxxx 

Sunday 6 June 2021

Bow Card

I decided I would like to make my friends something different this year, and decided to go for a bow card. I initially purchased a template, but it wasn't big enough, so I decided to create my own. I started with the basic shapes, and then created the template for the mats and layers. It took a bit of fiddling around, but eventually I had what I wanted. 


The papers I chose for this one were all peachy/orange tones. For the bow bases, I used Core'dinations - a lightweight card. The two papers shown at the back are digi papers - but am not sure what CD or download I printed them from. The paper at the front is very, very old. Twenty eight years old. It's a hand made, marbled paper that I created when I was volunteering at a local school while I was waiting to go to Uni to re-train as a teacher. We were marbling with the class, and I was mopping up all the left over ink before the next lot went in. I have kept the papers all these years - and finally decided to use them up.

The flower is cut with Gemini Elements - Elegant Ranunculus - dies, and the sentiment is stamped with Tattered Lace Distress Ink, and comes from Crafter's Companion Birthday Greetings clear stamp set. I also inked the edges of all the papers with Tattered Rose DI.

The hexagon card was printed onto white stamping card, and cut by hand. 

Happy crafting,

Cxxx