A little bit oriental

I have gradually built up my stash of oriental dies, courtesy of Tattered Lace, and felt it was time to put these into use.  I dug out my unused papercrafting pad from Graphic 45 called Bird Song and deliberated for what seemed like ages before I came up with this card concept.

I have used a circle punch to create the Tea Bag rosette and used a chip board image from the Bird Song range as the focal point.  

I was pleased with the result and the fact that I had mastered another tea bag technique known as the Dahlia fold.  I got the idea from a book but the instructions are available on the Internet if you know where to look.

If this technique interests you take a look at Judy Headrick's website where she has quite a few techniques available for you to download for free at http://www.handcraftedgreetings.com/teabaginst.php

Pollyanna Pickerting British Wildlife

We card makers always find it tricky making cards particularly for the men in our lives, or at least I did until I discovered Pollyanna Pickering's British Wildlife DVD Rom. The images on this DVD are truly amazing and their is plenty of inspiration to try different card techniques.  

Pollyanna Pickering is an internationally renowned wildlife artist and environmentalist.  Born in Yorkshire, she is an English wildlife artist who has gone on many expeditions around the world to study animals in their natural habitat and then captures these images in her artwork.

This DVD will be appreciated by anyone with a love for wildlife and now there is another DVD by Pollyanna based on world wildlife.  I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this!

Since purchasing this British Wildlife DVD I have made 4 or 5 cards for males and have been very pleased with the results. So much so, that I brought a paper crafting set of toppers, matching papers etc and sent them to my mum in Spain so that she too would have the benefit of having this for her crafty stash.

Here are some of the cards I have made:

Here are three more using the same images but varying the end result.  I have used a die from Britannia dies which works well with the image.

Christmas Door and Wreath Tutorial

Question: 
How do you turn a window die into a door?

Answer:  

Follow this tutorial!

http://www.dipsdesigns.com/2013/11/christmas-door-wreath-card-tutorial.html

I love my Tonic dies so when I stumbled upon this tutorial "Christmas Door and Wreath Card Tutorial" last week I didn't care that it was far too early to be thinking about Christmas Cards, I just wanted to have a play at turning my window die into an actual door.

It took a few attempts to get this right but I think it was worth the pain!  It was also my first experience of hanging my dies over the edge of my plates to avoid them cutting into the card stock.  

 A window die with 4 panes has now turned into a door with 6 panels.  It is great how flexible this die can be.

I used some very expensive red velvet card once I had perfected the cut and I think you will agree it looks stunning! The card is called Red Velvet Card and 3 sheets set me back £2.50.  I had been saving it for my Poinsetta dies but since I have made two doors from one sheet it isn't too bad! The supplier is Pink Frog Crafts and Cards.  They have amazing card stock for printing on called Inkjet Printable Shimmer White Decoupage Paper.  The weight is 160gsm so prints without any jamming and the quality is great.  



Here is the door without the wreath decoration.  My gratitude goes to Dips Designs for sharing the tutorial with us fellow crafters.  Thanks Dips. 

Now I just need to decide whether to go with the wreath idea or not and make the background card for the door to sit on.  

Keep crafting, Crafty Tash

Time to try Zentangle

Never afraid to learn something new I am giving Zentangle a go.  Its reminiscent of school days when I used to doodle on the corners of my notepads.  Zentangle is the lastest craze in crafting and easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns.    These are my first attempts.  It should carry a health warning as it is quite addictive!  

All you need is some Sakura Micron pens in various thicknesses, some paper, perhaps a stencil or two unless you are particularly good at drawing outlines and some time on your hands.  I got ideas for the patterns by Googling "Zentangle images".  

I used a black pencil to lightly shade in some areas and smudged the pencil with a paper stump.  It is pretty hard to see on this image how effective this was but trust me, it looks good.

I now know what I am going to pack in my holiday bag along with my Kindle this summer.

Happy Crafting, Crafty Tash

What a pair of booties!

I have recently been inspired to get back into doing some crocheting.  I enjoy this much more than knitting and these days there are so many good books available to fill you with inspiration.  

I have just invested in this Encyclopedia of Crochet Techniques which I am finding very informative and easy to follow.  I like the fact that as well as having written instructions there are diagrams of the stitches so you can see where they sit in relation to one another.

I began crocheting in my early teens doing things like granny squares and lace doilies.  This blanket with the little houses was made nearly 30 years ago and still gets plenty of use on a cold winter evening.

My latest achievement is a pair of baby booties!  I wanted to try something small and something that I thought wouldn't take too long to make.  I made these in an afternoon following a tutorial on YouTube by the "Crochet Jewell".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgW37g74oLU

The tutorial is nice and slow and easy to follow.  I put my own spin on my booties by adding a picot edge around the top in white and added gingham ribbon.

Happy crocheting!

Crafty Tash

Bags of Charm

I am wondering how people find the time to blog every day, I started out with good intentions but have failed to keep my blog going.  But maybe you can forgive me as I do have a full time job, run a wheelchair dance group and fill every available spare moment crafting in one guise or another. Still, I am full of admiration for those bloggers out there who keep it going day in and day out.  

I think if I am honest with myself I seemed to loose interest about the same time a dear friend was terminally ill so it isn't any wonder my mind was elsewhere.  I have decided that now I am feeling a lot better about life and the universe,it is time to try and resurrect my blog and see where it takes me.

Talking of bloggers, one of my favourite bloggers is Barbara Gray from Clarity Stamps.  If you missed her demonstration on the Create and Craft channel last Sunday you can catch it on the repeats or better still visit her blog and see how she uses the new wildlife bird stamps.  The blog is also a hilarious read!

My latest antics this year have involved a trip or two to an Antiques market in a town nearby where I have acquired bags of vintage jewelry at knock down prices. I have taken these pieces of jewelry apart and up-cycled them into new jewelry and bag charms.

Here are a few of these along with some other bag charms I made from sets of beads I purchased prior to Christmas.

Enjoy!

Crafty Tash