Ink Blending Video Tutorial

Hi there! 

As promised at the weekend, today I have a youtube video to share with you showing how to create the rainbow ink blending technique that I shared at my card class this past Saturday. Its been a long time since making a video and I am reminded what a slow and difficult process it can be. What I had hoped to be quite a quick process ended up sucking up an entire evening...but now I have some video software downloaded and am learning to slowly edit my videos which is kinda cool. Fingers crossed I'll get faster as I create more. Here's hoping anyway! I've also learnt that I need to invest in some better lighting as the shadows are really bothering me, but hey, everyone has to start out somewhere, right? And often done is much better than perfect!

So, before I jump into the video, I thought I'd quickly remind you of the technique on a finished card...

And now onto the video... 

It would mean a lot if you could leave a comment or a thumbs up over at my youtube channel. 

I hope you enjoyed this technique and I loo forward to seeing some of your creations using the ink blending technique. I'll be sharing more ideas using the ink blending technique over the coming few weeks, so be sure to stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by,

Lighthearted Leaves

Hey!

I had so many ideas this week for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge. 

I decided I wanted to make it really clean and simple again, just like last week's. Hmm, I'm feeling that there's a bit of a theme going on with my card designs at the moment - clean and simple is certainly my current aesthetic of choice. 

I originally thought I'd just cut or punch 9 scraps of pattern paper to form the 9 patch. Then I got to browsing my stamp collection and found the Lighthearted Leaves stamp set. Its retired now but I got to thinking how pretty the leaves were and how springlike they were in design too so then I decided that I just had to use that stamp set. 

Stamp Set: Lighthearted Leaves

Ink: Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Mint Macaron, Old Olive, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry, Pool Party

Cardstock: Whisper White

I used the smallest leaf and then rotated it to create a more natural, less structured look. I stamped the leaves in a variety of springlike colours directly onto the cardbase. I'd intended on cutting out the floral motif in the centre of the leaf to add a bit more detail to the card however in the end decided I really enjoyed the one layer simplicity of it and kept it as it was. 

This card literally took a few minutes to put together and couldn't have been easier.  

I'll leave you with a photo of a sleepy bunny to end this Sunday post...

Have a great week! 

March Card Class

Hey there!

This morning I jumped back into my first card class. It was a weird mixture of immense excitement to be able to craft with my friends again and fear that everything might go wrong. In the end though we all had a thoroughly enjoyable morning and they all left very happy with their beautiful creations. It always amazes me how each person's cards look so different from the same starting off point! Here's a sneaky peek at my room all ready and waiting for their arrivals this morning...

My plan is that each month's class results in 4 cards focusing on a technique/product or sometimes a theme. This month we did an ink blending technique using sponge daubers. And here are the 4 cards we all had a go at making using the ink blending technique. I love how fresh and clean and happy they all are! 

Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing each of these cards and the technique in more detail. I'm also intending to make some videos to share on my youtube channel, the first of which will be of this ink blending technique. 

Have a great Saturday,

Flourishing Phrases

Happy Sunday folks!

I thought I'd jump back into the world of sketch challenges and take part in this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  I like the FMS are really simple and great for a clean and simple look. For my first sketch challenge in several years I knew I wanted to keep this card easy and clean. No point complicating things, right? So, here it goes, sketch challenge 379...

Stamp Set: Flourishing Phrases

Cardstock: Whisper White

Ink: Tranquil Tide, Berry Burst, Lemon Lime Twist

Adhesive: Snail, Dimensionals

I used the Stampin' write markers to colour in the flourishing floral stamp and then stamped this onto the Whisper White card. I then stamped the thanks sentiment in Tranquil Tide on a thin strip of white card. I then ran the side of the berry burst marker along the edge of the white card. This is a great way to add a extra little pop of colour without adding more layers. This then got added to the card with some dimensionals for a little height. I then used my markers to colour in the large flower and leaves stamps, stamped them on Whisper White card and cut them out. These then got stuck onto the card over the strip with the sentiment on it. 

I hope you enjoyed this really quick and simple card today. 

I look forward to more challenges as I get back into the routine of blogging again.

Thanks for stopping by,

I'm back!

Hey there!

Its been a while! Looking back at my last blog post I've realised its been over 4 years! Woah! Where does time go? Well, I'm back and just wanted to fill you in on a little of my story before beginning to share some creativity with you once again.

So, a lot has happened in life, a lot of heartache and pain and sadness. I've been in a long battle against anxiety. I lost grip on a lot of things in life and in my fierce battle to keep my head above the surface and keep on treading water I lost for a period of time who I was. Looking back at it now I realise I should have asked for help sooner. But I'm getting better and regaining pieces of myself one by one.

In the last few years I've moved house twice, firstly back in with my parents and then back in October I became a home owner! I am so proud that this has become a reality, for a long time it seemed like it would only ever be a dream. Then in December I finally passed my driving test! 2018 was a busy year!

I've done a lot of work to the house already, and encountered a lot of trials, but I've made it through and its feeling more and more like a proper home. I'll give you a brief run through of the work we've undertaken thus far.

The first major thing to do at the house was to deep clean the carpets - the previous owner had 3 cats, so the carpets were caked in cat hairs! Out came the hoover, and carpet cleaner. My allergies to cat hair caused me to find this job particularly challenging!

Next was decorating the bedroom and building the bed. The whole house was painted cream so while it wasn't in desperate need of painting I was already feeling bored of beige everywhere! The walls were painted a pretty duck egg blue colour. At this point we could move in which made working on other bits of the house much easier as there was less travelling to and from after work.

Once I'd moved everything in and got the bathroom and kitchen stuff into a workable state I could focus on more painting and an trip to IKEA.

We got the office painted - a couple of shades of blue, desks assembled and computer installed pretty quickly and without too much of a hitch.

I then cracked on with decorating the lounge diner. Its a huge room with 2 french doors out onto the garden. I decided as it was such a large room it could handle some bold wallpaper. I had never wallpapered before this point and very much doubt that I ever will again after the ordeal that I went through. If I had realised how much trouble wallpaper would be I more likely would have stuck to painting. However, now that its completed it looks beautiful and I'm very happy with it. So, the two end walls are papered in a dark green with large palm leaves over it. The two side walls are a light green colour.

I bought some dining chairs from IKEA that went well with my table that I'd pulled from a skip 6 or 7 years ago. While the chairs were lovely the grey seat pads weren't really do it for me so after finding some palm leaf fabric that complimented the wallpaper beautifully I just knew that they needed to be recovered!

By this point it was Christmas so work on the house kinda came to a halt. It was so lovely to have a house to decorate for Christmas and to really call mine. I'm looking forward to adding to my decorations and making more bits for the house for next year!

As January rolled around I joined the "Junk Free January" challenge that Serena at Thrift Diving was organising. I knew I needed to tackle the craft room which at this stage was just a room crammed with so many card board boxes it was almost impossible to move in there. If I'm honest, entering that room filled me with dread and panic but I knew I needed to face it in order to make a usable space. I had been collecting ideas on pinterest ever since having the house offer accepted so had so many ideas of what the room could be. I knew I wanted it to work for sewing, papercrafting and also work as a space not only for some solo crafting but also having friends over to craft.

I started off by drawing out a to scale floor plan. This allowed me to move around furniture ideas I'd been looking at at IKEA and also a collapsible table I found on Amazon. Once I had the plan nailed down I got to taking boxes out of the room to sort - I've had quite a purge of things I was holding onto for "someday". I hate purging, how about you?

Once the room was cleared I could begin painting the room. The walls that have my desks against them are white so that there's no colour interference. The other walls are painted a bright turquoise colour! I also got a light fitting where I can move and adjust the lights depending on where I need the lighting facing in my room.

Pretty much all of my furniture it IKEA. I have a Kallax unit that houses all my papers. Along the wall I have a corner table that is predominately for my sewing machine - I love how much space the corner table gives you. and then following on from the corner table is a straight table sat on an Alex unit that houses all my essential go to paper craft supplies. Above the tables are 2 peg boards. I've been dreaming of having peg board for years!

All my less used crafting supplies and envelopes and fabric are stored in the 2 large built in wardrobes behind me. Between the 2 wardrobes in a shelving unit that was already there when #I moved in - I think it was designed for DVDs however it fits the Stampin' Up stamp cases perfectly!

So, January was pretty busy getting the craft room done, its almost there but I have taken a break from home renos to just enjoy my craft room and make discover the joy of crafting again!

Last week I took the step to sign up as a Stampin' Up demo again. I'm not sure where the journey will take me this time. I'm planning to start out small. I have a group of friends that used to come along to my card club I ran back before life got in the way. So in a few weeks time I will be having them over for a crafty morning to make some cards and chat and enjoy the new room! I am really looking forward to having a room that actually works for what I want it to do - my old room never quite got to that stage as I never took the time to properly plan it out.

The next house project will be to work on getting the garden fixed up, but that can wait for warmer, nicer weather. In the mean time I'm going to take a little break and get back into crafting.

I've just realised that this has gotten very long and thank you for bearing with me if you are still reading at this point.

I want to start blogging and sharing some makes with you on here again. I'm also thinking of trying out vlogging and putting more content on my youtube channel again. There's a very sad 6 or so videos on there currently.

So for tonight I will sign off, but I'll be back soon with more creative bits. And some photos of the house!