The first of my small batches of Christmas cards this year, and the simplest. It's very rare that I make stamping the focal point of a card; most stamping is quickly followed by colouring... But I wanted designs that would be easy to reproduce and that wouldn't take hours to make. I am okay at… Continue reading Happy Christmas tree
When I did my black and gold experiment, I did a couple of quick crackle paste tests. One ended up revealing the sheep within it, but the other one was less interesting and was destined to end up in the bin. Then my other half wandered in and said it looked like a cloud and… Continue reading Cloud on a stick
One of the reasons I chose to start making cards was that they are small and easy to store. Okay, that's maybe overstating it a bit, but storage space definitely is something that has to be taken into consideration when planning any project. There is a part of me that would love to try something… Continue reading The storage problem
In an effort to make Christmas card making as low stress as possible, I picked up the Winter Flurries Collection from Polkadoodles — four stamp sets, four stencils and a lovely pack of paper (some of which isn't overtly Christmassy). And that, along with a couple of dies that caught my eye, is all I'm… Continue reading Snowman and stars
So I was tidying up my desk and there was this scrap of paper that I’d used to do a quick crackle paste test on a few days before and it was too interesting to just chuck in the bin. So I tore the excess paper off, glued it onto an art card and put… Continue reading Medieval dragon sheep
I don't really do holidays. When you grow up on a small farm, you really don't get into the habit of going away regularly. And these days, it's not so easy finding someone to look after the ratties. And, to be honest, we're both homebodies... So going away isn't something that happens often, about the… Continue reading Creating away
The first amigurumi pattern book I bought was Amigurumi World which, as advertised, contained some seriously cute crochet including the bunnies from my first throwback post. After that, I needed something to counter the cuteness and I found the perfect antidote in Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Haden. The patterns all use the same basic… Continue reading Amigurumi: Creepy Cute Crochet
Sometimes an idea will pop into my head; often triggered by a barely seen something that just whizzed past my eye. It's not fully formed, it's definitely not a thing, but it's the start of an experiment. That vague idea — a golden slash across a black background — along with the need to play… Continue reading Experiment in black and gold
I am fickle. Much as I experiment with different mediums and styles, so do I accumulate inspiration. Influences come and go, all leaving a bit of themselves behind when my eye gets caught by the next thing. As a teenager my biggest artistic influence was probably Roger Dean and while I still appreciate the artistry, that's… Continue reading Influences and inspiration
I seem to be doing the "last minute inspiration" thing with cards at the moment. My card stash is large enough that I'm only making new ones if I don't have something suitable — this basically means that I am stuck making mostly masculine cards so far this year... This design gave me the opportunity… Continue reading Caped cuties
The sun and moon resin piece had been floating around my craft room waiting for me to get some waxes to colour it. But I hadn't really thought any further ahead than that so, once coloured, it continued to float around for another couple of months waiting for me to turn my attention to it.… Continue reading Sun, moon and stars
My room is not large. It's about 3.0m by 2.6m (or slightly smaller than 10ft by 8½ft). When we first moved here I was using it as a computer/reading room and — with a desk, filing cabinet, comfy chair, side table and some shelves — it was quite cosy and relaxing. Then I started crafting...… Continue reading My craft room
This wasn't so much an unfinished project as a barely started one. In fact, I really had no plan for this at all. When I made my golden ivy piece, I ended up with more coloured texture paste than I needed; not wanting to waste it, I grabbed an art card and covered it with… Continue reading A very wonderful place
Back at the end of May this year I saw an announcement for a new creative community targeted at arty, creative types who blog. And I must have had my brave trousers on that day because I filled in the form and applied to join. I know that doesn't sound like a particularly brave thing… Continue reading GESSO: Primed Creatives blogging challenge
Crafty Rat 