After a really productive August, September just went downhill. It took me nearly half the month just to finish a handful of outstanding blog posts, never mind actually starting any new projects. And it's not even creative block or lost mojo. I have plenty of ideas for things I want to make and experiments to… Continue reading Butterflies
For the first one of these I made, I stamped the tree as a silhouette in black. Now, I quite like that one, but my other half declared it to be "creepy and deserving of a ghost story", so I stamped the rest in green. Unfortunately, the colour change decision was made after I had… Continue reading Single Christmas tree
The third in my series of amigurumi throwback posts and this one is all about the mammals: mostly British wildlife, but a cute little koala did manage to creep in there as well. Badger I did have an idea at one point to make a very geeky series of crochet animals. The Ubuntu operating system… Continue reading Amigurumi: wildlife
So, out of all of the vast array of websites out there, which do I find the most useful in my crafty endeavours? That was the question that got my attention as I was deciding what to write about for this week's entry into the GESSO: Primed Creatives blogging challenge. And my answer? SHOPS!!!!! art shops...… Continue reading Invaluable sites
This was one of the last of the Christmas cards I made in August and it was based off the first element I made when I was playing around with ideas for the batches of cards. I'd inked and stencilled a sheet of card with holly and die-cut a couple of postage-edged panels. But I… Continue reading Holly flourish
I have a soft spot for encaustic work — not only the "painting with wax" style like the little landscape I made, but also the layering of clear wax over images and enclosures — so I was definitely curious when I came across Masterpaste Original, a cold encaustic medium. It is available in a whole… Continue reading Butterfly coaster
I wasn't sure whether I was going to post this. But I set up this blog with the intention of using it to record all the cards I made — initially as a reference for myself — and while the card making has expanded into mixed media and other arts and crafts, there is still… Continue reading Golden drips
This is one of the two Christmas dies I bought for this year's cardmaking; I do like border sentiment dies and there is enough detail in this one that the rest of the design can be fairly simple. I divided the card into three sections: sentiment, trees and snow. Because I was going to make… Continue reading Field of Christmas trees
Earlier this year I did a Craft Box workshop (now Creative Craft Academy) and made the Wings of Time mixed media panel. After doing it, I said that I didn’t think I’d do another workshop because I found it frustrating simply making someone else's design. Well, I've recently completed the Just Begin workshop by Shawn… Continue reading Believe
A while ago, my other half signed up for ScrawlrBox — an art supplies subscription box. Normally there's a selection of pens and pencils and some paper and other odds and ends, but in August we hit the jackpot. In August's box, there was a Derwent Inktense paint pan travel set. Rather than put it… Continue reading Test: Inktense travel set
There's this lovely detailed snowflake swirl in one of the Polkadoodles stamp sets I picked up for my Christmas card-making and I really wanted to use it for one of my batch cards. At first, I hit the white space problem, i.e. I am rubbish at placing single elements on a card in a way… Continue reading Merry Christmas swirl
I coloured the three astronauts as part of the last Daily Marker colouring challenge. This was another of those sets that I'd picked up because it was really cute (and sci-fi-themed stamps are always good to have to hand), but I hadn't got around to actually using it. Time for it to move from the… Continue reading Space​: 1999
Much as I hate the idea of even contemplating Christmas when the temperatures are hovering around 30°C, there is one thing I have learned from experience that I hate more and that is making Christmas cards in December. To be honest, I'm not that keen on making them in November either. Way too stressful. So.… Continue reading Latest work: Christmas in August
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
Crafty Rat 