Paddle Card

Hi Crafters

Saw this idea on Pinterest and had to give it a go.

I have a great niece with a birthday coming up so this would be perfect.

They would also be lovely for small bridesmaids and I have made some for New Babies in shabby chic style.

They are a little time consuming, like anything worthwhile, as you need to cut circles and make the ruffle, cover a stick with ribbon etc, but I think they are worth it. For this one I have used a Gorguss sticker, but if you had a Frozen sticker most little girls would be thrilled with this wand.

More Floral Creations

Wow its either too hot to do anything or as this week drizzle and wind has stopped outdoor activities. So lots of new ideas for my floral makes

I have covered Alice Bands and elastic hair bands and now I have decorated simple photo stands from Ikea. I am very happy with the new look for the photo frames and hope to sell some at my first craft market in Bleadon on the 15th July.

Here's a sneaky peep.

Anna Griffin style cards

OK so I Cannot buy Anna Griffin card kits in the UK at the moment
Just to torture myself I went onto YouTube to see her preview of goodies on offer on the  next craft day ( 1st July ) on HSN in America.

There is a new kit being sold which uses Anna's lovely vintage flowers on a step card, the kit also has the die to cut out the step card, so you can use the layouts again and again

I am not going to able to get this, but as the weather was too hot to run around today I did some crafting of my own and as well as finishing off the Z cards, came up with a step card using my own stock of Anna Griffin papers and toppers.

I do hope we see Anna G soon on UK to as my stash won't last long.

Z Cards and Standard Step Cards

Back to basic card making for todays blog

I wanted to use up some toppers from a kit I bought from Create and Craft. I had used half the kit and the other half is for sale on ebay (I get bored very quickly with kits). This kit has packs of toppers with it so  after you have used all the cards there is usually lots of bits left-over.

I decided to make the step cards first

 

Then I looked at other base cards that would take the toppers and tried the Z Card.

 

I like this card as it can be kept quite simple or more in depth.

 

With many more toppers to use up I am now making some base Z Cards to use whenever I have some spare time

 

  

The Tonic Studios Stamp Board by Tim Holtz

As posted earlier I ordered this new product
It came today when I was out visiting my sister so have only had half an hour with it so far.

However it seems to be easy to use and produces really great stamping results

I need to experiment more with the techniques as I have no ink pens and my water colour paper is not good quality.

First tries indicate it is really well set up, the magnets that hold the paper/card work well and the top slides out one side is for acrylic stamps (thinner) and the other for rubber stamps.

So no matter how bad the first stamping attempt is you can go back and ink up again until the coverage is how you want it.

Here are the results of my half hour play.

This is straight forward stamping, the flowers are repeated from one stamp and the stem is a flourish stamp

the next picture is my first attempt at spritzing the inks and as you can see there is some expansion of the inks but I will continue to work on it.

If you have shied away from stamping because you find it tricky to line up or get the right pressure on the stamps, this tool is a must it will enable you to get a clean stamp every time.

Flower Headbands

As I have said before I love making flowers
I keep putting them together and storing them in the craft room
So as well as brooches I have put together some headbands for my Etsy shop and to sell at Fayres
The flowers have been made from fabric and ribbon. All are handcrafted and offer a unique embellishment.
I have also put some on crocodile clips

Both the headband and clips could be used for bridesmaid hair adornment to match the fabric, if the dresses were being made with material enough to fashion the flowers

 

Just 2 of the headbands made using organza ribbon bows and flowers handcrafted and unique

Here is another one on a spring  hairclip

 

Stamping With Tim Holtz

Whilst I admire Tim Holtz greatly and recognise he is an artist in his own field, in the past I have limited my craft using his style as although I love the tags he produces and cards I am not sure how to best use them in any numbers.
However, yesterday I saw an advert on Crafty Devils site, for the new Stamping platform from Tonic Studios designed by Tim Holtz.
Naturally as it was a new product I took a look. Not only did Crafty Devils have it at a great price they had the Tim Holtz video demonstrating the product. The video was extremely good, boy that man can market his products, and I naturally ended up having to have the item. I popped it in my basket and took a look around the site, just to make sure I did not need anything else.
Would you believe it we then had a power cut, no computer, and no WiFi connection, so no using the ipad.
The electricity was out for 4 hours.
When it came back on I took another look and ordered the item.
I will give you a report on the product once I have it and have tried it out. In the meantime if you want to see it take a look at www.craftydevilspapercraft.co.uk
The platform is showing in the Tonic Studio range and you can see the video from Tim Holtz studio demonstrating how to use it and techniques. But I take no responsibility for additional craft spend if you do look.

Until the next blog
Dee