#386

More mail!
This time, I received a die set, and some superfine white embossing powder, that I bought.
I haven’t gotten to trying out the embossing powder, as I don’t really want to use the heat gun while we’re in a heat wave. I’m actually surprised that it hadn’t heat set itself in the post, hehe.
As for the dies, they are Sizzix thinlits by Tim Holtz, called shape strips (660226.)
I was looking for a die set that made small hearts and stars, preferably in the same set, with multiple dies, to save time. I spent so much time looking through three different online stores, trying to find one that would be suitable. Just when I was ready to give up, I found this die. It’s originally to make a line of cutout shapes for border like strips, but the pieces that come from it are perfect for tiny embellishments.

This set comes with ten dies, including hearts, chevrons, stars, numbers and two types of arrows. Six of the dies come vertical, and the rest in a horizontal layout, making them more versatile for your cards. You can use either the positive or negative shapes on your projects, and they don’t cut out the edge of the strip, so it can be put anywhere on the page when you run it through your machine. This would look great paper pieced together, with different colours creating a custom strip for your piece.
Now, I have a few things to go try before I start sounding more like an advertisement. I just really like this die set.

#375

Now that I’ve had a bit of time to recover, and everyone should have received their cards now, I can show you what I ended up with. Last time I spoke I didn’t know how many card I needed. Turns out it was only four more and I ended up with extras somehow, so that worked out well.
By the end I was so sick of card making, and I never wanted to see Christmas paper for a while. Then I decided to spend my Christmas money on card making supplies. They shouldn’t be here for a week or so, so I have some time to recover until the next card, which is quite soon.
For Christmas, I also got Paint Tool SAI. I was using the trial, but got the licence on Christmas. I haven’t had much of a chance to use it much, as I’ve just been colouring in with all the pencils and two colouring books I received, as I recover from the food comas.
While looking through dies on ebay, I had the thought of using a background/lattice on a die cut circle to make a nice lace piece to use on cards. I couldn’t find the die I wanted for cheap, so I’ll have to look around, but I tried it with a small flourish die to see if I could get it to work. I tried it coming in from the side, but there was a few pieces that I had to piece back together. When I tried it in the middle, it looks nice, even if it wasn’t what I was looking for, but that’s how happy accidents happen.

Hope you all had a great holiday, and are creative in the New Year.

#243

I needed to draw something last night, and this ended up on the back of some cardboard packaging. It’s a nice midtone, and a hell of a lot cheaper than buying grey or brown paper. I was cutting up food boxes that I had collected, so I could use them for die cutting and things. Layering three to five pieces of card die cuts together make a rather sturdy piece, which can be used as pendants and embellishments. When using packaging, you can layer so the plain side is outwards, then paint and seal the piece. You can use nail polish to paint it, put a coat glossy accents, make a layer of paper using the same die, punch a hole in each layer before gluing them together (make sure they line up) or even bend the piece while the glue is wet and make it keep a curved shape. Luckily, I have plenty of cardboard boxes, to craft with, that I’ve been hoarding, but slowly getting through.
My craft room is coming along slowly. I’ve got both bookshelves up now, but that involved moving a whole lot out of the way, which is taking up a lot of room in the middle somewhere. My cat thinks it’s a fun game to climb out of reach (knocking down boxes as she does,) and meow for pats all the time. The other cat like standing behind me when I’m moving boxes. The problem mainly with the room is I’ve spent a few years throwing things into boxes, without properly sorting or organising. That’s the problem with inspections every three months. By the time you get to the stage of it looking worse before it looks better, you need to rush to put things out of sight, not minding which box its in. So today I finally wound all my embroidery thread onto the cardboard holders (not sure why they aren’t sold on them) and began untangling the mess of my ribbon boxes. I know I’ll find more of these while sorting through, but if I leave it, I’ll run out of time again. I need to do this right. It will be more functional, and I will find things I never knew I had or have been looking for. It will be like going to the craft store without spending money!

Day #142

So… Shopping day. I’m at the point where I’m finding I don’t really need more supplies to do any craft I feel like, so I’ve been leaning towards buying things I can decorate… Like boxes or cat shaped money boxes.
This cat came in a kids kit with watered down acrylics and a teeny paint brush, which I ended up using. Probably took an hour to slowly paint him red but it was fun. It wasn’t as relaxing as painting boxes- probably because I had to avoid areas and the brush and paint didn’t flow very nicely. He’ll need more coats and I have no idea what other colours I want. I didn’t even know he was going to be red until I got him out to paint.
I bought a magazine today, which had a die cutting plate come with it. I’m unsure if I used it wrong, but the paper was pushed so hard into the grooves that it tore trying to get it out! I guess I need to play around with it. I hope I get it to work, as it’s a lovely flourish, which I have been looking for.

Day #96

Went shopping today…
I got a new embossing folder, an alphabet die, a small hole punch and a tiny hole punch. The letters I got are a good size for cards and a font that can be used for many occasions. I cut it out of adhesive paper, so I didn’t have to glue all the little bits down.
The embossing folder is a pirate themed pattern, but there may be other uses, such as cutting out the diamonds or using it for gothic themes. It seems more masculine than my other two folders, which may be useful.
The two circles I didn’t realise at the time but are the perfect size for making home made sequins. I got them to fill in the sizes between my existing circle punches, the tiny one especially to make holes for making paper charms for jewellery.

Day #87

I played around with my bigshot today. Trying to make something out of my limited collection of dies. On the left, I dry embossed some two colour iridescent paper (I used the red/green because I’m not a fan of it) it worked pretty well, as the stars shine red when the rest is green.

I threw bits together and stamped some tags. I didn’t do a whole lot, but played. I’d like to make paper embellishments for future cards and some scrapbooking. I wanted to make some tags, and forgot I had the tag shaped stamp, so I stamped and cut it out by hand. I’ll probably embellish them when I need to use them, and have someone in mind.
Also trying to figure out the dies I can get the most use out of, so I can do more without buying hundreds that I’ll only use once.

Day #39

Card makin’ yaaay!
I had some vintage diecuts around and have been wondering how to use them. After seing the lovely background paper, I thought it matched well.

When I’m making cards, I usually begin with a colour scheme or theme to begin. Ideas for colours are everywhere. If you have difficulty, then look at patterned papers, and match the colours. Even bed displays in catalogues I find good, as there is usually a large pattern with complimentary colours involved.

Today, I also die cut these hearts from card, and glued 3 together for a strong thick shape. With these shapes, I can paint them and attach to necklaces. I would normally paint it with nail polish, as it gives a nice shine and strength,  but until my asthma settles down, I’ll have to stick to paint.