#436

As an example of art imitating life, here is a picture of my ribbon box from a few days ago. I love ribbon, but it’s always hard to find the right one when your organisation system is simulating the nearest landfill. I saw an idea online for a storage solution, which I adapted to my own situation, and have been sorting out my ribbon collection. Unfortunately, my past attempts at sorting this pile included pins. This lead to a few puncture wounds from diving into the box, in search for that one ribbon at the bottom, that would be perfect for a project. Enter:the cardboard.

Now, I’ve tried cardboard before, in the form of embroidery thread holders, and disliked the results, as it made fold lines in the ribbon. I have now decided this would be preferable to a stabby, messy pile of unraveling threads. Making it both easier to see, and safer. As you can see in the image, I used a hexagon punch to cut half shapes out of the sides of a piece of card stock. I doubled over the card for added stability, and wound the ribbons, securing each with a paperclip. I originally tried miniature pegs, as they were cute and the right size, but they kept falling off as I wound the following ribbon, and I gave up on it. Paper clips are also cheaper and easier to get at the local shop when I figure out I have much more ribbon than I thought.

The process is taking some time, but is working out nicely so far. I still have a whole bag of elastic, lace and ribbons still on their spools, too long to fit on the cards, or are unopened, to sort and find a storage solution. I have a bag of ribbons too short to bother putting on the cards. These will be good for making tiny bows, or if I want to buy more of something as a swatch.

Looking at my ribbon collection has made me see all the pretty ribbons that I have… But also makes me feel like buying more

It takes all SORTS…

#390

Today, I came across quite a good find at my local newsagents. There was a magazine with a free die set for a nice, versatile owl building kit. If you have seen these before, you’d know how great they are. The magazine it came with shows at least 5 other animals that you can make with these dies, as well as some flowers. The only problem I had was that the blades were a bit deep, and even with the holes to poke the paper through, it was difficult, and I ended up pushing the needle tool through the card a couple of times.
The bow on the finished owl, was a bow punch that I coloured with Copics and coloured pencils, before finishing with wink of Stella shimmer on top. I might cover it with glossy accents if it finds its way onto a card or something. I seem to be running out of glossy accents, so I’ve been using is sparingly until I can travel to the shop again.
I trialled the super fine embossing powder that I had bought online, and it was alright. It was rather transparent, and looked silver on the black paper that I tried it on. When I used white ink as a base for the embossing, it was brighter, but had much less details. It will certainly come in handy, but I would like to find a better brand. The one I bought was “Wow” white pearl superfine.
So I have some thinking to do, and see how many things I can make with my new dies.

#356

Here is a screenshot of an inventory app.
It all began this morning, when my other half asked what I wanted for Christmas. I’d been so wrapped up in making cards and things for upcoming events that I had forgotten, and hadn’t thought about it. My mind immediately went to art and craft supplies, as usual, and wondered if I should ask for a lot of little things or one large thing. I usually like to be surprised, but I have found that I often get money, and so have to wait to figure out what to buy and for the shops to reopen and whatnot. There’s one or two large things I’ve been looking at, but aren’t really sure what type I want and needs research, so I was thinking about what I was lacking in my supplies.
This lead me to looking at embossing powders and ink pads on ebay, leading to me wondering what I could make myself. After all this train of thought, I found myself with a recommended video about an inventory book. I began one a while ago, but got side tracked very easily and haven’t touched it since. This book is basically where you make swatches and notes about your craft supplies to take with you while you are craft shopping to make it easier to see what you need, and what not to buy doubles of. By this time I began to develop the idea into digital form, and making a database or offline website to use as an inventory for my supplies. This way, I could link to the items and where to buy them.
I began working on this for a while, getting some ideas as I worked. One being, how would I make this interactive, and able to search and find items easily, and how would I take this shopping? A phone app!
So, I typed into Google “how to make inventory app.” The third page down was top 5 inventory apps… I hadn’t thought of searching for one before I thought of making one. But anyway, I had searched previously for apps for home craft inventories, not finding anything. These were business inventory apps. So, this made me realise that my craft room is like a business, with an inventory that needs restocking and profit/loss for future etsy endeavours. So I found the free app on the list and downloaded it. Turns out you needed to input all the details of your business for that one.
This brings us to the above app. It was the first on the similar apps to this previous app. It’s called Inventory Counter and is free and simple, the way I like it. You can put in a few details, and take a photo, then later, you can search for keywords or reference numbers. There is also a calculator and a tap counter that is useful for not forgetting what number you are up to when you count all your blings.
I’ve been able to put three things in so far, but will be able to put things in as I use them.
Most of my ideas and thoughts go through this long train before coming to a final idea. Welcome to a small portion of my mind.

#336

Inspection on its way again, so that means a lull in the making, but I have plenty of supplies coming in the mail, so I’ll keep you updated. One of the things that I’ve already received, is this alphabet soup die from Memory Box. The pop tab and the bobbin are for scale, and the letter A on the end was the upper case I was hoping to pair with it, but there was a miscommunication in the size, and they are too small for them, but a lovely size for many other things.
Fitting words like anniversary won’t be a problem anymore, and I can align them with a capital HAPPY or MERRY, with a small birthday or Christmas underneath. The font is so easy to read and is suitable for fun or mature, sentimental cards. The die is so small, you can run it through the machine in one pass, unlike other dies I have, and cut out the entire alphabet, getting stuck with a bunch of q’s and z’s. This is good, though, as you are able to use the negative paper as a stencil.
There are a few things that I’ve made and bought, but I’m trying to figure out the best way to show them, preferably without me in the photos, hehe.

#332

It was a day full of online retail therapy, and eating horribly. I haven’t bought many things online before, as I usually spend all my money before I get to it, but this time, I put aside half my money to spend online. It was fun finding the items, and looking at all the craft supplies, but it will be great over the next month, getting things in the mail when I don’t have any money, so it’s spread out more.
I did go to the shops and found some things that were easier to buy in store than online, like clearance t-shirts for redesigning and I got some shoes to paint on. The ones in the picture were done using Sharpie fabric markers. I was intending to fill in the white with black, but my Mum and boyfriend like it as it is. I think I’ll buy a black pair next time. The other pair I have, I am painting blue with butterflies on it. This was inspired by a pair I saw in a YouTube video while researching techniques. Hexagons and butterflies are my favourite things at the moment, so I’d like to walk around with my own art with these designs on them. They might even be marketable.

#266

I maaaaay have gone shopping again.
I found some black crochet cotton, which is surprisingly hard to find whenever I need it, so I picked up a ball. I realised later that I could make some more gloves whenever I get around to making the pattern. Trying to balance between all the crafts and video games is rather harder than I thought. But it’s all fun, so I can’t complain yet.
I picked up a few pipe cleaners/chenille stems for making armatures for a needle felting idea I had, then I got home and found an extra packet full.
I found an image the other day saying “Life’s short, buy the yarn,” so I went and bought a ball that I had my eyes on a few weeks ago. I have either used or lost a bunch of my stash of wool without realising, so it’s okay, I’ve decided. Also, it knits up so pretty.
I got a small photo frame that I wanted to trial as a small write on/wipe off board. I am sure I wanted to get more photo frames for the glass, but I can’t remember why.
In the variety store, I found some jelly moulds. I thought they might be good for resin, but when I looked at them, the plastic is too hard and there isn’t much detail, but this would make perfect plaster of paris moulds. Not that I know any kids, but this would be great for painting with them.

#218

Today I was watching YouTube videos while I attempted to recover from the heat, and was watching videos from the gorgeous BayleeCreations. In one video she mentioned that she super glued printed circles of the copic colour numbers on her copic ciao markers. I thought this was a good idea, especially since all but three of my markers are the ciao type. All other copic markers have the number printed on the lid, and since the lid isn’t always a good representation of the marker, it’s hard to tell, without picking it up. Each copic colour has a name, but the number system gives a better idea about the colour. It’s explained better elsewhere, but each colour has a family initial, (for example, R for reds, G for greens, BV for blue violets) after this is two numbers. The first is saturation. The higher this number the duller the colour. The second is brightness, and the lower the number, the brighter and lighter it is. This is why when you look at a copic colour chart they aren’t all in order, and you may find a 34 goes better with a 24 than a 33. This is meant to make it easier, but it takes a bit of getting used to. So I decided to label my markers. Instead of printing the numbers out, I punched a bunch of circles with a regular office punch, wrote each colour while holding the circle with my finger nails. It felt a bit like playing tiddlywinks, as they flew all over. I also had to make sure the fan wasn’t directly on me, either, as that would end in tears. Once written out, I glued them to the marker lids with glossy accents. I don’t have a good reputation with super glue, so I was avoiding using it.

If you’re interested in copic colouring videos, check out Sandy Allnock’s YouTube. She has amazing copic skills, and creates cards that focus on colouring to create awesome scenes. She also has a blog and does a load of things with the Simon Says Stamp company.

Day #163

I got pressies! My partner gave me a load of crafty stuff that he bought during his work lunch breaks. It came in a cute kitten box and there was so much that it didn’t even all fit in it. There’s so many embellishments and things to do. I’ll never need more googly eyes again. I felt weird about making things to give away or sell with the items that he gave me, but he said then I can go shopping to replace them…

I began by attacking the felt. The package said ‘princess colours,’ so I made a princess with the pink, purple and white felt from the pack, and added some blonde hair. after pottering around, I began colouring in one of the diy money boxes I got. I decided to use the markers that came in the kit, not expecting it to go far, but I managed to cover the whole thing in a base colour. The problem was that being child proof, means washable and takes a long time to dry, so I had purple fingers for the afternoon. I was thinking of covering him in rhinestones. depends how bored I get.

Finally, I unmasked my resin pieces and attempted doming on bottle caps. Some worked, some didn’t and the resin began curing in the middle of pouring, so some are a coagulated mess, with pock marks from failed bubble popping. I got the measurements wrong again, and the stickers moved, and the glitter turned a weird colour. But some pieces came out lovely… until I put fingerprints into them.

But I should be busy for a while, especially with Christmas card season coming up.

Day #157

Shopping day, Yay! Had a short time but a fun time out. At the craft store I bought some floating charms, a chocolate mould, a silicone baking mould and a Wilton fondant mold, all for crafting purposes. I got some more white card stock, some geisha doll fabric and a cheap magazine with next to nothing good but nice patterns and colours for cutting out. I got two magazines, one on digital painting and sculpture, and a card making magazine which I got for the cute Christmas ‘me to you’ stamps and paper. I then got some beautiful turquoise glitter paint, which is the bottom right picture. The picture looks more green than it is, since it looks like green glitter floating in blue. I also picked up some bottles with fine tips which are perfect for PVA glue, especially because I buy big bottles and use them to refill the little bottles.
In the craft store, we saw scrapbooking paper that was just brown paper with coloured designs, which would be so easy to make, as I have the same stamps as the design. I’ll have to make some presents this year so I can make my own wrapping paper.
I had some fun playing with clay in the fondant mould. It works really well with the polymer clay that I used, and these would look very nice on a box project that I’m working on.
I’m excited to used the ginger bread man moulds as the examples on the packet were so cute, showing a princess and monster. It got my creatives thinking.