My Crafting Space

It's been a long time since I shared any pictures of my crafting space, it's nothing fancy but it's all mine and I love it!

Here is my main workspace

Eek, I didn't realise how bowed my shelving unit was till I saw this picture! I like to keep the things I use most often close to hand. My PTI stamps, markers and ink pads and my most used items. I keep all my markers, pens, pencils and tools in the little blue drawers. The little beige tins are Quickutz storage and I keep loose embellishments and miscellaneous small items in them.

I have two of the old Quickutz Magpie storage units which have sadly been discontinued, I would have loved a third one. I keep all of my Promarkers in colour families in the cubby holes, spare nibs and markers are kept in the drawers beneath, I have a small collection of Flexmarkers in the second cube. I am now a convert to the useability of Flexmarkers and am looking to swap over to using them exclusively.

 

On the top I keep a small selection of ribbons, my beloved button jar and my newest purchase, washi tape (I know, I am late to the party!)

I love this part of my storage, the rainbow colours of my memento ink pads, however, with the news that Tsukineko are releasing pigment ink pads to match the dye ink pads, I have no idea where I will store them all!

The green folder to the left of the units is my Martha Stewart folder in which I keep all of my dies. I love all the different pocket sizes you can buy, and I like to keep any spare dies cuts in the same pocket, it really is perfect. I bought my folder when I visited Canada last year, but I was so pleased to find that they now carry the whole range in Staples in the UK so it is easy to buy extras.

Now, please excuse the mess...

This is my Ikea Expedit unit that sits on the wall behind me so I simply have to swivel round in my chair to get access to all my supplies. The grey drawers hold my heat and glue guns, all of my gems and lots of small embellishments. Beneath my big shot there are four 'bins' that keep all my punches, Spellbinder/Sizzix dies, more cardstock and the inevitable 'junk drawer'.

On top is the home made 'clip it up' that my darling husband made for me, love it so much!

 

To the right of my expedit is a set of metal drawers which were, how do I say it, purloined from my wonderful Mum, I had my eye on them for ages and one day when she was having a tidy up I asked if I may have them and luckily she said yes! I have grand plans to rub them down and spray them duck egg blue and white, it's just another thing to go on my to do list!

Finally a glimpse into some of the drawers, mini ink pads, Tim Holtz pads, Hero Arts stamps to name just a few, it is surprising just how much these drawers can hold!

I hope you enjoyed the little tour, there are quite a few things I didn't get round to showing, including the 'Cupboard of Doom' but maybe I will save that for another day!

Thanks for looking
Ang x

Papertrey January Blog Hop Challenge

Every month Papertrey Ink has a blog hop and this month the theme is Black Backgrounds. Here is my entry.

I used my favourite Strawberry Patch stamps and sentiments, embossed in white then simply coloured with my watercolour pencils, I am really loving this look at the moment. I am so annoyed that my pictures are coming out so badly, the snow outside really doesn't help when placed next to the window and my OTT light isn't much better, oh well, I can't wait for sunnier days!

Thanks for looking
Ang x

Make it Monday Part 2

So, I could not resist making a second entry for Make it Monday #100, I had just the idea in mind :)

 

My friend has just given birth to an adorable baby boy and I know that she will love this card. I used the Hanging Out dies and stamps to decorate the card and glassine bag, adding a little bit of twine, some washi and the picket fence dies.

Thanks for looking!
Ang x

Make it Monday #100 Part 1

It is Papertrey Ink's one hundreth Make it Monday and in honour of this they are giving away a $100 gift certificate to the winner, that will buy quite a few stamps! This week it is how to package cards with oversized embellishments. I recently made a Mother's Day card for my lovely Mum (Mother's Day in the UK is on Sunday the 10th of March) and I used a number of foam pads to add depth to my card and had trouble fitting it in a normal envelope, so I created this pretty pouch.

 

I sewed pink felt and vellum together to make the pouch, stamped the front using a dot from PTI Daydreamer set using PTI Fresh Snow Ink, always make sure to heat set pigment ink on vellum as it takes forever to dry. I then embellished it with a pink vellum doily using the Parisian Doily Die, felt leaves die cut using one of the dies from Turning a New Leaf topped with some In Bloom flowers coloured with Promarkers.

 

 

 

I'll be back again with another take on MIM, Thanks for looking!

Ang x

CASE Study Challenge #123

Over at the Case Study Challenge Blog their muse this month is the talented Amber Kemp-Gerstel and the challenge this week is to use this pretty card as inspiration;

So, without further ado, here is my take;

Apologies for the poorly lit picture I am still working on better ways to take pictures at night! I used the PTI Friendship Jar and filled it with hearts from the PTI Sweet Baby set, although you can't see it in this picture I also die cut a jar out of acetate to place over the top to give it a nice glossy 'jar-like' finish. My favourite part was colouring the bow (from PTI Friendship Jar Summer Fillers) I'm not too good when it comes to colouring but I am getting better, I just need to practise more! I finished it all off with a sweet sentiment from Hero Arts.

I am also trying to work more on the inside of cards and envelopes, the quickest way to add a nice finishing touch was some heart print washi tape on the envelope.

Thanks for looking
Ang x

Update: Here is a marginally better photo! You can just about see the shine on the jar from the acetate.

Hero Arts Blog Challenge January 2013

I'm a big fan of Hero Arts product and try to enter their monthly challenges as often as I can, so I decided to join January's challenge. There were three different options to choose from or you could combine all three!

Try Something New — A new year is the perfect time to try something new! A new technique, new color combination, new stamp, new inkpad, new embellishment…anything new to YOU!

ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) — Miniature works of art created on a 2. 5″ x 3. 5″ base. Any theme goes! Be sure to check out Shari Carroll’s January technique article and video on ATCs.

Create a project using 3-4 colors from the palette below, inspired by our new Just Beachy ink cube pack. Color names are provided for reference but feel free to substitute similar shades.

I decided to go for a 'new to me' technique that I have been wanting to try for a long time, but have never got round to it, stamping metallics on acetate. I have had a platinum Staz-On pad for month's but have never wanted to crack it open for fear of it staining my stamps or drying out, well, I certainly won't be looking back now!

I used the Antique Engravings stamp set for the butterflies, the aforementioned Staz-On and Pool Designer Papers for the background, I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, The only tip I would pass on is to be steady of hand when stamping as the risk of slipping on acetate seems to be increased 100 fold! you may find a stamp positioner useful (must get myself one of those one day).

Have a happy Tuesday and thanks for looking!

Ang x

Make It Monday #99 Repeats & Rainbows

I am finding that entering challenges are really helping me kickstart my creativity for 2013. Here is my entry for Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday #99 Repeats and Rainbows

I used a newly purchased set from a lovely lady on the sale/trade board, Scattered Showers which I have longed for for quite a while, coupled with Up, Up and Away Sentiment. I decided to mount it all on black cardstock to make the colours pop, the handle and sentiment are embossed in white and each umbrella is mounted on increasing layers of foam tape, unfortunately it doesn't show up so well in this photo!

Thanks for looking!
Ang x

Make it Monday #98 - Take 2

As I said in my previous post, I really enjoy the chalkboard technique featured as this week's Papertrey Ink Make it Monday, I just had to make another..

 

The flowers came out as I envisioned, but something is a little 'off', I think it's because it does not have as much detail in the blank space as my previous card and the 'chalk' smudges aren't quite right. I used Year of Flowers Larkspurs for the main image and Movers and Shakers Sentiments for the sentiment and coloured it in with my faithful Derwent Watercolour Pencils, faithful, because I have had them since I started secondary school and they are now *cough* over 20 years old and still in perfect condition!

 

Thank you so much for all the kind comments on my previous card, they really made my day!

 

Happy Saturday, Ang x