Some lovely class makes

Time for a coffee and a breather in between work projects to update with some recent class projects and makes.
Classes have been very varied and included decorating calico pencil cases/make up bags and gift bags using a variety of techniques, mixed media, stitching and stamping.
Another card making class used a resist embossing technique which I will be blogging shortly.
What a fantastic selection of makes, aren't they all fabulous, well done everyone!
We now have a designated craft area at our local community library and meeting place with a lovely tearoom where classes are held.
Saturday classes are starting in February.
For details about any of our local events or classes please don't hesitate to get in touch
craftyk@hotmail.co.uk

Networking and the benefits of a craft experience

It's full steam ahead for 2018 with specific goals and targets planned.
One thing I am passionate about is promoting the benefits of a crafting experience, the sense of achievement and satisfaction that comes from creating a piece of artwork, whether you are an experienced crafter or a complete novice.
This year will see quite a few changes for me, like many I use various social platforms to share and talk about crafting.
One of these, Facebook, has made significant changes to the way our newsfeed is viewed.
Coincidently the focus going forward for me has been on branding and a new website where everything will be in one place. A complete makeover for my little business!
This has been a personal goal that I set myself going forward and it's very exciting to know that I've reached the target where this is currently being worked on.
It's taken time to get to the stage where this was right for me and also to know exactly what I wanted and what felt right and resonated with me.
I have dabbled myself in building websites previously but these things take time to get right and it isn't something I know enough about or have the skill to achieve what I'm looking for, so there comes a point where it's far better to delegate the task to a professional.

Opportunities have presented themselves that allow me to share my love of craft.
Last night I attended another local networking event where I chatted to many people from local businesses and charities about crafting and the benefits of a crafting experience.
The event was attended by the local Mayoress and it was lovely to speak to her about crafting too.
For whatever reason someone chooses to craft it should be an enjoyable experience, providing relaxing, calming and therapeutic emotions.
I don't very often talk about how I got into crafting as a career but, it came about from a period in my life that involved bullying in the workplace and unprofessional misconduct.
I was doing a job that I loved but that became impossible to continue with because of the unprofessional working environment that I found myself in.
I'd always crafted from a young child and with the total support of my family and friends I turned it into my career.
This is one of the reasons that I'm so passionate about promoting a positive and therapeutic experience when it comes to craft classes, workshops and demonstrations.
Turning my hobby into a career has been thoroughly positive achievement for me and it would not have happened had the unprofesionalism that preceded it not taken place.
Don't get me wrong it's not always easy and there can be many obstacles and hurdles along the way but if you're passionate about what you do and you love it, it shines through and gets you through.
There are many things I want to focus on this year so planning, preparation and focus are key.
These things I know, can be especially challenging at this time of year, it can be quite a low time for so many.
So I began by setting little goals, making notes and lists and gradually things are coming together nicely, it's still only January so I'm very pleased with progress so far.
Ticking jobs off the list and keeping focussed but allowing time for relaxation and a few treats too, its all about balance.
So onto some crafting and the first class of the year is on Sunday, it will be nice to catch up with the lovely ladies and spend a few hours chatting and creating over tea and cake.
Here's some samples of what we will be making.
Thanks so much for reading today, crafty hugs xKx

Live Life in Colour

Another quick make, use as a card topper, gift tag or bookmark.
Stamps from Imagine Design Create, using the same sets as in my previous post -
Creative Quotes
Colour Splash
I've gone for a large tag, you can cut one easily from stamping card or use a die.
Simply punch or die cut a circle from six post it notes, one for each colour.
Using the negative blend distress ink through to give a circle of colour, slightly overlap for the next colourway until the six circles are complete.
Stamp your chosen colour splashes and sentiment.
Enjoy crafting...x

New stamp launch with Imagine Design Create...

Imagine Design Create have just launched their second set of new design stamps -
Etsy Shop
They look fabulous and now is the perfect time to tell you that I've joined their team as Guest DT member and new stamps will be winging their way to me to get creative with.
In the meantime here's a quick tag I made this afternoon using the following stamp sets -
Abstract Border Lines
Creative Quotes
Colour Splash
Hope you enjoy creating with their stamps :-)

Upside Down

Yay, it's Friday!
A bit grey here today and rain forecast.

Hope your week has been good, have you anything nice planned for the weekend?

I've got a little crafty gathering on Sunday, we have a new lady joining us and we're looking forward to our crafty session.

We're going to be playing with Air dry clay, Inka Golds and Brusho's.

I've been experimenting and playing with ideas and have a couple to share with you.

Firstly a clay tag with two clay hearts, one from a mold and one from a cutter.

The second uses one of the new Ultimate Crafts Embossing Folders along with IndigoBlu, Limor Webber Industrial Lamps stamps, what a mouthful that is! Lol

I thought these could be turned upside down to create flowers, the one I've used looks like a Thistle so I think purple is in store for the next one.
I've loved using my Inks Golds again the last few weeks, they're so versatile and I didn't think I'd like the clay much but I can see endless possibilities and really enjoy using it.
Martha Stewart craft clay and molds and the Inka Golds are now in stock and will be available very soon - The Clock Lady.
Have a lovely Friday and I'll be back soon.
Crafty Hugs xKx

Lavinia Stamps June Challenge - Use Any Colours

Hi everyone,

It's the start of the June Lavinia Stamps Challenge, a nice and easy brief of "Use Any Colours"

We do receive so many lovely entries each month and a record number for May which is fantastic!
The artwork sent in is truly gorgeous and the support for Lavinia Stamps is enormously appreciated, thank you.

So for a chance to win a £40 voucher to spend on
Lavinia Stamps Website why not join us this month.
Please be mindful of the rules and use only Lavinia Stamps and you don't have to have a blog as we accept email entries.
As always the DT have excelled with their inspiration so please pop along and take a look at the work.

For this month I've made two tags and an easel card, which was actually the second of my daughter's birthday cards as its in her favourite colour purple.

Four of the five stamps used are from the latest additions to
Lavinia Stamps and I've been so excited about using them, they're truly stunning.
These include the beautiful Background Script, Standing Hare and the Heart and Flower Borders.
I've also used the lovely Sky Fairy.
All stamped and coloured using Adirondack inkpads in Eggplant, Purple Twilight and Wild Plum along with Versafine Onyx Black.

I recently obtained a fabulous supply of Crealies dies, here I've used a couple of the extreme tags along with one of the Peekaboo nesties and the lovely extreme shaped nestie for the card.
They are extreme due to their size as the largest of the tag dies I've used is 10.5 x 21cm.
Anyway I'll be doing a lot more with these and there are a few places that will be stocking them if you are into dies.
The sentiment dies I've used are from Penny Black, more favourites of mine, Heartfelt and Envision.

That's me for today, I've a heap of things to get on with so I'll love you and leave you.
Wish this weather would settle into something more warm and pleasant.

Have a good day...
Crafty Hugs xKx

Zingy Lemon and Lime with Lavinia

Morning crafters,

The April challenge starts today over at lovely Lavinia Stamps.
A nice spring theme "Lemon and Lime"

The winner of the challenge, selected at random, receives a Voucher worth £40 to spend in the 
The Lavinia Stamps Web shop. 
As always the DT have put together lots of inspiration over on the
Lavinia Stamps Challenge Blog.

You don't need to have a Blog,  Email entries are accepted.

Many thanks to everyone who entered the last challenge, really wonderful work and congratulations to the lucky winner.

I'll leave you with my makes, two canvases and some fun tags.

On the first canvas I've stamped and embossed onto vellum, the second I've stamped directly onto the canvas and also stamped onto stamping card and cut out.
For the tags I've stamped and clear embossed, used Brusho's for colour along with the addition of the cute die cuts.

I've used stamps from the Zen range for all my makes here, if you'd like any further info please just ask.

Hope you can join us for this month's challenge.

Have a good day, I'll be back soon with some Easter makes...

Crafty Hugs xKx

I'm also entering this post into the following challenges:-
Great Impressions Easter/Spring

Pond Frogs...

Hello all,
Hope you're enjoying a lovely weekend.

I've been having a bit of me time, sorting some life things, health issues and some things involved with mum's care, she's 90 in April and we're planning a few family things to enjoy with her.

Sometimes we just need to step away and take stock which is exactly what I've been doing.

Tomorrow I'm off with a lovely friend to have a crafty day with Kay Carley, watercolour with Brusho's, some more cool technique to be learnt here I think...

Anyway I've done very little crafting during my break except for having a play with these Poppystamps dies "Pond Frogs".
They are new and when I spotted them I decided they'd be ideal to use along Designs by Ryn Water Droplets.

Colouring is all with Brusho's.

Hope these little chaps add a bit of a smile to your weekend, they certainly made me smile...
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Crafty Hugs xKx

Party Animal Avery Elle Stamps and Sea Bubbles Designs by Ryn

A bit of fun with this tag with the Party Animal Stamp Set from Avery Elle which I teamed up with Ryn's Sea Bubbles.
I used Hero Arts Neon ink pads for the background, Party Animal balloons and to colour the seam binding.
Black and White Enamel Accents from Ranger added to the bubbles.
Hope you like this bright fun tag, thanks for popping by today, Crafty Hugs xKx

Visible Image Thank You Set with Speckled Background

Here I'm unwrapping a couple more tags from my April DT inspiration for Visible Image.
Both these tags use the lovely and useful Thank You Set.
For the yellow, black and white tag I used Mustard Seed distress ink blended onto half the tag and masked off the area left in white for protection while I stamped the flower head in black on the yellow area.
I then carefully masked the yellow stamped area off using tracing paper and masking tape so I could see the flower heads through the paper.
This allowed me to line up the flower head and stamp in yellow to give me a full flower following on from the black stamping.
Clean the stamp thoroughly going from a light colour to black!
I then stamped the rest of the yellow flower heads and the sentiment and finished the tag with some
seam binding and bakers twine.

For the next tag I made a frame from the flowers stem from the same set, stamped in Majestic Blue Versafine.
I then stamped the Speckled Background within the frame in Spanish Moss Versafine and the sentiment again in the blue.
Outside the frame I created I alternated and stamped the flower head was stamped around in Spanish Moss with the Speckled Background in blue over the top.
Again I finished with bakers twine and this time string.

Thanks so much for looking xKx

Splats in Circles "n" Live Your Dreams with Visible Image

Morning bloggers and crafters,
As promised the start of the low down for my April Visible Image blog challenge inspiration.
The first tag I'm unwrapping is made by blending distress inks through a punched circle and moving it to layer each colour.
I then used the same circle to mask off the same areas and stamped the Ink Splats so they sat right inside the circles.
I finished by stamping the Live your Dreams sentiment, add some string and bakers twine and job done!
Hope you like it! xxx

April Challenge for Visible Image - Tags!

I'm excited to share with you my first monthly challenge with Visible Image with the theme of Tags!
I'm a bit obsessed with tags at the moment, I did the Rose tags for Visible Image recently and I'm also in a tag swap group with friends.
The other obsession I have is monochrome which you'll see with three of the designs I've created.
I was on a time constraint for this project so I sat on Sat evening and this is what I came up with.
To be honest the stamps are incredible and once I started I couldn't stop! I was very inspired.
Today I'm posting a montage of the tags I've made and during the month I will unwrap and blog each one individually with the technique.
I hope they provide some inspiration for you and that you join us at Visible Image for this months challenge, where the randomly chosen lucky winner receives £20 to spend with Visible Image.
Please pop over to the rest if the Design Teams blogs to see their wonderful inspiration too and there's also the Facebook Page xKx

Techniques for Visible Image Rose Stamps

Before it comes to my new post this week for Visible Image Stamps I have the rest of my Rose Stamp
tags to share with you.

ONE - So starting left I stamped the image in Black Archival and water coloured with a mix of pink Distress Inks that were left on my blending mat from a previous design.
I then used a stencil to pencil in the design over the top of my image and on the tag.
The wording and dots are added with black fine liner pen.
I saw similar ideas in a recent Craft Stamper magazine and put my own spin on it.

TWO- For the next tag I again stamped the rose in black archival and I made a mask for it using a post it note.
Once the image was masked off I blended a mix of distress inks, reds and pinks to give me the background.
I finished by spritzing with White Linen Dylusions spray.

THREE - For the third version I stamped and white embossed the roses, I then blended Spun Sugar distress ink on the background and water coloured the roses with Barn Door.

FOUR - For my final tag again I stamped the rose in black archival and used a mix of distress inks from my blending mat spritzed with water to give me the background.
I placed the tag with the stamped image onto the spritzed ink to colour the background which gives a random and interesting effect.
Using an oval stencil with various sized ovals I then penciled in the shapes over the top and finally I used Picket Fence Distress Stain randomly over the top.

That's the end of my tag "How To" I hope it provides you with some further ideas and inspiration.
Thank you for popping by today, hugs xKx

One Visible Image stamp five ways

Morning,
I'm excitedly awaiting my new DT stash from Visible Image which I can't wait to get creating with! So in the meantime I've had a play with their Rose Stamp which was free with the Feb edition of Craft Stamper.
I decided to make a few tags with this one stamp and I will blog each one in due course.
Today's tag uses Kraft card and I've white embossed the rose for the background then embossed a separate rose and water coloured with Picked Raspberry distress ink before cutting out.
I sprayed seam binding with Fresh Lime Dylusions spray to place under the layered rose which was then mounted on using foam pads.
Jute string and more sprayed seam binding finish the top of the tag.
I'll leave you with the picture if this tag and sneaky peek at the rest...xKx

Overview of this months samples for Christmas 2013

This morning I showed a preview of one of the Christmas tags here it is in full.

I used bit and bobs from my stash to create this and I stamped the image onto an old book page.

I was trying to create a vintage feel by using the different elements to give interest and reproducing the idea of using what's to hand to make Christmas decorations.

I hope you like it, I'll be sharing the rest in more detail over the next couple of weeks...xKx

Rose Tag

Another evening post from me with a quick make I did yesterday as an RSVP to an invitation, I decided a tag would do the job nicely.
Tag cut from linen textured card, coloured with pink and red Pan Pastels.
The Clarity Rose was stamped and white dots and faux stitching added with a white pen.
Finished with gems, ribbons and bakers twine, hope you're enjoying your Mon eve, thanks for popping by xKx