Coloured image swap on SCS

This is one of the cards I made for the swap. It is the first card swap I have ever entered, so I was not sure if it was what they wanted. I guess since I have uploaded it to my gallery on SCS I will find out soon enough.

The fish image was stamped first and then coloured, I did a mask for fish and placed it over it and then coloured the water. I used a darker color around the fish to give it some dimension - but looking at the pic I am not sure howwell that worked. I added the pearls for air bubbles.

The shells and "seaweed" were stamped and coloured and cut out. The white edges of the card stock were then coloured so that it was more even. A small star fish bead seemed to let me finish the card.

Coming up with colours for the matt cards was a bit of a challenge, but I found a blue the same as the darker blue for the fish part of the card and felt the back ground was sandy enough to pass off as sand. I made a tiny horse logo with my name and year to stick on the back of the card.

Hope they like it...

On being slow...

I have not been doing much of my paper craft things. I am slowly building the ugliest stationery box you are ever likely to see, and doing some cross stitch.

If you have read my other blog you will know that I have bones pressing on my spinal cord, causing mental depression and slowing some of my other faculties as well - or maybe old age is catching up with them. ;-) . So I find it hard to concentrate for very long on anything. Walking is becoming harder and harder for me. I will be having an operation, probably within 3 months and another one a month later which should remove the bones from my spinal cord.

After that I should be able to gradually build up and begin my crafting in more earnest. So I beg your indulgence for a few months that will be spotty to say the least.

Updating

Gosh, I hadn't realised it was so long since I had updated this site. So sorry. I thought that you might enjoy seeing a few things - first up being my bigshot. In my last post I had said that I didn't really feel I could justify the expense of having one of these. Little realising at the time that just before Christmas Lincraft would have them so cheaply it would impossible not to get one. Normally these retail above the $150 mark and hover around $200 but this one was on special for $99. I thought it would just be the body itself and not really worth it, but it included all the folders and two acrylic blocks for the sandwiches that are made for cutting and embossing.

Because of the width of this machine, I can use my embossing folders which up until now have been pretty useless because of their width. Now I can use them on appropriately sized paper and cardstock. I have three dies now as well, a flower, some leaves and a corner swirl. The dies themselves are relatively expensive, but if I get enough use of them, can probaby justify the expense. Tim Holtz has some dies and embossing folders that are, what seem to me to be, reasonably priced and hopefully I can get some from a Queensland retailer in the next couple of months. No holding any breath.

This is a photo that I recently scrapbooked - she is my cousin's daughter. The wedding was last year and she posted pictures to Facebook. I had been wanting to do it for a while and finally got around. This is one of what will hopefully end up being ten pages. I want to make a 12" x 12" album in the same way I made the last one, but with white wedding dress fabric that I have. When those are finished I will post them here too.

I have some medical issues to be taken care of over the next few weeks so maybe not post again for a while. Once those are out of the way, I will show you some other things I have been doing and talk more about the above photograph.

Leaving final word up to Starbug

Talk to the butt ...

Punches -vs- Dies ... and booty

These are some of my recent punches.

With Stampin'Up! recently bringing out the Big Shot to Australia, I have been thinking seriously about die shapes and using them for both paper arts and fabric arts. I already own an Accucut die cutter, and I could probably adjust it to take new dies. I also looked at the various large nesting dies, which are the shapes I would most likely use, because they are the most familiar and used dies. The nesting dies are very expensive in Australia; some recently retail ones I looked at were $182 for a set, of I think 20, in increments of about 5mm. The various shapes, squares, circles, hearts and scalloped versions thereof, along with a few other shapes add up to a fair amount of money if you were to buy them. I guess if I was having classes and charging commercial rates, I could probably justify a few sets, but when it is just me - it is a ridiculous amount of money. I would probably only use a few sizes suitable for cards and that would be it.

So I turn to craft punches; as you can see above. I have about four circle ones, and probably would use two more sizes, and I have about the same number for squares. I have a few other standard shapes, including a very nice, large dragon and these have gotten me by quite well. I have spent a few dollars buying them, but no where near as much as a few sets of the nesting dies would set me back. I will probably try to sell my Accucut. I can see the usefulness, but the expense isn't really justified for me.

BOOTY:

These are new Japanese papers. Proper ones, not just some pattern I downloaded from the internet either. Eckersleys have them. There are about a dozen or so available, but they are not cheap, so I limited myself to four. They are A4 size, which isn't too shabby and I have some projects in mind for them.

Of the three books I ordered from Amazon, two are to do with my crafts, one is Making Hats from the 1920's and the other is Metric Pattern Cutting for Children's clothing. So I have plenty of things to keep me busy. If I can just get some time cleared away from everybody else's demands I will be fine. lol.

Sorry the picture quality is not the best, for various reasons I have had to use my phone cam, not the best, but I think you can get an idea.

Mail ....

I got two nice pressies in the mail yesterday, well they were delivered by courier, but same difference. One was the punch I had ordered from Regal Craft and the other was the netbook computer. The netbook had been stood on by a nameless member of the family and the screen was wrecked. The daughter paid for it to be fixed, and there it was. Pretty good for the repairers concerned. And it works. I guess for how much they charged, it should, still you do want to know.

It is grandson2's during the after school times, but mine during school time. lol. It has a webcam. Mostly it moves around and is portable. We have a wireless network which we are still ironing the kinks out of, but it is getting there.

The punch is a 1 1/4" square, no dramas, but will help for my card making, scramping and other media arts. Which is why I posted this here, rather than my main blog, as I am blogging some politics there are the moment. This is my happy place. lol.

Wow ...

I know a few people read my blog, and kudos to them, as I am a sloppy blogger to say the least.

Yesterday I had a comment from an artist who I really admire. I feel very honoured to have had her even look at my blog.

I have taken out the sewing machine and I am currently making up some trial designs to sew up. I have miles of calico (muslin) to make my rough drafts in; maybe I will share those, maybe not. Sometimes the calico actually looks the better fabric and with a bit of dolling up and/or stamping could be quite the goer.

I have dug out all the cameras, all their cords, inserted new batteries, checked the SD cards and so we have a go there too. lol. Keep you in the loop ...

Excited ....

After my recent adhesive disappointments, I have had to rethink my entire adhesive way of doing things. Some are not pleasant, and I will find a way to bulk order permanent tape for the mini Sticker machine.

I have my sewing machine back from servicing, but haven't used it yet. I have some new fat quarters to make some goodies with so all that is for the next couple of weeks. I'm going to have to clear some space to set up the machine anyhow. But you knew that already didn't you ....

The second punch that I wanted, a 1.5 inch square, I have ordered from the Internet from an Aussie company. It should be here any day now. That will be fun, something in the snail mail other than bills. lol.

But I have ordered me some new rubber as well. And some books from Amazon. Two of them are crafting books, well more the sewing side of things, one being drafting for childrens' clothing which I love doing and want to get back into. The other is a millinery book using techniques from the 1920's. Now that should be very interesting. I have not done much millinery, as I am self taught, as in most things, but I love the idea of hats, especially in Summer when it is sunny and a bit of shade over the face is a good thing. I'll keep you "posted" as I receive them.

Oh yeah ....