Make It Match!

Happy Sunday everyone!

With so many birthdays and special occasions happening straight after Christmas, I've been kept pretty busy, so I've still got quite a lot of items made and photos stockpiled to share with you on Sundays in between those Workdesk Wednesdays.

This week I want to share with you my mum's birthday card and gift, since that was last Monday so I couldn't post it last Sunday without risk of her seeing. I had previously bought her a nice card, thinking I wouldn't have the time to make her one, but grew increasingly frustrated with myself because let's face it, when you're known for being a crafter and you have a flair for making things, you want to give everyone you love a special, homemade card.

So I got super carried away that Saturday making up for my previous laziness by creating her card to match the wrapping for her gift and make it really special before I handed it over to her that evening when I saw her.

There's something very satisfying about matching sets or collections for me, so I used the wrapping paper in the actual design of the card and then embellished the inside where I wrote my message and the envelope. Which is another thing I've been doing lately. Not just decorating the insides of the cards I make but using really nice, practiced lettering on the envelopes. I like the feel it gives them, it makes them stand out and seem just a bit more spectacular.

I do love to give it the ole' Razzle Dazzle after all.

As you can see, there's a definite butterfly theme going on. I liked the golden brown and had some nice gold ribbon that went well, that is literally the whole inspiration that set me on a crafting rampage. I even forgot to eat lunch that day I got so into it. Totally worth it though, I mean how fabulous does this little lot look?!

Until next time!

Workdesk Wednesday - #2 ~ ALL The Birthdays!

It's Wednesday! Happy Humpday for all you busy bees counting down to the weekend and happy Workdesk Wednesday to everyone that actually enjoys these posts! Hooray!

This week I was told very short notice by the boyfriend that the birthday party that was previously just "being thought about" for his nan was in fact happening. This Saturday. And he didn't know what to buy as a gift. And she's turning 80. So it's a special one. Boys, huh?

Beckit to the rescue though, spending lunch breaks rushing around town, looking for gifts and finding something lovely and then using her Wednesday evening crafting time to make a pretty card to match. I'm waiting for some glue to dry at the moment so I thought I'd post this entry now and then show you guys the finished product another time. I've included a picture of the present which is what I'm using for the inspiration behind it because we're pretty sure she's not likely to see my blog.

Just in case though; SPOILER ALERT!

My Tattered Lace die was a wonderful match for the peacock on the compact mirror so although it means his nan's card will share a similar feature to my nan's card, I'm hoping to still make it pretty special by making the rest of the card very different.

I've coloured the chipboard numbers with the silver marker, as I did with the 90, since the bold, bright patterns just really don't go well with the style of cards I tend to make. They're lovely, I just tend to stick with more simple designs because I work best with them.

I've tried to co-ordinate the colours as best I can so they match the compact and once the peacock has dried against its backing I'll cut it out, add it to the card and put some bright gems on it so it really pops.

I like how the card is going so far but I still hope it turns out okay. Oh, and then I need to start work on another one because he didn't know what to do for them either. What am I going to do with that boy?

Maybe we'll see next time! Until then!

Nanny's Ninety! - And I'm Knackered...

Hello world!

You may have noticed that I'm posting this rather late at night. Well that's because my nanny turned 90 years old this week and I spent the day down in Sussex to celebrate it with her. Which meant not getting home until 10pm after a two and a half hour car journey and although I don't drive, travelling takes a lot out of me and I still had all the pets and my lunch for tomorrow to sort before I could sit down and make a blog post so I am tired. I have 20mins until bed though so I can still get this blog posted on schedule. Sundays and Wednesdays so far seem to be the best days for me to post, so I want to at least keep those two days going. Let's do this!

Right. So. Obviously with such a special birthday, I wanted to make a special birthday card, which meant digging through my chipboard numbers for the right digits, plenty of sparkly bits and I even used calligraphy when I wrote inside the card and on the envelope, so it all looked lovely. It also means I'm learning calligraphy which I think will come in very handy with all my crafting.

I decided to stick to pastel colours and make it nice and delicate because she's quite a feminine lady and I didn't want to make it too bright and childish or too dark and neutral, I wanted to keep it special.

The peacock is a Tattered Lace die that I used in my Cuttlebug (haven't been able to dig that out for ages so that was good fun) and then trimmed to fit the card a bit better since the tail is huge. Beautiful but huge. The flowers were made with a punch and an embossing tool and then tipped with silver marker.

I've also started putting patterned papers inside my cards because a) it's nicer to write on and b) it just gives the whole thing a much nicer finish. Particularly when you add a little extra detail like the punched out flower with a little gem in it. I really liked that.

That's it for tonight though because I'm about to fall asleep at my desk. I can however show off my new signature on the blog and point out that if you hadn't already noticed, the whole blog looks different. I've updated the colour scheme and banner to match my new logo and I've got to admit, I'm loving the new look and pretty chuffed with myself for creating that banner and designing the flourishes on it all by myself.

Yeah, that's right. I can do design stuff too. (Kind of, not really, but at least the blog looks good now.)

Until next time!

Workdesk Wednesday! - #1 ~ Over The Moon

Yo!

So this is a neat feature I came up with for this year to keep me crafting. Basically it's just a little update once a week with a project that I'm working on that day. Which means I have to do at least a tiny bit of crafting or prep for crafting at the very least, every single week.

This is great for two reasons.

1. I get to set aside some time for myself each week to enjoy my own hobby, which I haven't allowed myself properly since moving out.
2. There'll be some more interesting content for you guys reading and it'll bring you a bit of variety since it won't just be finished pieces, you'll be seeing WIPs too.

Like today. Today is a WIP, mainly because I've only had enough time to do some prep before writing this blog entry so that I can get it posted in time. But that's cool because I can continue work on it after I post this and it may be a finished product in a future update or still a WIP next Wednesday, depending on what I decide to make in the meantime.

So Workdesk Wednesday this week (heehee, first WW!) is the set up of a project that I've actually been planning for quite some time but only just got round to starting.

As a kid I loved the show Sailor Moon, as I'm pretty sure most of my friends did, and when Sailor Moon Crystal came out more recently I was desperate to make some moonie goodies. The first one being this lovely little two piece set of embroidery hoops!

As you can tell from my sketches in some of the shots (which will be traced to make templates for the felt I'll be using for the applique) they're going to be transformed (eventually) into the inside and outside of Sailor Moon's compact.

I'm hoping to upcycle some crystals I took off a tacky old chandelier that came with the bedroom when we moved in (the frame went to my sister, I just wanted all the sparklies) and maybe some beads or buttons from my stash but it does depend on how well they'll fit into the design at this size, so we'll see.

I've been really looking forward to making these so hopefully there'll be updates more frequently than just Wednesdays and Sundays but I'm not 100% on all the features I want to do yet, so I guess we'll all have to wait and see. Even me.

Hope you guys are excited to see how these turn out because I sure am. I'll keep you all posted anyway.

Until next time!

New Year - New Workspace

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a great holiday season and that you're ready and raring to go with all your plans for 2016.

Mine started right here, with a daytrip to Ikea and a weekend of building and organising this beautiful new desk so that I'm able to comfortably indulge my creative side with all my crafting.

I'm not doing any new year's resolutions but I am hoping to keep this blog updated a lot more now that I can get a fresh start, so watch this space for some cool little features beginning to pop up over the next month or so. I have tonnes planned, including a brand new look for the blog. I wanted to wait to post my first entry this year until that new look was up and running but it's not quite ready yet and the new year is fading into the distance fast. Where does the time go, eh?

Anywho, I'll get straight to it. I never showed you guys my workdesk when I moved out a couple of years ago, so here's what it looked like (except way more cluttered most of the time)...

This was when I first moved out and hadn't collected a bunch of sewing supplies, etc. I've accumulated a lot over the last two years, including a brand new sewing machine I got for Christmas this past year. So I definitely needed a less cramped craft corner.

Plus it was pretty lonely sat in the bedroom by myself crafting when the boyfriend was in the living room playing video games. I like company.

Enter plans to refurnish the living room! (Which looks fantastic by the way, I'll get some pictures when it's all done to show you.) But for now, you'll have to make do with this beauty!!

The main "everyday" desk is the glorious little Micke from Ikea and the gateleg Norden table, also Ikea (pretty much my whole living room is now), works as my new sewing table/dinner table (I love multi-purpose furniture! And yes those are my dining chairs hanging off the wall next to it, I kinda love that small-space-living vibe) and folds away when not in use so that we have huge amounts of floor space. Seriously, it's like we gained an entire room and we're not done packing stuff away yet. What even?

There's still a few tiny additions I'm waiting on to add to the main desk. I have some magnetic hooks coming that will be stuck to the backboard behind the monitor and will hold my embroidery hoops, double sided tape and jewellery elastic and I need some more CD cases to finish moving over my stamps from an old binder that's falling apart.

As you can see, all my storage is in clear plastic. I did this not because it's my favourite but because it's the easiest thing to keep consistant regardless of where you buy the storage from, no specific ranges to try and manipulate for use for everything. I did however label all the storage using a gold permanent marker so that it kind of feels fancy without being over the top.

If you'd like a more in depth tour of what I have in and on my desk, such as tools, colouring equipment and materials, or if you want reviews of that sort of thing let me know in the comments below or on my Facebook. This year I want to share with you guys the things that you want to see, as well as what I've been working on in general and I'm going to try and be a lot more active and entertaining for you guys, so don't be afraid to ask for what you're interested in, I want to hear from you!

Until next time!

(Wow, I need to update that signature... Ew...)