LIM #410: Coral and Blue

Posted on 11th January 2020 by perfectly4med

Happy New Year! After a break for Christmas, and some online classes taking up some time, I’ve been crafting. I’m working on a dragon sculpture, currently curing in the pond, and I’ve been learning 3D modelling software – part of which included animation of a lamp model you may spot in the blog header from time to time.

Anyhoo, today’s bit of crafting was the latest ‘Less is More’ challenge – a project with minimal layers, minimal embellishments with lots of white space and this time using the Pantone colour of the year 2019 and 2020.

They’re not two colours I would immediately choose to put together, so initially, I had a mental block. I ended up with two cards, one of which I don’t like, and one that I do!

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Another Challenge Card: Less Is More

Posted on 23rd November 2019 by perfectly4med

Another challenge blog I used to go to regularly is ‘Less is More‘. It’s another challenge blog that’s still going some 6 years later! The concept behind their challenges is to have plenty of white space on the card, with minimal fuss and minimal layers (ideally just the one). It’s more my style than cards with lots of die cuts and layers of matting and ribbon. So, being on a little bit of a roll, I have followed their recipe #409 – pick a triangle.

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Sparkling Tatty Teddy

Posted on 23rd November 2019 by perfectly4med

I last entered a ProMarker challenge in July 2013 and thought it was high time I had another go. This afternoon I coloured in a wooden stamp that predates even my last challenge attempt – it’s from 2011. This week’s challenge at Passion for ProMarkers is ‘sparkle and shine’. I’ve used ProMarkers to colour the image and added sparkle with Stickles and a wee bit of shine on the nose with Glossy Accents.

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Card Making: Distress Oxide Collage

Posted on 30th October 2019 by perfectly4med

It’s been a long time since I regularly made greetings cards, back in the heady days of peel offs and basic rubber stamping. My style and media choices have changed significantly since, and last night I had a few moments to have a play during my Come & Craft Session: mixed media collage cards.

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Card Craft: Celtic Birthday Drypoint

Posted on 17th March 2018 by perfectly4med

Just before I cleared the decks in preparation for the arrival of a laser cutter that I have been impatiently waiting for (for two and a half years!), I cranked out a few more drypoint prints for cards more suitable for those not into the floral elements on my previous ones.

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Psst… want to see my etchings? Drypoint on a budget

Posted on 15th March 2018 by perfectly4med

I’ve been experimenting with drypoint printing technique – I had to search out my college notes to review the technique I first learnt there. I’m developing drypoint on a budget, so no special press or acrylic plates. Drypoint for the uninitiated is where a design is etched into a suitable material (typically perspex) before filling the resulting grooves with ink, wiping off the excess and then printing onto paper. Further prints can be taken by reinking the plate and repeating the printing process until the burrs from the etching flatten and the ink no longer stays in the grooves.

Here are four individual prints of my first go, printed on different papers. Technically, I don’t think drypoint prints are normally coloured after printing but I have used a light touch with some coloured pencils to augment the final card.

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That’s Crafty! Show Samples: Christmas

Posted on 22nd August 2017 by perfectly4med

Following on from yesterday’s post, here are the Christmas demo samples I made for the live Hochanda shows. Unfortunately, we seemed to enter a time warp for the final hour, and there was not much time to go through all the demos I had lined up.

Merry Christmas Wreath

That’s Crafty! Surfaces MDF Wreaths and Baubles Set
That’s Crafty! Surfaces Bits & Pieces Greyboard: Christmas Sentiments 2
That’s Crafty! Surfaces Bits & Pieces Greyboard: Holly & Mistletoe
That’s Crafty! Surfaces Bits & Pieces Greyboard: Christmas Florals 2
That’s Crafty! Multi Surface Paint: Christmas Red / Green / Purple / White
That’s Crafty! Multi Surface Paint: Antique Gold / Gold / Silver
That’s Crafty! Multi Purpose Craft Adhesive Pen

Try mixing different colours to make shades of green – red for a warm brown, purple for a rich evergreen. Use Craft Adhesive for a doming glaze over the berries, and a glaze for the leaves.

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That’s Crafty! Show Samples: Autumn

Posted on 21st August 2017 by perfectly4med

As always, a quiet blog usually means frenetic activity in The Studio. The start of this month has been no different, with not two, but three live hours of craft TV demos to prepare for. And, as usual, there was a press embargo on sharing the products, or the samples, until the live shows aired.

So, without further ado, here are my samples for the Hochanda shows that aired on 18th August 2017. Please let me know if you’d like fuller instructions on how to make any of these, I’ll see what I can do. Later this week, I’ll also do a review of the new That’s Crafty! Multi Surface paints based on what I learnt making the samples.

’tis the season

That’s Crafty! Multi Surface Paint: Black / Christmas Red / Yellow / Brown
That’s Crafty! Multi Surface Paint: Metallic Gold
That’s Crafty! Bits & Pieces Greyboard: Acorns and Leaves / Leaves
That’s Crafty! Bits & Pieces Greyboard: Christmas Sentiments 1
That’s Crafty! Surfaces Set of 2 MDF Shadow Boxes [small] That’s Crafty! Multi Purpose Craft Adhesive Pen

Use the Craft Adhesive as a doming glaze for the berries. The metallic gold adds a little bit of shine to the leaves.

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Bas Relief Roses

Posted on 4th February 2017 by perfectly4med

At today’s bas relief cards workshop, I did the unthinkable (for me at least) – worked on a technique and a sample alongside a workshop guest, without trying it first weeks before. And despite the gung-ho attitude, we both ended up with, even if we do say so ourselves, a cracking outcome. There was something rather pleasing about making a 2D stamped image a little more 3D, smudging and smoothing paper clay into place before letting the stains and paint do their thing.

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Bas Relief Deco Rose

Posted on 24th January 2017 by perfectly4med

For February’s Studio workshop, we’re going to be playing with adding dimension by using paperclay to create bas relief centrepieces for your cards/scrapbook pages and mixed media projects. Here’s an example I’ve just finished:

Not sure if I have got the balance right between the vase and the roses, and may be an ivory card for the sentiment might have worked better too. But that, after all, is what playing is all about…

If you’d like to come to the workshop on 4th February, there are spaces available. For more details, see my workshops page, or email me to book your space.