3D Projects
Upcycled Mini-Egg Tube Storage Solution

Posted on 27th March 2014 by Neil

The master of crafty invention, Tim Holtz (along with his friends at Ranger Ink), has come up with a brand new mini-applicator tool for the ever popular Distress Inks – if you’ve not come across it yet, it’s circular and smaller than his previous rectangular ones. I’m still waiting on my order for the tool, but I had a delivery of the replacement foams…

I came up with a storage dispenser for the foams, but the design was a little flimsy and I wasn’t entirely happy with it. As I was munching through some Cadbury’s mini-eggs (don’t you just love this time of year?) I was pondering the design… and then realised as I was about to chuck the tube away that it might be the solution. A quick check showed it was just the right diameter to take the foams, and a new design was born. Before… and after:

Continue reading →

Card Craft
Watercolour Card using Reinkers (for Creative Expressions)

Posted on 26th March 2014 by Neil

This is the last of my posts using this month’s featured stamps. I’m back to the Creative Expressions Singles ‘Scentiments’ and taken the image from the thank you stamp to paint with Distress Reinkers. Quite a quick make in a clean and simple style.

Just before the shopping list, don’t forget the BSSBS on 12th-13th April at Ally Pally, early; bird discount of £1 off for tickets booked before 8th April. See you there! Click for details:

Continue reading →

3D Projects
Botanica goes three dimensional

Posted on 25th March 2014 by Neil

I’ve created these two pieces for Craftwork Cards using their fabulous Botanica kit which includes papers, die cut toppers and bows as well as the Candi – read more over at their blog!

Card Craft
‘Scented’ Quadrant Card – for Creative Expressions

Posted on 19th March 2014 by Neil

Oh I’m so not at my creative best at the moment with a head ~~full of snot~~ cold threatening to drip on my creations (too much info?)… And this card isn’t highly perfumed because of my lack of a sense of smell at the moment! Despite feeling rotten, I managed to continue using the perfume-themed stamps sent to me this month by Creative Expressions – this card features silver embossed ‘Scented Corner’ and ‘Scented Border’, coloured with Cosmic Shimmer Iridescent Watercolour paints and embellished with coloured PVA.

Just before the shopping list, don’t forget the BSSBS on 12th-13th April at Ally Pally, early; bird discount of £1 off for tickets booked before 8th April. See you there! Click for details:

Continue reading →

Altered Art
Two More Crackle Effects

Posted on 17th March 2014 by Neil

I’ve just received two more crackle effect mediums, which I’ve added to my original Crackle Effects Mediums post. These are DecoArts two step and Wendy Vecchi/Dreamweaver Crackled Texture Paste.

Card Craft
Scent-sational Apertures (for Creative Expressions)

Posted on 12th March 2014 by Neil

Also in my DT pack this month are two more Singles stamps featuring cut-glass bottles or perhaps they could be decanters – Crystal Cut and Murano Glass. Both are two stamp sets – the bottle and a ‘scent-iment’. I wanted to highlight the glass element, so created two cards using apertures and acetate. Clean and simple designs, they show off the stamps wonderfully. Oh, and don’t make the same mistake as me: remember that the image on the front of the pack is not actual size… That’s how I ended up with the ‘close up’ in the aperture!

Continue reading →

3D Projects
Kitsch Easter Basket

Posted on 8th March 2014 by Neil

I’ve done another 3D item using the Craftwork Cards Kitsch kit recently featured on Create and Craft TV – I recommend leaving buying the mini eggs until just before you finish the item, else the basket seems half empty by the end of the project. More pics and a tutorial over at the Craftwork Cards blog.

Card Craft
Two watercolour effect cards (for Creative Expressions)

Posted on 5th March 2014 by Neil

This month’s Creative Expressions Design Team projects include two new Singles stamps: Get Well Soon and Thank you. I’ve embossed the outlines onto watercolour paper, adding to the attractive distressed look and coloured using Distress Markers and a water brush. The clean and simple look is finished off with matting onto card and a few dots of coloured PVA from Cosmic Shimmer.

Continue reading →

Art Journal
Play time with PanPastels

Posted on 3rd March 2014 by Neil

I’ve done a bit of housekeeping on the blog, so that it should now be easier to find things using a more obvious menu system. I’ave also added a ‘reviews’ page under the Workshops tag so that you can read what others have given as feedback about my classes.

And I’ve allowed myself a ~~play day~~ day to experiment with techniques. First on the list was to build on my PanPastel Art Journal that I started a while back with some backgrounds. I’ve recently bought new stamps from Designs by Ryn and Catslife Press that have sat in the drawer unloved and unused – and they are perfect for art journaling. I was also delighted to expand my PanPastel collection with a set of metallics for Christmas (thanks Kathryn & David!). Here’s what I came up with this morning:Here’s a time lapse showing the layers building up:

If you’d like more information on how to art journal with PanPastels, come along to my art journaling workshop on 3rd May! Here are a few more pages done this afternoon – unfortunately the metallics don’t show up very well on these scans:

3D Projects
Time Flies Encased Quotation

Posted on 28th February 2014 by Neil

Over at The Crafting Cafe, it’s been the theme of embossing all month sponsored by my friends at WOW! Embossing Powders, and my DT project makes great use of embossing powder to encase elements of the beautiful Time Flies papers from Craftwork Cards. Pop over to my post to read more details of how to make the piece… it’s just 5cm in diameter in case you were wondering…