Craft Label DT: North Star Christmas Cards

Posted on 14th November 2020 by perfectly4med

Craft Label is stocking several different Christmas themed paper pads, in various sizes, and I’ve had a chance to play with two of them. First up, the First Edition North Star paper pack. This features 48 sheets, 3 each of 16 designs, one glittered design, two foiled, two pearlescent and half are double-sided. The colour palette is grey, silver and navy blue with some cute penguins and polar bears as design elements. Backgrounds are varied from patterns to grungy watercolour. The papers are 200g/m2 weight and are printed with soy inks. The pad is available in 12×12″ (£15.99), 8×8″ (£9.99) and 6×6″ (£7.99). Here are three quick and easy Christmas cards made with the pad:

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LIM: Colour Challenge

Posted on 7th November 2020 by perfectly4med

It’s time for another challenge at Less is More… This time we have a colour challenge: Blue and Silver or Red and Gold. For me, they are classic Christmas colours, so I’ve used that theme for my cards this time around. First up, my choice for my design team card. It’s hard to see with the reflections, but the snowflakes are heat embossed in silver. The watercolour is Chipped Sapphire Distress Stain flooded into water, then splattered with water and blotted dry.

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LIM DT: Chalkboard Technique

Posted on 29th August 2020 by perfectly4med

Over on the Less is More challenge blog this week is a lucky dip and from the pot came the chalkboard technique. In essence, this uses white pigment ink on black card, with the option of adding white heat embossing for even more contrast. An example video is available at the end of this post.

Three cards for you today in reverse order…

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Altered Art commission: Love Cherish Care

Posted on 11th March 2020 by perfectly4med

We’re about to redecorate our lounge in shades of grey-blue, so I was commissioned to create another altered art canvas similar to this one, but with a matching blue as the main colour. It’s taken a day to do and has laser-cut, 3D printed, buttons, wood and polyurethane-cast elements as well as a few embellishments from my collection.

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Art Journal Pages: Butterflies

Posted on 26th January 2020 by perfectly4med

Next week’s Art Journal Session has the theme ‘butterflies’. I’ve three new pages to share, but there are several in my past library that you can find using the search facility.

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Art Journal: Board Books

Posted on 16th September 2018 by perfectly4med

It’s not often that I deliberately go into a cut-price bookstore with the sole intention of buying several copies of ‘My Little Pony’ children’s books. Well, this happened sometime in late winter, with the intention that I would be using them in a class. On Monday 1st October, attendees at my art journal session will be using the board books as a base for an art journal, included at no extra fee. Unfortunately, it does mean that my little ponies will be painted out. What a shame.

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Art Journal Page: Want to Fly

Posted on 18th June 2018 by perfectly4med

In my last art journaling post, I wrote about knowing when a page is finished. This time around I went a step too far and completely spoiled the layout. See the staining through the gesso middle left and bottom right? That’s archival ink soaking through several layers of gesso. I thought once the butterflies were on, and the gesso painted around them that I would stamp more butterflies over the top. What a mistake to make…

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Art Journals: using acrylic covers – part 2

Posted on 2nd May 2017 by perfectly4med

I promised to share my ‘now you see me, now you don’t’ technique for acrylic covers that didn’t quite get finished on air during my last Hochanda shows for That’s Crafty!. Below are some instructions along side the pics I took prior to the shows, and below those is a short video I have done to try and explain it a little more clearly! Apologies for the outside noises on the video – they’re wind chimes and a radiator warming up, if you’re wondering.

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Art Journal Page: Beautiful Art

Posted on 1st April 2017 by perfectly4med

The first Monday of the month sees my monthly art journal evening at the Studio, and next week the theme is ‘never been used’. I’ve asked studio guests to bring something from their crafty stash that they have never used, and we’ll be incorporating them into our beautiful art journal pages.

In prepping my sample for the session, I came across an embarrassment of unused kit deep in folders, drawers and baskets. I think I will need to do more of these! I know I’m not alone, so what do you think – anyone fancy a ‘never been used’ challenge blog?

Here’s my show page, worked in my very first art journal from 2011 on a background that I’d not yet used:

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THCC103: Day 3

Posted on 5th August 2016 by perfectly4med

Ok, I’m still not caught up… but this is Day 3’s exercises for Creative Chemistry 103 (CC103) led by The Professor (Tim Holtz). This particular class was centred on getting texture using the various collage mediums and texture pastes recently introduced to the Distress product line. I don’t have most of these, so substituted various DecoArt products instead and I reckon they do just as good a job!

It’s the first time I have used Distress Crayons, and I have to say I am impressed. Slightly softer than a gelato, the crayon blends beautifully under fingers and into other colours, and the reactivity with water is superb. Glad my spending overruled my scepticism and they were there to use!

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