Craft Room Tour

Have had a huge sort out and tidy up today, can honestly say I don't think my craft room has been this tidy in ages, not only can I see my desk but the floor is clear too .... yaaaay.

A few of you have asked to see where I craft, so at the risk of boring you I thought I would post a few pictures. The room measures approx 5 ft by 6 foot, there is only just enough room for a desk/chair so I try to utilise the wall space as much as I can.

My projects are generally photographed on the glass mat on top of my printer.

I store my dies on a couple of old cork noticeboards that have been covered with magnetic sheets I , managed to get the in my local £1 shop (2 for £1).

 My 48 distress inks are stored in an mdf caddy from Candy Box Crafts,, but this will change shortly  to the new bigger one that Candy Box Crafts have designed, which will hold 60 distress inks (in readiness for the new colours coming out this year). The majority of my stamps are kept in the white ring binders, but I also have a large box to store the rest of them and next door to my stamps are my very precious G45 12 x 12 pads. 

Bit of a murky photo, but this is where I craft, write my blogs and chat on FB etc - depending on how untidy I get, I can sometimes be working in just a 10 inch square of desk! lol  

I use all the space under the desk to store (from left to right ...) my offcuts of coloured cardstock, alterable items, material, adhesives, embellishments, stencils/masks and more 12 x 12 paper and cardstock than I care to admit to! 

These are my favorites at the moment, 3 masks and 3 sets of stamps by the amazing Ryn - I will show you what I've been up to, in a future blog post. The Designs byRyn stamps are now available in the UK from Pink Tulip  Creations,Spernal Ash Nurseries/Alcester Road, Studley B80 7PD, Phone:01527 852052  - they sadly don't have an online shop but they will mail items to you if you order over the phone. 

How many pairs of scissors do I need? - funny how they all seem to disappear when I need them.

A little bit of home made stationary, using G45 - of course 

I love all things pink - so I just had to get the limited edition Hougie board in aid of Breast Cancer Care, but will admit I us the smaller board more and that one was a free gift with a craft magazine.

These are the 4 tubs on the 3rd shelf up, containing more ribbon & lace than I will ever need so I am on a ribbon and lace ban until I can reduce the number of tubs to 3.

Also have 3 tubs full of punches, mainly Martha Stewart, Woodware, EK Success and Stampin Up. 

So that's it folks a very brief tour around my craft room. If there is anything you would like a closer look at, just post a comment and I will see what i can do.Am off for a little bit of a craft now. so till next time - have fun xx

Raindrops ..... On Coasters ....

Those who know me, will know I am a little stamp phobic and only stamp only when I really have to.

Well,  I bought a set of "Designs By Ryn" stamps this weekend - "Water Effects1" from my wonderful local craft shop Pink Tulip Creations, (who by the way are one of only two UK suppliers of this fabulous Canadian range of stamps). The quality and the design of these stamps are truly amazing ...  to say I am blown away by the results is an understatement! I feel as though my stamping confidence has been well and truly boosted and I can't wait to try more of Ryn's stamps.

I used the water droplets stamp on a sheet of Chatsworth paper by PaperArtsy, using a Versafine ink in Vintage Sepia. I then used white acrylic paint and a fine paint brush to add highlights.

The effect was amazing, the droplets look so real. I used the stamped results and covered four round mdf coasters from Candy Box Craft, yes I am a bit addicted to coasters at the moment. I added a few thin coats of Crafters Companion Spray and Shine to to protect the surface. Cant wait to use them when I next have a glass of wine - hope you like them as much as I do. Crafty hugs xx

Longing for Spring ....

Like many of you, I buy things and don't seem to use them, well my mission in 2015 is to be a lot more selective with my crafty purchases and to use the huge stash I already have.So having looked at my button collection I thought it was about time to put some of them to good use.

It's cold and miserable here in the UK and I am longing for warm spring days when I can sit out in my garden with a nice glass of wine. With that thought as my inspiration I decided to use a selection of spring flower buttons that I have had in my stash for years, and make some coasters to use when I am outside in my garden.


I took four square coasters, (designed and made in the UK by Candy Box Crafts) painted them with some white gesso and allowed them to dry. I then select my buttons, making sure that they were all the same thickness to make my coasters were level - I don't want my glass of wine to tip over.

I then did a dry run with my buttons and placed them where I wanted them to go, trying hard not to have two of the same buttons next to each other. Once I was happy with the layout I glued them in place with wet glue.

After the glue had dried I used some texture paste to fill in the gaps in between - it was a bit like grouting tiles. After the grunge paste had dried I cleaned the excess paste off  my buttons.

They may not be every ones taste but I love them and cant wait to use them.

Triple Mini Photo Frame, from guess what ......

... three square mdf coasters from Candy Box Crafts of course.

Ok, I admit it, I seem to be getting a little obsessed with mdf coasters at the moment, but they are just so very versatile.

To make the photo frame, I covered the front of each of the 3 coasters in paper. (I used the brown and cream script sheets from the 6 x 6 "Time To Celebrate" Graphic 45 pad.)

I then cut 3 squares of cardboard approx 3/8ths of an inch smaller than the coaster, out of which I cut a 2 inch square to make a small frame. I covered the frames in a coordinating paper from the 8 x 8 "Time To Celebrate" Graphic 45 collection and attached four ornate metal corners to each frame.

The frames were then attached to the coasters using 3D foam on the bottom and left & right sides,  don't use any foam on the top of the frame as you need to leave a gap in order to insert a photo.

I used card to make hinges and attached the coasters all together. I then used a square of decorative paper to cover the back of the coasters. Hey presto a triple mini photo frame.

Candy Box Crafts Mdf Coasters & TH Washi Tape

Having recently painted my ancient orange pine bedroom furniture a beautiful shade of off-white/cream, I have started using coasters to put my tea light holders on when I light my candles. The coasters I had were really ugly and did not go with the decor, so I decided to make some of my own.

I took 4 mdf coasters (made by the wonderful guys at Candy Box Crafts)  and painted them on both sides with a few coats of white gesso (allowing each coat to dry before applying the next).

                          
Then I took 4 rolls of  Tim Holtz washi tape (that I hadn't actually opened, let alone used ... lol) and applied 5 strips to each coaster. I then applied another thin coat of gesso and allowed that to dry.

                             

I used "White Fire" gilding wax by Treasure Gold around the edges and then sprayed a few light coats of Crafters Companion "Spray and Shine" high gloss varnish and allowed that to dry.

I then covered the reverse of the coaster in co-ordinating felt, and hey presto I have 4 beautiful handcrafted coasters that go perfectly in my bedroom.

Candy Box Crafts - A Little Boxette of Love

As you all know I am lucky enough to be on the DT for Candy Box Crafts, and whilst it is very hard to choose my favourite mdf item I do seem to favour the ones that can be used for storage. The boxette is the perfect example, it is made from 3mm mdf and comes in an easy to assemble slot and tab kit, The boxette can be used to hold, tags, cards, precious items or even chocolate!

This one has been decorated with Valentines Day in mind. The main paper used is "Bouquet" from Kaisercraft's "On This Day" collection, with the bouquet wrap, envelope and note being made from parts of another sheet from the same collection called "Proposal", I added a dozen red paper roses, a felt heart, a heart padlock and ornate key, ribbon and a few adhesive gems. Hope you like it xx

New Year - New Crafty Challenge

Believe it or not, one thing form of crafting I have never tried is scrapbooking. So as this is the year I want to expand my crafting skills and knowledge I thought I would give it a go.

One of my lovely facebook pals Heather Bee kindly posted a layout suggestion in one of the groups I belong to .... and with a photo of my gorgeous new nephew Alfie Joseph Gill this is what I came up with:

The background paper is "Lovestruck" from the True romance Collection by Kaisercraft. I used a nesting heart dies by Little B and a floral heart die by Memory Box  to cut the hearts from red bazzil basic cardstock and a black scripted paper by Kaisercraft. I used a fancy tag die by Spellbinders to  cut the tag out of black cardstock and added  my nephews name and date of birth. I also added a couple of adhesive felt hearts and some adhesive red rhinestones. Not bad for my first attempt, eh!