Saturday 26 July 2014

Waaaaay out......

......... of my comfort zone.

I have a number of manufacturers whose creations I covet.  Graphic 45, Heartfelt Creations, Pion Design to name but a few.  Why covet and not buy?  Well cost for one.  These are not British brands so buying them (even in the sales) can prove rather expensive.  I will save up if it is something that I just can't live without, but this is where I run into problems.

They scare me.



No honestly.  I look at the amazingly detailed pages and then I can't imagine what I will do with them once I have it at home.  I have never been one for fussy cutting, because my previous attempts have not been good and I lack the patience to improve my skill.

I tend to head for simple patterns or plain papers and card stocks with not much going on. Then I hit them with ink and stamps to add interest.  I have managed to use some pattern in mini albums, but the colours and pattern tend to be muted and even distressed.

I am in the process of working on a new make.  I want to push myself with this one.  The construction of it is making me pause, because I need to work without construction strips and I don't think I have done that before.

In addition to that I will be working with this paper pad.


For me this paper is scary.  I love the look of the papers, but the thought of working with the pad has kept it in the drawer for over 6 months now.  I keep getting it out and then making some excuse for why I can't use it on that project.  This time I WILL use it.  My project is not a big one, but the floral theme to this pad is perfect, so long as I keep the scale in mind when picking what I will use.

Wish me luck.  I'm off to choose which pages are going onto this project.

Laters

Naomi x

Thursday 24 July 2014

How it all starts

I'm just about to start a new DT make for Ferni Designs

Sometimes, when I see a product, I can picture in my mind exactly what I am going to do with it and this is one of those makes.  Quite often I just get a basic idea and then I have to flesh it out and the end result isn't always what I had pictured in my head.  I love that about crafting.


For this make I will be using chipboard so I have had to do some forward planning to make sure that everything will fit together okay.  I quite enjoy this aspect of the creating as one of my hobbies used to be designing houses.  I can create scale floor plans for entire houses and I honestly can get lost in the creation of them.  At some point I would like to be able to make scale models of the plans that I have made and bring them to life.

I know what I am building with this piece, but I don't have a clue about the way it will be decorated yet.  I am hoping it will "speak" to me once I get further along in the construction of the piece.

Just in case you are wondering.  I found out that you can cut some of the Fernli products with a sharp craft knife and a metal ruler, so I have cut the fence in half.  I can see me doing this again for other projects with some of the other products.  The pieces are already very versatile, but now I can make sure that everything fits exactly as I need it to on a project.

Enough typing :)  Time to get back to crafting.

Laters

Naomi x

Saturday 19 July 2014

New Design Team make

I am so pleased to be able to show this off.

As some of you may know I am lucky enough to be on the design team for Fernli Designs.  A must have if you are looking for quality wooden embellishment, alterables, storage options and more.  All at very reasonable prices.

This is my second make for them.


This is made from 2 sheets of 12x12 kraft card, 2 sheets of 12x12 design paper (if you didn't used patterned card) and 4x Window frame 6 sections and some vellum.  If you would like the full instructions, please click on the "MY Fernli Designs" tab above.


I have used a battery operated tea light inside to light it up.

I'm already making plans for another one of these with a different twist as I was thinking up new ideas before I was even half way through this one :)

Dinner time now so I am off.

Laters

Naomi x

Sunday 13 July 2014

Oh Christmas tree oh Christmas tree

Yes you guessed it.   I made my first Christmas card.  It had to be done. I have been hoarding a Christmas Tree from Fernli Designs  since last year and it was perfect for the card I was making so I finally used it.


Over at Crafters @ Play we have an acetate card challenge running.  I made a card as an example for that (I will show you that one further down) and was asked for a tutorial, so I made this one.


Close up of the tree.  I sprayed it with a green mica spray and added gems.


This is the original one that I made for the challenge.  


I like these cards because they don't take long to make, they are different to what you can buy in the shops, and they fold flat to go in the envelope.  Whats not to love.  Added bonus is you can easily make photo frames using the same technique.  Great to do with kids.

I need to work on the video for my Design Team project, so I need to get going.

Laters

Naomi x

Wednesday 9 July 2014

Family run

Over the years I have been lucky enough to witness the birth of a number of new businesses. Some have thrived and are still going great and unfortunately some have fallen along the way.

Rant warning here

Large chain stores and supermarkets have been the death of a lot of family run businesses.  They jump on what's popular and sell it at a fraction of the price.  Great for our pockets, but that puts the family run businesses out of pocket and out of business.  We need to watch the pennies, but I think we need to support family run businesses too.

Rant over

So, with that said I would like to give a shout out to three businesses.

Verbo Computers  I have had the good fortune to know the family behind this company for many years now. They offer excellent customer service and their work is second to none.  Chris has had many years in the industry and really knows his stuff.  His rates are competitive and I would highly recommend him.

Fernli Designs  Spend more than two minutes on my blog and you will already know how much I love their products.  The quality is very high and their prices very competitive.  Delivery time is always good and they care about what they are sending out.

Hope and Chances Creativity is a local craft shop that I visited for the first time today.  They are much needed I can tell you as we have to travel for miles to get to another craft shop.  It's not the biggest shop you will ever find, but it is warm and friendly and the excellent customer service from the owner means that I will be going back again and again.

Individual family run businesses bring some thing new to the market in my opinion.  The business really matters to them so they put the extra effort in.  Support your local family run businesses by recommending them to people you know.  Spend a little extra when you can and buy from them instead of ebay.  If we don't use them we lose them because they need to eat the same way we do.

Back to crafting on my next post I promise, but I really do prefer to have a high street full of individuals rather than a bunch of corporate companies who don't really care about their product, just the pennies.

Laters

Naomi x

Saturday 5 July 2014

Acetate

A new card challenge went live today on Crafters @ Play  The challenge is to makes a card that involves some acetate.

I haven't worked much with acetate recently but I used to really enjoy working with it.  My favourite was the flittered acetate by Kanban.  I'm hoping that now they are up and running again, that they will start to make it again.


I created my own aperture and over layed with flittered acetate 


 This card is a little different



I gave these out as stocking fillers a few years ago.

There is so much that can be one with acetate.  I've only scratched the surface.

Well I'm off to look up more ways to use acetate on Pinterest.

Laters

Naomi x

Tuesday 1 July 2014

Happy days

Today is a good day.  I have finally been able to show off my first design team project for Fernli Designs.  I have to admit that I was worried when I took this position on because the existing design team are so talented.  I feel a bit more relaxed now and my second project is nearly finished and I am still making notes on things that I want to make in the near future.


My second piece of good news is the announcement of our first scrapbook challenge over at Crafters @ Play  The Lovely Heather has set it up and is offering a prize to the challenge winner.  There are two sketches available.  All you have to do is do a layout featuring your self at any age and use some paint on your layout.


I'm off to do a bit more of my happy dance :D

Laters

Naomi x