Gel-a-Tins DT - January Pt IV

Below post went live on the Gel-a-tins blog earlier:

At the end of January what else could we have on our minds but Love, Love Love? What with Valentine's Day being just around the corner, hearts will be plentiful in the coming weeks. But can you really make use of the CRACKLE PAINT stamps for a lovey-dovey card?

Judge for yourself:

Instructions:

Spray a piece of chipboard with some Smooch Spritz for a glitz look and stamp right onto the now coloured chipboard once the mist has dried. Sprinkle some embossing powder on top and set with a heat gun.

Now ink a chipboard button with some Mixed Media Inx in Chiffon and once dried attach this to the heart with an organza ribbon.

Add a sentiment, which comes from the FANCY DOILY set and stamp with the same colour as used for the embossing and colouring of the chipboard button.

There you go, a simplistic, love-infused card

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Bazzill

Mists - Donna Salazar Smooch Spritz for Clearsnap

Ink - Donna Salazar Mixed Media Inx for Clearsnap

Embossing Powder - Donna Salazar for Clearsnap

Pearls, Ribbon - unknown

Chipboard - Crate

Gel-a-Tins DT - January Pt III

Below post has gone live earlier on the gel-a-tins blog.

Hello everyone, this is Kim with you again sharing another layout which makes use of the wonderful CRACKLE PAINT stamp.

Instructions:

This time I wanted to achieve a kind of brick look and first stamped onto a kraft tag with Mixed Media Ink - a slow drying ink from Donna Salazar Designs, which actually stays wet long enough so you can add embossing powder!

After I set the embossing powder with a heat gun, I sprayed over the whole tag repeatedly with Smooch Spritz in red berries. Once this tried, I took a baby wipe and wiped over the surface of the tag. The embossed areas will repel the ink and the stamped image will be a crispy white, therefore giving the look of old brickwork.

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Donna Salazar Artistic Papers for GCD Studios

Mists - Donna Salazar Smooch Spritz for Clearsnap

Ink - Donna Salazar Mixed Media Inx for Clearsnap

Journaling Spots - Sassafras Lass, Elle's Studio

Stickers - American Crafts, Dymo

Pearls - Want2Scrap

Other - Embroidery Floss, Blossoms

Crochet Ole - The CAL Pt I

I am pretty excited that I have joined a year long CAL (crochet-a-long) on Ravelry.

Now it may sound quite overwhelming to commit to a project for a whopping 52 weeks but I actually LOVE this one as we only crochet one 12" square per month. At the end of the year each participant will have enough for a nice blanket, without any stress involved.

What I love most about this is that fact that I am getting rid use of all the left over yarns I cannot seem to find a purpose for. That also means that the finished Afghan will most likely to be kinda quirky as the colours range from muted to bright.

For January we have been using the Woolly's Snowflake pattern for our square and I enjoyed it so much that I made two squares. I decided that to get a decent sized Afghan, I will need more than 12 big squares - so each month will have me complete two of the same. BUT to make it more interesting I will change the colours in each square. Difficult to describe so let me show you what I mean.

Square 1:

And now the same colours only the opposite way.

Square 2:

Isn't it kind of amazing that the same colours used in a different order make the end product look so different?

Now I cannot wait to see what our February square will be.

http://tamisamis.blogspot.com/2012/01/work-in-progress-wednesday-76.html

Gel-a-Tins DT - January DT Pt II

Below post has gone live earlier on the gel-a-tins blog

Today I would like to share a quick card with you, making use again of my current favourite stamp -  CRACKLE PAINT

Instructions:

Stamp twice directly onto the card base. After I stamped the left hand side first, I rotated the stamp by 180 degrees to ensure that the end of the crackle lines match up as best possible. I LOVE the effect this stamps gives to any background

Cut a strip of patterned paper the length of the card and a width of about 2" and run a border punch along the top and bottom edge. Adhere this to the background.

Add a sentiment, such as this one which comes from the FANCY DOILY set and adhere to the paper strip.

I also love to experiment with embossing powders and I after I sprayed two flowers with some mists, I sprinkled some random embossing powder onto the leaves.

And here is the complete card again

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Bazzill

Papers - My Minds Eye

Mists - Donna Salazar Smooch Spritz for Clearsnap

Ink - Donna Salazar Mixed Media Inx for Clearsnap

Embossing Powder - Donna Salazar for Clearsnap

Pearls - Want2Scrap

Border Punch - Martha Steward

Flowers - unknown

Donna Salazar DT - January Pt I

Below post went live earlier on the Donna Salazar Blog.

Did you know that you can create a minibook from scratch with your favourite Donna Salazar papers and Spellbinder dies? Yup – all you need is paper, dies and embellishments.

You can also die-cut your paper in such a way that you can “bind” your minibook by sewing or stapling the spine.

First you will need to decide on the size of your minibook, I opted for a 6x6” book and first cut a sheet of  the Antiquities Theatre paper in half

Now you want to fold the sheet over like this

If you wish for you paper to remain in one piece, you will have to place it onto your chosen die ensuring that the fold does not cover the cutting edge.

If you are worried that the paper may slide a little during the cutting process, you may want to keep it in place by adding a little masking tape over paper and die.

For my book, I decided on three double pages, which I cut using the Creative Book Pages, Creative Book Pages 2 and Grand Labels One dies for which I cut a sheet of Spring in Bloom - Pretty in Purple to an initial 6 x 6 size.

I cut various shapes from a selection of Spellbinders dies and arranged them in a layered fashion on the individual pages.

Additionally I also used the Wonderful Wings dies as stencils placing them onto one of my double pages and spraying over them with various coloured mists, outlining the white spaces when I removed the dies. You can create your won patterned papers like this!

Now you want to “bind” your book and you can either do this by piercing a few holes in the spine of your collected folds and thread some twine or floss through it, or you can use a stapler, as I did:

I started my book by finishing off the cover first – adding the title cut with Donna’s Alpha out of corrugated board and heat embossed. The final touch is the gorgeous butterfly using the Wonderful Wings die and adding a little sparkle with pearls and rhinestones.

I leave you with pictures of the individual pages and hope that you enjoyed today's step by step

 Products used:

Spellbinders: 

Donna Salazar's Creative Book Pages, Donna Salazar's Creative Book Pages 2, Donna’s Alphas, Donna Salazar's Wonderful Wings, Creative Page Tabs, Grand Labels One, Classic Scalloped Circles Lg, 

GCD Studios:

Donna Salazar's Spring in Bloom - Spring Sky, In Bloom,
Donna Salazar's Antiquities - Harmony, Let's Ride, Theatre, Time for Tea
Donna Salazar's Crafty Chronicle
Want 2 Scrap:
Baby Pearls in white, Bling Strips in white/silver
Clearsnap Inc:
Donna Salazar's Smooch Spritz in Tea Party, Wood Stain, Green Olive
Top Boss Embossing Powder in White
Chalk Ink in Chestnut Roan

Zutter:
Corrugated Cardboard


Other Supplies: Jenni Bowlin Alpha Stickers, Bella Blvd phrase papers

Crochet ole - the lamp foot cover

At the beginning of December our ceiling light in the bathroom went kaputt, so while we are pondering about what we want to do about it, a quick solution had to be found so I could have a wash in the mornings without accidentally scooping the water from the toilet bowl by mistake. Not that this has happened yet, but knowing how "not with it" I am in the early mornings, it would just be a matter of time...

So, we took one of our lamps from the spare room and placed it on top of our bathroom cabinet, as this was the only space where we could actually place something.

But the foot looked a touch naff as it was just round and black and did not fit into the overall colour scheme of the bathroom.

It's a good thing that I am never that far away from a hook and yarn, right? So I whipped this foot cover up within the matter of four hours. Ole!

Probably not perfect but it does look tons better than the lamp foot without a cover.

I took the pattern from the following book:

150 Blocks to Knit and Crochet

Yarns used:

Rowan Denim in Ecru (50g), Memphis (50g) and Tennessee (50g)

Gel-a-Tins DT - January Pt I

Below post has gone live on the gel-a-tins blog earlier

I love to create crackled backgrounds on my projects but I always found it such a long winded process to first coat the background with some paint, then a layer of crackle medium and afterwards another layer of paint.

Thankfully with the fabulous CRACKLE PAINT stamp, all you need is an inkpad at the ready :)

Instructions:
Stamp anywhere on your background and while the ink is still wet, sprinkle a few bits of embossing powder randomly onto the motif. Once you set the embossing powder with your heat gun, this will make for an interesting two tone/two textured look.

I also made use of the flower stem from the ONCE UPON A TIME set to enhance the cluster of flowers and leaves

And here is the complete layout again - it was a breeze to create it when you don't have to wait for layers of paint and crackle medium to dry.

Supplies used:
Cardstock - Donna Salazar Artistic Papers for GCD Studios
Mists - Donna Salazar Smooch Spritz for Clearsnap
Ink - Donna Salazar Mixed Media Inx for Clearsnap
Journaling Spots - Sassafras Lass, Elle's Studio
Stickers - American Crafts, Dymo
Pearls - Want2Scrap
Other - Embroidery Floss, Blossoms

Crochet ole - the shell scarf

Ha, I have actually grow kinda fond of my "crochet ole" title - so I decided to use that from now on for my finished projects.

Most peeps seem to call it their "crochet ta-dah!" and I used to say "crochet yay" but I like the ole better - it has some kind of pizazz associated with it.

But enough of  the dribble, let me show you what I created within 24 hours

WIP status: 24 December 2011

FP status: 25 December 2011

The pattern looks so classic and difficult but it is one of the easiest shell/lace patterns I have come across.

I had this one ball of Stylecraft Special DK in cream left and thought that might be a good choice for a nice scarf for myself.

Seeing that the last couple of scarves/wraps which I crocheted were all given away as Christmas presents. So it's about time I treat myself, right?

The pattern was taken from one of my most loved and most referred to crochet books:

The Encyclopedia of crochet techniques

I would not want to be without this book as it has some of the best instructions around - AND it gives you chart and written pattern at the same time.

Re-blogging a Golden Oldie post

Thankfully I haven't had any weird dreams like this since I blogged about it in 2008 but I still get a giggle (and a feeling of eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwww) when I read it again :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATE: 11/27/2008 09:26:18 PM

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Uhm, ok so let me get the weird dream thing out of the way first - you are so going to have a laugh about that (and if anyone knows a good shrink, lemme know). Last night I had a very graphic and a very weird dream, which had me scratching my head this morning. Picture the scene (make sure you have already eaten): 

I was on my way to take a plane from London to Hamburg without Lyndon and on my way to the airport I bumped into{martina navratilova} who was on her way to the airport too and suggested we should go shopping together...r-r-r-r-ight.

We stepped into some sort of mall, where I somehow must have lost Martina because all of a sudden I was standing in this record shop and {gene simmons} stood in front of me. He was like SO hitting on me and I was like SO enjoying it...(yeuch). Needless to say we didn't stay in the shop for long and after some serious kissing ended up in a hotel room - having, uhm secks (aaaaaaaargh)

Now this dream is wrong on so many levels and made me feel kinda freaked out. 

1. Why would a woman, I don't even know suggest we go shopping together after I bumped into her? In real life, when you bump into someone on a busy London Road they most probably beat the crap out of you while shouting "watch the f*** where you going !"
2. How did she know I was going to the airport?? A case of celebrity stalking innocent pedestrian?
3. More frighteningly - WHY on earth did I agree to go with a woman I have never met, which seemed to know everything about me? Did no alarm bells ring AT ALL?
4. WHY oh WHY would it have to be Gene Simmons hitting on me? Of course I can understand why HE would be taken with moi but the other way around?? Purlease....that dude is like 850 years old..ugh
5. I know it was a dream when I agreed to do the dirty with Gene because c'mon - gimme a break, if I would ever considering cheating on my stud muffin I would choose something stunning to look at and not a guy where I might shout out during the height of passion "so is this a hair peace then??"

Told ya it was a weird dream :)

If you haven't curled up in a darkend room crying at the though of the above, well done - 

Crochet...ole

Yup, quite a naff title but I could not come up with anything fun or funky at all, so it will have to make do:)

For this year I am attempting to become much better at crocheting and knitting as I have seen so many things that I would like to create but so far, I did not feel that I had the skills to do so.

Well, if I don't get a move one I will never learn those skills, right?

So, for 2012 I have decided I will choose one main project which has to be a pattern from one of the many books I own. Once that is finished I can start on something new.

For January 2012 I need your help in deciding, because I cannot make up my mind which cardigan I should crochet from this yarn:

Rowan Handknit Cotton (209 Celery)

You may even recognise this yarn, because I started to knit a jumper from it - the start of which can be seen here, but the pattern started to become too complicated for me and I had to stop as none was making sense anymore.

Last year I started (and finished!!!) the below shrug from the yarn but it was too heavy weight for the intricate lace design and felt more like an armour. So in true Kimmy-fashion, I unravelled the lot after I wore it only once.

I am still determined that I will create this shrug again but not in such heavy 100% cotton yarn.

But for now, I have two choices, either this cardigan

Pattern can be found in this book: Crochet In No Time

or this one

Pattern can be found in this book: Cool Crochet

Please help me decide - which one would you choose for me? At the moment I am leaning towards the second one, but only a few days ago I preferred the top one....argh - the choices one has to make :)

Also, have you seen THIS  Pay it Forward blog entry by Kate of Signed With An Owl?
I have been following her blog for quite some time now and her posts are quite enabling....THIS particular post made me go on the hunt for the book she ordered by accident. I just loved how that square looked.
Anyway, I think you should check her blog, out, some marvellous inspiration on there.

2012 - The Plan

Well, well - here we are another year closer to retirement....:)

I know, I say this every year but it sure feels as if the years swish by faster and faster each year. I think it must be one of the joys of getting older, all of a sudden time becomes more precious to you which in return makes it appear to go quicker (mind, if you WANT the time to pass quick, it still doesn't do it, no matter how old).

Source: http://thypolarlife.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/time-slipping.jpg

But I digress, as usual.

For 2012, I have made some plans for myself top improve my quality of life. Yeah, I know - it sounds dramatic but it isn't really. I am just putting the FOCUS back to what is really important and enjoyable to me.

Speaking of FOCUS - you will have noticed on this post that FOCUS is my word for 2012, my mantra to get back on track with just about everything.

First of, after having dropped the ball with regard to healthy living and exercise, I am back in the saddle as of today. I am starting power walking/light jogging again and banned the naughty foods and drinks from my cupboard.

As previously, once a month I allow myself a day to go off the rails and eat/drink whatever I like and how much I like. It worked wonders for me in 2009 and will work again in 2012, if I remember to FOCUS on the outcome.

The main and most important change will come into effect at the end of April, as this is when my last two DT terms end. There will be no more paper crafting for the forseeable future for me as I am spent, done and finished.

To be honest, I have been working on DT's non-stop since I started my paper crafting adventure way back in 2005 and over the last couple of months I have struggled badly to enjoy the process of creating. It's not fun anymore for me, I just go with the motions because I do not want to let the companies down.

Don't get me wrong - I love working with the products I have received but I get so tired and deflated when I have to take pictures along the way to document a process for my blog posts. It just hinders my spontaneity as I have to think beforehand what I want to create in order to get the step by step done. I am girl that prefers to just go where the glue and glitter takes me - my best projects are the ones where I had no idea what the end result was going to be, I just surrounded myself with papers and started cutting, distressing, then deciding that I rather wanted to use inks and discarded what I previously did.

When you do step-by-steps you can't work that way - you have to know already what you want to create in order to provide a good  tutorial.

Then there is the online presence you have to have these days even more so than previously. I am happy to post on my blog but I am tired of Facebook, Twitter, Forum and other social networks that you have to be active in. 

Over the last year, my hobby has taken over and ruled my social and private life and I started to get really upset and frustrated about it. When I used to be happy to create greeting cards these days we go and buy them because I have run out of ideas...

Currently my week schedule looks like this:
Monday to Friday - leave at 06:45hrs for work, return at 19:15hrs
!9:30 - 20:00 hrs - eat, watch telly and talk a bit with Mr P
rest of the evening - be online to check emails, facebook activities, forums etc

Saturdays and Sundays - prepare monthly assignments. Take photo's of completion process, photos of finished projects. Edit photos
Start write ups for blog posts, be active on social media

There is little time for my private life and I am now focussing to take my old life back. I already got rid of my mobile phone and my Pinterest and Twitter account and I cannot wait for the day when I can delete myself of message boards and Facebook.

Will I stop completely with the paper crafting? Probably in the first few months come April I am not going to even take a step into my craft room but I am certain that eventually, I will start to scrap again - but just for me.
For the moment I will keep my blog going as well but not as frequent as it was. Maybe once or twice a month, if there is something I feel I want to talk about.

I really look forward to spend more time with Mr P, no more working our few days out based on my crafting schedule - it will be fun and I we will enjoy spending more time together.

Here's to 2012 and my FOCUS to bring the fun back into my life!