Decorated Mdf Storage Box

One of the things I really enjoy doing is decorating boxes, especially as they are really handy for keeping all your crafting accessories in afterwards and if you have any favourite rice or scrapbook papers that you have been sitting on because it pains you to use them, this is a good way to use and enjoy them afterwards too.

I gave my box a light coat of white gesso; it helps highlight the rice paper.  I usually buy my large boxes from The Works, as they are the ideal size for me, especially since I like to stack them. However, the quality of these boxes has been getting worse, and it is showing up in all their designs.

I chose these rice papers from Stamperia's Magic Forest collection, which I have had in my craft box for a while.  I particularly love this beautiful image, and I've also used the Earth Queen mould from this collection to make a shadow box frame, which I posted in an earlier blog post.

For the inside base of my box, I painted it with Finnabair Art Alchemy sparks paint in night shadow. 

I chose another rice paper from a different collection as a contrast for the inside lid of my box, and painted the edge of the lid in Miss Moneypenny from IndigoBlu.

In my box of clay and resin moulds, I found these, which I thought I could stick inside the lid after covering in wax.  I  already know what I will use my box for, so the moulds inside the lid will not compromise the contents, and as I like stacking my boxes, I try to keep outside decoration to a minimum.

I used Cadence Magic Satin Bond and seal not just to adhere the rice paper but as a top coat to seal my box.  It leaves a lovely, slightly satin finish to your projects.

My box has also been edged with gold wax

I don't keep many of the things I make, as I usually craft them for a specific occasion or occasionally on request. 

Boxes always come in handy, as you always tend to find or need something to store in them, and why not decorate them to personalise them to your choice. I just need to buy better quality boxes to decorate in the future.

Until I can get back to crafting again, I have the wildlife that come into my small wildlife friendly garden to make me smile. It's looking more on the 'wild side' this year as I haven't been able to do any maintenance in it.

When the neighbour's cat is shading itself behind the pond and waiting for all the small birds to appear, they don't all play nicely in the garden together

Thanks for stopping by today to view my little crafty space.

Have a great weekend, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges

Try it on Tuesday - Make it Colourful

A Perfect time to craft - ATG

Mix it up -AG

The Outlaws -anything but a card

Crafts Galore - AG

Moving Along With the Times -Feminine

Creative Fingers -AG

Ally's Angels -AG

Rebel Girl Birthday Card

 I'm sharing a birthday card that I made a few months ago using a mix of these fantastic digi images by Polkadoodles.

Polkadoodles has a fantastic selection of stamps and digi stamps, and their MDF collection is also very inspiring for your crafty projects. 

One really useful tool I purchased from them was a magnetic die wand for picking up your fine metal dies; it certainly saves splitting your nails.

It's worth checking out their YouTube tutorials, which are always really handy when you are looking for crafty tips and inspiration.

I do love this collection of cute girls called Rebel Girls, which can be downloaded individually, and there is also a 'rebel messages with attitude pack'  that is brilliant to add to your cards and projects. They also have some great quirky quips, just perfect for teenage cards and are easy to resize too. 

For my card, I have just gone with the birthday quote. 

As you know, my colouring skills have never been that great, so I try to get away with the minimum. I've added glossy accents to her boots and sunglasses.

I have also used the Funky Flower Friend stamp along with the matching Colour & Create Stencil.  This is a brilliant little set. Not only do I love this duo flower design (there are a few of these online), but the neat little stencil fits perfectly over the flowers for you to ink through with your chosen inks, and in my case, I used distress oxides. There is even a small background stencil included.

I stamped and cut out the tiny daisy like flowers, which are so cute and make great fillers in your card projects. They have just had some glossy accent added to the centres to add some texture.

I created a background for my card using distress oxide inks and one of Durty Gurty's stencils.

I added a little shimmer to the flowers with a glimmer pen and glossy accents to the centre of the large flower to accentuate the pollen.

Just a few crystal gems to finish my card off.  In my craft journal, I've added a few of these Rebel Girls to the dividers too.

I've been quite organised so far this year, getting some cards made ahead of time and finishing a few projects, as I won't be able to craft for some time, and that goes for gardening too!

Although with this heatwave, I can't see much of that going on anyway. So much devastation has been caused globally with the rising temperatures as it is.

Thanks for stopping by today to view my little crafty space.

Have a great rest of your weekend, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges

Polkadoodles -ATG   Top 2 favourites

CD Sunday Plus - ATG

Crafty Calendar - Happy Birthday

Colormyheartcolordare - Challenge 714 Colors

Festive Friday - 3 things - Pastel Colours, Flowers, Butterflies

Seize the Birthday - Square card - non-white base

Classic Designs AG

Kindness Postcards

I love a postcard; they come in all shapes and forms, from a reminder of where you have been to a hello friend, but unfortunately, they are on the decline, like many things, due to the ever increasing postal charges.

So I thought that I would send out 8 postcards randomly from my craft journal, using some of the addresses where I have done craft swaps in the past, too.  One of these cards is slightly different and will be going to a particular friend of mine.

These wonderful images are from Shabby Art Boutique. If you like shabby chic, then take a look at their digital collections; they are beautiful. It would be worth your while to sign up for their newsletter and free printables; they also have tutorials on YouTube.

I have used a selection of their 'Kindness postcards' which are available to download in A4 or letter size.

To make the postcards more durable to go through the post, I gave them a few light coats of Cadence Satin Bond & Seal, just to protect the artwork.

I had been looking at these little postcards for a while, thinking that they were so pretty and really needed to be used.

There is quite a selection of little cards in various genres that are perfect for journals, too, but work so well to send as a card if you are starting off crafting or want to add to your crafty stash.

Hopefully, they will bring a smile to the recipients' day, as it's nice to receive mail in the post that is not a bill or junk mail!

'Kindness is like tea, it soothes the soul '

Thanks for stopping by today to view my little crafty space.

Have a great week, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges 

A place to start AG/ No squares

CD Sunday Plus - AG

Love to Craft - AG

Mix it Up -AG

Let's Create and Craft -AG

Paper Funday -AG

Crafts Galore AG

Art Deco Birthday cards

 Sharing some Art Deco Birthday cards that I made for some birthdays last month.

I do love a bit of Art Deco, there is something so chic about that era of design and decadence and how the ladies dressed.

For these card I have used the Match It Build a Scene Art Deco Gatsby 2 Paper Pack, along with the matching dies (that I have not shown) from Debbi Moore Designs. This is part of the beautiful Art Deco Collection, one of many.

There are regular deals on her Facebook lives and Website for her products that are worth keeping an eye on too.

The backing papers are mixed and match from one of her Art Deco download collections, and I have a very healthy collection of her designs, which I have been collecting and using for many years.

The toppers and decoupage paper pad come in a selection of colourways, but I particularly like this one and one of the brilliant things about Debbi Moore is that she gives you a forever code that enables you to download the paper pad when it runs out.

The floral paper has been printed onto Debbi Moore's pearlised paper. It is 120gsm, a very pale cream with a pearly finish. Definitely worth having in your crafty stash as it prints beautifully, giving your paper a delicate shimmer.

I normally edge my cards with Sakura twilight gelly roll pens, as they leave a fine iridescent shimmered edge on your layers and are also great for highlighting too.

This particular shaped card has already gone to one of my lovely neighbours for her birthday. It is a lot easier not having to worry about posting your handmade cards, as they rarely arrive in the condition you send them and the cost to pad them out for travel keeps going up.

I have used miri board and foam pads between the layers to add a bit of dimension and cut the border off the background topper (as it was a bit too big for this card), and used it on the box envelope that I made.

My next card was from the same Match It Build a Scene Art Deco Gatsby 2 Paper Pack, but I just chose a different colourway as this was for my sister-in-law.

I decided that I didn't want to use all of the paper on one of the papers that I printed off for my second card, so I  just kept the deep red tiered bordered base and used the border again for the top of the card.

I've used miri board and foam pads on the topper to add some dimension, and both Art Deco ladies have been decoupaged, too. I have also added some crystal gems along the border and some woven braiding instead of ribbon.

I've used some of my shimmer clear glitter pen on the Art Deco ladies, too and made a box for this card, covering the lid with matching backing papers.

There are lots of free digital downloads on Debbi Moore's website if you are looking for inspiration for a crafty project or looking at making a card or two, as well as some gorgeous cardmaking kits and digital ones too.

Thanks for stopping by today to view my little crafty space.

Have a great week, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges

Try it on Tuesday - Feminine

A Place to Start - No Squares

CD Sunday Plus - ATG   Top  3

Creative Creases -Fun Folds

Love to Craft - ATG

Cards Galore  AG    DT Favourite

Alphabet Challenge - Volume

A Cut Above - AG with Die Cut

Allys Angels - AG

Birthday card

 I'm sharing a birthday card that I made for a friend's birthday.

Any leftover handmade flowers from my projects go into my flower box below and sometimes I will just sit and make flowers whilst watching TV. This also saves time and makes it easier for me to plan projects when I have some flowers made up.

I would be interested to hear how other crafters file their digital downloads for crafting.

With a paper kit, you can see what each one is, but with a digital download, especially in PDF format, it is just a file with a name that doesn't take up space in your craft room.

I enjoy all the benefits of crafting with digital downloads, but I also want to know what is in each kit without having to open each file to search for a particular paper or topper that I may want to use, especially as I have so many files from various designers.

So, what works for me, as I am a visual person, is that I have a craft journal with a snapshot of each kit. At least that way, I have a pretty good idea where a particular paper topper is without searching my hard drive

Sometimes you forget some of the beautiful designs you collect along the way and just haven't had time to create with.

It may sound like a laborious task, but I have been doing this for quite a while, and each time I get a download kit,  I just add it on.  You can just see part of a page above.

I have also done this with just my flower dies. I cut them out when I buy them and place them on an A5 page, which goes in one of my craft journals. It also encourages me to make more use of what is in my craft stash.

This particular kit I am using today is one of those I have been meaning to use from Opulence by Design Crafts. It was a member's gift for Patreon users and is the Perfect Panels Set Petal Perfection Kit, which was released toward the end of 2024, and it was designed as a card sketch kit.

It's such a pretty kit, and I have only used a few of these papers, which would also look beautiful printed onto rice paper for other projects.

These roses were left over from a previous project, and I used the digital florist - All eyes are on me rose, along with these little flowers from the Steampunk Florals collections - I've added gold Stickles glitter glue to the centres of these blooms.

I thought these flowers would work well with this beautiful kit and die cut the largest panels for my topper. The rest of the panels I have saved for another project.

I used my clear glitter shimmer pen to highlight areas of the backing paper, and also used my Sakura twilight gelly roll pen to edge the layers of my card.  I normally do this as it leaves a fine iridescent shimmered edge on the layers and is also great for highlighting.

I've also made a boxed envelope for my card, which will be hand delivered.

Thanks for stopping by today to view my little crafty space.

Opulence by Design Crafts has a fantastic variety of digital download kits for your crafty needs, as well as a mini blog for inspiration, too. They also have a variety of crafting booklets for those who can not print their crafty designs.

Have a great week, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges

Paper Funday - Pastel colours

A Perfect time to Craft - AG

Beautiful Blossoms -flowers

Crafts Galore - AG

Love to scrap - AG

Decorated Notebook

I thought I'd share a little project that I made before Christmas .  A decorated notebook that I made for someone who needed cheering up.

I used an A5 vinyl backed notebook that I had bought ages ago marked down in the sales and covered it with some rice paper that I had.

For the front of the book,  I chose this fab stamped Festival Dollies image from Dolly Dimples Crafts.  Colouring has never been a strong point for me, but I muddle through.

I do love this stamp set and have used it quite a lot and think 'Hope' is my favourite of the 3 dollies in the set.

I've also sewn some small metallic seed beads to the front of the elastic on the cover.

On the inside cover I added this lovely Mermaid digi image from JMC Designs and paired it up with some stamped images that I have also coloured in.  I thought the stamped sentiment was very apt for the notebook.

Finally, on the inside of the back cover another stamped sentiment.

Hopefully the notebook will come in handy and brighten her day.

Every path in life has a bridge. The journey is crossing over it to the other side.

You are never alone, as someone, somewhere, will leave a light on for you...

You just need to look for it...

Have a great week, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges

Path of Positivity - AG/New Project

Addicted to stamps - Any occasion

Try it on Tuesday - Add some Text

Pammies Inky Pinkies - AG

Sweet Stamping - Bright & Beautiful 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all, and I hope it's a brighter, kinder one too.

It's been a while since my last post, and since I've crafted too, so I'm starting off with a blog challenge.

I spotted this beautiful image on the Gecko Galz Monthly card challenge this month, which inspired me to use it.  My initial intention was to use it on one of my boxes, as I have one that is the perfect size, but since this is a card challenge and I'm a slow crafter, the box will follow. 

I die cut my flowers from some fancy wallpaper that I acquired from one of those well known hardware stores. I love the texture of wallpaper for making flowers, and I've added some vintage dyed pearls in the centre of my blooms.

I've also layered my image onto gold embossed miri card and added a printed sheet from one of my Tattered Lace download collections.

Finally, adding a hint of shimmer to my image with a clear glitter pen. I like the Spectum Noir pens as they don't flood the brush with glitter.

One of the bonuses of digital downloads is that they mix & match with whatever you have in your craft collection, and you can also resize them to condense that design.

I've missed not having a printer, and I can tell you that I'm happy with my new Canon Mega Tank Inkjet so far, which has replaced my Epson EcoTank.  It's certainly an improvement on the old one.

I enjoy participating in these challenges, and think that I just need to be a bit more organised in my crafting head. I appreciate all the creative, inspirational content that these blogs and challenges continually provide, so I will endeavour to support them more.

Have a great week, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges

GeckoGalz - Monthly card challenge  - Winner

C.R.A.F.T - ATG

Creative inspirations - ATG

CD SundayPlus - ATG - Top 3

Crafts Galore - ATG

Love to Craft - ATG