I've been working on a few Christmas cards this week and there was definitely some carnage involved. Every time I make a bodge, I try to learn a simple lesson from it no matter how silly. So here are my lessons learned over the last few days:
Number 1
Don't get cocky! Just because the first go at a project worked out pretty well, repeating the process again does not guarantee results. Let down your guard, even for a second, and BOOM! carnage.
Number 2
Glitter looks like a glittery, sparkly friend but is, indeed, the enemy (I am still cleaning the damn stuff up and it is stuck to everyone's face).
Number 3
Modelling paste takes 24 hours to dry - therefore don't be tempted to test it with your finger after 5 hours. You just end up with a finger imprint in your previously perfect paste.
Number 4
Check the acetate you are using is heat resistant. Don't wait to find out until you apply heat. The result is a shriveled bit of plastic.
Number 5 (also links to 4)
Don't add embossing powder to the modelling paste on the non-heat resistant acetate thinking you will be able to work it's magic. You may as well have just used glitter and have wasted perfectly good embossing powder (and have a shriveled bit of plastic).
Number 6
Use the right glue - keep reminding yourself that Tacky Glue is not good on paper and makes it wrinkle.
As you can see, I had a fun filled week full of laughs at the carnage - hope you're enjoying your week too x
Thanks for reading
Sarah
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Crafty Brain Drain
It's mother's birthday today and around a week ago I set about making a card for her.
I wanted to do something special and was inspired by a post on the Craft Carnage FB page (thank you Allan Preece) to do something with a vintage feel. I knew I had a vintage paper pad from Crafter's Companion and felt that by using the papers to guide me, I could convert my inspiration into something great.
WRONG!
The absolutely beautiful papers just left me cold. I added a ribbon. Nothing. I added a topper, which I had inked to match the papers. Still nothing. Finally, I reached out to my Craft Carnage FB friends for feedback (which by the way was constructive and helpful) but nothing sparked. All I had was a dead piece of card and me feeling totally lost.
Usually when I get like this with a card, I leave it alone and go back to it at a later stage. Even that didn't do the trick this time (sad face).
What's going on? I thought to myself. Have I lost my crafty mojo? My brain was utterly drained and I am quite sure we all know what that feels like. It's like losing an arm (sort of, you know what I mean though).
I wandered aimlessly around the craft room and then I started poking around in my crafty stash for something to do. There I discovered all the lovely Tonic papers that I had been saving from my Tonic Craft Kits. And there it was, my mojo! Lots of beautiful colours and textures, all complementing each other and giving me a boost.
Wow! From nought to sixty I had rustled up an alternative card that was glitzy and glamorous, just right for mother. And while I was on a roll, I used the gift card die from Tonic to make a matching holder for her present. It's back, my crafty mojo was just hiding in a drawer and needed a shove to revive it.
So the moral of this story is to not lose faith when it's all going a bit wrong. Share your crafty problems with your crafty friends and know that you will be supported by some great crafters out there. And remember your stash because there will always be something in there that gets the crafty juices running again.
Thanks for reading
Sarah
I wanted to do something special and was inspired by a post on the Craft Carnage FB page (thank you Allan Preece) to do something with a vintage feel. I knew I had a vintage paper pad from Crafter's Companion and felt that by using the papers to guide me, I could convert my inspiration into something great.
WRONG!
The absolutely beautiful papers just left me cold. I added a ribbon. Nothing. I added a topper, which I had inked to match the papers. Still nothing. Finally, I reached out to my Craft Carnage FB friends for feedback (which by the way was constructive and helpful) but nothing sparked. All I had was a dead piece of card and me feeling totally lost.
What's going on? I thought to myself. Have I lost my crafty mojo? My brain was utterly drained and I am quite sure we all know what that feels like. It's like losing an arm (sort of, you know what I mean though).
I wandered aimlessly around the craft room and then I started poking around in my crafty stash for something to do. There I discovered all the lovely Tonic papers that I had been saving from my Tonic Craft Kits. And there it was, my mojo! Lots of beautiful colours and textures, all complementing each other and giving me a boost.
Wow! From nought to sixty I had rustled up an alternative card that was glitzy and glamorous, just right for mother. And while I was on a roll, I used the gift card die from Tonic to make a matching holder for her present. It's back, my crafty mojo was just hiding in a drawer and needed a shove to revive it.
So the moral of this story is to not lose faith when it's all going a bit wrong. Share your crafty problems with your crafty friends and know that you will be supported by some great crafters out there. And remember your stash because there will always be something in there that gets the crafty juices running again.
Thanks for reading
Sarah
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Golden Flakes of loveliness?
When I think about golden flakes it is usually with fond memories of a cereal bowl filled with golden flakes of corn, drenched in ice cold full fat milk (preferably a new bottle with the cream at the top) and a generous sprinkling of sugar direct from the sugar bowl. A standard supper when I lived at home with my parents. Alas, I can no longer re-create that supper not least because we don't have milk from a bottle and the full fat milk in plastic just doesn't give the same results.
But, no, I'm not talking about those delicious golden flakes. This week I had my first foray into gilding flakes. Now, I have hung my nose over this alchemy for years, initially seeing Indigo Blu demonstrate them on C&C. I just never got round to trying them. Goodness knows why because I have all sorts of odd stuff, that I have bought on impulse, in my craft stash.
When my Tonic Craft Kit #15 arrived, I was thrilled to see a little pot of gilding flakes and knew this was my chance to create something spectacular. I bit of research online and I was good to go. Adhesive sheet? Check. Gilding flakes? Check. Suitable die cut to 'gild'? Check. Woo hoo.
The first thing I didn't bank on was how light they are. The second thing I didn't think of was how to spread the damn things evenly without the right tools. Apparently fingers just aren't good enough.
Anyway I diligently peeled one side of the double sided adhesive sheet (took ages to find the corner!) and applied it to the back of my die cut, sticky side peeping through the apertures ready for flake heaven. I opened the pot of flakes and sprinkled those beauties over my project and started to spread them out. Some stuck, others just moved around. Remembering that I had watched someone using a sort of scrubbing tool (which I didn't have) I dug under the kitchen sink and found a new scourer. Yay!
Actually 'Noooooooo!'
To start with it sort of did the trick but then it started to scrub off the flakes which left non-sticky gaps. I know, I thought, a bit of glue here and there should do the trick. Brain not working, but optimism driving me forward, I applied a thin layer of wet glue to the gaps and tried to tap some of the flakes onto it. Not only did they not stick (apart from to my fingers) the glue just spread over the edge of the apertures. Project halted.
The resulting item is not fit for what it was intended but the lesson is that practice makes perfect and I need to have another go. Craft Carnage members have offered some really good advice such as using a glue pen, getting a Rub it, Scrub it and applying a light layer of flakes. I am not giving up.
As for my gilding flake 'masterpiece' - a well placed embellishment or two may just save it!
Thanks for reading.
Sarah x
But, no, I'm not talking about those delicious golden flakes. This week I had my first foray into gilding flakes. Now, I have hung my nose over this alchemy for years, initially seeing Indigo Blu demonstrate them on C&C. I just never got round to trying them. Goodness knows why because I have all sorts of odd stuff, that I have bought on impulse, in my craft stash.
When my Tonic Craft Kit #15 arrived, I was thrilled to see a little pot of gilding flakes and knew this was my chance to create something spectacular. I bit of research online and I was good to go. Adhesive sheet? Check. Gilding flakes? Check. Suitable die cut to 'gild'? Check. Woo hoo.
The first thing I didn't bank on was how light they are. The second thing I didn't think of was how to spread the damn things evenly without the right tools. Apparently fingers just aren't good enough.
Anyway I diligently peeled one side of the double sided adhesive sheet (took ages to find the corner!) and applied it to the back of my die cut, sticky side peeping through the apertures ready for flake heaven. I opened the pot of flakes and sprinkled those beauties over my project and started to spread them out. Some stuck, others just moved around. Remembering that I had watched someone using a sort of scrubbing tool (which I didn't have) I dug under the kitchen sink and found a new scourer. Yay!
Actually 'Noooooooo!'
To start with it sort of did the trick but then it started to scrub off the flakes which left non-sticky gaps. I know, I thought, a bit of glue here and there should do the trick. Brain not working, but optimism driving me forward, I applied a thin layer of wet glue to the gaps and tried to tap some of the flakes onto it. Not only did they not stick (apart from to my fingers) the glue just spread over the edge of the apertures. Project halted.
The resulting item is not fit for what it was intended but the lesson is that practice makes perfect and I need to have another go. Craft Carnage members have offered some really good advice such as using a glue pen, getting a Rub it, Scrub it and applying a light layer of flakes. I am not giving up.
As for my gilding flake 'masterpiece' - a well placed embellishment or two may just save it!
Thanks for reading.
Sarah x
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Nuvo Drops - friend or foe?
It's widely known that Nuvo drops are the 'perfect' embellishment to put finishing touches to any project - a dot here, a pearl there and hey presto!
But what about us Carnage crafters? Hands up who has a 100% success rate with these blighters?
Many of the posts on Craft Carnage feature that nightmare moment when the drops either don't form properly (cone shaped rather than a perfectly rounded specimen) or they get smudged before they are dry. A great project is essentially ruined - or else we have to work fast on a cover up.
The theory is that the temperature can affect the shape so in a quiet moment I decided to test that theory.
So, does the cold affect the drops? I would say yes, especially as Jodie the Nuvo drop queen regularly demonstrates after removing the Nuvo drop bottle from her bra where they are, one assumes, warm and cosy!
My craft room is situated in the conservatory which has no heating, so where better than to complete the cold test? There I sat, wrapped up in my warmest clothes, blobbing away and you can see from the picture below how it went. In truth, it did go better than expected but I found that the drops with a pearlescent finish struggled to move from anything other than a cone shape.
I moved into the dining room and treated the Nuvo drops to a spell near the radiator. I think they were much happier there because the pearlescent ones peformed better but were no means perfect
What became clear is that some of the colours just work better than others - and the non-pearlescent ones doing better all round. My favourite are the clear drops as they just do the job right everytime.
To play devils advocate, I also dug out some ancient Cosmic Shimmer pearl drops and tested them as well (the single white dot in the pics) which actually performed brilliantly both cold and warm.
So in conclusion you need to find the colours that work for you and or try a different brand.
As for smudging my advice would be once you've blobbed away, move the card to the highest shelf and leave it there until the drops are dry. Do NOT attempt to do anything more with your project. Oh, and don't rush. I wish I had taken that advice because following the test, I left my blobs to dry on the table and later found them smudged as the teenager had moved some things over them .... CARNAGE!
Thanks for reading
Sarah x
But what about us Carnage crafters? Hands up who has a 100% success rate with these blighters?
Many of the posts on Craft Carnage feature that nightmare moment when the drops either don't form properly (cone shaped rather than a perfectly rounded specimen) or they get smudged before they are dry. A great project is essentially ruined - or else we have to work fast on a cover up.
The theory is that the temperature can affect the shape so in a quiet moment I decided to test that theory.
So, does the cold affect the drops? I would say yes, especially as Jodie the Nuvo drop queen regularly demonstrates after removing the Nuvo drop bottle from her bra where they are, one assumes, warm and cosy!
My craft room is situated in the conservatory which has no heating, so where better than to complete the cold test? There I sat, wrapped up in my warmest clothes, blobbing away and you can see from the picture below how it went. In truth, it did go better than expected but I found that the drops with a pearlescent finish struggled to move from anything other than a cone shape.
I moved into the dining room and treated the Nuvo drops to a spell near the radiator. I think they were much happier there because the pearlescent ones peformed better but were no means perfect
What became clear is that some of the colours just work better than others - and the non-pearlescent ones doing better all round. My favourite are the clear drops as they just do the job right everytime.
To play devils advocate, I also dug out some ancient Cosmic Shimmer pearl drops and tested them as well (the single white dot in the pics) which actually performed brilliantly both cold and warm.
So in conclusion you need to find the colours that work for you and or try a different brand.
As for smudging my advice would be once you've blobbed away, move the card to the highest shelf and leave it there until the drops are dry. Do NOT attempt to do anything more with your project. Oh, and don't rush. I wish I had taken that advice because following the test, I left my blobs to dry on the table and later found them smudged as the teenager had moved some things over them .... CARNAGE!
Thanks for reading
Sarah x
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
I NEED it ... don't I?
I woke up this morning and checked out my emails. In my inbox was something from Craftstash offering a free Halloween goodie with any purchase, alongside free postage for orders over £15. My crafty need was fired up, and before I knew it I had a basket of items totaling £27. I was about to check out but left the computer for a few minutes while PayPal loaded. And then I had an epiphany. What was I doing?
I've just gone part time at work so money is a little tighter than usual and it occurred to me that buying for the sake of it was not something I can do now. I was sad, but I deleted those items and left the website. That feeling left me soon after, and I am now glad I didn't make the purchase.
This morning's experience made me remember a post on the Facebook Craft Carnage page that I could relate to - something about accidentally leaning on their mobile phone and buying things from Hochanda, the craft shopping channel.
I suspect that this is something we all do a lot.
On the craft channels there are some fantastic demonstrators that make those craft items go from 'mmm, that's interesting' to 'I have to have that in my life' in a few short minutes. We watch as they ignite our crafty devil who tells us to buy, buy, buy.
My latest purchase (below) was a departure from my usual card making - I suddenly needed to try mixed media and invested in the one day special of two different types of modelling paste, some acrylic paint, black gesso and something (??) called studio acrylics.
As the ODS was so popular it had sold out once and was on extended delivery - and here is the where the problem lies. I didn't record the show and there was a 2 week wait to get the goods.
And there it is, the age old problem of the time taken from craft order to craft receipt by which time that feeling of need has gone. How many of us do the buying but then when the items arrive we are not sure how to use them and so don't do anything with the stuff we ordered? I hold my hand up to being one.
So my question is did I really NEED those things? At the time I thought I did and the urge to get hold of them was huge. I just wanted them so much I didn't stop to think about whether I would really use them or if I could afford them.
So I am left with some things that may come in useful down the line - maybe when mediocre mixed media art work comes into fashion!
I think the only way I can resist, is to not watch the shopping channels at all and not be tempted by lovely emails with offers I can't (?) refuse.
So I am going to try giving myself a moment to reflect on what I really need .... and in the meantime, if anyone can give me some hints on how to use the modelling paste stuff ......
I've just gone part time at work so money is a little tighter than usual and it occurred to me that buying for the sake of it was not something I can do now. I was sad, but I deleted those items and left the website. That feeling left me soon after, and I am now glad I didn't make the purchase.
This morning's experience made me remember a post on the Facebook Craft Carnage page that I could relate to - something about accidentally leaning on their mobile phone and buying things from Hochanda, the craft shopping channel.
I suspect that this is something we all do a lot.
On the craft channels there are some fantastic demonstrators that make those craft items go from 'mmm, that's interesting' to 'I have to have that in my life' in a few short minutes. We watch as they ignite our crafty devil who tells us to buy, buy, buy.
My latest purchase (below) was a departure from my usual card making - I suddenly needed to try mixed media and invested in the one day special of two different types of modelling paste, some acrylic paint, black gesso and something (??) called studio acrylics.
As the ODS was so popular it had sold out once and was on extended delivery - and here is the where the problem lies. I didn't record the show and there was a 2 week wait to get the goods.And there it is, the age old problem of the time taken from craft order to craft receipt by which time that feeling of need has gone. How many of us do the buying but then when the items arrive we are not sure how to use them and so don't do anything with the stuff we ordered? I hold my hand up to being one.
So my question is did I really NEED those things? At the time I thought I did and the urge to get hold of them was huge. I just wanted them so much I didn't stop to think about whether I would really use them or if I could afford them.
So I am left with some things that may come in useful down the line - maybe when mediocre mixed media art work comes into fashion!
I think the only way I can resist, is to not watch the shopping channels at all and not be tempted by lovely emails with offers I can't (?) refuse.
So I am going to try giving myself a moment to reflect on what I really need .... and in the meantime, if anyone can give me some hints on how to use the modelling paste stuff ......
Monday, October 29, 2018
It's okay to not be perfect
It's widely shown on all the craft pages that I visit that there are some extremely talented crafters out there. So much so that many of us less talented crafters feel slightly intimidated to show our own makes. The sites are friendly and there is a community of supportive members, but for us self conscious crafters we sit back and admire, not wanting to put our creations on show. Craft Carnage is a Facebook page where crafters of all abilities are welcome to not only show case their great makes, but you can post your mistakes in a light-hearted way with a group of truly friendly crafters. What Craft Carnage does is allow us crafters to be 'not perfect'. It's okay to not be perfect and I am certain that even the most talented card maker makes errors sometimes.
Nuvo Drops from Tonic Studios comes up a lot on the feed, plenty of smudged drops adorning cards that have had time and love dedicated to them, only for the drops to go awry. Craft Carnage showcases those cards anyway. And the community rallies round with suggestions to save the item, or just to show support regardless.
I set up Craft Carnage many months ago with the aim to celebrate all things craft, good or bad, and the page is going from strength to strenth.
Pop over for a visit - and remember 'it's okay to not be perfect'.
Nuvo Drops from Tonic Studios comes up a lot on the feed, plenty of smudged drops adorning cards that have had time and love dedicated to them, only for the drops to go awry. Craft Carnage showcases those cards anyway. And the community rallies round with suggestions to save the item, or just to show support regardless.
I set up Craft Carnage many months ago with the aim to celebrate all things craft, good or bad, and the page is going from strength to strenth.
Pop over for a visit - and remember 'it's okay to not be perfect'.
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