Christmas in a Tin

Hello again, here’s another post from me. This time a very cute (can I say that about my own project?) little Christmas project using some fabulous metal embellishments from Mitform Castings.

Mitform were generous enough to send the Craft Stamper office some of their castings to try out and we had a brilliant time creating with them. My little sardine tin scene is a project I’ve had in my head for ages now, ever since I brought the tin back from a holiday in Portugal. As soon as I recieved the castings I knew this would be the opportunity I was waiting for to create my diarama. With everything given a little wipe of gesso and texture paste snow, I sprinkled on some WOW! glitter to give it some sparkle.

The street is actually created from my own house stamps which I shrunk down using shrink plastic! I was absolutely amazed at how well they fitted in the tin. The tree or pine cone was found and the little car comes from a Monopoly set (an old one from the recycling centre). It all sticks so well using E6000 glue. That stuff is good!

As Mitform were so generous, we’ve decided to have a giveaway on the Craft Stamper Facebook page which you can find here. Or the blog post is on the Craft Stamper blog here. You can find my house stamps here.

Have a lovely day,

Jaine xx

Friday In The Studio And Big News

Morning everyone, well it’s been quite a week here in my little basement with a couple of projects on the table plus a bit of extra work which I’ve been keeping to myself for a few weeks now involving the Craft Stamper Magazine.

I’ve been contributing to this awesome magazine for quite a few years now as well as three of its sister magazines in the past. As well as designing for this amazing magazine I’ve now joined the team as Assistant editor. I’m absolutely thrilled and proud that Trish has such confidence in my abilities. I look forward to the exciting times ahead in this new role.

There’s nothing like a new start to make you have a jolly good tidy up and boy did my basement need one!  I went through my shelves of handmade journals and photo albums and picked out my favourites. Some of them had been completely taken over by …..stuff!!  This is what the tidied version looks like.

The Planner Shelf

I think the planner shelf looks a whole lot better too. At least I can get things in order now.

Have a good weekend

Jaine xx

A Rainbow Of Colours

I’m so happy right now to have my workspace studio in my basement because believe me when it’s 38° outside the basement is the only place I want to be. If I open the back door to go out it’s like standing in front of the oven so I’m here squirrelled away as much as possible so I won’t melt.

It means I can get lots of things done and plan for all the new projects ahead.

As it’s August already there’s a new challenge on the WOW Embossing Powders Facebook page and the theme this month is “Rainbow”. What better excuse for bringing out as many colours of powder as is possible on one project? Plus it’s a wonderful excuse for going a little bit mad – not that I need an excuse.

On the card below I created a watercolour background over stamped and embossed butterflies from Pretty Pink Posh and added a floral die cut border embossed with various colours of powder.

Continue reading A Rainbow Of Colours

Hello February

I was totally ready for February but unfortunately my computer was involved in a little accident (something heavy landed on it) and doing anything on my phone or tablet was a pain. That includes photos which when I see them now on my computer they’re out of focus which is really annoying.  It’s back now which is great but I’m off on a little trip to UK visiting family and friends so it’s back to the tablet for a few days.

In the meantime I can show you what’s been happening since I last spoke and what I’ve been working on.

This year I really want to create my own planner inserts by hand which means drawing and painting the monthly calendar pages in my Carpe Diem and Bullet journal. It’s truly very satisfying to see a layout which I can say is totally me and not off the shelf. Of course I’ve still used stickers and papers as embellishments but on the whole it’s all me.

These stickers are from Paper Pen and Plan on Etsy and I just love the quote at the bottom of the page.

The Paper Pen and Plan group on Facebook have started a monthly sketch challenge and I’ve drawn up the first sketch. I created a dashboard layout also in my Carpe Diem to go with it using papers and embellishments from the February Sweet Treat box with Paper Pen and Plan.

I’ve also started a little journal in my Travelers Notebook. The pages are very thin but with a bit of gesso on the page I can add what ever I like on top. This page uses Tattered Angels sprays from Canvas Corp like paints with some scraps of paper collaged on top.

What do you do when you run out of letter stickers? Use the negatives of course.

I was absolutely thrilled this month to have my stamp design on the front of the new Craft Stamper. I’m hoping to spot it in the news agents when I’m back home so I can scoff.

This is a little close up of the projects I made using the stamp.

Well that’s all for now. Have a very good weekend and I hope the weather isn’t too horrid where you are.

Jaine xx