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This is intended to be mainly about my crafting stories, as a personal record of what I do. However, I interpret crafting quite widely, not just paper crafting but other things too. I have a butterfly mind and like to change from one thing to another depending on what I feel like on a given day - knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, cards, baking and several others, including my favourite right now, parchment, both traditional skills and Groovi, very relaxing and calming to do.

I have decided to put some structure into my blog so that each day will have something of a theme.
Monday- for Mindfulness; Tuesday - Tidy Up Day; Wednesday - What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday; Thursday - Technique and Tips; Friday - Finish Off Day; Saturday - Start Something New; Sunday - Anything Goes
These themes are not hard and fast and will be changed if I feel the need.

Saturday 10 March 2012

Pixie's Snippets Challenge 11

All the cards in this post today are for Pixie's Snippets challenge and also qualify for the Use It Up in 2012 Challenge.  Everything, apart from the glue, came from my bits and pieces box, and for once did not create any more snippets as they needed no trimming.  That had already been done before I dumped them in the box, not knowing what to do with them at that time.  None of them have sentiments on at the moment.  That will wait until I decide who they are for.

This first card is a mixture between two brilliant designers.  The main image is from a Joanna Sheen CD, probably the Country Diary one.  I had already trimmed it before dumping it for later.  Close to it in the box was this square of Clarity card, already brayered with this autumnal background - a perfect match.  All I had to do was to mount them together onto a pre-folded white card.  It is a possible candidate for a Sympathy card, I think, but time will tell.

This is another card that took very little assembling.  Some time ago, I had been playing around with this rose design, changing the colourways.  Then I started to play with glazing the topper, but I was not happy with it for what I wanted at that time.  The glaze had crackled and I wanted it smooth so it went in the box to think about later.  When I found it yesterday, I remembered that crackle is in at the moment.  It was already mounted on another experiment, a scalloped oval of gold mirri card, cut out on my original Silhouette.  All I needed to do was to attach it to another of the pre-folded card - done!

 My next two offerings were also the result of experimenting.  The base cards were from when I had my first play at embossing with the Cuttlebug.  Again, I could not decide how to use them so they got forgotten in the box.  The toppers are stamped with the Clarity flower stamps and coloured in with Derwent watercolour pencils.  I think they were actually coloured in while we were away in the caravan two years ago.  The border is also from Clarity, and I think the actual Celtic border was gone over with a brush and iridescent medium.  I say "think", because it was two years ago and I am not absolutely sure, and it could be a Sakura pen.  Come on, can you remember what your did two years ago, be honest.

This is another using those Clarity floral stamps.  This was just an offcut of white watercolour card, which I "prettied up" by re-cutting it with a scalloped edge - not sure if it was on the guillotine or with my scissors.  Again it was a couple of years ago, and probably another caravan task.  

When I came across it yesterday,  I wanted to keep it simple and flat for posting, so instead of matting and layering it, I just ran the Krylon gold leaf pen round the edge, before mounting it on the plain white card.




 If you are still with me, I am nearly at the end for this week.  I absolutely adore Dufex.  I love the way the light plays on it and throws the reflections.  These last two cards are from part of a Dufex sheet, the sections I had not yet used.  I hate giving it away, but I do have another sheet exactly the same (I love it so much I always bought two of each one).  This particular sheet is die cut so it saves a lot of time cutting out.  Dufex is so easy to curl to give a bit more depth to the decoupage, and I always use Pinflair glue to attach it, so I can vary the depth of glue to hold the petals, leaves and wings just where I want them.  It also means there is a bit of movement to allow you to get each piece in exactly the right position.  If you get a bit of glue in the wrong place, wipe it off with a bit of kitchen roll or on your nail (don't wipe your nail on your trousers otherwise you will have loads of pairs of trousers with un-removable glue).  when it is all dry, just add a tiny dust of talcum powder and rub it gently over the glue residue.  It takes away the stickiness, hides the glue, and makes your card smell nice.

Crafting today may have to wait for a bit, as we have to empty the caravan today so it can go in for service on Monday, and DH has to lift part of the carpet in the living room to lay cables so that Shaz Silverwolf's DH can come tomorrow to set up our new computer server.  This will allow me to access the broadband from my craft computer upstairs, and to access any files I have on the PC downstairs while I am upstairs and vice versa.  Luxury!  No more having to copy files onto pen drives and move them that way, and getting confused as to which computer a given file is on.

Right folks!  I am off now to see what the rest of you have done this week and I will see you in the playground.

Stop Press - SundayDufex are back in business and it looks as though one of their outlets is The Range. I did a quick whizz on the net today and found that out.

12 comments:

Debbie Rock said...

Hey ... you've been busy! I was with you to the end of your post too! Had been wondering what you did with the talcum powder on your desk ... now I know! Love Debbie xXx

Di said...

Wow Maggie - loads of lovelies here! Like you, I love Dufex :) Am still chuckling about the seeds scattering round the playground, so funny! We also have file sharing and it's brilliant - much less hassle. Enjoy the rest of your weekend - and thanks for all these lovelies in one posting - I hope folk hop over from the roll call tomorrow as you do give some great tips! Di xx

Karen said...

Gorgeous selection of cards Maggie. I especially love the ones with the Spring flowers, they are so pretty. Luv Karen xx

Emma Williams said...

A fabulous selection of cards...each of them beautiful, in their own way but of course, I do have a soft spot for the Clarity ones! :)
Love Emma xx

Jules said...

What a very busy crafter you are Maggie!!

So many lovely makes.

I hope you managed to get your caravan empty and that the weather was kind to you. It was actually quite nice in our little part of the world.

Love Jules xx

Bernie said...

WOW you have been busy and such absolutely beautiful results again. I am forever getting glue and adhesive residue where I don't want it. My adhesive eraser and baby powder are always close at hand.
Hugs & Blessings
Bernie

Linda Simpson said...

Maggie another fantastic selection of cards which are so different and fabulous use of bit and pieces from your box. Thank you for sharing and I hope you are well.

Hugs
Linda xxx

Carol said...

Gosh you've been busy with the snippets Maggie, what a lovely selection. Carol x

Jacqui's little piece of England said...

Nice set of cards, my you have been busy.

jacqui x

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I'm always impressed with your Use It Up in 2012 entries. I have very little card stock, but I sure like what comes from your blog.

I have "stuff" of a different nature, but it's still all "stuff." And it needs to be used up.

Per my comment on Wednesday you asked me if my comment would apply when the mica was applied purely to a stamped image for line art. I must confess, I am NOT sure what you are asking me. If you are asking will this technique apply when you apply glue and mica to a rubber stamp, then YES, it will. You MUST wash the stamp immediately afterward, though. If you are asking about line art, I'm not sure what that is. However, I am in the process of taking some photos of using mica and glue. I will have the post ready sometime later tonight after the glue dries (Sunday in my world, Monday in yours). Drop by if you have time. And thanks so much for your question, although I'm pretty sure I didn't answer it for you.

Debbie Rock said...

WOW Maggie ... thanks for all the hints and tips you left on my blog! I shall certainly be trying your talcum powder tip before heat embossing ... I LoVe heat embossing but, like you say, on some surfaces the static makes it a very time consuming process indeed as I use a little paintbrush to remove any excess! I do use tumble-dryer sheets already having found the previous technique of using a candle or soap quite useless as nothing will then stick to the image to fix it to your card. Hopefully I won't be doing too much light-box dry embossing anymore once I am making proper use of my Vagabond.
Fab tip for ebaying too ... thanks! You are quite right about the pricing though ... my regular on-line craft supplier is WAaaayyyy cheaper than ebay and it never ceases to amaze me what some people pay for stuff that, with a little Googling, they could find at a much better price elsewhere.
Right, am off to re-read all those wonderful hints and tips to make sure I've not missed something ... thanks for taking the time to tell me all that ... really, really appreciated. Love Debbie xXx

shazsilverwolf said...

Hi Marg, gorgeous cards here. Love those Clarity flower stamps- reminiscent of old botanical books, aren't they?
Some of my acetate has a rough & smooth side, some doesn't- I got it cheap from Staples when they were having a clearout, I think. It really doesn't seem to matter which side you use- I think it would only matter if you were using something like glass paints, which may possibly 'run' in the channels, maybe? I did only do one layer, but two would make it stronger, I agree. Oh, and yes, FINALLY, finished the Wedding stuff! Just a couple of ordered cards to make and my time is my own again!You are most welcome to the IT loan, lol. He is busy doing my 'new' case downstairs at the mo. He has bought a bigger case(!), not too big, just the size of a medium aircraft hanger- so I am getting his old case, as it does have better airflow than mine, and he has bought some really cool blue lights to go in it, as we all know that blue lights make them work better, :) Love to you both, Shaz xxx