Designing is fun!

So, I said last post I've been playing with digital manipulation with some of my own photographs, and I've come up with my own decoupage sheets. There is only the one sheet at the moment, but I am so pleased with the results that there may be more forthcoming.

Here is the finished product!

This is the whole page, with 5 layers, put together with 2mm tape, but I did discover that from one page, I could make 2 toppers, as long as I print out the top layer twice!









OK, so the layering up isn't great, some of the bits aren't quite where they should be. I'll admit, I haven't decided how I want to make it into a card, so I haven't taken the back off the 3d foam yet, but I think it gives a pretty good idea of what I've achieved.







I must give credit where credit's due - it was watching Create and Craft that I decided to give this a go. Presenter Dean Wilson has been suggesting that we crafters make this the year that we manufacture our ideas, so I did! I must say it's been a fab way to spend some sick time off work.

Watch this space for more designs and ideas - although they might have to wait until the flowers are up in the garden again!

In praise of Super Smooth and digi-crafting

Oh my goodness! I have just gotten my order of super smooth paper through from Create and Craft (UKs dedicated craft channel). I will admit, I was sceptical at first - paper's paper, right?

WRONG! This is amazing stuff, so unbelievably smooth. it makes my standard printer paper feel like fine grade sandpaper. Honestly, it is a glass-like finish, I'm pretty much in shock at the difference.

I only wish I'd ordered more! I only ordered the paper as a trial to see what it was like, and now I need to have the card as well, especially as I'm just getting into CD crafting and digital manipulation.

Speaking of digital manipulation, I have been going through my photograph collection, and noticed I have loads that I could use as card toppers, backgrounds etc. I've started looking through to see what I can do with them, and I've begun making them into some pretty nifty stuff. I already have a decoupage sheet created from a beautiful carnation picture I took in the garden.

I would love to be able to distribute them, but I have no idea where to start. I have heard about www.craftrabbit.com for selling your own designs, and I was wondering if anyone has any experience of using the site and can give me an idea of how it works?

Another one done

I'm seeing the upside to sick leave. I'm further ahead on my cardmaking than I've ever been. I just finished my dad's birthday card, and I've started a Father's day card for him - both for June.
Piccy goodness as ever

This was similar to a card I made last year for my brother's birthday, but I modified it a bit to spice things up ... you know you're bored when adding acetate to a design is exciting!

Anyway, the topper is from a Create and Craft kit, no title as far as I know.
I created a stepped card design, cut out the centre panel and replaced it with acetate - which folds really well on my Crafters Companion Ultimate board! The (slightly wonky) sentiment is stamped by hand - hence the wonky! - on mirror board. The rivets are just spare middles from some corner peel offs.

As I say, it was a twist on a card I'd already done, but I'm pretty pleased with myself over this one. I don't often use acetate so prominently on a card, and I've never used it to create a floating topper effect. All in all, I'm chuffed with myself!

The longest make ever?

So, about a week after I started it, here it is ... *drumroll*

My card of unknown destination! It started life as my Grandma's Birthday card, but now I'm not so sure. Relieved it came together in the end - the topper is PVA'd and obviously the corner leaf spray is on with an eyelet, which meant I had to eyelet another 2 corners for some symmetry! The fourth corner is left blank for a sentiment, once I decide what it's for.

Success!

Finally! After days of exasperated experimentation with about every adhesive I own, PVA and eyelets have come to my card's rescue. I hope anyway - it's all still stuck down at the minute, but time will tell. If it is still in one piece at the end of the morning, I'll post pics.

I'm starting on a new card type for me - a double slider card. So far, it's not going badly, except the written instructions from the tutorial I printed don't match the pictures included with the (same) tutorial, so I'm having to wing it a bit. Hope fully when it's done it will be my Mother's Day card.

So, hopefully pics of the longest make in history will appear shortly, and my Mother's day card will be done in slightly less time than that took!

Nothing More Annoying

So, I've spent all day on a card for my grandma's birthday, and despite some initial worries, it looks really good. I've got a topper backed with vellum leaves that I want to attach to a mesh ribbon. Can I get it to stick? Can I heck!

I've tried sticky dots and DST, but it just keeps falling off. Saying that, attaching the ribbon to the card involved sandwiching it between 2 layers of DST on the backing paper and base card. I love the ribbon, and it ties in beautifully, so I don't want to change it.

I think I might be out to buy some good old fashioned PVA glue tomorrow. Perhaps that will soak through the ribbon into the backing paper and give it some stick. Keep your fingers crossed!

In other news, I finally succumbed to the draw of CD crafting and ordered the Click, Print Go/My Craft Studio Simply Sentiments CD ROM, and some super smooth paper to go with it. I can't wait for it to get here so I can play with it!

Christmas Dove Card

So, this was the card I made my mum for Christmas. It was inspired by a design I saw in Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine a couple of issues ago. The original had a snowflake on purple, which I made and sent to my grandma.

This is the kind of card I really enjoy making - a beautiful impact for a relatively simple design and make (although the way I did it was far more complicated than it needed to be, lol)

I couldn't find the colour card I wanted, so I stamped my dove image with Versamark onto white card, and clear embossed over the top. I inked directly over the image and card in blue ink, then rubbed over the top with some cotton wool so the image came through. The easier way to do this would be to use a coloured card, and emboss in white!

The snowflake background and message are stamped in the same colour as the ink I used behind the dove - so I guess this is a benefit to the long way round! I embossed the message, and mounted it on 3D foam for a bit of depth. All the other layers are stuck flat with sticky dots and double sided tape.

Owwy

This is not good. I have done ... well something at least ... to my back, and it hurts! I am used to back pain, having suffered it almost constantly for the last 5 years, but this has knocked me for six. It's right up there in the worst pain I have experienced.

I am really struggling to sit and do anything productive. I can't stand and chat to people. I discovered earlier today that I can't sneeze either ... that's not a good discovery in cold and flu season. I've spent 2 days maxing out my pain meds and on a TENS machine to no avail. I may have to admit defeat and go to a doctor for something else. I hate having to ask the docs for stronger meds, it makes me feel like I'm being judged. Crazy? Yes, of course it is, I have a chronic pain condition and the meds aren't touching the sides, of course I need something stronger. I doesn't make me think they judge me any less though.

Even more annoying for me is the fact that I've had to take time off work. I work in an environment where you only take time off if you're on your death bed - and even then I think they'd like photographic evidence(!) I have several colleagues with back problems - one of whom is awaiting a surgical procedure - and they go to work every day. Good for them, I say.

When all comes to all, I'm 27. I am not about to aggravate an injury by going into work when I know in my heart I shouldn't. I will not rush my recovery because John manages to come in with a bad back. More fool John I say. And you know why? Spines have memories. Any attempt to rush them back into full service will come back to bite you. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not this year or this decade. But eventually, some day, you will discover that there is damage to your back that cannot be undone. That cannot be helped. That you do have to live with.

Me? I'd rather lose a few days pay now than have to quit a job I really love later because I can't cope with the pain any more. Next time a colleague takes time off for an injury you would power through, just think about that.

When did we become Web-dependant?

Maybe that's the wrong post title. Maybe it should be "When did I become Web-dependant?". The office has been internet-less all day. An incident late yesterday with a power drill and an Ethernet cable was to blame for that one.

I've spent my day utterly frustrated with the situation. Everything I do seems to require some access to the world wide web. Every question needs to be answered with Google ... from how to create a cross tabbed report in Access right down to ingredients for scones. Mine is a varied job!

And yet, I'm not of the generation that never knew a non-web world. I spent my childhood poring over reference books, trying to find the right person to get the right answer to a question. So what went wrong? When did I become a paper free researcher? My bookshelves at home are groaning with the kind of books I referred to every day when I studied, and I love the experience of using a book.

Maybe its ease of use. Maybe its the wealth of knowledge that is only a few clicks away. More likely its the chance that a typo in a search engine can take you on an unexpected detour into escapism for a little while (especially important during a work day!)

Whatever the reason, I think I need a backup plan in case such a travesty ever happens again. I just can't figure out what it might be. Any suggestions in the blog-o-sphere?

New Years Resolutions

Right now, I'm bracing myself.  I go back to work tomorrow after the Christmas break. Doubtless I will be asked one question at least half a dozen times: "Have you made any New Years Resolutions?" Erm ... no, I haven't. And this is why

As a society, we place far too much value on New Year as the time to make personal change. We can make change whenever we want to, we don't need a specific day to do it. Instead we choose to put ourselves under immense pressure by making a very public effort to change (an effort which, by my experience, fails around 90-95% of the time).
The failure rate is important because many people, having failed once, will not try and implement the same change again for a long time. If the change was something to benefit health (quitting smoking, cutting down junk food etc) where does that leave them? In a pit of misery thinking they can't help themselves.
Why do they fail? Because their awareness of their need to change has not yet moved into intrinsic motivation to change. Without motivation, change will invariably fail to be long term or permanent. But, because they know they should change, and New Year, new start mentality  is looming, they give it a try. In the genuinely unmotivated, the change may not last until Twelfth Night (around 25% of resolutions are broken in the first week), while others may hang grimly onto the wagon for anywhere up to a month. Under half of all resolvers are still keeping up their self promises after 6 months.

And at the end of it all, why is New Year special? It is only a numerically significant day because around 450 years ago a Pope decided 11 minutes was important and so designed his own calendar. Fancying himself as a wallpaper designer, he took a step back, reviewed the dates and decided the repeat would fall between December and January.

If we genuinely want to change, and are motivated to do it, great, a new year's resolution may work for you. For the rest of us, wait, don't give in to social pressure. Your time will come, and waiting to find it may make the rewards that much longer lasting.