Retro Gaming Wreath Template Cards 🕹️

As today is my favourite day of the year, can I start this post by wishing those that share my love of it a Happy Halloween' 🎃and for those who don't celebrate then I wish you happy last day of October 😁 I know that the cards I'm sharing today aren't what I'd be expected to share on today of all days, but if you read on you'll discover that there is a halloween connection, honest!

Si and I went to see Bohemian Rhapsody last night, I really liked it, it transported me back in time and my brain was awash with memories, from the first time I bought the double A side single Bohemian Rhapsody and Killer Queen and played in constantly when I was just 11 years old, in front of the bedroom mirror with a hairbrush microphone and dreams of becoming a famous singer lol! Incidentally Bohemian Rhapsody was released today (31st October 1975, see I wasn't fibbing lol!) and 43 years later that song still gives me chills and sets my blood pumping.

My memory banks cycled around a series of events including me chilling as a teenager listening to 'The Game' whilst doing my homework and getting told off by my Dad for playing 'Another One Bites The Dust' too loudly, everytime I hear that song I hear my Dad shouting "Turn it down NOW!" lol! Then there was dancing to 'I Want to Break Free' at my first wedding, talk about an omen, I should have run away as soon as the song finished. The memories kept flowing and when the film showed the live aid segment, my brain brought back my memories of watching Freddie's performance on Live Aid. I still recall how the hairs on my arms stood up listening and how electric it felt to be a part of something so unique. It hadn't occured to me just how much Queen and Freddie had been a part of my life, and yes all that flowed through my head because of the film.

The memories of being a teen and a young 20 something led to my recalling playing my first video games like Pacman and Space Invaders on a Spectrum 48K computer, I remember a time when you had to code a game before you could play it WOW I'm old lol! I've been a gamer almost as long as I've been a Queen fan, although I'm not sure playing Pong via a TV plug in counts as a gamer, but it was my Grandad that started me playing that and it all went down hill to Skyrim after that lol!

Before I knew it I was in the craft room making some retro gaming cards, partly for a Challenge, partly because I need to make more cards for giving to the men and boys in my life and partly because of the nostalgia. I got a couple of stamp sets recently that were perfect for what I wanted to do and one of them had a sentiment in that said "You're so old, you're retro!" and that tickled my inner gaming geek, its true but I don't feel as old as I am.

I used the 6" template for this card and the stamps on the Retro Gaming cards are from two sets, one by Hunkydory called 'Alien Invasion' (space invaders and old style joy stick) and a set by Pretty Cute Stamps called 'Game On' (sentiments and stars). I'm on the lookout for a now discountinued set by My Favorite Things called 'Level Up' and the matching console die, so far no luck but I'll keep searching.

I stamped the white version using Ranger Dye Ink Pads in the following colours: - Grape Soda, Wild Orchid, Blue Yonder, Classic Cherry and Electric Lime, these inks are fabulous and even if they go on blotchy they smooth out nice and even as they absorb into the card stock. The only thing I don't like about them is the limited range of colours.

I used my new favourite technique of embossing over the wreath stamped this time with an old Crafters Companion Embossalicious folder called 'Happy Birthday', I love the texture doing this gives to a card, it transforms it somehow without distracting from the stamped images. I coloured the joystick with a couple of Nuvo alcohol markers, very simple colouring and stamped the sentiment on a die cut panel used my trusty 'Wonky Stitches' circle dies. I use them a lot because I think the edge it gives looks better than a plain circle. The card was made in now time, the longest part was the stamping and that went by very quickly.

The old gamer in me was a tad niggled by the bright colours on white background, sure the pixelated images that we destroyed were nice bright colours, but back then the backgrounds to games were black.

As you will know stamping bright coloured dye inks on to dark card stock is generally a non starter, so I reached for the Distress Oxides for the darker retro look. I did manage to fluff up and smudge 2 of the aliens though when the oxide ink was still wet, but it doesn't look too bad lol!

Not all Distress Oxides look good on black, I wanted to use Wilted Violet on this card but it didn't pop, so I used the following colours: - Candied Apple, Salty Ocean, Picked Raspberry, Cracked Pistatio and Squeezed Lemonade. As the sentiment I wanted to use was small I used a smaller die cut circle which meant that more of the green aliens were visable.

For the sentiment on this card I hear embossed it with WOW Opaque White embossing powder. The aliens are from the Hunkydory set and the sentiment, stars and joystick are from the Pretty Cute Stamps set. I will of course be making some more of these cards were the aliens are in neat little rows like in the old days, but I think the stamps leant themselves to wreath stamping very well. That's all for me for today, I have a few projects to get finished and I'm experimenting with different ways of using the stamped panels, more on that soon. Until next time, have a lovely day and happy crafting :)

Halloween Wreath Template Cards 🎃

I think anybody that knows me well will have been expecting these cards, to say I'm a halloween card making fan is a bit of an understatement, some of my crafty friends have dubbed me the 'Queen of Halloween' lol! I can't help it, I love the colours and imagery and I have lots of small stamp sets that lend themselves to making Halloween wreath cards. So I thought I'd share some of my recent makes with you 🎃

I've still got a couple of Halloween cards to share, but they may end up being shown after the 31st lol! It's been crazy busy here with Maker Faire and robot endeavours and a few other projects, but things seem to be levelling out now, and I gace lots of crafting planned for the rest of this week, culminating with a trip to the NEC on Friday for the craft show.

I have made a few halloween wreath template cards already, but they went straight out in to the post and I forgot to photo them eeek! This one is another circle card, I like them because they fit in to a 5" x 5" envelope and if you don't build up the layers too much they are flat for posting.

I started out by using some Distress Oxides: - Carved Pumpkin, Ripe Persimmon and Wilted Violet to created my background. Once that was stamped I used my Hunkydory 'For the Love of Stamps - Happy Halloween!' stamp set for the design.

I wanted to keep it simple so I used just 3 stamps from the set, the spooky tree, little black cat and the bat. After I stamped the trees I decided to remove some of the oxide ink with water, this has a bleaching effect, although you can only use water on oxides to create this effect, you can't use bleach like you can on regular distress as it doesn't react with the oxide formula, but water does!

All I did was take a water brush and paint inside the tree, dabbing away the oxide to lighten the background in the tree area. Once that was done I scribbled a Walnut Stain Distress Marker on to my media mat and using the same water brush, I painted the trees with the Walnut Stain ink. I've used the 'bleaching' technique a lot, you can see an example of the technique in this post Distress Oxide Water Painting.

The sentiment for this card came free with a recent issue if Creative Stamping and I coloured the white letters with a Fluorescent Orange Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker. I also added a thin coat of Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen to give the tress a spooky glimmer. I made the card blank in the same way that I showed in the video contained within my Festive Circle Wreath Cards post.

My second card is again another circle card, but this time I used stamps from an A6 stamp set by Craftwork Cards called ' Spooky', there are lots of stamps in this set suitable for creating a wreath card, I wanted to go for a bit of a day of the dead look. Not so much for the stamps, but for the colours.

I used my Delicata metallic inks again for this one and also my Stampin Up 'Whisper White' pigment ink. The shimmer doesn't show so well in the photo but its lovely in real life.

The sentiment comes from a stamp set by Sugarpea Designs called 'Fang-Tastic'. The whole card didn't take long to put together, and I'm rather pleased with the results. I'm hoping to pick up some different edged circular nesting dies when I go to the craft show, to add more variety. I think wreath card wise I'll be creating some Get Well Soon and Birthday style cards next and I have some pop up box cards to complete and I still have lots of Xmas cards to get done, and some of them will be wreath cards. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my makes, if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below, until next time happy crafting 😁

Festive Circle Wreath Cards + My First Video Tutorial 😊

I thought I'd do something a little different for my next wave of wreath template builder cards this week and show examples of shaped cards, different folds and also working on darker coloured cardstock. Having recently acquired the new Delicata metallic ink colours I'm going to use these on the darker card stocks because they give such a stunning effect.

I confess that I'm rather smitten with these inks, they look fabulous on white card stock but stamp them on to black or navy blue card and they look positively luminous, so to show you what I mean I've worked todays card on both black and white card stock so you can see the difference between the two.

So far all the card examples I've done for the Wreath Builder Templates have been stamped on to the card panel cut and measured for the template e.g. 4" x 4" or 6" x 6" which is then adhered to that a square card. So today I thought I'd show you how to stamp a wreath so that it will fit on a circular card, and for the first time I've made a tutorial video. Well technically its an animation, because its not live footage, I don't have all the equipment to be able to do that yet.

What I've done is take photos throughout the process of making the cards and then edited them together with music and captions. I think that's much better than adding lots of photos to the blog, although it takes ages, I now have a new found respect for crafters out there that make proper tutorial videos, it must take so many hours out of their day!

For the video I made two cards, one on black card and one on white, using the same stamps and ink colours so that you get to see the effect that the metallic ink have on different colours of card.

I discovered how to make my own card blanks from larger sized dies a few months ago and have used the technique rather a lot since. The dies I used for these cards both come from the Creative die range from Craft Stash for cutting out the wreath i used the Wonky Stitches Nesting Circles and for the card blank and decorative edge I used the Scalloped Circle Stitched & Pierced Nesting Dies. I've used the stamps recently for another Wreath Template card, they are also from Craft Stash look for the Creative A4 Woodland Stamp Set.

The Delicata inks I used for the card are: - Silvery Shimmer, Sapphire Blue, Emerald Green, Dark Brown Shimmer and Celestial Copper and the card was finished of with drops of Autumn Red Tonic Nuvo Drops. Well that's all for me for today, my first ever video is below, feel free to give it a watch and I'd love to know what you think of my first journey into the world of video media, so comment and let me know if you'd like to see more of these kind of videos? Until next time, happy crafting!

Stampin Up Spooky Cat Cards 🙀

Good morning all 💋 I hope you've had a good weekend, its been a bit hit and miss here, but we survived and rolled on in to Monday, I've been making more wreath template examples to share, but I wanted to make a few more Halloween cards to send out. So I got my stamp on and created a couple of cards one of them an eclipse card, both were quick to put together because the stamps did all the 'colouring' for me!

The stamps are my first Stampin Up set of stamps, to explain for the past few months I've been going to some classes run once a month run by the local Stampin Up demonstrator and I've begun to meet local ladies who like to craft and its been nice to get out and meet real people in the real world that share my love of papercraft. Don't get me wrong I have some fabulous crafty friends that live 'inside' the computer but real world physical friends I have very few. Long story and maybe I'll tell it one day, maybe I won't.

I confess that not everything Stampin Up do is too my taste but they do have some nice stamp sets and I'm hoping to acquire a few of them over the next few months. I've also started to treat myself to some Stampin Up goodies, so far some ink pads, water markers and re-inkers that I picked up in a recent sale, I saved a fortune 😍

My first stamp set is called 'Spooky Cat' and I managed to find it via a group on Facebook where members can look for and sell retired Stampin Up products. I'd seen some examples of the 'Spooky Cat' set on Pinterest and fell in love with it, so I was sad to discover when I went to buy it from Tracey my Stampin Up demonstrator that it was now retired, it only came out last year! That's the downside of Stampin Up they have a fast turnover and things don't stay around for long.

I'd picked up the 12" x 12" papers that were part of the 'Spooky Cat' release by accident last month, so I had them to work with, and I knew that one of the cards I wanted to make was an eclipse card, so that's what I did. I made 3 cards in a couple of hours and that includes the time spent trying to remember where I'd put my flippin' alphabet dies lol!

As I mentioned above the stamps do all the colouring, the owl has 3 stamps to complete him, but I only used 2, the hat has 2 stamps and the cat words stamp again has 2 but I only used 1. I used Just 3 ink pads to make this card Hero Arts 'Intense Black' and Delicata 'Golden Shimmer' for the hat and for the words and owl I used a Hero Arts 'Ombre Autumn' pad, I love this ink pad for Autumn projects because it has rust, orange and golden yellow tones to it.

I made a black tent fold card blank, covered it in a mat of some of the papers from the Spooky Cat pad, then I lined up my dies and die cut the BOO word out of the pane. I stuck the stamped panel down on to a rectangle of black card slightly bigger than the stamped panel, then using some 3D foam squares I put the letters in place.

I also made another quick card, it took me 10 minutes from start to finish using the stamps. I first die cut the white panel, stamped it, matted on to black card and then added it to the purple tent fold card blank I made.

The card stock had been in my stash since about 2006 when I first dabbled with card making thought I couldn't do it and gave up. I got rid of a lot of the stuff but some of it I kept and the cardstock is one of those things. 

The set has a punch which I'm hoping to be able to get before its retired, you can use it as a stand alone or cut around the wordy cat.  I can see me getting a lot of uses out of this set, there are a few more sentiments and some grungy stamps. I have the last of the Halloween cards made now, although I don't think I'll stop making them yet, I can make more for next year lol! I just need to get them in the post and then I can concentrate on the Christmas makes and I need to make an Anniversary card for Simon, it will be our 16th year married in just over a month, boy has that time ever flown.

Back to wreath stamping now, the Facebook live that Jennifer was going to do on Saturday 20th got rainchecked for this weekend due to unforeseen circumstances. Not the end of the world because it gives me a chance to make more cards to show people what can be done with them. Have a good week everyone and thanks for stopping by 👀

Be Jolly Snowmen Wreath Template Cards

Hello lovely readers, welcome to day 3 of my wreath builder template posts and today I have not 1, but 3 cards to share with you. All 3 are almost identical (I changed my mind about one of the snowflakes after using it on the purple version lol). The stamping was super speedy 4 stamps 1 of them stamped twice so techincally 5 stamps making 8 x 5 = 40 impressions. It sounds a lot but put some music on and chill out and you'll have created the bases for a batch of cards before you know it.

These were all done super, super quickly to demonstrate the batch making ability of the Wreath Builder Templates, you don't have to just use floral stamps, you can use any small stamps you have  to make your design for any occassion. The stamps I used to create these cards I picked up in France a couple of years ago, they are by a French company called Toga but they don't seem to give their stamps a name like we do, just a code you can find them on Amazon look for 'Toga tpe34 Pad Silicon Clear', not that you'll need those particular stamps because there are a myriad snowflake stamps on the market, and if you are already a stamper you may have some that you can use.

So on to the card construction, I confess to the fact that these went together so quickly because I'd already, stamped, coloured and die cut my snowmen. When I can't sleep I use the time to stamp and colour images ready for future projects. That way when I want to make a card I have the images done already and they just need to be added when everything else is done.

The stamp and die set I used is by Avery Elle and is called 'Be Jolly' the snowman is so cute, I've used it ever year since I got it on a variety of cards, its so, so easy to colour, all these are done with Zig Real Brush Pens and to make his snow sparkle I added some Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen.

For the snowflake wreath on each card I used Altenew ink sets for the pink colourway I used the 'Cherry Blossom' ink cube collection, the purple colourway used the ink cube collection called 'Shades of Purple' and the green colourway was stamped using the 'Tropical Forest' ink cubes. I love how Altenew inks smooth out and the fact that the cube collections give you shades from light to dark of a colour to play with.

I used the 6" template and a 6" x 6" piece of card stock and first stamped the large snowflake and built up the designs and colours. I did some batch stampin I made 6 cards in all first I stamped all the large green snowflakes on two cards, switched to pink ink and again stamped another 2 cards, then the purple.

Then I started again with the next stamp and the next shade of ink so in essence I stamped each stamp on all the card bases before moving on to the next stamp and colour. Its much faster that way than to keep switching stamps to work on the first card. Think of it as a production line, doing it this way means you get through the stamping faster. 

Once all the stamping was complete I decided to use the embossing technique I did on the Evergreen & Pine Cone Wreath the other day, this time using an old Xcut A4 Embossing folder called Snowflake Pattern, I'm not sure if its still available as I've had it about 4 years now. I was initially going to put the wreath on a mat of Centura Pearl card, but realised I didn't have any light green.

Not to be perturbed I decided to use foiled card instead, the finished card photos don't show the colours of the foiled card very well, but the above photo does, yay for taking some along the way photos 😉 Once I'd matted everything and attached the wreath and mat to the card base, I had to decide what sentiment I wanted to use. The set comes with two sentiments "Be Jolly" and the "Warm Wishes" sentiment I decided to use.

I wanted to make the sentiments stand out a little so I cut some small rectangles of white card just bigger than the sentiment and stamped the sentiment in Onyx Black Versafine, then I used some of the darker coloured Altenew inks in each of the colourways and stamped small starry snowflakes around the sentiment.

After that I used an ink blending tool and 3 of my favourite shades of Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet and Twisted Citron) and blended over the top of everything to make a solid panel.

I glued the bottom part of the snowman to the top of the sentiment then added 3D foam pads to both elements and added it to the centre of the card.

The final touch was to add some little iridescent gems to the centre of each large snowflake, the gems I used I discovered via Jennifer McGuire she uses them on projects they are by a lovely lady called Lucy Abrams who runs Little Things from Lucy Cards, she has some gorgeous sequin and gems mixes for cards and blends that work fabulously in shaker cards, and the kicker is she is UK based so no high shipping fees and waiting ages for the sparkly goodies to get to you.

Well that's all for this post, don't forget to tune in to Jen Krays's Build-A-Wreath Stamping Facebook Live tonight at 7pm (that's if you're reading this on the 20th October 2018) otherwise you'll have to catch it on a replay. I'll have some more cards to share with you tomorrow some dark and shiny, until then take care and thanks so much for stopping by😁

Warmest Wishes Festive Wreath Card

I have another wreath card to share with you on the blog today, I started this one last week but only got round to finishing it tonight, I visited the Crafters Companion Store in Chesterfield last weekend and got some goodies and kicked myself that I didn't pick up this stamp set, so when I got home I ordered it from Craft Stash. The stamp set is called 'Joy to the World' and is part of the Crafters Companion "A Winter's Tale" collection. As well as all the festive greenery stamps there are some fab sentiments that look fab heat embossed and simply stamped.

If you look at the image on the Craft Stash website it shows the stamps, but you get even more under the header packaging a lovely 'merry christmas' sentiment and more greenery stamps and tiny flourishes. It's one of those flourishes that I've used with some Delicata 'Gold Shimmer' ink. Sadly the camera and lighting has made it look brassy but its a lovely shimmery gold colour and really pops in real life!

Again for this card I used Memento inks, mostly the Dewdrop size but I did use Cottage Ivy and Lady Bug in large sized pads, they just aren't shown in the photo the other colours I used are: - Pear Tart, Olive Grove, Northern Pine, Bamboo Leaves and Rhubarb Stalk, and of course the Delicata 'Golden Shimmer' ink. I have another snowflake wreath card coming up with the delicata inks on black card, its lush!

This wreath took a more time than the previous card I posted yesterday it used around 11 stamps to create the wreath so the math is 11 stamps rotated and stamped 8 times each is 88 impressions. You can keep it simple with just 2 or 3 stamps and less impressions or go all out and add lots of colours to make the final wreath 'fuller'.

Once I stamped the panel, I then had to decide how to turn it in to a card, I loved the effect of the wreath and didn't want to detract from it too much, so I embossed the card front with an old Crafters Companion embossing folder from the Nordic Christmas range they released a couple of years ago, the folder is called 'Christmas Time' but doesn't seem to be available from CC anymore.

I used the 5"  x 5" template to stamp this card and as luck would have it the largest die in on of my go to die sets Wonky Stitched Squares die set is 5 x 5 so you don't cut the shape but you can add the stitched detail, or cut the whole panel out and then use that to stamp your wreath 😉 To finish this card off I added a 'Warmest Wishes' sentiment die cut from a Sue Wilson die of the same name, I used some matt gold card from my stasth, its no longer in the packet so I can't remember what brand it is sadly. Everything was glued to each other do raised areas, its almost a one layer card but the strict rules mean it isn't but its very flat for posting cheaply and I think it looks rather pretty to boot. Stop by tomorrow when I'll have some snowflake wreath cards to share with you and we can get excited together about Jennifer's Facebook Live demo on Saturday.

Evergreen & Pine Cone Wreath Card

It's been a very busy and exciting week here, thanks to my friends Jennifer and Justine we had a deluge of template sales, which was fabulous, and we've had some lovely comments and recommendations by happy customers. The name of the Facebook Page has now changed to Cook's Cards & Crafts, if you haven't given us a like yet please do.

We like to listen to feedback from customers and as such we had a few suggestions for tweaks to the templates and we've took them on board because they were fab ideas, the new look templates will launch on Saturday when Jennifer of Jennifer Kray - Paper and Stuff will be doing a Facebook Live using our templates! To celebrate we've given Jennifer a set of the new style templates to give away and she's put together some other goodies, so tune in for your chance to win.

I've been making lots of different wreath cards, this is one of the latest and I'll add some others to the blog each day this week. I've now been trained by Simon in the art of using the 3D printer and he's got a second printer up and running and we have plans to add another very soon, which increases the production by a lot 😁

Stamping this card was so quick, took me 10 minutes, I used 5 stamps but the darker green 'Northern Pine' stamp I stamped twice on either side of the design so 6 x 8 stamp impressions. Doing it this way you can quickly make a batch of cards really quickly, stamp all of the first stamp on all your panels, switch to your next stamp and repeat until you are happy with the design.

For this card I used Memento Dewdrop inks in the following colours: - Bamboo Leaves, Cottage Ivy, Northern Pine, Rich Cocoa and Espresso Truffle, but you could use any colour inks you choose. After I'd finished stamping I decided to add some texture to the card, so I ran it through a snowfall embossing folder and I love the effect it gave, I'll be using that a lot for this years cards.

Since I posted a link to a close up of this card on Facebook, I've been asked by several people where the stamps came from, I used a set that came free on Issue 27 of Creative Stamping back in 2015, but as luck would have it, you can buy the stamp set from Craft Stash for an amazing £2.99 look for the Creative A4 Woodland Stamp Set. I've linked to it here, but please be aware that the link is an affiliate link and if you make a purchase I get a percentage of the sale, but it doesn't cost you any extra.

I finished this card off with some 'berries' made for Tonic Studios 'Autumn Red' Nuvo Drops, I followed the fab tips on Jennifer's Beginners Guide to Nuvo Drops tutorial and my drops came out perfect. I did them on a leftover piece of the waxy backing from my 3D foam pads. Experience has taught me that adding Nuvo drops direct to a project can sometimes result in a nightmare so I air on the side of caution now and make them first and glue them on later lol! To finish the card off I added a die cut sentiment using red foiled card to the centre cut using the Sue Wilson 'From Our House to Yours' die and to finish the card off I decided to round two of the corners off to echo the curve on the wreath.

if you're interested in seeing how I used the Woodland Stamp set back in 2015 then follow the link to see my stag card, keep in mind the cards were created 3 years ago now and I was only just getting started in stamping and colouring lol! That's all from me for now, pop by again soon when I'll have some more cards to show you using our wreath builder templates and don't forget to join Jennifer at 7pm Saturday 20th October for her Build-A-Wreath Stamping Facebook Live.

Review: Neenah vs Craft Perfect Colouring Comparison

In my Halloween Coffin Cards post the other day, I mentioned that I was going to share some tips based on what I discovered whilst colouring the images for my latest batch of Halloween cards, it boils down to another of those I'm so totally rubbish at this, lets give up moments.

Perseverance and a new tack meant that I discovered that it wasn't me being rubbish at the colouring, but it was the cardstock I was using for the job!

I started off using Neenah Classic Crest Solar White card stock that I got from Crafters Companion and My Favorite Things Hybrid Ink pad 'Black Licorice' which works for both water based markers and alcohol based markers.

When I started to colour I was getting frustrated when within minutes the markers were bleeding outside of the image and at that point I wasn't really laying down lots of colour. I tried again this time with Hero Arts 'Intense Black' ink that is specifically alcohol marker friendly and once again the markers bled out of the image and once I'd laid down a darker colour to add depth to the image and I went to blend in, it was dry and wouldn't budge. At this point I was about to chuck in the towel and have a sulk, instead I channeled by Grandad and went and had a cup of tea and thought about the problem.

As I sat sipping my brew I mulled over what I'd done, on the product description for Crafters Companion Neenah it says "This high quality Neenah Classic Crest card is ideal for use with all alcohol based colouring mediums. " Having read that, again I figured it had to be me at fault, I tried again and pressed on and as you can see from this photo CC Neenah card stock is not an ideal card stock to use with Tonic Nuvo alcohol markers!

I decided to have one last go, but this time I opted to change the cardstock to Tonic Craft Perfect Ultra Smooth cardstock, and the difference was incredible! I did the same darker grey line for shading on the Craft Perfect that I did on the Neenah, but on the craft perfect it blended out like a dream, the colours didn't bleed outside the image (see the grey on the Neenah witch's hat) or merge in to each other. Working on the cardstock was different as well, the markers glided across the card and it was easy to control laying down of the colour.

Lesson learned, it wasn't me fluffing up, it was the cardstock that wasn't suited to the markers I was using! If I get time over the next few day I'll try using Promarkers and Spectrum Noir Markers on both lots of cardstock and compare the results. That said, in future when I'm colouring with Nuvo Markers I'll only be using Craft Perfect card stock.

Again I'm thrilled with how the final card came out, my colouring and fussy cutting are getting better and I used up bits from the Maybe Someday box to make the card. A while ago I die cut one of my Tim Holtz dies 'Birch Trees' and I used some black Starlights paint to colour it, when I'd finished and it had dried I decided it was too dark for the project I was working on, so I didn't use it. The panel at the back was another panel I made when I was experimenting with Distress Stains a couple of weeks ago. When the panel was dry I embossed it my Tim Holtz 3D embossing folder 'Lumber', when I accidentally put both pieces together they looked perfect and screamed turn me in to a Halloween card lol! So I did, I have pumpkins on the brain lol!

A Diffusion of Fragrant Findings

Not Craft Related, but it kind of is because what I'm about to say is an extension of my crafting, I like making things like room sprays, homemade pot pourri and things like foot soak fizzies and bath melts and I love making natural scented things for the home, that sentence made me think that I haven't shared some makes for herbal first aid goodies that I gave as gifts to friends and family a few years ago, despite promising some of you that I would, so I think I will very soon!

Before I get distracted, on to my reason for posting this, many of my friends know that I'm a big Yankee Candles fan, but I think that from now on I will not be buying anymore scented candles or wax melts of any description! That sounds like an epic statement to make and I guess it kind of is, but since I got an Aromatherapy Oil Diffuser its made a big difference to my well being on several levels.  I was actually looking at apps and gadgets that work with Alexa and noticed some Diffusers amongst the gadgets.

They are Smart devices, with WIFI built in so I can control the diffuser from an app on my phone, you can get none smart versions, I'm just a gadget geek lol! If anyone is interested the one I picked up is made by a company called Renpho and cost £16.99 Wifi Smart Diffuser it only holds 120ml's of water, when we get the next one I'm going for its bigger brother that holds 300ml.

I did a lot of research and discovered that a diffuser could maybe help with my chronic sinus problems, I was in the midst of yet another bad sinus attack and when they flare up they usually last 3-6 weeks sometimes less and sometimes more. So Si treated me to one,and within two days of using the diffuser the sinus infection was cleared up! I couldn't believe it I was expecting the usual weeks of misery and after just 2 days I have no pain above the bridge of my nose, the inside of my nose doesn't feel dry and irritated and the nasty smell I get (like a used ashtray) has gone!

I'm so happy with this little misting maestro that we're going to get one for the bedroom and one for the living room and the candles and oil burners that use candles will be going once they have been used up and I won't be buying them anymore, sorry Yankee candles, its been good but the romance is over. With all my years of working with essential oils, I didn't know that using a traditional oil burner (one with a tealight underneath) isn't such a clever thing to use with essential oils, the heat changes essential oils chemical construction and it burns away their therapeutic benefits as well!

Cold diffusion doesn't destroy the therapeautic complex constituents in essential oils like heating them up does, instead it distributes them into the atmosphere of the room so they can work their micro particle molecular magic and you get 100% of the benefits of the oils. They don't just make a room smell nice though, here are some of the benefits I've discovered...

Diffusing oils like Chamomile, Lavender, Cedarwood and Sweet Orange 20-30 minutes before bedtime can dramatically improve and support the body’s natural sleep cycles and combat sleep issues like insomnia, racing thoughts, and stress.

One of my favourite blends mixes the deep 'earthy' aromas of Vetivert EO with the florals of Lavender and Roman Chamomile, its a deeply relaxing blend that will help soothe your mind before sleep.

Diffusers are also great for use during times of cold and flu because they put much-needed humidity into the air which can help relieve dry sinuses and cough. Try Eucalyptus and Thyme blends during cold and flu season!

Not that anybody snores in our house, no sireeeee! But in the event that any body did, I've read that a diffuser in the room can help with snoring, it moistens the dry membranes on the nose that can contribute to snoring.

If it doesn't stop the snoring at least the person being kept awake has some pleasent smells to try and help them fall back to sleep. If I find any evidence that it works for this reason I'll update this post.

If like me you suffer from brain fog and fuzzy thinking (thank you Mrs Menopause) then essential oils like Rosemary, Basil, Lemon, Cypress, Lavender, and Frankincense can help to promote deep concentration, mental clarity, and improved focus. Oils that are high in sesquiterpenes like Frankincense and Sandalwood are especially good for increasing oxygen and blood flow in the pineal, pituitary, and hypothalamus glands which help support mental health and acuity, these essential oils are also known to help clear brain fog.

Another benefit of a diffuser can be witnessed during hot weather and boy could I have used this nugget of information a few months ago, diffusing oils like Peppermint, Spearmint and Lavender and other oils with refrigerant properties - refrigerant means that the oils have a cooling effect; and can help bring down external body heat - can keep you cool! And speaking of hot weather, a diffuser can help keep those pesky flying bugs at bay, diffuse essential oils like Citronella, Lemongrass, Geranium, Eucalyptus and Lavender can help keep pests at bay.

There are so many other benefits, the main one being you don't get carcinogens in the air you breath in like you do with candles. I'm using only 100% pure essential oils in my diffuser, no artificial fragrances in sight, and just plain old cold water from the tap. If you're unsure about what is in your tap water used filtered water or bottled spring water to fill up your diffusers tank.

Keep an eye on quantities, too much essential oil can cause headache, migraines, dizziness and nausea so don't put too much in, the old adage less is more is worth keeping in mind.

For your blends add the following per 100ml of water: -

100ml - 3-5 Drops
200ml - 6-9 Drops
300ml - 9-12 Drops
400ml - 12-15 Drops
500ml - 15-20 Drops

You can add a few more drops but don't add too much, its also beneficial to mix heavy aromas with light ones so if you're using Patchouli oil then add something to lighten it like Sweet Orange or Rose Geranium oils takes the heaviness away as some of the heavier scented essential oils can be rather over powering on their own.

This week's blends since I got my diffuser have included: -

Peppermint and Lavender EO's - That combo was diffused when I had a headache and the cooling vapour really did help.

Rose Geranium, Sweet Orange & Lavender EO's - I was a tad stressed at the beginning of the week and that blend really helped me destress and relax. A bit of music and lovely aromatic wafts of fragrance and I was chilled in about 30 minutes.

Pine Needle, Clove, Cinnamon & Sweet Orange EO's - There has been some slight sniffling going on and both Si and I have woken with a scratchy throat so I've been diffusing this blend with all its anti-viral and anti-bacterial goodness today to help purify the air from any nasties that may have got in lol! The bonus for this one is it smells like Christmas which along with some xmas tunes in the background is going along with my Xmas card making rather nicely :)

I love that I can select colours as well I'm finding that I'm gravitating to the deeper pink and purple hues at the minute, my happy colours. I've actually enjoyed writing this, I got to put my herbal hat on and tap in to my knowledge of essential oils and herbs, if anyone is interested in more recipes and combo's leave a comment and I'll add something to the blog soon. I'm off for a spot of CraftAroma Therapy now in my yummy smelling room, enjoy the rest of your day 😁