Things I've Learnt, Picked Up & Discovered Recently

I realised that because I haven't been blogging I haven't shared some of the awesome things I've been taught, picked up and discovered over the past 5 months, and it occurred to me that I've also been making lots of cards but not sharing them to boot!

So to rectify that, I thought I'd do a little pre-Christmas post and share a new technique to me that I learnt at one of Tracey's Stampin Up Classes a few months ago. Its really so, so simple but very effective and at the end of the process you wind up with 4 cards!

You process starts with a sheet of A4 stamping card and using stamps and a selection of inks you randomly build up stamped clusters, groups of 5 work rather well, like this rose card.

It was so funny when we did this class, Tracey had us all carefully stamp our designs, then when we had she instructed us to chop them in to 4, the looks on our faces were priceless. During the class we each picked 1 of the 4 pieces from our chopped up panel to make into a card during the class and the rest we took home to turn in to cards at our leisure.

I was so impressed with the technique, that when I got home I used one of my Stampin Up! sets now retired called "Painted Seasons" and stamped a couple of sheets with pine cones, leaves and ferns on. I also stamped some of the flowers from the set and fussy cut them out to add some dimension to the sets of cards I decided to make for Christmas.

I inked around the edge of the flowers to give them so more depth and added them with foam pads then added some Nuvo drops to the centres.

The technique lends itself to use with lots of different kinds of stamps for all occasions and its perfect for making batches of cards and because you chop the A4 panel up, no 2 cards look the same.

If you don't add an added dimension, they are also flat to post as well.

Another thing I've picked up from craft class is adding decoration to the envelopes we put our cards in, it takes moments when you are stamping your card/embellishments to stamp one of the stamps from your card design on to the envelope to give a totally co-ordinated look.

Something else I've started doing is working more with with smaller sized card bases. I used to be a 6"x6" or 7"x7" girl but its getting more expensive to post them, especially if you add dimension. So I now take an A4 sheet and cut 2 x 4½" wide strips, score them at 5⅞" and trim them to be 5¾", another advantage to this size is you get 2 cards out of 1 A4 sheet.

I make batches of 6 in several colour ways and keep them on my desk ready to use when I'm making cards. I make them when I don't have a lot of time, or my old mojo fails me, as well as making card bases, I've started to die cut out sentiment bases, leaves, frames and other things I add as decorative elements to cards. I mostly cut them from white card, then I can colour them to suit my project or keep them white.

One of my most favourite discoveries this year though are Sakura Glaze Pens, I've had a black one for ages that I use to add details like eyes, buttons on snowmen etc. But recently I bought them in reds, greens, yellow and blues and they are absolutely FABULOUS for adding details to items that you want to look shiny or glassy. If you click on the photo of the Newton's Nook cards I made you can see the effect you get.

I've worked with them two ways this year, on their own directly on to white card stock and over the top of Copic coloured images. As well as the candy cane details I used them to colour in fairy lights, the brilliant thing about them is the gel ink in the pens dries slightly raised and is translucent to boot.

Once dry, wherever you've applied the glaze pens will actually look glassy, making them perfect for fairy lights on Christmas cards! They are available in 20 different colours including clear, white and black, and can be purchased individually, or in 2 different packs of 10 pens light and dark colour groups.

As well as card you can use them on vellum, the trick is to go really slowly as you colour so more of the ink comes out, giving a smooth and even coverage, you can also use them on other non-porous surfaces including plastics, coated papers, acetate, and glass! I'm hoping to get back to blogging more in 2020 as life and my health seem to be improving, so hopefully I will be able to share more in the new year. For now, I wanted to say I huge thank you to everyone that has read my blog, left me a comment or offered support, it means the world. I hope you all have a hearty Christmas and a healthy, happy and prosperous new year!

Copic Pen Tray & Lid - Free Download

It has been a while since I blogged, so much has been going on in life mixed in with several anxiety and depression flare ups that I've found it hard to keep up with blogging. Trying to deal with the the stress that is part of the problem I have signed up to the Kit & Clowder Colouring Classes, I'm finding colouring is an excellent way of clearing my mind and relaxing, when I colour I seem to just focus on the colouring, my mind goes quiet and all the things I've been stressing about melt into the background enough to stop my stomach churning and the anxiety bubbling.

Those of you who read my blog will know that earlier this year I started collecting Copic pens, back in February I had 36, I now have 95 and I think Santa may be bringing me some more if I'm lucky! The more pens I acquired the more storage became a problem, initially I bought one of the Crafters Companion racks, but at £18 (the cost of several pens), I was chatting to Simon about it and once again like with my 3D printed Distress Marker Storage he went away and came back a couple of days later with a pen tray suitable for copic's.💖 Now keep in mind initially due to cost I was only going to collect Copic Ciao pens due to the cost, Ciao's are the cheapest option of all the Copic's sold, but sadly they only do 180 colours in the Ciao range and there are 358 colours in total.

The lovely Alyce from Kit & Clowder told me I would end up with some Sketches when she messaged me to chat about the classes and I laughed to myself and said "no way!", but guess what? Yup that's right I now have 5 Copic Sketch pens and more will be on the horizon. Initially Simon designed and printed the racks in my CCO (Copic Ciao Only) phase of my collection, you can see the Mark I version behind the lidded version in the photo.

The Copic only tray holds 6 pens, I'm now using that for my gel and glaze pens and glitter markers, the new trays only have 5 slots because Copic Sketch pens are wider than Ciao. I don't have any Copic Classic pens to see if they will fit, so we don't know the height and dimension of the Classic pens to know if they will fit, so if you are going to print the files please be aware that the Copic Classic pens may not fit! When I get a Copic Classic or can get someone to tell me the dimensions Simon has said he will do a revised file to print a tray that will accommodate all 3 sizes if Mark II doesn't fit them all. If and when that happens I will update this post.

I shared the Mark I pen rack in the Kit & Clowder Facebook Group and lots of people were interested, a few asked if Simon could print some for them but on the 3D printers he has each tray in the rack takes almost 8 hours to print, he does have 3 printers but it would still take time. That said if anyone out there doesn't have access to a 3D printer and doesn't mind the wait leave me a comment and I will get back to you and see what we can work out.  For those that do have access to a 3D printer, my hubby has given me his files to share, if you share them please credit them to Simon Cook @ Cooks Cards & Crafts thank you!

Copic Pen Tray Mark I - 6 Slots, fits Copic Ciao Pens ONLY!!! Also good for Sakura Gel & Glaze Pens.
Copic Pen Tray Mark II - 5 Slots fits Copic Sketch and Copic Ciao Pens.
Copic Pen Tray Lid - Fits both the Mark I and Mark II pen trays.

Excuse the silly smile of pride, but this is me after spending and hour colouring in a stamped image with my Copic pens 😍 Early in the day that this photo was taken I had a bad anxiety attack, but after an hours colouring not only was I calmer, but I was happy!

I've stepped on the colouring ladder, and thanks to Alyce I no longer feel that I can only share my colouring if its "Perfect", because I don't have to be perfect, I just have to keep colouring and each time I do my colouring and shading will get better. BUT every thing I colour is my best work EVER at the time of creation and I've learnt that I should celebrate ever piece of colouring I do like its a work of art and stop putting a shadow of perfection on it and say things like "I know the shading isn't right" or "my effort isn't as good as yours... blah blah".

Because every effort is our best effort, every try is a step in the right direction, colouring is something that evolves and the biggest part of the process is just relaxing in to it and going with the flow of the ink. Signing up to the Kit & Clowder classes has been one of the best things I have done for me in a very long time, the support from Alyce and within the group is tremendous, she goes above and beyond and does all she can to support the person doing her classes and not just provide colouring tuition. Take a look at some of the classes Alyce offers. I've started off with the free Marker 101 class and now have the Nov and Dec 2019 classes to work on. Colouring is therapy of the best kind if you just go with it, and learn not to beat yourself up with perfection, or tar yourself with the I can't do this brush, because you can and every thing you colour will show you that a little at a time.