Crafty As L

“Just Because” is our Design Team theme this week and my brief was for a non-card project.   My friend has just begun chemo and immunotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer so I had her in mind to make this for.   She’s a complete chocoholic so thought I’d take her some Freddos at my next visit and thought they’d look great in a little gift box-bag.   After debating which products to use, I spotted the ladybird and leaf on the chocolate wrapper so that decided it: Little Ladybirds stamp set and  Leafy stencil. The beauty of this box-bag is that you can make whatever size you need, although it might be necessary to join two pieces of card together for a large one.   Just decide what width and depth of bag is required, add up all the sides and add ½” for the tab.   For the height, add whatever depth you’ve chosen minus ¼” plus the desired height of the bag.   I find it helpful to make a little sketch to visualise all t...

One evening last week, I went to a beginner’s lino print workshop. It’s a craft that I’ve seen and fancied a go at but never had the opportunity to try. On seeing this seaside themed session advertised on Facebook, run by local artist Tom from  Thirteen Eight , had some spaces, I booked myself in.  At each position, there were a couple of pieces of lino, a cutting tool with a variety of blades, pencil, marker pen and tracing paper.  After a quick briefing, we were encouraged to have a practice using the tools on the spare bit of lino. Limited by my lack of drawing skills, I attempted a holly leaf, trying to cut out both the positive and negative parts.  I’d forgotten to Google lino print ideas before I went and had no signal when I was there but fortunately Tom had provided some drawings for us to copy or use as inspiration.  I chose a wave and started by tracing it and then transferring it to the lino. The lino cutting then began in earnest. I started off a lit...

Recently, I needed a card for a special 4-year old’s birthday.    He loves dinosaurs so I’d purchased the Layered Dinosaurs stencils by Pretty Pink Posh for his RAWR-SOME card! The set comprises three layers, the first one being the body of the dinosaurs.   I selected a variety of bright colours and began stencilling with mini blending brushes. The next layer added some additional details to the dinosaurs together with leaves and footprints. The final stencil added more details to the dinosaurs and leaves together with the dino faces. To finish the card, I added a little sentiment together with a no.4 die-cut from glitter card. One of the dinosaurs was stencilled on the inside of the card.   This was repeated on the envelope using Versafine Clair inks so that they didn’t run should they get wet.