Friday 29 November 2013

A Wicked 21st

This year saw me and one of my closest friends turn 21 in the space of 2 days. In order to celebrate properly, we bought tickets to see Wicked as it was in Manchester at the time. Obviously, I had to make her a Wicked themed card.
I had never seen the musical before or read the book so all I had to go on was the poster and the limited knowledge I had of the story - it is essentially the prequel to the Wizard of Oz. It didn't give me much to go on.

I ended up using the poster for inspiration. I used black card stock to make a stepper blank but used green card to create the background and Elphaba's face. I didn't want to just re create the poster so I added a couple of my own touches such as glittery lips and using foam pads to make her had stand out from the card as well as over the edges.
I still needed to finish it off and my solution to problems like that is now to just add stars and glitter. Works everytime - this time in particular! The 21 was simply cut out from white card and I tried to use the same font that the poster uses. I finished it off with a peel-off sentiment.


She loved the card. And we both absolutely loved Wicked. Cannot wait to see it again!

Thursday 21 November 2013

My Christmas Challenge

So if you follow my blog (and I thank you for doing so!) or if you've found me on facebook, you may have realised that I'm not exactly being productive on the card front at the moment. Third year architecture is definitely taking its toll and I am only finding time to write at the moment because I'm waiting for printing to happen (grrrr). But enough about architecture! 

With horror, the other day I realised that I have around 20 days until university finishes for Christmas. And I had barely started my Christmas cards. And I have a lot to do this year due to the cohort of hikers that I have recently acquired!

I then decided that no matter what happens, I am going to make one Christmas card a day until the end of term which should give me enough cards to send to people. I started this on Sunday and am actually ahead of schedule despite not making any last night or the night before due to making more than one in an evening. The other benefit of this is making sure I get a break from stressing about architecture.

Speaking of stressing, I had a care package from home on Friday. I wasn't expecting it at all but when I opened it, my friends definitely gave me some funny looks. Glittery Christmas foam stickers have the same effect (if not a greater one) as chocolate! 

Tonight however, with final crits out of the way, I am having a craft-fest. I am breaking out the chocolate and the Christmas paper and even the Christmas music! 7 hours and counting . . . . 

Wednesday 13 November 2013

3D Cards: The Cascade

With it being a big birthday for my mum back in September, I of course had to do a special card and while looking for inspiration, I found a really unusual design that I just had to try.


When sorting through my craft stuff before I came back to uni, I found my oriental papers that I had completely forgotten about. This teamed with black card (because my stash of card stock is shocking), meant that I could create a really bold design. The red has got a bit of a pink tinge to it but I think it works really well. I accidentally cut both black pieces of card the same way even though they mirror each other. This meant that one side is white instead of black but I think it brightens the card up a bit rather than just having it completely black (well, you know what I mean!). I had some oriental peel-offs so I got to stick these to the paper and cut around them - a technique I really enjoy.

The message goes on a little piece of card that slots in the middle of the card. For this I just cut a rectangle of black card, decorated it with some patterned paper and finished it with a couple of peel-offs. Then, when it was time to write the message, I just used a white gel pen although I expect gold would also look really good.

I think I mixed my orientals with this card (tut tut) but apart from this, I would definitely say it's one of my favourite makes to date.


Thursday 7 November 2013

Victoria Baths 3

Sunday saw me at the third bi-annual Victoria Baths Art and Craft Fair. I can't believe it's been a whole year since my first fair!

Unfortunately, I can't say that it was as successful as the first one - it wasn't through lack of people, just lack of buyers. (Although I would be tempted to see if the correlation is related to my brother manning my stall with me the first time, as none of them have been as successful . . .)

Despite the cold, I still had a good day, albeit long and tiring (although that was mainly due to still recovering from my Newcastle trip in the week).

One thing that I did begin to think about was when I was on my Hiking Club's table at the Freshers' Fair back in September (so long ago . . . .). As I had experience running a stall, I was more than happy to lead and I loved every second of it. I had lost my voice by the end of the first day and then again by the end of the second from shouting over the crowds and talking practically none stop for the two days. 

But how is it that I was able to talk for Britain and get people to come over to our table and essentially 'sell' the club to them but I can barely say hello to people when I'm behind my table at a fair?

Surely it should be the same? I mean, hiking and card making are both things that I am passionate about, running a table is about engaging with the people browsing and at the end of the day I am trying to sell them something. I guess this is something that I need to work on . . . .

I've also been scolded by my friends for selling my cards too cheap. But that's for another time . . .