Baby Boy Bunting

Baby Boy Bunting Instant download now available in my shop. This features good old fashion country gingham and star designs. The bunting is a slightly deeper blue (which will be added to my colour chart) than the Little Pastels Paper Pack -Blue, but it does co-ordinate well with this.

If you would like the text changed or a different colour please contact me.

Going to try and take a day off from designing and creating but really not sure what I'm going to do as I find it hard to do nothing. So I wonder what I can get up to today :)

Baby Girl Bunting

Pink Baby Girl Bunting Instant Download now available in my shop. This is in the same pink that I have being using for my last couple of designs added to my shop so it co-ordinates with them too.

I'm also trying out a new way of creating my images for the shop with a tiny string of bunting on a background. Please let me know what you think :)

As I'm working on new designs I am gradually putting together a colour chart that you will be able to download from my blog. This will help me create items for my shop that co-ordinate and it will also help customers to see how these colours print from their printers on different types of card and paper.

I will be adding a Freebie Download now and again on my blog so you can see how colours print too, because everyone loves a freebie :)

2 Bonus Papers added

I've just added 2 bonus papers to the Doodle Flowers and Dots Paper Pack in my shop, these are white with pink dots. I've also knocked 20p off the price of this Instant Download so it is only £1.40 for 8 co-ordinating paper designs you can print off as often as you like for all your craft projects or use for your digital scrapbooking.

Doodle Flowers and Dots Paper Pack

and the 2 Bonus Papers

These also co-ordintate with my Doodle Hearts Paper Pack Instant Download and the Doodle Hearts Wedding Bunting Instant Downloads.

Doodle Hearts Wedding Bunting - Pink

Doodle Hearts Wedding Bunting - Silver Grey

Doodle Hearts Wedding Bunting - Purple

A Wee Photography Experiement

Yesterday in my Facebook news feed one of Facebooks suggested posts appeared about homemade photography filters. Wish I could find the link now, but if I do I will post it here. One of the homemade filters was to put cling film over your camera lens and make a split in it. Sounded interesting and easy enough to do, so I thought I would give this a try.

Sam my pup was long over due a wee photo session, but he definetly is not the easiest of models to capture, he never sits still long enough and he wants to come right up to the camera to investigate whats going on.

Below are the some of the results of this wee experiement, photos taken in the house and using the sunlight coming through the window..... yes I did say sunlight.... the sun actually made a short appearence here in Scotland yesterday morning :)

This worked on this photo and gave it soft edges

It didn't work so well on this photo, not sure what happened here, but I like this photo of Sam.

Soft edges on this one too. I think I will be trying this technique again

more Doodle Hearts Wedding Bunting

I've now added my Doodle Hearts Wedding Bunting download to my shop in 2 other colours that co-ordinate with the Doodle Hearts Paper Pack.
Bunting download can now be purchased in Purple and Pink, but if you would like it a different colour or the wording changed please contact me.

If you would like to see how these colours print out from your printer download my FREEBIE Tags, which you can print off as many times as you like for your own Personal Use.

A new bunting design

After creating my Doodle Heart Paper Pack I was feeling the love and the need to create some bunting. So here it is.... Doodle Heart Wedding Bunting in silver grey

PRINT-CUT-CREATE

The files can be purchased from my shop, please click the link below

Doodle Heart Wedding Bunting

I will also be creating this bunting in the other colours that are in the Doodle Hearts Paper Pack, but if there is a specific colour you would like or a change of wording, just let me know. I love doing custom orders.

If you would like to see how this silver grey prints out from your printer, just download my FREEBIE TAGS and print :)

I will also be making some of the bunting up and packaging it to sell in my shop soon.

Yesterday I also added a pink Doodle Flower Paper Pack to my shop... I'm getting carried away with doodles...... and this is also going to be added in other colours.

If you are wanting anything designed just get in touch :)

Doodle Hearts Paper Pack & a wee FREEBIE

Added to my shop today my Doodle Hearts Paper Pack Instant Download.

This is a set of 12 co-ordinating papers featuring a hand drawn doodled heart design. The heart design comes in 3 differnet sizes in 3 colours with a plain paper in each colour too. Ideal for card making, scrapbooking, journaling and other crafts.

The paper pack can be purchased from my shop, please click link below

Doodle Hearts Paper Pack

Who wants a FREEBIE?

I have created a few quick tags that you can download and print.

Click the image below to enlarge and then 'save image as' to save to your computer to print.

This image is only 72dpi, but all my Instant Downloads from my shop are 300dpi files. Downloading and printing the freebie tag file can give you an idea of how the colours will look when printed on your printer on different types of card and paper etc. before purchasing a paper pack. If you would like a hi res 300dpi file of the Tag Freebie, please contact me and I will email this to you.

**colours may vary slightly depending on printer, ink, paper or cardstock you use**

Have fun creating :)

Happy Mothers Day.....

....... to all the mums out there

As usual I left creating my Mothers Day cards to the last minute.  I haven't used my Silhouette Cameo much and I have an enormous craft stash which I must start using more, so there were no excuses for making a few quick cards.

I went to the Silhouette Store to download some files to cut. The first file I bought was Butterfly Cut Out A2 Card by Jamie Cripps. I liked the background and the idea of a cut out butterfly, but I wanted a more delicate looking butterfly for my Mothers Day cards so I bought Pop-Up Butterfly by Sweet Afton. I merged and resized these files to get what I was imagining in my head.

I wanted my cards to be bright and cheerful, so into the craft stash I ventured in search of materials to use.
WOW! I have some amount of stuff, paper, card, embellisments, ribbons etc. etc. I found things I forgot I even had! I nearly got lost in amongst it all. I eventually emerged with what I was needing and raring to get creating.

Cards were made using cream hammered card
Background layer was from DCWV Pocket Full of Possies Stack .....the time had come to start cutting into this and not just looking and stroking it :)
Solid butterfly was red velum (I'd forgot I even had this in my stash)
Cut out Butterfly was shimmery ivory card (bought this years ago for wedding invitations)
and red raffia was wrapped and tied around the top.

To finish the cards off I created inserts in Photoshop, because I always feel, no card is complete unless it has an insert. 

I was really pleased with how they turned out and made an extra one for my daughter just because I love her.

*note to self - I really should use my Silhouette Cameo more and I need to use up my craft stash, just so I can buy some new crafty materials :)

The same but different

I've now painted the other chair that's the same as the chair I sit on at my computer, but as I said in a previous post it was going to be a different colour.

I have a pine bookcase in the room that has been painted duck egg blue and my fireplace wall has been painted in this colour too, but with a gradient starting dark at bottom and gradually getting lighter towards the ceiling. I find this quite a calm cool colour and as I wanted my desk and chair to be bright and the statement pieces of furniture in the room I decided to paint the other chair duck egg blue.

It seems to work, what do you think?

I also added the same script paper circles to the back of the blue chair.

Quite a change from how these 2 chairs started out

I'm now on the look out in the local charity shops for a couple more chairs to put around my work/dining table. Once I have these the table and chairs will all get a wee lick of paint too. I'd like another pair of chairs but they don't have to be like the pair of chairs I already have........ Dare to be different :)

A wee Freebie

Today my Mint Little Pastels Paper Pack is featured in an Etsy Treasury, so I thought I would create a little freebie using some of the paper designs from my Little Pastels Range. Click the image below to enlarge and then 'save image as' to save to your computer to print.

PRINT-CUT-CREATE

This image is only 72dpi, but all Instant Downloads from my shop are hi res 300dpi files. Downloading and printing the freebie tag file can give you an idea of how the colours will look when printed from your computer on different cards etc. before purchasing the paper packs. If you would like a hi res file of the Tag Freebie, please contact me and I will email this to you.

**colours may vary slightly depending on printer, ink, paper or cardstock you use.**

Paper packs are available from following links

Mint Little Pastels Paper Pack

Pink Little Pastels Paper Pack

Blue Little Pastels Paper Pack

Have fun creating and I always love to see what my customers create :)

My desk was too small so....

..... I found a new one

This is the desk that I have been using for a while, it was an old dressing table that I found in one of the out buildings which I upcycled with a coat of paint and new hare drawer knobs. I loved the shape of this, the colour and the hares, but it was far too small and no matter what I did the drawers were always sticking.

So I was on the look out for a new piece of furniture I could upcycle and use as my desk. I love to go and check out whats available at local charity shops with my favourites being Magpie in Banchory and Inverurie. I found my new desk at Magpie in Banchory and it cost just £45, it has plenty of drawers and being solid pine it was sturdy and ideal for my purpose and for me to upcycle as I hated the dark antique varnish it was covered in.

This is quite a large piece of furniture and at first I thought it would be too much to paint it the same colour as the smaller desk. Then I thought to myself "hey it's just paint, if I don't like it I can paint it again!" ......where had my confidence in colour gone?

I mixed my own chalk paint, looked at various recipes on the internet for this and tried a couple of different ones, but this is the one I prefer.

Chalk Paint Recipe 

1 part Calcium Carbonate (I purchased mine through Amazon)
2 parts paint (any paint, I used Silk Emulsion by Crown and the colour is So Sweet)

Mix together well then paint

I gave the desk and drawers 2 coats of paint.
I had thought about buying new drawer knobs for this but decided I really didn't want to spend any more money and would complete this project with only things that I already had. I mixed a small amount of chalk paint using black acrylic and Calcium Carbonate and painted the knobs and the bun feet on the desk.

I didn't want the drawer knobs to be plain black so a quick search through my craft stash and I found this script paper in my Hot off the Press - Paper Pizazz Heritage book. I cut circles from the paper slightly smaller then the knobs and stuck the paper down with PVA glue.

Once the glue was dry I gave the knobs a couple of coats of quick drying acrylic satin varnish.

As I didn't have enough wax, but had plenty of acrylic varnish I gave the desk and drawers a couple of coats of varnish to seal them. I can always give the desk a wax in future when I buy some more wax.
My finished desk and I love the colour :)

I also have 2 old paint covered chairs, one of which I use when I'm on my computer. These were given to us by a friend so didn't cost anything but were in need of being brightened up a little.

I wanted one of the chairs to match my desk so gave it a couple of coats of the same paint that I used on my desk. I also painted the bottom of the legs black to match the desks bun feet.

As a final little touch I cut 3 circles from the script paper and stuck these to the back of the chair before giving it a couple of coats of varnish.

The completed desk and chair

I love it and can't wait to be sitting there working on my computer.

I'm working on the other chair and will post a photo of this soon as this is going to be a little different. Just because they are a pair of chairs doesn't mean they have to be exactly the same :)

I will also be using the hare knobs (from my old desk) on another project soon

We now have.....

....... new drains :) yippppeeeeeee

Exciting stuff eh! :) it's the simple things in life that make me happy. Keeping my fingers crossed this keeps all the water away from the crofts walls. The pipe on the left is perforated and should catch any water that soaks down through the ground.

The Estate workers have now covered the pipes with hard core and will be back (maybe Tuesday) to cover this with a layer of pea gravel, this makes me happy as it will tidy up the back of the croft.
I'm not so happy about finding out the Estate will not be building a new retaining wall to keep the higher ground level back, the ground is just getting left sloped! Not even a gentle slope but quite a steep one, I've placed my recycle bin (41cm high) in the photos above to give an idea of the difference in height of the ground levels.
I feel that the slope is too steep and when it rains..... and we get a lot of rain.... the earth will eventually just get washed down  onto where the gravel is going to be.
Oh well! we will just have to wait and see how this fairs with the weather and 2 dogs running around.

Now the new drains are in I feel more confident about getting on with my decorating inside. Hoping to have my computer/art/craft/dining room (multi-function room) finished over the weekend. Then I will be back to posting design, craft and upcycling related posts on my blog.

Before the mini digger arrived..

.... the back of the croft looked like this.

Yesterday morning the Estate sent a few workers with a mini digger to remove the old concrete path, broken retaining wall and some earth to see if they can figure out where the water is coming from that is causing my back wall to be damp. A few months ago the Estate had put in a field drain in the back garden, but this doesn't seem to be working.

By the end of the day the back of the croft looked like this!

Sam wanted to investigate what the workers had been doing all day.

There seems to be a lot of broken pipes, were these broken already? or did the mini digger break them? Is this the cause of the damp? The blue pipe is the water pipe repair that had to be done when the water pipe burst when the field drain was being put it :)

So the ditch at back of the croft is now filling up with water! By the end of the day there was 4 workmen and someone out from the Estate Office standing, talking and scratching their heads.
I'm hoping they will be back today (as they never tell you what's happening) and fingers crossed they have a plan of what they are going to do next to solve this problem.

Hopefully this will be sorted as soon as possible because the Estate has already repaired the wall inside the croft so I could start to decorate.

Looking forward to a drier future :)

It's been 2 weeks...

......since Sam the pup moved in with us and it's been a long 2 weeks. I can't believe how much of my time this wee fellow is taking up at the moment and what a big help wee Shug has been in helping Sam. He is really calming down and his fear aggression is on the decline and almost non existent now, he still gets fearful of new things but barks and backs off to assess the situation.
He is also just about house trained  too, yipppeeeeeeee :) which is great as I'm not constantly running around with a mop in my hand.
Puppy teeth are being lost so Sam is always looking for something to chew, so far my furniture has been safe as I have a very large supply of hide chews for him to munch on.
I'm really proud of how quickly Sam is learning the doggy house rules, but he still likes to push his luck sometimes. He is such a lovable wee boy and we are introducing him to as many different people and experiences as possible.

Now Sam is settled in and learning the house routine, I should be able to get back to decorating the house and designing more items for my online shop.