Here's a little painting I'm working on!

Well, hello there, fancy seeing you round here!
Welcome to my latest crafty post, this time featuring a little A4 size canvas-board painting. Everyone who knows me knows I can't draw for toffee thus the reason I became a graphic designer and not an illustrator! That doesn't mean that I don't enjoy fiddling around with a bit of colour and texture from time to time and sometimes the mood really does just take me and make me want to do something more expressive than realistic! 

This project started out as a bit of a doodle that grew into a full blown 3 dimensional painting type objet d'art! It is a ready gessoed canvas board that I did a quick pencil design on and realising I wanted a bit of dimension I glued string over the swirls and heart outline. I then covered the string with crumpled tissue paper and painted over this. Once the colour had gone on I added some red glass beads in the heart, more doodles in gold pen and Hobbycraft glitter glue, then went over the swirls with Dovecraft 3d Pearls. I don't think it's quite finished yet - I feel the need to add some text or something but for the moment I have given it the working title of "Joy In My Heart".  Pop back soon to see how it ends up!!! Sorry, this is a quick post - the kids are hungry and I need to get into the kitchen and make their tea!!!
Thanks for popping by,
Jak
xxx

Safetypin bracelet project...

Hello there!
Thankyou for swinging by my little crafty spot! This weekend's post features this punky little safetypin bracelet. Ok, so this is maybe a bit of a cheat as it came in a box as a kind of kit project (a birthday present for my daughter a couple of years ago) but having only about 3 steps to remember, anyone could do this. I think the finished effect is great and I can see lots of potentially different ways of decorating it.
    So, you will need:- 
   approx 50 small safetypins
   plastic stretchy jewellery beading cord
   lots of random beads

Start off by threading beads on to the pins and closing them.
Cut 2 lengths of jewellery cord long enough for going round your wrist and tieing off.
Start threading your pins on the cord alternating their tops and tails so its in a one right way up, one upside down. Once you have enough pins on to go round your wrist with a bit of stretch, tie the ends together.
Repeat this again on the unthreaded side of the pins. (see image for what I mean!!! )
Finished!!!

In all it's glory!!

Yay! The finished article. Wouldn't these be great just in one colour of bead or alternate colours! Some bells too maybe or dangly drops/tassels! I think too, the smaller the beads, the more pins you could squeeze on and have them really packed on there.

I hope you like this little project. It didn't take us long to make at all - threading the pins with beads was the bit that took longest. A few of these would be great to sell on a little craft stall - must remember to put that in my list of crafty things to do!

Have a great weekend crafters!

Love Jak!

xxx

A scrapbook page for a wee change...

Hello crafty crafters!
    There is nothing like a bit of serendipity to get the creative juices a-flowing and so the other day whilst having a very small tidy up and minor streamlining of stash, I happened to come across this photo that I had stored "safely" away for future scrapping. Now, we all know how this goes - yes, so safe it's never to be found again! So, when I found it languishing beside all the Christmas chipboard and offcuts of much randomness ( I know, a pretty obvious place for it to reside!) I knew it had to be my next layout or it would probably disappear for another year all over again!!! And with that thought in my head, the small tidying up activity was postponed for some spontaneous scrapping! The BEST kind!

A close up of a little postage stamp I made 'cos the scrap of paper went with the colours in the photo

    There's plenty going on with a few Paperchase stamps, some painted Prima chipboard (giant red arrow) and lots of homemade elements - the journaling card, postage stamp and honeycomb Silhouette diecut! Rather biasedly, if that's a real word, (if not, it should be!) I love the photo! Not only because Sadie is a wee poppet - it's because the colours just pop. 

    This one came together quickly and made me want to get stuck in to some more scrapbooking. Unfortunately, I really do need to finish off that tidying tho, so, thankyou for popping by for a catch up and feel free to leave a comment if you please.

Happy crafting everyone'

Love, Jak

xxx

Here's your CUTE!!!!

Yes, it is! Right here, on a lovely autumnal October morning!
So, I saw this A4 Paper Pack on the DoCrafts t'interweb shop sale for less than half price - how could I resist!!!

shop.docrafts.com/Products/Search/1/0/0/0/little%20meow

If you have visited my blog once or twice before, you may have noticed that I'm a Borderline Crazy Cat Lady TM  with very kitsch tendencies, so when this dropped through my letterbox, and once I stopped hyperventilating and managed to compose my excitement, I got stuck in faster than my cat Rocket streaks across the back garden from six houses away when he hears the fridge door open. What joy! The images are adorable and there are so many die cuts and decoupage sheets, goodness knows how many cards this will make. Here's a few I've knocked out over the last few days...

Voila! Perfect for fellow cat lovers and really great for cardmakers that want to put together some quick ones! These are the kind of cards though that really cry out for little bows but, as I don't have a bow maker,  I have wrestled with fingers with limited success and resorted to paper ones instead! Heehee. Can anyone recommend a bow maker? There are lots out there but I don't know what kind to go for - a cheap wooden block and dowelling one or a fancy-schmancy, purpose designed, plastic comb type one. Any opinions? - please leave a comment!
Have a craftastic weekend friends!!!
Love Jak! xxx