Pimp my desk...

... well, strictly speaking it's Millie's desk but you know what I mean! It had been looking less than shabby of late since Millie has discovered she loves to paint her nails... so instead of throwing it out and buying a new one which would just get covered in nail polish too, I decided to give this one a bit of a facelift! I picked up 3 rolls of Duck Tape from the reduced shelf in Asda back in January not really knowing what I was going to do with it, but at £1.30 per roll I couldn't just walk past it. Then, tidying her majesty's room one day I noticed the nick of her desk! Ping! Idea for using Duck Tape! The best bit about doing it was that it didn't take more than 40 mins to do from start to finish - including emptying the drawers and taking off/putting the drawer handles back on. So here it is from drab to fab! It actually looks quite durable!!!

Pink and BORING!!!!

Top surface comes off and was transformed in a flash!

Drawers done too!

Finished!

Ta-daaaa!!! Finished in a flash! Hopefully we'll get a good few more months out of it - lol! Best of all - she actually approves! Phew! I got a bit worried half way through doing it that she might actually loathe it when she sees it! And that got me thinking about when me and my sis were kids, we would often come home from school to find mum had painted all our bedroom furniture or at least changed the layout of the room around while we were gone. Did we ever get a say in these matters? Of course we didn't! Lol!!!!

Anyway if you come across some bargain Duck Tape - snap it up pronto! You never know when the opportunity might come round for a bit of furniture pimping!!! Heehee!

Have fun!

Jak

xxx

Man Card...probably...

Hello, everyone!

When I was putting this one together, I assumed this would be a man card. Why? Probably because the illustration looks like a boy on a bike. Why that makes it a man card I don't know but maybe it just does... might be the colours I've used too because the red and black combo is quite strong. The black and white cardstock base is from a pre-scored cardstock pack I got from TK Maxx and it contains lots of bold geometric style patterns...

I've used quite a few out the pack now and if I ever saw them to buy again, I'd snap them up straight away! I think they make a really different base for your handmade cards instead of white or kraft - something a bit unusual. So, I have a bit of die cutting and stamping on there too - from the DoCrafts Mr. Mister range, The diecut flag and arrows are from the sentiments die set which is a really full of great little dies to give your cards a helping hand.

Now I'm looking at them, the only actual die that is unmistakably man-ish is obviously the DAD one lol! Any of the others could be used for lots of other occassions for anyone really...

Versatile dies!

Here is a close up of the scroll die which I made into a flag by gluing a cocktail stick to it. The shield is a stamp that I coloured up and stamped a sentiment inside it it in a chalky green colour. 

I hope you like it. Thanks for dropping by for a wee look...

Have a crafty weekend,

love, Jak

xxx

A get well soon card...

...for a friend in hospital. I love making these kind of cards as they really are OOAK! As usual, the cardstock is old leftover stash supplemented with some cotton ric rac, some stamping and a button for good measure. The sentiment has been cut using my Silhouette and the little illustration is taken from my trusty old 365 Bedtime Stories book! I might make a few as they are very different to the Father's day cards I uploaded recently and I like to dip in and out of different styles depending on what's lying about on the craft table... like a mini challenge for myself!

    The little clay figure in the foreground is Domo. He was made by Sadie, with a little help from Daddy for the teeth which turned out to be a bit trickier than anticipated as the whole mouth has to be inlaid to the main body! There is definitely a Domo thing happening at the moment as she has a school bag, fridge magnets and other frivolous nonsense on the go... very cute tho and no it hasn't knocked My Little Pony off the top spot of her favourite things! I think she'll love Ponies till she goes up to high school and even then I'm convinced they'll remain her guilty pleasure, lol!

Close up of die cut and that cute cat mummy and poorly kitty!

Domo says Yo!

Keep crafting everyone!

Jak

xxx

They'll always be my babies...

Isn't it amazing how time flies! This photo is probably 4 years old now but I felt compelled to use it in a layout when I plucked it out of the packet last week. I'd been making lots of cards for my DoCrafts demonstrator trial using all their products and I was at a bit of a creative loose end once it was over so I thought making a scrapbook page for the girls album would be a good way of decompressing from the buzz...

   The thing that appealed to me in this photo was how pink everything was - typical girls!!! Something they aren't anymore. Both are busy finding out what makes them tick and pink is definitely not one of those things anymore! It kind of made me a wee bit sad that they've grown so quick - Millie is 12 now and Sadie 9 but in my head anyway - they'll always be my little girls! So making the most of that theme, I thought I'd go with these colours - pink but not overdone. The papers are mainly from an ancient set of Daisy D's that I bought from QVC yonks ago, (I don't think they even do craft stuff anymore...) mixed up with any old tat that goes, lol! But it just goes to show that really you should never throw out your stash!!!! Actually, strictly speaking not true - by all means have a thin out from time to time if only to make room for new things!

Happy crafting!

Jak xxx

Always my babies!

double paper bow

diecut viewmaster wheel slide

Here are some cards...

Hello there,
These cards were made using the new Mr. Mister and Owl Folk range from DoCrafts. The 12x12 Mr. Mister papers are really versatile as they hit the spot for not only Fathers day cards but any of those hard to make mens cards! Love it! The girls can make their very own Father's day cards this year. I promise I'll post them here if they don't mind...

Inspired by a project in the DoCrafts Creative Essentials brochure.

Next up are a few Owl Folk cards. The colour pallette of this range is lovely - lots of muted turquoise and orange with a bit of grey and navy to contrast. Anyway it's owls - what's not to like?

Die cut apertures with stamped and cutout owls peeping through! Inspired by a project in the latest DoCrafts Creative Essentials brochure

Those owls are really cute and the stamps are lovely to use too. I have a few more projects up my sleeve for those so stay tuned!

Have a crafty day

Jak xxx

Hi! It's me!

   Well hello! Apologies for not posting anything recently - life just got a bit busy and I let things slip a bit here! I'm here now tho and I have two pieces of mixed media art to share with you this morning. These were made as gifts for two of my lovely friends who thankfully really liked them - phew! It's always a worry when you give a homemade gift. Family members are always supportive of my creative endeavours but sometimes they can be a bit biased in their opinions which is by no means a bad thing - creativity should always be encouraged - no matter what the media is - it could be crafting, painting, putting the shelves up or just making the tea! I'm a firm believer that if it comes from the heart then it will usually be a thing of beauty, integrity or sometimes both! So I was really relieved when the girls opened their pressies and saw what I'd made them! They were genuinely delighted! I'm sure neither of them will mind me sharing the images here with you all - it's all about inspiring and sharing here...
This first one is Angie's pressie...

Happy birthday Ange!!

And this one is Elaine's

   As you can see I seem to have a bird thing happening at the moment - it must be spring or something! We don't get as many little birdies in our garden as we used to - having three cats kinda puts them off naturally, but we do get families of house martins nesting above the bay window of our living room. They drive the cats insane with their darting and weaving and comings and goings all day long heehee! I'm pretty sure it won't be long till they arrive for their summer holiday here in Sunny Dundee.
  So, back to the creative stuff - the collages were put together in a similar way as the Dwell With Your Kind one in the previous post. These ones are a bit smaller - A5, and are on canvasses instead of board this time. Both incorporate vintage bird images printed from a laser printer - very important this bit as prints from an inkjet printer don't like coming into contact with any water based paints, inks glues etc. and end up a blurry mess. There's old book text layered in the background but it's the layer of gesso on top that enables the colours to slide about and play with each other. Those gel crayons are so vibrant and creamy that I'd be happy just to look at that on my wall! I always finish off my art with a layer of Golden Gel Medium. I prefer to use the one that dries with a bit of texture so you can see brush strokes and uneven bits - I feel it just gives a bit more tactility too.
   Anyways, I hope you like them too and if you're having a lazy day, why not indulge yourself in something creative. It's good for the soul dontcha know!
Go on, you know you want to!
Love Jak
xxx

Dwell with your kind....

...or in other words "Birds of a feather flock together"! That is one of those things in my life I definitely find to be true.
    Here it is my project complete and I even managed to keep it safe enough whilst drying so it wouldn't end up getting cat footprints all over it. It would seem that Pablo is not as interested in painty stuff as he is papercrafting. Maybe it's the smells that the paint/glue etc gives off.
   I'm actually quite happy with how it's turned out and will find a spot somewhere to put it up. I'm already thinking of my next one, the best part being getting the background down. This will tell me where to go next. Basically I just want to get my hands on those creamy pastels again and get messy!

Thanks for taking the time to have a look!
Love Jak
xxx

PS. My apologies for the not very good photography. My camera has finally given up on me and I'm having to use my iphone for taking all my blog photos these days and although it does a passable job, it's just not the same as having a proper camera!
PPS. Get yourselves these Gel Pastels! They'd be great used for scrapbooking page backgrounds!