Monday 26 October 2015

Guest Design By Denise Marchetti : Prima Doll Calendar

One of the absolute best parts of having a craft business is that you meet the most talented people. The other day I was fortunate enough to have Denise Marchetti in my studio. Denise was telling me about this amazing calendar that she had created using her Prima Stamps. I was intrigued and she promised to share pictures of her masterpiece as soon as possible. Well guess what, she sent them to me Thursday. So knowing me as as you do, of course it took me until now to to get everything organized to share them.

Here we are: Denise Marchetti's Prima Doll Calendar.


January, is birthday theme as my daughter and granddaughter are 
both January babies I used anything I had on hand that 
would go with my theme.great idea to use scraps and from your stash!

February: Valentine's Day


March: Easter is in March 2016



April: Vacation theme
May: Bring in May flowers from stamps I have

June: Used stamp of the month from close to my heart 
and SU lovely as a tree

July was paper piecing to create a scene at the beach


August is stickers from leftover packages I had
September is back to school


October: My favourite one is large spider web stamp embossed 
with black and then spiders are from die and so are pumpkins

November: Leaves falling (some distressing and inking)

December: Waiting for Santa santa in window is fussy cut from paper 
and then place behind acetate and then window die cut.

 I used copic for most skin tones but 2 are done with watercolours.


Thank you for sharing your beautiful calendar with us Denise. It is wonderful to have a chance to see the versatility of these adorable stamps.






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Saturday 24 October 2015

Vintage Teddy Mini Album Using Fabscraps Chipboard Album

It's so sad that I have made such a cutie patootie album and have no new babies in my life. I thought I would share how cute it really is before I send it off to ebay land hopefully to the delight of some new Momma.

Here is what I used:

Fabscraps Baby Bear ChipBoard Album
Fabscraps Baby Bear Paper Line
Thick mulberry paper
Googly eyes
Close To My Heart New England Ivy
Recollections Green Velvet Trim
Reclaimed Lace from My Grandmother's Sewing Box



It took about 3 hours to turn this


Into this:



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Wednesday 21 October 2015

On the Road with My Grandma's Teacups

When you have a blog you tend to read a lot of information about blogging. Its so much more than just typing random thoughts onto a blank white screen and hitting publish. Well, for some people I guess that is what they do but I am interested in the actual art of blogging. You know the creative process wherein other people invest themselves in your content because they feel that you are providing them with value, knowledge, inspiration and sometimes just a smile. This post I hope does the latter.

On Saturday I packed up my 1/3 of my craft store and hit the road to be a guest at the crop of Angie McColeman in Kingston. I agonized over what would be the best selection to take to show all the talented croppers in attendance. I must have packed 6 times to get ready. A little Graphic 45, a little Julie Nutting, a splash of Kaisercraft so the ladies could recreate our Magnolia Grove layout from last week....I even took a couple of Colouring Books for Adults. As a last minute idea I threw in my box of fabscraps chipboard pieces  which turned out to be a huge hit.

I took a quick glance at google maps thinking that I knew whereabouts the crop was being held. By 8 am I was packed and ready to leave. My hand packed lunch that my 12 year old son provided for me in hand. By 8:12 I had my copilot picked up and loaded. We were off on another whirlwind adventure.

Well, as it turn out I did not know where I was going as well as I had thought I did. We ended up somewhere north of Odessa at a lovely Free Methodist Church. The parking lot was filled with well dressed ladies....that tipped me off that perhaps I had taken a wrong turn in Albuquerque (is that a real place) No offence ladies but we all know we dress for comfort when we are heading to a crop and this high heal wearing, matching scarf and purse crew seemed a bit to put together to be planning on spending the day playing with paper.  I consulted with my cohort and we decided to seek assistance from our friend that was already at the crop. Of course she was too busy cropping to check for our SOS texts. We resorted to asking the first person that walked near enough to hear our pleas to give us directions to our destination in Kingston. She actually pulled out a paper map which honestly I don't think I have actually seen anyone use for directions in years.

Thankfully it was a short jaunt to get us back on track and we managed to make it to the crop a mere 15 minutes late.

We were welcomed with such warmth and hospitality that I wondered why it had taken me so long to decide to make the trip. It was a wonderful day of chatting with such creative minds. I felt like my craft tank was overflowing with inspiration. I also made some wonderful connections with local crafters that will be guest posting their projects on the blog. Yay for us!

The very best part of the day was reconnecting with a dear friend that I had not seen in years. I forgot how much I missed chatting with her.

This wonderful experience has motivated me to take my little shop on the road more often. If you are looking for a mobile craft store for your next crop give me a holler. I would love to get out and meet all my you crafty ladies.








Thursday 15 October 2015

I've moved over to the dark side : +5 reasons you should too


The Spectrum Noir side that is!

This article contains affiliate links which if you purchase the product I get a small commission.

Last week my new collection of Spectrum Noir Markers arrived. All except the cool greys which are on backorder....I guess a lot of people are busy drawing the dreary skies. I was unsure whether I would like them as well as my Copic markers or my ShinHan, but now I am convinced that this is the maker collection I have been dreaming of. You dream of markers too right, it's not just me?








#1 There are all these beautiful colours to use





#2 The reinking system is so easy

  • Each bottle has a dropper cap and will refill pen at least 5 times.



#3 You can get different styles of nibs to suit your colouring style. 

  • These next generation replacement nibs fits in the chisel nib end of the Spectrum Noir markers.

#4 They are less than half the price of Copic and ShinHan Markers



#5 They offer free instructions and video tutorials to get your accreditation. This is very cool as it costs allot of money to take the courses you need to get Copic certified.  They give you a certificate and a blinky to show off on your blog.



+ bonus # 6


They feel really nice when you work with them. They are large enough that you feel like you have good control while you colour and the grip is very comfortable. I really like the nibs that come with the pens so i am unlikely to switch to the brush nibs. The colours are deep and vibrant and the colour palette is wonderful. 

I don't regret switching over to the dark side at all and I don't think you will either.



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