link: quick to blush - Stamping tiles...

i read some great crafting blogs, so i've decided to start highlighting projects that i think are fantastic... the first such project is from quick to blush, which is published by my friend, Jes... she recently shared this beautiful stamped tile she did and a mini-tutorial... i'm so excited to try it myself...

photo credit: Jessica @ quick to blush

All Occasion Criss Cross Cards

Started: February 23, 2008
Finished: February 23, 2008
Made For: me!
Inspiration: suen from SCS
Materials: SU Classic Stampin Pad in Ruby Red, Luxe Designs Multi-Coloured Floral rub ons, My Mind's Eye Confetti/Kaleidoscope pattern papers in Surprise "Summer" Dots / Yellow Orange, Surprise "Girlfriends" Polka Dots / Pink, and Surprise "Summer" Stripes / Light Pink
Tools: SU Curvy Verses, Edgy Eloquence, and Much Appreciated stamp sets, McGill Mini File Tab punch, rotary cutter, roller adhesive
Cost: $15
Would I Do It Again? i think i've done this style to death, so probably not...
Notes / Comments: these turned out really well, although i don't dig them as much as the birthday cards i just did...

i used rub ons for the first time since i've started paper crafting... i have memories of rub ons coming with McDonald's Happy Meals and had shied away from them because they never seemed to transfer correctly when i was a kid... as the fabulous Ms. M said last night, "The Hamburglar always ended up without a head." i was surprised at how easily the rub ons transferred and i only screwed it up once (i accidentally scraped the rub on away, as you can see in the last picture)... overall, i give Luxe Designs rub ons a big thumbs up!

Selling on Etsy...

Ms. Crafty says: i've asked some of the crafty ladies in my life to guest blog... first up are Spots and kasanika, who have tackled the world of Etsy, a hip online market place...






Etsy is "Your place to buy and sell all things handmade." It's sorta like a cross between eBay and a high-end craft fair. There truly is something for everyone.

Selling on Etsy is super easy and economical. All you need is an original art or craft you can ship, some good photographs, and a credit card. Etsy fees are currently in USD; it's 20 cents to list an item, plus 3.5% when you sell. Each item is listed until it sells, up to 4 months. Most buyers pay using PayPal, so having a PayPal account is a good idea.

The importance of taking good digital photos is crucial. An eye catching photograph draws people into your shop. It's also important to stagger your listings. Keyword searches bring up newest items first, it's ideal to always have one of your items at the top of the pile.

On the front page, the community button leads you into a wealth of information from policies and resources to workshops and chats. Be sure to visit the forums to get tips and tricks from others and to promote your own shop.

Feel free to stop by ours shops, say hi, and add us to your favourites too.

AngelaSpots

kasanika

Ms. Crafty says: as an aside, and a very happy customer, i wanted to mention that kasanika was recently featured in The Storque (Etsy's online zine)... you can read all about it here...

Card Exchange - Birthday Theme

Started: February 13, 2008
Finished: February 14, 2008
Made For: message board card exchange
Inspiration: suen from SCS
Materials: SU Classic Stampin Pad in Not Quite Navy, My Mind's Eye Confetti/Kaleidoscope pattern papers in Celebrate "Boy" Dots / Yellow Green, Celebrate "Beach" Dots / Yellow Green, Celebrate "Boy" Harlequin / Light Blue, Celebrate "Brothers" Zig Zag / Dark Blue
Tools: SU Edgy Eloquence stamp set, McGill Mini File Tab punch, rotary cutter, roller adhesive
Cost: $15
Would I Do It Again? absolutely... i'm going out to buy more of the paper to make a whole stash...
Notes / Comments: what i love, love, love about this card is that it's relatively gender neutral... it's quirky without being frou frou, which i have a hard time avoiding... i bought some brads for embellishment and ended up leaving them off because it was just too much... as it is, i know that not everyone will dig the loud patterns... but anyone who knows me knows that it's pretty fitting...

radio silence...

don't worry, my poor little crafting blog has not fallen by the wayside already... i've just not been crafting much as i'm getting ready to return to work and i'm trying to get my ducks in a row before i'm really and truly a working mum...

right now i've got a dishcloth on my needles and that's about it... i'm trying to get 4 rows a day done (to quote the movie Juno, "Whoa! Dream big!"), so i should wrap it up by Friday at the latest...

i have two upcoming projects:

1) a Birthday card exchange - once this cold snap breaks and i actually dare to venture outside, i have to pick out my colour scheme and decide what the heck i'm doing... i need to make 10 by early March... i'm hoping to either start cutting or stamping some stuff at my monthly craft night, next week...

2) some of these cute amigurumi patterns from Owlishly... i haven't picked up a crochet hook in years, so i'm probably going to be in over my head... they're just so damn cute... i bought the 3 patterns below...

Beige Twisted Purl Dishcloths

Started: January 3, 2008
Finished: January 6, 2008
Made For: my family
Pattern: Springtime Dishcloth from I Live On A Farm
Modifications: i only CO 40 stitches
Materials: 2 balls of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Softy Taupe
Tools: Size 8 knitting needles
Cost: $1.59/skein
Would I Do It Again? yes
Notes / Comments: this is my first knitting project in 3 or 4 years, so i wanted a gentle reintroduction and i was bored of making scarves (which all my other knitting projects have been)... what's the next easiest? dishcloths, of course...

i didn't want to use a simple knit/purl pattern... after a few minutes searching Google i came across this great pattern from I Live On A Farm... once you get a hang of the twisted purl stitch, it's actually very easy...

as you can see from the photos, the size of the cloths varied greatly as i got use to maintaining the same tension throughout... the cloth on the far right (second picture) was my third cloth and is a little smaller than the other two... i managed to get 3 cloths out of 2 skeins, but i'm sure i could squeeze 4 out if i had the same tension on the first two that i had on the last one... they're also a little misshapen and i could block them, i suppose, but why bother since i'm just going to use them to wash my dishes...

Thank You Card For Maria

Started: December 30, 2007
Finished: December 30, 2007
Made For: Maria
Scraplifted From: my own layout
Materials: 2 colours of cardstock, ribbon, eyelets, VersaMark, Perfect Pearls Pigment Kit in Metallic
Tools: Cuttlebug, Olivia alphabet cutting die, SU All Year Cheer stamp set, SU So Many Sayings stamp set, MM Tool Kit, rotary cutter, gold metallic marker
Cost: under $5
Would I Do It Again? yes...
Notes / Comments: this is a card i made for my BIL's mother... i didn't have a specific design idea in mind when i sat down to do it, but i knew i wanted to use the purple cardstock and i thought the green ribbon would be a nice compliment to that... using the gold pigment from Perfect Pearls was just an excuse to use it... in total, this card took about 20 minutes to make, if that... the design element is very simple, but i like how it turned out... the second picture shows the gold pigment a little better than the larger picture... in person, it has the appearance of a very luminous watermark effect...

the Perfect Pearls Pigment Kit is easy to use... there are several kits available, each including 4 pigment colours, a small Perfect Medium pad (which is similar to VersaMark) and two paint brushes (one to place the pigment, one to dust off excess)... what is nice is that you can keep building up the layers of pigment until you get the amount of saturation you like... i find you can do about 3-4 passes before it won't take any more pigment... for more ways to use Perfect Pearls, Charmed Cards & Crafts has some project ideas...