neonfoxtongue

Back on the blog-horse thanks to City of Craft

Well, hi. Let's not even talk about how long it's been. Or how I've agonized on how to have a great comeback. I've decided I've got to lose the guilt about (not) blogging and just jump right in. Can we just forget about the months of silence (though not on Twitter) and move on? I'd be ever so grateful...

Thanks - you're swell. x

Once I decided to just get back on the blog-horse (inventing new words is fun), it was obvious what my first post would be about: City of Crafts's upcoming event, Love & Rummage 3!

I've attended a number of City of Craft and the workroom events since moving back to Toronto and in December I helped out at *the* City of Craft event of year (or as I like to call it "The Big Show").  I guess I did a decent job, because becky asked me if I'd be willing to help out at Love & Rummage. And of course I said yes, because I had lots of fun last time and because the job she asked me to do involves bunting! And bunting makes me very happy and slightly giddy.

I'm not 100% sure of the details, but I know that Etsy was a sponsor City of Craft's December show and one of the many goodies they provided was DIY fabric bunting. I believe that these particular goodies didn't arrive in time for The Big Show, so we get to use them for Love & Rummage instead. And I think it's for the best because as you can see, the bunting is **ah-dorable** and perfect for adding a bit of cheer the usually dreary month of February.

So if you love bunting like I do, come by Love & Rummage this Sunday at the workroom at 3:00 pm to partake in a little (free!) workshop that yours truly will be facilitating. And let me say that this mini bunting is pretty easy to make, so it's an easy gig for me. I'll just be handing out scissors and cheering people on.

And if for some reason you are allergic to bunting or have somewhere else to be between 3 - 4  pm, you can still come by from 12 -5 pm to see all the amazing and talented vendors (plus more!) who will be selling items that are guaranteed to warm your heart and put a spring in your step.

What more could you ask for?! More bunting? Okay!

(Photos courtesy of The Leopard. Thanks Sweetie!)

See you Sunday! (And back here soon! No, really!)

 

nft made: Anniversary card

Oh wow - Wednesday already! Well, no sense in looking back; only forward.  I haven't posted stuff that I've made in a while, so it's time to get back into doing that.  My Mom asked me to make a card for my parents' best friends' 30th wedding anniversary.  I wanted to capture both the sentiment of celebrating 30 years of marriage along with even more years of friendship.

I used Chiyogami paper I got at The Paper Place's last big sale and did the lettering with two styles of rub-ons.  I kept the lay-out simple to showcase the paper.

 

I really like using Chiyogami and other fine papers.  I think I'm going to make an effort to work with them more often.

Creative Goals Monday: Creating a Crafty Space

After another weekend of moving stuff to our new place and then trying to unpack and put away said stuff, I'm pretty convinced I don't want to move again for a while.  Luckily, I'm thinking we'll be happy in here, especially once we get things set up and organised the way we'd like.  It's probably going to be an ongoing process in that respect, but I hope we're able to get a lot of it done in the next few weeks.  One of my major goals is to have a workable and enjoyable space for me to create.  A space where all my tools and supplies have their own place and the most used ones are easily accessible.  A space to make cards, other paper crafts and paint, and a place for the great hand-me-down sewing machine from my Mom.  A space that inspires me to create.  It's going to take a lot of creative thinking to find ways to best use the space.  I've been saving images of craft and/or studio spaces for a while now, so my goal this week is to look through them for inspiration.  If any of them really appeal to me, I'll post them here. 

I'm looking forward to accomplishing this goal in the medium-term, but for the short-term, I'm going to have to make do with whatever I can - a flat surface and whatever supplies I can reach within the piles of boxes and plastic tubs.  There are still cards to be made - at least two in the next week - so I have to get cracking. 

Today, I thought I'd show you a set of cards I made last month for my friend J, who kindly let me ship some much needed (and well-priced) craft supplies to her just-outside-London address from one of my favourite suppliers in the UK, and then brought them to me when she came for a visit to Toronto.  I wanted to give her something to thank her for being my 'craft mule'.  I initially thought I'd make her a thank you card, but then I thought - why not make her a few and let her give them to whomever she wants?  So that's what I did. Three simple thank you cards. J loved the idea.  I'm thinking I might be onto something here.

 

 

nft made: Card for a Californian wedding

As promised, and thanks to my Mom, here are photos of the card I made for the wedding my parents are attending this weekend.  The wedding is taking place outside Malibu, California.

The wedding invitation was black and white with a teal ribbon accent, so I used similar colours for the card.  The card blank I used had an oval cut out, which made it easy to add a ribbon detail without having to worry about hiding the ends. 

I used Letraset letter transfers for the 'Love'.

I hope the happy couple likes it!

nft made: Three Little Birds mobile

Several months ago, when I was still living in jolly old England, I posted that I wanted to make something that was inspired by the song that The Leopard and I play (or sing) when we're feeling a bit overwhelmed and/or stressed about something.  And let me tell you, that song got a fair bit of play in the last few months when we were both unemployed and living in The Leopard's parents' basement.  So when I found (and bought) a little 2D wooden chickadee at The Paper Place this Spring, I knew it would be the perfect template for a little paper project.

 

It was a really simple project, but it took me a couple of months to finish it. The reason it took so long is that I couldn't decide which colour combination of paper to use and kept putting it aside until I felt more decisive.  Hence, I now have a few several little birdies to us in other projects.  I tried to use paper scraps whenever possible.

 

Side 1

I used really cute ribbon made out of threads from Mokuba, another West Queen West institution. 

A little bow at the end and we're done!

Now we have a little visual reminder that everything little thing *is* going to be alright!  :)  I can't wait to hang it up in our new place!

nft made: using alcohol inks

This post is long overdue, but I kept finding other things to post about first.  You may remember I took a workshop a few weeks ago at Bizzy B Stamp & Scrap on how to use alcohol inks.  Alcohol inks are a great way to create multicoloured paper and acetates to use as backgrounds for cards, scrapbooks and ATCs.  They're easy to use and can produce a variety of effects. Take a look at what I made in a two hour workshop.

These were all done on glossy paper. Alcohol inks are applied with cotton pads that act a bit like sponges and a bit like stamps. You can also blend and lighten the colours with a blending solution.  The more you work on the paper, the more the colours blend.





They dry pretty quickly and then you can stamp on the paper with StazOn ink.



For this one, I created a purple/blue background, then dripped yellow onto it and stamped on the yellow circles that were created.



These are the acetates. You have to coat the acetate with the blending solution and let it dry first so that the inks stay somewhat in place when you drip or stamp it on.





And you can stamp on the acetate once it dries.

There are a lot of colours as well as metallic inks, so the possibilities are pretty much endless!  One thing I quickly discovered in the workshop though is that you can't guarantee that you'll get the results your envisioning because you can't completely control how the inks are going to work together.  The best approach is to work on a bunch of different papers at once, using the colours you like.  You'll be able to make several backgrounds at once and can pick the one you like best. 

I really enjoyed working with alcohol inks and I think I'll to get some of my own at some point.  And it might be sooner than later.  The Leopard and I found out today that our application for an apartment was accepted! :) That means that in August, I'll be able to start setting up my very own permanent creative space.  I can't wait!

nft made: knitted recorder pouch

Here's a project that was long in the making, but almost as long in getting it photographed and blogged about!  After my three-week knitting class in January, I needed an easy project to try so The Leopard suggested that I knit a pouch for his digital recorder.  He uses the recorder at gigs so he can listen afterwards and work to improve his set, as well as to post some of his live music on his blog. It didn't come with a case though, so he wanted something to protect it while it's kicking around in his bag.  I found some nice yarn in the colour he requested and set to work.  It started off pretty well, but I worked at it very slowly.  February was filled with packing up our flat in London and getting ready for our trip and March was spent *on* our trip, so I didn't get back to it until April when we were back in Canada.

At the end of April, the pouch looked like this:

 

I finished it in early May and stitched it together (which was as easy as I had hoped!).  However, I didn't have anything appropriate to thread through the drawsting holes I made.  I used some satin yellow ribbon as a temporary measure (so The Leopard could use it), but it really didn't suit it of course.  I finally made it to Fabricland a few weeks ago and found some cool cord that was the right thickness.  I'd love to find some thicker leather cord in a darker colour, but this will definitely do for now.

Here's the completed pouch in all it's glory!

 

 

It's not perfect, but it works!  Need to keep up with the knitting though - I've really been neglecting it these days.  I think I need an easy project that uses big needles and thick yarn.  And isn't too hot to work with in the summer.  Is that even possible?  I'll do some research and get back to you on that.

nft made: wedding invites and anniversary card

I feel like I haven't shared much of what I've been making lately, mostly because I'm in the middle (or beginning) of a few projects.  But I have been finishing things as well, so today I'm taking the time to post one of my newer creations, as well as an older one.  As I mentioned in this week's CG Monday post, The Leopard and I celebrated our one-year anniversary on the weekend.  We decided not to exchange gifts and instead just go out an enjoy ourselves (which we did - Thai food...yum), but we agreed that we'd still give each other cards.  (Actually, I decreed that anniversary cards were non-negotiable for the entirety of our marriage - a gift isn't necessary, but some heartfelt words on paper at least once a year are, in my opinion.  Happily, The Leopard agrees with me.)

I, of course, was going to make The Leopard's card.  I knew that I wanted to use our marriage vows in the card design somehow and I thought it might also be nice to use some of the remaining paper from our handmade wedding invitations.  As a point of reference and because I haven't posted them before, here is a photo of the invitations:

Quite simple, with a Charles Rennie Mackintosh design (our wedding had a bit of an art deco theme and we got engaged in Scotland) and lovely violet and butter paper/card stock from The Paper Source.  We used an art deco font for the text, which turned out lovely (no photos of that on hand, unfortunately).  I was really pleased with them.

Here is what I did for The Leopard's anniversary card:

 

I used a different stamp and embossing powder, but kept the colours from our invitation.  And I used a vellum overlay, which partially obscures:

 
...our marriage vows!  (apologies for the less than stellar photo - I took it one-handed.)

I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out too, but I'm really happy I didn't have to make 74 more this time! :)

And The Leopard's card for me?   A perfect depiction of what we like to call the best (and silliest) team in the world - us! :)

 

Project pics: knitted cuff and birthday cards

Because Monday`s post was a bit photo deprived and I have a few completed projects to post about, this post post is going to be photo heavy and short on text. I don`t have to blather on all the time!*

So here`s my first completed knitted project in all its (non) glory.
 

I admit that my favourite things about this project are the materials - the awesome button I bought here and the super soft cotton yarn.  But I`m pretty proud that I made the cuff without a pattern and just figured it out as I went along.  Plus, I love moss stitch and I`m glad I chose it for this project.  I figure it`s a decent first attempt and I definitely want to try to make another one, probably less wide and with smaller needles (I used 4.5mm).

Here are two birthday cards I made and gave recently:

 

They`re both pretty simple designs because I`m working with a limited amount of crafty tools, particularly stamps and inks.  The first one was for my aunt - I bought the floral/leaf patterned paper in at The Papery in Ottawa and I'm glad I got finally got to use it for a card.  The second card was for my cousin, who turned 22 this month so I used ink and sparkle glue to highlight that.  This photo doesn't do the sparkles justice unfortunately. 

And because I feel like adding one more pic, here's one from our walk in High Park last Friday.

I didn't realise that the park had a little zoo!  This king of the hill was doing a great impression of a mountain goat, but he's actually a sheep!  Who knew?  You learn something new every day!

*Just most of the time!