My new Craft Space!

Today I'd love to share with you all my new craft space!
As some of you know I disappeared from the blogging world last year as I was running an online store, and there's only so many hours in a day. This year, things are getting back to a little more normal hours - I'm still working outside the home, which means it's even more important for me to have my little space where I can create to soothe my soul.
Without further ado... the big unveil!

  

All my goodies are within easy reach, and organised like nobody's business! Which is a tad ironic, as i'm a little on the more "creatively organised" side in real life hehe... 

Thats one of my two daughters cute little feet poking in on the side of the photo, and my little Rizzo baby hiding under my desk :) (or, his desk, as he likes to think of it). 

 

On the wall beside the paper rack is this wall hanging - Michele and I created it to use as a display piece for the craft fair,to showcase the different Tim Holtz colours.  We diecut the dress form and cotton spool from grungeboard, and then crackle painted them using Tim's Black Soot and Antique Linen crackle paint.  Each block features a single colour, applied onto white cardstock.  The coordinating stain was used to dye some of the fancy trimmings to the correct shade, as well as a strip of muslin.  This makes it a gorgeous way to colour match to my distress inks, and also illustrates the depth of intensity that the stains provide on different fabrics. 
The background is made by mod podging a few good strips of Tim's tissue wrap, allowing for a slightly scrunched finish. 
I love how colourful it is, and it makes me use my inks a LOT more than I did before!
(The colours on the last three are from the seasonal collections, which don't have matching stains).
What do you think of my little space?
Is there any elements you'd like a closer look at?
x Rita

Thinking of you - featuring Cut/Fold/Tuck dies!

I've had this sweet little set of dies hiding in the back of my stash for a little while now, and honestly don't know why I took so long to play with it!
It's the Spellbinders "Floral Burst" Cut Fold Tuck die, which consists of three separate dies, each with ornate cuts throughout. 
I used a piece of single side printed paper, as I wanted the contrast of the white on the pattern when i folded.  I forgot to take a photo of the largest layer (bad blogger!), but here are the two smaller layers...

They were a bit fiddly to remove from the die itself, but a craft pick or a sewing pin can assist there. 
Simply take the boomerang-ish shaped pieces and fold them back against the paper, and then tuck it under the "tongue" left by the raising of the one previous. 
If that isn't' confusing to explain, I'm not sure what is! :)

So this is all three layers tacked together.  Pretty hey! And seriously took me about 7 minutes from start to finish... And because I *HAD* to use it right away, I used it to make a quick card.  For this card I used cream puff Bazzill cardstock.  The patterned paper is "Junk" from the Kaisercraft Miss Match collection, which I edged using Vintage Photo Distress Ink.
I used a "Thinking of you" Stamp from a Stamp it collection which I absolutely adore! :)

 

And to top it all off, I finished it with a small Kaisercraft Sparklet.  Just beautiful! 

P.S. I love to get comments from you all, however due to the volume of spam comments that I have to deal with each day, I haven't got too much choice other than to turn on the "log in to comment" doover.  I hope you all don't mind, and still pop a comment in from me from time to time!
x Rita

Birdie Cards

I thought I'd get the new year started by topping up my card collection - It's so handy to have a stack of premade cards, ready to go at a moments notice. I'm a notorious last minute card maker, and often am dressed and ready to go to a kids party, and realise just as I'm hurtling out the door that I've forgotten to make a card... oops! These little guys took next to no time to create, and are fun and bright enough to keep any little girl happy! Best of all, these cards were made using scraps I had lying around :)
Cute and thrifty - what's not to love!