Crazicards Crafty Blog

A belated Happy New year everyone - better late than never I know...

New Year didn't get off to a fabulous healthy start unfortunately but things are getting better and I am hoping to be soon back up and running.

I have loads of new tutorial ideas to bring you this year including some great tutorials from so of my crafty friends.

So please become a follower and call back on a regular basis for some great tutorials :O)

Until next time, Happy Crafting x

I just wanted to write a quick note to wish everyone who reads my blog a Merry Christmas & A Very Happy New Year.

I hope to be back with lots more exciting tutorials and even more group Art from my Facebook swap group in the New Year.

So please keep safe and I hope to see you back here in January safe and sound.

Until next time Happy Crafting xxx

If your anything like me you still have loads of cards to make and gifts to buy or make, and there never seems to be enough time in the day or night to get it all done.

And it doesn't help now the weather seems to be turning cold and miserable, and the threat of snow is ever looming.

Still I am sure we will all work away like little beavers and even if it's Christmas Eve when we finish everything will get done... And we will be able to let out a huge sigh of relief for another year.

So with out further a due have a great rest of the week and I hope you get all your bits and bobs finished well before Christmas Eve so you have more time to play..... :O)

Until next time Happy Crafting xx

Oh My Goodness........... Can you believe that is is only "58" days until Christmas Day....

So much to do and so little time, before we know it, it will be Christmas week and the scurry of frantic feet will be heard in every craft room across the land as we all whizz around trying to get those last minutes Christmas Cards finished.

Or if you are really Crafty all those gorgeous handmade Christmas gifts need to be finished off and wrapped up ready to go to their new homes.

This week I have been busy preparing next months tutorial which just happens to be a lovely acetate Christmas card. So keep your eyes peeled for that next week..

And as it's almost time for Christmas I will be adding Christmas Card tutorials on a regular basis from next week onwards until Christmas week. So if you craft along with me until then you will have made at least 8 more Christmas cards.

Have a great weekend.

Until next time Happy Crafting xx

As some of my readers will know I was diagnosed with Cancer back in 2008 and thankfully things are going well on that front.

This year I wanted to do something to raise a little money for Cancer Research by selling Shopping Trolley Tokens and handmade items made by me personally.

One of the things I like to do when someone makes a donation or purchases one of my trolley tokens is to send a little thank you card along with the trolley token.

So this week I have been busy making a few more cards ready to be sent out. I decided on nice bright colours as the sun is shining and Summer is almost here. And I decided on the theme of flowers and butterflies as I love them both.

This first card was made by cutting out an aperture from a piece of copier paper then I used it as a stencil to make a coloured block background using a Big and Juicy ink pad, this one is Spice.

I then stamped and embossed a couple of doodle butterflies from Chocolate Baroque. And for effect I added a few little clear Rhinestones to each butterfly.

The second card was made by first of all stamping a leaf design directly onto the card using the same Big and Juicy ink pad.

I them stamped and embossed a fabulous little daisy stamp that I found in the bottom of my stamp box, I think I bough this one off eBay many moons ago. And to be honest I had forgotten just how pretty it was.

I then coloured them in using different colours again from the Big and Juicy ink pad and cut them out before sticking them to the card using 3D glue. I finished off with a Thank You stamp.

Nothing too flash but a quick, simple and effective way to say thank you to all my supporters for helping me to raise money for such a great cause.

If you would like to help me raise money you can purchase a shopping trolley token from my website fund raising page HERE. Or if you would like to make a donation straight to Cancer Research through my Just Giving page please visit my page HERE.


Thank you to everyone who has supported me so far, I appreciate your help more than you can ever know. Cancer research is such a good cause and every single penny counts...

So until next time Happy Crafting xx

I just wanted to add a quick message to wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day

I hope you all got lot's of nice flowers, chocolates and cards from those that you love. If not then here is a Valentine from me to you :O) Have a lovely Day xx

I just love Sheena Douglass don't you?

And I just love her "A Little Bit Sketchy" range of stamps as they give all of us the chance to play with so many different mediums.

 I sat and watched Sheena on Create and Craft the other day full of a cold but still as enthusiastic as ever about what she was showing to the viewers. Bless her...

Anyway in this particular programme Sheena was showing us how to use her stamps with watercolour pencils and chalk pastels. Both of which I have had for absolutely eons and never really used much.

So after being super inspired by Sheena I dug out my pencils and chalks from the dark depths of the spare room, where I keep my stash, and had a little play.

The first picture is coloured with the watercolour pencils and using the Nature Accomplished stamp set. It took me a while but it turned out OK although I say so myself and also considering that I used my cheap watercolour pad which is only 180 gsm. I will definitely use my Bockingford watercolour paper next time as I think the result will definitely be much better.

This second image is also on my cheap watercolour paper using the Milestone and Moments stamp plate and using my chalk pastel pencils to colour it in. This is the first time ever that I have used these pastels and I must admit I wasn't as happy with the results as I was with the watercolour pencils.

But that could be the paper I used I guess and  for a first attempt it's not too bad, practise makes perfect as they say. So next time I shall try the pastels using the right card stock and hopefully the end result will improve with more practise. I would most definitely recommend that you have a go with your watercolour pencils and chalk pastels if you have them, it's really rewarding and I know you will be happy with the end results once you have finished.

Have fun and Happy Crafting :O)

So what did you get up to over the weekend?

Besides the usual shopping and tidying up I managed to squeeze in some crafty things. I wanted to have a go at making some different style of flowers which was fun and very addictive (lol).

I have heard a lot of people say that once you start to make them you will not be able to stop. And now I know why they say that, as I really enjoyed making the flowers because I managed to get rather messy, like you do....

Here's a few of the ones I made:

This is the first rose I made using my Tim Holtz Tattered Floral dies with watercolour paper. I used this type of paper as I wanted to see what effect the ink would have from the Tim Holtz Distressed Inks and Cosmic Shimmer Mister Sprays.

To get this effect I simply sprayed Cosmic Shimmer Ocean Sunlight onto my craft mat and sprayed with a little water. I them spread the ink over the craft mat with my hand before adding my flowers.

I was quite happy as the ink soaked in to the paper in a kind of tie dyed way but you can't really see that from my photo. The only problem I had with the watercolour paper was that it is very fragile when wet.

Once the paper has been sprayed and dried it is quite stiff which is great for these flowers and you can shape the petal quite well. You just need to remember to cut in between each of the petals so that they don't tare when you stick and shape them.

Once this rose was dry I sprayed it again with a Cosmic Shimmer Mister which from memory was the  Sunlight Mist.

I also had a play with the rest of Tim Holtz Tattered Floral dies and made this fabulous flower using two of the large flowers and the same two  medium flowers as I used for my roses.

Again I decided to use the watercolour paper for this flower and I used Tim Holtz Distressed Inks Vintage Photo, Scattered Straw with a hint of Spiced Marmalade, and the Bronze Blush Cosmic Shimmer Mister to finish off with. Sounds like a 3 course meal doesn't it ...

To ink the flowers I simply dabbed my ink pads onto my craft mat and then added water, one colour at a time.

This was by far the messiest one to make as I scrunched the flowers up once I had finished inking them up. So I would suggest that you wear some rubber gloves to protect your hands before you start to play.  Again once the flowers were dry I sprayed them very lightly with the Bronze Cosmic Shimmer Mister spray and then dragged the petal edges through the excess spray left on the craft mat.

Once dried I glued them together with my hot glue gun, the two large petals first followed by the two medium flowers and I added a nice fancy metal bead I had in my stash for the centre. I really like the look of this flower and will most definitely be making a few more of these in different colours. The only thing to remember with this particular type of flower is that it is quite big at 2.5 to 3 inches across.

You can alter the width slightly when you put it together as long as the flowers are still damp. You can spray it with water to re-shape it if you want to after you have glued it together

And this is the third flower I made. For this one I dabbed my Chipped Sapphire distressed ink pad onto my craft mat and sprayed it with water. I then spread the ink over the craft mat before adding my flowers. This gave a much deeper covering to the flowers which was really quite vibrant before the flowers dried. (Once the flowers dried they had a more distressed look to them which is great).

Once the flowers had been dried off using my heat gun I stamped them all over with the word "bloom" in silver ink. And once I put the rose together I dragged the petal edges through the silver in pad and also a little gold.

I just love these roses and they are perfect for adding to your cards, boxes and photo frames. If you haven't had a go at making these yourself yet I really suggest you do give them a go, you will be really glad that you did, and once you get the hang of it you will know doubt have a big box full of many different types and styles of paper flowers that you can use on all your projects.

Tomorrow I will show you the two stamped Sheena images I had a play with over the weekend. I have never used watercolour paints or pastel chalks along side my stamping so this was something new to try and it turned out ok for a first go ...lol..

So until tomorrow....happy crafting :O)

I have been thinking of changing my blog template for a while and today I found one that I think is more in keeping with my style.

Hope you like it :O)

Well I have been busy during the last couple of weeks getting the new Crazicards Website Newsletter revamped ready for it's re-launch at the beginning of February.

This newsletter is aimed at being a much shorter and to the point newsletter. I aim to add new projects and tips in each issue as I never have been one to like those news letters that just sell you products and give you nothing else in return for your loyalty to their webstore.
 
I have also decided that instead of being a weekly news letter it will now be sent out fortnightly which will give me more time to hopefully bring you some interesting projects.

I thought you might like a sneaky peak of what the first project might be so here are a couple of images to tease :O)

At some time in our lives we all come into contact with Cancer. Whether it is through our own personal experience or the experience of others.

In my case Cancer has been a factor in my life for quite a long time in one way or another.

My first close up experience of Cancer was with my Grandma, she was diagnosed with Kidney Cancer and sadly passed away in November 2005.

Since then I have had quite a number of friends and family who have been diagnosed with Cancer and some have survived  and sadly some have not been so lucky. The most recent encounter being that of my partners mum who sadly passed away in December 2010 from Stomach Cancer.

I myself am one of the lucky ones...


In 2008 I was told that I had cancer of my right side Parotid Gland which sits just below your ear. Nothing can prepare you for that kind of a shock, I only went to the doctors for treatment with dizzy spells....

Lucky for me though my consultant is at the top of his profession and I was in and out of hospital before I knew what had hit me. After the surgery in July came 5 weeks of intensive radiotherapy in November this helps to kill any remaining traces of cancer, Chemotherapy isn't an option with this type of cancer. And then once all that was over and done the long road to recovery began.

Thankfully I am now well on my way to surviving Cancer, there have been a few hiccups along the way and I am sure there will be a few more smaller ones a long the way but the chances of surviving Cancer in today's society are far better than they ever have been thanks to Cancer Research.

Without donations from the public Cancer Research wouldn't be as far along as they already are - EVERY SINGLE PENNY COUNTS - and could save the life of someone you know.

I wanted to do my bit and came up with the idea of fundraising by donating 100% of the profit made from the sale of my website shopping trolley tokens as well as a selected monthly craft item/s from my website http://www.Crazicards.co.uk

The Shopping Trolley Tokens will be a permanent item and the selected craft item/s will change each month. And I will also be donating handmade craft items that I have personally made. 100% of the sale price for my hand crafted items will be donated to my scheme.

Thank you for your support - it's people like you that helped to save my life....

If you would like to donate directly to my Cancer Research fundraising scheme at Just Giving please visit http://www.justgiving.com/Crazicards

Can you believe yet another month has flown by since I last posted on my blog. I have no idea where the time goes. I do know that it feels like the older I get the faster the time goes.......

I think I need to invest in the software that types for you as you speak, I could do more things at the same time and would probably find more time to update my blog. I just wish I had more happy things to write about but at the moment that's not going to be the case as it would seem that Cancer likes the members of my family both near and far.

First it was me and now my partners mum has been diagnosed, her father is also suspected of having it and my sisters father in law is currently going through all the tests. So this 1 in 3 malarkey is not so in my family circle. Life can be so unfair at times...

Anyway on a brighter note things over at Crazicards.co.uk are going well. The site seems to be picking up a little and I am slowly but surely getting more products loaded up and even more are on their way. I am also working on a new gallery where I can upload my projects and I am hoping to have a section where all the customers at Crazicards.co.uk can upload their own art work for everyone to see, it's going to be great. All these things take time though so for now I have created an off the shelf gallery where I will be uploading some of my crafty projects. You can visit my temporary gallery by clicking the link here, I hope you enjoy your visit.

I know I have promised to do the box tutorial several times so I am not going to make any further promises as to when it will be ready to view, things are just to mad here to be able to say it will be ready any day soon. So I will just say that it is in the process and once I get some breathing space I will get it finished I promise....

Well I just don't know where the time goes. One minute it's January and the next it's April already and I will soon be 40 something.........

The new website is coming along a treat, although my service provider has been a big nightmare over the last week. The database server went down and no matter what you say to them they were oblivious. Anyway they eventually listened and everything is back up and running now thankfully.

So if you haven't been to visit already please feel free to come take a look and tell me what you think, all critiques welcome good or bad. You can find me here.

I recently decided to have a go at making an exploding box. I have seen many different versions of this type of box and I will be posting my version here along with a tutorial how to make a similar box once I get the wording right so that everyone can understand me that is LOL.....

I'm really pleased with the end result so pop back soon to read all about it.

Right enough from me Happy Easter.

Quite some time ago I had a notion that I wanted to start crafting again but due to work commitments I was too busy to even think about it.

Then in June 2008 my life was turned upside down after a visit to the doctors several months earlier for dizzy spells turned out to be Cancer just under my right ear. Totally unexpected this knocked me right off my normally sturdy little feet. But I made a vow that same day that I wouldn't let Cancer beat me and after a rather bumpy rollercoaster ride I am still here 19 months later although a bid worse for wear LOL.

Once I got through my operation in July and was well into my radiotherapy I decided that my life had to change and that I needed to concentrate on me more rather than my business. And that I needed to find a more relaxing less stressful job that benefited me more. So I started thinking about what I might want to do and then the light bulb went on one day, I love to do arty things and cards so why not have a craft business.

Anyway to cut a very long story short whilst I continued with my treatment and then the recovery afterwards I was planning in my mind the how's what's and why's of my new business and I also had to think of a logo and the main thing a name for that business.

And that is basically how Crazicards Craft Supplies was born. It's been a long time in the making but I got there in the end. So if your reading this message please take a few minutes to pay me a visit or tell a crafty friend where to find me. I am adding new products on a regular basis so hopefully there will be something for everyone.

Onwards and upwards as they say, have a great crafy weekend.

Angie
x

I have been thinking of starting a blog for ages now but sadly never seem to find the time. Until now that is. I love to make cards and I really enjoy stamping too.

So I have created this blog so that I can share some of my creations with everyone. But before I get round to that I have to find out how to share my pics etc. Hopefully it won't too difficult. We shall see............

Right that's it for my first blog I am off to learn how to blog properly.

I look forward to posting more soon......