A little altered art project

The project that I want to share with you is a prezzie that I have made for my son...... He hopes to be moving to his new place over the summer and I know how much easier it is to do your shopping with a list....
So, this is what I made for him....

This project started life as one of the large Do Crafts pegs, the paper I used to decorate it was the front cover from my Heritage Press paper pack.

 And I loved the idea of the message peg so much that I just had to make him a matching notebook.... I might go back and decorate the pen too!

 Here is a close up of the peg.....

 And this is how they go together.....

I thought this would make a great stocking filler...... and an ideal little gift for the man in your life.... (or woman for that matter).... fit perfectly onto a desk too........ and looks really good with photos in it.

What creative things have you got planned for the weekend?
Happy crafting, whatever you do.....
Nikki x

Follow up on my sneaky peek...

Hi everyone,
At last with the new launch of Do Crafts products about to hit the shops I can share some of the makes with you all....
I have been working with some of the newest dies that are being launched on the 1st July - and there are some 'crackers!' that are coming out.
I can already feel my purse groaning and the amount I may well just have to buy!!!! Well you know what it's like..... I need them!!!!

First of all we have the cracker die..... this is A4 in size...... (I used the poinsettia die for decoration, I like it in the white....)

 As well as traditional Christmas crackers I thought this would look great in birthday paper for a birthday party favour, a perfect way of creating a male themed box for a small gift or miniature....... or velum for a wedding favour....... Watch this space as I will be creating some of them very soon.

 The poinsettia die makes a very pretty wreath...

 And I think this has to be one of my favourites.... the bauble die.... Sooo pretty....

I'll be making some more as I have quite a few ideas for them.
There are now only 182 days to go, so I'd better get busy......... Christmas is a coming..... lol
Happy crafting x
Nikki.

This weeks commissions

It's been another busy week with commissions.... and I wanted to share a couple of them with you...
The first card uses some tonic dies and the beautiful pearly papers from do Crafts...... just perfect together...

 Here are a few close ups

 This card is a graduation card with a difference...... I wanted to use my pens and a good old Dr Seuss quote... I do love Dr Seuss quotes... The backing papers are from Kanban....

I've got lots of crafty things to do over the weekend, so hopefully it's not as hot as it's been awful..... I just don't do the heat.....
So if anyone knows where I can get myself an iceberg to hug, that would be great.

Happy crafting
Nikki x

Wow, how is it that you turn around and discover that you have missed 2 weeks of blogging! To say life is manic at the moment with things that are going on, appointments that need to be had and working is a bit of an understatement.......
So this morning I have set aside a few moments to blog, just because I can and I've really missed it....
Here is the commission card that I wanted to share with you today.......

and here is a little sneaky peak of something that I have been working on/with over the last few weeks..... more about that when I can share but let's just say there are some fab new dies hitting the shops in the very near future!!!

Hopefully the sun is shining wherever you are and you have a wonderful weekend.
Happy crafting
Nikki x

Creativity Club Design Team first ever blog hop

Hey everyone..... a massive welcome to the first ever Do Crafts Creativity Design Team blog hop.... If you are a regular on my blog - a massive wave to you...... thank you for coming back to visit..... if this is your first visit to me and you have found me along the hop - welcome, welcome, welcome.... it's lovely to see you here. Grab yourself a drink, pull up a chair and come along with me on my crazy crafting journey.....
Thank you for hopping on by.
The dt have been very busy creating projects (they really are a very talented bunch!)......
Here is the project that I created for the hop....

I used some of the downloads available to all Creativity members of the club over on www.docrafts.com. I have also been playing with some of the latest goodies from Do Crafts, some of my favourites from this crafty loop are the wonderful build a scene dies..... you get stunning results with these dies and they work in all die cutting machines..... I can see me using these time and time again.

Here is the list of designers who are taking part in the hop, it would be great if you could pop on over to their blogs and leave them some love.... They have some brilliant projects to show you.....

1. Nikki (that's me! lol)

2. Michelle

3. Keren

4. Heather
5. Denise

6. Sarah D

7. Katie

8. Jill

And if you have hopped on over from the Crafting Cafe group on Facebook (check out the link at the top of my blog if you would like to come and join us) - a massive wave to all of you too! I love hopping around to see what my Crafting Cafe Crew have been up to.

Right I'm off to hop around the list too before I finish that massive amount of die cutting that I am working my through for a Do Crafts project that needs to be sent off to head office. I'll share the pics and maybe a sneaky peek or two when I can.

Happy crafting
Nikki x



Edited ....... I decided to add some sparkle to my project and turn it into a Christmas card.......
So here is the same card with just that little bit of sparkle......
What do you think....... better?

What a week.....

7 days that have all been filled to the max!
Some things good..... some things not so much (but these things are outwith my control, so I refuse to give them or the person creating the drama, the time of day!)
Back to the fun stuff though.....
I have had a few commissions to do this week so I wanted to share them with you......

I have also been very busy creating samples for 31 of the Dobbies stores across the country. They are selling some great Do Crafts kits..... make sure you have a look next times you are in any of their garden centres ... they are a great gift for any crafters that you know too......
Here are some of the 200+ samples that I made over 3 days..... I told you it was a tad busy! lol

What creative things have you been up to? My plan for this weekend is to work on some DT projects and some tutorials for my blog.... really looking forward to some creative time.......
I'll be spending some time blog hopping too....... leave me your blog address as a comment and I'll be sure to pop on over and leave some love on your blog....

Happy crafting
Nikki x

Spritzing

One of my favourite products at the moment are the Do Crafts Artiste Spritzing Inks...... loving them!!!!
They come in a range of colours and are so easy to use.
Here are a few projects that I have made up using them.

 For this one, once I had fixed the ribbons in place I used the end of the spray like a dropper and just dropped some of the ink over the card.

 There are two techniques with this one...... first of all I die cut a parenthesis and lay it on top of my card - then I spritzed over the whole card. While the ink was still wet I removed the parenthesis (and kept it for another project..... Once the card was dry, I spritzed some ink into the corner and then used a straw to blow the ink (just like when you were little and you did it with poster paint)..... this gave me the branch effect....

This one is working on a die cut.... so first of all I spritzed purple, then I did the branch technique (as explained above), then I re spritzed with white - the white is brilliant for star backgrounds.....

The spritzing inks also give life to canvas and flowers. Great for alphabets, borders and embellishments....

I'd love to see what you have done with the links so make sure you leave a link to your spritz projects in the comments here and I'll pop on over and take a look.

Happy crafting
Nikki x

Not a card

Today I wanted to show you a something special that I created.....
It's a sweet dreams jar...... I grew up with a fairy bell that every night my grandad would ring with us - this would keep the nightmares away and let us have good dreams.
I have so many wonderful memories of my grandad, he was such a wonderful man. He inspired this project.

I have been busy with card making and some other bits too - lots to show you when I can.
I hope you like my jar.....
Enjoy the sunshine x
Happy crafting
Nikki x

Do Crafts Monday

If you are on Facebook or Twitter, you might have seen the hashtag #docraftsmonday....
It's where people who like a Do Crafts product, show everyone a pic of what they have made with it....
Pop on over and have a look - or why don't you take part.... just upload a picture onto Do Crafts page and add the hashtag.

My photos for this #docraftsmonday are projects that have been made using the latest downloads from Do Crafts for their Creativity members...... Are you a member of the club? - make sure you check out the downloads section if you are.... fabby range of templates, papers, images and a lot more.

Here are the cards I made using the 1 & 2 Spring Green collections ......

A little clean and simple card to start.....

With this one I have built up the layered flower to add dimension.

I thought I would do something a little different with the layers, here I have used the layers to create a pebble background.

And for my last card I got out the spritz inks for the background and then used the papers to create the roses. The very sparkly centres are created by adding a large drop of silver glitter glue. 

Whatever you are doing today - have fun!
Happy crafting
Nikki x

Happy birthday to Kris

My little boy turns 24 today!!!

How on Earth did that happen!!!!
I am so proud of my son - he has grown into a wonderful, kind, considerate young man who is a joy to be around.
This is his birthday card from me.....

 

 I love the Wellington range - hopefully Do Crafts do more of this at some point...... 

Gonna spend the day with Kris doing whatever he wants... so must dash.....

Hope your day is fun.

Happy crafting

Nikki x

Here comes Bellisima

Here is a sneaky peek of a new range that will be hitting the shops in March.
This is the Bellisima range from Do Crafts....

Here is a card I made with it,

You can see that the colour palette is very similar to the Henbury Lane / Lucy Cromwell collections that came out a while a go.... I loved both of these collections. The pastel mixtures are very feminine....
Watch this space to see some more soon....

Happy crafting
Nikki x

Birthday commission

Some ladies at work saw my Mothers Day card and wanted me to make a 60th card with a similar look.
So this is what I came up with....... the papers are all from the sew lovely range (Do Crafts) and the butterflies have been cut from a 12x12 sheet from the Madam Payrauds collection (Do Crafts).

 Here is what the inside looks like...

 A little close up of the front...

 I love these butterflies.... really effective when you cut them out of the sheet.....

Well, it's a rather wet and windy day here so perfect for staying in my crafty cave and getting some crafty things done...... I've got some cards to make and some more pyrography to do..... I just love the smell of burning wood!
Stay safe and warm wherever you are. I hope you have a fabby weekend.
Happy crafting
Nikki x
I'm entering this into...
Crafting Musketeers