First Commission!

A friend of mine is going to a wedding this weekend and needed a card. A very simple design using blue-ish-purple ribbon, silver borders, silver leaf papers and a blue flower on a white background. Hope you like it!

I have spent a happy afternoon outside in the sunshine attempting to make the first of 4 drinks coasters. This is the first time I have attempted to use either millefiori or stained glass (and from the blur of the camera, you'd have thought a camera as well) To be fair I don' really like what I have produced so far: the background and the red are too dark for the subject and my glass cutting skills leave a lot to be desired. I think I should start giving people points if they can work out what I was trying to get at...

FIRST MOSAICS

I have finally found my camera cord and thought I should upload a picture of my first mosaic attempts. This was taken on the last day of my introduction to mosaics course and I had literally just finished gluing the red one - hence it is not yet grouted. I also hadn't finished polishing the green one. In hindsight I should have used a darker grout for my first ever mosaic (the blue one) but overall I am quite happy with how these turned out. A lucky mistake is that by turning them, the patterns actually match so I am now thinking that to complete the 'rainbow series' I should make a yellow / orange version the same so that I can arrange them in a square. Hours of fun. I will try and find a decent photo of the three arranged differently so you can see how they fit together. My next project will be some drinks coasters and I am going to attempt to cut glass without sending myself to A&E... knowing how clumsy and accident-prone I am, it is bound to happen. Maybe I should find a designated driver?

It was Father's Day on Sunday so this was a design for my dad. I find designs for men much harder than designs for women: maybe it is stereotypical but crafts just seem to suit girls more. This was my attempt to bridge the gap, although I think my material ones are more successful for that. However, over the years my dad has received an awful lot of material cards so I thought I would do something different: paper weaving! It hasn't really come out on the photo but the grey looking card was actually matt silver. I am irritated by my computer for not being able to remember that I have cropped this photo about 6 times now. Oh well, I will just have to make do with the slightly squiffy version.

Mosaics

I am still in the process of grouting my third mosaic in what I am presently calling 'The Rainbow Series' (how pretentious am I?!!) so I haven't yet added a photo. The fact that I don't yet know how to stain grout effectively and have ordered too pale a grout may be the issue here. There is also the fact that I of course need to actually TAKE a photo of them in the first place, and for some reason can't find the camera cord... dammit! So in the meantime, let it be known that there are mosaics in the offing and photos will at some point be posted, but patience is required. Have I got you interested yet? Meh.

Birthday Cards

Two cards I made recently for various people's birthdays. I have only recently learnt about quilling so the card with the flowers was an early attempt at it. I quite liked the results. I have been considering about selling my cards for a while but don't really know how to go about it. I guess word of mouth and getting an etsy store front. But do Etsy even operate in the UK? Hmmm.

Aliens-are-us

My first soft toy attempt was actually a present for Andy as a small thank you for giving me a sewing machine. It is meant to have only 5 legs. I made an alien of a different design a week or so later, but didn't feel it was as successful. I am going back to the drawing board to design some more... now that I have finished my quilt, I should have a bit more free time to do some.

A recent card I sent to my grandfather. I have been using material scraps in cards for a while now but used to use black card and paint in silver around the edges. You then obviously have the issue that it is impossible to write on black card. So I have cunningly come up with a new design: black underlay on white apertured card. Hurray!

I should point out that all my cards or other crafty things that I post on here can be made to order if you are interested in buying. You just need to contact me at: creatingtrouble1@gmail.com

Starting up a new blog

This blog is mainly here to promote my craft work. I am a bit of a geek who quite enjoys making cards, quilts, mosaics, toys... you name it really. Always open to ideas and inspiration, please tell me about new techniques you may have learnt recently.