So many Craft products to choose from - what to do?

By -



So many choices of craft products - what to choose?

Looking at the various craft magazines, browsing the various craft shops (such as Handy Hippo,DoCrafts, CraftCreations, you can find online and now watching the Create and Craft TV channel (the only dedicated 24 hour Craft channel in the world and now showing in the US too), it gets more and more confusing as to products I should be using for different projects from "am I using the right sort of paper", "which dies would be good to use", are digital stamps better than real ones to "should I embrace CD or paper crafting"?  The list goes on and on...

It is hard to find a definitive answer as we all have our own preferences (I like all of them which makes things harder)  - there are also limitations as to what we can and can't use when selling our cards - does the Company have a flexible Angel Policy or is the license a strict one so that we can only make them to give away?
Is it best just to stick to card making or go down the mixed media/altered art route - must admit having just got some Imagination Crafts Sparkle Medium and a couple of stencils, I am now having great fun trying these out! There are some fantastic papers out there - just one being Graphic 45 - I have made a simple pencil holder (or whatever you want it to be) from an old powdered potato tin which looks really stylish having been covered with a paper from their Raining Cats n Dogs series.
Pencil holder covered with Raining Cats n Dogs paper from Graphic 45
Graphic 45 Raining Cats n Dogs paper making a stylish pencil holder
So I am going to start a regular spot which I hope will be useful and it would be also really great if you could share your thoughts too!
Coming up (not necessarily in this order)...
  •  Dies, Dies and more dies...
  •  Digital stamps versus clip art
  •   Digital stamps versus normal stamps
  •  Glue - when to use a "wet" glue such as Collal or do you use a tape pen? Silicon versus PVA 
  •  Angel policies - what is an Angel policy and who allows you to do what
  •  Punches - various makes from Woodware, EK Success, Martha Stewart and many more...
  •  Cardstock - what is the best cardstock to use for various projects and what weight paper/card is best for the various layers
  • CD papercrafting - from Serif, My Craft Studio, Creative Card World, Crafter's Companion, Creative Crafting World and many more...
  •  Terminology - what does Matt and layering mean? 




















So if you think this sounds interesting then why not:-

Follow us on Twitter  follow me on twitter  Like us on Facebook follow me on facebook   Follow us on follow me on google plus         Like us on Pinterest follow me on pinterest         

 Watch us on You Tube (coming soon) follow me on youtube  See our work on Instagram (coming soon) follow me on instagram

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mother's Day flowers card

By -
Image
Mother's Day flowers card Hi Craft addicts! I really love using Tim Holtz's Distress Crayons and so I made this card with one of the designs I created. How I made this card:- I used Tim Holtz Ranger Yupo paper as the base for the flower design - I used his Orange, Yellow, Red and Brown Distress Crayons - just added a few flicks of colour to the paper and then quickly used my finger to spread it a bit...  I repeated the process several times, changing the size of the flowers slightly. Once I was happy with them, I then used a damp waterbrush to fade the colours out a bit. I also used some of the Ranger Blue and Green Distress Crayons to add a faded background to it. I trimmed the panel so it measured 3" x 4.5" and edged it with a Black alcohol marker. I then glued it to some Kraft card (American Crafts as it has a linen effect to it) and cut it so there was a slightly wider border around it. I attached the whole panel to the front of a 5"...
Read more

With Love Abstract flower in pink, black and white on hand coloured flowery background square card

By -
Image
With Love Abstract flower in pink, black and white on hand coloured flowery background square card Hi Craft Addicts! Today's card is a result of using a background I have created myself using Tim Holtz Distress Crayons along with dies from Toni Darroch's Stamps by Me. How I made this card:- I had been playing with some Tim Holtz Distress Crayons to make the flowery background (it measures approx 5" square as the card itself is a 6" one - to do it, I used Spun Sugar and Picked Raspberry, experimenting with the "strokes"  I used - it took a bit of time to get the effect right - I used normal stamping paper this time rather than Yupo as it gives a totally different effect. I also used a paintbrush and some water to blend them in even more. Once I was happy with what I had done, I then added some green alcohol marker to create the stalks and some faded blue and yellow spots dotted around the pattern. I then edged it with a black alcohol marker. ...
Read more

Happy Birthday - Meerkat on desert background 7x5in card - Day 110 of my 365 day challenge

By -
Image
Happy Birthday - Meerkat on desert background 7x5in card -  Day 110 of my 365 day challenge Hi Craft addicts! I really enjoyed making this Birthday card - especially colouring in the background which I am pleased with how it turned out. How I made this card:- I had previously cut out a few of the Meerkats (a Tattered Lace die) using various cardstocks and thought that this Kraft card one would work well on a desert background. I therefore cut a piece of smooth white card to 110x145mm approximately and started to colour it in. I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks to do this-  Tea Dye, Dried Marigold and Rusty Hinge are the main ones used - making it darker at both the top and the bottom. I also added a hint of green to the centre of the panel. I then cut out the oval label panel in the middle of it (I think it was either a Tonic Studios or Tattered Lace die) - I also cut a similar panel using a darker Kraft cardstock. I stuck the large layer on to the fro...
Read more