Crafting Cheaply – More Bargains

Stay tuned for the post on craft websites. I’m still working on that.

After my first post I was thinking about what other things I’ve got that were a good price.

I’ve recently bought some craft sheets. I didn’t go for the branded ones, but picked up some a pack of 4 PFTE sheets for £8.99 from Amazon. Some of them have minor blemishes on them, but so far I have glued and painted on them and it’s easy to wipe off (I did it fairly soon after painting so I don’t know what it would be like after days). I’ll let you know how I get on if I use it with my heat tool or any other materials.

Blulu 4 Pieces PTFE Sheet Non Stick Craft Mat Heat Press Transfer Sheet, 16 by 20 Inch

I tend to use white emulsion (a small pot for painting the house) rather than gesso as I find it’s less gritty in texture. You can get that from any DIY store. I like Wilkos for that and for the little tester pots, great for upcycling one small item such as here.

I used baby talc mixed with mod podge rather than buying texture paste to go through stencils for the background here. I don’t know what quantities I used, maybe try 50/50 of a small amount and see what it’s like.

I have more cheap crafting ideas too so keep your eyes pealed for future posts!

 

Crafting Cheaply – Bag A Bargain

I thought I might do a few more ‘useful’ posts that other crafters might be interested in.

I’ve found a few craft things recently that have been surprisingly cheap. So…I thought….are they any good?

Cheap cutting dies:

Now, I’m not an expert in dies. But they are EXPENSIVE! I can’t afford to be spending £15 on a set of dies I might only use occasionally. So I did a bit of hunting around. I found a couple of places where you can get them MUCH cheaper. I don’t want to spend more than £6 on a die set.

These are the ones I found.

‘The Works‘ (a shop in the UK) have brought in a load of new die sets. I bought NEARLY ALL of them. You can sign up to the email newsletter and get 10-20% off online. Individually the sets are all £6 or less. The bundle set (link below) is out of stock at the moment, hopefully they will all come back in. I am very glad I bought them when I did. To find the M & C ones you have to search for ‘metal dies’. If not, a lot of them seem to also be on ebay.

M and C Boutique Metal Craft Dies Set

I’ve also bought dies from Amazon (UK). I wondered if they would be naff as they were so cheap, but so far they have worked fine. They seem to have the same die under all sorts of different Company names. I’ve checked the US Amazon and they do seem to have a lot of the same ones available.

Metal tag dies

Cheap stamps:

So I also bought some stamps while I was doing my Amazon order.

A variety of stamp options

At some point I’ll show you some of the things I have done with these stamps and dies. I’ll add a link. I have to pace myself…I haven’t got the attention span to do such a beefy post all in one go!

In the next Crafting Cheaply post I’m going to share some research I’ve done about different websites to buy branded craft products from to get a good price without paying a fortune for delivery.

You can also view my post on a cheaper alternative to Chameleon pens (if you already have alcohol markers in your stash) here.

I attempted to make my own DIY gelli plate, which I blogged about, but I gave up and bought a real one! Sometimes you have to spend the money on a tool which will last you a long time.

 

 

Girls Number Two – Rose

It hasn’t come out brilliantly in the photo, but this is another one of my female characters. I’m just beginning to develop them, but this was one of the first sketches I did and I converted it into a card. I did it on really cheap paper which is why she has a crease on her neck (I’ll learn for next time!!)

Back to Crafting

Well I’ve been doing loads of stuff behind the scenes while I’ve been offline.

I’ve been working on some different sketches of some girls I’d like to develop more. This is one of them. I haven’t thought of a name for her yet. This is a page from my art journal with washi tape.

Let me know what you think!

Finally Back Online

Hurrah, my three months without internet are finally over. I’ve been busy doing crafty, arty things, so I can now start to share them with you 🙂

Disappearance

You may (or may not) have noticed that I’d disappeared off the face of my blog for a while. I have had a very busy few months planning quite a big job and house move. I will be going part-time so I have more time for crafting! It has been really stressful organising everything, finding somewhere to live etc so blogging has taken a back seat. BUT….I am keen to get started again (as soon as I’ve moved).

 

I’m currently packing up all my craft stuff and it’s made me realise just how much stuff I have that I’ve not really experimented with. I have rolls and rolls of wallpaper samples and wrapping paper and I haven’t really played enough yet with my Inktense sticks or my Gelatos. I also have LOADS of fabric samples. I also have some new fabric paints I want to try gelli printing with.

 

I’ve decided when I have moved and started unpacking I am going to attempt to use some of my papers and some of my new art materials and create something new. Are you also guilty of forgetting what you’ve got?

The Exhibition is Up!!

Help I need titles for four more pieces!

How does everyone come up with titles for their artwork? I need to name them all by Monday and I’m struggling!!

1 Week and 1 Day Left!

Quick Update:

So all my pieces are finished ready to be mounted. I am making 4 of the pieces raised from the background – which is tricky! So that part of it is a work in progress.

The other two pieces I ordered mounts for – but the framing shop got them totally wrong so they don’t fit! I was really upset. They are correcting them, so hopefully I can go and pick them up Friday night (hanging of the exhibition is Monday!)Probably another busy weekend next weekend!

 

Preparing for the exhibition

Ahhh so I have 2 weeks and 2 days until our group printmaking exhibition goes up.

Firstly….I need to actually finish the pieces. Secondly….I need to get mounts cut. Thirdly…..I need to screw all the d rings onto the frames. I sense I’m going to have a busy weekend!

I’m excited though. I’ll add photos when everything is ready!

🙂