Tea Bags & Irises

Here's my current favourite card that I have made using Iris Folding - it wasn't as fiddly as it looks and I really enjoyed making it. I plan to make at least one more using this Three Kings pattern as I have bought some navy glitter card with stars on - ideal for a night sky background for this card.



Tea bag folding is going OK. I'm finding it more fiddly than Iris Folding but its fun. There are loads and loads of different folds available and the tiles that some of the people on the CoC forum are able to create are just stunning! I've got a folder of different folds and I've saved lots of different tiles onto my harddrive - goodness knows when I'll get round to using / trying them all, and the colour cartridge on the printer is certainly getting a good run at the moment!

This card is a Christening card and I made it using a tile created by a fellow crafter that is based on a picture of candy, and the pattern is from the CoC website. This was a nice card to create and very simple. The corner flashes just add a bit of additional interest or it would be a bit boring.








This card is a medallion made for the October Challenge on CoC TBF forum - this month we had to use this specific fold which looked quite easy but actually it took a lot of fiddling to get this to sit right. This medallion isn't perfect but I've given it a good go and made it up as a Christmas card by mounting it on a silver card blank that has stars embossed into it.








This is a christmas card made using a split tile (tile thats has two different patterns on it, one on one side of the diagional, and another on the other side. It was an easy fold but I didn't put it together quite right - it still looks OK though.







Finally for today, here is my October Challenge card for the Iris Folding section on CoC - this month we all had to use this Christmas Pudding pattern but everyone has made it their own by mounting it in their own way and using their own choice of papers. This is my interpretation - the custard on top is pale yellow glitter card which I spotted in a craft shop - perfect for this job! Needless to say I don't put custard on Christmas pudding normally, and this won't be the only Christmas pudding I make this year as I plan to make one as part of our Christmas dinner!

More craft stuff

After a 2 month gap between posts, now there are 2 posts in 2 days! I've been doing more crafty bits today, a new baby card made by Iris Folding and a birthday card made by Tea Bag Folding. This was my first attempt at tea bag folding and I'm reasonably pleased with it. I think it needs a little something for the middle of the medallion, but I'm not sure what. This evening I've saved a few tiles created by other members of the CoC crafting forum and hope to get some printed off and have a play in the coming days to create more medallions. It's pretty intricate folding such small pieces of paper so accurately but it was fun to do.



A couple of days ago I bought some quilling tools on ebay, and this evening I've bought some quilling papers on ebay. I had hoped to get the papers at Hobbycraft when I was there earlier today but they have to move their slower selling lines so they can get Christmas stock in ... and quilling paper is one of them. Watch out for me having a go at quilling in the coming weeks!

Where have the last 2 months gone?!

Oops, I didn't realise it had been so long since my last post here.

I've not done much craft stuff over the last couple of months as I've been so busy doing other things, but I have made a few more Christmas cards. The CoC website and message board I visit have monthly challenges for Iris Folding so I've entered those. August was everyone doing the same fairy pattern which was interesting to see how people interpreted the pattern. September's challenge is to use the bit that you cut out to make another project - leftovers. I made two similar Christmas cards for this.


Anyway, here are a few of my most recent efforts, including a special card I made for my Aunt & Uncle for their Silver Wedding Anniversary (I was a bridesmaid at their wedding).



I plan to try and get back into crafts over the coming weeks - I need to make at least one new baby card this weekend for a friend who's has had a baby this week, and we have several other friends and extended family members who are due to become parents in the next month or so! I also want to try my hand at Tea Bag Folding and Quilling ... I feel a trip to Hobbycraft coming on!

Progress report!

Oops, haven't updated this blog for a month or so! Iris folding is going well. I've treated myself to some nice papers etc and have a craft knife now too which makes cutting the shapes out much easier. I didn't bother with a cutting board, I'm just using one of my kitchen chopping boards which is perfectly adequate! I mentioned in my last post here that I was going to start making some Christmas cards, so here are some pictures of my efforts so far;














I have made quite a few Christmas cards but these are just a couple of samples. The cards are all unique, no two are the same!

I've also made a few other cards too.

This one I made for Adrian for our 6th Wedding Anniversary at the end of June






This one I designed myself - basically a stretched circle and a stretched triangle put together to make a house and I've entered it into this months competition on the crafting forum I now belong to. The paper for the main bit of the house is acutally the inside of envelopes from our broadband company. It's worth looking at the designs on the inside of envelopes and certainly makes opening bills etc a little more exciting!






This ice-cream cone design is one from the craft website - I've signed up for "pattern of the month" and this is Julys pattern. It was fun to do. I hunted everywhere for paper to do the cone bit but couldn't find anything, so I ended up designing my own just using the "paint" programme on the laptop and printing it on standard A4 paper! I think it's turned out quite well! The ice-cream does look rather yummy - if only the weather here was nice enough to actually warrant eating ice-cream!





This card I designed the pattern myself! It's for my siser for her birthday tomorrow ... no prizes for guessing how old she will be! I'm really impressed with how this card has turned out and I hope she likes it too!





I'm really enjoying doing the Iris Folding!

Iris Folding - 1st attempt

Well, I decided that today was the day to start my new craft - Iris Folding. I found a really helpful website which has got me started www.irisfolding.circleofcrafters.com. They have some good, easy to follow instructions and quite a few templates.

The first one I made was the heart using silver card and various shades of purple. I think it's turned out quite well and I'm going to make another one as a greetings card for our wedding anniversary which is coming up at the end of the month.



After making the heart and liking the way it has turned out I decided that I might as well have a go at another one, so I made the angel. This one has photographed slightly better than the heart did becuase it didn't have a metallic card outer!

The only thing that I need to sort out is getting a craft knife and cutting board as that will make cutting the shape out of card much much easier and also make it look a lot neater. There is a christmas tree template on the website so I think I'm going to have a go at making some of my own Christmas cards this year ... better get started sooner rather than later!

xxx

Hello!!!

I started a blog last week. I started it becuase I'd just found out I was pregnant and wanted to record my pregnancy, but sadly just a few days later I miscarried. I didn't like the title I'd picked for that blog so decided to start a new one here ... becuase I can!

Anyway, I'm Rach (31) married to Adrian (37) with a son Kieran (2) and we're going to start Trying To Concieve (TTC) Baby#2 again soon, just as soon as my body has recovered from this miscarriage. I'm a Stay At Home Mum.

As well as being a full time SAHM I'm also a Brownie Guider. I love my Brownies dearly but they can be a right handful at times, like tonight when a thunderstorm hit half way through our meeting and some of them started screaming!

My main hobbies other than looking after the family and running Brownies include trying my hand at various crafts (I want to try iris folding next!) and surfing the www including several parenting forums.

Dunno how often I'll add to this blog, but I'll try not to leave it too long between updates!

xxx