DIY | HANDMADE CHRISTMAS PANDA CARDS

I hope that everyone has been enjoying the festive period this year. I am fortunate enough to have another few days off and so for me Christmas still hasn't quite ended (woop!). Christmas has to be the best time to make, bake and create - whether that's cards, presents, decorations or yummy treats. I've had quite a crafty festive season this year, and so I thought I would share with you over a series of posts, snippets of my own 'Handmade Christmas'...

Inspired by my Panda illustrations, I decided to create my own Christmas cards this year. To create this, I started by sketching each element of the illustration (i.e. the panda, christmas tree and bauble) separately on paper in biro. I then scanned in each element and using Adobe Photoshop Elements, digitally 'cut out' each element. Using Adobe Photoshop Elements again, I layered the elements on top of one another and using the paintbrush feature, coloured the in bauble. Once completed, I placed these on top of a wintery background that I had created.

Unfortunately I didn't give myself enough time to physically print them out (the digital collaging took quite a while), which along with some technical difficulties, meant I had to send them via email. They were still appreciated by my friends though and I like the fact that my cards were not only homemade but that I saved a few trees in the process :)

What do you think of how it turned out?

Have you made any Christmas cards?

Let me know in the comments below and don't forget to share and subscribe!

♥

DIY | TEA & CRAFTS

Ah dear, it has been aaages since I last posted on here! I've been so hectic the last month or so - applying for jobs, working hard on my Clinical Psychology Doctorate application (eeek!), working and catching up with friends. I have managed to squeeze in some arts and crafting (accompanied by gallons of tea) which I'm so pleased to finally have the time to share. Made for my good friend over at PurplePigCrafts, this piece was inspired by the Aztec Bunting Necklace I created in a previous post and just generally the abundance of triangles and tribal patterns about. Keep reading to find out how I made it...

1. Roll out some white Fimo Soft Oven Hardening Clay to your desired thickness.

2. Cut out three small triangles and poke a hole through the top middle of each.

3. Place on a baking tray and pop in the oven to bake as per instructions on the packaging.

4. Once completely cool, decorate with acrylic paint and add gold details with DecoArt's Gold Enamel.

5. Once dry, protect your paintwork with Fimo Gloss Varnish. 

6. Next add a large Gold Plated Jump Ring to each triangle and attach them to a Gold Plated Trace Chain. 

It was quite tricky to get the triangles in exactly the right place on the chain but once I'd found it, I was really pleased with how the triangles hung and generally just really pleased with the necklace.

What do you think? 

Have you made any clay jewellery pieces recently?

Let me know in the comments below and don't forget to share and subscribe! :)

♥

ART | DIGITAL PANDA DOODLES

SO, my obsession with drawing pandas continues. And now, my pandas have gone digital! I really like the contrast between imperfect hand drawn elements and perfectly symmetrical digital elements and so I decided to mess around with some of my sketches on the computer.

I created my backgrounds and added the text that you can see in the images using Inkscape. The font I used is called Amatic SC by Vernon Adams which is not only ridiculously cute but also free for all to use - whether that's for private use or commercial use (yipee!). I downloaded both the regular and bold weight from Font Squirrel, which has lots of other beautiful fonts available to download. Finally I edited and created the final images using Adobe Photoshop Elements. I will post more as I make them, I've been so busy lately it's just a matter of finding the time, but I hope you enjoy these until then!

Thank you for dropping by, I'll try not to leave it so long until my next post...

Let me know what you think of my doodles in the comments below!

I'd love it if you subscribed & shared :)

♥