Friday, January 27, 2012

All very Wishi-Washi

You'd think that, being confined to the study most of the time just now I'd have loads of crafting and blogging time, wouldn't you?  Yes, that;s what I thought before the work started too - but it's not working out that way atm.
Things are progressing pretty well, though.  The plaster finally finished yesterday after a whole 5 days of work - because so much is being altered there's not much of the area that he's not needed to do, plus we've added an arch between the main and inner hall which previousl looked like a door frame with the door removed.
The decorator started yesterday and is concentrating on getting base coats on the kitchen walls - by home time yesterday he'd put three coats on the ceiling so that today our builder and electrician could get the track lighting up on there - unfortunately 2 of the brackets are shorter than the rest "they don't make shorter ones" said the supplier when hubby rang him this morning, photos were sent - "must be a manufacturing error".  I bet those two short brackets were the only ones in the box too!  Never mind, they'll send the right ones out and then we can get the rest of the lights up.
Monday is K-Day, when the actual Kitchen people start their part of the job - exciting, eh?  Everything arrives then and they'll start by fitting the longest run of cupboards - by this time next week we should have the new appliances in place - at least in a temporary usable fashion.  It'll be a while before they are all fixed up properly as they have to template the area first ahead of making the worktops and splashback.
This week's crafting hasn't gone well - I seem to be having one of those periods where the piles of paper and card on my desk are not coming together very successfully.  I've started a few bits and pieces that haven't worked out so the only thing I've actually finished is my card for Jo's Wishi Washi challenge for the Daring Cardmakers.
Wishi Washi
I would like you this week to make a card using Washi or Deco Tape, you can use it to create a background, an embellishment or just use it as an accent.
If you don't have any - you can still join in by making your own washi style tape - use double sided tape and tissue paper or printed tracing paper or vellum as an alternative
If you're stuck for ideas, have a look at Pinterest for some inspiration and have a peek at the wonderful cards that the Design Team have created this week!

Jo has a fab little tutorial on her BLOG, HERE which shows a clever way to amke faux Washi tape strips - definitely worth a peek!

I have one roll of real Washie tape in my stash and I did try to use it for my card, honestly!  But after a couple of goes I gave up and went down Jo's faux Washi strips route instead.
I used Funky Hand's "Colour Me Happy" CD and printed a few cut-down designs onto tracing paper using the Draft setting on the printer.
In her tutorial Jo uses double-sided tape on the back of her paper, instead of that I cut the strips first then run them through my little Xyron a couple at a time to make four strips that would fit across my card to make a (very) simple background.
Liking the way the designs looked on the tracing paper I printed another sheet with some of the plain as well as the patterned designs from the collection then used these to make a flower, leaves and stem.

The flower is several layers of petals cut with the shabby flowers Tim Holtz Bigz die.  The ones in the centre were made by making a circular hole in the centre,  cutting down between two of the petals then rolling the resulting strip around - a bit like making a coiled rose.
I added some peachy-pink  dewdrops, a decal sentiment sticker and rather too much Stickles (oops).
We hope you'll be joining in with us this week - if you've not used Washi tape before it's a great excuse to try something new - there a re loads of places selling the stuff now and it comes in all sorts of designs - or you can make your own like most of us did!
Thanks for visiting, I'll be back soon with my projects for this month's cute Crafty Templates

8 comments:

Kaz said...

This is so very pretty Kathy, I'm heading off to see the tutorial.
Be kind to yourself and don't force the crafting. Your head is elsewhere with all that's going on. Can't wait to see it xxx

Karen said...

Very very pretty Kathy! Your new kitchen will soon be done now my lovely and you can get back to normal. I am like you & HATE the upheaval, HUGS xxx

Angelnorth said...

Lovely soft look to your faux washi - fab card!

Lythan said...

Funky washi - what a great idea!
And the kitchen won't be long now (even if it feels it to you) v. exciting

Anonymous said...

So fresh and pretty Kathy. Lovely!
xx

Victoria said...

I love the contrast between the stripes, the gorgeous bloom and the white space. Perfectly proportioned!

Zuzana Obert said...

Kathy, stunning card! I love the softness and the glitter too. Fabulous spring touch :0)

Zuz. x x

Jo said...

Love the faux washi tape - and fantastic idea to make a flower with it! Gorgeous card :)