Louise Sims Papercrafter

A wee while ago, Tonic Studios released a set of dies & matching stamps called "Jam Jar". Now these really "spoke to me" as the collection allowed the stamper in me to have oodles of fun but I could also die cut lots of elements to create my cards. Perfect synergy ... well for me it was 😘😍😌 Now there is oodles of elements in the collection as a whole - 2 die sets & 2 stamp sets - that allowed my creative ideas to flow ...

Good morning and boy oh boy was it an early morning for me today! Showered, dressed & full make up applied ready for my 7am show on Hochanda. All this was done ready to take a Skype call with Hochanda. Would Skype work for me ... errr a big fat NO! Oh well, it was great to get dressed up any ways especially as I can't remember the last time I put make-up on. My first demo for the show was showing how you could use the Pronty Crafts MDF bunting but rather than just decorate it all the same, I thought it would be fun to decorate each side differently.

With the new restrictions in place for social distancing, Hochanda came up with the fab idea of their guests sending in demo videos showing how to use the products on the shows. For my Sakura shows on 8th April, I made 2 videos showcasing different products featured. My first demo was creating a journal page in my Sakura sketch note book with black pages using a range of Gelly Roll pens. Now I said I'd post my completed page & here it is ... You can see the page HERE on a previous blog post. Today's post is sharing the "how to" video and also my completed page

Today I am sharing the last few pages in my Sticks & Bones mini album plus a cute card made using one of the digital character images from the collection. You can see my previous posts Part 1 HERE & Part 2 HERE You can check out all the Sticks and Bones range of digital goodies  HERE .

Very early start for me today as I am on Hochanda TV this morning at 7am. The weird part was not actually being in the studio for the shows but have to be honest and say, didn't miss being at Hochanda for 5am! Just in case you didn't know, for the shows, we are at the studio 2 hours before. I could watch from the comfort of my sofa, coffee in hand, & chill. Bizarrely I did still get showered,  dressed, with make up on even though I wasn't going to be there in person. For my first demo, I shared how I created a bullet journal page called "Things that make me smile" ...

In yesterdays post, I shared the first part of my Sticks & Bones album - see HERE - today is the 2nd post sharing more of the album. I've decided to split my post in to 3 posts otherwise I think blogger will go in to melt down mode 😀 and also because it would be way too long otherwise. You can check out all the Sticks and Bones range of digital goodies  HERE .

If you are not aware, I am in the process of re-organising my craft space. I've decided this is a "long haul" thing & want to do it so I am not always having a "groundhog day" every 6 months or so. The first area I have decided to sort is my stamps. I've bought the storage, organised my stamps & am now beginning to decide how I label them. This has thrown up a whole host of side issues but that's another thing altogether 😂 Anyways, while going through my stamps, I found sets I have had for years & years. Some were bought "on a whim", others I loved & used constantly for ages but then I put them away. It was really great fun putting them back on to stamp blocks, inking & colouring them. One set I discovered was a beautiful set of flowers from LDRS called "Eleganza". My heart began to sing & just had to play ...

Now that the majority of people are at home, I thought it would be rather fun to make a 6" x 6" album using the wonderful Sticks & Bones collection from Polkadoodles . This could easily become a project for the children to do in a pre-made or shop bought scrapbook because all the sheets/embellishments/characters etc are printable. I'm going to split my post in to 3 posts otherwise I think blogger will go in to melt down mode 😉😀 You can check out all the Sticks and Bones range of digital goodies HERE .

If you were on Instagram & Facebook this weekend, you may have noticed a brand new digi release from Polkadoodles. It was a set of 5 images from the Too Cute range called "Spring has Sprung". I dusted off my Lyra Rembrandt polycolor pencils, gave them a quick sharpen & had fun getting back in to a colouring vibe with 3 of the images in the release. You can see the full collection HERE but before popping over, check out the discount code(s) above.

Now that most children are at home, I thought it would be great if we could combine creativity with learning, especially if it meant we could use our own stash. With this in mind, I have put together a quick video showing a few ideas using Tonic Studios Beautiful Basket dies ... I decided to create 4 baskets in different colours but you could create them in white card and the children paint or colour them. Below are lots of ways to use the baskets ...