Sunday 15 May 2011

“Hello” card and MFT mini rolled roses tutorial using felt

 

AN UPDATE…

You might have noticed I have been away from my craft desk. For ages. I’m so sorry. I don’t really know how it happened. I guess life just got too stressy and busy for me all at once and I just hid away for a while, reading lots of books. This is my way of just stepping back from things for a while & recharging my batteries.

The reason: I’m being made redundant at work, and given the current job market in the UK, it’s going to be tough to find a new job that (a) pays enough to pay the bills and (b) be near enough so I don’t have to spend all my hard earned pay on petrol – and at £1.37 per litre (£6.23 for a UK gallon!) the job will have to be pretty close by!

So as a result, I’ve not been feeling very creative. I got crafters block on any new designs. I made some cards that I hated and threw away, frustrated. And then recently, I started coming up with some new designs that I wanted to try out and I was back at my craft desk once again. Phew!

BACK TO THE CARD…

The sentiment is “hello” to say “hi” to you all after being MIA for so long. Thanks for being patient =)

I ordered some of the Die-namics dies from My Favorite Things, which arrived this week (very quickly seeing as they shipped from the USA). They. Are. Awesome.

They cut through felt so well – and there was me thinking they’d struggle, because to be honest, they don’t look like they’d cut through much more than paper. They don’t look fragile as such, just nowhere near as beefy as the dies you get from Sizzix or Provo Craft. But they do exactly the same job, whilst taking up much less room! Thumbs up from me there.

I demonstrate using one of the dies in the video below, the Mini Rolled Roses die, using felt. You will need fabric glue for this. Trust me, I tried with Glossy Accents and TomBow glue and neither worked. They just came apart afterwards. I actually believe a hot glue gun would be the best for this as it would hopefully fuse the materials together and set/dry almost instantly. I don’t have one, so do let me know if you try this with a glue gun. I want to know whether to invest as I’m far too impatient to wait 4 hours for the fabric resin glue to set (I ended up sewing these flower together in the end, just to get the video finished!).

The video is below. It’s a long one! But I do show you a lot =)

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Watch video below | Watch at YouTube

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for the beautiful card. On the 'redundant issue', the same thing happened to me 13 yrs ago. It is tough, and I can surely understand what you're going through. Don't get discouraged, because in time, you will see that this little 'life blip' happened for a reason. Just do what you have to do, to get through it, try to keep focused on what you CAN do, and remember it's not the end of life. Just a change in life. Thanks again for the beautiful card and great tutorial.

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  2. @MaryH Thank you for your kind words! I know I just need to remain positive and something will come through. It is a difficult time, but like you say it's just life's journey.

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  3. I'm so sorry about your job, it's happening at such an alarming rate here in the US as well! My husband and I faced this back in '07 so I know what you're going through. Our job loss caused us to have to move across the country! I will pray for you to find another job quickly.
    I love, love your card and thank you for showing you roll the flower die cut. I am still struggling to roll them so they'll stay rolled! One thing, I have to compliment your hands, they are lovely and graceful, very pretty!

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  4. @Kathy Thanks Kathy, I know a lot of people are being made redundant all over at the moment, especially in the public sector (which is where I work).

    A tip for you with keeping your flowers rolled - put a teeny tiny dab of glue at the end of the tail before you start to roll, make the first 'rotation' and hold it to set the glue. Then the rest of the flower should be a breeze. [Although this would only work with paper/card, not felt due to the length of time it takes the glue to dry on felt.]

    I've never had my hands called 'graceful' before. Thanks for the compliment, you made my day! =)

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  5. Hello,

    It's so nice to see your creations again. Sorry about your job situation; I too know how stressful it is in the moment. Wishing you all the best on your next adventure.

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  6. this is one of your best yet :O)

    Shelly

    www.evelynmae.co.uk

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  7. Hello Wendy,

    I love this card so much and had to give it a try. Thank you for the amount of inspiration you show us here on your blog. I always love to come around.

    Hugs, Tina

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  8. this is a beautiful card. I am so sorry about the job situation. That is downright awful and I hope that something good turns up soon.

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I love receiving your feedback on my projects, it always makes me smile - thanks! =)