Messy table equals ideas!

 Morning darklings

Do hope your all well? It's very manic at the moment on my craft table lot's of stuff and nothing makes any sense, but that's nothing new 😆 so lot's of crafting idea's which are all jumbled up! 

So let me start at the beginning. The steampunk violin I made I gifted to a very special lady whom I have known for most of my life, Antoinette, as she fell in love with it as soon as I showed her a picture. So cutting a long story short I decided I would gift it to her and she would show it off in her Vintage Shop where it now has pride of place. To say she was over the moon with it would be an under statement she had tear's in her eye's and almost made me cry too! One very happy bunny which made me happy too.

Now to the next part of the story. Antoinette mentioned that once a month in the village, Donington, they have an artisan market where many people who make lot's of their own good's like jam's etc sell them at this market and would I make a few things to sell? I was hesitant as I have never sold anything I have made. But after much persuasion from both family, & friends I decided I would. Hence why I now have a desk full of thing's and a head full of idea's. Just wish I had more hours in the day to get everything done! So next month, August 28th to be precise, I shall be having a little stall with a few of my makes so pop along and have a gander.  

I am in the process of making a dragon keepsake box and also pondering how to make a steampunk ship with the round light sat on my desk along with everything else. So now we are all caught up I shall say cheerio and happy crafting.

Take care darklings 

Nikki aka Moldy 💀

 Hello there darkling's

    Hope your all well and staying safe? Sorry I have been awol but I have been so busy I tend to forget that I need to update my blog & keep you informed of what's going on!! Busy with what I hear you muttering away lol ...... well ....... If it isn't DT thing's it is life in general I so need a holiday, as I am sure many of you do too. Is it me or do the day's seem to be flying by and no sooner have you got up and done your job or catching up with that horrid housework etc than it's bed time again and it starts all over again? Anyway that is all boring & tedious we are here for crafty stuff & happy vibes aren't we?

Design team goodies that I worked on this month were with Craft O'Clock  Bittersweet heights papers, vellums, thick greyboard words & also some fabulous rice papers. That's Crafty craftyboard tags, windows, wings, keys & locks, clocks, & last but not least the lovely journal. I made 2 card's, a triptych set of frames & also a canvas aswell as the journal. 

I love the new journal and the paper pads they went so well together I decided to make mine into a love story. The knight has been off to battle and his beloved Princess is waiting patiently by the window for his return, he has battled his way through dark spooky wood's to get back to his beloved. He is tired but he hear's her voice calling him through the tree's. Eventually he see's the castle of his betrothed in the distance. When he finally reaches the castle & the long sweeping staircase to her, his heart leaps at the thought of just holding her in his arms. It is then he see's her & his heart filled with so much love for her & she too feels so much love for her Knight they embrace & vow never to be parted again. 

Very soppy!! But I did enjoy making it and I kept going over the story in my head whilst making all of my samples and I am so glad I was given this set to play with. Everything that I used are still available from That's Crafty I suggest you go and have a gander as they have so many lovely paper sets & the journals along with the new journal templates from Liz Wheeler. Plus they are always adding new goodies to the website it is definitely worth taking a look.

I best sign off for now so take care & stay safe. 

Nikki aka Moldy 💀

Collector of bones

 Morning darkling's

                                Hope we are staying safe & well? Today I find myself at a bit of a loss. Why? I hear you cry. Well my companion/daughter for the duration of lockdown has now found herself in a new job. I am so happy for her but also  feeling a bit sorry for myself being just me, myself & Cody, our doggo or furry kid. Cody is a loving doggo but is not as lively as she used to be as she is getting on in year's, shhhhh I never said old, so all Cody wants to do is sleep. That is when the aeroplanes don't scare the living daylight's out of her then she does the wall of death around the room! So we are sat here just pondering thing's about life & how it take's something ordinary to make us realise how very lucky we are to have those we love around us & yet it can be gone in just a split second weather it be a job or going to university or moving away, or heaven forbid, the loss of someone. I think far too much and it's only Monday morning yet what will I be like come Friday hahaha!! 

 Anyway enough rambling you don't wanna hear that you want to know if I have any wonderful gruesome crafty make's to show you, am I right? I had one of those disposable plastic plate's, yes very bad for the enviroment, so instead of putting it into the recycling bin I thought let's cover it in some rice paper & resin bone's etc then painted them in black gesso with a dry brush of Finnabair paint. I think it's a far better result than just throwing it in the bin don't you think? The mould's I have used are Prima & are available from That's Crafty as are the paint & gesso.

 The bottle is an old Malibu bottle that I covered in paper napkins then glued on the skulls made from hearty clay. Lot's of skulls later I then covered it in some texture paste to which I added some builders sand then used that in between the skulls left that to dry then painted over it with black gesso. I then dry brushed over with Finnabair red wine paint just to make it look like dried blood & added a skull with horns to the top and there you have it. I must give credit to Susan Andrews, Magik Graphics, for the idea with the bottle as she made some spectacular bottles amongst many other great projects. Thank you Susan. 

Right I best go & continue this thing that we call life & find things to craft with, maybe more recycling, or maybe just a simple card. Who know's eh? 

Take care & stay safe,

Nikki (Moldy) 💀

Exciting news!

 Hello darklings,

    Hope your all ok & keeping safe?

     As the title will suggest I have exciting news to share with you all. As from yesterday, 1st May, I am now a guest design team member for LG Crafts LTD for the next 6 months!! I was so blown away to be picked for the team I really did have to pinch myself. ( Yes seriously) So excited & happy to have been chosen, can you tell?  So that will mean more post's from me & something a bit different from my usual thing maybe? Who know's time will tell eh? But the next 6 months shall be filled with lots of exciting things. I just want to thank Laura for the opportunity to be a part of such a fabulous team. Do take a look at the That's Crafty website so many wonderful goodies to be had and you earn points every time you spend & delivery is free when you spend over £25, which isn't difficult for us crafter's let's be honest! 

In the mean time I have been making my own little bits and bobs just for my crafty shelf and a little plaque for popping onto our summerhouse. It does say relax in the sun but it was far from sunny in the garden yesterday with all the hail and rain! Resin bugs & lizard with lots of green & blue just the thing for the garden.

The little mannequin with skull in a frame was just a little something to show my sister from another Mr, Kay, how easy they really are to do! Infact her's is far better in my opinion. The mannequin is made from hearty clay using a Katy Sue mould and the paper that I have used was from Magik Graphics cd altered steampunk I think. I have also used Prima moulds & some swirly mdf I had in my stash from Hobbilicious. Kay and I had a smashing time crafting,socially distant of course, it was just so nice to have a girlie day with my sis and my daughter Katie. 

The skull and the bottle are the next projects in the pipeline but they may have to wait now but hopefully between commitments I can get them done. 

Right'o peeps I best go and let you enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Thank you so much for popping over and supporting me it truly does mean the world to me,

Take care, 

Nikki (aka Moldy) 💀

Call it Keith!

 Afternoon darkling's

   Hope we are all keeping well and enjoying some nice weather and a little bit of freedom? I must admit I am still not venturing out at all. I am enjoying my crafting and just pottering around the house not so much in the garden to be honest but then we have some cold day's but now things are getting a little better I might actually get out and do some gardening or venture out in to the spa room but then again maybe not haha! 

  So I have been making lots of cards and doing some mixed media with bottles, the contents of which were very tasty, I have made frames and lots of resin pieces too some of which I have used on the violin as seen in the pictures. I must admit I am a little obsessed just making the resin pieces it's rather addictive so now I have lots to use on several project's.

 The violin I bought from a second hand store online, you know the one, it was in need of repair so that was good enough for my need's. I purchased some Tim Holtz key's for the "tuning" and some Prima moulds were used for the resin pieces and the chain around the back was a mould I had for a while using hearty clay to go around the frame of the violin. The rice paper on the back is from Stamperia.The wax I used was Art Alchemy in patina blue and also aged brass. I have used Pentart deluxe paste in truffles colour it's a lovely brown/gold colour. I used some gold metal paint but dry bushed that on and lastly used some mirror shine spray over the whole thing and it really gave it a patina look.

I must admit I wasn't happy after finishing the violin as it just didn't look at all how it was in my head so it sat in the corner of the living room taunting me with it's drab unfinished look, because at this stage I hadn't added the gold or mirror spray, so it just sat there and just stared and glared. So today I had just about had enough of the "look" & finished it off! The feeling of it actually looking like it was meant to, in my head, was brilliant I was actually happy with it. The Call it Keith came from my daughter, Katie, as I just couldn't come up with a name!😆

So with the next project's are already in the making. I will also be able to share some exciting news with you next weekend too so watch this space. 

Take care peeps and stay safe

Nikki aka Moldy 💀

💀

Steampunk Sally

 Hello darkling's 

                           I trust that your well & still enduring the current situation? I for one have not been coping well I don't mind telling you, we're all friends here after all, but with not being able to get out and about even to just potter in the garden has been an enormous challenge. Being alone in your own head, yes I have the family here with me, but your own thoughts are the worst at times! 

  So crafting has been tricky with no mojo or enthusiasm to do anything but the mundane life stuff. I decided after having a stern talk with myself that I needed to 'get on with it'! The words of a good friend ringing in my ear's from a previous workshops, Kimmi, and also what my dear late Mum would shout at me too!

  This is my steampunk mannequin I've named her Sally in honour of a special friend, who runs the said workshops I attend when we are allowed, as I reckon she will approve!(I hope so anyway 😁). Steampunk Sally has been altered several times as I was just not happy with how she looked. Infact I think I changed my mind with the style of wings about 6 or 7 times! I eventually decided to use the Stamperia Vagabond wings mould with some hearty clay in the end. Lots of cogs and jewellery charms were used and I have even used lace, which I hated because it's too girly, but I carried on then used some old faux leather off cuts I had in my stash to make her a skirt of sorts. The light bulb was a broken one from our dining room so it was included as a head well why not eh? I am happy with how Steampunk Sally has turned out after the lack of enthusiasm and not being happy with anything she has turned out ok.

Thanks for listening to my rambling and I do hope things are all well with you once again?

Keep smiling and stay safe,

Nikki aka Moldy 💀

  

Daring adventure or nothing?

 Hello my darkling's

Hope your all ok and coping with the uncertainty of this horrid virus? But then life has always been uncertain it's just how we cope with it isn't it? A quote I saw the other day sum's it up it read " Life is amazing. And then it's awful. And then it's amazing again. And in between the amazing and the awful it's ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That's just living heart breaking, soul healing, amazing, ordinary life. And it's breathtakingly beautiful." - LR Knost. 

So on that note I retreat to my bubble which is my craft room/summerhouse to enjoy some freedom from worry and life in general it truly is a lovely bubble to be in! I wanted to create something that would use my new Dashing crow stamp from aall and create but also incorporate life is a daring adventure saying from another aall and create set with the hot air balloon but as usual I didn't want to use the balloon, no, I used just the quote and used the magnifying glass with flowers. I used most of my aall and create stamps and bubble stencil truth be told I went crazy creating but is that ever a bad thing?

This was the end result and I used more colours than I intended to as I was trying to stick to about 3 ended up using 5 but I am happy with the end result. I also had to use a skull. (After all I am the Queen of Halloween, according to my daughter Katie). I cut out the middle of the magnifying glass and placed acetate behind and then my dashing crow along with a starry background paper. I also did the same with the smaller magnifying glass.

So that is it from me today and my rambling's take care and stay safe 

Moldy aka Nikki 💀