Monday, May 31, 2010

Rota for swaps on KCAA

As promised, here's more info on the swaps we're having on the Kool Crafts and Arts forum.

If you'd like to join us and take part in any or all of these swaps please click on the link above to register.

We've created a rota for the swaps to be held up to September as below:

Craft Magazine Swap - July
Inspirational Swap - July
Card Toppers Swap - August
Stuffed Envelope Swap - September

Rules and deadlines are posted on the forum.


Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Be inspired: Wood burning

Wikipedia describes pyrography or wood burning as the art of decorating wood with burn marks made with a heated object such as a poker.

We're lucky that we have on Kool Crafts and Arts someone that does woodburning and after you see the beautiful projects Lisa has created you might want to try this craft for yourself.

Here are photos of some of Lisa's wood burning.








And if you feel inspired to give this craft a go you can check the links below for more information on tools, supplies, techniques and even patterns.


Pyrography

Carving Patterns





Monday, May 17, 2010

Be inspired: Parchment craft

Parchment craft is an ancient papercraft dating as far back as the 16th Century in Europe. In this craft you use parchment paper many different tools to create a lace-like effect. It is thought this was a craft used by catholic monks and nuns to create communion cards and also borders for religious pictures.



info taken from www.wisegeek.com


Debs, one of our newest members, has recently passed her exams to become a qualified pergamano tutor and no wonder as her work is truly wonderful as you can see below.



We all admire her talent and she's even inspired some of us to give this craft a go.


Below are pictures of Pam´s first parchment craft projects, aren't they beautiful?





If you'd like to try your hand at parchment craft there are some very useful sites/blogs on the Web with plenty of information on the basic techniques, supplies and even some free patterns.



Please click on the links below to read more about this papercraft.



- http://www.myparchment.co.uk/ (free patterns and tutorials)



- http://www.creativepapercrafts.co.uk/ (techniques, tips and a free design gallery)



- http://www.pergamano.com/ (basic techniques)



- http://www.judithwibberley.com/ (basic techniques in parchment craft)



- http://www.parchmentcraftmagazine.com/ (patterns for free download)











Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Swaps for 2010 at KCAA

Spring seems to have given everyone at KCAA a new lease of life after a very long, very cold and very snowy Winter. We also have very talented new members and we're planning lots of exciting swaps for this year. If you' d like to join in the fun why don't you become a member of Kool Crafts and Arts?


Some ideas we had at KCAA for future swaps are:


- Bookmark swap

- Craft magazine swap

- Stuffed envelope swap

- Card toppers swap, etc.


More info on these will be posted both here and on the forum when available so don't forget to check back if you'd like to take part.