King of the tigers!

Happy hump day crafty peoples! I hope you are doing ok, we continue to be on lockdown but feel very lucky to have be able to stay safe in our home and we’re keeping our spirits up as best we can.  Crafting is definitely one of my coping strategies and I treated myself to a few new stamp sets which have been delivered.  Today I’m sharing the first project from one of my new stamp sets, Catitude by Tracey Hey.  These are such cute stamps and after watching the Tiger King on netflix over the weekend I knew what I was going to make today!!

I stamped the tiger out with black archival inks and coloured him with spiced marmalade distress oxide ink, black memento ink and a water brush.

I thought this regal tiger needed a star so I cut one from a copper mirror card and a spotty patterned paper from my stash to layer them up.  Once he was in place I gave him his golden crown, with some paper piecing of the copper card and a healthy dose of small golden gems.

I hope you like my little Tiger King and he made you smile today!

Crafty hugs

Jenny (AKA the Ginger Ninja!) xx

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Show us your pussy cats challenge #53 anything goes

A perfect time to craft challenge #4 – 2020 anything goes

2 Crafty Critter Crazies #37

Easter Gnomes Card

Happy Monday crafty people, how are you all today?  We are doing well, I think getting settled into our new routine and it is feeling a bit more “normal”.  We had our once a week trip to the supermarket yesterday and managed to get what we needed without too much hassle, although I was pretty worried before we went as I didn’t know what to expect.  Thankfully it was very calm and well organised.

Anyway I’m here to share a card I made for the current Fusion Card Challenge which is all about gnomes!  They provide a sketch and a photo for inspiration and I used both (although you don’t need to, you can be inspired by only one if you prefer).

I had cute gnome stamp set which was a gift with a Christmas craft magazine a couple of years ago so I used stamped and coloured three of these gnomes.  I paper pieced their hats with some pastel patterned papers and added some bunny ears from a Lawn Fawn Easter bunny stamp.  The gnome stamp set included hands so I coloured them and fussy cut them out and then gave them each a little Easter egg to hold onto!  The background patterned papers were from an old Hobbycraft pack of spring themed papers which I’ve hoarded for at least a couple of years.  I added the sentiment from the same Lawn Fawn set and just ran a pink pen around the edge of the strip to make it stand out a bit more.  The middle gnome and the sentiment are raised up with foam pads.

I was really pleased with how it turned out and I have made a few more to send out to friends and family who I won’t see in person over the Easter break but want to connect with.

As my Etsy shop is closed at the moment to reduce the pressure on the mail system I have more time on my hands and I’ve been having a go at making some videos of me crafting.  I’ve shared a few videos on my Ginger Ninja Crafts YouTube channel  including me making this card, I’d love it if you had a look and let me know what you think!

Thanks so much for dropping by, please say hello in the comments before heading off!

Crafty hugs

Jenny (AKA the Ginger Ninja!) xx

I am also entering this card in the following challenges:

Love to Scrap Challenge #132 – For the Girls

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge #500 For the Girls

Stay Strong Saturday

Hi crafty people, hope you are having a nice day despite the current restrictions.  I am sharing a card I made for the current Freshly Made Sketches Challenge .

I decided to use the Rhina Rascals stamp set from Tracey Hey for this card.  I love these stamps and I am waiting for a wee order I placed this week to arrive.  In the mean time the wee unicorn dressed up as a bee is one of my favourites so I stamped him and coloured him with alcohol pens before fussy cutting.  I have a file full of papers that I have made with inks, pixie powders, stencils etc so I found some to use for this card.  The side panel was smooshed inks and the two smaller hexagons were pixie powders through a honeycomb stencil.  I added a third hexagon in blue vellum and arranged them as per the sketch.

I added the sentiment from the same stamp set as were the little hearts that I added to finish it off.

I would also like to enter this card into the

2 Crafty Critter Crazies Challenge – April

Crafty Creations Challenge – April

A bit more time to craft challenge #113

Take good care everyone

Crafty hugs

Jenny (AKA the Ginger Ninja!) xx

 

Bee Happy…. it’s Friday!

Does anyone else find it hard to keep track of the days at the moment?  I can’t believe it’s Friday already, but apparently it is!  I’ve been spending lots of time in my craft room and it’s been a great way to keep me distracted from all the scary stuff happening in the world.  Yesterday I discovered the fab JMC Design’s Crazy Craft Hive Facebook group which is run by Julia McNeill as a fun place to share projects featuring her artwork, stamps and digital images.  There are currently three free digi stamps available on there and I was delighted to download them and have a play!

I printed off the house scene, the flying bee and the little bee character in her wellies and coloured them in with alcohol inks before fussy cutting them out.  I decided to make a stepper card to add some dimension.

Here is the project I made…..

The front layer has some honey comb vellum as well as the patterned paper I’ve used to cut the B from.

I wanted to make the little bee look like he’s buzzing around so I cut a strip of acetate from some left over packaging and folded it into a mini concertina, then I used double sided tape to stick on the bee to one end and the other to the card.  I think it works pretty well!

I hope that wherever you are today, you can find something to bring you a bit of happiness despite all that is happening.  Take good care, stay safe and keep crafting!

Crafty hugs

Jenny (AKA the Ginger Ninja!) xx

PS I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Crafter’s Cafe Challenge – #239 Anything Goes

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – #37 Anything Goes

Crafty Hazelnuts Patterned Paper Challenge – April

 

Aud Sentiments #248 – Anything Goes

Happy Thursday!  I hope you are keeping well.  I saw a post on facebook that we are safe at home not stuck at home and I thought that was a helpful way to think about it.  Especially when we have so many crafty projects to keep us busy!  If you are looking for a crafty challenge to join in with then there is a new one today at the Aud Sentiments Challenge and it’s theme is anything goes so you can join in as long as you include a sentiment!

The current challenge is sponsored by Crafty Sentiments Designs and we were very kindly gifted an image to use.  I was given A Gentle Touch which is super cute and immediately made me think of twins!  I printed off the image and coloured it in with coloured pencils before fussy cutting.

I also used these items ……

I cut the largest circle I had a die for and folded it in half to make a rocker card.  Then I found some pastel patterned card and cut the next size down and glued it to the rocker.  Then I layered up the bears with the stamped sentiments from Altenew and some die cuts from the First Edition set.

Here it is standing up, I haven’t made a rocker card for ages but they are so cute, I’ve made another couple which I share on my new youtube video at Jenny Ginger Ninja Crafts Channel.

I had spares of the rattle from paper piecing the stripes so I decided instead of wasting them to make some simple gift tags and I also cut and paper pieced some bottles and added them to tags too.  I should be set for the predicted baby boom in 9 months time for baby gifts!!

I hope you are staying safe and keeping busy.  Thanks so much for visiting my blog and for all your comments, it’s so lovely to feel connected especially at this time of social distancing and restrictions.

Crafty hugs

Jenny (AKA the Ginger Ninja!) xx

Making a zine – crafty lockdown ideas!

Happy humpday crafty people, I hope you are doing well in these strange times.  I’ve been keeping busy in the craft room and yesterday while I was tidying up some of my stash I found a zine I made a couple of years ago and thought I would make another one…. a quarantine zine (sorry I can hear the groans from here!!)

I’m sure many of you will have made these but I thought I would share the method just in case you have forgotten or it’s your first zine!

The basic zine is super easy, I used one sheet of A4 printer paper.  You want to fold the paper as per the dotted lines in this picture (I’ve made a video showing the folding of the zine on the Ginger Ninja Crafts Facebook Page. )

I’ve added the page numbers so you can see the order these pages will appear in your zine.  This template is available to download here A4zinetemplate .

Once you’ve created your structure the fun part begins.  You will want to decide on a theme, and map out what you want to include.  I decided to use the lockdown as inspiration, focusing on some of the ways I’m coping with the restriction.  You can decorate your zine however you like.  Here is how I decorated my pages….

I used some scraps of papers I had made using inks, watercolours and nuvo shimmer powders as well as printed papers, stickers, printed phrases, fabric embellishments and paper ephemera.  The front page was a rainbow I had done ages ago while practicing with water colours and the salt technique.  That felt appropriate as there are lots of rainbows in windows at the moment that the children are making to brighten up their walks around the estate.

The final thing I did was scan it in and make a colour photocopy as my original was a little bulky due to the papers and embellishments I’d used.  If any of you would like to print it off and make it up into a little zine you can download it here Quarantinezine

I hope that you enjoyed my little tutorial today.  If you pop over to watch the facebook video why not leave me a like or a comment to say you came over from the blog.

Stay safe and well everyone and crafty hugs

Jenny (AKA the Ginger Ninja!) xx

 

Corner Bookmarks Tutorial

Happy Monday everyone.  I thought I would share a simple craft project that you don’t need many materials for.  I love reading and never seem to have enough bookmarks so these cute corner bookmarks will come in handy!

1. To start with cut a square of card measuring 4 x 4 inches.
2. Fold the square in half lengthways, then open flat
3. Fold the square across the middle
4. Open flat, your two fold lines should create 4 quarters.

 

5. Cut one of the quarters created by the folds from step 2 and 3

6. With a ruler draw straight lines as per image 6 above

7. Cut the two outside triangles to create the shape in image 7 above.

8. fold these two triangles over and glue the top triangle to create a pocket.

9. You are ready to decorate your bookmark.

I’ve made a few different varieties of these …

I’ve uploaded a video of me making this project on the Ginger Ninja Crafts on facebook so if you want to fold along with me you can!  Many thanks for visiting the blog and for leaving a like or a comment, it makes my day!

Crafty hugs

Jenny

SAL Sunday 2020 – 4

It’s only been three weeks since the last SAL (stitch-a-long) but what a lot has changed, we are currently on lock down and thankfully safe and well.  I thought I would have done a lot of stitching but my mind has been so distracted with all the news and changes in daily life.  However I think we are starting to find our routines again and my concentration is starting to improve.  This is where I was last time….

 

and this is the progress I’ve made since then…

I think there is a bit of progress and hopefully in another three weeks there will be some more!

This SAL is organised by the lovely Avis.  The idea is to finish off a UFO (or Unfinished Object!) and let me tell you I have lots of those!  If you fancy joining in then contact Avis and she will give you all the information you need.

I’m looking forward to catching up with all the other blogs in this SAL group, please give them a visit too, I’ve linked them here so you can easily find them.

Avis , Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze  ,Christina, Kathy , Margaret , Cindy  , Heidi , Jackie , Sunny , Hayley ,Megan , Deborah , Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Jocelyn,  Sharon, Daisy, Anne ,Connie , AJ, Laura, Cathie and Linda.

Stay safe and be gentle with yourself at this time.

Crafty hugs

Jenny (AKA the Ginger Ninja!) x

I’ve got you covered!

Hi crafty people!  How are you today?  We are now officially on lockdown in Scotland (although we’ve been doing this since last Tuesday by choice) and it’s strangely exhausting.  I don’t feel particularly anxious and I’m very grateful that my husband and I can stay home.  I decided to close my Etsy shop last night which is sad but it’s only temporary and I will be back!  I just didn’t feel right going to the post office (and potentially contributing to the spread of the virus) for non essential supplies.  I think our postal service is under increased pressure already so it feels like the right decision for me at this time.  Anyway enough of that!  Let’s get crafting….

I was so pleased to spot this free digi stamp on the Whimsy Stamps Facebook page.  It’s Dustin Pike’s ‘I’ve Got You Covered’ image and given the mass panic over toilet paper which seems to have gripped the world it made me chuckle!  This is my creation and I hope it makes you smile a little today too.

Wherever you are in the world, please stay home as much as you can, keep 2 meters apart and keep washing those hands!

Crafty hugs

Jenny (AKA the Ginger Ninja!) xx

Random Acts of Cardness

Hi crafty people, I hope you are all safe and well.  I’m typing this as we are waiting for today’s announcement from our Prime Minister and I’m anticipating that we are about to be put into lockdown as things seem to be escalating across the UK.  I think it would be a relief actually as it’s unbelievable to see so many people who have been ignoring the advice and going out in crowds, or gathering together in homes.  I’m baffled to say the least!

So in times of worry and staying inside I feel very lucky to have a crafty stash that I can enjoy.  I made a little video (well 2 actually as the first one cut off mid way!) and if you fancied seeing the process you can pop over to the Ginger Ninja Crafts Facebook page.  I think I need to learn some video skills during my time at home!

I recently subscribed to the Simply Crafts and Papercraft Magazine and this was made with the gift from my first issue.  These peony stamps are perfect for the start of spring. The sentiment is from a Technique Tuesday stamp set and it felt so appropriate for this time when we are physically apart but need to keep connected.

I’d like to enter this card into Cardz for galz challenge #117 – Spring Flowers.

I’d love to hear how things are for you, so let’s have a chat in the comments!

Crafty hugs

Jenny (AKA the Ginger Ninja Crafts!) xx