COVID, Netflix and Crafts, Oh My!

Well Hello!

Long time no see. In fact it's been more than a year since I last posted anything here. Life and work has a habit of getting in the way of these things. Working in theatre doesn't leave a lot of room for free time and when you do have it you don't particularly want to spend it looking at another computer monitor.

However, the Coronavirus Pandemic has bought work to a screeching halt. A lot of us working in the West End are facing redundancy, even if just for a short while, since we can not do shows with social distancing measures in place. There is very little in the way of financial support for the arts and entertainment industry at the moment and petitions are popping up all over the place asking the government for more support. The only one that matters is this one on the official government site. If you are a UK resident please consider signing as it only take a minute of your time.

So, having been furloughed from work since the middle of March when lockdown started, and probably not going back to work until the new year, what am I doing to occupy myself? I'll confess, the first six weeks or so of lockdown I spent in front of the TV, becoming very good friends with Netflix and Amazon Prime. It was actually really nice to just sit, relax and catch up on all the shows that I don't normally get the time to sit and watch, as well as re-watch some old favourites! I watched all five series of Merlin in just over a week and have just started on Doctor Who. On the subject of Merlin, I'm really looking forward to Cursed which is coming to Netflix at the end of July and the second season of The Umbrella Academy. 

I haven't only been watching TV. Honest. I've read a ton too. It's been a very long time since I've been able to read a book in a day! I reread everything by Ilona Andrews; all of the Kate Daniels series, the Hidden Legacy series, (I'm super excited for Emerald Blaze to be released in August), finally caught up with the Innkeeper Chronicles. Now I should probably move on from books before I start to gush over how much I love Ilona Andrew's writing; once I start I won't stop!

I've given the blog here a bit of a make over and want to be more active on here. The part of blogging that I've always found the hardest is knowing what to write about; (She says after waffling on...) But now, with all this free time suddenly on my hands, I've been getting back to doing more arty things, that I haven't had time for lately. I've already added a Scrapbook kit to my Etsy shop, the first in a long time. 

My mum (a crafter) suggested doing some more basic paper kits. Lately she has been making a lot of pocket book albums with Graphic 45 pads and keeps saying how she wishes she could get a pad of just the striped paper. So that's what I've done. I've created kits of Stripes, Spots and Dots and also Harlequin and Honeycomb patterns that coordinate with Graphic 45, Santoro Gorjuss (another of mum's favourites). They're really the colours and designs that you can use for just about everything. There's 27 kits all in all, so you can tell how much fun I've had uploading everything to Etsy.

Left to right:
Dusky Peach Dot, Wild Rose Dot, Mayan Blue Stripe, Dusky Peach Stripe and French Navy Stripe.

I'm thinking of release a colour way a week, but maybe more, we'll see I guess. Mum has already been playing with these and using them in her projects; which is also something else I hope to be posting on here. Mum has been writing up How To guides for the pocket book albums she's been making, after improving on what she has learned from YouTube videos. She's done the trial and error so you don't have to.  

  

I've also just discovered Disc bound planners. Now as much as I'm not into planners I like the idea of how this system works. I've been shopping around for a new art journal since I'm reaching the end  of my current one and couldn't really find anything that I liked or suited how I like to do my journalling. So I've bought a Punch, papers and a set of Discs, which I'm still waiting for. So hopefully Some posts on that in the future to.

So, see you soon for some crafty goodness!

      

The Emporium

So you may or may not know that I recently opened an Etsy store. Why the sudden impulse? you may ask. Well it all started a couple of months ago, when I woke up with start at about three in the morning, with my brain running at a hundred miles an hour. You see, I love the Project Life stuff by Becky Higgins, but there tends to be a lot of girly patterns, pastel colours, and pink. And as much as I like the designs, and think they are lovely, they're just not me. What about the Goths and other weird and alternative people out there? I somehow doubt that I'm the only Goth out there that enjoys a bit of crafting or scrapbooking. I think that it's true of most the craft industry, that there is a distinct lack of items that suit the alternative genre to a T. So, with my three in the morning brainstorming session in mind, I decided to do something about that.

So I created my first kit. I know how many people love the Project Life system, especially with it being a way to scrapbook/memory keep even when you are a bit strapped for time, or lack confidence when it comes to being creative. Because of this I designed my kit to work with that system and any future kits will be designed in the same way. Of course you don't have to use them in the Project life system at all if you don't want to. If traditional scrapbooking is more your thing then, by all means, incorporate them into your pages. Truth be known, even though I like a lot of the kits that Project life create, I personally, wouldn't use them with the wallet system, as I prefer tradition scrapbooking or art journals.

I went with Etsy for the store as you can sell digital files. These are downloadable kits that you can either use in digital projects or print them off and use as part of physical pages. It also means that you by once and then can use it as many times as you like, as there is no limit on how many you can print!

I've also got a couple of smaller kits that I'll post here soon for you to download as freebies so keep an eye out for them!

 

This is the main kit that is available in the shop.

This the Occult Gothic Collection (Take a look in store here.)

There are 73 cards in this kit, although you can use them as many times as you like and print out as many as you want, so 73 is the minimum number that you have here. The cards are a mix of 3 inches by 4 inches and 4 inches by 4 inches, with assorted designs, 17 of which are journaling cards.

These are some of my favourite cards from the kit that I have printed out.

I can't wait to dig out some old picture to create some pages with ones.

(Check out my Instagram for close ups.)

I also created  an 8" x 8" paper stack
(Take a look in the store.). They co-ordinate beautifully with the card kit, but would make gorgeous pages on their own.

I decided to go with the 8 inch square pages, because everyone can print an 8" by 8", no matter what printer they have, but not everyone can print 12" by 12".












I'd love for everyone to check out the Etsy shop (It's called The Enigmas Emporium if I haven't already mentioned it), I'd also love to see any of your creations! Tag me on Twitter or Instagram.

Remember to keep your eyes peeled for some freebies on here soon!

Happy scrapping everyone...