on a roll.....

And no I'm not apologising for swearing so early in the year!

LOL

Scary Marys Flower fountain

Dufex, apparently they are no longer trading!

oho! Time to start making those cards!

so here's some I have made in the past couple of days!
Just to depress you, lol

Kraftyhands sneak peek, and no it isnt actually a Christmas cd!

Dufex really doesnt photo well in places!

Well C&C have started with xmas, so its about time we did before we get left behind like last year lol

Sorry!

Lou

Fathers Day Tutorial Kraftyhands, DOH

you know what The day I was supposed to post this, The boys were on Craft Clinic, and I have just realised it didnt post! DOH!!

Morning!

Well here's my Tutorial for the fathers Day card I created for my Dad. There is actually a story behind this card, as my Dad took me on the Flying Scotsman when I was a mid teenager, so for us this image has significance.
What I used:
Golden Age of Steam CD rom Kraftyhands,
A3 plain white card stock.
Adirondak Lettuce
2 sheets  of A4 pearlised light green card stock
Foam pads, 2 mm and 4mm.
Zing cutting machine.
Collal all purpose glue.
Katy-Sue You're Fabulous stamp.

Firstly print off the A5 card set, one of the backing sheets, and a portrait insert.

I cut my embellishments on my Zing, and then cut the decoupage and border strop, and trimmed the backing sheet. Please note, I changed my mind close to the finish, and didnt use the Buffit for my sentiment!

Next I used the Adirondack on some cotton wool to blend around the edges, and fold line. I scored the A3 at 21cm, then 10.5 cm on my Hougie.

Then I glued the mat and backing sheet into place using Collal All Purpose Glue.

I used the 4mm foam pads to mount the main image to the Wheel mat.

Then used the 2 mm foam pads for the Train Decoupage, so that there is some difference between the layers.

The final step was to add the cut out, insert plaque, border strip and sentiment. The border strip has been mounted onto 4mm foam pads to make the stopper for the card.

Lastly I changed my mind about what to stamp the sentiment in, and Switched to the Adirondak Lettuce ink I had used to blend the edges with.

And here's the finished card, all ready now for Fathers day, then a week later its Dad's Birthday! Yes I was one of those unfortunate children, whose mothers birthday was mid March, right on the UK Mothering Sunday mark, and Dad was Fathers day, so they got 2 bites of the cherry each, so I always have to get good pressies for them, some times even better than good! A bunch of flowers doesnt quite do it really, sigh!

Printers and CISS and how it ties with Card making

Okay, apparently loads of people have come clean recently about using CISS with their Printers, people like Joanna Sheen, and the lady from what was Cupcake Crafting, etc, so I thought I'd put this info out there for those card makers who arent too sure what this is all about. And before I forget I bought mine from City Ink Express, who do the warranty on the CISS for LIFE!

A CISS is a Continuous Ink Supply System. It has a small 4 bottle or even 6 bottle reservoir which attaches by tubes to the cartridges INSIDE your printer. As you print the printer draws ink from the cartridge, which causes a vacuum, and then the vacuum is filled from the tubes attached to the bottles. So you have a Continuous supply of ink running into the cartridge so it never runs out.
 As the cartridge never runs out of ink, (unless you forget to by refill ink) you dont have to replace them. You just leave it be.

Ciss Ink costs me @£20 for 4 bottles. An ink cartridge holds 4-11 mls of ink. I buy 400 mls of ink for @£20. On some printers cartridges are @£20 each. So if you buy Cartridges for £20 each you are paying £80 for 16 or 44 mls of ink.

400 mls £20, or 44 mls for £80?

How do printer manufacturers work?

Printer manufacturers make their money from the sale of cartridges, not from the sale of printers! That's why in some instances the printer cost less than the cartridges.
Printer manufacturers dont want you to use a CISS. Because they arent making huge amounts of money from you buying ink else where. They dont want you to use Compatible cartridges either. They want your money, not you going paying someone else a lot less than they charge.
Now under European Law they CAN NOT STOP you using compatibles or CISS systems. They state that using ANYTHING other than THEIR Cartridges invalidates your printers Warranty.
WRONG.
LIE.
The reason they say this is because they need you to buy their cartridges because they make the printers at a massive loss, intending to re-coup the money from you when you buy their Cartridges. You dont buy the cartridges, they dont make the ridiculous amounts of money from them.
So using a CISS or compatible cartridges will NOT invalidate your warranty.

Next I dont want to have to buy another printer, but can I get a CISS?
YES! CISS are built for nearly every machine in existence.
Yes Initially its an outlay, but generally less than having to replace a full set of "proper" cartridges. This time instead of buying a "consumable", you are investing in a constant source of ink.
A lot of sample makers use CISS. I do, I do know others who have them.

I had a sheet feed printer, with a tape of ink, like the old type writers originally. Yes, that is how they were made when they first came out!
Then I moved to an Epson which had a separate scanner, yes they didnt come built in back then!
Then I got an HP, beautiful machine, but then thats when ink prices started to slowly rise, as printer manufacturers discovered how to fleece us.
Then hubby got me another Epson, not a good desicion, as it wouldnt take half the stuff the HP did.
I struggled along for a few years, then got a Ciss. Back then they were new. This is back when you could by the ink refill packs in supermarkets, remember the ones where you had to drill a hole in the top of the cartridge and use a syringe? Ciss was new back then, and I did have issues with it.
Then compatibles came on the high street. Much cheaper, but the quality wasnt always there.
Finally I had had enough, and last year bought myself an A3+ printer. Ciss had developed enough that it was reliable now.
So I bought myself one, and an extra set of bottled inks.
this is what it looks like :

So let me explain. YOU ARE NOT MAKING ANY PERMANENT CHANGES HERE!
The Inks are in the small collection of fused bottles on the left. The tubes run from the bottles into the top of the machine, which has to be slightly open to let the tubes through into the printer. BUT its not damaging the printer.

The tubes then are attached to the ink cartridges. The tubes are fed in in such a way as to not disrupt the movement of the print head carriage, the actual bit that does the printing, and are held by a small clip, so that once its in the right position they dont move around and fall into the machine.
The cartridges act in exactly the same way as your ordinary cartridges. They can be removed, and the clip and metal brace that holds the lid open, can be removed, and no one would ever know you had a CISS installed. It will allow you to use manufacturers cartridges, and compatibles, then switch back to CISS. You are not doing anything permanent or damaging to your printer.

This is what my printer says when I close the lid, and the cartridges are "seen" by the printer. I just press okay, (The blue rectangle bottom Right of the shot) and off I go.

Now I had an issue earlier this year, my printer developed a fault or 2. But it was still within warranty, so I contacted City Ink Express, and as it was a printer fault, he advised me to speak to HP. I did. I took the Ciss out of the printer, and HP sent me a "new" Printer. Only it wasnt actually a new printer, but a re-conditioned one, grr, and it had a sheet feed issue, kept trying to pull the printed sheet back into the printer, so back to HP, and this is printer number 3.
When I went to fit the CISS it wasnt recognised. OH NO! Back on the phone and email to City ink. I suspect that when the original one went haywire on me it fried the cartridges. So new set of cartridges, at no cost to me as its a lifetime warranty, and my Ciss has been running perfectly ever since.

I will say that a lot of issues with CISS seem to be related to the company you buy them from. I do know that the guy at City Ink WILL NOT sell you a CISS or CISS and Printer bundle until he has support videos in place. Yes I had to wait a couple of weeks, lol. And when City Ink Express say its a lifetime CISS warranty, he does actually mean it!

But I will say that if you are a card maker, my HP takes 300gsm with no issues and its a bottom feed machine, also vellum, acetate, and tissue paper. I dont have a problem with print quality its perfect. HP and Brother seem to be the work horses for card makers, they take most of what you throw at them, and for cardmaking, a lot of it, I would recommend HP.

Hope this helps those of you who are still curious about CISS systems, and clears up some of the confusion around this new way of getting ink onto your printer.

Lou

All Crafts is BACK

weyhey! All Crafts Blog Challenge is back! so as a starter theres a big challenge going on, but you cant use a card! No cards Allowed!

So heres my entry

Basically I was trying to keep myself somewhat amused, with something that my over active 3 yr old Grandson couldnt ruin, while he ran in and out from the garden, not wanting Nannies attention, but needing to know I was there.
So I got out the intermediate Chainmaille Kit, that I ordered from Create and Craft a few weeks ago, and instead of doing 2 Bracelets and 2 prs of Earings, I made a long necklace and a matching set of earings.

So thats my entry to All Crafts, what are you going to enter?

hugs

Lou

Bin Busy

Here's some cards I made a few weeks ago, Yesterday the weather was lovely so I took them all outside to photograph:

These are from a Kit I bought from Create and Craft, and I am by no means finished, but these are what I have done so far. By a company called Buzz Craft.