Aren't these little Kokeshi style dolls adorable? Kokeshi dolls are originally from the northern region of Japan and were handmade from wood. They are instantly recognisable; their simplistic design includes a rounded trunk, enlarged head and a lack of arms and legs. They are also painted brightly with very simple detailing. Traditionally they were made by master craftsmen but these days they are mass produced as souvenirs for the tourist industry. I got these from Beads Online . And whilst they are not strictly traditional, they are really cute. Cute is not a style I work in very often so it will be a challenge to see how I can incorporate their quirkiness with my style. From time to time it's good to step out of your comfort zone and work with an unfamiliar product or style. That's exactly what I did this weekend with these Kokeshi pendants. I found them so very appealing, but I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with them. And so there I was, confronted wit......

As many of you have probably already heard, Luminarte is almost at the end of its final manufacturing run of their wonderful Polished Pigments. It's sad to see that this product will eventually disappear from the shelves of your LSS. But I thought that seeing as many of you have probably been stocking up on those precious little pots of colour that you might enjoy a little eye candy. This set of ATC's was published in Volume 14 No 9 of Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft and they were all created using Polished Pigments as the background. Aren't the colours intense? I love how Polished Pigments pop!! Geisha Lantern Noh Drama You can read more about how to create this background and how these ATCs came together in these earlier posts . Edited 12/06/09: Great News! Luminarte has announced that they will continue manufacturing their wonderful range of products thanks to the overwhelming support they have received since announcing they would close....

Got some sequin waste in your stash? Well I'm sure you've seen it used in papercrafting before - maybe you've used it as a stencil to sponge through or perhaps you've attached a piece to your work. But take a closer look at the background of this ATC. It's peel-off sticker waste - what an interesting background! I've used up just about the entire sheet of these oriental script stickers but I just couldn't let the beautiful negative left behind go to waste. It's added a lovely lacy-ness to the background of the ATC and yet the contrast of the black-on-white adds a very strong touch. I've kept the embellishments fairly simple so they wouldn't compete with the background.... just some fans painted with Lumiere paint and an Opals heart, all cast from Krafty Lady art moulds. I love the result so much that I'm going to check the rest of my peel-off sticker sheets to see what other potential backgrounds there might be. I have a lace border sheet whi......

I seem to have the oriental bug just lately! After turning the Polished Pigment backgrounds into a set of Asian inspired ATCs last week, it seeemed logical to make a box to house them. I found a diecut pattern at my local stamp shop which was designed just for this purpose, and an oriental themed serviette from my stash in just the right colours. Add a few embellishments and some gold and black peel off stickers and you have a really neat box for storing the ATCs in. The black and gold symbol on the back is a Krafty Lady art mould (AM042 Asian Symbol No. 2). Back view - The black and gold symbol is a Krafty Lady art mould (AM042 Asian Symbol No. 2) Right hand side view Left hand side view...

This array of oriental embellishments works really well with the Polished Pigments backgrounds I created earlier. They will make a great set of Asian themed ATCs. A finished ATC. The Asian face is a Krafty Lady Art Mould AM1002....