Join our Parchment Craft Community

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all keeping safe and well in these strange and uncertain times with Covid-19. Our crafting and parchment craft has been keeping us sane.

I would like to invite you to our Parchment Craft group on Facebook, so you can meet like minded people, share your work, learn some new techniques and make friends.

You will get loads of encouragement and I will also be doing Facebook 'Lives' and Videos to give you help and inspiration and answer any questions you may have.

You will be very welcome :) we are all in this together.

Please click on the image for the link or type 'Parchment Creations' into the search bar in Facebook


 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/parchmentcreations/


I hope to see you there!

Hilary

Colouring with Polychromos

Do you love colouring?

I am really lucky because I have a full set of Fabercastell Polychromos pencils. These are oil based and blend beautifully with themselves or you can use specialist oils to blend them further. Personally I think they are the best  colouring pencils on the market. They are artist quality and most of the colours are lightfast too. This picture is from my pattern published in #Parchment Craft Magazine June 2018.

But did you know you can buy them individually too! We have them individually on our website and you can find them at this link

http://www.wightcat.com/crafts/fabercastell_2.html

We are open online, still posting out orders 🙂 Please stay safe in these difficult times

All for now

Hilary

Patterns for Parchment

If you are a keen Parchment Crafter, there are so many different ways you can get your designs onto your paper.

Of course there are the templates that we all use from PCA and Groovy, but have you every used paper patterns?

They are so easy to use, and of course can be used again and again and you can take pieces from different patterns, mix and match, the same way as the templates.

The only thing that is different is that you trace the outline with a white pencil, coloured fine liner or white ink....there's so much variety in Parchment Craft!

If you like using patterns or want to try them out, we have just added the latest Pretty Cardz magazine to the website...it has 10 different patterns for £7.50 so it's amazing value.  Why not try one and see how you get on?

      

all for now,

Hilary

Time for a New Post!

Hi all,

We have the builders in at home, it's causing a bit of havoc as you can imagine. All the windows have been replaced so the contents of every single room have had to be boxed and covered and we're also having new back doors and a conservatory...thankfully we're nearly there! The best bit of all? I will have more room for crafting :)

Anyhow, we've also been busy adding quite a few new products to the website, lots of lovely new templates from PCA, they've added a couple of new ball tools too in different sizes....they are brilliant and fill in the gaps in the sizing really nicely.

     

Lots of lovely new templates too!

            

I think we'v added about 12 different templates in all ....take a look

They make lovely cards, here are couple of examples that Lindy from PCA made

         aren't they beautiful!

If you are new to Parchment Craft, don't forget you can also use a pattern to make your card and we have a lovely selection on our website, including some lovely Christmas Patterns from Pauline Loweth

    

Take a look, I think you'll love all of these!

All for now,

Hilary

www.wightcat.com

    

  

Starry Starry Night Paint Your Palette Pink & Blue

Hi all,

As I was typing the title I couldn't resist changing the words of a well known song....now I'm showing my age!

Introducing New Gansai Tambi Pearl Colors  

Anyway, back to the subject in hand. I had a little play with the lovely new Gansai Tambi Pearl Colors.  These are the new sister pack to the beautiful set of Starry Colors that I am already very fond of, yes, I have to say.....I love these colors (I'm spelling in the American way as that's what they are called)

I have found that adding a few drops of water into the palette first, helps to soften the paint.  You can use it at any consistency, for the BrushLettering above I made the palette thinner than when I paint on parchment. (You can even thin it with water to use with a dip pen)



Here's a sample of the Pearl Colors: 

Bottom is on black cardstock
Middle is on Black Parchment (150gsm)
Far Right is Clear Parchment (I'm using our new 230gsm parchment here but I have used the 140 & 160gsm too)

   

Here's a sample of the Original Starry Colors: 

Far Left is Clear Parchment (I'm using our new 230gsm parchment here but I have used the 140 & 160gsm too)
Middle is on Black Parchment (150gsm)
Right is on black cardstock

As quite often in my 'test' pieces I have used Butterflies....they just seem to lend themselves to blending colours and we all love Butterflies don't we!!

If you have received one of our business cards, you will already know that it has a butterfly on it, left purposely as an outline so you can use it in your crafting, so this is what I used for some of my test pieces.

Parchment doesn't like very much water very much, so go carefully, with very thin layers. Make sure your paint dries in between layers.

This was using the Pearl Scarlet, Red Gold and Champagne Gold

Here are a few more samples...I hope you can see the shine on them

You will find the palettes of Starry Colors here

All for now

Hilary xx

A Good Time Was Had By All

A week ago, we travelled to Bristol to our Annual Parchment Reunion at the Bristol Parchment Craft Exhibition.

What a lovely weekend!

Amanda our youngest came with us to support us along with her partner, Matt.  They did us proud, Amanda was a tremendous support to us all, helping at the till plus keeping an eye on Mother-In-Law who had to come with us and Matt, not even knowing anything about Parchment, let alone Crafting, took to it like a duck on water, helped us set up in record time and did a great job on the till too. We are so very lucky to have such a wonderful, supportive family and we make a brilliant team together.

Our other daughter, Kate, helped too by keeping an eye on Amanda & Matt's fur babies which was a very important job. I have to show you a picture because they are just the cutest ......

We met all our lovely friends and had a real catch up with everyone, a super exhibition and such inspiration, there were some amazing Parchment exhibits! 

Exciting news....that we will have some new pattern packs on the website soon so watch this space!

All for now

Hilary xx

We do Relax Sometimes!

Hello,

Just we would share some of our pictures with you!

We've had the first really sunny weekend of the year and as we had the afternoon out in the sunshine we thought we'd share a couple of our pictures, just to show that we do have a break sometimes and we hope you had a lovely weekend too

We went to Cowes, one of our many favourite places on the Island, it's overlooking the Solent and you can just see Fawley in the distance, the entrance to Southampton Water just out of the picture on the right. As you can imagine, there are always plenty of boats on this stretch of water and we like to watch all the activity.

I love living so close to the sea, I grew up by the sea and it's always been a part of my life and even though we have a longer journey to cross that stretch of water so many times in the year when we go all our shows, knowing that we will be back on the Island afterwards makes it all worth while

it's our sanctuary, our haven.

This time of year when the weather starts to brighten and there are very few tourists, it's as though we can be the tourists ourselves and this afternoon we had our daughter's lovely company and bought fish and chips to eat whilst watching the world go by. 

It's very peaceful watching the water and listening to the sea.

Here we are, back in the car refreshed, if a little windswept!

Now I'm going to add some new templates and a lovely new book by Clarity to our website, the artwork has been designed by Tina Cox so I know it's going to be a 'best seller'!

Thank you for reading this, have a great week!

Hilary xx

Even Storm Doris Didn't stop the Show!

A little update on last weeks adventures, it's been quite a whirlwind....literally!

All set for the 'Make It' show in Farnborough, an early ferry at the crack of dawn with forecasts of storm Doris heading our way but the boat trip across the Solent was calm.... I guess you could say the calm before the storm!

We arrived nice and early for a steady set up day, an extra pair of hands with us as my back is playing up big time but we had plenty of time, or so we thought!  Let me put you in the picture, the show is held in a temporary structure that has been in place for years but it's like an enormous marquee that is made to move when the wind blows ( it's a bit like being on a boat)

The wind howled, the girders creaked and the lights swayed....no kidding.... and then the powers that be, had a conflab and decided to evacuate the building until the wind had calmed down with the instructions 'no entry until at least 3pm'. Great! Okay, let's go for a pizza! But oh no! all the restaurants are in a complex with a multi-storey car park and the entrance too low for the van so we ended up eating chips and baked beans in Tesco.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we were back in by 5pm and out again by 10pm all set up and ready to go!

             

               ......and a few hours later........

What a fabulous show too! 

Lovely to see so many customers and friends and so many birthday wishes too....I feel very blessed.  Then I saw Mags with Dawn and Ellie, and even though she felt so poorly she'd even stayed up late to make me a birthday card. Of course, we had to take a selfie so here we all are (even though I think I look a bit the worse for wear after the previous days fiasco!) 

It was so good to see everyone.

For those of you who didn't make it to the show, for all orders over £20 we'll include a FREE Pergamano 'M' Pattern (worth £6.50) - Enter Code 'MakeIt2017'

(this applies until the weekend midnight Sunday)

Don't forget to take a look www.wightcat.com to place your order

All for now

Hilary x

Everything Happens for a Reason

What a weekend it's been! ....Well, actually what a week!

3 days in the West Country at Craft4Crafters and we saw so many friends and regulars at the show, what a great time! Thank you all for coming to see us and buying your crafting goodies.

My back finally gave in and Steve, bless him, pushed me round in a wheelchair for most of the time but we managed and we had some lovely new products that I was demonstrating and we had a complete sell out of the Gansai Tambi Starry Colours and the Wink of Stella.  Don't worry though,  as soon as they are back in stock I will let you all know, along with some brand new items too.

No time to go home, we ploughed on up to the NEC in our van for the only UK trade show of the year. We had a very important connection to make and I'm so pleased we managed to get there.

You already know Barbara Gray (Clarity Stamps) has done such a marvelous job expanding the parchment world with her Groovi Plate System, and maybe you didn't know that she now also owns Pergamano.... what a match!  So, for us as leading parchment specialists it was really important that we made a connection so we can all work together and help bring the parchment world  even closer.

What a lovely, generous lady and a such great team too, we sat together and chatted over coffee and laughed just like old friends. We are so looking forward to this venture with Barbara and her team and they have made us feel so welcome......watch this space!

We are home now, there's nothing quite like your own bed is there!

All for now

Hilary x

Welcome to February!

Where does the time go?  We have started our new round of shows for this year and it's always so good to see all our friends and have a catch up with all things crafting!

Parchment Lace Magazine no 6 is being launched today and we have already got them in the shop, so all pre-orders have already gone out....thank you so much  to everyone who ordered one from us, it all helps to keep the 'wheels turning' :) we have a new batch already on their way and should be in the shop at Wightcat Crafts early next week.

I'm thrilled to be included in the magazine again and apart from being the Parchment Expert and having a "Q & A" page I also have a couple of cards in the magazine so that's really exciting

Here's a peak at what's in store

Plus a couple of the cards 

My own design, I hope you enjoy making this

This one I have designed using the Free Grid that comes with the magazine

If you have any questions you would like me to answer in the magazine, don't forget to email me and of course don't forget to get a copy of the latest magazine from Wightcat Crafts, there are some lovely designs in it

All for now,

Hilary x

Parchment Lace - Design Team

Hi,

In following Wightcat Crafts pursuits to encourage and promote Parchment Craft, my latest news is that I am thrilled to be on the Design Team for the Parchment Lace Magazine.

Not only that, I have been invited to be the Resident Parchment Expert and have a Question and Answer Page in the latest magazine, so if you have any questions that you would like answered in the magazine please let me know.

Have you seen the latest issue?  It has been completely re-vamped and is looking really good.  There are some fabulous designs in this issue.

    

You also get a free grid on the cover and the card below is the project I designed with the new grid (included with the magazine)

Along with other popular publications, Wightcat Crafts stocks Parchment Lace Magazine

Please add any comments below or questions you would like answered in the magazine

Thanks and have a great weekend

Hilary x

What do you use for your Colouring?

We have a selection of colouring markers for you to choose from, and they all work brilliantly on all your card making and parchment as well

Not only that, but we sell them most of them individually so you can try a few first and then add to your collection whenever you like.

Tim Holtz - DistressMarkers

These are water based and double ended, with a brush tip one end and a fine point the other end.

Kuretake Clean Colors

There's about 80 different colours of these lovely 'Real Brush' pens. They are water based and actually have a proper paintbrush so you can blend these colours beautifully. Again sold individually so you can try just a few of these wonderful colours.

FaberCastellPolychromos Pencils

Of course, I can't do an article about colouring without mentioning one of our favourites for colouring. These Polychromos pencils are the BEST, they are artist quality oil based pencils, they blend well together and you can blend them with oil to make fabulous backgrounds as well.  Again we sell them individually so you can try a few first. We also sell them in sets.

Pergamano PergaColours

These are water based and double ended, with a bullet tip one end and a fine point the other end. They come in a box of 30 lovely colours.

Happy Crafting

Hilary x

Parchment Craft Magazine

Really excited!

To see my latest Parchment design is on the Front Cover of the latest issue of the Parchment Craft Magazine... .eeeek, what a wonderful surprise to see it there!!

Of course, if you would like a copy you will find it on our website :)

Happy Crafting

Hilary x

Easy Emboss Stained Glass Templates

Thought I'd show you a few examples of the lovely Stained Glass EasyEmboss Templates from PCA. Like all the templates they are really versatile and you can infill them and just use parts of them, mixing and matching as you go.

What a great way to do your parchment!  You can find them all here on our website



So here's the Daisies template, the first picture is just how it looks when you have used the template to make your outline on your parchment paper, and the second picture is coloured using FaberCastell Polychromos pencils, some have been blended on the back with Dorso oil and then the colour has been enhanced on the front.

Here are some more examples of some of the other templates



So many different ways of using these templates

   

Here are 2 examples of the same template, completely different styles. These two butterfly cards were made by Karen from our design team. The card on the left had been infilled with traditional gridwork and the butterflies have been worked separately and layered as 3D

There are more templates available here if you make any cards from them, please send us a picture we would love to see it :)

Happy Crafting

Hilary x

A little Parchment Craft Video for you

Today we have something a little special for you
For anyone struggling to use a grid for their Parchment Craft or would just like to know how to use one, I have made a little video for you

Here is the link:  Parchment Bows using a Grid

Of course, you can purchase any of the supplies needed from Wightcat Crafts

If you have any questions, or just like the video please leave me some comments :)

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone, thank you for your friendship and custom, and for making this the best year ever! We look forward to seeing you in 2016, Hilary & Steve, Wightcat Crafts x

My Favourite Things.....

I'm humming the tune as I'm typing (yes, I really do love my work)

Raindrops on Roses

Whiskers on Kittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favourite things......

With that in mind I thought I'd write about some of my favourite crafting 'things', I'm sure we all have them and I'd be really interested to know what you love using the most and what you can't do without when it comes to our crafting

As you all know, Parchment Craft is one of my all time favourites, it's something I can sit down to and just forget about everything else that's happening around me, mostly for the good but sometimes not so good because I really should be doing something else......that's what happens when you own a craft shop

Of course, I can't do anything without our lovely Wightcat own brand Parchment paper so I guess I should mention that first, at 140gsm it is great to work with, I use it in all my classes as well and at half the price of well known brands, I'm sure you will like it too.

.....another one of my really can't do 'withouts' (is that a word?) is my Parchment Protector, of course you could just use a piece of kitchen paper but apart from keeping any marks off my parchment as I work, it also keeps it nice and flat and stops it getting any dents, it also has a nice semi circle taken out of it and when I'm perforating I keep it over where I'm working and it holds my work beautifully so I can get the tools 'in and out' easily. You can just about see it in the picture.

Whilst I'm talking about my Parchment Protector, have you seen the new templates from PCA. Some Wedding ones and some for men's cards, they are lovely and so easy to use.

Oh gosh, now I've started I can think of a whole host of things I love using, and I shall mention just one more before I get carried away

.....my one needle tool (that's in the picture too).....this gets used for so many things including the placing of sticky gems, even unbunging bottles, apart from perforating my parchment and grid work, although I do keep a separate one especially for this :)

More next time......

until then, Happy Crafting and please add a comment with some of the things you love using or couldn't do without