A Late Entry for JFF?

I fully intended doing a book for the Just for Fun Triangle Challenge this last week but I fell by the wayside and was nowhere near finished when I had to upload it to the blog for Zoe.

Because I had papers cut and ready I decided I would carry on, little did I know I would end up cutting more and more papers and making the beginnings of more and more of these books.

Here's a little video to show you what these look like and how easy they are to construct.  Before you go any further let me say that I did contact Lynne (Wilkinson aka 'Whacky Wilky') and get her permission before doing this.  What I have done is all down to her teaching skills but I cannot find her instructions anywhere - good job it is only my short term memory that fails me these days.

Just one more thing - the stamp that says "Across the Miles" is by Non Sequitur and not Paperartsy as I say on the video.  Apologies to both companies!

Hope you enjoyed this and will have a go yourself.  Remember it does not matter what the size of the paper is  - wonder if someone will have a go at a 1" x 1" one?  Or a 12" x 12" - as long as it is square it should work.  You will notice a boo boo (or two or three) in the video when I mention the sizes of paper at the end - I say 8 x 12 when in fact it should be 12 x 12 - doh!  I haven't a clue how to put writing over the top of my picture - come on, can just about manage to get a video up.

Just for Fun - Triangles

This week the shape Von has chosen is a triangle.  First thing I thought of making was a banner and then one of my pyramid boxes - did I do either?  No!

I did intend doing a pyramid book like the one Lynne had shown me once at Katy's Corner on a workshop I attended but the best laid plans of mice and men and all that.  Instead I made a trionimo pendant. Here it is:

I am sending this down to Zoe for inclusion in the swap for this month.

I first of all stamped the image with Stazon on a lightly sanded trionimo and then coloured it in with my Caran d'Ache water crayons. Then I applied Glossy Accents over the top to give it a protective layer and also a nice sheen to it.  The sides were coloured with Brilliance Peacock (the turquoise colour) and a bead was added to the top.

Hope that whoever gets it enjoys wearing it.

Can't wait to see what creations you ladies (and men if we have any entering) all come up with for this week's challenge.  Pop along to the Just for Fun Challenge and let us see your entry - promise I will try to come along and comment.

WOYWW 99 (oh wow!)

Not much to show you on my workdesk again this week - I have been doing a lot of resting since my ordeal last week so crafting has had to go on the slow cooker.  What you see on my desk is something I am working on for tomorrow - yes, last minute, adrenalin and all that.

Instead of my dirty green cutting mat you now have my equally dirty red foam stamping mat.  I would not be without it, it is fabulous - thanks Mary!  I did try to keep it pristine but it soon got stamped on, hence the grubby look.  So what is on it?  To the left you can see a bit of a tin that I store my um's in.  Then there is the window for my domino stamping, a matchbox with some tags that I once did with Lynne and a blank one in front as I want to do another and some bits and pieces to the right for something the "thing" I am doing for tomorrow which is part of my DT piece.  I am hoping to do a video tutorial for it as well.

I'll show you the tin and give you some idea of how I store my um's.

This is my "Women" tin

I try to categorise my stamps and then I stamp the images on a sheet of A6 and laminate it, then put my um's on the reverse side and put them in the appropriate tin.  Some tins are way too full and have spilled over into others and some, I must confess, are still in drawers.  

You can see a bit of one of my drawer sets - these mainly house my mounted stamps and A4 sheets like Oxford Impressions and Non Sequitur but there are some others that get put in there.

How do you store your um's?  Would love to read all about it on one of your postings on The Stamping Ground.  If you are new to the "snoop of the week" you won't know what on earth I am on about or what the title of this blog stands for.  Pop on over to Ms Dunnit's blog and see - click on one or two of the names and have a good old nosey around to see what others are doing.  

Oh, get a cuppa first, it is addictive!

Birthday Cards at Last

At last I have got around to uploading my birthday cards on my blog.  These are the handmade ones from my friends and there is a huge selection of styles and techniques.  Each one is a beauty in its own right and the video starts with one from Chloe, my friend's little girl, aged 3.  My surrogate grandchild.

Hope you enjoy.

This is my first attempt at doing a video on my blog so apologies for any bloopers, lack of closeups etc etc but hopefully the dynamic duo (Chas and myself) will get better at it as time goes on.  Who knows what you will watch next time!

Just for Fun - Square - Well a Curly One

I really wanted to use this canvas that I had prepped ages ago - months probably - and done nothing with apart from stamp some frayed canvas on and put some runny bits on.  Can't even remember what I used - suppose it could have been Stewart Gill Paint - that's what it looks like.

Then the other week Florence had this amazing piece of work on her blog which was a rectangular piece with squares on it - that got me thinking.  So I cut out a large Curly Square (Spellbinders Grand Labels One) in purple, then a smaller one in pink cardstock and mounted the pink on the purple.

I just had to use my Dressmakers Dummy die from Tim Holtz (The Sewing Room) and I included the button (well three of them with thread through the centres) and the bobbin of cotton which I wound round with some thread after colouring with Antique Linen Distress Stain and edging with a bit of Walnut DI to give it some depth.  The needlepack is from Oxford Impressions "The Dressmaker" and I love it - don't think I have used this before and the thimble was a button which I cut the shank from to stick it down.

The Dummy was first cut in mountboard and then coloured with Walnut Distress Stain and then I put Glossy Accents over the parts to be exposed so that they looked like polished wood.  Then a canvas one was cut for the dress only, coloured with Dusty Concord Distress Ink and stuck on.  Embellishments were added - pearls around the neck, a rose (thanks Dot) at the waist and a beaded fringe at the bottom.

I had made some lace flowers with my friend Dot when she stayed with me a while ago and I am sure she will be pleased to see they got used at last - I put a button for the centre of each.  Then I put a further three teeny buttons in a cluster below to tie off the stamping.

Finally a bit of braid got some colour on it with a swipe across an ink pad (Milled Lavender).

This is my DT piece for Just for Fun this week - I hope you like it and I look forward to seeing what Square pieces you come up with.  Hopefully I'll be around to have a look and leave you a comment.

WOYWW 98

First of all - A Big Welcome to my newest followers.  Welcome to my blog and I hope you get some inspiration in the coming weeks when I get back to crafting.

Well, not much to show as I have not been crafting.  Just the needlefelting on my desk and some bits of polymer clay from last Wednesday - needlefelting because I was going to put some beads on and PC because I was going to make some more beads.  Then I went in hospital!

Got a call from my GP who had done a blood test the day before to ask if I minded going up to the hospital for another blood test.  They gave me an ECG at the same time and then had me sit for 2 hours before they repeated the tests.

Some damage to the left side of my heart - evidence (?) that I may have had a heart attack (when - never felt anything), irregular and fast heart beat and so I was admitted and hooked up to a heart monitor all night.  Six days later I come out early evening with a Warfarin pack and the promise of arterial fibrillation in 4 - 6 weeks.  Must say I got a thorough MOT whilst in there.

Anyway, here is the dumphing (or is it dumfing?)

Because I have virtually nothing to show you this week but I so want to join in with The Stamping Ground and Ms Dunnit's worldwide craze I thought I would take the opportunity to show you some of my ribbon storage.

These are some of my spools of ribbon - in those plastic boxes (5 for £1) with use being made of the holes in the sides for the ribbon ends to poke through.  I have four of these stacked on top of my pigeon holes and I do find they work well.

This is a piece of dowelling stuck on a square of wood which is fixed to the wall.  I found it kind of wobbled a bit so I put a loop of wire on the top and attached it to a screw thing on the wall.  If I had more wall room I would have it laying horizontally rather than vertically - but it works fine!

So that is it for this week folks - do pop over to Ms D's site and have a look at some of the other workdesks - you might pick up one or two tips for storage or for crafting things - either way you will need a cuppa and a moment or two to sit back and enjoy snooping around.

Just for Fun - A Star

No, not me - the shape is a Star this week.  Von really chose some good shapes for her Challenge and this one just happened to fit in nicely with a card I was asked to do for a neighbour to give to her daughter when she has her baby (sooooon).

A couple of years ago I had made a Star Book for her son's new baby so Carol asked me to do another one and luckily they know it is a little girl so I could do it in pink without having to be at the last minute.  I was a bit stuck for rubber stamps to use but managed to complete the book and here it is:

This is looking from the top

Gives you the star

Opening Page

Love these Sweetpea Stamps

Here is one I have made for Christmas which is slightly different in than rather than stamp on each page I have used Nestabilities to cut out shapes from the inner pages and then stamped on Shrink Plastic and dangled the shapes in the apertures.  I do wish I had used some colour on them though.  Maybe next time ...

It is slightly different to the one above as this one is a "stitched" Star Book - you can see the extra little row of "flaps" as you peer in at the top.

Each aperture is cut out of the centre of the folded page and I used different shapes to create more interest.

I love this little Angel - she is so cute!

And this is one of my favourite stamps - a kind of modern Mother Christmas - or is it just a sexy young lady dressing up?

Well, there are some super examples on the Just for Fun Challenge to whet your appetites and get you creating and no doubt you will find lots of brilliant creations coming along as entries in the Challenge.  Don't know about you but I cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with.

WOYWW 97

Is it really the 97th edition of WOYWW?  Not that I have been in since the beginning or anywhere near there but Crikey Mikey - that's a long time to run so successfully.  Well done Ms Dunnit, you are a star!  Just in case you don't have a clue what I am twittering on about pop over to The Stamping Ground and see what it is all about.

Whoa!  Before you go here is my desk.  Doesn't look as if I have changed it since last week when I unveiled my needlefelting (dumphing to some of you out there) but if you look closely you will see it is full of threads this week.  Somehow I am supposed to do some fancy hand stitching but to be honest my hand stitching leaves a lot to be desired.  You ask Leandra!

Without giving too much away you can have a great big sneak peek at something which I enjoyed doing - it's resting up at the back of my workdesk.  Love it!

Think I need to treat myself to a new Giant cutting mat - this one is looking decidedly grubby.

Going to have to get a move on with this project as it has to be completed by weekend so no time to stay around - you just get over to Ms Dunnit's blog and see what goodies others have in store for you this week.

Have a good snoop!

Just For Fun - Shaping Up

"Shaping Up" is the theme Von chose for this month and this week we are looking at Circles.

I thought of using some circular beer mats to make a book but didn't have the time to decorate lots of pages, so then I thought of a wall hanging using CD's - no, did that not long ago (well one cd anyway).  Next thought was a round card but I had had one on only a week or so ago - dilemma.  Then the lightbulb went on and I used my new Grand Calibur to make a large circle from mountboard.

Out came my Vagabond and I cut some gears - now where was that cork?  Couldn't find it - not to worry (guess what, found it a few days too late).  I love Steampunk but rarely do it so set off stamping some of my Steampunk collection on the main circle.  Then I stuck some gears on and finally some letters.

Here it is:

I used Distress Inks to colour the background (Tea Dye and Vintage Photo), my letters were cut from a Spellbinders Die and my gears were cut out of Grungeboard.  I used either Crackle Paint or Distress Ink Powders on my gears and that is it.  My DT entry for this week at Just for Fun.

Hope you can join us at Just for Fun this week and have just that - "Fun" in creating something circular.  Wonder what shape it will be next week?

WOYWW 96

I cannot believe I have not been blogging.  Having problems with breathing so not spending as much time in craft room as usual. When I am in, this past week or so, I am making things for Elements 2 so here is my desk with my stuff on it.

As you can see my Tim Holtz tins with my Ranger stuff are now in the window - no worries about the sun getting to it as the porch behind does not allow the sun in my room.

So what is on my desk - Wipso and Twiglet will be amazed to see I am doing some needle felting (I say that because they are into wool and stuff).  I am amazed too and I loved doing it although I am not that good and only had hasty lesson from Paddy as to what to do just so I could make a start.  Am now trying a third piece which is going to be a bit more adventurous.

So there's my brush and needle thing (has five needles inside it) some fancy woolly stuff, some roving (have I spelled that right?), some curly wool and my tin with my clay in that you have already seen.

This is the floor immediately behind my chair which is in front of the section of my desk you have just seen.  The black bag is from Saturday and I must confess I have not emptied it yet (Victoria Stampers - if any of you live within travelling distance of Padgate and would like to join our club where we make all kinds of things (with tutors from our own realms and sometimes from outside) you would be more than welcome.  We meet on the first Saturday of the month at 10 am - let me know if you are interested and I can send you details).  We had a great time doing Art Dolls with Olive last weekend.

I digress - on the floor is my piece of material and there is a bit more needle felting on it but what is it going to be?  The mystery deepens.

The blue bag contains my Cricut, there's my Vagabond, four metal tins with books I have made inside them and some plugs and things I need for the computer and camera.

Well that is all I have time for as I am off for the day - hopefully the sun will be out for a change.  What can you do?  Why you can hop over to Ms Dunnit's blog and see what she has been up to and then join in with the fun on The Stamping Ground.  You must read her blogs, she is so funny, and then have a look at what others are up to. Get a cuppa first, you will get hooked.