WOYWW 741

Another Wednesday and we all meet up again at Julia's to show our desks and generally natter.  Now, for weeks I have been going on about my class at the Club, well it turned into two consecutive classes.  We were let down at the last minute last month and luckily I was ready so stepped in with my decorated tins, Sarah Anderson, style.

Last Saturday was part two of my class (which would have been done in the afternoon last month) when we did something else in the style of Sarah.  I must add that I had approached Sarah for her to do the class originally but she couldn't and she did not mind my taking it and doing her 'thing'.  (Sarah and I go back way over 30 years when we both tutored at Paddy's Place in Whitefield, Manchester.)

I did show you two tins I had decorated in my post of the 12th July but here are some of the other samples (not stuck to tins so use your imagination please) plus a tiny tin I found in my stash and some toppers for it.  Which shall I use?

This one was extended for this last Saturday and had a little Journal Clip inside it which had a little book inside.  Now these Journal Pins (bottom right with a tag sticking out - little book at the top fits in the top of the Journal Clip) are to attach to your journal pages and there is further room for journaling on tags or in the little books that some have tucked in the top.

Here are some more samples - these are like Sarah made

And on researching the internet I found other people doing them - differently again:

This is one using Aall & Create Images - I just had to make this book to go in the top.

So there we are minus the 19 that I gave out to club members.  At last all is revealed and I hope I can stop making them now as I did get carried away.  If you want to know how to make them just drop me a line and we'll work something out.

Just ever so briefly - the birthday last week ended on the Thursday when we took ourselves off to Bowness in Windermere for another Afternoon Tea.

This was very busy with people enjoying the AT but I must admit I did prefer the one at the Lancaster House Hotel.  Sorry WBI.  This one had roasted red pepper soup served in little enamel mugs, fish and chips (my favourite), crispy chicken, pigs in blankets, mini beef sliders, smoked salmon and pickled cucumber, scones with ja and cream, chocolate brownies and lemon meringue pies.  It was served with an alcoholic drink - I had Prosecco and Chas had a bat of beers.  I presume because of the alcohol it was £10 per head more expensive and they did the 10% service charge automatic.  The cakes came home we could not fit them in our full tums.

Now to diet ...

ps I have had to drive down to reception to get internet access as I am at the caravan again - what we do for our blogs!

Spray Away with Artful Times

Well, the challenge this next two weeks is for you to get out those sprays.  I have oodles of them and bought some new Dylusion ones at Port Sunlight from Ali-Craft but haven't opened them up yet.

At weekend when I was working for Oyster Stamps the lovely Tracey had some new products - sprays by Lindly's Stamp Gang which is what I am using today.  My friend Mary stocks these in America, she knew Lindy and this year got Carole to take me to introduce me to Lindy's two daughters who have carried on the business since Lindy so sadly died.  If you like Mica - you will love these sprays.  They do have some fabulous products and are popular in the USA.

Do they clog up?  Was asked this question a few times on Sunday but I was honest and said I didn't know as I had only used them over the two days.  Now, five days later I have taken them down from the shelf and used them - no clogging!  So what did I do?  I stamped and diecut some flowers and then put some of them on wires so they waved gently as you move the box.

Another box from WRMK

trying to let you see the mica

This time I cut a hole in again, put some card behind with hares stamped on and some little chicks fussy cut across the base.  This is for my friend's little girl for Easter.

Those are the two sprays I used (from the pink and the blue set) and this was my attempt to let you see the mica left behind on the cardstock after spraying the flowers.  Loved how it puddled in the middle of the card so had a real good spray afterwards to get a deep colour on my cardstock.

This looks much better irl and I am going to use it to cover a book I want to make.  Here's another shot - love those runs

I took oodles of photographs of the card but won't bore you with them all.  It really is a gorgeous colour but has to be seen to be appreciated.  Photographs just do not do those sprays justice.

Anyway, why not pop over to Artful Times and see what the ladies have done - you will love their work.  Then get your sprays out whilst the weather is condusive and spray spray spray away.

WRMK Gift Box Maker, Lindy's Srays, Heartfelt Creations Dies and matching Rubber Stamp all from Oyster Stamps.

WOYWW 213

Here we are another Wednesday another WOYWW.  Am sure you all know the acronym by now, if not follow the link for a full explanation from our leader/initiator/instigator/mother ship pilot etc etc.

First of all - Ladies - I am so sorry but for some reason I cannot comment on those of you who have Wordpress.  As what I do it refuses my email addie and/or my password.  My sincerest apolgies - am trying to get it sorted.  Have spent ages messing about trying to do it.
(2) Cazzy - I could not find your "comment" link on your blog, hence no comment from me, sorry.
(3) Everyone - it is a big help for commenting if you put your number, even if it moves you only move a couple or so.

Right, that is the admin, or sort of, over - now to my desk.  It doesn't seem to change much, still the little space with all the rest of my largish counter taken up with drawers etc.  Oh for a huge shelf, that does not bend under the weight, running around my room to put the storage on.

Remember my talking of making a foursome with the cat food boxes last week?  Well, here it is - my new Distress Ink storage, stored in the window sill above my working bit on my desk.

Previously I had some in a lovely hinged box and some in a plastic tray - adequate but not that convenient for something I use almost daily.  I am hoping this will be so much better (and the window is not to the outside but to another room so no sun coming through to dry them out).

all taped up

top of box - found these stick down letters I have had for ages - need to start using stash (sounds familiar?) - not sticking very well so had to use glue in the end.

  

Sides

Back

Lastly, but by no means least - here is another ATC I received last week from Dolores in Slovenia - a really lovely surprise and such a lovely atc.  Thank you so much for thinking of me.

Can I be naughty and put a plug in?  Check out my new blog - see the button to the right - Flat Susan has been travelling.  Catch up on her travels - read how she ended in a puddle in Italy, how Jo nearly had a heart attack and how she met Elizabeth's family in an unusual way in Scotland.

Artful Times Challenge 25 - Alcohol Inks

As I have pointed out on the Artful Times Blog I seem to have had an obsession with 'techniques' these last two challenges.  First it was colour and now Alcohol Inks.  I am sure most of you will not need any introduction to those tiny bottles introduced by Tim Holtz

or to what you can use them on.  The above is a piece of Shrink Plastic which I coloured in with Alcohol Inks.  Here's a better view of her I just wanted to show you how tiny she is (above).

She was stamped with Stazon on transparent Shrink Plastic.  Hint:  if doing this colour from the back to stop your ink moving.

Love using AI's on boxes - love the colour on these - the flower is on White Shrink Plastic and the butterfly on Transluscent.  I used Pool, Clover and Aqua for these boxes.

Thought I would show you one way of using up small pieces.  Alcohol Inks for colour and stamping with black and gold (Brilliance is another good ink to use) and you can make jewellery as below.  The necklaces are designed to be worn together to give two strands.

This is a very loaded bracelet and a pair of ear-rings for which you might need asbestos fingers.

Sorry the photos are dark, we seem to have had such poor light that I couldn't get them any better.

Well, considering I was intending colouring a large box that held a gift for my birthday I think you could say I got carried away with my Shrink Plastic.  What will you make?  Pop over to Artful Times and join in the challenge and see what Von has for you - exciting stuff I can tell you.

Done One More

Well, between watching the Regatta and other things I made another Pyramid box - this is for a friend of mine who was not at the class yesterday and who likes Steampunk.  Still like my green one with the leaf lid the best though - it must be the colours I like.  I did them with chalks ages ago but then just left the whole thing and decorated it on Saturday at the class.

 Inside (click to enlarge)

 Outside (click to enlarge)

I wanted to use my Vagabond but has it has not been used for simply ages I found that I had lost my lead in the big tidy up I have been having of late.  Frantic!  Frantic!  Frantic!  All hands to the deck and all that.  Anyway, at least I put some of the things down in my inventory that I had missed whilst looking and then when I had given up and whilst Chas was wading through a pile of electrical leads I spotted it - on the hostess trolley by the door.  That was a real Phew moment I can tell you.

Anyway, I managed to run some cogs through it for the said box and did some with the Spellbinders Sprightly Sprockets too.  A few stamped images and it was ready for assembly.  Here it is

Complete with some dangly bits made out of shrink plastic and hanging from jump rings on the edge of the top piece.

The inside when opened out

Thought I would flatten and show you the images that make up the outside of the pyramid - I had very few images that would fit but then I always prefer to use partial images anyway as I sometimes think the small ones look a bit lost.

Without looking back through my blog posts I cannot tell you the name of the stamp company they came from but as it is no longer in existence I guess it does not matter.  Shame, as they had a good selection, especially of Steampunk.

Entered into the following challenges
Blessings inc
2 Sisters
Catch the Bug Challenge
Secret Crafter

If anyone wants the template just email me (see right sidebar) and give me your addie and I will scan it in for you.  Self explanatory.

Victoria Stampers

Well, it was the monthly meeting of Vicky Stampers yesterday and I was leading the workshop.  Lynne, our Programme Officer had seen some pyramid boxes at my house the last time she was here and she asked if I would do a workshop on them.

Now these were done for Craft Stamper a few years ago and I'd taught them at a workshop since the publication had arrived at the shops, given most of my samples away (obviously the better ones) so was not that enthused about them.  Consequently I did not start preparing for my workshop that early and when I did I found that the "wings" needed a bit shaving off them to allow for the holes to be punched for the satay sticks so it meant a whole new set of drawings had to be done.

By late Friday evening I was ready and set off yesterday morning with two very old samples and one partly done which I intended to complete at the club.  Well, it went much better than anticipated and here are some photographs of my latest sample and of what the girls made:

This shows the outside of mine and the tiny starbook for inside

(not decorated yet) (pale green pages measure 3/4" across)

Could not resist showing you the second one Sheila made - her funky Jubilee Weekend Pyramid - isn't that fab!

Inside they open to reveal more pictures

Hope you enjoyed this trip to Vicky Stampers!

Where in the World ...

... is your Vagabond.  That is the question that Sizzix put out ages ago and which I did not bother with at the time but seeing it is still open for us to show our Vaggies this is where mine resides at home.

on a trolley

My room is only small and it is so full of crafting stuff that there is nowhere for my Vagabond to sit other than on a trolley so that it can be wheeled from hallway to room when I am crafting (or when visitors come LOL).

My big problem was where to store those big dies?  Then my friend in America gave me some Senseo boxes that her coffee pods come in and I brought two of them home.  I'll be after another two next year Mary!  They sit side by side on the lower shelf of the trolley and I have every intention of decorating them at some time but not just yet.  Underneath the black canvas cd case houses all of my Spellbinder dies and the little black card one has my embossing folders in.  So you see, my trolley is rather a special one.

The trolley is out because I have just finished decorating a little book/box I started at Vicky Stampers on Saturday, when Paul was tutoring.  Here it is - and I just love those letters I used (upon a time) on the inside.

This is the front cover

the inside front cover

the concertina box part

Now I have to tell you that I had seen one of these on Oyster Stamps stand when I was working for them at Leigh.  Pam had made it (check out her cards in their gallery) and I coveted that project so much that I bought some of the dies.  She does some beautiful cards and things.  It is not like Pams, hers is just beautiful beyond words, but it is similar.

I had taken a brown Distress Ink and Wild Honey with me and used the Wild Honey - I will be using that again and again.  The stamp of the bird was one of the dollar ones I got in America, the sun is probably from South Africa and the 'bitty' flowers are from Non Sequitur.  All the dies except the Tim Holtz one are Memory Box available from Oyster Stamps apart from the Labels one which is a Spellbinders (also available from Oyster Stamps).

Out of a Hat

or should it be "Out of My Room"?

Friends over at Out of a Hat Creations have got "boxes" for their challenge.  I was quite busy so didn't have time to make a box from scratch so a hasty peek around my craft room and I spied a plastic box with a flip top lid.  Ideal size for ATC's and not decorated at all - pristine (well not quite, a bit mucky) and containing Chas' business cards, or what is left over from them.  I had intentions, when he ditched them all, of using them as centres on ATC's but never got around to it.

Anyway, first of all I coloured it all over with Alcohol Inks and then used my new Steampunk Background Stamps, from Dot, as - well, as the background.  Just the usual, three colours on felt and dab dab dab. The three I have used are Butterscotch, Caramel and Ginger.

Then I got out my other Steampunk Images and chose the ones I wanted, stamped them on some cardstock that I had coloured with Tea Dye and Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks and tore around them, inking the edges, and a bit further, with Walnut Stain.  It's surprising how much difference that little bit makes to an image.  These were then stuck on with Glossy Accents.

A bit of depth was needed and so I got my tiny drawers out and had a rummage in my cogs and wheels and chose what I wanted to go on and this is the result.  Sorry I cannot remember whose the stamps are, but I think it is the company that closed down, sadly.  The pointy hand is a Stampers Anonymous one and the metal is Ideology.

the hand on the spine is pointing to the flip bit that I wrote "Open" on with a Sharpie pen

Hope you like my Steampunk ATC box, I can now take it with me to Vicky Stampers and I won't worry about where I have put my ATC for that month (crikey, better get one done as we have a meeting on Saturday) but in the meantime I am uploading it to Out of a Hat Creations - the blog challenge run by four fabulous ladies - why don't you decorate one - you have a couple of days yet!

Apologies for the quality of the photos - could not get them right - cue a new camera???

WOYWW 136

Don't forget to check out my blog candy at the top!

All that is on my desk are my unfinished projects

To the left is the one I started and never finished.  Doh!  Was too busy talking to Lorraine whist we were doing it and therefore not paying enough attention.  So I ended up with the bottom of the case covered in the lining paper.  This was fine apart from the fact that my case now has a different top to the bottom.

Would not listen to the cries of "it's fine, it looks nice" - was not for me.  So here it is unfinished and I was too tired to bother with it later that evening.  However, next day I began another one using the pale blue which I wanted to use originally.  Just needed more time to work it out so that I got it a bit more centralised with it having a recurring design on it.

So that is at the same stage - for different reasons.  Need some silver brads.  So ladies and gentlemen it will stay like this a while now as I am busy doing other things, as you will see by my next photograph.  Do keep checking me out, especially around CHA time when I will hopefully be downloading some piccies providing the hotel has WiFi.  Otherwise it will be a few days later when we get back.

In the meantime this was my desk yesterday - or was that earlier this morning - oh heck I am so confused but here is what was in front of me, loet's say, earlier today

See Spencer was busy checking things out on my desk/table.  Do you like his new jumper?  He needed one for the cold morning air as we left - thankfully he is happy in just his t-shirt now.

This was the view from my window as we left England

Want to know about the flight - well, we had the best steward ever.  He was called Stuart and he was absolutely fab!  Nothing was too much trouble and I dined on chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.  Even got to use the posher loos on one occasion as I was having to queue.  And guess who was on our flight?  None other than David Beckham with two of his boys.

Before you ask, NO, I did not get a photograph.  There were streams of people continually going up to them and taking photos and I thought it a bit unfair, especially on the two young boys who must have been tired with an 11 hour flight.  However, he did brush by me as he made his way from the loos at the other end whilst I was queuing outside our loo.  It wasn't until I got in the airport that I realised I had my LA Galaxy cap with me and could have worn it - that way he would surely have said something.  Could have told him then that I used to teach his best man - Gary Neville.  Ah well, opportunities missed but what the heck.



I'll leave it there but in the meantime pop over to Julia's blog and see what all the WOYWW'ers have been up to and what goodies they have on their desks to delight and entice you.  Me - I am off to bed in a few more minutes (and a few more brews - I am so thirsty).