Steampunk Journal

At the end of July I took a workshop with Sarah A when we did a Steampunk Journal.  This was not any ordinary journal - we actually made our own book from an old (unloved and destined for the tip) book.  Thanks Sarah, it was a great idea.

Sarah A was on the workshop (confused?  It was a different Sarah A) and eleven days later she put up her lovely work that she had done.  Shame on me - mine was still the same - but I had been thinking about it - getting nowhere - but thinking about it.

The other two people on the workshop were Sue and Cynthia and today Cynthia called round and showed me her progression.  That was the spur I needed and so here is what I have done to date:

This is my first page.  You can hardly see it but it was already stamped with a "This book belongs to ...." and so in scrawly writing I wrote "Phineas Pinchbeck".  That's Phineas on the right.  I love that stamp, I covet it, and my friend Mo has it.  I do wish I could track him down.  I WANT THAT STAMP!  And his friend!

Do you like the fingerprints?  I thought that would make the book look even more old and dirty.

 The second page begins the story of Phineas and his journey.  Originally I stamped lots of travel things on but thought it was too crowded so when my friend Mary sent Chas a birthday card with this train on I decided to steal it (only done that tonight) and block out some of my stamping.  This shows that Phineas is going to travel on various modes of transport when he begins his journey.

On the opposite side there is a torn vellum page with a couple of things stamped on and you can see that the next page has more things on but they are muted with the overlay of vellum.

The third set of pages has some torn out text on which I found by accident but thought it appropriate for he and his lady love saying goodbye as he set off.  You might just about read them (or click on it to expand the picture in another window)

On the right hand side is a small set of pages.  This has been run through the Cuttlebug with the ruler and then inked over.  You can just see the inside right hand page peeking out which has a map of London - showing the road from Paddington to Islington.  The left inside page, which you cannot see, has some luggage stamped on it but I won't upload that one.

That is more or less it.  I have one or two things on other pages but they are not completed as yet and I need to think carefully about my story.

It's been great fun, is going to be even more fun and I am really looking forward to getting to grips with those cogs and wheels and all things Steampunk.

I just wish someone would make a die with small cogs and wheels as I like the look and feel of texture and raised images.

Elements - Nearly There

Phew!  Got more done on my Project for the Elements weekend.  At long last I have settled down to my bit and am happy with it.  Spent half a day with Sarah when Helen and I got our Perspex section done.  Here's a bit of mine (hope I have not shown too much in this sneak peek).

I showed them how I had done two other elements so they then began doing those - hope Paddy will be pleased that the three of us have gone on so far ahead now.

When I came home I began pondering on my clay element and on Friday I sat down and made a concerted effort and got mine put to bed.  Not only that but I did my worksheet and sent it off to Sarah and Helen so that they could begin on that also.

Again I don't think I am sneaking too much of a peek.  My Project would not be complete if I did not include my little friend Archie so he had to feature in my work.

Here he is, with a little bit of bling.  I just love Archie.  Hope you do too and that this whets your appetite and makes you think of coming along and joining us.  Give Paddy a ring if you are interested (details on sidebar) or contact Helen at elementswithpaddy@googlemail.com to secure a place.

Before I go - have you checked the blog candy on my sidebar?  Stacey's ends soon so you need to hurry to join in - great candy!

Late for PDC

Last Tuesday I was talking to Sarah and I said I would hurry and make a card for the PDC Challenge.  Sarah had chosen the colour scheme so I felt I had to support her as she had been such a gem with my corset (see earlier posting) and she really is a lovely person in every way.

Well, I did do it, and went to upload it - went to PDC to put my name and thumbnail in.  Guess what?  It was Wednesday in NY.  I was too late.

Anyway, here it is - my late entry which does not qualify:

Took me ages to find some beige cardstock, brown was easy but what was I to do with green?  Found some little roses and peeled the calyx (is that what they are?) back on them all to show the green.

Ah well, now my friend has an easel card for her birthday - hope she likes it.

Zentangle

Over on Lots to Do this week the challenge is "zentangles". and my domino group have had a swap featuring zentangles (I missed it) so I thought I would have a go on a domino.

I have made mine into a pendant with one of my hand-made clay beads on the top - all it needs is something threading though and it can be worn.

I decided to put it on a card so I mounted it on white, then black and then white again.  The last layer of white I did some more zentangling on and then thought I would mount that on black and do even more but this time using a white pen.  Now I wish I had put a plain layer between the two zentangled bits.  My best white pen is a Signo so I used that.  It does come out thicker than my black pen but it looks sort of ok'ish.

I first was alerted to zentangling at CHA in January as Design Originals had previews of some books on it, I thought it looked easy and didn't need a book.  Wrong!  I found it difficult when I came to do it.  We all doodle and draw flowing lines and things but when it came to creating my domino, and subsequent paper bits, I had difficulty.

Mind you if you go over to Lots to Do and see some of the work posted on there by others you will see why I had a problem.  Some absolutely fab pieces on there.

Anyway, here is mine (enough blabbering) - the idea was there even if the execution wasn't.

Sorry about the angle and the flash on top of the domino but it was the best of a zillion photographs I tried to take.

More Sneak Peeks

As I said, I have been busy with my Project for the Stamping Weekend in September.  I have now only three elements to do - well 3.5 really as the wire is not complete yet.  I am so excited over that bit, it looks absolutely gorgeous and is probably going to be one of my favourite elements.  Don't let Paddy know but my own area has not been done as yet - will get this done today.

In the meantime I thought I would show you a couple of sneak peeks of the two areas done this week.

This is an addition to the original bit - a little "bling" is good for any girl and I can justify it on my project.

My photography leaves a bit to be desired.  My fabric bit at the top is rather blurred - couldn't get it right - but ...

This one turned out ok, now you can see a bit of another fabric piece and some more metal work.  I love playing with metal.  Wish I could afford (money and time) to work in it all the time.

A last bit of metal

If you have the time and the money to spare I do urge you to go to my sidebar and ring Paddy - this is now getting exciting and I know there are one or two places left.  A fab project and a fun weekend.

Is This Tidy or What?

Definitely WHAT!

I have been so busy trying to catch up with work on my "thing" (sh! it is a secret) for Paddy's weekend in September (see side bar and previous post - 3rd August) that my room has got in a bit of a mess.  If I keep showing you my desk, well, the space left on it, it will look pretty much the same, just a bit messier this week,  so I decided to do several shots around my room.

As some of you know I had a make-over by the Big Strong Boys (a tv make-over show) a few years ago and believe me it does not look one bit like it did when they had finished.  It was aesthetically pleasing for TV and I got a lovely laminate floor, counter running on two sides, Gavin's famous "floating shelf", cupboard/shelving and lots of goodies.  Had a brilliant two days with the most wonderful television team and was quite upset when they had to leave me.  A fabulous experience and some wonderful friendships.

Anyway, enough of that - here are some shots of my room today so all you WOYWW'ers (Pop over to Julia's blog (Stamping Ground) if you are new to this) can see how busy I have been.  Thanks for all the lovely comments last week, cheered me up to have so many visitors.

Taken from the doorway looking in

The start of my counter

Moving along to my bit of space to craft in (borrowed dies from Paddy for my fabric bit are Paperartsy ones)

My workspace

Moving to the right - what's my craft mat doing over the door?

Back to the door almost

That's it!

But ... this is what it was like when they left (the tv folks)

Neat!

If I remember I will do some before and after close-ups next time.

Corset

Some of you may remember way back in August 2008 I started on a twelve month journey altering corsets.  This was the idea of Paddy (Paddy's Stamping Place in Prestwich) whose mother and grandmother had been Sprirella corsetieres.  Following Paddy losing her mother she found lots of sample corsets, both Spirella and Spencer corsets, at her mothers.

Paddy got a group of  eleven of us to each work on a corset and then pass it on like a round robin, everyone adding their bit to each corset.  Each of us chose a theme, Peacock Lady (Sarah), Field of Dreams (Carol), Mermaid Dreams (Glo), Monet (Penny), Gathering Lilacs (Paddy), Construction (Sylvia), Gwendoline Grace (Sheena), All Things British (Becca), Christmas (Claire), Metallica Magic (Tania) -  and mine was Viva La Diva - showgirls with lots of glitz and glamour, reminiscent of Las Vegas.

The corsets (in various stages of being completed) were put on show in Dorset in September 2009 but as I did not go down I didn't see mine until this week when I got it back from Paddy so that I could do some more work on it myself.

Each corset was supposed to have a book with it where you put photographs of the various stages as you worked on it - mine went missing early on and when I was alerted to the fact I made a new one and sent it off.

This is it as it stands - Paddy has still to work on it and I don't know who has done what as my book is left incomplete.  In fact there is only an entry from Penny, Sarah and Glo therefore I cannot tell you which bit belongs to the others and who still should have work to do on it.

Because things were getting hairy in the posting of these (they had to go back and forth from up north to Dorset) I made a bag for mine with a pocket on the front for my new book.  I put some rubber stamping on, wrote on asking for people to graffiti it as they pleased and added lace to cover my stitching LOL.

Only Sarah did anything on it - The red bit is hers.  To be fair the bag was only made after about four people had had it.

I thought my fastening of the top flap was ingenious - suspenders closing on buttons - this reminded me of my mum who used buttons inside her stockings if the rubber round bit had come off.

Not a clue who did this bit but the clay head and feathers was a bit of my work before it went off.  I dyed it with Cranberry Adirondack spray ink.

This was Glo's work.  She did me some pages later and sent them on to me when I started my new book.  She's a love.

The playing cards were done by Penny in Dorset.  She was the first person to work on mine and she wrote on a card in my first book how she did them.  "Thought Wow to the corset when it arrived.  Wondered how to keep up the effect so hope I have.  To add "fun" to corset decided on set of playing cards - scanned them into computer, onto some fabric printing paper and printed individual cards.  Then put this on to Fast 2 Fuse and added pearly beads around th edge.  Ironed Fast 2 Fuse to corset then with metallic thread added stitches tomake sure cards stay attached as Viva La Diva has a long way to go still.

No entry, don't know who did it

To say this is Sarah's bit is an understatement as there is so much work in it.  Dear, dear dependable Sarah worked so hard on this section and has said she would like to do some more at a later date.  How can you not love her?

Not only all that work but four pages in my book explaining her thinking behind what she did and how she did it all.  And an atc to boot!  (We were all to send a calling card - only got one from Sarah and one from Glo).

The Final Picture

This is how it stands now.    I know Sylvia did the "flounces" at the bottom but no idea if she added the beads or they are someone else's bit.  Paddy has ideas on how she is going to do her bit (flashing stars and feathers) but in the meantime my friend Jo would love to work on it so when she has a moment it will wend its way to Liverpool for her addition.

When it is finally finished I will post a picture - but I won't be wearing it - those ladies in the 40's were stick thin!