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).

WOYWW 148

Well, after last weeks little revelation - ie a look around my stamping area with lots of photos this week is somewhat different.  There is nothing to show but an empty desk.

So Ms Julia and all the WOYWW'ers out there look at this.  A clean area and no dirty green mat!  So what happened?  Well, I cleared it all off and did a bit of videoing to show folks my birthday cards (see here if you want to look).  That was a few days ago.  I have put most things back now but decided to do a bit of polymer clay work as I haven't done any for such a long time and teaching it the other week was not really me making anything.

Haven't got around to it yet as my line up of pasta machines show.

Why Three?

I knew you would want to know.  Well, I got so fed up with continually having to clean my machine, and clean it so thoroughly when I wanted to use white pc that I got myself another machine.  Then there was a problem with the transluscent so I got a third.  Now one is for each.  I've nowhere to store them so they are fixed to my workbench down the bottom end.  Easy to move up and use when I get around to it.

I do spread a bit all over the house.  Those of you who visited last week thought I had lots of room but I have a dedicated cupboard in the utility room, a "stolen" cupboard in there too (one of the wall ones) and a small chest of drawers in the sitting room - I also spread out into the hallway with my trolley (die cutting stuff) and my big bag for Vicky Stampers.  That's not to mention the two bags (those on wheels) behind the settee.

Ah well, we all do it - don't we!  Now I have shared my secret stash with you and shown you my tidy workdesk why not pop over to the stamping ground and see what other WOYWW'ers have to share.  I can guarantee you some eye candy and maybe one or two giggles.

Adios!

ps the dirty green mat is on the floor - forgot to get a replacement today when I went into town - sorry yesterday, it's 12.15 now Wednesday morning and I got up because I had twitchy legs - you know when you can't sleep .........

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???

I Should Have Had a Clapper Board

Because this is TAKE NUMBER TEN.

When I decided to finally get around to videoing my birthday cards ("It's easier than scanning them all in" -I thought - doh!) I did not realise that I would eventually end up with "Take Ten".  I could not stop laughing when the ninth one did not take, Chas was so upset for me that he was the one stomping around.

The first one chopped the bottoms off, the second the tops went and this was repeated so many times - until the seventh take; when I had not switched on properly and I only recorded three seconds.  Take Nine ran out of time - so much for videoing!  But, not one to be daunted by set backs I tried TAKE TEN and this is it.  Worms, bugs, and all - you have got it as it is now.  No more tries.

So sit back, enjoy your cuppa and feast your eyes on the lovely hand-made cards I got this year (have included the commercial ones as I don't want people to feel left out).

A Big Thank You to all the lovely friends who sent me a birthday card!  Love you!


Special thanks to my other half who ended up tying his computer up downloading the video to You Tube to begin with - and for his patience with me.


ps - it took two tries to load this up to You Tube before it actually did it.  That was over EIGHT HOURS of loading.  This video was not meant to be - but we beat all the odds in the end.

The Artful Times - A Brand New Blog

Well, here it is at last - a new Challenge Blog is born.  We are all so excited and here in "the Editors' Office" Sam, Von and myself are all eagerly awaiting the stroke of six tonight when our own blogs for today and our baby, the "Artful Times" will go out to the world.  So yes, this is a scheduled post that you are reading at the moment.

It is just about a month ago that  another challenge blog  I was involved with decided to close its doors and I was left with an empty feeling, so, together with Sam and Von, the decision was made to begin yet another.  You would never believe the discussion that has gone on behind the scenes, it took us almost this long to come up with a name and we do hope you like the idea of this being the challenge blog you open, just like you would a broadsheet, on your way home from work on a Friday evening.

We didn't want to overwhelm you with things in our first publication so I won't go spilling any beans but hope you have time to look around our "Times" and seen all the "help sheets" that Sam has produced to make life easier for those of you who are not as familiar at entering challenges as some others are. Yes, we have rules, not hard school type rules but rules to help make your lives and ours much easier.  We hope you will take time to read them and familiarise yourself with what we are asking and enjoy producing something on your blog and linking it to the 'Artful Times'.

Our first challenge is to make a tag - simple!  No restrictions but please read what we have asked of you and then let us know a little bit about how you made it, what you used etc.  It just makes it that little bit more interesting to us and others to know what techniques you have used and often what stamps you have employed.

Right, without further ado here is my tag for this first publication and it is a sandwich board man (sorry cannot remember the name of the stamp manufacturer) announcing the new blog to you all.

The tag was a Manilla one and I used Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and a little Mahogany Distress Ink around the edges to colour it with.  A bit of torn dictionary page was added for interest and to break the background up, and this was aged with Tea Dye as before.  The man was stamped with Black Archival Ink, cut out and mounted on the tag - the newsprint was taken and shrunk from an image on the web and the title was produced on the computer along with the headlines.

I just wanted to shout from the rooftops that the "Artful Times" was out with issue no 1 today.

Hope you join us over the next couple of weeks with your tags - look forward to seeing you!

Only Five Minutes to Go

What on earth am I on about?  Click this link to find out in five minutes time.

WOYWW 147 (long, need a cuppa to view)

Hi folks - in case you happened on here by accident I am showing views of my craft room after its tidy up.  When you see the photos you might not think it very tidy but believe me you, it is!  This is all for my friends on WOYWW who come and have a rummage about people's craft rooms on a Wednesday morning, but anyone is welcome to have a look around so please pull up a chair, grab a cuppa and sit back with your finger on the mouse to scroll down.  Welcome to my new followers, I do hope you enjoy your time here.

Behind the door (see it is full of aprons and crafting t-shirts) is my "inspiration wall".  That was what the Big Strong Boys (tv programme for those who don't know) called it when they first did my room.  Now the wire that stretches across (think it is for net curtains really) holds all manner of things - notices, things I have nowhere to put etc but it still holds the beads (far right) that they left me.  Above are the squares they painted on the wall and the first one has a beeswax collage on it, the second a kind of canvas covered in scrapbook paper that I did on a Kars Workshop and the third a picture from my mate, Sam.

The folder you can see peeking at the bottom right is stood on a big art folder (full of big papers) and this holds all my die cuts and some cards I take to shows.

Swinging to the left, avoiding the desk that just has a printer sat on it and those Mothercare boxes piled underneath (one for metalwork and one for sewing) plus a big box for ephemera, we have my silver tins which hold unmounted stamps.  The little grey/clear plastic boxes have some of my Timmy embellishments in, the coloured tubs have various tools in, punches on the wall on Ikea rails, my carousel and then cream and red boxes with more unmounted stamps inside. Just sneaking in top right are my Grand Nesties.  Bits and bobs hang from my floating shelf (which Gavin - swoon - put up for me) and it has lights underneath.

Underneath - silver tins hold spray inks, journal paints, fibres and fabric paint, inks are in a box behind.  The blue bag holds my Cricut, the Art Bin is for me to take to shows.  Next to my Grand Calibur the silver tins hold charms, UTEE, molds and books in various stages of completion.  Then above ... my new sewing machine and two silver tins for fabric bits and one for dumfing stuff.

These are those boxes with um's in, also the first tier of grey plastic has them in but then the others have mounted stamps in.  The clear boxes above mainly have my worksheets in them.

Then you would come to the bit of workspace I have but as you see that week after week I have missed it today.  It's just left of this.  These are my 'cubby holes' that hold all manner of things.  Lots of inkpad storage, rolls of ds tape, glues that I am using, embossing powders, foam squares, post it notes, etc.  My acrylic mounts are on top of one set of 'cubbies' as are my stains in the basket I made for them.  My pots for all my most used tools, my stand for my blending tools and then two row of books.

You can also see some of my flowers stacked up (stupidly - need to rethink this one) and bits and bobs hanging from the metal cages.

Underneath is a cupboard.  I keep thinking of taking the doors off so it is easier to access but then I change my mind - dust!!  This has fancy papers in, a big box of ephemera papers at the bottom, some tool boxes, silver tins with completed books in, cd's for using for something (?), glue, spare rolls for my ATG guns, Xyron (unused) machine and endless refills, magnetic paper, cut and dry foam etc etc

Next to that we have the end of the 'tick' that the BSB put up - now full of videos, dvd's etc (all crafting), an old wooden box that has ribbons, lace, etc inside, underneath another old box, but painted this time, that has stencils, shrink plastic, dominoes, Luminarte Polished Pigments, Twinkling H2o's in.  More 'cubbies' with A5 card, large mounted stamps, paints, envelopes, binding rings, etc in and you can see my Cuttlebug and the Cinch in front of my Polymer Clay, Collage and Journal  books.  Blue trays hold glues and wire tools, black ones hold loads of stuff too many things to mention.  Then there is the clock picture, which I love, from Sam, on the wall above it.

Under there is a cupboard with files (atc's, plastic wallets, old stamp system), books, magazines (card making) and the two red folders (that do fit in normally) have my scraps of cardstock in colour coded in plastic wallets.

This is the last bit and is underneath where I sit.  Clay, Friendly Plastic, Grungeboard, Timmy stuff, cardstock mainly fill up my grey drawers; the card holder a neighbour made for me (love it); my bag on the floor with scrapbook papers in, box next to it CHA stuff.  Concertina file and bag with copy paper in are behind the yellow bin and the yellow bin (rubbish) sits in the pink one (paper/card) which is my attempt at recycling.

That's it, wonder how many of you stayed to the end?  You deserve a gold medal.  I got bored uploading it all but nothing else to do on a Tuesday evening when Mr Mojo is on walk about - yes, I am uploading early as there is too much to do after midnight with all these photos - so confession time - this will be a scheduled post.

ps Sam, Von and myself are launching a new Challenge Blog on Friday evening - see the blog button on the right (Artful Times) so if any of you feel like joining in do pop along and see what the challenge is for this week.