A New Year of Crafting

It's been a while since my last post.  I have a list of excuses that I won't bore you with except for the fact that I did go back to work for the last six months of the year. I retired three and a half years ago but was asked to help out until a new person was appointed with a job that I did in the 1990s.  It was a challenge that I enjoyed enormously. I involved two of my great loves - the use of computers in special education and working with individual children.


To start off the year .... my last year's Christmas card.  As I mentioned in the previous post, have I been attending a weekly watercolour class so I decided that I would use my new skills to produce the card.

My new Canon scanner/printer takes card really well so it was quite a straightforward process. It was so easy to just print those extra cards that you always seem to need. 


I would also like to show a sewing project that I completed last week - a paintbrush roll.  This will keep them all together instead of searching in different places for a particular brush. I recycled some Laura Ashley material that I had used to make a blind - many moons ago.






I bought a shower very cheaply curtain from Asda to use as the lining. Hopefully this will wipe clean.

I'm really pleased with the result.

Something for Nothing

It has been a lovely day today.  It is always a surprise to have a day without rain isn't it?  I did mean to do some crafting this afternoon but it was just too nice to stay indoors.

So I am glad that I finished my Less is More challenge card last night. Because it is the beginning of the month it is a colour challenge:

Brown & Pink
 

I used a tag that came with an item of clothing as a template.  I knew that it would come in handy some time !!!  The heart is covered with spotty paper from a My Mind's Eye stack that came free with a magazine. I coloured the edges with Spun Sugar and Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks.  To follow on with the "free" theme, I cut up one of those coffee cup sleeves. (I knew that that would come in handy too!)  It was also edged with Brushed Corduroy.  

I decided on a birthday sentiment but I think that this design would lend itself to other occasions too.  

So I will have to embarrass my friends again by collecting more of those coffee sleeves when the occasion arises. I did see a Youtube video that used them to make a tag book so that could be another project to tackle.

Upcycling?

Now , I have had the recycling bug for many years. I taught children the importance of looking after our environment and felt that I had to practice what I preached. In the early days I am sure that I spent more money on petrol than I did on saving with my recycling.  I approached my local councillor back then to complain about the lack of recyclying points locally only to be told that he agreed with me but that there was no plan to increase the service.  Things have changed!  How does this rambling relate to craft..............well I recently discovered the term "upcycling".  Good old Google ...........upcycling maintains or improves the quality of the materials.  So I think that this note holder fits into this category. I purchased the original from a pound shop and covered it with K and Co papers. I added the 3D flower and a sizzix die cut as embellishment.

Saved From the Bin

Look at this. Do you have one of these?  It is a plastic tub where I put all of my aborted attempts; whether it be because of an ink smudge, (usually the case) badly positioned matt, oozing glue or just because , after hours of work, I simply don't like it.  I live in hope that each and every one of these poor things will be resurrected and live on in another guise - complete and pleasing to the eye without a hint of what lies beneath the background paper or embellishment!

And here is such a card.

 Admittedly it was just two little ink marks that spoilt it. Those gems have hidden them to perfection!  This card was made a Stampin' Up party and with the help of Elaine Brainwood (Local Stampin' Up demonstrator)

Such pretty paper and stamp. We used an embossing folder - Square Lattice. It gives such a lovely textute to the paper making it look a bit like wallpaper.  Of course, I had to have it.

Anyway, I have yet again justified to myself, the need to keep the plastic box of "disasters"

Same difference

Wasn't 100% satisfied with the first card that I made with the paint sample and I knew that I would have to give it another go before moving on. ( Am I sad or what?) I am much happier with these. The only difference between the two cards is the placement of the sentiment. How odd that such a little adjustment can make a difference...... (See my last post - it's all in the positioning!) I have entered the first card in this week's CAS-tastic Challenge (CWC014) as it requires us to "BLING it Up"". Not a lot of bling here but enough, I think.


I have also reversed the order in which the coloured butterflies are placed. This time I have chosen to put the lightest tone at the top. As I have added dark ribbon to the bottom of the topper, it seemed right to have the darkest shade next to it.

It still tickles me that the butterflies were punched from a paint sample card - the same paint sample card for all three !!! I am going to have to resist the urge to go to B& Q pretending that I am redecorating the whole house and in urgent need of a large amount of these samples.

Butterfly wishes

I am always on the look out for materials that I can use in my crafting that have no cost attached to them. I have several previous posts that have detailed various items that I have recycled. So I was happy to join in with the Cornwall Crafty Stamper Challenge. The theme is Recycling and this is my card.



I used a paint shade card that I had kept from deciding the colour for my bathroom walls and cut butterflies using my MS punch. There is no need to search around for different papers or card that tone with each other. Dulux did it for me! I attached them to a white strip of left over card and then mounted this, using 3D foam pads to a mottled grey piece of card. This had begun life as the backing card from a packet of embellishments - I knew that it would come in handy. The stamp is one that a kind Ebay seller sent me for free when I purchased some stamps from her. I finished it off with a little "bling" in the form of flat backed jewels - I did purchase these . So ...... all in all.......... a very low cost project.


As Crafty Susy has a butterfly themed challenge , I will pop this over on her site too.

More wedding good wishes

I was tidying / rearranging/ rationalising my cardstock yesterday evening, desperately trying to get into the "dispose of" mode. I know that I am not alone but why can't I just get rid of all of the little bits of card and paper that I keep filed in folders and boxes. I do try to be organised by keeping colours separately. I recently rescued plastic folders that had housed educational cd roms and the guide books that went with them. These are A4 in size, perfect and what's more..... free.

Will post pic later.

One of the folders contained lots of cream card offcuts so I decided to use it to make another wedding card. Not that this will make any difference to the volume of the cream stash!!!!
This has a similar feel to the card in the previous post but I wanted to simplify the design further. I still used a Cuttlebug embossing folder (dots), stamped and gold embossed dandelion, gold paper and ribbon. The card is textured and purchased from the local papermill. I will enter it into the CAS Challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers as it fills the brief to create a card with embossing detail.

Kraft paper second......

Two cards in and I am now firmly hooked on the use of kraft. So it is off down that road I will go. I am so glad that I rescued those folders before they were put into the recycling bin at work. I tell my colleagues that I have my own form of recycling!

I will enter this card into the CAS-tastic Challenge too as I am better pleased with it.

Creativity follows very few rules.......One cannot predict where it will take you. So kraft it is until something else catches my eye.

Save the envelopes from the bin.

Have you noticed the variety of lovely patterns that you get on the inside of most business envelopes? I have always taken note but my interest stopped at appreciation until my friend Lorna said that her mum saved envelopes to use for teabag folding. The lightbulb lit up!!

My work colleagues have now got used to the exclamations of delight when I see a particularly unusual envelope interior. I do feel that I am treated with some degree of pity or at least benevolent kindness because of my passions for crafting and recycling. If I can combine the two then I am in seventh heaven!! I now have a collection of envelopes waiting for the perfect project. There is a point to these ramblings.... As it is Father's Day soon I decided to use one of my new purchases - Personal Impressions Clear Men Stamps. I chose my envelope paper as the perfect base for stamping the shirt image on to. Here is the completed card.
Collar, tie and cuff were stamped from white card and decoupaged. Buttons and letters were diecut using sizzix dies and the circle layers were cut using Nestibilities.

Stocktaking today

I spent today going through my craft materials trying to fit them more neatly into the cupboard that I have taken over as my own. I am always determined to keep everything together but I find that things keep escaping and taking up residence in other parts of the house. The cultery drawer in the dining room is a favourite place to hide. It is tidy now and contains only cutlery... For how long?........we'll see!

My stocktaking revealed that I own two Tim Holtz brushed corduroy Distress Ink pads. I only bought one last week - where did the other one come from? I obviously need to compile an inventory as an aide memoire.


I also keep lots of "mistakes" that happen when I am making my cards. This card ws quickly put together with items that I had previously abandoned. The stamped background had a white space in the middle where I had not pressed hard enough. The sentiment topper had started of life as an element on a card that I had smudged with ink. The card itself had an inky fingerprint which is now hidden.

Background stamp ?
Sentiment - Hero Arts
Edges of topper are stamped with my favoutire dandelion stamp from Lavinia Stamps
Ink pads - Impress Forest Green
- Versafine - black
(I also used a little of a copper ink to give dimension)

The relentless quest for organised craft space

I seem to spend as much time tidying up my crafting materials as I do crafting nowadays. Keeping my ever growing stash in order is one of my top priorities in life. How sad am I??

Here is my latest idea. I saw something similar in an infant classroom some years ago. The teacher had stapled pieces of card together to hold her pupils' rolled up artworks.

I have made mine out of sturdy cotton that was left over from my aunt's conservatory blinds. It is essentially a long rectangle, folded in half and sewn at intervals to create pockets. I then folded the top edge over a trouser hanger and sewed it into place. All unfinshed edges had been zigzagged first to stop fraying. It hangs in my craft cupboard and I no longer have to waste time searching for what I need as I can see everything at a glance.

A gift to celebrate a new job

Again using patterned papers from the K & Co paper pad detailed in yesterday's post, I put together a co-ordinated gift set for a friend's daughter to celebrate her first teaching job. I thought that the apple graphic made it an appropriate choice of paper.

I learned how to make the Post It note pad cover at a workshop held by Elaine Brainwood, one of our talented local Stampin' Up demonstrators, and have made many more since.

I used a handcream jar, plastic clipboard from Tesco and Post-It note pad to create what you see here. Must do it again.

Back to work for me.........

Holiday over and back to the daily grind. Emails, voicemails, a desk full of post it notes and a meeting that I had forgotten that I was going to. I had decided not to open work emails at home and I left my diary in the office on purpose..... On reflection, a big mistake.



Will probably craft before the day is out ( less than an hour to go) but I thought that, before I do, I would use this opportunity of posting another picture of Hollie, continuing on from yesterday.




This is a school photograph taken a couple of years ago. It came in the usual card frame but I recently decided to cover it with K & Co patterned paper that came from a QVC TSV of 300 12" by 12" papers - One of my best buys ever. The larger flowers were cut from a template that I made and backed with card and I used a punch for the smaller flowers. The frondy bits were just cut freehand. The petals were curled slightly to " give dimension" and I used Tim Holz Distress ink around the edges. I will be searching through all the photographs to find more of these card frames to customise.

How long can a pair of jeans last?

Number one son appeared yesterday to pick up his favourite pair of jeans after I had mended them for the umpteenth time. My sewing machine does a good job in darning the worn areas but I have told him that if there is a next time then it will have to be to convert them into a pair of shorts.

This reminded me of a pair of his old jeans that I had used to make into a craft tote bag. I cut the legs off, used part of one to make a base and the handles and hey presto....somewhere else to store my craft stuff. The pockets are already there so it was a relatively straightforward project.

Now what can I do with the other leg? Watch this space!!!