A Blank Book to A Frame

As predicted, I haven't had a lot of time to craft and play this month. However, it hasn't stopped me from loosening the strings around my purse and spending a little online. One of my purchases was the blank book covers by Neelz Expressions. I saw these at the Stitches show on the Tando stand and there and then, knew I had to have them.

So when they hit the stores at the beginning of the month, I popped both the Ancient & Squared Off versions in my basket. So, behind the scenes here, whenever I had a few minutes, I'd be dabbling away with the Ancient book kit.

And though it doesn't look it, in the final cut, there was a heck of a lot of time put into it. The painting of the edges, the cutting out of the paper & the sanding of all those many, many curves. It took quite some patience on my part. But it was worth it.

However, as much as I love the design and it's official purpose as book covers, I had the urge instead, to create a frame out of it.

So with the help of my newest purchase of Spellbinders Elegant Card Maker Labels 4 Die, I created a simple, elegant frame design on the inside.

And there you have it. I may not have been posting here very often but I have been keeping my hand in with creating and crafting. Not sure what I'd do if I wasn't cutting paper up of an evening.

Pxx

Altoid Tin Challenge

The local craft stamping group I attend on a monthly basis, set us a creative challenge at our last meeting. To alter an altoid tin. Each of us was furnished with an empty tin and told to take it home and transform it.  Well it has sat on my desk, daring me to make something of it for the last few weeks and suddenly I realise that the next get together is looming. So with paints, gesso, paper and fabric in hand, I set about it's alteration.

I began by painting it with a thin layer of white gesso, to give the surface a key for painting onto. I then mixed a tiny amount of blue acrylic paint into a big dollop of white and brushed the outside in two coats. When dry, I took Ranger's White Opal Liquid Pearls, and smeared the surface with a thin application, using  my finger. This gave it a shimmering, almost metallic appearance. I glued paper twine around the lid and cut a patch of fabric to glue to the top. I frayed the edges of the fabric and adhered it using Ranger's Glue N' Seal. I used a Spellbinders heart die to cut out a shape from mulberry paper and cut out words from an old charity-shop book I have in my stash. I adhered everything with the Glue N' Seal before coating the surface of the tin with a thin layer of Glue N' Seal. It does just what it says on the tin :) Finally I dotted the edge with liquid pearls.

Inside the tin, I cut out a patch of linen fabric to line the bottom. I added a sprinkling of small buttons and a shell to accompany a miniature handmade book.

The book was made from the smallest die in Spellbinders Labels Number 17 set. I made a concertina book using ribbon as the binding. On the outside of the book, I drew a freehand heard using the liquid pearls. Inside, I decorated the pages with more drawn hearts which I coloured with acrylic paints.

And there you go, my entry for the altered altered tin challenge.

If you're wondering if the pictures have been installed on our walls over the weekend, fear not, they are still gathering dust in the corner. So did baking win over? Nope. We had an idle weekend, interspersed with trips to the shops for essential food supplies, a spot of gardening, a couple of countryside strolls and waiting on the cat hand and foot. We blinked and the weekend was over. Never mind, the next one has a bank holiday. We may actually do it then haha.

Px

Concertina Box (or is it a book?)

Remember I said there was an unfinished project from Sunday. Well here it is, done and dusted. In truth, all I managed to do on the day was create the structure. I left the decoration part until I was back home safely, ensconced in my craft room, surrounded by all my bits and bobs.

I first saw the concertina box/book idea at a stall at the Ally Pally Craft show this year. I asked the lady who was demoing, how she put it together and she said that it was easy to find on the internet. Well, it wasn't. I hadn't a clue which words to throw at google. And those I chose, didn't throw up the project I was after.

However, I persisted with ever more inventive search words and finally found this tutorial here.

I made this particular box with no specific purpose in mind, except to try it out and see how simple it was to assemble. I loved making altered books a few years ago, with niches inside but it takes a lot of work and bucket loads of sharp blades to cut them out. This seemed like a great way to achieve the same effect with less effort. And having now trialed it, I can confirm that yes it is indeed easy to make.

And now that I've acquainted myself with the technique, I can see myself making it in larger sizes in the future. And maybe, it'll be created the other way around, as in, I'll have the idea first, then I'll put it together.

Out Of Sorts

It's been a bit quiet on here due mostly to a bout of man-flu and feeling under the weather in recovering. I'm afraid I'm very typical of my gender and act as if I'm at death's door at the merest hint of a bug. However, I've woken up today feeling 90% there and itching to get on. There are lots of crafty challenges out in the blogging world and I fancy having a go at a few which hopefully means that this blog won't be as bare this week.

So to start the ball rolling, here's the beginning of a mini book I'm in the throes of. I've gessoed the pages, cut out and adhered the papers and decorated the front. Now all I need to do is fill it up with photos and journalling.

Before I do that, however, I need to find a spare afternoon and that's not going to be anytime soon. This coming weekend, for example, I'm hoping to head off to either Liverpool or Chatsworth (depending on weather) & then on Saturday I'm having a day in London (Ally Pally Craft Show, V&A for Annie Lennox) and then (cross fingers) I'm off to a farmers' market and vintage market on the Sunday.

The following weekends seem just as busy. I'm not complaining but it does tend to eat into my craft time lol. However, the one thing I do ensure I make plenty of time for is a pot of tea and I think it has brewed long enough. I'm off to enjoy. Pxx

There's More To Crewe Than The Train Station

Crewe, in Cheshire, is one of those places you always stop at if you're taking the train but never visit. Well, until now, that was my experience too. However, I've found a really good reason to leave the train when it stops here and it's called The Cubby Hole. Only a 20 minute walk (if you go at my break neck pace) it's a wonderful shop run by very friendly people and the group that meets there are a tremendous bunch.

Yesterday, I had a lovely time at a workshop there, held by the bubbly Sarah Anderson (who is one of the ladies behind the Play Date Cafe). She was showing us tools, tips and techniques to decorate metal (& believe me there are plenty of double entendres used in explaining them but I shall gloss over the conversations we had). We all had a practise session before each being given a book from a charity store to cover. It was then over to us to use our imaginations and come up with whatever design we pleased. I opted for using a texture plate in the centre to create a cobbled effect and to outline with a rivet technique.

I then spent an hour adding colour using Ultra Marine Blue & Teal Staz On inks. I received plenty of complimentary noises and admiration for it but really I was happier when it was just gold. I know, these days I am so far removed from "arty inky". I adore it in other's work though. Everyone else added beautiful arrangements of colour. They all looked so polished and creative (see these here). But for me, out came the cleaner and an hour's worth of inking was wiped out in seconds.

I decorated both the front and the back in the same design and that's the piece I came home with. What you see in the picture here, is the finished book once I added my own embellishments back in my craft room. I stayed with the metallic theme in my choice of decorations except for the black cord of elastic used to create the fastening. Now all I need to do is put the book to use and fill the pages.

And after all the cake and chocolate I ate there, I'm going to have to eat nothing but lettuce for a week. Worth it though.

Loving London and its Cultural Collections

Back in August, Nick & I took a mini tourist break in London to soak up some of the culture. On my return, I knew that if a reminder of the holiday was ever to be made, it had to be soon. Leave it for a few months and suddenly, the album would be yet another one on my "Someday Maybe" list.

I dug around to see what blank albums I already had (given that I seem to have collected a fair few over the years) and came across this spiral bound one, which seemed just about the right size.

Again, I opened up my InDesign software and placed photos and text together. There's no journaling in the layouts as I have kept it simply as a pictorial reminder. No need for thoughts, feelings or even factual snippets. The art, my dears, simply speaks for itself haha.

I set the printer to work, printing out onto the requisite papers, snipped, chopped, hacked and glued. Added some postcards I'd bought (where photos hadn't been permitted) and there we go. Another holiday album to join the stack. And though it took a fair amount of time and effort to produce this, by keeping the LOs similar, it cut it down immensely. The task of a whole 24 page album each with it's own uniquely designed page would be way too much just for recording a weekend away.

Mmm the simple pleasure of Mini Books

The fabulous goddess that is Kirsty Wiseman, bowled me over at the Harrogate show a few weeks back when she produced a handmade pressie just for little ol' me. I absolutely loved it. Simple yet very effective. Two leather coasters, holes punched into them with co-ordinating paper all bound together and voila, a gift for me to turn into something of my choosing.

So I went ahead and chose the topic, simple pleasures. I brainstormed a whole list and went on a google hunt for the images. I came up with a layout using Indesign, wrote out all the text - printed out all the pieces, grabbed my pattern papers and then, in a blur of glue and scissors, I had my complete creation. A perfect coffee table book from coffee table coasters.

The Little Book of Pink

In my ongoing quest to love pink, I have made this mini book all about what this tint of red means for me. In fact, I have started to take a liking to this colour now that I'm focused on it. Yesterday Nick & I went to Norton Priory and the gardens there are just stunning. So tranquil. I noticed how many pink flowers there were which I actively felt drawn to. Such a rich deep stylish hue. Anyway, I've had these Anna Griffin papers, the Dorothy range, which have been kicking around for some time now. They are all black and pink so I figured the easiest way to get stuck in was to make a little ox-plow tunnel book.

Opulence Book

My idol, the most wonderful Mr Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen (why did I think Lloyd?????), has made me a very happy person by designing his own range of patterned papers and embellishments. There's also a superb DVD where he guides you around his beautiful home, wowing us with his knowledge on art and design.

Anyhow, within minutes of them hitting the shop floor, I had bought up almost the full range of the Venaissance collection. It's just all rich, dark, opulent colours. Majestic purple and golds with dark, chocolate shades. Love it. I didn't feel like making cards or scrapbook LOs with them, I just wanted to play with colours and design. I had a spare chipboard book lying around waiting to be decorated and the idea was born to use it to create a minibook around the theme of opulence.

And here's the result. It was great fun to make. Choosing colours from one of my favourite palettes and sneaking in extra gold card wherever I could. I sliced and diced every single design in the pack and I still have loads left over. Don't be surprised if you see LLB stash creeping into plenty of my future blogged creations.

George's Book

This is where I am truly grateful for the cathartic effect of art and crafts. I have just finished my memory book of my beloved cat, George. In order to make it, I've gone over in my head all the treasured memories I have of him as well as sifting through photos and editing them on photoshop. He has been a prescence in my mind and on my screen and it has made me miss him so much. But it's by going through it and putting it all into this book that I have gone through all the stages of grief and arrived at acceptance. Both Nick & I are in agreement that we will not make any decisions regarding new pets for at least six weeks. We don't want to fill the gap George has left. We want to miss him and have the gap close first.

Anyway, the book is a simple affair. I covered it in background papers using my Once Upon A Time collection. I realised I had enough papers without glitter on them to cover the whole book. I then printed out the same sized photos except for front & back pages. I matted each photo onto green card and added journaling. I didn't tart it up anymore than that. It may be fuss-free but in years to come I'll take it off the shelf, look through it and be grateful that I made it.