Shabby Chic Mini Book Page - for May

This is my page for the challenge being hosted by Renee

over on The Artists' Nest Ning site. 

 

This month's theme is

'French Inspired'.

Like my other pages, this measures approx

3" x 5" and is largely fabric apart from the 

card base and the piece of old French text. 

I traced the Eiffel Tower onto tracing paper

and machined stitched it onto the base of the page

then ripped the paper off.

A French postage stamp and piece of old lace

finished it off. 

 

 I actually prefer the other side!

.... so it's a reversible page - well only if my swap partner

likes it too of course!!

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy the weekend :)

Recent makes

Here are some things I've made recently

 

 This is an Anniversary card using the

'Vintage Telephone'

Bigz die by Tim Holtz/Alterations/Sizzix.

It's cut from mountboard and coloured with Distress Inks

before that I applied Distress Crackle paint (Clear Rock Candy).

The centre dial is just coloured with a gold marker.

The tag attached to the phone is from

'Odds and Ends CMS100'

stamp by Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz Collection.

It shows the date and the month of the anniversary.

I used the 'Vintage Typewriter' Bigz die

(Tim Holtz/Alterations/Sizzix)

for this birthday card.

It's basically a feminine version of the card

I made the other week.

Another birthday card, this time using an 'On The Edge'

die by Tim Holtz/Alterations/Sizzix called 'Sewing Edge'

 I rubber stamped some images onto tissue paper,

then using Liquitex matte medium stuck them onto

some patterned tissue paper.

The stamps used were 'Floral Dress Form' and 'Dress Form Row'

both by B Line Designs.

I machine stitched some fabric around the edge.

I think this may be another favourite die now

(how many favourites can I have - lol)

 

Finally - a matchbox, well I haven't made one for few weeks!

 

It is entirely covered with Sari Ribbons attached using 

hot melt glue, which amazingly doesn't show through the fabric.

 The sides and bottom of the drawer were painted with

Viva Precious Metal Colour (Emerald Green).

.... and filled with a selection of beads.

Thanks for looking - and I hope the sun is shining where you are

- it's been a glorious hot and sunny day here :)

Altered Book - next lesson

This post is about my progress in the 

Altered Book course being run (free of charge) by

the very generous Elizabeth from her blog

Altered Book Lover.

 

Lesson 7 

 

This lesson was all about 

'Elements of Design'  

which Elizabeth explored in great detail.

The elements in question are

 

Line

Form

Shape

Space

Texture

Colour

 

In the double spread in my book (above) I hope I've

covered some of the elements as follows:

 

Line - in the tissue pattern paper on the first page

 

Form / Shape -  I tried to create a 3D effect on the second page

with the girls by overlapping the images and colouring the front

one darker than the others making them fade out into the background.

Texture - the crinkles in the pattern tissue paper

 which you can see in the above photo.

  I highlighted them by rubbing metallic

paste over the page.

Space - well, there's plenty of that - the eyes can

positively have a good long sleep on these pages - lol.

Colour - as this is such a 'broad category' Elizabeth has

devoted an entire lesson to it and that lesson is already

on Elizabeth's blog - I'd better get a move on!

Thanks for looking :)

A Compendium of Curiosities - Challenge No. 5 - Shattered Stains

I'm following the challenges being set by the lovely Linda

on her blog Studio L3 working from Tim Holtz' new book

A Compendium of Curiosities Volume II.

This week's challenge was to follow the

 'Shattered Stains'

 technique on page 48 of the book. 

 

(Simon Says Stamp will be giving a $25 gift certificate to one lucky,

 randomly-selected participant in this week's challenge!)

 

Here's what I used

 

 

The Distress Crackle Paint I used was actually 

Clear Rock Candy and not Picket Fence -

I'm not sure how that got into the photo!

The little bottle at the end is a clear nail varnish.

 

I used Tim Holtz/Alterations Sizzix Bigz die

'Vintage Typewriter'

The crackle paint gave a lovely texture, I didn't think

I'd used a thick enough layer, but was pleased with the result.

I painted over it all with the clear nail varnish to give

it more of a shine.

I stuck the vintage typewriter onto a card

to make a birthday card for my brother in law.

By using the slot along the top of the typewriter

you can make a personalised message emerging from it!

I really love this typewriter die,

and think I'll be using it quite a lot from now on!

Thanks for looking :)

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday week 153

Hello, hello, want to see what's on my desk today?

This lot arrived in the post today from the lovely

Cindy from America.

We did a one to one Spring/Bird charm swap

(using a game piece) and as well as her bird charm,

she sent another cityscape charm and two stamp sets! 

How lucky am I!

Thank you so much Cindy, you're the best!

I also received this in the post today

This came from Jo in Canada and is a page for my

Shabby Chic mini book - for April the theme was 'Wings'.

It's so arty, I love it! 

I had another packet in the post too (what a great post day!)

These were from QVC - Lindsay Mason stamps,

I couldn't resist these images when I saw them on TV

last week.

I've been shopping this morning and a new shop has

opened in the local shopping mall called

Tiger

As more and more shops are closing in the high streets thesedays, 

it's lovely to have something new and different to look around.

The shop was really busy and I hope it does well.

Here's what I bought in there

The hand is made from clay and covered in black flock fabric. 

 It was only £2 and will be great for photographing small items on.

The pack of beads I really didn't need, but as they were stored

in eight little glass bottles, I couldn't resist them (£3)!

The harlequin square is a ceramic coaster tile - which I thought would

look nice in my craft room and could be used with my heat gun

to protect my table (£1).

Towards the back the four coloured dishes are plastic 'Desk Pots'

and they sit on their own plastic base tray.  I don't know what I'm 

going to use them for yet, but they were only £2! 

The red circle is a pack of four 'twist off' anti slip mats

(I've been looking for something like these for a while - 

some of my Dylusion paint pots are a bit clogged around the rim

 and are really difficult to open.)

 These twist offs also have a great texture to them

 so great for dipping in paint and making a mess! (£1).

Finally, there's a pack of 12 sheets of Origami paper (£1).

Well that's about it for me.

I haven't got any work in progress to show at the moment,

although I do have a list of family birthday cards to make,

so maybe I can use some of my new purchases for them.

If you'd like to see what's on other desks -

hop on over to Julia's blog

Stamping Ground -

you won't be disappointed I promise!

Thanks for coming to see mine this week :) 

 

A Compendium of Curiosities - Challenge No. 4 - Faded Layers

I'm following the challenges being set by the lovely Linda

on her blog Studio L3 working from Tim Holtz' new book

A Compendium of Curiosities Volume II.

This week's challenge was to follow the technique

on page 43 and create something making 'Faded Layers'.

Here's what I used to make mine

I followed the technique to make the tag.

For the background card, I just wiped some Distress Ink

onto the craft sheet, spritzed with water

and swiped the card over it a few times -

then used a mask and inked over that. 

 I made it into a card.

I never like making cards, so by following Linda's

challenges I can mount whatever I make onto

a card - result!

Thanks for looking :)

My Altered Book - next steps

Firstly, I'd like to say thank you for being here -

even though you saw the awful page above, you still came!

This post is about my progress in the 

Altered Book course being run (free of charge) by

the very generous Elizabeth from her blog

Altered Book Lover.

Lesson 5

This lesson was about 'Design Principles' (part one).

Elizabeth wrote an epic post all about this with

brilliant examples to demonstrate the principles.

The areas covered were

Harmony, Unity, Balance and

Proportion and Emphasis

After studying Elizabeth's post, taking notes,

thinking about it all - the above is what I came up with!

The pages were progressing ok, but I just over did it I think!

No gold star for me - lol.

At least I have the main principles rubber stamped onto

the pages, so that's a good reminder if nothing else.

Lesson 6

Moving swiftly on, this next lesson was the

second part of 'Design Principles'.

This lesson covered

Rhythm or Pattern,

Movement,

Repetition

Contrast,

Dominance

I'm pleased with this spread and think I've covered

some of the elements.

The fabric flowing from the sewing machine -

movement, it also creates a pattern and is dominant?

(I used sticky dots here and there to stick it onto the page)

The various tape measures and numbers provide the repetition,

and the pattern covers on the facing page - and also the buttons

too I suppose.

The black buttons are a contrast to the rest of the light colours.

I made the mistake of trying to sew the buttons onto the pages,

but they were far too fragile for that,

so the sticky dots came to rescue again! 

I used the same wide ribbon on this page as I used

for the closure around the book, although I'll probably add

some colour to the outside ribbon once the book is finished.

 

I'd like to say the flowing fabric idea was mine,

 but it was actually from a round robin journal page 

I received a few years back from the wonderfully talented

Cindy,

 and I blatantly copied it took inspiration from it!

Lesson 7 is now available from Elizabeth's blog

and I see it's about 'Elements of Design'

 - another big gulp from me!!!

 

Thanks for looking :)

Spring Bird Charm Swap

A little matchbox covered with a napkin and decorated

with a metal bird charm - for a one to one swap with

Cindy - who's crafty and makes things too!

The swap was for a Spring Bird Charm

and it had to contain a game piece.

I used a jigsaw puzzle piece

I also made a card

Using some of the same napkin 

as the matchbox was covered in.

The stamps are Tim Holtz and coloured with

Distress Ink Marker pens spritzed before stamping with water.

I wish it felt like it was Spring here 

instead of being cold and wet all the time.

Roll on the Bank Holiday weekend - umbrellas at the ready!!