A Weighty Issue

 

I don't normally post anything particularly personal

on my blog, but have decided to announce quietly on here

 

 

I'VE LOST SOME WEIGHT!!

I've been keeping track on the above ticker which shows

the position at last weekend, but having sneakily weighed

myself today see that I've reached the three stone loss milestone (again).

 

The diet started last June and just before Christmas I did

lose a total of three stone, then over the Christmas period put back

on half a stone.  It took me 6 months to lose 3 stone and

6 days to put half a stone back on again!

That's precisely why I need to diet and check my food intake.

Unless I do, I simply pig out - tsk, tsk!!

John, my husband is also dieting and he's lost two stone.

He has a sedentary job, drives to and from work and does no

exercise as such so I think that's why I've lost more.

I don't actually do any exercise myself, although not being

able to drive means I walk everywhere, so that keeps me moving!

 

We've been following an old WeightWatchers points plan

- doing it ourselves at home.  I lost weight years ago through

the 'WW 123 Success' plan and still had all the booklets I got

from the meetings so decided to re-start with them.

 

The basic premise is to eat less saturated fat and move more!

I can't say it's been easy and it really is a long slow process,

but we're getting there, slowly but surely - but there's still

a long way to go yet.

 

All the various food lists, booklets, and recipes etc

I've been keeping in a plain blue folder (the type which

has plastic pockets inside)

 

 

This folder is constantly visible on the kitchen counter and

I got fed up with the bright blue colour of it, so decided to

alter it a little.

 

I bought this little 'Housewife' magazine (dated November 1946)

 a few years ago at a car boot sale.

 

 

It makes a great read and is full of adverts.

I took a deep breath and tore some of them out!!

 

 

 I covered the blue folder first with a combination of Decopatch and

old music papers in a suitably vintage colour - in keeping with

the age of the adverts.

I inked around the adverts with some distress ink

which seemed ridiculous really bearing in the mind they

are almost seventy years old.

 

 

To finish the cover off I bought a new Bigz die

from the Sizzix sale called 'Vintage Scale'

it comes with an embossing folder so has some

nice textured detail.  I cut the scales from patterned papers,

and edged them with distress ink and metallic paste.

 

 

Much nicer than the bright blue plastic folder :)

 

My personal target is to lose another two stone -

 so there's a long way to go .....

wish me luck!

 

..... now, it's Friday night, where's that

takeaway menu? ...... If only!!

Butterfly Challenge

I'm entering this card in the lovely Mrs A's

Butterfly Challenge

where the current theme is

 'Butterflies and V is for Valentine'.

The jar was cut from a Sizzix Bigz die

imaginatively named 'jar'.

I cut it from vellum which had butterflies printed on it.

Around the jar I wrapped some more

vellum, lace and ribbon and added a small

tag stamped 'with love' - for the Valentine theme.

Under the jar is a heart shaped doily

(trimmed to fit the card)

which I coloured with 'Victorian Velvet' Distress Ink.

Short and sweet!

Thanks for looking :)

PaperArtsy Blog Challenge No. 2: Shiny Stuff

I'm joining in again with PaperArtsy's next challenge

"Shiny Stuff".

Here's what Leandra says on her blog

"it's time to get in touch with your inner magpie! We are exploring metals, mica, beads, wire, jewellery, paint effects, Treasure Gold, in other words, all things shiny, rusty or metallic."

All the details may be found here

along with a YouTube video from Leandra which is what

actually inspired me to join in.

I made a paper sewing fairy called Phoebe (that name

apparently means bright, radiant and shining).

I'll show below with photos and not too many words how I made her.

 

 I used a stamp from Character Constructions

and some shiny plumber's tape which I roughed up a bit.

 I stamped onto card painted with 

Fresco Finish 'Sage' colour and stamped

the bodice part again onto the silver tape and layered it up.

The face is moulded from air dry clay.

 

I made the wings and bobbin feet with more of the silver tape

 stuck onto card and embossed with my Big Shot machine.

I coloured them randomly with a mixture of Viva Precious Metal Colour

and Alcohol Inks.  

 She's looking shiny!  

Next I added the arms with silver brads

and machine stitched the wings on.

With some 0.6 gauge silver coloured jewellery wire, I made

a cage to replicate the bottom of the dress form.

 

 Attached the face and wool hair with E6000 adhesive

and a wire hanging

(a hairbrush wouldn't go amiss!)

   

 Not very shiny at the back, but it's always good (I think) to

see how things are put together.

This current challenge runs for another 15 days so there's

plenty of time to get involved.

Thanks for looking :)

12 Tags of 2015 - January

 

I shall start the year off with good intentions and join

in once again with Tim Holtz' 12 Tags of 2015.

Last year I got as far as September - let's see if I can

beat that this year!

  A click on the above photo (copied from Tim Holtz blog)

should take you to the post describing how his January tag was made.

It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway!), 

that I didn't have all the products used in the making of Tim's tag.

Here's some of what I did use.

 ... and here's my finished tag

The face is one I painted a while back and as it was 

on my desk - and the colours were similar to what I

used for the tag, I decided to include it.

The quote is one I found on Pintrest, just printed

onto copy paper and shadowed with a

Black Soot Distress Marker.

 I like that quote!

Thanks for looking & I wonder what Tim has in store

for next month's tag!

Atten-shun!

Have I got your attention now?  Good!

Just a quick short post to show a birthday card I

made recently for a little boy.

I used the 'Toy Soldier' Sizzix Bigz die from the

Tim Holtz/Alterations range.

I cut the pieces from felt and distressed it slightly 

with distress inks.

The background is cut from a roll of wrapping paper,

mounted onto a piece of card and distressed with

some white acrylic paint.

The black border is just a black felt tip edging.

I must admit when I saw this wrapping paper

a couple of years ago now, 

I bought it with the sole intention of using it with this die -

and hey I did!  Better late than never :)

OK, you can stand easy now ....

and thanks for looking of course!

 

PaperArtsy Blog Challenge - Fragile Papers

Over on her blog

PaperArtsy,
Leandra has started a new fortnightly challenge
 and the first one is
 'Fragile Papers' 
It was this image on her blog which first inspired me to take part!

  

I decided to make some post it note holders

using faces I had painted almost a year ago now -

funnily enough I was inspired to paint them via a link

on the PaperArtsy blog and Clare Lloyd.

If you're interested, my original link is here. 

For this challenge I decided to use three different

types of 'fragile papers'.

The first, has to be my favourite old, really old book of

Charles Dickens - The Old Curiosity Shop

(The other two papers I used were an old street map
and some very thin pages from an old Taxes Act - and with them
I covered the inside covers)

For the covers of one of the post it note holders, I used two
coasters which you may recognise as freebies from a charity
which seem to arrive through our letterbox quite frequently.
It is fortuitous that they are just the right size to hold
a small pad of post it notes. 

 I used the old book pages for the outside covers.

For the inside I used Distress Inks and
for the outside PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics
(Eclectica3 Limited Edition)

 I stuck the face onto the cover and then did a bit
of random stamping around it.

For the other one, I just did a bit of splodging with some
Studio Acrylic paint.

I used my Bind-It-All machine to join the covers.
For the one on the left I had to do a patch up job
because I made the mistake of spraying a sealant on
before punching the holes and it got a little bit stuck
in the process, even though I thought I'd waited long
enough for it to dry!

I like the finished look of both of them,
especially because the text of the old book pages
can still be seen!

There is a lot more information and inspiration on
the PaperArtsy blog about the challenge should
you be tempted to take part.

Thanks for looking :)

  

Rummikub Bag

I've neglected my blog for three months,

and then I make two postings in one day -

think I'll need a lie down after this :)

My sister-in-law asked if I could make a new bag for

her grandson's game of Rummikub.

I decided to recycle some old fabric

There's not a lot left now of my old jeans!

For the lining I used some Laura Ashley fabric which had

previously been covering an ottoman in our bedroom.

I rubber stamped the name of the game on a

piece of Aida fabric

 (the wonky-ness was intentional this time - honest!)

I stitched it onto the front of the bag

with some co-ordinating ribbon.

Once it was made up, this is what the inside looked like

... and the outside

It's rather heavy duty compared to the original bag

and I fear that it won't fit into the game box, but

it should last for a while.

I followed a very clear tutorial on Pintrest for the 

pattern of this drawstring bag which may be found

here

As always, thanks for looking :)

Back with a Blog!

Back with a blast? - Well, not really, but I'm back with my blog anyway.

Thought I'd better come back and claim it in case someone or something

decided to take it over [insert some spooky sound effects here!]

Here are some of my recent makes - a couple of birthday cards

 

 

These were both made with Julie Nutting's Doll Stamps

from Prima - the one on the left is 'Megan' and on the

right - the doll with no name! 

 I think she may have been one of the early ones - 

the number on the packaging is 910198.

Oh dear, I wonder if Sue will notice how wonky I stuck

the sentiments on!

For the Christmas cards I made I used the Sizzix Bigz die

called 'Window and Window Box' by Tim Holtz / Alterations.

 

I enjoyed choosing the fabrics to dress the windows!

 

 

 I made a lot of little poinsettia flowers using a two punch

set - one cuts and the other embosses.

Finally, this card with more of the flowers.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas 

and wish you all a Happy and healthy New Year :)