Metal Stamped Bird Tag Decoration – Another Experiment

Sorry, another experiment today, but again quite a few lessons were learned, and, it’s got me stamping, my bete noir of crafting, if only in a tiny weeny way!

I was just going through my drawers (oooooower matron) and found my tiny birds on a branch stamp, and then thought about the large sentiment rings I have had for years, wondering if they would work together.

I decided to put two rings back to back with two lots of birds stamped on some handwriting design paper to go on both sides of the rings too. I then made a loop using jewellery wire with a bead and stuck it between the two rings. I used E6000 to glue the two parts together to guarantee a strong bond. It all sandwiched together well

I then filled one side of the ring with Glossy Accents and left it to set.  This is when I discovered that the paper wasn’t really really strong enough to take that amount of Glossy accents without more support on the back, which made it wrinkle,  but I preserved and turned it over to repeat the exercise.

But, when it was finished I started to wonder what was that I had actually made? 

I concluded that if this was a double sided Christmas tree decoration, it would work, with an extra layer of card in the middle to support the glossy accents better and with a more festive picture in the middle like holly,mistletoe or a festive scene etc., as the words round the edge lend themselves to Christmas.  The bead could then be replaced with something more Christmassy like red or green or a mix.

But, if it were made into a pendant or brooch, I like the birds, they can stay, but using two rings wouldn’t be necessary. I would just support the glossy accented picture with a thicker layer of card behind it, which in turned would be backed with a matching paper and a layer of accents, so that the back is finished off properly, if that makes sense?  I am now going back to the drawing board …… so watch this space, I think all this fiddle farting and musing may pay off in the end!

A Few More Button Brooch Pins

Following on from the success of my first button brooch pins the other day, I have made more, in bulk!!

As I told you, the bulk of my “old” buttons fell victim to my house moving craft cull, but The Works came up trumps, in part, with buttons of just the right size for brooches and card embellishments.

In the Santoro bag (who make Gorjuss) there were 60 spotty and plain buttons of two sizes for £1 and in the “normal” craft buttons, there were 100 in three different sizes.

 

However, despite buying two bags of the Santoro there still wasn’t enough of the larger spotty buttons to make a matching pair for hair clips for Madam, but I did managed to get three pairs from the smaller plain ones in the bags.  At the moment I haven’t added any  self adhesive fabric backing over the card support or brooch pins to the backs, I want to have a play first to see how a few work as embellishments on a card.

I though I might have better luck making pairs with two bags of the other plain craft buttons, but having three sizes complicated it a little. On the first three flower heads I made, I went overboard trying to use all three sizes, but they didn’t look as “innocent” or simple as the Santoro batch, and using 12 buttons per flower wasn’t as economical. So, after that I made piles of five buttons in various combinations, including adding a few spare ones from the Santoro packs to maximise my yield.

I think the flowers using just five buttons look much sweeter. 

Aside from the one or two I am keeping for cards, I was thinking of packaging them by putting them on a white or possibly Kraft tag in sets of three, one large and two small ones, so that they can be worn singularly or in a group, on clothes or on a bag or make up bag etc. Put in threes it will look like more for your money …… I was thinking of something around £1.50, to be put away until I hear of a craft fair later on in the year.  But before that I need to think about the said packaging ……

NEC Birmingham - Hobby Crafts March 2017 – Bitterly Disappointed–Never Again!

Oh dear, what can I say ……. except that I am so glad I managed to get my ticket for half price, got a lift from Tom The Scientist to get there, and went on to spend the weekend with Lu in Wolverhampton because if I had made the effort to solely go to Hobby Crafts at the NEC on Thursday I would have been even more disappointed than I already am, and I can honestly say that I will never to go again.

Two extra large Hobby Craft punches for just £1 each. It was plain that punches are definitely out in the craft world, but I still prefer them every time to getting out my Big Shot for a couple of shapes when I am playing with an idea. The square one will be perfect for making larger size nine square patchwork cards and an idea I have for festive memory frames, and a tag punch always come in useful for so many projects.

I got into the show when the doors opened at 9.30am and had seen everything by about 10.15am, and in that time had only been tempted to spend the grand total of £1.50 for 6 tiny spiders for some future Halloween Bottles!!!!! This was once a trip that Lisa (Craft Fairy) and I used to plan with military operation, with a list of what we wanted to see and/or buy. We would be there all day and still think we had missed something. We would return home with throbbing feet, but bursting with inspiration, with bags of swag we couldn’t wait to go through and start working with.  Sadly, on Thursday I was on the train to Lu’s by 12.30 ……. with only the thought of hitting the poundshops of Wolverhampton over the weekend  to lift my spirits !!  Oh pleazzzzzzzze ….. get the violins out!!!!

I don’t do a lot of die cutting, but I do love mistletoe, so I couldn’t resist this die….. I have an idea already for a very less is more Christmas card.

There were only a handful of stands that I recognised from shows past, but all the big names were gone!

I couldn’t resist these wooden houses for just £2 each, but no plans as of yet, but I think Bertie and Iris will be getting one at Christmas for their bedrooms reflecting their little likes, perhaps including small framed photos (?), if I can find suitable bits, however the size gives me a lot more depth and scope than my usual mini printer display trays.

From memory I can still reel off a list of all the stands that used to sell the quality branded stuff, I wonder, with internet shopping now, it isn’t worth companies coming to sell at this type of show anymore, or is the price of a stand over four days too prohibitive?  Is there less demand now in the craft market, have tastes changed, with everyone (except me) obsessed by dies?  Money is tight I know and that has to have some affect.  In the past I would see ranges of paper and embellishments etc. that I would go home and research and perhaps then purchase ……. zilch!  All I have done was see if K & Company were still going!These Santoro Gorjus metal name plates cost £1 for a packet of six, I got four packs, with the idea of making Christmas tree decorations hung lengthways, fancy gift tags or, possibly, displaying several stamped/decorated/embellished ones in a memory box frame.

If you are into your dies or stamping you would have probably been happy, but there were very few, if any die cutters being demonstrated (Silhouette were there).  I may have been in the market for a mini die cutter to keep on my desk …… if I had seen one!A plentiful supply of wooden beads (£1 each) for tags etc, two paper pads, Belle and Boo and Good Old Days for £1 each, fancy gem strips (£1) and some brooch backs for some button brooches I am planning to make for Iris’s nursery staff as a thank you for Easter. I also got a few other bits and pieces but are too boring to feature like glue, 3D pearl effects and some white glitter card.

I bought my Cuttlebug and Bind It All from Hobby Crafts when there used to be such a buzz …..I remembered the days of popular embossing folders flying out left right and centre and going from stand to stand to find that what you wanted was sold out everywhere, and having to go home to order them, and then have to wait some more!

Where were all the beautiful papers, paper pads and embellishments, it was obvious that scrapbooking has all but disappeared and Tim Holtz? I only saw a few of his dies here and here …… but that was it, no embellishments, papers etc. I  also think that perhaps stamps of cutesy doe eyed poppets have had their day (????).  Every other stall used to have the oooooohhhh, ahhhhhhhh factor for me and Lisa, this show just seemed old and tired.  Lisa and I were never into decoupage, but those stands were always rammed several people deep, you really couldn’t get anywhere near them ……. this year I hardly saw a decoupage sheet! There were no tempting goody bags, magazine offers, no stands of wonderful pens, not a Promarker pen in sight  …… I am still using my box of 50 Whisper Pens from at least 8 years ago ……. I could have been persuaded to let Iris “inherit” them and treat myself to some new ones ……. not a chance!

This year the “Everything for £1” stalls and £1/reduced bins seemed to draw in the crafters they were really busy, crammed and slow moving, with friends, clutching baskets, having long discussions about every single item they picked up and there was much elbowing, so in some respect, nothing had changed as far as a popular stand was concerned, only it was same old, same old stuff, nothing I thought  ……oh wow that’s worth joining the scrumage for!

I am not sure what it was like for the rest of the week, but on Thursday the aisles were clear, no shoulder to shoulder shuffling, only being able to move forward and impossible to move over to look at a stands ……. BUT the one constant were the trolleys, the thing that  finally did it for me six years ago, although if I’d been able to fill half a trolley this year I would have been chuffed. I also have to say the rudeness of some of the people attending hasn’t changed either ….. looking back at other peoples blog posts from the  past this has always been a bug bear, why does reaching over for  a reel of ribbon, a bottle of glue, a metal die, or a clear stamp provoke such an unpleasant, aggressive behaviour in some people, especially on the few busy stands?

So, was this grumpy old woman inspired at all?  Well, yes …… but more in an objects of desire way, as I can’t crochet

…….. stunning, stunning shawls and blankets spotted when in my disappointed state I left  the Crafts Hall to detour into the Sewing Hall ……. Sorry to be on a downer today …… but tomorrow is another day!

Guest Crafter – The Lovely Laura

To answer a couple of questions on how Laura made this ........ when asked she said she just used comic and PVA glue and nothing else, no varnish ...... etc.  hope that helps!

Today, I bring you The Lovely Laura ……..

……. and her Beano covered lampshade now hanging proudly in young Master Bertram’s bedroom.

I just love the way she has even covered the inside of the shade, with the black and white pages  ….. a brilliant touch for a totally unique one off.

Today …… A Goodness Only Knows What!!

I really don’t know what this is, I was playing around with the idea of making some small flower button wreaths to, perhaps, hang on some decorative Easter Branches

 

What I really needed was a dainty, flattish, child's size  bangle, not an walloping great adult size one, that was also too deep!

However, it was a good exercise to see how the buttons would balance and stick on the narrow edge of a bangle, even though I was pretty confident that E6000 would do it. 

Adding the clear, flat backed gems looks a bit clunky, so I don’t think they really work that well, perhaps smaller contrasting buttons?  But what to do with “the creation” once finished, having already decided that it was just to big and heavy to hang on a festive branch?

…….. well, it does look rather cute round the bottom of my glass votive holder, so looks like I have really made a small centrepiece for my Easter lunch dining table, I wonder if I should make another one to match now?

Buttons from The Works

Felt Flower Hairclips

Two hairclips for a certain little Madam today.

The self adhesive felt flowers came from The Works, I had assumed, wrongly, that there would be at least two flowers the same in a pack of eight, (£1)…..

 

…… so that I could make a matching pair of clips, alas, there wasn’t, so a return journey to the shop had to be made.

I stuck the felt flowers onto some self adhesive fabric, however cutting round the flower with the fabric was fiddly and time consuming ……..

……. so I have to work out another way  if I can, to stop my scissors getting all gummed up while cutting.

However the backs do look much better (professional!!!!!!) when covered.

I glued the flowers onto the clips using E6000 as I wanted to be certain that they wouldn’t fall apart during wear.

I was in two minds as to whether or not to add a button or two to the centre of the flower, but in the end decided that they added a little something else, no less is more approach as far as Iris’s coiffure in concerned!!

Button Pin Brooches

Every post here seems like an experiment just lately, and today is no exception, I was inspired by some button “SWAPS” I found on Pinterest http://pen-grunt.livejournal.com/202546.html and decided to have a try myself.  Button wise, all I have at the moment is a jar of red buttons and a few mother of pearl ones, the rest fell foul of my moving house craft cull, doh!

I started by cutting some small card circles on which to glue the buttons, to act as a base/anchor.

I used E6000 glue as I didn’t want to risk anything coming unstuck, and this is glue is one of the best.

Once the centre red button with a mother of pearl one on top was added I knew I had to just leave them, without touching, for at least 24hrs, to allow them to stick good and proper.  Close up photos of gluey small objects are so unforgiving.

A completed flower measured approximately 3cm x 3cms.

Once set, I didn’t want the white card showing on the reverse, under the fastener, so cut some self adhesive fabric to go over it, far more professional looking!

The final job was to add the fastening pins, again using E6000, so that I could be confident that they wouldn’t come off.

The brooches were really simple to make. They could be used on hair slides/clips or without the pins as embellishments on cards, anyway, I am off now to search Evesham for some more small buttons to play with!