Well Done Ed!

Over the past few weeks I have been corresponding with Ed, helping him with an article he wanted to write and then submit to InfoBarrel

http://www.infobarrel.com/Decopatch_paper

After seeing my posts on covering tables, teapots etc. Ed had chosen to write about Decopatch and I tried to give him as much information and tips as I could. 

He went about it by introducing his children to Decopatch, covering pebbles from the beach and turning them into creatures.  The boys loved it, look of concentration on the little fellas face and look at how he is expertly handling the stone and glue brush…….. pure magic!

Crafting with children is so important, it’s a special time that they will remember forever, where toys are often broken or quickly discarded for the next craze/interest, what they make will be put in pride of place and treasured for years to come.  Ed’s boys will always have the memory of their time on the beach spent looking for the “right”  pebbles, choosing their camouflage and union jack papers in the shop with dad, and then coming home to do the “making” …….. I don’t think anybody ever remembers “special” moments when playing a computer game!!

Anyway, Ed’s very first article was accepted, a mahoooosive well done Ed!  And I hope it heralds many more successful contributions, leading to perhaps other new ventures and sorties into YouTube and Blogging and hopefully crafting!!!!

Have a look, see what you think http://www.infobarrel.com/Decopatch_paper

Pastel Easter Bunny Card

This card is only tiny, measuring 9cm x 9cm, made using a hand cut white linen effect card
Again, something incredibly simple and made very quickly (so quickly you can still see the wet glue behind the yellow bunny's ears)  using scraps of papers from a 6 x 6 Boofle paper pad and my bargain wooden Paperchase wooden bunnies. 

Done and Easter egg dusted!

Sizziz Gift Card Holder – Gift Voucher.

I really should use my BigShot more!  I bought it all those years ago for the box dies …. they are brilliant for when I am stumped for a presentation box …. but I just don’t use them often enough, and when I do, I am blown away all over again by how fantastic they are!!!

So ……..  a friend asked me to make a gift voucher ….. and immediately I thought of my Gift Holder Die (658189 Sizzix Bigz XL). It is so simple to use and put together, but looks so professional.

I chose a double sided paper that looked classy and sophisticated from my New Leaf 12 x 12 Pad (Dunelm).

I had to make the voucher itself and side plate from scratch …. using Papyrus font, printing on the reverse of the patterned paper and then mat and layering both on silver mirror card.

The final touch was a jewelled snowflake on the fastening tab on the front (as I made it just before Christmas I used one of the large plastic snowflakes I found in a charity shop awhile back.

Done and dusted!
http://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/658189-sizzix-bigz-xl-die-wbonus-textured-impressions---gift-card-holder-and-snow-village-set-16246-p.asp

Paperchase Bunny Gift Tags

I know I have a terrible habit of showing you my crafty buys and “bargains” only for them to disappear into the ether for months …. neigh, sometimes years, so my February resolution is to try “show and tell” what I do with my aforementioned shopping within a week or at the very least, while they are still fresh in our minds!!!

And this, is what I came up with for a few of the Paperchase wooden confetti bunnies I found for a bargaintastic £1.20 …… tiny tags, that I can just pop on a mini egg or something equally small.

I have just punched the tags which measure 4.5cms x 3cms,  covered them with assorted scraps of paper and then added the bunnies.  Something very very quick and simple, and now put away ‘till I need them for Easter.

Preserving Part Of My Birthday Cake

My friends Steph and Beck bought me a Princess Castle birthday cake and when everyone had had a slice just the door was left …..

And I wondered if I could preserve it for prosperity ……
Sadly, it cracked, but it doesn’t really matter, this is just for fun.  I stuck it with Poundshop hard as nails type glue (?????) onto a cardboard frame and then doodled some greenery, and added some grass and sky.

….. And then,  I put it in a small box frame which measures 17cms x 12cms. I am not sure how long it will last, but it’s worth a try …. as it will always bring very happy memories of a lovely night flooding back to me!

The First Of My Boudoir Bathroom Picture Frame!

I have made a start on the framed paper collages I want for the walls of my “boudoir bathroom.  It was a tricky affair, but hopefully with this first one under my belt, the rest will get easier …. famous last words!

I got the frames, in three different sizes  from Poundland which will hopefully be a good match for the mirror I have finally bought from Amazon. I can’t actually believe that I have seen the exact same frames on e-bay selling for some very silly prices, and I mean silly!  Whatever size I bought, I only paid £1.

I will be using the some of the papers from The My Minds Eye Stella and Rose 180 page paper pad that I used for the bath panel, however as the patterns have been scaled up for 12 x 12 papers, which are best suited for the scale of the bath panel, some are a little too big for the scale of the frames, so I shall also be using  pages/scraps leftover from my 6 x 6 paper pads, which will look a little more balanced.

Anyway, I started with a 7” x 5” frame first. I cut a plain piece of cream card to act as a border for the "patchwork", followed by a piece of patterned paper measuring 6” x 4” for the background, centering them and holding them in place with double sided tape.  I then made a heart template, cutting it into four sections to create the patchwork effect, again positioning them with more double sided tape. Now, I am no shakes on a sewing machine, which is really quite fortunate as I wanted a shabby effect, and with my wobbly lines that’s exactly what I got!

Positioning the finished patchwork centrally in the frame was not as easy as I had anticipated, however again it was nothing that a little tape couldn’t fix ……. eventually!

So there’s number one frame done ….. I have eight/nine to go as I am going for a cluster effect, hopefully as I get more confident, the patchworks will become a more detailed ….. I would like my next one to be of a bird or a house …. soooooo very, very twee!!!

My Las Vegas Scrapbook …….. Fulfilling One Of The Duke’s Dreams

I am hoping that the pages from my Las Vegas scrapbook/journal will do the talking for this post …… but I am also adding a little of the background history to the story ……..

One of The Dukes very, very favourite programmes on TV was Pawn Stars, I remember when he first discovered it ….. and the next evening excitedly telling me that he had found this brilliant programme, that I would love. 

After that, whenever it was on, it was our time to stop everything, make a coffee and sit down to watch together.  And then, when we started planning our trip to Las Vegas, visiting the shop and taking something to pawn became one of our dreams, and we would talk about it sooooooo often.

Sadly, The Duke didn’t get to live his dream, but as soon as Lucy’s and my tickets to Las Vegas were bought I was determined that within a few days of our arrival, and before visits to the Grand Canyon etc. I would go to World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop to fulfil that dream for him.

However, when I mentioned my plan to the hotel reps. everyone told me that there would be queues round the block, with hours of waiting in the blazing heat without shade and once I got in the chances of meeting anyone from the series was almost nil …….. 

……. but I was determined that NOTHING was going to stop me! I still get emotional thinking about it,  looking at these pages and at the photos

It really was quite a day …… and over the past year or so I have learnt to soak up every single moment from every new experience, so that just thinking about it all now, I can still hear the peoples voices and the whirr of the fan above me,  ….

…….  and feel the cool breeze that it gave, I can still smell the smells, and remember exactly how I felt in my skin  ….. it was a lot to take in ….. but it’s all still there in my heart and my soul, as if it was yesterday.

  In away it was hard to open the door and walk out, leaving the dream behind, knowing that I probably would never return, but that I’d fulfilled a dream for both of us …. but I had a funny sort of spooky feeling that as I left, the Duke was still happy mooching around and said “You go ahead if you want, I’ll catch you up in a bit ….. ” just like he always did……………

I have my pawn ticket, my four dollar bills and the postcard signed for me by “The Old Man” all put very safe.

….. however in the next couple of weeks I am planning on getting it all put in a deep frame to hang in my re-vamped kitchen, a bitter sweet but happy memory ….. with me punching in the air.

My Bespoke Bath Panel!!

I know that this isn’t to everyone’s taste, but I wanted my “new” bathroom to be special, girlie and me! I am, by habit, a shower girl, partly because the bathroom was looking decidedly tatty and not convivial to taking long baths ….. but I know a long soak would help me to relax more ….. and so I thought, if I had a bathroom that was more “romantic”,  I would use it more and therefore be more relaxed ……

So with the plain white tiles, floor tiles, basin and loo are on  order, (I am keeping the bath), my part was to “fiddlefart” the MDF bath panel ready for the big push.

It took a while for me to work out the size patchwork square needed to be, maths not being my forte.  In the end they worked out to be 4.75 inches by 4.75 inches, made from 12” x 12” sheets of my favourite papers of all time, My Mind’s Eye, Stella and Rose.  The floor tiles  are  a light grey and all the patterns I selected have a grey element in them.

The gluing, using PVA took me about 3/4 of an hour to complete and I was so thrilled that there wasn’t a wrinkle in sight and everything fitted together beautifully, nothing was out of kilter, which is very unusual for me!

Then followed coat after coat of quick drying, clear satin finish varnish (Wilkos), I forget how many coats, but as the panel is going into a damp environment I didn’t want to risk it going soggy, so my reasoning was the more coats the better.

And then, before the final few coats of varnish,  can you believe, I went round each patch with a black pen putting in faux stitching to add a little definition ….. I just couldn’t resist it!

So that’s the main panel done, next weekend will be spent doing exactly the same thing but for the much smaller end panel. I think/hope it’s going to look OK …. but only time will tell!

No Crafts Today …… How Did I Get To Be 56?

I decided that after the success of my bijoux soirees during the past year that it would be rude not to have another one on my birthday!!!

I must be totally mad as it came slap bang in the middle of what had been and will be a very busy six weeks or so house wise …….

……. but hey …. you are only young once!!

I decided to have a theme ….. Pirates and Princesses, which everyone totally embraced ….

….. I was only intending on wearing a tiara and a few beads, but when I got wind of much covert whisperings and e-bay bidding, I realised that I would have to up my game and became a pirate princess galley slave….. a sort of Piratical Cinderella!!!

The Poundshop came up trumps with a range of both pirate and princess tableware, and I filled the room with candlelight for a pirate and princess ambiance, using bits and pieces that I had squirrelled away ….. like my faithful seagull!  I also made everyone a pirate cup of treasure containing all sorts of tut from skull lollies to chocolate coins and glow sticks.

Everyone bought a “crap” pound present, which were then all put in a pirate swag sack for everyone to take an erm….. hilarious “lucky dip” from during the proceedings.  We feasted on hot pork or beef baps with stuffing and gravy and sauces ….. hearty pirate finger food, which I think some of the daintier princesses struggled with!!!!

And then to top it all my friends Steph and Becks had arranged a Princess cake!!!!! It was a wonderful night filled with so much loud, raucous laughter I am surprised the neighbours didn’t come round to complain ….. and I felt very blessed in a Hello Magazine way that I have such a wonderful band of friends who are soooo rude, and funny and soooooo very special!

I can’t thank them enough …. and as Adam, the young man in the blue shirt would say ……  “You guys are hilarious”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And my next soiree? ….. Everyone loved their pirate outfits so much they want to keep on wearing them …… so I am thinking along a fusion Pirates Meet The Easter Bunny theme!!!!!!