Peacocks, Posies, Cards and Cats!

Update!

Just to complete the story of the Peacock Wedding Album, I posted it yesterday, in a special presentation/storage box:

I had a large, plain white box with acetate lid, which I covered with deep blue mulberry paper. 

The inside dimensions of the box were a tiny bit larger than the book - quite handy really, as I was able to add some extra support and protection for the book, by covering cork strips with mulberry tissue, fixing them round the inside of the box and covering them at the same time as the rest of the box, so it was all "fitted" and matching inside. 

I wrapped the book in blue tissue, added a bit of decoration and put the lid on (acetate does not photograph well, so I haven't bothered with that picture!).

Then I wrapped the whole thing in my shop colours - white tissue, wine-red ribbon - packed it in a pizza box, took it to the post office and sent it off to its new home.  I'm waiting to hear that it arrived safely and what the customer thinks of it!

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Things I Also Made:

Inspired by a recent post from the fabulous Alexa, I made this "home made scrapbook paper":

A hand stamped and coloured page border.

This was so simple to do. I cut a sheet of plain white paper to 10" square, then attached it to a sheet of smooth white cardstock, using re-positionable adhesive (note, the "repositionable" adhesive rollers don't always come off cleanly - there are now little sticky bits on my cardstock!! I would recommend the spray adhesive available for craft projects, even though it's more expensive).

I then used an assortment of stamps, with a waterproof black ink pad (like Stazon etc), to stamp a selection of designs around the edge of the paper, letting it overlap onto the scrap paper in the middle. Once it was finished, I peeled away the scrap paper, to leave the stamped border. I didn't worry too much if the stamps overlapped each other, as I wanted the design to fill the edge nicely.

I coloured the stamped outlines with watercolour pencils, then used a small brush and a little water, to blend the colours together. As I coloured, I decided which of any overlapping images would be the "top" picture, then coloured the overlap in those colours, letting the "underneath" image remain just an outline.

Closeup view of a corner.

It really worked very well and I'm so pleased with the result.  Thanks to Alexa for her great tips.  If you haven't been to view her post, I suggest you do - she took this one stage further and hand-doodled on her page as well.  It looked stunning!

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It's my MIL's 70th birthday tomorrow and we're off to her party.  I made her a birthday card:

It's A4 (Letter) sized, the papers are from the "Bella Belleza" collection by Bella Blvd - one of my favourites (I may cry when I finally run out of this paper!). 

I cut the paper to size and left a tab, that I creased and folded round the back of the A4 card that I used as a base.  Once I had finished assembling everything, I stuck the decorated paper to the card and fastened the tab round the back - the card is nice and stable and it looks as if the whole thing is made from this pink scrapbook paper (which wasn't big enough for a whole A4 card, since that would need a piece of card 42cm wide and 30cm high).

  

I used a craft knife to cut round parts of the flowers and butterflies on the patterned paper, then lifted the petals/ wings up and curled them slightly.  I used Stickles to decorate them and give them some sparkle.

  

I attached fabric flowers at the top and bottom corners, using a selection of brads, then added a bit more interest with Stickles.

My DH is happy with this and I think it's rather pretty.  MIL will like it, as she loves butterflies!

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Speaking of Card Making and Crafting, a new UK magazine came out yesterday, from Practical Publishing.  It's called "Simply Homemade" and is aimed at people (women really I suppose!), who like making stuff.

DH has just come home and given me Issue 1, which I'm about to read voraciously from cover to cover!  It looks great and came with a free set of clear stamps, called "Molly Blooms, designed by Clare" - they are so cute! Also there is a great booklet of papers for crafting, on the theme of family and home. The designs are in browns, golden and blues, on a "cross stitch" theme. These also look fab!

There are articles on cooking, knitting, handcrafts, homeware, papercrafts, making things from fabric and felt, soap making, stencilling... There is also going to be a regular feature page, called "Found On...", which will showcase online sellers.  This month's features four shops on Folksy.com (a UK-based online marketing site, similar to Etsy).  They all offer lovely items crafted from fabrics or yarn and I will be hopping over there some time very soon, to see what these shops have to offer.  Next month, they will feature shops from Etsy.  Guess which Blogger You Know Well is having her Etsy Shop featured? Can't guess? You will have to wait til March to find out!  (Here's a clue, I'm very excited about this!).

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And Finally....

DS learned on Wednesday, that not all cats like cuddles:

He always hugs Sherlock when he's going out, but my niece's cat wasn't too happy about this form of "Goodbye".  She swung a paw in panic and her claw caught his right eyelid and the outer corner of his eye (luckily it was no further across!).  He has developed a lovely "shiner"!