Wednesday Worktable - 27th April 2016 - Cards and Gift Planning

I'm actually posting this on Wednesday this week - yay!  (Last week's post was several days late and no-one saw it!).

I'm joining in with What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, at Julia's blog.  We each post about what is going on in our workspace and link up on Julia's post, then take a little tour to see one another's projects (and maybe marvel at how very tidy someone's desk is - or perhaps be comforted that others are just as messy as ourselves... )

This week, there are several things happening all at once, in my work area.  It's a bit chaotic actually, but I hope to bring some order tomorrow.

First of all there is this:

It's a notebook for a customer order.  All ready to be packaged up and posted - all the way to USA!  

This owl notebook seems to be very popular. I've sold several recently, which is fun.  I love the paper that is inside the cover and which has the owl on, that you can see through the little window.  There are also deer, badgers, foxes, rabbits... it's lovely.  

Then there are these: 

A couple of birthday cards.  The design is fun - I got the idea from Paula Pink, who I follow on Facebook.

It's a nice way to add interest to a card. You cut a corner (at 2cm or 3/4"), then the opposite corner (but 2cm further in), then crease the joins and fold it inside - like you can see below.  Then you embellish the bits that show on the front.  The cut-away part is also great for stamping a message, that you can see at the front also.

This is the inside of the first card... I used some glitter-glue to give the top "Happy Birthday" a bit of sparkle. 

...and this is the second card (so far).

And this one is a bit different - I cut the same corner, at 2cm and 4cm, then folded it down, over the decorated front.  I'll stick that plain bit to the front, so it makes a sort of frame.  I think this will work out very nice.  

And finally... 

A pile of leather pieces.

I'm planning leather notebooks.  James finishes school in about four weeks' time and we want to give his teachers something really nice, to show appreciation for all the hard work and patience they have put into the "A" Level courses.  

Thing is, there are six subject teachers from this year, plus a form tutor, also James' music teacher... and we might give gifts to last year's subject teachers too, which would make another three (I think!).  

This could be a bit of a Project - not to mention making a very serious dent in my leather supplies!  I think I'll have to re-think the leather notebooks for all teachers - I can make very lovely books with paper and fabric covers! 

Anyway, thank you for coming to see what I'm up to.  As I said, it's a bit crazy, but I hope to have some completed projects to show soon.  I'll be in my studio and the bindery tomorrow, working on the African Photo Album project that I posted about last week, then starting on the leather notebooks above.  So hopefully there will be something finished to show soon! 

Now you've reached the end, do hop over to Julia's Blog, to see the other WOYWW posts for this week.  

Wednesday Worktable - Wednesday 13th April 2016 - Sparkly Peacock Birthday Card

Hello, I can't believe it's been almost five months since I posted on my blog!  I know I've been busy, but... well!

Anyway, I'm determined to get back on the blogging bicycle, so this week I'm joining in with the regular "What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday" feature, at Julia's Stamping Ground.

I've been making lots of books, but now and then I have a break and enjoy myself making other things.  This week I'm trying to make a few nice birthday cards, so my little work table is set up as a card-making station:

Cards in Progress.

I'm sure several people picked up the lovely stamp set from the "Simply Homemade" magazine (or the matching cutting die in "Cards and Papercraft"). 

I decided to make good use of this - and the die, which my husband kindly bought for me.

So, as you can see above, I made a pretty card with a sparkly peacock: 

The peacock is stamped in permanent black ink, onto both greeny-blue and magenta paper.  I then cut out the peacock's body and stuck it over the magenta body, before embellishing body and tail with "Stickles" glitter glue. See how shiny it is!  

I layered up various toning papers and also a little punched trim, for some added interest, then used the "Happy Birthday" stamp to make a little panel for the top.  Finally I mounted the peacock on foam pads, to make it stand out from the surface. 

I attached the whole panel to a card blank and used a kraft card window to frame it.  Then I inked the edge of the card and drew a line round the edge of the aqua and kraft rectangles, to make it look more "finished".  

Overall, I'm pleased with the end result - it's been a while since I did any card-making and it was fun, as well as looking quite nice. 

Anyway, thank you for dropping by to see what I've been doing - especially after such a long break.  I want to join in regularly again, so hope to see you all next week. 

Wednesday Worktable - 3rd June 2015 - A Birthday Present for Me!

Hello, thanks for visiting my blog! This is my contribution to WOYWW (What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday), over at JuliaDunnit's Blog. Each Wednesday, Julia invites fellow crafters and bloggers to show a photo or two of their worktables, and explain what they've been doing.

Last week we were celebrating 6 years of WOYWW... but, after all the cheers,cake and champagne (we wish!), special blog buttons and celebrations, we're back to a Normal Wednesday today.

Well, nearly... It's not quite normal for me today.  This is what happened while I was getting dressed this morning: 

A stray shoe (kicked by a small boy) smashed my rear windscreen! 

Windscreen people coming to fix it tomorrow afternoon.  Meanwhile, my wonderful and lovely neighbour lent me her car, so I could pick J. up from his exam at school. 

But, we soldier on!  Having spent the first half of my morning on the phone, arranging a repair and re-arranging my day, I found my camera and took a couple of photos for you.  This is what's going on in my Studio today: 

The usual clutter! (what someone last week called "push-back"!).  But wait! There is a gap in the middle... 

...because I'm binding a book and using my small table.  Sometimes it's more comfortable to sit at this low, folding table, while I'm binding a book.   

This is a special book.  It's actually for Me!  I decided it was time I made a book for myself.  I have a few notebooks that I made, which were not quite perfect, so I kept them for my own use.  But this time... This Time, I am making a special Sketchbook, just for myself, from scratch.  The plan it to use it at the weekend, when I go away for a printmaking day and a nice couple of days with friends.  

And, just in case you want to see... just one more card that I've made! This is 4" square and I think it will be a birthday card.  Quite cute, eh? 

So, that was my contribution to WOYWW.  When you've seen enough here, do go and see what everyone else is doing today.  

Oh, and if you're interested, I posted about the completed Baby Journals that I was working on last week.  Find them here! 

Wednesday Worktable - 27th May 2015 - More Cards and a Book

Hello, thanks for visiting my blog! This is my contribution to WOYWW (What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday), over at JuliaDunnit's Blog. Each Wednesday, Julia invites fellow crafters and bloggers to show a photo or two of their worktables, and explain what they've been doing.

However, this is a Special WOYWW.  It's the Sixth Anniversary of Julia starting this meme. Three Hundred and Twelve Weeks of WOYWW - We're celebrating (a bit): 

* * *

Last Wednesday I posted about some cards I had made.  Several people left such kind comments, so first of all, here's the Card-making Desk now:
 

A very messy desk!  With three newly completed cards (and one just being started). It's covered in inks, punches, paper, stamps (not seen), buttons and bits... 

Quick photos of the cards:

A 4" square card, with floral paper.  I stamped it with a stitch pattern stamp and added the ric-rac and buttons, to give a sort-of sewing theme

I like this "Life is a Journey..." stamp.  First effort, using a nice patterned paper, a copy of a vintage atlas map and some butterflies.  

This is "Life is a Journey..." card #2.  I have had the bi-planes paper for ages and it just seemed a good match. Another bit of a map and another butterfly.  But I reckon this would be a nice card for a man - what does everyone think?

And then there is my Bookbinding Table:

Two pairs of book covers for Baby Journals (customer gets to choose which ones she wants for her commission book), silk bookcloth for an edge trim, a folded set of pages for the journal... Then there are some of my tools, glue, various sketchbooks and notebooks, my trusty radio... Oh, and in the top right corner there - can you see my fabulous zombie-head pin cushion, from the wonderful fionaT?  

And in case you're wondering about the lego - it's a squaring-off jig (much cheaper than buying one, and just as square!)

So, that's my contribution this week.  Thanks for visiting.  Do come back soon, if you'd like to see the finished Baby Journal.

If you'd like to see what everyone else is doing and join the Six Year Celebrations, pop over to Julia's and have a look.  Have a good week, everyone!  

Wednesday Worktable - 20th May 2015 - Card Making

This is my contribution to WOYWW (What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday), over at JuliaDunnit's Blog. Each Wednesday, Julia invites fellow crafters and bloggers to show a photo or two of their worktables, and explain what they've been doing.

This is my desk this morning: 

It did start out very neat, but I've had a busy session of card-making - and it shows! 

It's been a long while since I made any cards. I rarely seem to have time now, although a few years ago, I made just about every card that our family sent.  However, Mister LizzieMade bought me a craft magazine on Monday, with a set of stamps included and I just had an itch to try a few cards for a change.  

The top tray of my bookbinding tool-kit is on the right there - useful for the craft knife, paper scissors, bone-folder and other bits & pieces.  

To the left are some kraft card blanks, plus a few nice pens that I keep handy.  There are some circle and scalloped-circle punches, lots of little ink pads, some glitter-glues and pearly paints, pva glue, a glue roller... 

And in the middle, the butterflies and a motto I stamped last night, ready for a new card, which you can see to the left of those butterflies.  

A tray-full of stamps - these are all my favourite cling-stamps (plus a nice wooden birthday stamp). 

I'm still fiddling with this one - I nearly always make it up as I go along and I'm not quite certain what elements will be on that piece of paper, ready to be a card. Perhaps tonight I will have time for another play. 

These are the three cards I have finished so far:

A butterfly meadow birthday card - made with some of the new stamps. 

A sewing-themed card.  It doesn't have a motto yet, as I'm not sure who/what it will be for.  I'm quite pleased with it though.  

"Let your Dreams take Flight" - a lovely wish for someone.  I think this will be a birthday card. 

* * *

That's my contribution to the WOYWW Story this week - thanks for reading.  

If you would like to see some posts about my recent book-binding, look here.  You'll find another link at the top of that post, to show the previous batch of journals etc. 

When you're finished here, why not pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground and see what else is going on in the crafting world? 

. 

Andalucian Adventure - The Valentines Day Edition!

While I was in Mijas, working with Mariann at Cascada Studio, we all made a couple of small "learning" pieces.  These we printed onto nice, folded printmaking paper, to make Valentine Cards. 

This is what I did:

Working on the design of my first print.  The areas I wanted to keep are shaded in red pen.

Starting to cut the first plate...

First print. 

Mariann inks up the little plate, for an experiment.

The middle was inked in purple, after rolling red ink over the whole plate.

Experiment.

By this point, I had decided I didn't like the large expanse of flat background, so I cut out the heart, to make a shaped plate for printing.  We all agreed that the red/purple experiment didn't look right.  In the end, I decided to print the design in the purple that we'd used for the middle.

This is what the final version was like.  I don't have the card handy though - DH has it just now!

And I also made a second card, for a certain Boy, who always expects to have one of his own!

A little "guitar", all inked up for a test print.

Testing the plate.

The finished card!

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!

* * *

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!

* * *

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!

* * *

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!).

* * *

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"!