Scrap Club - Four Pages in One Day!

... must be a record (for Lizzie!)

Sunday was Scrap Club day.  As my title says, I managed 4 pages, which is pretty good going for me.  I tend to be slow and dreamy when scrapping, so it's not often that I manage more than 3 pages. 

I had a couple of details to finish, so I did that this afternoon, while the Gas engineer was overhauling the heating!

I used an adaptation of Shimelle's "Stash Diving" technique.  For Christmas I received a rather lovely and very thick pad of scrap papers, from my lovely Niece.  It is called "Lost and Found" by My Minds Eye.  There are a number of colourways and lots of designs, all co-ordinating beautifully.

I chose papers from three "sets", to go with a number of photos I wanted to scrap.  Then I cut pieces/strips of the papers and arranged them to make good backgrounds for my pages, using extras to mount the photos and create some embellishments. 

I have ended up with two single and one double layout; and I'm really pleased with them!  While I won't use this technique every time, it's certainly a handy starting point for creating some good pages with co-ordinating papers.

Here they are:

"Location Location Location"

The two photos are of our very favourite place, Wells-Next-the-Sea, in Norfolk.  As the journalling says, we'd love to live there, if funds and logistics would allow it.  We can't so we have to settle for frequent holiday visits. 

For those who are not familiar with "Kirsty and Phil", the title is borrowed from a popular British tv programme, where two property finders help people to locate their perfect homes. 

I cut little hearts from some scraps of the patterned papers, then used one of my small lino stamps, to make two prints, which I cut with a scalloped punch.  One was printed with a soft turquoise ink, the other with a much brighter shade, so I layered them, with the bright one raised on foam sticky-pads.

* * *

"Play Your Happy Music"

James loves his guitar - possibly more than he loves Sherlock!  He plays it every day and composes his own music.  His tunes are always "happy" and I love to hear him play.  It makes me smile! 

Recently I had a "proud mummy moment", when he played in a local fund-raising concert, at the church in a nearby village.  His friend, A,  got the concert started and his mum helped to organise it.  They did a fantastic job, arranging for the local middle school to bring their choir to sing and for local amateur and professional musicians to play for us.  A and another friend, M, have a band together; James joined them, with his guitar, as they sang / played two very nice songs.  James also had his own "spot", playing "Romance" by John Brunning, plus a tune he had composed himself, which he called "Spanish Armada" - it really sounds very Spanish and is a good, stirring piece, which he plays very well.  The concert raised a good bit of money - over £700 - which was split between the church fund and a charity nominated by A & his family.  We were all very proud of our boys!

The photo on this layout isn't from the concert, but it is James practicing.  We weren't allowed to take photos during the concert, however I know that A's mum did take one of James - I must ask her for a copy of it!

* * *

"Oh for a Book - and a Shady Nook"

Little E. loves to read her story books.  Keri-Anne took these wonderful photos of her reading and drawing. I think they are so lovely and just had to make a layout with them.  It ended up being a double-page layout, as I didn't want to separate them. 

I chose the large letters to emphasise the "Oh" and "Book", as I wanted to have a good "stand-out" title, but obviously couldn't make all words equally large.  This worked really well, with the two "speech marks" and the little pink letters for the rest of the quote.  I wrote the name and dates in grey pen, underneath the quote.  I used my new heart border punch to make some little trims for the title boxes, then cut larger hearts and some butterflies, to embellish little corners of the photos etc.  The cut-out hearts from the edging punch made great "confetti" to decorate the journalling box.  I haven't written any journalling - I think I will ask Keri-Anne to help me with that.

The photo isn't very good - in fact, none of the photos are good, as the light was very poor this afternoon.  You'll just have to believe that these pages look much nicer "in real life"!

* * *

My other Project this weekend, was to have another go at tidying and organising my Studio.  I didn't get it all done - there is still a lot to do - but I made some progress:

I put the folding table under the window.  It had been cluttering up the middle of the room, in the way of the white desk and shelves.  Now the room feels enormous! 

It's hard to see, but there is now an extra shelf at the bottom of the unit.  I had a big stack of paper on the bottom shelf, which was too difficult to get into.  Whenever I needed something, I had to lift out all the paper, so I could get at what I wanted; I had cleared the second shelf from the bottom (the one that's visible, without much on it now) and put half the paper storage on that.  However, the shelf has a big space above it, which wasn't being used.  We have added an "in-between" shelf, so my paper can all be stored on two shelves, but I now have the tall space back, to use for boxes etc.  Still need to sort it out, but I'll get there soon! 

I did tidy my desk and table, but the mess crept back onto them very speedily - especially when I got lots of stuff out, to get ready for Scrap Club!

* * *

The other thing I did on Saturday afternoon:

"Midsummer", by Mariann Johansen-Ellis - a lino reduction print.

I've had this print, which I bought from Mariann, since June 2010. 

It had been languishing in a folder, shamefully neglected, along with all my other prints. 

I finally got it framed up and mounted on the wall, above my white desk (spot the reflections)!  

And I was fed-up with having all the lovely art prints I'd collected, sitting in a folder, waiting for me to save up for frames and mounts.  So, I cut some pieces of white and black card, then mounted them with invisible photo-corners (so I didn't damage them).  Then I attached them all to the wall behind my desk.  I think they look fabulous!

On the left are three wonderful photographs, by my very talented niece, Keri-Anne Pink. 

There are prints here by four artists. 

Top left: Three Cat Lino Prints, Lori Dean-Dyment; Below: "Dandelions", Nina Moscrip (was Clough); 

Bottom Left and also the other bird prints along the bottom row: Amanda Colville;

Top of the middle section - the deep blue owl print - "Night Flight", Celia Hart. 

To the right, next to my poster: "Old Books" reduction lino print, Jennifer Bass; 

details of two prints by John W. Golden. 

The other four prints?  Well, they are my own work and I thought I really should put them up on my own wall!  They are "Reflection" - a three-colour lino reduction print; "Spanish Lemons" - a four-colour lino reduction; the central one, below the clock, is a drypoint etching, "Lace Birds", which I did on my printmaking course at Knuston.  At the top right is a collograph print, which I also did at Knuston; it's not fabulous, but it's not awful either and I like it, so there it is!!

And that is my new Art Wall, that I have been threatening to make for about two years!

So, I think I achieved something this weekend.  Quite pleased with myself!

Today We Made This!

Another item crossed off the To-Do List!

After months - more months than I care to count - the horrible, messy gap, between my bedroom wardrobes and the wall, has been tidied!

And...

Woo-Hoo! HANDLES on my Wardrobe doors!  I only bought these about 18 months ago, when the wardrobes were assembled... until today, I have been opening the doors with a small screw that was screwed in on one door, where the handle was "going to go", then putting my hand round the left-hand door to open that from indside.  Now I can just Open the Doors!

So, back to the Mess Corner... I moved all the boxes of stuff, putting them on the bed or in the corner by the other window.  Then we cleaned up all the dust bunnies (wow they were breeding in that corner!), then got the toolbox out.  And assembled this:

See, in the corner there?  This is actually two 40cm wide, deep bookcase units.  We assembled both, leaving one without its back panels, then fixed them together, one in front ot the other, using "repair brackets" on the sides ( long metal strips with 4 screws, placed along the sides and screwed into the fixed shelf in the middle and the panel on the top). 

This has made a deep, 6ft tall unit.  As you can see, we've put the tv in there - until now, it has sat on top of a chest of drawers, looking big, black and untidy!  I have put some of the "junk" away and used the basked on the 2nd shelf up to hold videos for me to watch in bed sometimes.  Behind this basket is stuff we rarely use. 

Behind the basket at the bottom are some photograph albums, that we want to keep, but don't look at very often.  They were in a book-case once, but we got rid of the bookcases when we moved house, so they've cluttered up the bedroom floor, in a large cardboard box.  No More Box!

The square basket is still empty, but I will tidy things into it tomorrow.  There's another box of stuff behind that embroidered cushion - but this seems a good place to store the cushion when it's not being used. It hides the junk behind it and keeps it out of the way!

The top shelf will hold another box of stuff, when I have organised it.  Meanwhile I don't want to just dump junk on it, or I'll never tidy it up again!  And on top, there are some Ikea bags, hiding away behind a gorgeous turquoise coloured box.  The box contained a present, sent to my friend by her stepmother.  It came from Fortnum and Mason (ooooo!) and has nothing in it just now, except packing chips.  I will empty out the chips and I think it can be storage for something special - perhaps scarves and belts.

 

So, a neater corner now.  The bedroom really is almost tidied and "finished".  The junk is gradually being cleared away - it's only taken us 2 years!!

And this evening I am ... rather tired, I think I could say! Early night for me tonight.  Tomorrow I must organise some stuff, ready for when we go away on holiday soon - book-binding things have to be organised well in advance, so my shop doesn't collapse while I'm away!  

The Great BIG Cupboard

Woo-Hoo!  Finally we have put together my new cupboard!  It is huge... enormous... gigantic! 

This is a wardrobe carcass, from Ikea, with three packs of shelves inside, instead of a hanging rail etc. 

This is the stuff I have put away so far - but I reserve the right to shuffle it all around, about twenty times, before I decide exactly where it all goes best!

At the very bottom, are the A1-size storage bags, with most of my book-binding paper supplies, plus some sheets of boards, for book covers.  These have been clogging up the floor of my bedroom wardrobe, since 28th February (see this post if you don't know why!)

Above that are boxes of fabrics, felt and some materials for my sock-creature courses. 

In the middle, for now anyway, there are pizza-boxes of paper, scrapping project bits, mini-albums and chipboard embellishments.  This may all change round - I have another of those big white boxes under my desk, which needs organising!

The two white plastic boxes above that are for tools - bookbinding and scrapping etc - and general "bits", of the type that create so much clutter on my desk, shelves etc.  These all still need a lot of organising. I am thinking of ways to put the things in the boxes, without it resulting in chaos!

The shelf above these is for scrapping and crafting materials, such as paper pieces, embellishments of all sorts, brads & eyelets, grommets, studs, ribbon bits, stickers, feathers, flowers... just stuff really!

The second shelf from the top holds some A4-size (letter size) white boxes, with various papers, quilling and origami papers, templates, bits of vellum, film, metallic paper, special paper (like stuff to make your own rub-ons, which I had forgotten about), shrink plastic sheets.... There's also my quilling kit, a tin of card-toppers, a stack of petal-point ink sets, my sewing basket and a few other bits.

At the very top are papers that are rolled, rather than flat (though I aim to tackle this, as rolling isn't good for paper), also rolls of hand-made bookcloth, leather pieces, baking parchment, waxed paper, bondaweb sheets...  These are all tucked into a large, stiff paper bag, from a boutique shop (you know, the bags that make you glad you went shopping there, because it's such fun to carry your stuff home!).  The large grey box holds my "Stock" - the ready-made books and stuff that are currently on sale in my Etsy shop. 

So that's it so far.  Lots to do though.  There are still loads of things hanging around my studio, that have to be organised, sorted and put away.  I am keen to have everything on the shelves set up so it's easy to get at things - especially the stuff I use often .  There are some large spaces at the back of the shelves, behind some of the boxes, as the cupboard is very deep.  This means I can store less-used items at the back, also in the gaps between the white drawers etc.  I just want a way to keep items together, so I don't have to take out lots of little things, just to reach one item.

Meanwhile, there are still plenty of messy areas in the studio...

... like this corner, for example...

...and my desk is a tip!  Tidying up always seems to make more mess to begin with!  This must be sorted out, as I have more orders to make as soon as possible. 

But tomorrow, I'm having a day off and going to Scrap Club.  I certainly need a break!

Wednesday Worktable 18th May

Wow, I'm impressed... I have managed to keep this Wednesday Worktable thing going for 5 weeks now!  I think it may be becoming a habit!

So, what was on my desk today?

First Thing this Morning:

In the middle of my messy desk, was my binding board, with this book on it.  This is another Coptic-stitch binding, with 10 threads in 2 colours.  It is almost identical to the peachy-coloured Birds and Flowers book I showed on yesterday's post.  When it is completed it will look like this:

Birds and Flowers, Coptic-bound book.

I love this paper; the photos I've taken never seem to really show it off properly - it is much prettier in real life.  I have sold several books covered with this paper and hope the new one will sell quickly (once I finally finish it!).

I removed the binding board from my desk and put it to one side; today I didn't have time for that book. 

This is what I did this morning:

A second London-themed Sketchbook...

Pair of London Sketchbooks, with fabric covers, Japanese stab-stitch binding in black linen, leather strip and button fastenings in two different styles.

This is my "London" set of books!

Together with the "Autumn" set of two notebooks and a mini-album, these will be taken to the shop tomorrow, where I am teaching a bookbinding workshop in July. 

They will be on display, to encourage people to sign up for the workshop - which is making books with fabric covers. 

I'm excited! 

Later I'll post about what I did in the afternoon... :-))

Stopping to Catch my Breath...

Well, I am so busy, I'm permanently out of breath just now!  I posted that I had lots of books on the go, with various orders to complete.  Since then, I have posted off three of the Custom orders, plus a few "ready made" items.  But I still have loads to do! 

** I'm writing notes for the Sock Monkeys workshop I'll be teaching on Saturday.
** I'm making Monkey-samples, for the same workshop.

** I'm making book samples, for a Books with Fabric Covers workshop I'll teach in July (the samples need to be displayed at the shop in advance).

"London Phone-Boxes" 6"x4" notebook, with fabric and red paper cover and red ribbon tie. 

"London" Sketchbook, soft cover, with red paper lining and back, red cotton edging; Japanese stab-stitch binding in black linen; leather strip and button tie closure.

** I have two of my original Custom orders left - waiting on customers to answer a couple of queries, then ready to go - one is all but complete.
** One of those customers has asked me to make a second custom order also.

** I had an order for a Wedding Guest book, from a friend who recently got engaged.

** The same friend also wants a photo album, to match one I made her last year.

** Yesterday I took an order for a Visitors' Book, from a UK artist, to use in his studio/shop.

It will be like this except with a Coptic stitch binding (this has a hinged cover, for a Japanese stab-stitch binding). The binding will be in chocolate brown linen.

** This morning I took an order for another Wedding Guest book, the same as one I mailed to USA last week.

This will be the last Wedding album order for this paper (unless I can find more!) - I have run out now; it has been so very popular!

** I still have a Coptic stitched Guest Book on my Binding Table.

I'm binding another book like this one.

** I completed another Guest Book, plus a couple of mini-albums and listed them in my shop.

"Birds and Butterflies" Guest book, Coptic stitch binding, 8" x 6"

Mini 6"x6" Scrapbooks, in "Nonsense" papers, by We R Memory Keepers.

** There is a pile of pages and cover boards for Photograph Albums on my table, waiting to be worked on.

These will be large and small photograph albums (one day!).

** I have pages cut for several other books, which need covers and bindings.

~~~~ Gasps for breath! ~~~~

I have now told family and friends that I am "Working" on Tuesday to Thursday.  These are my Studio Days.  Except for urgent appointments/problems, I am not available to give lifts, run errands, go out for coffee, go shopping, blog hop... etc, etc....  I have stopped answering the phone during "office hours" and allow the answering machine to do its job (it does very well). 

Some stuff is unavoidable - like the cat needing to see the vet for a check-up and it needing to be a "work day", as she was out on Monday/Friday;

or my osteopath appointments, once a month, which are always on Wednesday, since that's the only day that my osteopath is there (she works in Milton Keynes the rest of the week).  Otherwise, it has to happen on Monday or Friday!  

So far, this has been quite successful.  I have found that my own attitude has also changed.  Suddenly, it feels that I Do "Go to Work" on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  I feel justified in leaving the housework between 9 & 4 (though I do sometimes put the washing on the line, or else it won't dry!).  I am definitely getting more work done - a lot more! 
So far, so good - until an "emergency" crops up, I suppose! 

Well, now I have got my breath back and it's the end of a day's work.  I have spent the day on queries and admin, as there was a lot to deal with (and the morning was half over once we got back from the vet).   Now it's dinner time...  off to my Other Job!

Missing : Days

Mrs LizzieMade today reported that a number of Days had mysteriously vanished from weeks during March. 

Worryingly, this trend appears to continue, with Days still disappearing from April.

Contact Lizziemade.blogspot.com if you have any Information that might lead to the safe recovery of the Missing Days.

Mrs. LizzieMade offers a Reward for their Return.

A Definite Improvement!

The Studio is back in operation - yippee!  It is so much better than the huge heap of chaos from last week.  DH kindly helped me to tidy the worst of the mess on Saturday and I spent some of yesterday afternoon and this morning getting it a bit straighter and tidying the desk.

It's by no means done yet - the new storage solution needs to be organised and it could definitely do with seeing a vacuum cleaner (DH will carry it upstairs for me!!), but it's a Definite Improvement.

The boxes that were on the shelves are now stacked neatly against the back wall. At least I can now get to my stuff - and as I had already labelled them, I can see which box I need straight away - woo-hoo!

The wall above the desk still looks scary... huge holes to be filled and painted over...

... but the desk is pretty tidy now and I can work at it.

I got out that photo album project today, to see what I could do with it.  Two of the 12 pages were ruined, but the others are fine. The cover boards are undamaged and the interleaves are fine. The sheet of paper I was going to use for the cover did have a hole in it, so I will use it for a smaller project - it wasn't going to look right anyway, as the design didn't line up as I wanted.  I now have another plan for that book and this afternoon I bought another sheet of card to replace the spoiled pages. I may even give it extra pages!!

Then I started on another book, which is currently on my desk, under weights, all cut and ready to sew tomorrow.  It will be similar to this, which I recently sold in my Etsy shop:

This is the same paper that I was going to use for the photograph album, but the covers are smaller, so the design lines up really well.  The binding will be slightly different, but overall it's a very similar book. I'm excited about it, as the original was really lovely - I hope this one will be too!

So, my desk is back in use and I'm coping okay without my extra work table.  I didn't like the blank wall with holes that is now above my desk, so I decorated it up a bit:

Yippee!

Aftermath...

Dear Readers,  when we last heard from our heroine, she had suffered a bit of a disaster:

What used to be the shelves in my Studio...

Having removed the remaining shelf fittings and picked up the stuff that was thrown onto the floor, we had been left with this:

A load of stuff all over the desk and a precarious work table and "supporting" metal strips...

... piles of stuff all over the floor...

... boxes piled up in the hallway and shelf-boards leaning on the bookcase.

That was Sunday. 

* * *

Thursday

Yesterday afternoon I started work to clear and re-arrange the studio, so we could replace the lost shelving and put all the stuff away properly.  I carried on today and  DH helped me to take down the work table, that was clipped to the metal rails on the wall.  We took the bent and useless metal bits down too.

This is what it now looks like:

Sigh...

Sigh again.... I'm trying to "Keep Calm", but I must admit that "Eat Cake" is the best advice I've had all week...

I have taken the stuff off the three remaining wall shelves, so I could re-arrange them, to hold the more important stuff.  However, they are not supported by a bracket at the wall end.  So, the far end of each shelf is not properly supported - we need to put another support up in the corner.  I can only put very light things on the corner end of the shelves and not-very-heavy stuff everywhere else.  

Sigh...

Some progress has been made - but not very obvious.  I have measured and thought, consulted with DH and decided to buy an 80cm wide bookcase from Ikea, which I will put in the gap at the end of my desk, where my worktable was.  See the white drawer unit in the photo? The bookcase will go behind that, against the wall.  It is 28cm deep and the drawers (and worktable top) are 60cm deep.  

Still with me?  Hmm... So.... I can buy another white drawer unit too, plus a tall 20cm wide cd/dvd unit, to match the bookcase, which will make the whole bookcase-wall-thing 100cm - same width as the worktable.  I can use the drawer units to support the table top, making a pedestal desk (yay!). 

If it is placed right in front of the bookcase, the whole thing will be 88cm deep, meaning it will stand out 8cm (about 3.5")  from the edge of the big desk; but as it's by the window, we think that will work ok.  I won't be able to alter the height of my table any more - but then, I never did do that anyway... and the part of the bookcase behind the drawers will be difficult to access (the dvd shelves will be totally buried), but I'll still have 125 x 100 cm of shelves to use for storage, plus a work table again (and another set of drawers - yay!).

Hmm.... So that's all very nice... But we still have the problem of the Studio Needing to be Tidied Up First.

These are two of my current Bookbinding projects...

and this is my desk, where I'm supposed to be making the books...  Sigh...

...and the rest of the room, that I'm trying to tidy up...

bigger sigh...

So, overall, I am feeling rather overwhelmed by all the mess, clutter and confusion.  I have filled half a rubbish bag and most of a recycling bag, yet hardly seem to have made any difference.  There is just stuff Everywhere.  I was trying to "put away" the things on my desk, only there is no "Away" just now.  I want to clear the messy side of the room, so I have a large and clear patch of floor - where we can build a new bookcase, then put the boxes of stuff while I re-organise the room...

It got to the point where I couldn't do any more.  I just don't seem to be able to work out where to start or what to do.  

The stuff that fell down from the wall didn't bury me - yet I somehow feel that, really, it did...