Bloggers' Crafting Weekend - The Plan so far...

An update for those who are attending our Bloggers' Crafting Weekend, from 25th - 27th November.

Also a heads-up for anyone who missed the Invitation first time round and might still like to come along - it's likely that there will still be a couple of spaces available, if you get in touch with me!
 Follow this link for more details.

The Current Plan

At the moment, this is the plan for our weekend.  Changes can be made, ideas can still be incorporated and nothing - except the YHA mealtimes - is set in stone.  If you have a clever idea for something we might all enjoy, do please say so!

Friday 25th November

Arrivals from around 1pm onwards. 
We have booked the a classroom/conference room, separate from the main hostel.  This will be our Craft Room base for the weekend, where we can set up our stuff and all meet up, to craft, chat, eat cake etc!

Friday Afternoon
All meet up and say hello!  We can then start Crafting and having fun, until dinner time, when we'll all eat together in the YHA dining room.

Friday Evening
Craft as much as we like, until we are tired and want to sleep - at which point, we can go to bed and sleep!!

Saturday 26th November

Breakfast in the YHA dining room.

Saturday Morning
Crafting and chat etc in our Craft Room
A Visit to a nearby Interesting Place is planned for the morning - a couple of hours or so of exploring somewhere in the interesting Ironbridge area.  Anyone who doesn't want to go, can remain in the Craft Room and craft all day!

Lunch
Buffet-style lunch together - everyone will bring a little something to share for lunch - and of course, there will be Cake!

Saturday Afternoon
Crafting and chat etc in our Craft Room.
During the afternoon, I am hoping to offer a short Bookbinding Workshop, to anyone who wants to join in.  I am still sorting out details, but I will show you how to make a nice book to take home  - something you will be able to make again by yourself.  Any preferences for type of book - please let me know!

Dinner
We will all have dinner together in the YHA dining room.

Saturday Evening
Our Craft Room will be available for anyone who wants to get together and craft.  Craft 'til bedtime, if you wish!
The hostel also has a lounge with a tv and a games room, so you can go and enjoy these facilities if you prefer.

Sunday 27th November

Breakfast in the YHA dining room.

Sunday Morning
Crafting and chat etc in our Craft Room

Clair has offered to do a short Gift-Wrapping demonstration/tutorial:

"If anyone's interested, I would absolutely love to do a quick demonstration of how I approach my gift wrapping. I like to use my own scrapbooking supplies and I'll often make use of smaller scraps, so nothing is wasted - it's a great way to personalise your gifts for special people or special events!"

I will forward the information Clair has e-mailed me, to all who are signed up for our weekend, so you can decide if you want to join in and gather up any materials you wish to bring along.  If you haven't seen Clair's clever skills at gift-wrapping, have a look here or here, try this post, or this one, to see some of her fabulous hand-made embellishments!  I'm sure this wrapping demo will be great!

Anyone who prefers to, can carry on with their own crafting projects - nothing is obligatory, we are there to be with friends and enjoy ourselves.  No-one will be offended if you prefer to do your own thing!

Lunch
Buffet-style lunch together

Sunday Afternoon
We have to check out of our bed-rooms in the morning; however the Craft Room will be available for anyone who wants to stay and craft, until around 5pm.   Some people will need to head off home, especially those with a long journey to make, but anyone who wishes to can stay on until the end!

Sunday Night
Crawl into your own bed, hopefully feeling that you have had a lovely time, with plenty of photos to scrap!

Anyone who hasn't booked yet, but now wants to join in?  Get in touch - I think there may still be spaces!

We will be in touch with those attending very soon.

Pat A Cake, Pat A Cake, Baker Girl!

I made a nice page on Sunday.  I was so pleased with the "photo strip" effect on the page in this post, that I used it again. Almost the same template for the layout too - just an extra big photo, rather than the vertical photo-strip.

Pat A Cake - My little great niece's first attempt at making scones. 

Apart from weighing the ingredients and being shown the "rubbing in the butter" part, she did these all by herself.

They tasted great - I know because she saved one specially for "Auntie"! I ate it with some of the jam that me & Keri-Anne made together.

I used a little bunting stamp, and a plate of buns stamp, which I coloured with pastel marker pens.

I raised the stamped images (and the photo of the plate of scones) on foam pads, to give a bit of dimension and interest.

Quite pleased with this page. And it shows you can do a "girly page" without using pink paper!

Fun on Fursday 7 - My Favourite Cat Channel

A bit of fun, to make you smile - the newest video from the amazing Simon:

Hope it makes you smile!

Wednesday Worktable 12th October - Books Again!

A quick peek at what is going on in my studio this week...

Well, a fair bit of admin actually, but that's not very interesting, so...

A Guest Book, completed today.  It's covered with Liberty print Tana Lawn fabric (made into bookcloth), with the design "Strawberry Thief", by William Morris. This is the purple colour-way, which is my favourite.  I used damson coloured tussah silk for the bound edges, fraying the edge to make a black fringe.  The covers have a hinge and are bound in a Japanese-style stab stitch, with black linen.

There's a silk dust-wrap under the binding, to give a decorative edge. I really like this effect - it gives the appearance of a "spine" on the book, yet you still have the lovely oriental-style binding patterns.

The book covers are lined with art paper (by Murano), in a slatey, grey-brown colour.  There are 24 pages (48 sides) of white 200gm - med. weight - cartridge paper, which is great for writing on.

This one's in my Etsy shop now, but this...

this is still In Progress!

Here's a clue:

Under all those boxes, are the covers for a new book, being nicely flattened!

It's going to be Great!

Ten on the Tenth - Top Ten Crafting Injuries

A post for my blogging, bookbinding and scrapping friends!

We all love to cut, stick, trim, punch, stitch, tear, layer, draw, write, plan, print, photograph and create. 
We all love to craft - especially with paper and fabrics.

But often, our dedication to our Craft can result in personal injury.

We all know the risks involved in our Crafts... yet we bravely go forth and create, regardless of the personal dangers...

Top Ten Crafting Injuries

10) Stubbing a toe on a box of crafting equipment - OW! (Observer Wince) Factor: 1/10

9) Pricking a finger on a sewing needle - OW! Factor: 3/10

8) Papercut... on fingertip - OW! Factor 3/10, on knuckle - OW! Factor 5/10

7) Dropping a box of equipment on your foot - OW! Factor 4/10

6) Banging your head on the desk, while picking up a dropped item - OW! Factor 5/10

5)  Burning fingers on heat tool - OW! Factor 6/10

4)  Trapping finger in die-cutter - OW! Factor 7/10

3) Cutting hand with craft knife - OW! Factor 8/10

2) Hair loss, due to frustration - OW! Factor 9/10

1) EARTHQUAKE!

Speaking from Personal Experience.... OW! Factor - 11/10!

For more 10 Things on the Tenth, see Shimelle's post today!