Wednesday Worktable - Wednesday 25th November - Rainbow Houses and Felty Books

Good Morning All!  A contribution to Julia's WOYWW (What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday), at her Julia-Dunnit Blog.  I try to join in as often as I can and I really enjoy seeing what everyone else is up to - especially at this time of year, when desks start to look quite exciting!

So, first of all... I Finished the Bunting:

Here are the little houses, on two strings.  Not quite on my desk, but several of you did ask to see the finished buntings.  I won't bore you with more photos, but if you really want to see more, there is a little photo album on my Facebook page, which you are more than welcome to view - see it here!  

And on my desk?

This green felt journal was finished over the weekend.  It's made of lovely soft wool felt, lined with a holly-sprinkled cotton fabric, with golden highlights.  I embroidered the cover with red, green and gold, to make it extra pretty, then bound it with black linen thread and added a fine red satin ribbon tie.

Inside, you can see the fabric lining.  The pages are made with hand made Indian cotton-rag paper. The edges have their natural deckle, from the moulds in which each sheet is made.  

It's really nice paper, with a texture from the fine mesh that each sheet lies on as it is made in the frame. The cotton paper pulp is lifted out of the vat with a frame, over which a mesh is stretched.  It is shaken to form a layer - or sheet - and most of the water drained off.  Then it is tipped out to dry in the sunshine! 

Anyway, paper-making lesson over... I also made this, which I finished today:

A soft blue felt journal, with white and gold embroidery.  Decorated with a white felt snowflake.  I added a gold organza ribbon tie, which is nice and shimmery.  It is bound in longstitch, with ivory linen.  

The journal is lined with this fab snowman printed cotton fabric, with golden highlights.  Very Seasonal! 

The book is my favourite cream laid "Character" paper, with nice hand-cut edges.  This is such lovely paper - crisp and really good to write on. 

Thank you for coming to see what I've been doing.  I also have a photo album and some leather journal covers on the go... but I forgot to photograph them!  I'll post about them soon, so feel free to come back later in the week and see what else is going on.

Why not pop back to Julia's Blog and have a look at what else is happening this week?

Leather Notebook Cover and Pencil Case

I posted a few photos last week, of a leather Notebook Cover and Pencil Case set, that I had made.
I thought I'd just post a little more detailed description here, as I'm rather proud of them. 

The Notebook Cover and matching hand-stitched Pencil Case, in golden-buff coloured leather.  The stitching is in red linen thread, hand-sewn with a traditional cobblers' method, for strength and a good appearance.  Both the notebook cover and pencil case are lined with nice red bookcloth, to give a long-lasting, attractive finish. 

The notebooks are held in by elastic straps (these are black, but I have several other colours). 

The notebook cover will hold three notebooks, up to A5 size. 

There's a little page-minder too, to mark where you're currently working. 

It's obviously inspired by the currently popular "Midori" notebook covers.  Lots of people have these just now and, as notebook covers have been something I was "going to do" for ages, I really thought I should have a go.  

The nice thing about making them by hand, is that there is flexibility on size.  This one is A5 size - it measures 21.25 x 17cm / 8.5 x 6.5" approx - so it will hold notebooks of A5 size, but also 7"x 5", 6" x 4", or anything in between.  
However, there is no reason why I can't make a larger or smaller version, make it tall and thin, or shorter and fatter.  I'm only limited by the size of leather I can get!  

And, as I am in charge... I made a matching Pen / Pencil Case, that will hold up to six pens or pencils. 

I made one of these for my son's birthday last year.  He's still using it and likes it very much, so I thought it might be time to put them into my shop too.  

Again, I can make them in different sizes and adjust their shape and style to suit the new owner.  

I'm very pleased with them!  

Wednesday Worktable - Wednesday 11th November 2015 - Little Houses in a Row!

Hello all and welcome to LizzieMade blog on a windy Wednesday!

This is a contribution to Julia Dunnit's WOYWW (What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday) weekly challenge, which I try to join in with whenever I can.

This morning my desk is home to a continuation of last week's project: 

Set One of the little houses for two strings of House Bunting.  Here they are, all cut, coloured and with holes punched, ready to be strung together.  

A few close-up views, in case you want to see.  I used coloured pencils in the end, to draw the roof, windows and doors and all the details for each house. 

I'm waiting for approval from my customer, then I will start the second set - which will have doors on the right hand side.  I have asked if she wants all the "left doors" on one string and the "right doors" on the other, but she hasn't said yet!  Hopefully she will be pleased with these and I'll get on with the next batch later on.  

I hope you enjoyed looking at my project in progress.  Do come back next time - I'll try to put a photo of the finished bunting strings.  

Meanwhile, why not take a trip over to Julia's blog, to see what everyone else is up to today? 

Thanks for visiting!  

Wednesday Worktable - Wednesday 4th November - Midori Style and Bunting!

Hello Deskers!  This is an infrequent contribution to WOYWW (What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday), over at Julia's Stamping Ground. Each Wednesday, Julia invites fellow crafters and bloggers to show a photo or two of their worktables, and explain what they've been doing.

I don't seem to get much time for working in my studio.  It's just been mad, this last few months (actually, make that years!).  Anyway, "stuff" does happen... sometimes.  So, just to prove it, here are a couple of photos to show something I have just finished (but it's an ongoing project!) and also what I'm currently working on:

Just completed and to be added to my online shop as soon as... 

 

A Leather Notebook Cover, with matching Pen Case 

Inspired by the popular Midori notebooks with covers and a pencil-case I made for my son's birthday last year. The nice thing about them is that I can make any size or shape and in any colour of leather that I can get!  

So, those are just completed and ready for better photos and to be offered for sale.  

Currently this is what's on my desk: 

Experiments and planning for a Commission.  

A lady who runs a student housing agency, found this post on my blog, where I showed a little string of mini bunting.  She has asked me to make her two long strings of House Bunting, to hang in her office.  These houses are 6" tall, so they're considerably larger than the mini bunting I made before. We've just agreed on what she wants and I'm about to start making the "real" bunting.  They will each be six feet long when completed.  It's great fun!

Thank you for reading.  I hope you've enjoyed visiting today.  Feel free to browse my blog, but once you're finished, do go back to Julia's Stamping Ground, to see what everyone else is doing today.

Pass The Page Blog Hop, Bloggers' Weekend 2015

I was lucky enough to be invited to join a group of other bloggers and papercrafters for a weekend away, to meet up, chat, eat cake (of course!) and craft together.  

We went to the RAU at Cirencester and had a lovely big room to ourselves, for the whole weekend. Before we went, Julie of "JSquared" blog issued a challenge for a Pass The Page.  She sent someone a photo of a scrap page she had made, so that they could create their own page, using hers as inspiration.  That new page was then sent on to the next person in the chain, who did the same - and so on.  It's like a paper version of Chinese Whispers!  

I received a photo from Alison, of "Life in the Slow Lane" - I was number nine in a chain of eleven people.  Below you'll see the page I created, using Alison's lovely layout as inspiration.  

Photo by Keri-Anne Pink of Gingerlillytea Photography.  

The two little girls are my great nieces, on their summer holiday by the sea in Cornwall.  I loved the sunset colours, which inspired my choice of this orange ombre-style paper for the background. 

I passed my page on to Ruth. If you'd like to see what everyone made and follow the whole chain and its progress, go back to Julie's blog and follow the links all the way through! 

Wednesday Worktable - Wednesday August 26th - Leather Notebook

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.
So, my mum's house move is over with - she's been in her new home for three weeks now and things are slowly getting sorted out and back to "normal".  I haven't had much time for blogging, or making things really, but this week I wanted to join in again and I even have a couple of projects to show off!

Julia has started on her Christmas cards, over at Stamping Ground... But I'm still working through the Wedding Season here, also a couple of personal projects. 

This was my desk in the morning: 

A bit tidy, I know, but this is only the little folding table.  I daren't show you my large work table - you might run away screaming and never return! 

So, on the table we have a leather cover for a little pocket notebook.  You can see the outline for the name and a butterfly to be painted onto the cover, plus a little pile of lined paper, for the pages. 

This is the lining on the other side of the leather.  A really pretty screen printed Indian paper.

And in the afternoon...

Finished Leather Pocket Notebook! 

This is a gift for my mum-in-law to give her friend, Sandra.  I made a similar notebook for Mum's birthday, which Sandra thought was lovely - so I promised Mum I would send her one as a present for Sandra, who is a lovely friend to her.  I hope she will be pleased with it. 

Also, you may remember the Honeymoon Album I showed in progress last time? 

Ta-Dah! Finished!

A label on the front... 

Large pocket, inside the Front cover... 

Two smaller pockets inside the Back cover. 

The book is on its way to America right now.  I've shown the customer some photos and she is very pleased, so I'm happy too. 

And finally (is this too many photos? Hmm...)

I've been making scrapbook pages, for the first time in months! 

This is for my niece - these are her two dear little girls, playing in the cornfield, by the windmill on a warm summery day! I want to add a little bit of journalling, but haven't decided what to write - I may ask my niece what she wants it to say, as this is for her to keep. 

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So, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed seeing what I've been up to.  I'll try and join in again soon! 

I hope you'll come back and visit again.  When you've finished browsing around on my blog, do return to Julia's Stamping Ground, to see what's going on elsewhere this week. 

Wednesday Worktable - Wednesday 5th August - Pockets!

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.
I haven't been posting much recently, as my mum is about to move house (tomorrow!).  She's elderly and disabled, so... guess who is doing all the work?
Anyway, I have found a spare few minutes and thought I'd post about what I've been up to (and my mess!)

If you fancy a lot of photos and something to "ooh" and "aahh" over, try my previous post, about a lovely day out at the DotComGiftShop Press Event in London.  Lots of pictures of gorgeous new, shiny things to covet...

And then, here is what I have been working on, since returning from holiday:

My main work-table hasn't really changed... it's still scary!  But my small table has had a variety of projects going on... 

Pockets! 

These are for a travel-themed album, that a lady wants for her daughter, who gets married in September and is going to Europe for her honeymoon.  She wanted the album to have some pockets added, to hold mementos, leaflets, tickets etc.  

I've made three bellows-style pockets in white paper, with a blue bellows section at sides and base and fold-over flaps.  

This is the album itself:

Travel Themed Large Photo Album 

Side-on view of the pockets, to show you the blue details.  

I'm hoping she will approve of these, so I can fix them into the book and get it into the post asap!

And just to tie up a loose end or two: 

I finally bound all the notebooks that were ready for sewing, when I posted mid-July. Then I set up a Notebook Sale album on my facebook page - some have sold already, so I'm a happy Lizzie! 

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Thanks for reading, I hope you like to see my various book projects - I haven't really had time for many other things recently, but soon I hope to do a little bit of scrap-book page making (everyone say, "Ooooo!").    

I hope you'll come back and visit again soon. When you've finished browsing around on my blog, do return to Julia's Stamping Ground, to see what's going on elsewhere this week. 

A Day Out!

This post is a bit late, but I wanted to write about a lovely day out that I had on July 2nd.

A few weeks ago, I received an invitation, as a blog writer, to attend the Press Event for the release of the new Autumn/Winter/Christmas items from Rex London (DotComGiftShop).

If you've been a follower of my blog for a while, you may remember this post about bunting, which Rex London (DotComGiftShop) sent me, with a request to review it on my blog.  I'd been a fan of their lovely retro-feel bits and bobs for some time (see also this post from 2009!) and responded to a call for submissions from blogs, when they were compiling a list of favourite blogs that they had found.  
 

Anyway... It seems that they kept my blog on their list of favourites, because I received an invitation to attend the Event and bring a friend.  The Press Event was in London, so I set off in the train and met Keri-Anne at Euston Station, where she had arrived on her train.  

We walked down to the gallery where Rex London (DotComGiftShop) were holding their event and were made very welcome.  

Drinks in little jars, sweets to nibble... very welcome after our walk from Euston. 

...

Then this is what we saw...

...a roomful of wonders and treasure!

There was So Much Lovely Stuff, that it would take several blog posts to show you all of it (of course, you can go to their website/shop and have a browse for yourself).  Here are some of my own favourites from the Day: 

There's a big wildlife theme going on - in various styles - and I loved these little storage suitcases, with wild birds painted on them. Who could resist? 

There was a whole range of lovely items with the wild bird designs all over.  Coasters, mugs (in lovely giftable boxes), storage tins, a tower of lovely lidded glass bowls, glasses and drinking bottles, even a flour or sugar dredger for your kitchen.  Oh, and not to forget the pretty case for my glasses... Tempted again! My favourite is the Blue Tit design - I really like blue-tits.  

Still on a wildlife theme - Rusty and Friends.  A second set of suitcases, this time with woodland creatures on them, along with a number of other goodies, including these brilliant breakfast sets in melamine.  I could cope with eating my porridge, toast and orange juice from these and I'm sure my little nieces would love them! 

Then there were some great retro-themed items: 

Kitchen timers!  

A row of adorable and gorgeous china cups, that look like old-fashioned enamelware (memories of camping, anyone?).  The red one is my favourite, though I remember my mum having a white enamel mug, with a blue-painted rim... and actually, I love all four colours.  Have been trying to think of a good excuse to buy these - perhaps an "accident" will occur with our existing mugs (all 20 or so!)?  Maybe I can find someone to gift them to next Christmas! 

Alarm Clocks! Old-style clocks, like the ones I used to have on my bedside table when I was a very little girl.  Updated now to have a battery-powered clock and a beeping alarm, instead of the old bell-alarm that I had in mine; still just as appealing and I love the colour range! 

Then there was the Japanese Design Porcelain... 

Look at these!  They draw inspiration from Japanese pottery designs, each one being different and special.  I would love to have All of them in my china cupboard.  They are just lovely... sigh... There's a Mediterranean Stoneware range too, which is also gorgeous! 

There were items to appeal to all tastes - it wasn't just "pretty things" and items for children: 

For the Bicycle Fan in your life... 

For the Dapper Gentleman... 

For the Gardener and Nature Lover....

Keri-Anne and I had a lovely time browsing the little Aladdin's Cave full of treasures. 

You can see that there were loads more things to look at - I just haven't room to tell you about all of it!  If you are interested, do go and browse their website shop - it's full of great items, for yourself or to give as gifts.  After all, there are only five months to Christmas! ;-)  

We were sent on our way with a little shopping-bag full of goodies - aren't these lovely? And look, blue-tits on a cover for my new tablet pc! 

Many thanks to Rex London (DotComGiftShop) for your invitation and hospitality.  I had a really fun time and a lovely day out.  

...

And then we had Pizza for lunch before heading back home (spot the Selfie in the mirror!).

The End.