Make & Takes...

...for a good cause.

On Saturday I visited Barleylands as usual and as it was Farmers Market day, I treated myself to some lovely muffins (large cupcakes). I have to say, they didn't last long enough to be photographed LOL.

There were some additions to the Groovi Plate range in Pinnacle Crafts so of course these just 'jumped' into my basket. I am enjoying this form of Parchment craft but will never be very good at all the fancy parching...still, it suits me.

Since the café was taken over by the "Tiptree" folk it has been very nice and the variety of jams, chutneys and sauces available to purchase is an added bonus.

I was heading home when I remembered that Craft Plus were holding a Marie Curie "Make & Take" event so a quick diversion was in order.

For the price of £3 you could choose one of a very large choice of cards to make and you could have a cuppa & a cake too.

I picked this BeBunny image...

...and spent some "me" time just colouring and putting together this card. I wasn't overly pleased with the way the 'daff' turned out but there were only limited Promarker colours available. I was happier with the bunny...

...because although there was only one grey available, there was a blender pen and I was able to layer the colour and then shade a bit using the blender.

The Make & Take was very busy and there was a super selection of yummy cakes to choose from.

I only had a limited amount of time so I paid for a second card but brought it home to do - I'll show you that one another day.................................................................

With Mother's Day...

...and Easter fast approaching - I had a bit of a stitch.

I pass the Stratford branch of the Works each day on my way to work and unless I'm in a hurry, I usually pop in to see if they have anything new & interesting.

I found these in the craft section...

 ...and thought I would grab a couple to make gift bags for some sweets (for some reason the PC will not let me rotate this image).

I decided to get one of each design and Wednesday evening I sat and made them up.

The 'girl' owl is a little more fancy than her male counterpart...

 ...but the whole thing only took a few minutes. The stitching of the basic bag is quick & easy as the panels have punched holes ready to take the yarn. Once the 'body/bag' is complete all the decoration is added - pre-cut self adhesive felt shapes make this a doddle especially as there is a photo sheet showing the step-by-step process.
The 'boy' owl is less fancy but just as easy to complete...

...my only concern on both these items is that the wings extend past the body so I left some of the backing paper on the them to prevent the sticky backing getting mucky.

I think they are cute and just right for little gift bags for the coming events.

If you want some quick & easy bits (especially for Easter) these are done in a flash. They are also a perfect project for the kids as the needle provided is a plastic darner and there is no cutting out involved.

If you are having an Easter Egg hunt, these would look such fun hanging in trees & bushes in the garden.

I think the Works also have something similar shaped like a bunny - I need to investigate...................................................................

EDT: The bunnies in the Works are toys not bags (disappointment) but if you are looking for some cute little felt toy makes they have bunnies, owls, birdies, foxes. At £1 a pack these are inexpensive makes as everything (including the stuffing) is included.

On a cold...

...and frosty morning.

For the last couple of mornings it has been bright, sunny, frosty and very chilly. The thing is though, the cold doesn't seem so bad when the sun is out.

This was a shot I took from the DLR (Dockland Light Railway) platform at West Ham...

...normally the "O2" (the dome in the background with the pylons sticking up like the spikes on a crown) is perfectly clear but Wednesday morning there was a haze.

Strange day Wednesday.

After a bright and cheery start, I arrived to find there was no water supply at the office and the senior managers were awaiting confirmation from the contractors as to how long it was likely to take to get the supply restored (we have been having problems for over a week now but this was the first time everything came to a halt).

By 11.30am the advice was to let staff go home.

I had a teleconference scheduled so I was hanging around to take part in that before heading home when the fire alarm went off - some idiot left toast unattended in the toaster on one of the upper floors and there was smoke billowing from the kitchen on that floor. With very few staff left in the building it was a very small gathering at the muster area but upon return we were advised that the water was fixed.

It was lovely and quiet in the office as there were only 5 of us on our floor (normally around 140). It is amazing what you can get done without distraction LOL

I wonder what today will hold for us..................................................................................

Happy Birthday Mum...

...78 years young.

Mum has a thing about owls - she has quite a collection in glass, china, stone, resin and then there are the pictures and other bits.

When I saw this cute canvas shopper...

 ...I just had to grab one for Mum...

 ...aren't the family of owls just adorable.
In addition to the owls, Mum is rather partial to 'hedgies' so this seemed the perfect gift to pop inside the shopper...

...it is a t-light holder. Mum is still rather wobbly on her feet since coming home from hospital so rather than risk her having flames I bought some battery t-lights so she can enjoy the effect without any worry.
As for her card...

...this was one that I made at one of Andy Pearson's workshops. The little 'steampunk' owl has a variety of self-adhesive, flat-back rivet & screw-heads dotted amongst the cogs. The flowers originally had black beads in the centres but it didn't quite look how I wanted - so I swapped to the facetted flat-back metal gems (same as I used the other week) and I was much happier with the finish.
I picked the black beads at the time to match in with the eyes of the owl but there was just something not right - you know when you look at something and there is a niggle in your mind but you can't work out what...well the Marianne Design "Diamond Gems" were the perfect solution.

So Mum's birthday is well "owled" - Happy Birthday Mum..................................................

A blissful day...

...of colouring and catching up with friends.

The workshop at Pinnacle Crafts on Saturday was all about colouring. Andy (Pearson) had organised a day for folk to come along and enjoy a day of colouring and perhaps try out some colour combos or techniques that are usually outside of their comfort zone.

The first image we played with was very much a fun item...

...beach huts can be very bright and colourful...

...or a little more 'shabby'. I don't tend to use long, flicking strokes when I colour so this was a bit of a play for me - doing something that I don't often do.
Whilst folk were finishing off their beach huts, I had a go at this Mo Manning image...

 ...Penny Black have released 3 new Mo Manning images and this one that I found in Andy's stamp storage appeared to be of a similar theme but from an earlier release.
Most of the ladies had moved onto a butterfly image but I'm not overly keen on butterflies so I dug out a digi I had with me...

 ...this Saturated Canary image (I think it is called 'wine time') was a freebie with a magazine that has since ceased. I love this image and have coloured her quite a few times.
Although not a great fan of butterflies, I decided to have a go...

 ...mainly because it used the long, flick strokes again. The colours used on this butterfly were the Warm Greys from the Copic Ciao range of pens.

These were the finished images...

...I added some clear sparkle pen (Spectrum) to the lips and wine glass just to finish it off but it doesn't really show in the photo.

The last image that I started at the workshop was this elephant from a set of stamps by Hobby Art...

...I had only completed the head at the workshop but this is after a bit more colouring at home. It still requires some shading to a few areas (evening light isn't the best for this type of colouring) so it is not quite finished but I'm very pleased with the way it is coming along.

The café re-opened in the week but neither Hilary nor I were certain about the opening times. I arrived just after 9.00am and it was open and already doing a fair trade with the stall holders from the Farmer's Market. Toast & Raspberry jam with a latte went down very well - did I mention that the new owners are 'Tiptree Jams' (fabulous display of jams & chutneys for sale). Lunch time Hilary & I had Jacket potatoes & prawns and a lovely natter and then after class we popped back for a coffee and to purchase some of the lovely jams.

At the moment the café is offering self service only but at Easter they will be opening the rest of the restaurant area and waitress service will be available in that part - something to look forward to.

A fabulous day. Thank you Andy for a lovely workshop and thank you Hilary for a lovely natter.

The next workshop isn't for a couple of weeks but I think it is going to be one of Andy's messy ones as it involves ink - a fun day to look forward to............................................

How do you...

...photograph your cards?

Not being the best photographer in the world, I often struggle with getting a good picture of my makes. I've tried standing them on windowsills, cloth backgrounds, flat on the floor or even holding them but things still end up rather hit & miss.

Now I'm not saying that this item will improve things that much but I thought I'd give it a try as it was £4.99 (so not a huge outlay if it doesn't work)

This is the MDF card easel from Creative Expressions...

...which comes flat-packed ready for assembly. With just 3 pieces it isn't complicated and it slots together very easily.

The idea is probably that you can decorate this to suit your own taste but as it is intended to display a variety of cards and colours, it seems sensible to leave it 'bare'.

I haven't even glued the pieces together at this stage because it gives me the option to flat-pack it again between use. The slots are quite tight but not a problem so the whole thing is very stable even without being glued.

I'm not promising that my photos will be any better but at least the presentation may look a little better LOL.......................................................................

Steampunk...

...from a different perspective.

(Photo heavy so settle down with a cuppa)

Saturday 6 February was the first Andy Pearson workshop of 2016 and with all the madness that has been going on at work and with Mum, this was a break that I NEEDED - 5.5hours of not having to think or worry about anything other than cutting a piece of paper straight or getting the 'sandwich' right for some die-cutting & embossing.

Now most folk will think of Steampunk as being Industrial & Grungy but our first make of the day threw that notion to the wind.

For speed, Andy had cut a tub full of cogs from pretty pale aqua card. Our first job was to make two borders from these cogs that would be used as a raised embellishment on the finished card...

 ...Having marked the required length on a piece of paper, I put together my borders using Cosmic Shimmer PVA glue (Creative Expressions) and put them to one side to dry.
The main panel for the front of the card was embossed with an 8x8 embossing folder...

 ...covered in clocks & pocket watches. This was matted onto silver miri and then onto a larger square of the aqua card.
After a session of die-cutting clock faces, hands and a few leaves...

 ...the card was constructed with the help of some PinFlair Gel and some bronze coloured metal gems.

The second make of the day was a bit of more traditional Steampunk.

Three panels of black CS were embossed with more clocks (I also used brickwork on one of my panels) and then gilding wax was applied - Decadent Teal was the shade I used on my panels...

 ...the loose cogs were waxed with Mink to give a contrast and the embossed panels were then matted onto some silver miri.
This was the finished result...

...and will offered to a friend who asked me to make a card for her husband (great timing).

The last project of the day was a giftbox/cracker box made to look like metal.

Starting with plain black CS, the various pieces were die-cut...

 ...waxed and assembled. The cracker box is a Tonic die and the cogs panel was a strip die (I think it was from Cheery Lyn) that we cut to size. I used Pumpkin and Mink gilding waxes to colour my piece so that it had an 'aged' and 'rusty' look to it.
The box was finished off with some wooden leaves, jute string and burlap butterflies...

...some of the cogs also got a few silver pearls added to make it look like bolts.

 So the three projects were...

 ...quite different. A quite straight forward bit of...

 ...embossing & waxing using darkish colours. A very clean (but not simple) effect...

 ...using pale colours and not a bit of wax or ink in sight. Then the last piece...

...lots of texture and shading making CS look like something else.

A fabulous day.

Pinnacle Crafts have weekday lessons every week and weekend workshops on a regular basis so if you live within access, check out what is available.

Thank you Andy for a wonderful 'playday'.......................................................................

Did you know...

...that papercrafting is an 'extreme' sport hobby!

It is, you know.

Think about it...

How many times have you taken part in the "get out of the way of the falling pokey tool/craft knife" challenge. You know the one...

You just put said item down on the desk and it starts rolling towards you and before you can grab it, it is falling towards your lap/foot. Isn't it amazing how quickly we can jump back from the desk to miss the falling object (yet we weren't quick enough to stop it rolling off the desk to begin with - go figure). Even Mr Bolt would be impressed by our turn of speed.

A while back a friend ended up in A&E after a day at a crop where she tried to catch her craft knife instead of performing the traditional 'jump back' - it is amazing how much blood results from a craft knife sticking out of ones thigh. The A&E staff were rather amused - they obviously don't understand the dangers involved in this hobby.

Then of course there is the "slice".

This activity can be performed in a variety of ways...

1. The scissor de-gunking - it doesn't matter how careful we try to be cleaning the glue and gunk off our favourite scissors (yep, even the 'non-stick' ones). We all know not to rub the cloth up and down with the blade side of the scissors facing into our palms but that last little bit of gunk wont come off so you turn every thing over to give it another rub and...

2. The craft knife blade changing - the blade is not sharp enough to give a clean cut so you decide to change the blade. It's stuck. You tug and pull and your hand slips - surprising how sharpe that blade still is, isn't it...

3. The paper cutter/trimmer blade change - I can quote from experience on this one. My trimmer blade was causing feathered edges and there was paper clogging the cutting channel so I cleaned everything and changed the blade. I had gotten used to the blade runner staying upright when inserting a piece of paper due to the paper dust clogging the hinge. In a second I saw it falling towards the paper and didn't want the blade to damage it - so I grabbed. It is a rather painful experience. Who knew that a teeny, tiny metal diamond could cause so much pain & blood...

Have you participated in the "boob clamp"?

The equipment for this event is the Quickutz Squeeze or the Crop-a-dile.

A number of ladies over at UKScrappers reported some time ago that this was a regular occurrence when trying to cut/punch through stiffer materials (they also said that being slightly better endowed in the boob department had also contributed)...

I'm sure you can think of many other "extreme" aspects of our sport craft.

Do share any other "events" that you have taken part in........................................................