It seems like ages...

...since I last made a mini album.

So it was lovely to attend a workshop over at Pinnacle Crafts where Irene was showing how to make lovely little books that can help with your 'stash busting'.

I haven't finished decorating mine yet but here is the basic book...

...just 4.5x7 inches - so a lovely size for making a 'brag book' for grandma or a mini planner for an up & coming event. The pages are all attached using 'hidden' hinges...

 ...and there are plenty of pockets & panels for photos, journaling, general notes and keepsake storage...

...and you can add as much or as little as you like.

This book was made using: -
1 x A4 Greyboard
6 x 12x12 PPs
1 x A4 CS

So you can see, it doesn't require loads of materials and I'm sure you could make something similar and use up some of that stash mountain - you know, the one that we crafters all have tucked (???) away filling every nook & cranny.

If you have friends or family that have a special event coming up, you could make one as a gift so that they can fill it with photos/keepsakes after the event. I know that I'd like to get a few of these made if I can stretch a few more hours in my days.

Thank you Irene for a lovely day......................................................

A whole week...

...gosh time is flying by.

Saturday was the second Gilded Lily workshop at Pinnacle Crafts and we all made an album from scratch to fit in last weeks box.

The cover & spine were made from greyboard panels...

...covered with cream pearl paper and decorated with the picture panels from the G45 12x12 papers.

It was a fabulous day and I really enjoyed it - thank you Andy.

I also managed to pick up my Ground Espresso Distress goodies - what a super dark brown.

Still not having any luck with my CD and memory card drives on the PC - oh how I wish I was a bit more techy.......................................................................

Okay; so I couldn't wait...

...to break into my Craftwork Cards paper stack.

You knew I wouldn't - didn't you.

Having it sat on the "stroking" corner of the desk was a BIG mistake as it was crying out to be used.

So one constructed box and a covered Bo-Bunny Bare Album later...

This is what I have...

 ...the box base has been lined and the lid covered but no decoration yet. The album has been covered and this photo shows some idea of decoration...

...but nothing is glued down yet and I'm still trying to decide on flowers or perhaps cutting out one of the masks to place across the corner - decisions, decisions.

A work in progress to be sure because once the box & album cover are finished there are all the grey-board pages to cover & decorate. Just a 'little' task to add to the list LOL.........................................

A short while ago...

...I won some lovely goodies over at Kath Stewart's blog.

You might remember this lovely bundle...

 ...of lovely Craftwork Cards deliciousness.

Well, it has been sitting on the coffee table near the sofa 'glaring' at me since it arrived. I have picked it up a couple of times and flicked through the beautiful papers and die-cuts. I've even taken a couple of sheets of PP out of the stack...looked at them...stroked them...and put them back.

I just could not think of something to make with all this loveliness.

Then I found a small tatty looking spiral bound note book in the drawer. I'd only used a page or two but the cover looked very sorry for itself where it had just been thrown in the drawer and forgotten about.

In no time at all, the wire binding had been prized open and the covers removed...covered in PP...and returned to the note book and the wires bent back into shape.

A bit of decorating with blooms...

 ...pearls and ribbons...

 ...one of the die-cut tags with Anita's glitter letters spelling out "Notes"...

 ...a close-up of the blooms & pearls...

...and another close-up of the ribbons attached to the spine.
One handy little bag-sized note book...

...now in a condition to be used rather than discarded in a drawer.

Thank you Kath for this lovely bundle of goodies and I hope you like what I have finally managed to make with a very small amount of it....................................................................

Loom Bands as closures...

...for journals, notebooks or Smash books.

Since my last post about Loom Bands (here) I've been rather busy.

I've been playing with colour combinations and also become quite adept at the 'triple fishtail' that can be turned into the most pretty cuff bracelets...

 ...these are just a few of the ones I've made...

 ...I really love the rainbow ones and so it would seem do several of my crafting friends as I've had to make more to share. My Mum is starting to build a bit of a collection too. Every time I show her my latest creation, I end up having to make one for her too. Even my sister has a cuff that I made in her favourite football team's colours (and I forgot to take a photo - doh!!!). With the Summer holidays upon us, these cuffs make pretty jewellery that is perfect for beach holidays. A couple of packs of bands that are "Cheap as chips" and you can make some colourful accessories to wear on the beach and it won't break the bank if they don't survive the sun, sand & sea.
Yesterday (4th August) was the 100yr commemoration of the day that WW1 started...

 ...I wore this camouflage cuff with a black bow to mark the occasion.
In my previous 'band' post, I mentioned that they could be used to make closures for mini-albums and journals that had started to expand. MaryAnne kindly mentioned this in 'Blogbits' this week over on UKS so I thought I should show you what I meant...

...this notebook is held closed with a long 'fishtail' band in colours that I've picked from the cover of the notebook. I've kept it very simple with no trims, charms or embellies of any kind.
However, I'm really having fun with the 'triple fishtail' bands - especially since I picked up a Mega-tail loom...

 ...they fit comfortably in the hand and are the perfect size for this style of band...

 ...and you can make them as long as you like without any problem.
Here is a band that I've just completed for this kraft journal...

...the journal was given a bit of a rub over with a white stamp pad...

 

...and the closure was created using bands in white/gold/silver then decorated with a burlap broach that I bought at one of my local craft shops (yes, I know I could have made one myself but I was being lazy LOL).

 

So you can see, Loom Bands don't have to be something just for the kids - you can actually make some pretty crafting accessories - so go on...have a play............................................................. 

That was a Year...

...that was!

2013 has been a tiring year with lots of travel for work and as a result, I haven't done the amount of crafting that I would have wished to. However, Debby has now asked for our "Favourite five Creations of 2013" and I've just been browsing through to see what I've made and what have been my favourites.

There have been lots of things that I have made this year that I loved but keeping in mind that it had to be "Five" items, I had to make some decisions and this is the collection that I ended up with...

In March I attended a couple of "Andy Skinner Style" workshops - I really enjoyed both but this was what I made at the one that was run by Andy Skinner himself...

...I loved my clock so much that it was up on the wall in my study as soon as I got home (even before I'd unpacked my totes LOL).
July saw the annual Christmas in July event over at Catch the Bug. I shared a teddy card as one of my favourite Christmas creations but this one had to make it onto this list...

..."JJ" is one of the digi ranges over at Bugaboo stamps and I just thought this would be perfect for a friend of mine. This 'miss' is such fun and I just loved this image. All coloured using alcohol ink pens.
Ignacio over at Nicecrane Designs offered some Halloween freebies back in August and I got a bit carried away making this trick-or-treat sweetie pot...

 ...I just loved the way it all came together.
More recently, UKS held a Christmas project hop and the project that 'kicked-off' the event was what inspired this...

 ...a recipe book. It was the perfect project for using some of Ignacio's 'food' images on and in addition to this, Ignacio has created some wonderful bookplate type swirls that I am using to finish it off with - I'll be doing a more detailed post of the finished item soon.
Now this is one project but I had to show you two photos of it...

...the lovely embossed and waxed box, which when turned around...

...reveals two 'books'. The books are actually storage boxes where you can hide treats or treasures.

So there you have it, my five favourite creations from 2013. Over all, I think it is a close run thing between the clock and the embossed box of books as to which was my absolute favourite. If you click on any of the photos you will see a larger image which will let you see the details of the items more clearly.

Why not hop over to Debby's blog to see what other folk have shared as their favourite creations of the year..........................................................................................

The Witching Hour...

...is almost here.

(This is a photo heavy post so go grab a cuppa and settle yourself comfortably)

To start off with, I just wanted to show that I treat all my staff alike...

 ...one spooky Halloween lollipop hat - a la Stratford **cackle**

For those of you who have been crafting a while - who remembers Doodlebug Designs Inc ?

When I first started scrapbooking, it was one of the few ranges that did co-ordinated 'stuff' at a reasonable price. It was a great starter range but I soon moved on to the likes of Junkitz, BoBunny and Basic Grey. Now you know what I'm going to say next **giggle** - whilst tidying & re-organising...LOL...

Yep, I came across a whole load of Doodlebug Halloween papers and stickers along with a load of ribbons and fibres that I had obviously bought for a purpose - but equally obviously, never got around to using. All change!

Grabbing some C6 buff envelopes, some book rings and some Black soot Distress ink along with some wonderful images from Nicecrane - some pre-coloured, some I've coloured with Inktense pencils, Spectrum Noir pens or Copics - I came up with this...

 ...lots of lovely ribbons and stuff decorating the book rings...

 ...on a little Halloween mini-album. Fun & funky.
A closer look at the front of the book...

 ...and you can see that I added some tabs to some of the pages (not the best of photos).
The right-hand page here has one of the pre-coloured images from the Halloween Kids collection...

 ...that you can find here.
This little Miss is coloured using the pencils for everything except for the skin...

...for that I resorted to my tried & trusted Copics. This image is part of the collection that you can find here.
Another image from the Halloween Kids...

...I just love the artwork on these images.
I left these pages to speak for themselves...

 ...at least until a suitable photo adorns them.
Another Nicecrane image...

 ...and you can also see some of the tabs on the pages more clearly in this photo.
The perfect image to go with all those pumpkins...

 ...don't you think?
The next couple of photos contain images that I have coloured myself...

 ...this one was a 'freebie' that Ignacio kindly offered on his blog and I've coloured it using a mix of Spectrum Noir & Copic pens. The next one was also a 'freebie'...

...and she was coloured using just the Spectrum Noirs.

There are some fabulous images available over at the Nicecrane Design site - and don't worry, if Halloween isn't your 'thing' there are plenty of other subjects to choose from. You can also hop over to the blog to see all the fab items that other DT members have created.

If you are celebrating Halloween - have a Spook-tack-u-lar time.........................................................

What did you do...

...last weekend?

On Sunday I went to a mini-book workshop with Weasel over at the Barleylands Craft village.

This is the fabulous book that Barb wanted us to make...

 ...it is full of pockets and tucky-in places for photos and keepsakes.

The basis of the book is 6x6inch white envelopes with chipboard covers and hidden hinges.

This is the cover of my book so far...

...I don't want to finish the outside decoration until the book is completed otherwise it might get spoilt.
The main aim of the day was to get the basic book completed and try out some different techniques and products...

 ...here you can see the envelope pages attached inside the cover and ready for decoration.

We got to play with glitter paste and masks...

 ...isn't this just a fabulous colour and it works so well on the black background card.

We had so many different die-cuts to play with. These will be used on the front of the book (just like Barb's) and there is another set for the back cover...

...I just need to get my needle and thread out to make the ribbon skirts.

I know Marion (owner of Sugar & Spice) likes folk to come away from the workshops with a finished item but I really didn't want to rush this as it is such a lovely project. I did finish the basic book and got everything cut out and decorated for putting inside (I even made a mini maze book which once decorated will slip into one of the pockets).

The basis for the project centres around the fabulous Craftwork Cards "Tea Dance Collection". We all received an 8x8inch collection pack which contains sooooooooooo much lovely stash...PPs, Candi, Die-cuts...which is far more than is required but means we have lots of lovely stuff left over to play with.

All the pages in my book are now covered with PP and I am working my way through decorating the pages. I'll try to get some more photos done so that I can share them with you.....................................

Scrapping...

...all day long.

A few weeks ago my friend Suzie (Weaselwise on UKS) asked if I would be interested in attending an all-day crop...10am to 7pm and the cost of the day included a carvery lunch. No brainer...I said yes.

Now it is quite some time since I've attended an all-day crop - in fact, I had to unload my wheeled crate as I had been using it for storage (amazing what treasures I unearthed LOL). I packed up a selection of PPs, CS and trims and off I went.

I did spend a bit of time pushing papers around and rummaging through my totes before I came across these...

 ...a new pack of C5 (A5) size envelopes, so I decided to make this...

 ...an A5 size minibook/journal - I haven't quite made up my mind what I will actually use it for.

Many moons ago, I purchased a storage bag containing 300 sheets of double-sided PP from Costco and although I have used quite a lot (or so I thought) the contents of the bag seem to go on forever. I picked a couple of designs to cover the chipboard covers that I had cut...

...and also used them to cover the facing pages at the front and back of the book.

Now whilst I was unloading my wheeled crate to get ready for the crop, I found a brand new pack of Basic Grey PPs & stickers. The range was Perhaps.

This pack of Basic Grey was from a time when all their ranges contained PPs...

...and distressed plain papers...

 ...that all toned...

 ...and co-ordinated beautifully...

 ...and the pack contained plenty to do all the pages of my book.

I cut the papers for each double page spread from a single 12x12 sheet so that the pages match across the 'view'. I have enough pieces left for matting and layering quite a few cards.

All the PPs have been inked around the edge quite roughly...

...using a Ranger Distressed Ink pad in Walnut.

All the PPs have been cut but I still have a few to ink and stick into the book.

I'm pretty pleased with the amount I managed to get done as I constructed the book from scratch using the envelopes to form the basis of the pages and white CS to hinge the pages together. The envelopes have had the flaps stuck inside so that each of the pages is also a pocket that can be used to hold bits-n-pieces.

The chipboard (greyboard) used for the covers was the backs of some A4 notepads. I cut four pieces and covered two for the outer covers and two for the inner ones - sandwiching a spine cover and the ribbon closure between them when I put everything together.

I could turn this into a Birthday book as I have enough pages for the months of the year or I could use it like a Smash book - haven't made up my mind yet.

I really enjoyed the day - the venue was spacious and the roast dinner...well...that was super yummy.

Shame they are not holding another one of these until August....................................................