Pinch, Punch...

...first of the month.

Do you remember meeting up with your friends on the way to school on the first day of a new month and chanting that followed by "No returns", before they had a chance to say it to you?

The response from them would be "A punch and a kick for being so quick" or something similar.

I've often wondered where this came from and found this on the web: "Pinch punch first of the month and no returns." This is accompanied by the person's pinching and punching the victim. It seems to have originated in the days when people believed in witches. Just as we throw a pinch of salt over our shoulder when we have spilt some, even today, some people claim that the 'pinch' element refers to a pinch of salt. In this instance, the pinch of salt was believed to weaken the witch's powers and the follow-up punch was to drive her away. The 'and no returns' element was supposed to prevent the victim responding by saying: "A kick and a flick for being so quick!" These words would also be accompanied by the appropriate actions if the first person failed to add the extra words!

So here we are on the 1st February.

January flew by with a serious lack of paper crafting so I thought I should put that right this month and have started off with making a start on another piece of storage.

As it was members weekend this weekend, I took advantage of my 30% discount and bought this...

 ...I bought the advent storage (Tivoli) at the last members weekend before Christmas but it was too close to the start of December to make a start on it and I didn't want to rush it and spoil the thing.

These storage kits come flat-packed with the glue needed to put them together and there are a variety of 'add-ons' that you can buy...dies to cut fancy panels for the drawer fronts, paints, papers, waxes, sealants and fancy handles. Or you can raid your own stash to decorate them how you wish.

The Verona has two different sizes of drawers and they can be arranged as the photo above shows or with the same size drawers directly above each other rather than staggered. The drawers come as flat pieces of grey-board, ready scored. All you have to do is fold up the sides and glue together...

...the packaging has even been designed so that you can slot a large and a small drawer into it so they are held firm & straight whilst drying. This worked fine for the larger drawer but the smaller ones just dropped straight through - I think my packaging was cut incorrectly but hey-ho, no big problem and the drawers were quickly assembled and ready for a coat of paint.

The top and bottom sections of the cabinet are constructed individually and are attached to the main body of the box later...

 ...this is great for painting purposes as the pieces are of a more manageable size to handle whilst slapping on the paint. I am going with white acrylic Chalk paint for my piece.

As most of the box gets covered, I'm still debating whether I need to give it a second coat. Especially as I will be using distress ink and gilding wax on the bits that show...still thinking about that.

I have decided to cover my box using the following PPs...

 ...unfortunately, I only have the 6x6 and 8x8 stacks so will need to do a bit of strategic paper piecing on the body of the box (I still can't think why I didn't get the 12x12 pad in this - oh well).

The kit comes with pre-cut grey-board panels to decorate and then attach to the box/drawers...

...this makes it very easy to cover the drawer fronts neatly (if you don't want to go to the extra expense of the die set) and the box panels cover the construction slots so you have a lovely smooth finish.

There is still a fair bit of painting to do so I'll show you more when that is done.

Happy first of the month........................................................................

January 2015...

...been and all but gone.

I can not believe how fast this month has gone but here we are on the 31st and February is peeking round the corner.

So what has been going on this month...


17 - was the last day I posted on here so obviously not a lot of blogging going on.

2 - craft days have been attended. The Eastwood scrappers crop on the 17th & an Andy Pearson workshop on the 24th. Both were really enjoyable days.

10 - scarves have been completed so my stock for Christmas gifts is underway.

1 - trip to Cambridge for work and this time there were no problems with the trains going (British rail saved those for the journey home grrrrrrrrr).


12 - the number of staff I am currently supporting through a very difficult time of being told they are 'surplus to requirement'. 4 are searching for new posts within the business, 6 have decided to take the redundancy money and go and 2 are still struggling to come to terms with the announcement - difficult times.

5 - the number of staff who have realised that they are going to have a lot more work to deal with.

30 - date of the first day of "Member's Weekend". Stuck pretty much to my shopping list which was good. Spent loads of money - not so good but was planned for (so I can still eat for the next month LOL).

So today is the last day of January 2015 and I will be meeting my friend Suzie for breakfast & a chat as we haven't seen each other since before Christmas. Oh, and as we will be meeting at Barleylands there could be a few more items obtained as it is day two of Member's weekend.

Any chance that February might go at a more reasonable pace?..................................................

The First Class...

...of 2015 - gilding.

At 9.15am this morning I had braved the frost & ice to meet up with my friend Hilary at the café over at the Barleylands Craft Village. We met for breakfast and to have a catch up chat before heading over to Pinnacle Crafts for Andy's first workshop of 2015.

The class was a chance to play with some construction and the new Creative Expressions gilding wax colours.

To start with we cut our CS to size for the project that we were going to construct and before proceeding with any embossing, I toned down the smooth white CS with some Memento ink...

 ...I used "London Fog" as it has a blue/green tint to it.
The panels for the back & front of the project were embossed with a Spellbinders 3D Em-bossing Folder - Labels 34 Medallion...

...then a little more "London Fog" was applied before I started with the gilding wax. The first colour I used was Graceful Peach and then I added Graceful Mint...

 ...one of the great things about these embossing folders is the fact that there are matching dies...

 ...which come in very handy.

The project for today was to create a box that looks like a book...

...something that we have done before but on this occasion we used slightly different techniques for the construction...

 ...I also decided that I wanted to be able to keep the book closed...

 ...so I added some ribbon between the embossed panels and the greyboard used to construct the box.

When I got home, I added some pearls near the spine...

...because I had also added some ribbon...

...to create a bit of interest on the spine.
I love the finished effect...

 ...and gilding wax gives the 'book' a lovely soft sheen.

What will I be using my book for...

...my secret crafting stash...

 ...of chocolate.
After all, seeing the book sitting on my desk...

...would you know that it contained lots of yummy chocolate?

Today's class was to make more than one book...

...and to play around with different "looks". This peek shows the same two gilding wax colours used on textured black CS. I'll show you what I made another time.

Hilary's book was completed in a lovely blue/lavender shade and yet, she too started off with smooth white CS.

We had a lovely day - watched the snow falling from the comfort of the classroom through the skylights (thankfully it turned to rain) - had a lovely lunch at the café (with more chat) - and enjoyed a messy but productive crafting day.

Thank you Andy - 2015 crafting has begun with a great start.........................................................

There seems to be...

...a lot of recycling going on.

Folk seem to be getting the year off to a start with organising & re/up cycling and many are combining the two.

If you hop around Blogland (or for those of you who 'Pin') you will have noticed a lot of new pen holders appearing - mostly made out of beautifully decorated tin cans. I don't use a lot of canned stuff but we certainly got through a fair amount of...

...over the Holiday period. I mean; what else are you supposed to eat with all that left over turkey LOL.
So the empties have been saved...

...and duly scrubbed.
Yesterday was the First Eastwood crop of 2015 and as usual I wasn't scrapping...

 ...I was up-cycling a gerkin jar.
My burlap wasn't quite long enough to wrap right round the jar...

...but that was fine because I layered some gingham paper and a patch of burlap to cover the gap.
I layered some cream cotton lace...

...onto burgundy satin ribbon...

...and also made a triple satin bow.
Here it is put together...

 ...it will be the perfect holder for my odds & ends and will sit on my desk at home.

The saga of the missing diary & note book is on-going and I'll be blowed if I'm going to fork out for another lot just for the originals to turn up - so a bit more re-cycling.

I had an old Deco calendar in my stash awaiting me finding time to chop it up for the pictures - it has now been given a new life - as you can see...

 ...more of the layered ribbon & lace. Topped off with some die-cut panels with "2015" and a bow with some roses.
This was a very quick 'make-over'...

 ...some layered die-cut panels to cover the old days...

 ...and a pocket calendar page (with inked edges) layered over the top.
The crop was smaller than usual...

...but everyone seemed to have a very productive day.
To finish off the day I made a couple of easel style cards as desk calendars...

...they don't take up too much space but add a little bit of colour and decoration - this one will be taking up residence on my desk at work.

The crop was held in the classroom above In2crafting at Wickford as the usual location was not available. It is a lovely bright space but next time I won't take the kitchen sink...as the only access is via some quite steep stairs - thank you John for the assistance coming down.

John had a large bolt of navy leather that was heading for the skip and he said if anyone could make use of it they could help themselves. I have come away with a nice large piece and I have some ideas involving more recycling. Will have to have a think about this as I have plenty of suitable jars and boxes awaiting my attention.........................................................................

Okay...

...I give up!

I've hunted high.

I've hunted low.

I've turned this house upside down...and I still can't find where I've put my new Deco desk calendar and note book.

 

I had the bag containing them before Christmas - I took it out of the cupboard upstairs - I placed it on the bannister so that I would remember to take the bag downstairs...and that is the last I saw of it.

I was so sure that I had placed the bag on the chair in the study but it isn't there.

I've searched everywhere I can think to search and it seems that all I'm doing is making a huge mess and getting very frustrated.

I've decided to forget it for the time being and hope the bag turns up when I'm looking for something else. I've obviously put it somewhere for VERY safe keeping......................................................

Getting organised...

...for 2015.

The aim being - if I can find it, I might actually use it!

So last night I sat down with a pile of dies and managed to discard this...

 ...a carrier-bag full of unwanted packaging. It's surprising the amount of space all this bulky packaging takes up.

What happened to the contents of that packaging?

I filled two organiser files...

 ...this polka-dot one is currently available from DoCrafts as are the refill packs of pockets containing magnetic sheets.
I have gathered together my collection of these Memory Box cuties...

 ...and have used some of them now that I know where they are (I'm sure I bought the mittens & stockings versions but perhaps that was just my wishlist coming to mind).
I knew I had quite a few Tonic dies...

 ...but I found some that I had totally forgotten about.

I still have my Sue Wilson dies to house - another organiser on the list for "Member's weekend" at the end of January.

Now when Ranger came out with these mini Distress Ink pads I thought it was just a fad and something to encourage us to buy even more stuff - how wrong I was. They are perfect for mobile crafting...these are so much easier to pack in your tote for a crop/class than taking a large box containing the full size pads (it's easier to fit these on the table too).

I love the storage tins...

 ...they keep everything together - all neat and tidy...

...and I do mean everything. The recess in the bottom of each ink pad houses a blending foam pad perfectly...

...so you have a pad for each colour at hand ready for use - how super is that.

My first crop for 2015 is on Saturday 10 January and I'm sure that I'll be more productive by having these things on hand...well...I hope so.

On my recent blog visits I've noticed that several folk have included de-cluttering and organising as a goal for 2015.

I've made a start - let's see if I can keep up the momentum...............................................................

Happy New Year...

...to you all.

Let us raise a glass to bid the old year farewell...

...and welcome in the new.
Wishing you all a...

 ...that brings you everything that you hope for and...

Happy 2015 to you all and I hope you all continue to enjoy your crafting in the coming year................