BY2010: Mar Layout

Heres this months sketch that Sam challenged us with ....And heres what I came up with.......I altered the photo to a black and white background as it was so full of colour before that it detracted the eye from the main subject(s).

As the remaining colour was blue I decided to use this as the main basis of the layout.
To go along with the "hanging out the washing" in the picture I came up with the clothes line with pegs on, then decided it could hold the title up.

I had run out of lower case t's so used a capital T as a washing line prop.

To continue on your way please head over to Chatty Crafty Arty Pig

And if your lost the others joining in on this blog hop are:-

Sam's Card Making Blog
Liberty Cottage
Chatty Crafty Arty Pig
Clearing the Brambles
Dogs Socks and Scrapbooks

Ring pull makes...

I came across a simple bracelet made out of Ring pulls (or can tabs as they are more commonly known in other areas) similar to this one...

I liked the look of it so went looking for a pattern, I didnt realise it would open up a whole new world for me!


Here are a few of my finds

A pretty, yet simple bracelet


A very cool belt!


A shopping bag!!

And if you have a lot of time, patience, and ring pulls, a chair cover!!!!


Then I came across the most amazing blog, The Art of Tabistry. Tiffany makes the most amazing items out of ring pulls, which include...
Hair Holders


Masks

Corsets!!!!!

And would you believe even...

CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS!!!!

I saw this last one and my mouth literally fell open, I was stunned that it could be made out of ring pulls.

As I'm sure you will agree, Tiffany is very talented and I am seriously contemplating buying some of the patterns she sells once I've got a few (or rather a lot more) ring pulls.

I have a little pile started up kindly given to me by Noonie and I guess I better start drinking Pepsi out of cans rather than bottles ;)

Promarker Tip

Sometimes it can be quite annoying that you pick up a Promarker, use it and it isnt the shade you expected it to be. This is even more so when you have several colours that are similar (such as the skin tones). I use a sticky dot system, its simple and effective.

When I got a new promarker I colour in 2 sticky dots with it, I then stick one onto the other and pop it onto the flat edge on the lid. One sticker wont do it, the black of the cap makes the colour appear darker so layers is needed. I colour both in so if I dont put the sticker exactly on top of the other theres no white edges.



I can quickly see which one I want.....

....especially as I keep my promarkers in a ferrero rocher box.

MMMalteser Cake

When I saw Debbie put the ingredients up for a Malteser cake I knew I'd have to try it, who could not try a cake thats chocolatey, malty AND has maltesers!

I did make a lil oops though, I picked up the chocolate horlicks drink by mistake and didnt notice until afterwards, so this cake was more chocolatey than malty.

The mix is quite runny which makes for a lovely moist cake. As it was a large cake I had to ccok it for quite a bit longer than the recipe states for the fairycakes, I think it was an hour in total, but I kept checking it to make sure.

And the results.... Everyone loved it! So much so there was complaints when I made one to take to the NEC, from my family as I hadnt cooked them one.

The one for the NEC I substituted the horlicks and cocoa powder for malteser chocolate drink powder. It gave a much lighter taste to how I had done it before.

Definately a recipe I would recommend!!!

Down the rabbit hole .....

It turns out that I dont even need to think to be creative, my subconcious can do it all for me!

A group of us were doing our semi-annual meet up at the NEC, and it had been decided we'd wear rabbit ears so we could find each other in the crowd.

While altering my clothes to wear on the day my OH noticed that everything had an Alice in Wonderland theme (I only noticed this with the shoes, lol) and commented how I'd taken the Rabbit ears idea and ran with it .... I personally hadnt conciously made this link, but hey, its either coincidence or my subconciousness is just as crafty :)

So heres the long T-shirt I started off with ....

It hung 1/2 way down my thighs, which is normally a very flattering length but with this it just looked frumpily straight up and down, even with my lumps & bumps **cough, cough** I mean curves

So I decided to gather up the side to give it a modern, more flattering shape. Before doing this I realised I needed to make any other alterations to make it easier, so I printed off a pocket watch/rose design onto a T-shirt trasfer sheet and cut out the design. I then ironed it on.
Following this I pinned lace to the end of the sleeves and bottom of the t-shirt and sewed it on using a stretch stitch.

Finally I finished it off by using a long stitch and gathering it up. I unfortunatley need to redo this & then sew over it to strengthen it. So heres us all at the nec with our wabbit ears on, of course I have to be different and make my own to match what I was wearing (& so they'd be black & red, lol). Not the most flattering pictures but I've had worse ;)

Next Sunday ... The matching shoes, first time I've sewn onto shoes!

Acetate card

I made this card for Noonies 40th, *cough cough* I mean 21st birthday
Its in a new technique I wanted to try.

I took a piece of a4 acetate & folded it in half. I punched 2 holes, one 1/2 an inch in, the other 1 inch in at the centre, then opened it (you end up with 4 holes) & folded the edges to the centre

I coloured in the magnolia stamp and attached the wording which I had already printed out. Onto her back I fastened a stripe of acetate that I had folded into a Z shape. This allows it to "float".
I then added peel offs to the 4 inner corners.

I threaded a piece of ribbon through 2 of the holes, round the back of the card & then through the other 2 holes, finishing it off by tying the 2 ends into a bow. This holds the card closed while still keeping its 3d appearance.

I added a martini glass and bottle to the front.
I printed off my birthday message and stuck it to the back of the card.

I would like to enter this card into...

The Creative Craft World Promarkers challenge (I only have skin tone promarkers at the moment which I used to colour in all the skin on the magnolia stamp)

Fab 'n' funkys its all in the technique challenge (My fav thing/technique is trying new things :)

Cute Card Thursdays Challenge 105 - Dimensions (this card definately has a 3d/pop out style)

Frosted Designs - Transparency Challenge

Oh Christmas Tree....

I went through my file of last years christmas tree/ornament photos and came across photos of the lads putting their ornaments on the tree, and I instantly knew a layout I wanted to try with them....I looked at all my green papers but they just didnt work for the tree in the background so I decided to layer them up so the greens varied, then I decided tearing the bottom edge would work best so it would look like snow and give a bit more definition to each layer. I initially stuck them together with pritt stick and then put a strip of double sided tape from the top to the very bottom of the tree on both the left and the right to help keep them secure. My photo of our tree also fitted nicely when cropped onto this layout without looking out of place which it did when rectangle. I wanted our tree to be shown but I wanted the other photos to stand out more.

I then had problems finding paper to go with the torn paper tree. Colours that went well with it didnt with the photos, and most of my other green papers were too busy with it, so I decided on the pale green paper after backing the tree onto a deep red to make it pop a bit more and match with the red in the photos.

I then mounted the photos on dark green & then red to bring all the colours together.
I stuck the tree down, and then the photos which I used sticky foam strips with to raise them, giving depth to the page and making them stand out more.

I'd already thought of "Oh Christmas Tree" so cut the letters roughly out (Papermania Alphamania card stock stickers) to check the layout. I did the same with the baubles (Anita Dimensions). Something was missing, I needed something to pull the blank patches in, so opted for eyelets. I chose greens, red and silver, again using the other colours on the page and played around a little with them before deciding on where they'd finally go and punching them on.I loosely placed the baubles on and stuck the letters down except for the ones above the baubles. I made a loop out of silver thread and put the knot end over one of the non-stuck letters, as if it was hanging off it. I then stuck the other end under a bauble and stuck both onto the page. I did this with the other 2 baubles and loose letters as well
(obligatory at an angle shot!)

I finished off by writing the journalling in red pen, and then silver over it, it reads:

"Last year I started a new tradition where Zack & Kai choose an ornament each Christmas. When they leave home they can take their tree ornaments with them, a box of memories to start their own tree.
This year Zack chose a diamondesque ornament and Kai chose the snowman.
I decorated the tree and then Zack & Kai put their own ornaments on"

Having done this layout I think this Christmas I will take a photo of each of the childrens ornaments and record with them why they chose them, so that when they leave home and take them with them I will have a record of them, plus it'll be easier to sort out whose is whose with no arguments :)

Burlesque Shoes

I love clothing thats a little bit unique, and the same goes for shoes. The easiest way to get something totally unique is to make it yourself! Or at least alter it.

In the autumn I got an idea of making a corset style, burlesque-esque shoe in black and red, but it wasnt until closer to Christmas that I raided my Mums unwanted shoes, for something to alter and found these......

Just the shape of shoe I wanted! No toes poking out (they look awful with 1950's style tights), a nice heel, and a single high strap.

I covered as much of the black leather as I could in newspaper and masking tape, keeping the heel free. I then spray painted it red, it took a few coats.

After this was dry I removed the paper and tape, and went down either side of the back seam with my cropodile putting in 3 eyelets on each side. I took some suede cord and criss crossed it through the eyelets and tied a bow.

The final result......

......my new going out shoes.

I have lots of different ideas for altering shoes so your bound to see more here.

I need to find something to cover the heels in that doesnt scrape off like the spray paint, they are ok for everyday wear but if they catch against some metal that would normally just scratch the heel slightly they show the black underneath. Next time I may try lightly sanding it to give it something to hold onto, anyone know of any products that might work?

Alien Card

This is an extremely simple card I made for my brothers birthday (thats my older brother, we're both rather childish at times :)

My little sister collects little bits of interesting packaging for me, such as the gold holographic card you can see. I stuck onto this gold card a sticker of an Alien (bought in a pack from poundland) and cut a rectangle shape around it. I then used my corner punch to curve the corners. I did the same with the Happy Birthday sticker (free from a magazine ages ago).

I finished off by sticking both down onto the front of the card.

Quick, simple and cost effective, but still made with love :)

Do you collect interesting bits of packaging for crafting? Or do you collect more unusual items you find?

Ribbon Weaved Book Cover

Isn't this beautiful! Carmen over on Whoopidoo...ings made this for a crafty ribbons challenge.

The moment I saw it I knew (& told her) that I wanted to try something similar. It reminds me of padded, fabric covered books and think it would make any book look so very special.

To verify or not verify, that is the question.

I asked last month at the end of this post what you liked/disliked on blogs, and the main thing that kept re-occurring was word verification. People really dislike it, myself included. Its meant to stop "bots" posting on your blog but it can also stop others posting comments as well. If you make people jump through hoops, even one or two some of them will get fed up & give up, & you lose a valuable comment. (all comments are valuable, its great to have feedback and shows you what is & is not working on your blog).


So have a lil think, do you need word verification on your blog? I have all comments emailed to me automatically, and on average check my email twice a day at least. Any spam that might get posted can then be deleted. I have only ever received four spam messages, and thats in about a year, 3 of those were before I removed word verification so it doesnt seem to be a preventative, more of an annoyance.


Today I will show you how to turn word verification off, as well as how to have comments emailed to you. Its very simple


Go to your Dashboard and select "Settings", then "Comments"

Close to the bottom of the page it says "show word verification for comments, yes, no"
Choose the one you want to do.

At the very bottom of this page it says "comment notification email", if you want to receive an email every time you get a comment then fill your email address in here

I hope this helps someone, or at least makes you think :)

Vegetable Cobbler

I tried baking Debbies Vegetable cobbler over at Country Heart and Home (ingredients here)

I followed Debbies tips from her own experience & added a little bit of parmasan to the cheese to give a bit extra flavour. I was still a little worried about it as my lot arent big veg eaters unless its raw and in sticks to dunk.
I loved this recipe, I am a big veggie eater and this was delicious. The topping added a different texture and was nice to dunk in the juices at the end.

My youngest (almost 3) loved the topping but didnt like the veg.

My eldest (11) ate about half of it but found it rather bland

My OH turned his nose up at it before he'd even tasted it purely because it was healthy & had no meat in it so from the start there was no hope of him liking it.

So unfortunately this didnt go down well at all, so I may make it on other occassions, divide into seperate portions and freeze for those times that they want something I'm not keen on.

Mothers Day cards

If your looking at this Mum or Dawn, go away until you've actually received & opened the cards ;)

I was having a quick look over the craft magazines a couple of weeks ago and spotted one with a waterfall card kit freebie. I hadnt tried waterfall cards before and thought this would be a simple way to try one.

The cards were Mothers Days card so I thought woohoo, 3 birds, 1 stone, fab!!!

I made up the card as instructed....

...& though "pretty" it just whispered "yawnsville" to me, it couldn't even muster yelling it! It also was soooooooo not me (so maybe I do have a style, lol)

So I took the idea behind it and decided to see what I could do

.

I cut out the template out of blackboard card with my Craft Robo, this included the squares I matted the photos on, the main slider piece that everything is stuck onto, and the bar that goes across (I have it on GSD file if anyone wants it, just leave a message with your email addy). Blackboard card is great for both kids to play with, and also card making as its so black & shiney.
I chose a tall, white card and edged it first in pink ink, and then black. I also edged the photos and black squares in pink before fastening them together. I chose a couple of swirl stamps to stamp onto the card in pink and a little in black, and also the edge that you pull on the slider in pink.
I stuck the squares onto the slider and then fastened the bar down onto the card with 2 tiny pink brads that Tams had given me at the nec.
I wrote printed out Happy Mothers Day onto some pink paper, and inked its edges in black ink before sticking it on.
I finished it off with a bunch of paper roses and made sure the slider could go over them.

So these are what I'm giving as our Mothers Day cards this year. I'd also like to enter them in the Creative Craft World Mothers Day competition.

Feeding Frenzy

I wanted to put multiple pictures on a page, they didnt really tell a different story, or show a little more, but I had so many nice ones, so I opted for one large picture, to set the scene, and several smaller ones placed almost random like under it.

I wanted the page to have a frosty, random frenzy feel to it to compliment the snow in the photos and the frenzy of the sea gulls. Apologise for the bad lighting.

The background sheet was plain baby blue which I printed the journalling on and then stamped snowflakes on with clear ink & embossed it with holographic embossing powder to give it a twinkling effect.
I put a blue ribbon across the bottom, and then over lapping this slightly, and just above I put wavy Papermania felt ribbon I received off Ruth as part of our advent swap.

I also put the wider, papermania snowflake felt ribbon strip down the right side.

I used silver Thickers for the title, and added blue and silver snowflakes from Anita Dimensions, small snowflakes, at random over the page. I also added the a snowflake chipboard sticker from Dovecraft to add a little more depth.

Altered Mirror Frame

I picked up a mirror from poundland for my downstairs toilet. I liked the swirls on the frame but not the colour, and thought it a bit snoresville.
(why its on a black sack will become obvious soon, and ooo look, my lil fingers waving at you!!)

I took the mirror and back off and laid it onto a black sack to work on. I stuck on embellishments I had removed from another project that I'd lost interest in with a glue gun.

I then gave it a coat of spray paint (see, this is why there was a black sack behind it)

One coat was not enough, but better to do several thin coats and let it dry imbetween than to do a thick coat and have it run.
Do the coats from different angles to ensure an even coverage and that the paint gets to all the nooks & crannys

When dry replace the mirror and backing, hang up directly opposite the terminator head, goblets & other oddities, then take a photo! Oh boy I'm glad the way I hold a camera at this height hides my face :D

Note to self, make a curtain rail and curtain to hide the cleaning goods at the top, Kando hand wash and Andrex cocoa butter loo roll does not enhance the gothic feel! Maybe a coffin to keep them in? A coffin in the loo, now that would be novel!!!!

I actually had to stand on tippy toes to take this as my OH is about a foot taller than me and he wants to use this mirror as well, without bending over double like he has to for most of the mirrors in the house which are positioned for me & the kids.

A few close up details......

An old spider web earring, you may remember the other one was used on my scrapbook layout here.
Some little paper roses I twisted together along with leaves.
Another earring, this time a skeleton one, that moves quite nicely when touched
A little dancing skeleton charm.

I know a mirror like this is not to everyones taste, but others could make it using purely flowers and spraying say pink to go with a little girls room, or cars for a stereotypical boys room (my youngest son would probably want trains and sheep). Or even spray the frame first and then add the items such as flowers to give a variation of colour.... the items could even be sprayed first, and then stuck onto the frame after that had been sprayed .... can you hear my brain whirring as I type this, lol