Rainy days homestay

When it is too cold and rainy to go outside then indoors is the best place to stay.

The 12 x12 layout is of my niece, a grungy style to hide a boo-boo (spilt water on pictures is a no-no). The words on the layout are rubons and the heart stamp came from the UK stamp magazine - Craft Stamper. The scribbly stamp heart is Tim Holtz. The paper used in the layout is just a generic brand from the cheap stores. I also added a little bit of machine stitching.

Then there was thrifting and cleaning ornaments. The little girl on the windup toy bike still actually works. You wind her up via a small little pin on the side of the bike, place her on the floor, and she rides along on her bike. The toy belongs to dad.

After that it was time to sort through my fabric stash. I am making sorting through fabric to return to making crazy quilt blocks. Maybe this time I can make enough to build up a quilt.

Happy Mail

Lovely mail today to brighten up a cold and dreary day. These are swaps from the birdcage swap and the junk journal swap at Crafting Passionz.

The Junk Journal is from my partner Jude. Thank you Jude !

Thank you so much peeps, you all did a wonderful job with creating such beautiful items. Well done!

paper roses

I've been making rolled paper roses. To be honest I've never been succesful with these types of flowers, mine always ended up looking like a school room spit ball (don't ask me how I know about those). To color the rolled roses I used Tsukineko Dew Drops inks. Having the Ink Potion 9 blending solution is helpful when you are trying to blend Tuskineko inks like I did on these rolled roses. For each center I added a little pearl bead.

Eventually I made a card thinking one day I will use the rest of the roses. To make the card I used some left over lace. A chipboard piece from a collection called fundaments. I colored the piece with glittery gel pins. The brown dot paper is from a cheap dollar store collection with no name. The ruler sticker is from Grace Taylors Vintage paper collection. I added some flat back pearls and lastly some glittery black letters to spell out 'Hi'.

Then I wanted to do a Notebook cover, you know the type from your local cheap 'dollar' store, ours is Sam's Wharehouse, or Waynes World, or Crazy Clarks and they are more two - three dollars stores. The note books A4 in size came in a pack of three. Don't buy the ones with the plastic covers, trust me glue won't work. So I tore off the plastic covers and made a new chipboard one. The paper is from the great 12 x12 paper pads KaiserCraft now are selling. I used Antique rose collection to cover the front and insides of the note book. 

The bigger flowers are from swaps I was in at Crafting Passionsz. The blue one with blue lace, white satin and small blue beads is from Faith. The one with the hot pink and cream lace with pale bluish green beads is by Shar. The stick pin comes from Paula. The flower with the music note paper is one I made. The top note die is from Faith who used it for her flowers, I just recycled it adding new paper from kaisercraft and a kaisercraft rub on with Memories on it. The bling is from Sam's Wharehouse, which was a long strip I cut up, and the punch for the butterflys are also from the same shop. The punch and bling are a brand called Sullivan's company (I think).  The little silver corner stickers are from a purchase from a while back, not sure of the company name but the stickers came from another cheap store.

The note book used up all the rolled roses and it uses up I am roses paper flowers too.

Not sure what I am going to do with the note book, but it sure was fun making it all pretty.

Pearls slipping off a string

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“I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.” - LM. Montgomery.

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Winter is preparing to set in and days become colder. Time well spent indoors foraging through thrifted treasures - like these plates. They are old, the back declares they are Minton and are 'Essex Birds'. You don't need to know the makers name to know they are old, you can tell by the feel and the sound of the plate if you tap it.  They are dirty. And some broken. But who could say no to these handsome supper plates? Not me or my mum. We brought them home, cleaned them up and use them for serving up a meal.

When the sun is out enough to warm a bit, there's weeding to be done. Especially if you are 'baby' sitting some ele's garden. Truth be told I rather think the weeds are prettier.

And the flu gone, there is slow crafting. The tag is from Tim Holtz tag die. The dress form is from My favourite things sewing room stamp and die set. The stamp saying is Tim holtz. I dressed the dress form in a crochet skirt with pearls. Added some stick pins. There are some wings in the back ground and the heart stamp is a freebie from Craft Stamper UK magazine.  Flowers were added, along with some bling, the final touch was when I highlighted some of the very faint dots on the paper with a white gel pen.

Winter cold

After a serious flu bout it is nice to find energy for the things I love to do. Finding time to spend out doors, even though it is cold, and sorting through stash, while dreaming of things to make. It makes up for feeling so poorly for so long.