I'm baaaack

Life went downhill very quickly, Mum became very ill which meant 24/7 care,  so moved home to look after her, was a blessed time to have with her before she passed away.   Now happy to say I am starting again.  started crafting again. woohoo.  Then sinus infection, followed by pneumonia followed by chest infection and then sinus infection - come on body give me a break lol 6 weeks sheesh.  Now feeling a great deal better thank you Lord. To help me keep better I also Joined Slimming World and my first weigh in is tonight Fingers crossed.

Loving Sheena Douglass and Jodie Johnstone (Tonic) both daft but fantastic creativity from both.   Sooo need to do something with their stuff.


Will try and blog at least weekly so I can keep up with my crafting lol.

New starts

Well life certainly has its ups and downs, so a new start is needed.  I got more into beading when looking after my Mum as it was the only thing I could do at her home.  Enjoying it very much, think I have found my craft lol.

Made a bracelet of pearls, fire polish beads and 15/0s sheesh those 15/0s are small!!!

Then made another bracelet, (design by Gina's creations) tweaked the design as I didnt like the frou frou she put around it.   Loved it so much I made a necklace, again tweaked it to omit the frou frou and made a more delicate chain part.

  

Found a brilliant beading tutor on Youtube (gotta love youtube) Jill Wiseman.  Made one of her designs (Daydreamer Rope) which initially started out, you guessed it, as a bracelet.  I love doing it so much I made it into a necklace.  Now need to do a bracelet, want to make it in light colours for summer.

Enjoying  working out the different patterns and stitches.  Doing Jill Wiseman's Bedazzled Bracelet.
First panel of Peyote no problems but the second panel I think it wanted to make me demented - I WON in the end.  Will put photo up when I have finished it

Glad to be back creating.  Have missed it.

Birds and Blooms

Hi lovely people,

haven't posted in ages, still crafting but not enough to put on my blog.  Trying to sort out 30 years worth of accumulation.  Its not easy, too many memories stop me, but I do craft along.

I had the Heartfelt Creations Birds and Blooms 12 x 12 paperpad and challenged myself can I make a mini album only using the paperpad.  Yay I did, here is how it looks.

A lovely lady on the Heartfelt Creations  FB did a video of making an envelope out of a 12 x 12 paper, she folded over both points to make an open side and a closed side.  Lightbulb time what if ....

So I folded the initial envelope as per her instructions but did not close over, I left the points on each side so I could have a top pocket, put 4 together to make a wee mini album.  Easy to make especially with the Heartfelt Creations paperpad.

Here are some of the envelopes and their tags.

 

 

FRONT COVER

Fussy cut the flowers, cut a couple of sections to add to the front.  Gloss Medium over it all, thought I had picked up the matt medium to attach the flowers but hey didnt so had to cover the lot so the overspill was hidden lol.

 

INSIDE FRONT COVER

Paper from the pad and a cut apart on the right hand side.  Didn't want to add too much as the paper was lovely.

 

ENVELOPES

took 12 x 12 folded, and some cut aparts to hold the flaps down with brads.

  

 

TAGS TOP LOADING

i used the front cover of the paperpad to give a lovely tag.  Waste not my Mum always said.

 

INSIDE TAGS

 

 

Had great fun doing this and it was a nice easy and quick mini.

New Year hopefully new organisation

I came across some doubles of craft items in my stash, not good cause the pennies could have bought something else lol.  So decided I need to take inventory.  I also made it sort of handbag size, well I have a large handbag lol.
So I can take it when I crafty shop.

I decided to make my own so for the first time I used Coptic Stitch to bind signatures together.

Oh boy have started and I think it will take a loooot longer than I thought.

So off on another project, ran out of the backing papers for the G45 Time to Flourish so tapping foot until it arrives sheesh I should have realised the 6x6 is limited so next time get two, well for this I wanted no needed more lol.  Will post when I have it finished.

So off to fill my Inventory Book toodles for now.
Wish me luck folks I am diving into my craft room!!!!!!!

Scrapadabadoo Express

The lovely ladies at Scrapadabadoo.com when they send out your crafting goodies always places a hand crafted, hand written card inside your order.   So what to do with them, I had them originally in a wee holder.
Hmmmmm still not happy, put them in a box, hmmmmm still not happy.
    Use them for a thankful/blessings/gratitude mini.  Yay.  Now need a place to keep them in, cause I have lots of them lol.  Used some of them in this mini so far.  So made a train (oopsy lost the wheels need to order more Carol lol)


The panels were made up of layers of Lindys Stamp Gang Sprays
Treasure Island Aqua
Antartica Maple Crimson
My Mojito Green
Rizzo’s Rowdy Red

O course trains have a name and this one is

The roof, Gilders Paste, naturally.
I also included a strip of chipboard covered with Bo Bunny Weekend Market paper and placed some heartfelt creation die flowers on the top.


End panels,

the lovely Carol whom I call the Crammer, she can stuff a box like no other.  She should be in the Guinness Book of Records lol

And the other side,

Some of us call the store the Mother Ship cause we can always find the answer there, or be directed to the right answer.

Side Panel – Barrie

The delightful caring Barrie is the Bloodhound, she can sniff out stuff more than anyone else I know.  She can often find it when others say no chance, no way.  And she is an animal lover, cats, dogs, birds

                

Side Panel – Carol

The lovely fun, caring Carol looooves her coffee and her garden.

Of course had to put Scrapa’s logo on both sides

  

The Mini Album
I used Bo Bunny Weekend Market Paper to cover the mini.
Decided not to chop the cards up, baaaaaad idea.  Wanted to keep the lovely messages inside oooooh

    sheesh these lightbulb moments hurt rofl. 
Make an insert
I placed a copy paper liner inside the cards, making sure the lovely notes inside from Carol and Barrie were not covered up, so I can read them as often as I want, but giving me space to write my thanks/blessings/gratitude.
I used magnets to close the cards and envelopes so they didn’t flap open (truth time – ran out of magnets so some are a bit flappy but that can be easily sorted)

I also used the envelopes as they are lovely in themselves so can make wee notes to go inside or memorabilia moments.

I used the black Tag Album and bookbinding rings to close as I want to add more pages as I go them.

This album is going to be all about my Mum, she is nearing the end of her life and I wanted to reflect on the good things she brought into my life – some I wanted, some I didn’t but I learned from.  So the front of the cover has a cutapart which I put onto chipboard (Gwen you have a lot to answer for with that lol) and it says Every Mile a Memory.  Also the card on the front stands out cause that is what my Mum was, she is a person much loved and stood out in a crowd.

I attached charms to the rings (A gingerbread man cause Christmas in our house was special, and a heart ,well of course, it had to go there.


 
 


Now I have another  idea (Weeeeeeendy stop infecting me rofl)  Wendy’s response ‘sure blame me’ yay thats what friends are for.
Now need a caboose cause Barrie’s bargains and Garage Sale needs a place to go.

Season of Change

Ecclesiastes 3:3
To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven

There are seasons in our lives that bless us, make us think, some are sorrowful, some are reflective, some which stretch us, some that see us moving in a different direction.
As one door closes another door opens.  Sometimes the journey to the next door requires time and patience.  That is where my journalling helps me and I needed something to put these things together.
Changes, for me mean journalling thoughts to help me.
So in this vein the Spiritus Album was born. 

(Please don’t be put off with the Christian theme I have included some positive thinking thoughts you can use for this album :)  )
the Paperline I used was the Prima Princess A4 paper pad.  This is lovely paper, suited the theme very well.
I covered the tags and extension binding with the papers first then went back to add bits and pieces.
As this is a journalling type of album I did not put a lot of embellishments on it as I tend to doodle as I journal making that my embellishment.   There are lovely embellishments in the Prima Princess line in the Scrapadabadoo store.  Nooooooo just saw the ATC pad, rats I would have used that for the album, ok need to get them and do the sequel to this.  I also find things along the way and I add them as I see fit so like to leave areas for that to make it more personal.  I do that a lot and it gets pretty decorated by the time I am finished. 
I used three pages as inserts, for the themes I used.  I have at least another three themes but want them in a separate album.  The three I used are Blessings, Hope and Prayer.  The others are Weary, Troubles/Fearful and Worry.  I have included them in the handout which I will add to the bottom of this blog.
I decided to go with 2” rings, but you could use ribbon or twine to keep the album together.  I sometimes want to take the page out so the rings suited me best.
I used the black tag album from Scrapadabadoo. 
 
I wanted to extend the tags so I can bind it and Ashliegh (scrapsbuttonsnbows)  had a great idea idea to extend it. 
Instrtuctions can be found here
 
The front cover
I dived into my stash, could I find my thickers, of course not, so found an ooooold spellbinders alphabet set that fitted, have some others but they were too big.  I used copper mirror card for the letters and came across a key (oooh I do love keys), the metal flower was a gift and popped a small rose in the middle.  And guess what, after applying the letters I found my thickers doh the usual in other words.  Those blessed gremlins!

Oooh did I tell you, I used gilding paste on the edges of the tags to give it a lovely finish like a bible edge lol.
Inside of front cover:
We all have a favourite verse/positive thought and for this album I decided to put my favourite verse with a wee extension, love this.  This has great meaning to me, so you can put something that means a great deal to you on this side.  Psalm 23 explained - I popped it onto chipboard so it would stand out.  Thanks Gwen (crafty lady) for this fab idea.

Blessings page
The next page can be what you decide, when I take the pages out I don’t always put them back in the order I had originally lol (too much like thinking – that hurts!!!)  So this one is Blessings.

I made a heading and popped in onto chipboard.  Well I do have a lot of bits of chipboard and needed to use them up, so its all Gwen’s fault you know lol.  She is such a lovely lady with great ideas.
  see what I mean lol.
I made a pocket out of patterned paper so I can place my verses/positive thoughts into to give me a starting point for reflection.


I cut a piece of patterned paper 4 1/2” x 3 1/4”, I scored at 1/4” on one long side and the two short sides and attached it to the tag.  
 
On the front of the pocket I put lines of a song on each page, for me worship and praise lifts me up and these came to me instantly.  Put your version on here, its amazing what singing a song can do for you no matter what kind.  Below that I added some verses as a starting point.
I cut out the verses and made them into little tags.  I loooooooooooove the WRMK Power Punch Euro Hook.  It lets me add ribbon if I want, but more importantly I love how it can be put onto a ring very easily when I want to change the verses around.  I put a little ribbon to keep the verses together.   That way I can change them round to suit my mood/situation.
On the back I made a folding pocket, I think it is called the Rose Pocket, saw this on utube but can I find the video, can I chookie birdie.

Rose Pocket instructions can be found here
I attached it to the tag using ribbon to hold it together.  I made journalling tags and used the WRMK Power Punch Euro Hook.  I didn’t put ribbon on these, as I found the lovely punch out area was fab for pulling the tags out.
 
 
The next page was Hope.
Same as before, made a pocket and tags to insert inside.  Song line and verses placed onto pocket.

back of the tag I did a cascade of #3 coin envelopes.  I do love cascades they give you great area for journalling, pictures and so on.  I used the patterned paper as hinges to make it look lovely.

Again I used some ribbon to keep it closed.  Added some lace at the bottom, the flowers on it reminded me of the verse ‘Faith as small as a mustard seed’ for prayer, beautiful things come from it.
I extended the flap of the coin envelope (3 3/4” by width of envelopes)  to give more journalling space.  I used the WRMK Power Punch Euro Hook for my tags, gives great purchase to get it out of the envelope without need a tag pull.

The next Page is Prayer.
I changed the front of this page when I found some lovely pictures on google so decided to go with that (I put in   The first picture the word prayer has words within it with what prayer means and I loved it so decided it was going to be my banner for this and the gorgeous wee bairn spoke of having childlike faith so went with that one.  Choose pictures that have meaning for you to personalise your album.

the back of this one

I took some large pockets from the Paper Accents Assorted pockets but they only had two of each size and I needed three so hauled out my Lifestyle Crafts Treat bag die and cranked one out for the middle.  I also used the Lifestyle Crafts Tab It die kit to use to attach the pockets to the tag.  These dies along with the Label It dies are my go to dies for such a lot, they are so versatile.  I also used magnets to keep the pockets closed.
I also decided when added the patterned paper I would use it as a pocket on the front to give me more space.  Also when I attached the middle pocket I glued it down so that I would have a pocket behind it as well.

I have always loved this picture with the boy and the dog, so had to use it lol.
Again I used tags and used the WRMK Power Punch Euro Hook.  Lol I think you are getting the message that I really love this tool.
Inside Back cover
I added a bible study leading up to Christmas.  Choose your own study/mediation/thoughts to help you.  Again I used chipboard to pop it up on the tag.  Of course some gilding paste had to go onto it lol.

For me the time with  Design Team has blessed me wonderfully.  I learned a great deal from a great bunch of gals.  I had to dust off thinking outside the box – that hurts lol but was such fun.
So as I leave the Design Team I wish them all the best, they are fab ladies that I am pleased to call friends.
I will never stop crafting er I bleed paper and glue lol. You can’t keep me down lol, I pop up everywhere.
So keep peeking into my blog
verses and some pictures in pdf document click here

Take One Challenge

Scrapadabadoo Crafts has bi weekly challenges and one of them was to make a card holder and cards.  Hmmmm me thought other things can go into it, so my mind went berserk, I mean it went … wild (better be nice lol).
The original challenge was to make a card pouch  (tutorial came from Splitcoaststampers) but I did my usual, outta the box stuff, change it around kinda thing lol.

First thought was Halloween, wee holders for sweeties for handing out.

trawled  the internet for some Halloween figures and then fussy cut them.  This one is  a Zombie with Zombie Repellent beneath them.

I used Distress Inks – Rusty Hinge, Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap and Black Soot.

The other side

same distress inks , vampire bat fussy cut and Tasty Bite underneath it.

Inside for sweets (candy)

Used Graphic 45 Eerie Tales paperpad.

A friend has a littlie who has allergies and is diabetic so sweets are out.  oooh what about a wee colouring book and crayons yeah, oooh birthday pressie as well.  Eerie Tales used for this one as well.

Fussy cut a section of this paper and attached it as a pop up, you cannot really see it on the photo but looks lovely in real life lol (well thats my opinion and I am sticking to it lol)

Inside

A wee colouring in book and some crayons.

For both of them I used a pop dot to close them, thinking kids are not going to wait to open them lol.

Okies ideas for Weddings, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, are going through my head

Ok Christmas one:

Distress Ink – Iced Spruce with Sheena Douglass Festive Embossing Folder,  and of course gilding wax.  (gotta have some gilding wax)

ok gonna stop here my brain is firing up, if I make any more I will show them lol.