Bead-O-Rama by Margaret Ann Moffat

I loooove embellishments of any description and I had so many bits of paper left over from projects, too big to throw away but what to do, what to do – oooooh make beads of course.

Paper beads started in the Victorian ladies households, where to pass the time they rolled bits of wallpaper, newspaper whatever they could find into beads often making room dividers with them.

Well I don’t need a room divider but I do adore beads in all their forms soooooo a crafting we will go and make some beads. There are loads of tutorials on these, this is just my wee example of some of them and what I then use to decorate them to brighten them up/make em fancy whatever yer wee heart and creative mind takes you.

Here are some types of beads you can make, there are a lot of them about so start easy and then play about.  I made templates from lightweight chipboard and keep that handy to be able to use up my scraps more prudently.
The longer the length the fatter the bead.  The More layers you use the fatter the bead.

 

Rectangle bead which you can stamp, colour, emboss, wrap things around, make as a dangle soooo many things to do with this one.  Any width and length.  This is such a versatile bead so many ways to use them.

Beadcaps, pearl strings and a dangle makes this a lovely embellishment for cards, mini albums, love the spine to have these.  You can make a wee note or put a letter on the bottom piece.

  wire wrapped rectangle bead

  Ribbon rolled up makes a lovely embellishment

  beads, bead caps and wire looped at end

Eclipse style bead

 

Top bead unadorned, bead on left paper was edged with a gold marker pen, the one on the right edged with a silver marker pen to add something different to the bead

Ornament for card, Christmas Tree

used as a drop embellishment on this tag

wire wrapped

Cone bead on the left is one layer and on the right two layers

Cone bead used as feet for matchbox set of drawers for my beads

Cone bead used to make an angel with beads, rondelle, wings bead, wire looped at top

Bicone cut

Bicone cut used to make a dangle on spine of mini album

I love making these Leandra Beads, regrettably I have used all mine up so had to borrow a picture from Paperartsy

will get some UTEE and make some to show you (I ran out doh)

Pencil cut, I edge the end pieces with gold marker pen

All that remains is to let your imagination and creativity take flight, if you like it then its lovely dont listen to others criticise its your work run with it.

Tutorial on how to make these beads can be found at heavenlymam.blogspot.com

Matchboxes, lots of matchboxes

There I was sitting at my desk and lo and behold I spied my matchbox die which had recently arrived from Scrapadabadoo.  Love this die, you gotta get it, seriously, so many things to use with it.  Had  an idea shabby chic dresser, and then of course my brain went nuts how about vintage dresser,or Halloween dresser, or Easter or Christmas or or or ooooh the possibilities are endless.



Ok shut down brain, refocus – Soiree is steampunk theme hmmmm I know Victorians loved mechanics of any description, they did a load of inventions at that point, oooh Frankenstein and his laboratory hmmmm methinks gauges, cogs and so on.


oooh you want to see pictures – Ok here they are lol

8 drawer dresser

Victoriana mechanics with a wee touch of Shelley’s Frankenstein with the wires

Back View 

Top of dresser

drawers

REQUIREMENTS

You will need 8 matchboxes and their sleeves – I used Sizzix Bigs Lg Matchbox Die
Alternatively make your own, there are lots of templates around for these now or buy some matchboxes to use.
Wire – I chose gold, you can use what ever colour you choose
2 large pearls or other beads which are similar (I used Darice 10mm Pearls)
Gilders paste (of course!!!! Cannot do without it)
Sizzix embossing folders, but you can use anything that has cogs, watches, mechanic type things will work to fit in with the steampunk theme.
Or you can use wooden cogs or paper with these types of ideas.
Spellbinders Sprightly Sprockets diecuts
Black cardstock
Black chipboard (raid your bits and pieces box for these)
Tim Holtz hitch fasteners  - delved into my prized coveted hoard – and decimated it lol

Tutorial can be found here

Have fun, would love to see your efforts, please dont be shy, we would love to see how everyone interprets things.

Upsy Downsy

Get the hankies and the tena lady/depends out you gonna need em lol.

Ok, my head was definitely not full of brains when I did this mini album.
Wanted to do Gwen's lovely album using a cracker box, so not able to get that size got me a cereal box about that size and chopped it up a la Gwen to make covers for my mini album - ok that went well.

Managed to find my last packet of paper bags (need to hop to scrapadabadoo for more) and hauled out 6 of them.  No problems.

Decided to make the accordian binding - ok so far so good.

Covered the album covers, the inside covers I didnt manage to meet in the middle, but thought the binding is going there so could do some tinkering lol.

Made a lovely wee cover for the spine using Martha Stewart punch for edges (scalloped teardrop)  - this is the start of the upsy downsy bits, attached the accordian binding to covers - sheesh attached it to  what I wanted for the front so needed to work out something the the spine - I know some lace cover up done yay.,

Cut the paper bags (now remember I only had 10 of the wee blighters so trying not to make mistakes) - no problems there or so I thought, more of that later.

Now to the major shenanigans, thought hows about doing a flip album, so put the directional paper on that way - fiddlesticks and bubblegum - I cannot do that all the tags will fall out grrrrrrrrrrr.

Ok notwithstanding, decided to carry on - well after all that work I might as well.

Attached the paper bags to the binding - er 6 wasnt it - then why do I have 8 fins aaaaaaaaargh.  Ok off the make another two bags.   Coffee and biccie later, calmed down, so attached these.  So far with me lol.

Now the tags, oh no, cut the paper bags too long cannot do ribbons on the tags and I really wanted that.  So had to do without - mumble grumble

Ok decorations - now trying not to put things on upsy downsy with these.
Oh no just saw that I attached the accordian binding a little too much to the top.  Here we go loopy loo again.

Ok some pics with the upsy downsy bits.
 I used K and Co Brenda Walton Celeste, had it for ages loving it so decided to use it here.

My cover, fussy cut the flower, upsy downsy bit - scissors slipped and I cut some of the leaves off accidentally ok I know I should not have lifted the scissors lol.

Made a lovely element, then saw I made some errors in it, so decided in the ethos of upsy downsy, used it, with some of the lace used on the spine along with Hero Art Blooming Flower die.  Was going to heat emboss it, but guess what, my embossing box went a walkies.  As for my heat gun - baaaaad gremlins.  Maybe I should have stopped here, but no, I decided I was gonna finish this sucker if it took aaaaaaaaaall night.

Ok, note to self - dont watch Kevin Sorbo in a film when doing wire wrapping lol.  (That man has muscles grins).

Ok, using another new die from my scrapa haul, the Prima 1 Eyelet Scallop Die, was supposed to use this as a wee pocket type thing to put a tag behind.  Ok upsy downsy again - stuck the whole blasted thing down.

I think you are getting the picture here, comedy of errors or what.

Cut out the saying, mounted it on chipboard - upsy downsy again - had stuck it to the back page, was meant for the front, of course but when I put the accordian binding on it went caddywompus lol.  So pulled it off and used it here.  Thrifty soul or not wanting to use the craft knife just now - take your pick.

Whoop whoop this went fine, at long last something went right - I think rofl.
Used the La La Land die and was going to put some spellbinders cherry blossom flowers on it - decided to do it later dont think I want to get my fingers caught in the big shot, well the way I am going that is a strong possibility hee hee.

 and other good un, well until I put the cherries on the right way - sorted!

Ok back page, had to do something to cover up the mess I made from taking out the chipboard element - aaaah a pocket, ooh and a double folded matt.
Ok cut the paper, measured twice.  Distracted by pigeon trying to get into window - gave me such a fright - ok, well I think you know what is going to happen next dont you lol.  Picked up the cardstock scored it at the point I measured - of course I didnt check again did I - folded it oh no - so decided, whatever,  and used it as a different foldover matt.

By this point decided to leave the spine well alone and used the lace and diamante with no other embellishment :)

The other pages were fine, at least as fine as it could be being an upsy downsy album

Ok, now fess up, who has done these things, or similar.  Would love to hear your stories.

Gwen’s Mini Album Challenge

The very talented Gwen Casteel did a lovely tag mini album where you can put your tags.  She then at the end gave a challenge for us to make one, so I did lol.
I used the Prima Finnabair Vintage Vanity paper pad, this is a lovely paperline which you can do a lot with, I have used it as a base for stencilling, gilding flake it (of course) etc.

Front Cover

I had made a tag for the Scrapadabadoo Crafts Facebook Challenge and thought this would be fab on the cover of a tag mini album.The tag base is from the bottom of my spray box (I put kitchen roll at the bottom to catch overspray) and I get lots of yummy stuff from it.  The one above i mostly Lindys Stamp Gang Cowaabunga Copper and My Mojito Green.  The flowers are the Heartfelt Creations  Sunkissed Fleur Precut Set and matching die.  I sprayed the flowers with Prima Color Bloom Cotton Candy, I had a little piece of ribbon from my stash and the postcard charm came from the charm packs Scrapadabadoo make up.

Inside cover and Page 1

For the matt I used  Prima  Crackle Stencil #564247 (I wish they would name their stencils !) with Walnut Stain distress ink.

Pages 2 and 3

Left side I used Tim Holtz Stencil Dots Fade and Frayed Burlap distress Ink , the one on the right is Prima Art Deco stencil #569471 with Lindys Stamp Gang Cowabunga Copper spray.

Pages 4 and 5

The tag on the left is another kitchen towel overspray this time mostly Prima Color Bloom Cotton Candy and  Soft Teal, the right hand is matted with the paperline.

Pages 5 and 6

Left matt is Tim Holz stencil Stripes with walnut stain distress ink and droplets of Lindys Stamp Gang Cowabunga Copper, and on the right is Balzer Designs Butterfly Bits, I had sprayed Prima Color Bloom Soft teal and there was a lot of spray left on the stencil so used it like a stamp on the matt.

Pages 6 and 7

Tag on the left is TCW Rebekah Meier Mini Ring Doily with Prima Color Bloom Cotton Candy well sprayed., on the right I used strips of the paperline to make an uppy downy belly band.
  
Page 8 and back cover


Tag I used the Butterfly Bits stencil and sprayed it with Prima Color Bloom Soft Teal.

Loving the color bloom sprays so yummy.

Spine dangle - I made a mini tag album to hang from the top.

 Inside you can put a secret message.  The covers are 1" square, the tags are about 3/4" x 3/4".  I cut a piece of patterned paper 1 1/4"" width x length as desired and scored 1/4" for turn up and every 1" to make pockets, you can seal the bottoms of the fold pieces to allow a miniature tag to be inserted in the top.

Thanks Gwen, had a blast making this.
 Visit Gwen's blog here for more lovely crafting ideas

Sizzling Summer Blog Hop

HIGH TEA

When I opened my box of Design Team goodies from Scrapadabadoo I was ecstatic when I pulled out the Bike.  Sooooo many ideas popped into my head and then thought of ye good olde days of great summers when you went on your bike and had a picnic, soooo High Tea was born lol.

As a youngster my friends and I would cycle the countryside with our jam jar of water and our 'pieces' (Scottish word for sandwiches lol) good memories of those times and as I love the early 1900s I then envisioned a 1900’s group of ladies and gents taking a spin on their bicycles and having a picnic at the end.  Of course dogs had to come for the exercise as well as they gently cycled down to the river edge.

To prime the bicyle I gesso’ed it and then painted it with a soft pink acrylic paint.

For the inside of the front wheel I cut a circle of cardstock and then used Lindy’s My Mojito Green spray for the back of the inside.

The Chair is  Cottage Cutz Wrought Iron Chairs

Flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts  Pale Pink 10mm Open Roses and Wild Orchid Crafts Cherry Blossoms.

Barrie from Scrapadabadoo.com obtained the Doll’s House Tea set for me, it fit just right for the concept I had in my head.

The base I covered with gorgeous lace from my stash and coloured it with Lindy’s Stamp Gang My Mojito Green.

The ribbon is Ribbon Leaves Olive Green with Wild Orchid Crafts Pale Pink 10mm Open Roses

The teacup and saucer is from the tea set.

Back wheel front and back

I used Wild Orchid Crafts Pale Pink 10mm Open Roses  and Wild Orchid Craft Gardenias on the wheel

The gorgeous wee pooch was from my stash.  Had to have a wee doggie in it as when I went on picnics as a child

the dogs were always peeking round the corner of anything/anybody they could find (thinking they were hiding) looking for a tasty bite of our food lol.

Wrapped Gorgeous lace from my stash around the large wheel and coloured it with Lindy's Cowabunga Copper Spray (my fav)

On any picnic I went on I always picked flowers of any description, I adore wild flowers and roses.  So had to add a wee basket of flowers for the trip home.

I used the DCWV Burlap Stack 6x6 to make a wee basket to fit on the bike.

I adore hats and of course in the 1900’s ladies always wore hats I found a wee dolls hat and decorated it with Wild Orchid Crafts Pale Pink 10mm Open Roses

The back of the front wheel needed decoration – of course - so had some of the coloured lace left over from the edge of the wheel and made a wee flower, use large stitches on one side of the lace, the one you wont see, and pull gently, easing the folds into what you want and tie off.  I used Wild Orchid Crafts Gardenia for the centre and my now trademark piece lol a Stickpin. 
 
     

The stickpin was made with crystal stick pin, three daisy bead spacers, one pink crystal bead and one pearl bead.  Glossy accents at base to keep them in one place.

You can get the makings of stickpins from Scrapadabadoo – they are yummy.

To enter the prize draw:

Leave a comment below

 collect the letters,
rearrange them

 email the answer to
Scrapadabadoo@comcast.net

Next on the journey is Jen
click here
for her altered bike and the next letter

If you have happened to join the hop at my blog,
go to Scrapadabadoo.blogspot.com to
start joining in the fun

have fun, good luck

Scrapadabadoo DT–Bragging Rights

Have you ever tried to carry photographs in your handbag (purse) and they get a bitt tatty.  Soooooo hows about a wee photo album for them. 
Love the size of this, takes 4 x 6” photos and you can then transport this around to your hearts content.  You can make more of these for future photos.
(shhh have a wee secret to tell you – dont tell anyone lol but a storage holder for these lovely albums   )


I used Prima Finnabair Vintage Vanity A4 paper along with cream cardstock.  Front and Back Flaps are held down with magnets, or you can use ribbon to keep it closed in your handbag (purse).

Front flap opened, a double fold tag is in the pocket.

Side Pocket Tags

I used the W R Memory Keepers Thumb Notch Punch to allow for easy removal of side tags

I adore this punch makes it easier than trying to work it out with a circle or oval punch.

Centre Page of pocket mini album

Back of photo album

Back of photo album opened

a double fold tag is in the pocket

Inka dinka’d the edges with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink, and also used Lifestyle Crafts Tab It Dies for the tabs on the side tags.

You can get the pattern here

Tryptych and Window in Time

Made two tags for scrapadabadoo ustream kickoff, loved making them.

TRYPTYCH
I fussy cut the pocket watch and used magnets under it to keep the front part closed.

Inside I made a pocket for two tags, used elements from A4 poad and 12 x 12 paper collection.

WINDOW IN TIME

I layered paper and distressed the edges.  Added a side loading pocket for a wee tag.
I attached two paper beads made from the paper line and some ribbon from my stash.
I then made a frame from air dry clay.I thn covered it with gildes paste (German Silver|) of course lol.

All items can be obtained from scrapadabadoo.com