On being slow...

I have not been doing much of my paper craft things. I am slowly building the ugliest stationery box you are ever likely to see, and doing some cross stitch.

If you have read my other blog you will know that I have bones pressing on my spinal cord, causing mental depression and slowing some of my other faculties as well - or maybe old age is catching up with them. ;-) . So I find it hard to concentrate for very long on anything. Walking is becoming harder and harder for me. I will be having an operation, probably within 3 months and another one a month later which should remove the bones from my spinal cord.

After that I should be able to gradually build up and begin my crafting in more earnest. So I beg your indulgence for a few months that will be spotty to say the least.

Updating

Gosh, I hadn't realised it was so long since I had updated this site. So sorry. I thought that you might enjoy seeing a few things - first up being my bigshot. In my last post I had said that I didn't really feel I could justify the expense of having one of these. Little realising at the time that just before Christmas Lincraft would have them so cheaply it would impossible not to get one. Normally these retail above the $150 mark and hover around $200 but this one was on special for $99. I thought it would just be the body itself and not really worth it, but it included all the folders and two acrylic blocks for the sandwiches that are made for cutting and embossing.

Because of the width of this machine, I can use my embossing folders which up until now have been pretty useless because of their width. Now I can use them on appropriately sized paper and cardstock. I have three dies now as well, a flower, some leaves and a corner swirl. The dies themselves are relatively expensive, but if I get enough use of them, can probaby justify the expense. Tim Holtz has some dies and embossing folders that are, what seem to me to be, reasonably priced and hopefully I can get some from a Queensland retailer in the next couple of months. No holding any breath.

This is a photo that I recently scrapbooked - she is my cousin's daughter. The wedding was last year and she posted pictures to Facebook. I had been wanting to do it for a while and finally got around. This is one of what will hopefully end up being ten pages. I want to make a 12" x 12" album in the same way I made the last one, but with white wedding dress fabric that I have. When those are finished I will post them here too.

I have some medical issues to be taken care of over the next few weeks so maybe not post again for a while. Once those are out of the way, I will show you some other things I have been doing and talk more about the above photograph.

Leaving final word up to Starbug

Talk to the butt ...

Mail ....

I got two nice pressies in the mail yesterday, well they were delivered by courier, but same difference. One was the punch I had ordered from Regal Craft and the other was the netbook computer. The netbook had been stood on by a nameless member of the family and the screen was wrecked. The daughter paid for it to be fixed, and there it was. Pretty good for the repairers concerned. And it works. I guess for how much they charged, it should, still you do want to know.

It is grandson2's during the after school times, but mine during school time. lol. It has a webcam. Mostly it moves around and is portable. We have a wireless network which we are still ironing the kinks out of, but it is getting there.

The punch is a 1 1/4" square, no dramas, but will help for my card making, scramping and other media arts. Which is why I posted this here, rather than my main blog, as I am blogging some politics there are the moment. This is my happy place. lol.

Excited ....

After my recent adhesive disappointments, I have had to rethink my entire adhesive way of doing things. Some are not pleasant, and I will find a way to bulk order permanent tape for the mini Sticker machine.

I have my sewing machine back from servicing, but haven't used it yet. I have some new fat quarters to make some goodies with so all that is for the next couple of weeks. I'm going to have to clear some space to set up the machine anyhow. But you knew that already didn't you ....

The second punch that I wanted, a 1.5 inch square, I have ordered from the Internet from an Aussie company. It should be here any day now. That will be fun, something in the snail mail other than bills. lol.

But I have ordered me some new rubber as well. And some books from Amazon. Two of them are crafting books, well more the sewing side of things, one being drafting for childrens' clothing which I love doing and want to get back into. The other is a millinery book using techniques from the 1920's. Now that should be very interesting. I have not done much millinery, as I am self taught, as in most things, but I love the idea of hats, especially in Summer when it is sunny and a bit of shade over the face is a good thing. I'll keep you "posted" as I receive them.

Oh yeah ....

Disappointed ...

Well, off I went with the daughter and two grandsons to MacArthur Square, Campbelltown. They say that from Big W to the Food Court at the other end is one kilometer exactly. I don't know how true this is, but when so many people say it there has to be some element of truth. It feels about that distance, except when you are tired or busting ...

I had hoped to be able to purchase two punches and refills for my Xyron sticker machines - in permanent stick (as oppossed to repositionable). In the past Big W has been a reliable and less expensive venue to purchase these items. Only to be disappointed. Their scrapbook aisle has gone from three down to part of one. I checked the whole stationery section, only to find nothing of what I was looking for.

So the next choice, Lincraft, is right down the opposite end of the building. I haven't been the best with an enlarged colon (waiting to see specialist) and the pressure makes me walk funny. The thought of walking an entire kilometer was pretty daunting. So I grabbed a trolley to lean on and made my way to some personal purchases in Best and Less, trust me, when you are a large odd shape and size, B&L are the best at good prices.

Finally after about half an hour, I made it to Lincraft. Surely, they would have everything I needed. I found one of the punches I required, and while they did have refills for the Xyron machines, they only had repositionable. I have about two each of repositionable already.

I sat down and ate some food, had a drink and a chat with the daughter. She and the boys loaded up my trolley with their goodies. My only other recourse would have to be Eckersleys.

The lift with a trolley is a nightmare. Glad I don't have kids in pushers anymore. But Eckersleys is one of my favourite shops for buying unusual craft supplies. They are pretty well my stalwarts for everything - but a tad (well more than a tad really) expensive. Still, I had the money and the desperation in I went. WTF? Where is everything? You have so got to be kidding me. Not a bleeding sausage. Whoever decided to overhaul their paper craft section must have been on drugs or something. Well, that is the mood I am in just now on how I feel about it all. No second punch, so I have ordered it off the internet. Not one of the refills I wanted - even in repositionable.

Luckily Spotlight have a sale on at the moment, and I have to go to the Spotlight Mall tomorrow to get my sewing machine from being serviced. Please let Spotlight have the refills. Is it really too much to ask?

The making of an album ...

Earlier this year, my elderly father moved from Adelaide to Canberra, to be nearer to family. He has the family albums, so my Aunt, who remains in Adelaide did not have access to them any longer. As part of my "therapy" to overcome the major depression I had, my psychologist suggested that I take up a few projects. So I thought an album for my Aunt with pictures of my self, my two sisters and our respective families and grandchildren would be nice for her.

Above is the Cover of the album I made for her. I made if from a single fat quarter of fabric as the album is for 22cm x 22cm (8" x 8") pages. It is not overly large. The flower was originally a white fabric flower which I have coloured using my Versacolour mini and the red spots using Red Stazon after the yellow ink has dried.

I used a grommet (eyelet) in one corner (with my u-beaut cropadile) and threaded through for the tags. I like the effect without it being over arty farty.

For the inside cover I have used a neutral cardstock, bookmaker's glue and all on a base of archival quality chipboard.

This is the side view to show you how 43 pages of scramping look. It took almost six weeks to complete. I have used "Wonder under" on the spine and ironed it to a same size piece of calico. This will give it expansion and make it last so much longer than a cardstock or paper one if you purchased a commercial album this size.

I will share some of the photos from the album to give you a feel for how the work was done and some of the detail that has gone into each page and it's opposite journal page.

ARTIST TRADING CARD:

This is the page of The Daughter and Grandsons 1 & 2. I wanted a sort of ATC feel to it. I printed off Lorum Ipsum in fancy but very tiny font, then applied four shades of brown ink around the edges with the Versacolor ink minis and then a final hop around with the black one. I have used a yin yang stamp for the circular drops attached to brown ribbon. The Eiffel tower was stamped and embossed. I cut round the top of the tower to slot in the photo behind it.

A few other stamps, were used to add a bit of abstract feel to it. I printed off the words onto some scrap cardstock and ran them through the Xyron sticker machine. There are a row of gold brads down the RH corner and along the bottom which were cut off in the photo.

The page opposite this one is rather a scaled down version, and instead of the picture I have journalled about the photograph and the people in it.

LIZARD LOVE:

Grandson2 loves lizards, so it was only natural I did a page that had lizards on it. But putting it into perspective with the picture wasn't all that easy. This photograph makes it look as though there are several kinds of lavender but in fact the matt stock is bright pink - his favourite colour at the moment (don't ask - he wont say). Unlike most of the other pages for the journalling where I have made them just either the same as each other or reflection of each other, I have made this one a continuation picture.

I tore a sheet of printer paper to make the shape of the creek for the lizards, and using my Versacolor mini stamp pads applied various greens, then blues and brown and green again for the banks and creek. I then used blender pens (SU!) to blend the colours. I stamped on the dragonflies. Then used the white gel pen for the waves on the water. I used the thin end of double brush marker pens to make the grass. for the weeds I used a skinny plant stamp.

The trees in the back ground were stamped in green, then used a maroon pen to colour the trunks and branches. The lizards I had downloaded onto cardstock several years ago. I just cut them out and using foam dots to raise them made them look like they were drinking at the stream.

Below is a closer look at each side of the picture.

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

This last page is for my Arabian mare, Stephanique. She is a dear old horse and I wanted somthing fitting for "the Queen of Sheba" (lol).

I used a background egyptian themed stamp I have had for a few years with Versamark. I stamped the versamark onto the page, then sprinkled clear embossing powder over it. Tapped it off and heat embossed it. I had to use the stamp four times around the page to cover it.

I then used the Versamark again for the Eye of Ra and the Ankh, then sprinkled on some hologram gold embossing powder. When heated, the hologram gold is really sparkly and looks like real gold. The three little date palms were stamped in back ink and clear powder used on them. One didn't take so well so I fixed it with a black marker. Shhh ...

So the entire album has gone along in this manner, using colours from the phot0graphs. Stamps and use of brads, stick on crystals, punches and so forth.

My Aunt was pretty happy with the album, so that made me extremely happy.

Updates

Wow, almost a year since I was here. Alot has happened since then, but the main news is that the studio will be opening in about two weeks. We have done so much to it to make it ready. There are still bits and pieces still to be done - it will probably be an ongoing project for quite a while.

I have been doing some art, but at the moment I have been dedicating much time to scanning and cataloguing some very old photographs from my family. Some of these are over 150 years old and there is even an old tin type print which is, to me, most valuable of all.

The garden has been neglected almost to the point of non existence, but that is being recified over the next few days. It should be quite pretty if you come to visit.

I have joined the ranks of Stampin'Up demonstrators, but mostly as a hobbyist as I like to use other stamps and inks in my work. However, should you find yourself needing any Stampin'Up products feel free to PM me through my e-mail in my profile. I will put up photos very soon and update this blog as frequently as I can. So hope to see you soon ...