A Blank Book to A Frame

As predicted, I haven't had a lot of time to craft and play this month. However, it hasn't stopped me from loosening the strings around my purse and spending a little online. One of my purchases was the blank book covers by Neelz Expressions. I saw these at the Stitches show on the Tando stand and there and then, knew I had to have them.

So when they hit the stores at the beginning of the month, I popped both the Ancient & Squared Off versions in my basket. So, behind the scenes here, whenever I had a few minutes, I'd be dabbling away with the Ancient book kit.

And though it doesn't look it, in the final cut, there was a heck of a lot of time put into it. The painting of the edges, the cutting out of the paper & the sanding of all those many, many curves. It took quite some patience on my part. But it was worth it.

However, as much as I love the design and it's official purpose as book covers, I had the urge instead, to create a frame out of it.

So with the help of my newest purchase of Spellbinders Elegant Card Maker Labels 4 Die, I created a simple, elegant frame design on the inside.

And there you have it. I may not have been posting here very often but I have been keeping my hand in with creating and crafting. Not sure what I'd do if I wasn't cutting paper up of an evening.

Pxx

Altoid Tin Challenge

The local craft stamping group I attend on a monthly basis, set us a creative challenge at our last meeting. To alter an altoid tin. Each of us was furnished with an empty tin and told to take it home and transform it.  Well it has sat on my desk, daring me to make something of it for the last few weeks and suddenly I realise that the next get together is looming. So with paints, gesso, paper and fabric in hand, I set about it's alteration.

I began by painting it with a thin layer of white gesso, to give the surface a key for painting onto. I then mixed a tiny amount of blue acrylic paint into a big dollop of white and brushed the outside in two coats. When dry, I took Ranger's White Opal Liquid Pearls, and smeared the surface with a thin application, using  my finger. This gave it a shimmering, almost metallic appearance. I glued paper twine around the lid and cut a patch of fabric to glue to the top. I frayed the edges of the fabric and adhered it using Ranger's Glue N' Seal. I used a Spellbinders heart die to cut out a shape from mulberry paper and cut out words from an old charity-shop book I have in my stash. I adhered everything with the Glue N' Seal before coating the surface of the tin with a thin layer of Glue N' Seal. It does just what it says on the tin :) Finally I dotted the edge with liquid pearls.

Inside the tin, I cut out a patch of linen fabric to line the bottom. I added a sprinkling of small buttons and a shell to accompany a miniature handmade book.

The book was made from the smallest die in Spellbinders Labels Number 17 set. I made a concertina book using ribbon as the binding. On the outside of the book, I drew a freehand heard using the liquid pearls. Inside, I decorated the pages with more drawn hearts which I coloured with acrylic paints.

And there you go, my entry for the altered altered tin challenge.

If you're wondering if the pictures have been installed on our walls over the weekend, fear not, they are still gathering dust in the corner. So did baking win over? Nope. We had an idle weekend, interspersed with trips to the shops for essential food supplies, a spot of gardening, a couple of countryside strolls and waiting on the cat hand and foot. We blinked and the weekend was over. Never mind, the next one has a bank holiday. We may actually do it then haha.

Px

Concertina Box (or is it a book?)

Remember I said there was an unfinished project from Sunday. Well here it is, done and dusted. In truth, all I managed to do on the day was create the structure. I left the decoration part until I was back home safely, ensconced in my craft room, surrounded by all my bits and bobs.

I first saw the concertina box/book idea at a stall at the Ally Pally Craft show this year. I asked the lady who was demoing, how she put it together and she said that it was easy to find on the internet. Well, it wasn't. I hadn't a clue which words to throw at google. And those I chose, didn't throw up the project I was after.

However, I persisted with ever more inventive search words and finally found this tutorial here.

I made this particular box with no specific purpose in mind, except to try it out and see how simple it was to assemble. I loved making altered books a few years ago, with niches inside but it takes a lot of work and bucket loads of sharp blades to cut them out. This seemed like a great way to achieve the same effect with less effort. And having now trialed it, I can confirm that yes it is indeed easy to make.

And now that I've acquainted myself with the technique, I can see myself making it in larger sizes in the future. And maybe, it'll be created the other way around, as in, I'll have the idea first, then I'll put it together.

Out Of Sorts

It's been a bit quiet on here due mostly to a bout of man-flu and feeling under the weather in recovering. I'm afraid I'm very typical of my gender and act as if I'm at death's door at the merest hint of a bug. However, I've woken up today feeling 90% there and itching to get on. There are lots of crafty challenges out in the blogging world and I fancy having a go at a few which hopefully means that this blog won't be as bare this week.

So to start the ball rolling, here's the beginning of a mini book I'm in the throes of. I've gessoed the pages, cut out and adhered the papers and decorated the front. Now all I need to do is fill it up with photos and journalling.

Before I do that, however, I need to find a spare afternoon and that's not going to be anytime soon. This coming weekend, for example, I'm hoping to head off to either Liverpool or Chatsworth (depending on weather) & then on Saturday I'm having a day in London (Ally Pally Craft Show, V&A for Annie Lennox) and then (cross fingers) I'm off to a farmers' market and vintage market on the Sunday.

The following weekends seem just as busy. I'm not complaining but it does tend to eat into my craft time lol. However, the one thing I do ensure I make plenty of time for is a pot of tea and I think it has brewed long enough. I'm off to enjoy. Pxx