Looking for bargains at a bootfair aint always easy!!!!

Lets start with a layout that i made last night-in between watching britians got talent- i have had this idea in my head for awhile and really enjoyed making up the layout. I have been more adventurous these days and have actually been scrapping myself. I have also had the idea to do a album based on this patteren paper with lists of tens, ten books i have read, ten films i love,ten people that have inspired me, you get the idea right? I am thinking whether to do it 12 x 12 or smaller, only ideas at the mo, also what to call it?? Ten things!! Things always come in tens!! Top ten!! I will have to think more but i have written down my ideas in my journal, which i have made myself do lately as i forget ideas so quickly.
Well today i was up and in the shower at 7.00 am, madness i know but i can't lay in bed once i have woken up- i get a headache if i do this- so up and at em!!
We were at the first bootfair by 9.ooam and it was really big and really busy, too busy. You could hardly walk down the aisles without either bumping into someone, or waiting to get past people, which may i add that quite a few people did not feel the need to do this, they just pushed past or jumped infront of you, to which i loudly say " excuse me works wonders you know"!!
It was so busy it put me off looking for any nice things to go in my craft room, i am on the look out for an object that i cannot remember the name of, i have seen it on lots of american blogs lately with people using them to display cards on them, they are small round metal, with spikes pointing upwards, its flat on the bottom. I am not sure what it is called but i wonder if anyone out there knows- any help please!!!
We left that bootfair with two strawberry plants, sorry forgot to take pic of them.
Well next we went to another smaller bootfair, the photo of my goodies is last,So i will show you these first, i saw this love heart bird and thought it would look cute in my craft room, £2.99

Next onto poundland for some cheap goodies, shaped post it notes and heart shaped blings, one pound each you can't go wrong. I thought the post its would look quite cute when doodled around the edge.

Now when i saw these felt stickers i nearly whoop whooped for joy right there in the shop, whilst regaining my self i quickly stashed 3 packets into my basket, mmmmmm look good with lots of ranges of pattern paper thats out at the moment.

Now this little lot cost me the almighty price of ......wait for it...............£1.40. Even i can't believe it, well i can really but you know what i mean!!!

The book is a Victoria Plum Annual which i bought to rip out the pictures to use on scrapbook pages....= 20p

The owl trivets set of four i got for ...50p, i have a fondness ( some may say obsession ) for owls, mostly cute ones and these will go superbly with my large one that is the same, see a full set now.

The two rolls of ribbon, one has birds on it, the other has leaves i got for .........30p.

The pink bowl which i thought looked cute i got for .....20p.

The butterfly small pictures, which i thought were old cards from cigarette boxes are actually transfers, no matter they are gonna look so gorge on cards and layouts, i love them, and i got these beauties, all 66 of them for...............20p.

Well i am so glad we went to the smaller bootfair too, i think i will make that one my first port of call next time. I have had a good day at the bootfairs. I don't go to them to hunt out anything i just love to see what people are getting rid of and if i see something i like i will pay what the people are asking for that item. I think it is a good way of recycling, emptying out your loft or garage and making a bit of money, and also for getting a few bargains.

Well i will be off to my craft room now to have a play with my new and old stash,

tfl

katharine

It's Saturday so that must mean shopping...right?

Firstly a visit to my local scrapbook shop, i haven't been there in a couple of weeks and was pleasantly surprised to see some new things that i just happened to buy...oh goodness how did that happen. Some lovely papers,mmmm kraft one of my faves at the mo. I can see some cards being made with these and a layout .

Now then when i was this set of papers from Graffic 45 i fell in lurve!! I can see a mini album being made with these papers. I have noticed that cherries are a bit of a fave at the mo on other papers, reminds self to order some october afternoon, so i bought these .

When i saw the cherry sizzix die reduced to £1.99 i had to buy it to go with my papers and then saw a set of stamps , also with a cherry in for £2.35 i bagged them too. I am loving go create dies too, even though you only get 4 dies compared to the spellbinders sets where you get 6 they are only £12.99, and are great for what i want to do with them. I got the set of ovals and scalloped ovals.

Now this is what i am really excited about, the fact that i managed to get the cutting plates and spacer for the border dies in my lss, and then spotted the border dies. Well hello to you, you little pretties, you are coming home with me.They are lovely and i am going to go and play with these very soon.I also got an alphabet die to, i am very surprised that you get a whole alphs on one of these dies and am looking forward to using it today. These dies are £11.73 and in my eyes thats good.

Next i went into Hythe, a little town near the sea, also where i work, and had a look around the second hand shops. I found this bowl and paid £2.50 for it, i can see it in my craft room holding something pretty, like ribbons etc.

I also got this lazy susan, i have one of these already in my craft room with my amm tote on it with all my tools in, i bought this one so i can have another bag of tools/ stash on a turntable. £2.00= bargain.

BARGAIN ALERT.......
Now these are my real bargain of the day, i have had my eye out for some of these for awhile-i have a craft project in mind -i couldn't see any anywhere, until today. I went into a new second hand shop and saw these on sale for the almighty price of............................................75P. Well i did not hang about and paid for them quick smart. I used to do embroidery so know how expensive these can be.
Well that's all for now, i may post again later with any cards or layouts i do.

tfl

katharine

Border punches .......oh how i love thee.

This is the state of my desk after an afternoon in my craft room making cards, i have had a lovely time getting inspiration from my new cards trends mag and having a play with my lovely new stash.

I worked out how to make shaped cards, with my go create dies, i folded a card and then put it over the edge of the die and ran it through the cuttlebug, voila a shaped card.....i am so pleased with them i have cut out quite a few of them.

Here's a few i made today, i used a flower gem that is a magnet, can't remember where i got these from, i found them in a drawer today, i like the effect though.

I am liking this one quite alot, i am loving the colours.I doodled stitches around the edge of the frame, never really done this before and liked it.

I made two of these, this is very nearly the same as the one in card trends, but obviously different stash, i love this new mag.I used my lushly lush lush swiss dots embossing folder to emboss the frame,which i cut out using my new spellbinders dies...frames 4, which by the way I LOVE,I am thinking of subbing to this mag, but not quite sure yet, will have to unsubscribe to others first.

Oh how i love these little beuties, oh i am in love with border punches, so so nice.I love the effects you can get with them, and borders have never looked so good.

I am still debating what to make for the staff in my class, i still think a notebook will be the best option, but i am open to new ideas, but am going to have to make one to see if i like the idea, so thats what i am off to do in a bit, before BGT is on tv tonight, i am so loving this show, i can't wait to see Aiden the little dancer, he's on tonight so looking forward to that.

tfl

katharine

It's one thing after another...............................

A close up of the frame, i managed to get the distressed look after painting it by literally kicking it around my garden, i have gravel in my garden so it didn't take long to achieve this affect.

The finished frame. love it, love it.

These are the cards i made for a friend that i work with that celebrated her fiftyieth birthday.

Well by that title i mean my health, which at the moment seems to be being affected by anything that is going, i now have an eye infection. Its red, bloodshot, sore and weeping, like all the time.It started on saturday after i had been out stash shoping ( not shopping again i hear you cry) yes- my new go-to-shop is Pickleberry Papercrafts. Anyway, eye is sore and i can't get to the dr until at least Tuesday or Wednesday, i really don't want to have to go to the walk in centre at the hospital, but if it gets worse that's where i'll be.....................................

Onto better things, whilst at Pickleberry i was hoping to ask Kate a few questions about how Jane Dean made her notice board, i had the same frame and was going to use it for another project but got swayed to the idea of Jane's frame, anyway i was just about to ask Kate and Jane walked into the shop, i didn't realise that Jane was in her studio. I went into Jane's studio-again- and asked her a few questions about the frame, what she used for the backing, how she fixed the brads through the wadding, how many layers of wadding she used, and Jane was so helpfull, even to the point of giving me some of the material she used in her frame- i had a different material but this is so perfect, and Jane also gave me a pot of the paint she used to paint the frame, so i was amazingly happy and can't thank Jane enough- thankyou Jane- i will email her a picture of said frame. So i came home and began painting, in between painting coats of paint i attached the wadding to the backing- i used cardboard and six layers of wadding. I then attached the braid into place, i only had 5 metres so i had to pace it out a bit more to make sure i had enough.i couldn't fix it into place with brads- this is where i could have given up on the project and walked away from it, but instead i had a cup of tea and left it for awile.I went back to it a bit later, and whilst sitting amongst the remnants of braid etc, i had an idea using buttons. I secured the button with embroidery thread and pushed it through to the back of the frame, then secured it with gaffa tape. I used loads of gaffa tape to secure the backing of this frame.

Well i love how the finished frame looks and now have got to just decide where to put it, in my craft room or kitchen, it will probably go in my craft room as i love it so much, thanks to Jane Dean for the inspiration, material and paint.

On another note i made a book for a friend- see post below- called she, here are a few pics, and she loved it, and phoned me after i had to leave it in her classroom, to say she loved it and it made her cry- in a good way, i love to make things for people and love it more so when they like or love what they receive.

have internet connection ---- will blog

Well we have been having problems with our internet connection. We have not been able to connect for seven days, and the only answer we could get was, there is a problem on the line.
Well today, we are connected- for now- it feels strange not blogging. I have missed being able to check out other blogs too, and see what everyone else in the crafting world has been up to.
I have made a few projects too, as not been able to blog, also i have tonsilitus at the moment which my dr thinks will turn into pharenjitus- spelling mistake insert here- so i am on antibiotics and feel pretty rubbish most of the time. I took the day off work today as i felt so bad, and to get to the drs.
On a crafty note i have made a book for a friend that is not having a good time at the moment, i will post pics soon, its based on a book made by voodoo vixen who was in turn inspired by a lady called shaulean over on uks,called she.

Well thats all for now, i am going to say bye before my internet crashes,lol.
tfl
katharine

A crafty space ...........

This is my craft room, my humble place for me to get away and craft in.I love it, it may only be half a room- we put up a partition wall to make two smaller rooms, obviuosly my son got the bigger half ( gggrrrrr ) and i got the smaller half to have as my craft room. My son has Dyspraxia and was suffering quite badly with the large soace in his bedroom as he was getting older and his room becoming emptyier-so to speak-as he outgrew his toys. So we made the decision to make two rooms. Everyone happy. Well i thought i would post pictures of my room.The first pic is from the hallway looking into my room.

This pic shows the far end wall, the window is on this wall, half hidden by my expedit, but it is not pushed up against the window, so i do get some light.

This pic shows some new bargains i bought at the weekend, the ikea helman filing cabinet and on top of it is a large wooden plate stand i got from a shop called Merchant Chandler fot £2.00. The small cream coloured basket is an old milk bottle basket- i think- i got from a second hand shop for the amazing price of 50p. I am loving vintage at the mo and am on the hunt for more baskets etc like this, so can be seen lately rummaging through boxes at bootfairs............

This is the helman ikea filing cabinet, these cost £20 each all but a penny, and i love them. I now have three in my craft room. This is the latest addition and i have arranged my stash so that this is now my card making station, with each drawer filled with different supplies, - top drawer c6 envelopes, then dl envelopes,then cello bags for made cards to go in -i have loads of these, was given them by a neighbour who once made and sold cards but gave it up, i sell some cards so come in usefull, then card packs,then white a4 card,then boxes of card-coloured and white from the paper mill shop, love their colour ranges of card.

This shows the top two shelves in my room above my desk-which runs along the left wall,i have suitcases from a shop called b-wise on this shelf, these hold ink pads mainly, acrilic blocks, and after a clear out at the weekend a few are empty, awaiting new stash........

These shelves are below the ones in the pic above, these are my ribbon jars and button jars.I use so much more ribbon now i can see it, i changed to these way of storing them last year and i love seeing my stash.And it looks pretty too.

These shelves are also from ikea-last years bargain of one pound each- they hold small jars-ikea-of flowers, wooden stamps, 7-gypsies stamps. My pink barbie radio i bought from a bootfair for 50p and its the best radio i have had for a long time, its still got the same batteries in it when i bought it two years ago. Also a black owl pot stand- so cute- bootfair bargain again

This is on top of my expedit-4x4 cube- this is my display area, cake stand at far end with more wooden stamps, canvas i made, cake pot, white bird bowl- yep you guessed it -bootfair- and two 12 x 12 rub boxes, one holds all my scrap patterned paper-which i use to make cards with- and on e holds all my basic grey paper packs.

This is my 4 x 4 expedit filled with boxes of stash and mini albums etc.

This is my desk which runs along the left wall to a small cubby hole where i managed to fit a 2 x 4 expedit which holds basic supplies like glues, spare tapes for my atg gun. Another helman filing cabinet is under my desk- had to leave the wheels off to get it under there, this one is half full- more sorting needed.

Well i hope you have enjoyed seeing my craft room, i need to tidy up a bit more.

Oh one last thing, i bought a new cushion for my chair as i have been spending so much time in my room i felt i needed a bit of padding on my chair,so i saw this pretty anf thought "your coming home with me" its so comfy now.

this is above 2 x 4 expedit in cubby hole, idea books,etc, big shot.

acrilic paint storage- may be changed soon.

this is my patterned paper storage, 12 x 12 rub boxes filled with card and paper. Also 12 x 12 bags with paper and kits in next to boxes.

Well thankyou for reading this and getting to the end

katharine

skins and a transformation!!

Well thats what i found in my local poundland shop, where -yep you guessed it-everything is a pound!!!, these laptop skins. Now i have been perusing websites looking for skins for my laptop, but have always been a bit put off by the price- so when i saw these in the poundland i thought i will give it a go, well one pound each is ok to try and if they don't work or look good then off it comes. Also a while ago i bought this and it has been sat in a cupboard for an age, there were two in a set and only one pound.

It is a card like box- made out of thick cardboard and resembles a book. I thought about making a present for the woman i work with who is leaving , so i decorated it to match the card i made-see last post-we have a bit off a joke about a secret stash of chocolate at work, as she works in the main office and has a cupboard with chocolate, a few people know its there and if you have had a bit of a hard day you go and see margaret and she'll supply the chocolate- well i have made a small tag book to go inside the book and will put in a couple of bars of chocolate.

This is the book open, this is the smallest of the two.

This is the tag book i have nade to go inside the book.

This is the front cover of the book, i covered it in flocked paper then made it resemble a card i made.Hopefully she'll like it.


I have spent quite a lot of time in my craft room lately due to being inspired by other blogs and the scrappers on uks, and also due to me making more of an effort,its about making time for myself to enjoy doing the things i love to do. well on that note i'm off to look around the web and then into my craft room.

tfl

katharine

New magazine= new inspiration

This is one of the new magazines i bought this week, card trends and scrapbook trends. WOW is all i can say, such amazing talent showcased in these mags.i don't usually buy american mags but these are the same as the american mag but have been printed here in the uk, well i love them. so much so that today i have been in my craft room playing with new and old stash and thought i would have a go at a few cards. This beauty on page 136 caught my eye and i thought i would have a go at making a few.The one that has MISS YOU in white writing is for a woman who is leaving where i work, i wanted to make a card and am trying to think up a little something to go with it, i have one idea in my head-just gotta get onto paper so to speak!!

Lush card by Mary MacAskill on page 136 of cards mag, below are my take on the card.

This is the card that will be given to the woman that is leaving my workplace next week. I really enjoyed sitting making these cards and realised i can still make them!!

Well i am off back to my craft room to see if i can get this idea of mine onto paper!?! so to speak as if i don't do it now i never will.

Hope you all had a good bank holiday weekend

tfl

katharine