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

Saturdays are for stash shopping................................

Well this saturday i took my sister niki-nikig on uks- to the grand opening of a new scrapbook shop-yippee waves flags- just outside Faversham, called Pickleberry papercrafts. It was lovely to be in a shop with a calm atmosphere and friendly welcome-thankyou ladies- and being offered tea,coffee,bucks fizz or champers and not to mention the to-die-for-cakes, i had a little spend up as you can see from the pics below-well i couldn't not now that would be rude!!!On the way home we stopped at scrapbook sisters and then Bybrook Barn.

I bought these stamps at Bybrook barn for £5.99 so cute.

Now this tin is so cool, i got it from Pickleberry Papercrafts but as Kate was tilling up she forgot to add this so gave it to me for free- thanks Kate xx

This is all i got from Scrapbook Sisters as by the time we got there my hayfever was at its worst and i did not feel like shopping, so went next door to newsagents and bought trusty sudafed to atack the stuffiness that was my whole face!!!!!!

Lovely lovely stash from Pickleberry Papercrafts, this ribbon is so lush, i sat stroking it last night, now to think up some amazing project to use this on. for myself of course!!! can't give it away.

Owl stamps now there's a surprise, if you know me you know i got a thing for owls and owl stamps actually anything with owls.

Amazing d-ring albums, so lush and embossed covers, my heart sings to these pretties, i think between myself and niki we bought the last ones.ooooooops!! papers by Sassafras, piggytales and cherryArte.

Well am off to deliver a pirate book to one lucky 5yr old then to scrap with new goodies

tfl

katharine

A pirates life for me............

or it would be if i were 8-12 yrs old and could fit into the woolworths Jack Sparrow dressing up outfit i bought for £3.00 when they were closing down, but sadly no. My nephew Kain on the other hand can fit into it quite nicely, the story behind these pics goes like this..................... Kain only wanted to wear the head dress of the outfit-not much of a photo opportunity so i convinced-bribed him to wera the whole oufit while i took some pics-i had to make him a book about being a pirate, he soon warmed up to having his pics taken and got into the swing of things and acted out a whole scene from pirates of the carribean!!!!!!!! well its been a long wait but i finished the book today!!!yippee!! i will deliver it to him in a while.

Each page has a statement about being a pirate............page 8 says " know how to shield your face............................................... you don't want to be on any wanted posters......................or recodnised on the way to school.

Page six says "know how to do the death stare.............................................then maybe they'll stop taking photos.

Page five says " know how to look innocent........................................................pirates don't have a good reputation.

After i had taken the photos of my nephew and he was exhausted from his pirate antics he wanted to draw some pictures of pirates and maps to go into the book, so i made a pocket for them to go in on page two which says" know how to draw maps...................................you don't want to get lost.

This is the front cover, i hope he likes it.

tfl

katharine