holiday stuff from threads magazine

this week i saw a lovely article in threads magazine using a weaving technique. i have done weaving before but not quite like this. the loom is made from a cheap (99p shop) box canvas. i hammered nails into the back of the frame, as the frame is made from really soft wood it was really easy to make, you could even just push pins in if  you dont have nails. the piece in the magazine was used to decorate a bag and was very pretty.

i used a selection of odd bits of wool and threads,  i started off in the middle  and used the first thread to make the curved shape and them ever thing else followed after, changing shape as i went. the process is a bit like woven tapestry  as you actually work from the back, so you dont know what it is going to look like until it is finished and off the 'loom'.

when it was finished i backed it with vylene to hold it all together.

a couple of things i would have done differently is not use the onange  weft threads and  maybe make the sky a bit smaller and try and keep the edges a bit more even, this is difficult because the threads are all different thicknesses..... still next time !!!

50 down lots to go

well this week i am very sad to say i have made nearly 40 christmas cards.

probably only have to make about 100 more, but probably not for a few days at least! these cards are very simply made (making this many they need to be).

i have so much 'stuff ' to use up that last january i made about 150 cards and i still have so much to use up. i also like to re-use parts of the cards i recieve.... in the spirit of make do and ment and re-cycling etc. etc. i would be boring at this time of year to show them all. the card on the right is a photo i took earlier in the year of  a fire thorn bush in my garden. the berries have glitter on and some i made i used glossy accents as well, the backing card is randomly stamped and sprayed with perfect pearls mist.

the left card is reclaimed card  and greeting, the snowman is stampes and coloured with aqua promarkers and glitter.

the next 4 cards are really basic, the snow man card is a reclaimed card with part of the back ground punched out with a snow flake punch, i wa sgoing to throw away the card after i had punched out the snow flakes but decided i likd the card as it was and just glued it to a card blank.

happy holidays

i am on holiday from work this week, it is so horrible and cold out that i think i will jusy stay at home and craft!!!! good idea! my hubby is off too so i won't be crafting  all the time, (some one has to make the coffee!).

anyway the first thing i have done is finish a waistcoat i was knitting, i was very pleased with the result, it had a crochet edging which i had not done before.

 i didin't have any buttons that matched (but hundreds that didn't) so i decided to cover some with utee. it was brilliant.

 i loved them, they are quite lumpy, but in a good way. the picture is not brilliant.

 the utee is actually cosmic shimmer in a copper colour. the button was flat so i stamped on top with a swirl stamp.  i inked  it with stazon green  and pressed it on the button while it was still warm. the only down side was, it was quite tricky holding the shank of the button with tweezers

so i didn't burn my fingers!

tomorrow i am going to start my christmas cards, yes i did say christmas cards!!!

free tickets to give away

hi world
i have 2 free tickets to give away, for the stitch and creative crafts show at sandown park on 22 -24 th jan. i won the tickets in a magazine give away but cannot go now 'coz my daughter is coming home for the weekend. if you would like them e mail me your address and i will post them to you , be quick though as it is next week. looks like it will be a good day as lots of suppliers are going to be there.
i have been poorly with bad head cold today (stayed in bed till 3 o'clock and i NEVER  do that) so no crafting on my day off  . . . .shame!!!!
janet

MY SPACE 2

well here is my space on sunday evening. There has to be some good points to the snowy weather. . .  there is, staying in all afternoon to play with paper and sticky stuff.

My daughter amy and i have decided after all that christmas excess (mostly chocolate), we need to loose a few pounds . . 14actually but whos counting. i decided to make a chart to motivate us and to see how we are doing.

i had the idea from some motifs in the last issue of cardmaking and papercrafts magazine. Here is the result.

The picture in the middle says "SHRED POUNDS".

The leaves are stuck onto a stamped stalk, one for each lb we are going to loose!! the flowers are also stamped as is the border at the bottom.

there are 14 tiny gecko's which amy can add to her plant when she looses a lb, mine are little yellow flowers, wish us luck , i think we are going to need it.

PS i tidied up after i took this picture!!!!

i'm in craft stamper

well not actually in the magazine only the web extra. one of my atc has been included again. except they spelt my name wrong (might be my rubbish hand writing)
anyway here are the atc i sent in, the one on the right in the one on the site. the stamp is from a dove craft fairy set with punched out flowers and gems that dont show up.
the other atc is made on a playing card from past times, the red rose is printed on the card already, i added the other roses and coloured them in with sakura pens.

the next atc didnt get sent in because i lost it, i scanned it and then couldnt find it it must have gone in the bin or something. it was quite cute too

left over chocolate?

well the skating has finished and i still have chocolate so i might as well finish posting my stuff till its gone.
i had some cosmic shimmer utee for christmas, this is the first chance i have had to use it.
i had some plain stainless steel motifs which really needed to be decorated, so i did. i stamped on perfect medium and added the utee and did 3 layers, i was pleased with how well it melted.
on the last layer i stamed the motif with a clear stamp inked up with staz-on, green on the copper motif and red on the silver. the colour does not show very well on the photo but looks good for real. the silver tag has a blue swarovski crystal super glued on.
i was really pleased with the look, they look like real metal embossing.the label tag is made from chip board and is covered in gold utee. again i stamped the utee while still warm and added some glitter and gilding flakes from stewart gill ( i was wondering what to do with those).
even my 18 year old was impressed with these.

oh well the choc and wine have all gone so it's back to the knitting, got to keep warm some how

bye

my space

hi everyone
after reading linda's blog on a crafting journey, i decided to have a tidy up in my craft room. this is the result, now i know where all my stuff is. . . . dont know how long it will stay like this, not long i hope 'coz that will mean i haven't done anything.
but i have done some stuff, the snow has kept me in all day (except to have an unexpected filling on a tooth which broke last night yukkkkkk!) that was fixed quickly and painlessly ahhh.
i had some cosmic shimmer utee for x mas so time to use it i thought.
see next blog got to get a glass of wine and choc ready to watch torville and dean

happy new year

WELL, HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ANYONE WHO READS THIS ( BUT, NOT IF YOU ARE READING THIS IS JUNE!!!)

I AM REALLY GOING TO TRY AND KEEP THIS UP THIS YEAR

I HAVE BEEN BUSY CRAFTING , TOO BUSY TO BLOG , I'M NOT GOING TO BACK TRACK SO ONLY NEW STUFF FROM NOW ON.

I HAVE BEEN CLEARING OUT AND TIDYING UP MY CRAFT ROOM (NOTE TO SELF, MUST PUT A PICTURE ON AND CHECK IT IN 6 MONTHS TIME TO SEE IF IT IS STILL THE SAME)

i dont like the capitol letters so its back to lower case---sorry grammer freaks! what can i say i'm a lazy typer.anyway. . . .

my youngest daughter passed her driving test on the 30th . . . she was determined to pass in 2009, the year she started, she just made it, well done lucy.

this card was made quite quickly as this is a busy time, the car is from a card i rescued a few years ago and have scanned and used several times, if i had had more time i would have put lucy's face on top of the drivers, she liked it anyway, but not as much as she will enjoy using my car. so it's good bye to that and goodbye from me too!

ps i want to do some more atc s can anyone suggest some good site that have swop challenges
ta