Skip to main content

Bank Holiday Monday and it's raining

 

When you're a child and there was a Bank Holiday - which means a day off school - it always seemed to pour with rain, so you were stuck indoors and bored.  I've been largely indoors today, but haven't succumbed to boredom.  Instead I've been sewing a cover for my Ann Wood inspired stitchbook.  The 100 day challenge Ann hosts is nearing an end.  I finished the 19th page this morning, and in five days time that'll be the final page completed.  Then it's simply a matter of assembling the book.  
I've already decided the 20th page will feature insects.  Bugs!  Not always my favourite creatures, but I bought a fun die cut with various beetle shapes on it, and made printing stamps of them.  
This was something I only learnt how to do the other day, YouTube yet again teaching me a new technique.  Hobbycraft sells A4 sized pieces of craft foam with adhesive backing.  You use your Sissix machine, a die cut and a piece of this foam to create a printing stamp.  Just lay your die cut on top of the foam, feed it through the machine then peel off the adhesive backing and stick the foam shape on a bit of thick cardboard.  It makes a sturdy stamp to use on paper, or print on fabric and embroider over the inked area.  Clever, huh?  
I'm sure these beetles will also feature in junk journals that I'm making and decorating.  That's another new area of interest sparked by YouTube.  I've been making lots of gell prints and painty papers lately - here's another pile - oh, and another - 
I made them, thinking I'd turn them into the actual pages of journals, when I began watching videos where the covers and pages of journals were being made from ... well, from junk!  Rubbish.  Trash.  Plastic food packaging, luridly coloured takeaway flyers, all kinds of very unpromising looking tat that would previously have been lobbed into the recycling bin.  Honestly, it's made me look at the contents of my kitchen cupboards with entirely new eyes.  I've already made one junk journal and have been amassing the contents for a second.  I'm enjoying the challenge of finding a second use for what otherwise would have been thrown out, and to me it makes sense to do this.  After all, when you buy something - a box of cereal bars for instance - you're not only paying for the cereal bars, but for the box too, though we always overlook the packaging, as if the manufacturers are providing that for free.  They're not!  It's cost you money.  So make the most of the box and give it a second life as a handmade book cover or a tag or the base for an ATC.  
I'll post photos of my junk journals another time, and get back to my reading now.  I'm over halfway through S.J. Parris' 'Sacrilege' and it's a gripping story.  There's absolutely nothing worth watching on TV tonight, so I might even finish it today.  
Hope you had a great Easter, whether your days involved church going or simply chocolate egg eating.  Have fun, and bye for now.  






Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sari scraps, PVA, a couple of books and a necklace

  I'm typing this as snow's falling, and has been steadily all day.  It's not settling to any great extent, though I bet by tomorrow morning the paths will be slippery with ice.  Which always makes me paranoid about falling over and at the very least looking undignified, but at worst breaking a bone or twisting an ankle.  Oh well, it's ideal weather to stay inside and craft, isn't it?  I finally got around to listing packs of sari scraps on Etsy this morning.  I only made up six bundles as I've no clue whether they'll sell or if I've set a reasonable enough price point.  Time will tell.   This is a link to the listing, if you're interested.  This vaguely pink fabric isn't from one of my Etsy packs.  It's from a bit of experimenting I was doing yesterday.  I'd seen a post on Instagram showing how a DIY version of batik could be done without using hot wax.  The Instagrammer used PVA instead, and I wanted to try this out....
4 comments
Read more

In praise of wool

Just a quick post today. I'm offering you a short but peaceful break from the overwhelmingness (is that a word?) of Christmas.  By now you've probably eaten your bodyweight in sweets//roast potatoes/pigs in blankets/cake/After Eights ... whatever your festive indulgences are.  You're under-exericsed, over-stimulated, feeling broke and possibly guilty about an argument with a relative or friend you've never entirely got on with.  So, here's something to take your mind off all that.   I've two videos to refresh and revive, and they both concern wool.   Interesting fact.  Well, I found it interesting.  About 1% - yup, one per cent - of the world's textiles are made of wool.  Out of curiosity, I also googled how much is made of cotton.  That's higher, but it's only about 24% and that's heading downward instead of up.  Synthetic fibres are the bulk of all textile manufacture.  Anyway, back to woolly wonders.   My firs...
2 comments
Read more

HOW TO MAKE: these decorative birds

 I suggested yesterday that I'd run through how to make a fabric bird wall or window hanging (can't think of a snappier title for it than that!) so here goes.  I'll start with the first decorative hanging I made.   It's something you could make in any colour combination you want, and would look good hanging at a window with translucent beads that'd catch the light   I used five birds for this, but you could make it longer if you prefer.  (Incidentally, if you're wondering about what's hanging off the bottom on this, it's a metal Christmas decoration, shaped like a lantern.  For some reason I thought it looked appropriate to leave it there, looped over the end.)   WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO GATHER TOGETHER:  Assorted scraps of fabric for the front of the birds - aim for a mix of colours and textures.  Silk looks good, as does anything with embroidery or intricate patterns.  You might aim for a hippy-ish boho look, or maybe you're ...
4 comments
Read more