Help! I think I'm melting ...

Yorkshire's officially experiencing a drought, and I'm wilting from the heat. It's that muggy, sticky kind of hot weather, and I'm lethargic and headachy. So I've neglected the allotment for the last few days, just nipping down there to gather raspberries and the very last strawberries. Instead, I've been spending my time reading the latest Richard Osman book - lovin' it - and messing about with junk journals. These homemade books are my latest obsession. I really enjoy making them, especially using up all that food packaging or scrap paper that'd otherwise be headed straight for the recycling bin. Above is one of the journals I've been making and decorating, the cover being created from a tetra pack. (That mess is my dining table! I know, I know.)

The other journal is much larger, and I reckon you can easily guess what the cover for this originally was. That logo must be one of the most recognisable on the planet!

I'm having so much fun finding ways of using up anything and everything to make pages, pockets, journal cards and tags.

Envelopes, bright pink Ryvita wrappers, even the paper bags that once contained porridge oats are finding their way into this bumper sized journal.

I've also been messing about with making fabric and paper butterflies too, for no other reason than I saw them on Instagram and thought they looked pretty. You stick odd scraps of fabric on to a piece of fairly sturdy brown paper, then cut out a butterfly shape. Add stitching, if you like, or beads or paint splatters. Whatever takes your fancy.

There won't be a lot of crafting done tomorrow as I'm hopping on the train to New Pudsey - not been there before - but I want to visit Leeds Scrapstore and hopefully snap up some bargains to include on future journal pages. Bus journeys always feel like a chore, but I still get childishly excited about a train journey. Maybe you're the same?

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Fabric bowls & electrical cables ...

To add to my seemingly never ending list of works-in-progress, I've started making a fabric bowl. Or should I call it a fabric basket? I'm not sure. Anyway, I've made the odd bowl or two before, like this blue & white one that I keep cotton perle in. I decided to use upholstery material, which has both advantages & disadvantages. On the good side, it has a certain stiffness, which helps the bowl stay in shape. On the irritating side, the kind of material I'm using frays like mad, and I'm forever picking up threads off the carpet. The bowl's a simple construction, and I've used a circle of cardboard covered with brown felt for the base. It'll look much better when I've embroidered and stitched into it. I've made a start on that, and appliqued on a rectangle of plum coloured velvet for extra interest. When not stitching, I've been catching up on my reading. I finished C J Sansom's 'Dark Fire'. Real...

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....

Threads of Freedom and charity shop bargains

It's Saturday afternoon, and I haven't done half the things I'd meant to. Partly because I spent most of this morning messing about with paints, stencils and the gell plate. Never mind, everything on today's 'To Do' list will join tomorrow's 'To Do' list ... it's hardly life or death if I don't haul the hoover around the room or pull up weeds in the front garden. I thought I'd show you what I made on Wednesday. I'd gone to my monthly StitchArt group, and this time we did something a little different. There's a project called 'Threads of Freedom' which is working with various community groups across the city. It's about creating little stitched pieces, some of which will be included in a textile panel to go on display at Leeds art gallery. There was lots of fabric we could choose from to sew with, and I picked this vintage tray cloth with the roses embroidery. My own embroidery's not a patch on those flo...

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