My *late* Creative Space

Sorry - a slightly later than normal post re what's in my creative space right now. Here's an in-progress jersey vest (which might turn into a tee-dress by 'royal' command) top for Missy Moo. How incredibly cute is that print?!! I got it from Kitschy Coo.



She tried it on this morning before breakfast and declared it wonderful except for the fact that it ought really to be long so it can be a dress. The plan for tonight is to try to squeeze a skirt out of the remnant of fabric I have leftover. I think it is doable. Amazing what you can squeeze out of half a metre with a bit of creative cutting!

More creative spaces can be found here.

My Creative Space - books, books and more books

I hope you're not getting too bored of my books as they are still dominating the space over here right now.



I'm working on a run of the slimmer journals at the moment. There's the lime green leather one.



And its pretty bird and birdcage print card supports.



There is then the classy grey one with the incredible embossed leather cover, silver eyelets and those pretty silver corner protectors.



Here's the card I used on the inside for added support.



And finally there is the cerise one with the star buttons and silver eyelets on the spine ...



I think I am getting the hang of these pen holder closures.



To finish, here is the inside cover of the cerise journal, complete with pretty card.



There are two more of these slimline journals waiting to be finished off. Then I think I might drag the poor sewing machine out, dust her off and sew up a few things.

Linking up this week with lots of wonderful creative spaces here.

Have a creative day, friends!

My Creative Space

The space is still very much book focused right now. I've finished one of the two hand-bound leather journals I am making to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Here is a small peek into the finished journal.



Here's the other one in progress on my desk.



The idea is to get them finished by Friday so that on Saturday, I can blog about them and have a special Jubilee giveaway to coincide with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Bank holiday on Tuesday 5th June. The winner gets to pick their choice of Jubilee journal. How does that sound? Will you come back to my blog on Saturday to join in the giveaway?

Right - best get on with the second journal - otherwise it will never get finished in time for Saturday!!

Linking up this week with wonderful creative spaces here.

Have a creative day, friends!

My Creative Space

The space is very much book-binding focused at the moment. I just finished these three slim 120-page journals which I will share in greater detail in my next post.



Before that, I must show you my new toy! This is my cute little hand-held screw punch and all its little punch bits. It's a copy of the Japanese drill punch. The original Japanese made one costs a lot more! This one was bought reasonably cheaply on Ebay and does the same job.



You hold it like so and push down on it. Very little effort is needed and certainly no hammering at all! (My neighbours will be thankful.)



And it punchs out a wee hole like this ...



The different bits give you holes of slightly different sizes.



I bought a teeny 1 mm bit to make sewing holes like this.



I was originally using my awl to make the holes. The awl pierces a small hole but after a while, the hole closes up a little. This makes it a bit difficult to sew nicely. This punch actually creates a neat small hole in the leather and the holes stay open, making it easier to get the needle and thread through.

Creative spaces have a lovely new home here. Have you visited it yet? I'm heading over there soon to see what creativity is brewing up in spaces around the globe.

Have a creative day, friends!

My Creative Space

I've been working on a trio of smaller journals recently. Smaller in the sense that they only contain 6 signatures of paper instead of 10 or 11. So just 120 pages in all.



Here is an in-progress photo of one of the smaller journals. I was playing around with using a pen as a closure. I'll share this book with you soon. I think the pen closure works a treat.

Creative spaces have a lovely new home here. Why not drop by and see what creativity is brewing up in spaces around the globe.

Have a creative day, friends!

My Creative Space

In my last MCS post, I showed you this crochet square in progress. It is now finished.



I made another one and am partway through my third. I've joined the first two together to see how it would look with a heavily contrasting yarn.



This is the Double Treble Burst Square by Amelia Beebe. The free pattern plus 150 projects made by Ravelry members can be found here.

My target is 12 squares which I think would make a reasonably sized blanket for me. There is the beginnings of another leather journal lurking about on my desk too.

Find out what's happening in other creative spaces here this week.

Have a creative day, friends.

My Creative Space

I've just finished off another journal. I'm not entirely convinced by the closure so it's still somewhat work in progress. What do you think?



This is a handbound leather journal with a grey grained leather cover.



For the closure, I've used a long leather lace cut from the same leather. I've added a flower shape cut from leftover cerise suede from a previous project and a celtic patterned concho. The leather lace winds around the book a couple of times and is then wound around the concho to secure.



I'm using 140gsm cartridge paper again and have added some cerise coloured art-paper of the same weight. In total this journal has 264 sides of paper to draw, scribble or write on.



In keeping with the flower shape I used on the cover, I've glued a couple of botanical inspired print postcards into the inside front and back cover. The leather is not very stiff so the postcards will provide a little bit of extra support.



Here's the exposed long-stitch spine.



I've now had a go at bookbinding with each of the leather pieces I have in my stash. I want to try to learn how to do a link stitch - there are so many cool journals on Etsy with a fantastic long stitch/link stitch combination. I just need to find a good tutorial on it!

Find inspiration from other creative spaces here.

Have a creative day, friends.

My Creative Space

A couple of weeks ago, I showed you another crocodile stitch neckwarmer that I was working on. The first one was a teeny bit of a fail so I wanted to have another go. This one is done in a gorgeous self-striping single ply yarn by Crystal Palace called Mini Mochi. This colourway is called Rainbow Trout. The dye length is so perfect for this project as I'm getting one shade of colour per row of scales. The last time I had only worked up 7 rows. I've now done a whole set of colours (10 rows of scales) and am partway through my second set. It's going a bit slow because I keep getting sidetracked by my book projects.



I love the range of colours on this colourway especially that flash of pink at the end of one set.



Joining in with Our Creative Spaces at some point this week. I can't wait to see what others have been up to.

How about you? What have you been up to?
Have a creatve day, friends.

My Creative Space

There's another journal in progress in the space right now.



I went to a re-enactors market last week to see a leather supplier who had a stand there. There were some incredible pieces of leather on sale for very reasonable prices. However, for the most part the pieces on sale were huge! I wasn't sure I wanted king-size bed sized pieces of leather! That's a lot of journal covers!! Anyhow, I did manage to find some 'small' pieces. Here are some journal covers cut out from the leather I bought.



The tan coloured grained leather on the right is the one I'm working with right now. It is also the thickest of the three. The middle one is softer and slightly thinner and don't you just love the colour of that suede over on the left?

I'm using 140gsm cartridge paper - cut into A5 sheets and folded in half to form the groups of pages. This one has 10 groupings (signatures) of pages and each grouping has 20 sides of paper to write or draw on. This journal will have a total of 200 pages. I had a few bits of the vintage posters leftover from my last journal project. I used them in this one too.



I am hoping to put a nice little clasp on this journal. The leather is thick enough to support a metal clasp. I've sewn in seven of the sigantures so far. Three more to sew in before I put the clasp in.

As usual, I'm linking up to this week's Our Creative Spaces. Why not pop over there to see what other peeps are up to all around the world?

Have a creative day, friends.

My Creative Space

I'm flitting between several projects at the moment. I work on bits here and there. One of the projects is this one ...



It's another crocodile stitch neckwarmer. The first one was a bit of an experiment which turned out shorter than I had wanted it to be. Learning from my mistakes in that one, I have embarked on a second neckwarmer.

This one is done in a gorgeous self-striping single ply yarn by Crystal Palace called Mini Mochi. I think this colourway is called Rainbow Trout. The dye length is perfect for this project - I'm getting one shade of colour per row of scales. How perfect is that?! I am using a bigger hook and it's working up looser.

What are you up to this week?
Find out what's happening in creative spaces all around the world over at the home of creative spaces.

Have a creative day, friends.

My Creative Space

The space is currently being occupied by another bookbinding project. Since my first handbound leather journal went so well, I decided to work on another. It's going to be the same size as the first journal I made a couple of weeks ago. This one is for a dear friend of mine who loves to travel. I found a world map poster and a vintage airmail stamps type of poster and cut pieces out to add to the cartridge paper signatures.



I bought myself a better awl for poking holes to guide my stitching. My old awl didn't have a nice bulbous handle like this little guy. It makes such a big difference having a decent handle on your awl. I thought I'd try to make a little pattern with the stitching on the spine. So I made these stitching card templates and marked out two different width stitching holes. I used these to make the holes in my paper signatures.



Then I used the templates to mark out where I wanted the stitching holes to go on the cover. I think this is going to be a rather pretty journal. The cover is a sueded leather in a deep magenta colour.



Once I get these holes poked out with my awl, I'm ready to start stitching the paper signatures into the spine.

Are you up to anything crafty this week?
Find out what other crafty folk are up to by dropping by the home of creative spaces here.

Have a creative day, friends.

My Creative Space

The space currently has a few ongoing projects around as usual. The hood project is still around - progress is slow. There is another tank to tee refashion somewhere and there is one in-progress book. There is also this -



It's another cup sleeve in an all-cotton Anchor Magicline yarn.

The tutorial can be found here.

See what other creative peeps are up to over at the home of creative spaces here.

Have a creative day, friends.

My Creative Space

Hello friends! My creative space is rather crowded this week with 3 projects on the go simultaneously.

First up is the crocodile stitch hood. This is going well. So far, I have finished the cowl part and have just started working on the hood. The pattern is made up of two parts which will be stitched together in the final finish. This is the finished cowl ...



And this is the beginnings of the hood ...



I had not worked with skeins of wool before - otherwise known as hanks. When I started the cowl, I just snipped the bits of yarn holding the hank together, found one end and started crocheting. Bad move! I soon found myself having to unravel and untangle myself ever so often. Hugely annoying. Thankfully I got to the end of the cowl and decided to spend a bit of time unraveling the messy skein and rewinding it into a centre-pull ball which you can see in the photo above. This is sooo much better to work with. Now I know, I have starting planning a DIY yarn swift project involving a recently purchased cheap lazy susan from Ebay. The idea is to make something that works like this. Hopefully, this will enable me to wind my skeins into balls quickly and easily. I'll keep you posted on that particular project when I get it started.

Back in the space ... up next is a small project I've wanted to do for a while now but just had not gotten around to. The project involves this stack of folded cartridge paper ...



I'm going to try to turn this stack of paper signatures (each sub-stack is called a signature) into a little handbound journal. Somewhere in the depths of my wardrobe is an offcut of some mauve-coloured suede leather. Perfect stuff for a cover for the journal. I'll keep you updated on the progress of this one later.

And finally, based on this fabulous tutorial, I am almost finished making Missy Moo a Rapunzel wig for Book Character day at school on Friday. Here she is trying it on for size. The end of the wig finishes right by her heels. It actually just sits on the floor by her heels.



I still need to weave in a dozen or so little pink roses and tie a small wrist strap onto the end of the braid to help her keep the thing off the ground when she is running around school on Friday. She is extremely excited about Friday and can't wait to show her fun wig to all her friends.

There are a couple of tee-to-tank refashions in progress somewhere around here to. Busy busy busy! Just how I like it!

Find out what else is happening in other creative spaces around the world over at the home of creative spaces here.

Have a creative day, friends.

My creative space

The crocodile stitch neckwarmer that was in my space last week is still there. Only it's now grown to 12 inches in length. I reckon I have maybe another 6 or 7 inches to go before it's done. It looks pretty much as it did the last time - only longer.

I've been sidetracked ever so slightly by a couple of quick projects. This one is a fabric headband which I spotted on CraftGossip several days ago. It's from a tutorial on Able to Sleep's blog here. I reckon this would be a really nice project to use up bits and pieces of scrap fabric.



The second quick project comes from this fab tutorial over at Crafterhours. Mr CraftyAdy was chucking out a whole bunch of old tshirts and I took the opportunity to snag a few to refashion. I reckon these will be great for summer and also great for me when I go to the gym for my fitness classes. Anyhoo, here's the old tshirt I scrounged from the man ...



and here's how far I got tonight ...



I'll finish it off tomorrow night after my fitness class. If it turns out well (and I can't imagine it won't), there are 3 more tshirts waiting for the same treatment.

Find out what other creative peeps are up to around the world over at the home of creative spaces.

Have a creative day, friends.

My Creative Space

There's not a whole lot going on in my creative space right now. I have some bits to cut out for a boxy wash-bag but haven't gotten around to it yet. The only thing floating around is the crocodile stitch neckwarmer I showed you last week. One week on and it's only grown 3 inches.



Slow progress but progress nevertheless I suppose. I intend to persevere on this one.

Find out what other creative peeps are up to over at the home of creative spaces here.

Have a creative day, friends.

My Creative Space

One of my New Year resolutions was to try to improve my crochet skills. Being a leftie, I’ve always struggled with my crochet. I have discovered that Youtube is a terrific resource – there are quite a few very helpful video tutorials there for left-hand crochet beginners like me. Anyway, this is currently occupying my creative space right now.



It’s the crocodile stitch and this is the beginning of a scarf or maybe a neckwarmer. Probably the latter since it's shorter than a scarf! It took me a while to get started and to figure out the instructions. Five days on and I’ve only managed this much ...



My crochet has always been painfully slow. I’ll get there in the end.

Have a creative day, friends.

My creative space

The space is still full of Christmas cardy bits and bobs. I finished a few cards last night.



I have maybe another dozen to finish off before I can get on with a few last minute Christmas makes.

Find other creative spaces here.

Have a creative day, friends.

My creative space

I'll be spending the next few days making up Christmas cards for my friends and family. My creative space is littered with bits of card, small bottles of glitter glue (I love the name Stickles!), marker pens, bits of scrunched up tissue and my lovely Japanese water-brushes.



I need to get them done by next week. Royal Mail tells me that the last posting date for countries outside Europe are 5th and 9th of December if I want to make sure they get there in time for Christmas.

To see what other creative peeps are doing around the world, visit the home of creative spaces here.

Have a creative day, friends.

My Creative Space

The creative space is full of bits and pieces right now - mostly card-making type of bits and pieces. Here's a birthday card for one of Dinoboy's best friends.



I have a stack of cards to make up and have started on a handful of Christmas cards.

My friend was very happy with her jewellery which I made for her (see my last My Creative Space post here) - I did take some photos but have not had a chance to upload them. Sorry! I will try to post the up soon.

Visit the home of creative spaces to find out what others are doing around the world.

Have a creative day, friends.

My creative space

A slightly early My Creative Space post this week. I wanted to be sure I didn't miss it like last week! Doh! There are a few projects on the go in my space right now. The most pressing is this one.



A very dear colleague and friend of mine is taking early retirement and she finishes this week. I wanted to make her something nice and since she likes jewellery, I thought I'd make her a chain maille necklace with matching earrings. I don't know if there is a name for this particular weave ... it's a Byzantine weave variant. The accent rings are smaller in diameter than the silver rings and there's a single accent ring locking the box together at the top and the bottom - forming a little cross of sorts.

Visit other wonderful creative spaces around the world here at the home of Our Creative Spaces.

Have a creative day, friends.