ladies loo ... banner

OK, finally I get to show you my ladies loo banner. If you missed the matching gents banner you can find it by clicking this link. Just click on any of the pics to see more detail close up. There are lots of pictures in this post.

For the base of each letter piece, I used Graphic 45 ~ Fashionista: En vogue.

I used Basic Grey chipboard letters. I painted them with black crackle paint. This had dried out a bit (again!) but I was able to add a bit of water and mix it up again.The result was that it painted thinly in some parts and thicker in others. I quite liked the different texture that this gave though. When dry, I embossed the letters with gold embossing powder and spritzed with a pink shimmer mist.

For the 'L' piece I distressed a mini tag, added some black lace, and a pink button embossed with gold. The eau de toilette tag is a Graphic 45 ~ Fashionista tag. I just embossed the edges with gold and added some eyelets.

The little circle face attached to the top of the tag is also from the tag sheet and she fitted perfectly on to the back of a Tim Holtz fragment. I embossed the edges of it with gold to distress it a bit, which melted the fragment a bit, but I like it!

For the 'A' I have again use a tag from the Fashionsta tag sheet. I added an eyelet and some gold lace.

The chipboard clock is by Heidi Swapp. I spritzed it with pink glimmer mist. You will find a hint of pink on each section of the banner. I then added a Tim Holtz ~ Game Spinner after embossing the tips with gold.

The letter 'D'. I became a bit frustrated going through all my chipboard alphabets  when first choosing my letters (and I have more than my fair share of chipboard alphabets!), that I couldn't have a consistent run of capital letters, so this banner is a mix of upper and lower case. Grrrrh!

Of course there had to be a domestic goddess in there, for aren't we all?? LOL! I cut her from Graphic 45 ~ Domestic Goddess: Lady of the House, embossed the edges with gold, added a pink button embossed with gold and sewn on with gold thread and then wrapped some pink fibres behind her and a bit of gold lace.

In the photo above for the letter 'I', you can see how I linked each piece together. There are gold eyelets on the each side and I threaded through some sheer gold ribbon and just tied it in a knot on the front of each piece so that it wouldn't fall through.

The housewife tag is from the Graphic 45 ~ Domestic Goddess tag sheet. I gave it the usual treatment and added some pink lace.

The 'asbestos sad iron' (uhhhhh???) is cut from the Domestic Goddess: Happy Homemaker paper and I curled the top corner and embossed with gold.

Bored yet?

The tag for this is from the Fashionista tag sheet. I've added a pink button embossed with gold, threaded through a Tim Holtz trinket pin and tied on a piece of black lace.

I made the last two letter pieces in the early hours of the morning on the day of the party. My OH and myself had spent a mad few days preparing for it and we still had lots to do, so on stumbling across me finishing this banner off, his comment was: Is that really a priority? .... uhmmmm yes?!

I've used a Fashionista tag for this piece, which I spritzed with pink glimmer mist and added some vintage gold lace. Not particularly exciting but I was running out of time.

After making the gents and ladies banners I want to do more! I love the spark of creativity that they inspire. Figuring out what to do with each piece is fun and I like the fact that I get to use up bits and bobs. So expect more from me.

I am entering this into the following challenges:

'shabby or vintage': Stampin For The Weekend.

'fashion through the years': One Stop Craft Challenge.

'distressed tags': Lots to Do.

'all distressed': Sir Stampalot Challenge.

'vintage': Bunny Zoes Craft.

'vintage tags': Our Vintage Affair.

Thanks for looking.

keeley

gents ... banner

If you read my title and immediately thought ... loos ... you wouldn't be wrong!

We are organising a party and have decided that we would allocate separate toilets for men and women. No arguments then about the toilet seat being up or down. OMG!! I should warn you now that this blog post is all about toilets, so look away now if this offends you.

So our house is to be transformed into a Marks and Spencers layout. Everyone who has ever been to M&S knows that men cannot walk or even be conveyed on a conveyor belt upstairs. Sooooo, our downstairs loo will be dedicated to the men, whereas the poor women will have to climb the stairs. 

Now, I'm all for making it easy for the men and because I have nothing better to do (uggggg?????) I decided that I should make BANNERS for the loos, just so that no one strays into the wrong one.

 
My immediate thought was to create the men's loo banner first, purely because I knew exactly which paper I would use ... hello Graphic 45 ~ A Proper Gentleman.

Now, I had already informed the OH that I would be making a banner and he said 'ok'.

It later transpires that he has no concept about what a 'banner' actually is.

I used Haberdasher as my background paper and I've embellished it with bits and pieces from the Tags sheet.

The chipboard letters are by Basic Grey. I bought them in a sale yonks ago and never used as they were too big, but are perfect for this. I  first painted the letters with a black paint dabber and then painted them with Tim Holtz: Distress Crackle Paint ~ Antique Linen and hey ho, although the pot had been opened, it wasn't dried up!! Just had to grab a longer paintbrush to reach to the bottom of it.

I've used Tim Holtz sprocket wheels between each piece and other TH embellisments to decorate. I really had fun putting each section together.

OK, so as I finished putting each letter piece together I showed them to OH. BIG MISTAKE!! For the first one I showed him the letter G. 

He said: what is it? 

I said: it will spell out the word 'Gents'.

'ok' he said 'but men won't understand that'.

Ho hum.

So as I finished off each letter piece, I showed him. He said: 'But when a man wants to go to the loo, he wants to go to the loo! He isn't going to stand there looking at that!'

OK, I said, 'but what if there is a queue?'

I won't tell you the response.

Finally, I finished it all off and showed him the finished piece.

'Too busy', he said. 'There is too much going on. What man is going to stand there and work all that out, when all he wants to do is pee? No-one will even notice it'.

OK. He might have a point.

But I am going to have it there and I will let you know how many men, if any, comment on it.

All of the elements are raised up on foam pads and I have used differing heights of 1mm, 2mm and 3mm. This pic might show you better:

Now I need to make one for the ladies, and please don't tell me they won't notice!

I am entering this into the following challenges:

• 'Tim Holtz inspired': Simon Says Stamp & Show.
• 'round & metal': Creative Belli. I've used gold metal eyelets to link each tag which I've had for a good 20 years, long before I started papercrafting. Now that is using up old stash!!
• 'vintage men': Theme Thursday.
• 'sentiment main focus': One Stop Craft Challenge. My sentiment is GENTS.
• 'paint': Gingersnap Creations.

Thank you for looking.

keeley