Wendy's Sewing Rooms

What was I doing with myself over the weekend?  Well, I was finishing off this little house (like the one I did 1st October last and taught - see 4th and 5th October a few days later at Vicky Stampers) for Wendy from the sewing machine shop who has been so kind and given of her time so generously to help me out with my sewing machine.  It's with her now so I can blog about it.

If anyone in the vicinity needs a new sewing machine I recommend that they go along and see her at Hobkirks in Bury - you won't be disappointed with the friendly and helpful service you get from Wendy.  She is so willing to share her expertise in sewing with customers, she is a credit to the company, and the shop is handy for visitors to Bury (go on a Wednesday when it is market day - it's quite a famous market you know - and try the wonderful Bury Black Puddings) as it is at the very top of Bolton Street just a stride from the busy town centre.

Advertising done - well, credit where credit is due, so now on to the little Sewing House I made for her

I began by painting the wooden substrate in white acrylic paint and then dry-brushed it with a blue one.  I wanted a shabby chic look to it, not that I think I have achieved it now that it is filled with all this memorabilia.

Starting at the top of the house

we have a torn bit of a Newey's press stud card, some press studs (Tim Holtz ones - I love the colours), a bobbin with some thread on, a tape measure (trimmed down to make it smaller - it was a freebie from C&A - now how long have I had that?), a sewing machine and a little name plate which I fastened on with the brads rather than relying on glue.

Working down - some bottles of sequins, a pile of fabric, a pair of scissors and the number "6" (the age of her son)

Next I made a little chest from cardstock, filled it with bits of lace, put a fastener on and sat it with two giant press studs that I had from way back when Paddy had her shop.

On now to the big room at the side and here we have a mirror (a piece of mirri card, embossed and cut with a Spellbinders die to a nice oval with a mirror tile stuck on).  Next to it is a coat hanger (Tim Holtz stuff again) with a tiny blouse hanging from it - had to make two of these as the first was so tiny I could not get the hanger inside it.  Then there is the dressmakers dummy, a Newey's hook and eye packet, a hook and an eye, a thimble and a carelessly thrown hanger. Well, it has to look a bit authentic!

On now to the bottom three.

Two tiny cotton reels with some thread wrapped around them, three tiny buttons and a "W" for Wendy fixed to the wall behind with a brad.

This pincushion took me ages to begin, I don't like making them and am sure there is an easier and quicker way than how I do them.  I love doing the metal embossing but that is about all.  First of all I put some cotton wool balls on a square of fabric then squish them about until I get a roundish shape.  Then I tie off with some cotton and chop off the surplus fabric from the base.  This is then stuck into a bottle cap with glue.  When set I wrap a piece of metal that I have embossed as a tape measure around the base.  (Anyone know how I should really do them?)  Behind the pin cushion is a card with some thread on it and there is a clock charm on the wall, again fixed with brads.

The last one has a tiny packet of Bondaweb propped across the corner, two empty cotton reels (darkened a little with touches of Distress Inks) and a number "15" plaque on the wall (again Tim Holtz) once more fixed with brads.

The final thing I did was stick some cotton lace on the horizontal edges.

I do hope you enjoyed looking at this little house and if any of you have one of these wooden houses I hope this spurs you on to get it started.  Remember to check back in my blog to the 4th and 5th October last to see what the peeps at the class got up to - not all sewing themes so may give you some ideas.

ps Wendy was not in when I delivered it to the shop so I don't know her reaction yet as I have not been back to Bury yet.

WOYWW 160

Cannot believe that I am making this a short post this week.  Need to be up for the technician to come between 8 and 1 today and then I am due at the hairdressers for a trim so there will be no afternoon snooze for me today.  A quick Welcome to my newest followers, lovely to have you on board - I hope I have reciprocated with your own blog.

As you can see from this photo my life has been taken over with sewing.  I was sewing all day yesterday - in my head - sorree!  Yes, I fully intended to get some sewing done but as per usual I kept looking at the fabric and doing nothing.  In the end I did a couple of DT pieces but obviously they are under wraps at the moment.

The fabric in front of my sewing machine is for me to make an iPad cover.  Yes, I have one of those lovely black leather ones but I quite fancy a fabric one with a couple of pockets inside.  Thought I would treat Chas to one as well and that is his fabric alongside - quite appropriate for a man who is doing a maths degree for fun!

I think mine will be more of a bag than anything, with long straps so I can sling it over my shoulder.  His is going to be a wallet type with pockets inside to put his mobile phone and other things that he tends to carry about in his pockets.  There's some batting at the side, still wrapped up just as I got it from the store.  I had no idea it was so expensive - or maybe I am just totally out of touch with sewing things.

Well hopefully I will get some sewing done when I get back - at least make a start.  In the meantime, whilst I am away being pampered by my handsome hairdresser I hope you make the most of it and visit lots of desks who have also entered into the spirit of things with Ms Julia.  There's lots to see and the list just goes bigger and bigger.

Is this Pretty? It's an Oyster Challenge!

Ever had one of those deja vue moments?  I am having one right now.  Am sure I have already blogged this but cannot find it, yet I remember exactly what the words are that I am going to use. Remember in the way that I have already used them.  Searched through my scheduled posts but there is nothing there.  Most peculiar!

Anyway, here is what I was/am going to say - My *ex-friend, Barbara, another member of the Oyster Stamps Design Team, challenged me to do a "pretty" card.  She feels I am a bit of a "grunge" person and so the last time we met up she gave me this stamp from 'Whimsy Stamps' - 'Rose and Felix' with the instructions "make a pretty card". All I can say after attempting to colour this image in and make the card up is "thank you so much Barbara!".

I was really chuffed at what I achieved at Vicky Stampers a couple of months ago when I did a class with Vix but when it came to colouring this image in I found I had forgotten most of what I had been taught. Shows that you need to practice , practice, practice when learning something,.  Did I not learn anything at my psychology classes all those years ago when I was training to be a teacher?  Is it Skinner or Pavlov I should be listening to again?

I tried to use mainly Spellbinders dies, the circles and the scalloped ones for the main image, the ticket and the photo corners from old ones but I resorted to a Cheery Lynn die for the flowers as they needed to be tiny and to a MS punch for the vertical strip down the side.  All available from Oyster Stamps which is where the card has ended up - sent to The Boss (not sure which one) and a note sent to Barbara to tell her that the card is up.

I do have another cute stamp which I am going to use to try to make a "pretty" card with but this time will do it in lighter colours as I bet Barbara thinks this is verging on the grungey side with it being dark colours.  Will have to wait and see what she has to say.

*only kidding about Barbara being an EX friend.  She is one of the nicest people you could wish to meet and I have been dem'ing with her for quite a long time now and always look forward to seeing her at the shows.  Sorry Barbara, am sure you knew the EX thing was a joke.

Using My New Stamps

I just had to make a card for my friend Jo last week so armed with Zapain (tablets) and a hot water bottle at my back I set to and began thinking about Jo's card.  As she makes the most fabulous cards herself I really wanted to make something special but couldn't honestly get my head around anything so instead she ended up with a plain and simple one but I felt sure she would like the Lynn Perrella stamp I used.

A bit quirky if you study it - it shows a lady in full sail like a regal galleon with one on her head and various other "sea" things about her. I honestly thought this was mounted very straight but looking at this scan I don't think I quite managed it did I?

First of all I made a background using my PP's, didn't do anything else to it but stamp the lady.  Then I used a tiny eraser to take out the colour on her face, hands, overskirt of her dress, shell umbrella and bag, dangling watch and the sails of the ship.  Apart from the sails on the ship I coloured the others in with various Pan Pastels and the small pointy tool and then sprayed it with Fixative.  (As what anyone says I do think you need to use something to fix the colours)

Then I sprayed a piece of card with my new Dylusions sprays, turned out rather more green than anticipated,  and stamped another LP stamp down the side.  Once the main image was affixed I coloured the circles in with gel pens and then found a piece of cardstock that matched the main image and made more circles with acrylic white paint and a couple of bottle tops.  The last thing was to put some Glossy Accents on the watch face and then when dry I assembled the whole thing and put a starfish brad on.

Thankfully Jo said she liked it and, as turns out, loves the Lynn Perrella stamps.

Oh I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside

Thank you one and all for the lovely entries to our last challenge, my choice, we had some lovely work as always and we now have a resource to draw upon when we have to make a card for a man.  Always good to have somewhere to go for inspiration and quite often these cards do cause us a bit of a headache.

"Oh I do like to be beside the sea,
Oh I do like to stroll along the Prom Prom Prom
When the Brass Band's Playing Tiddley Om Pom Pom"

Gosh that takes me back a bit - to being a child and having an ice cream whilst strolling along on a sunny day in my best cotton dress, white ankle socks and new sandals.

Thanks for that Von - yes, it is Von's choice today and she chose "Oh I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside" as her theme.  I have used the Victorian seaside stamps with the children on several times so I thought I would use something different this time.  Von had used Michael Powell's quirky bathing huts a short while ago so I plumped for his harbour scene.

Both Jo and I fell for these stamps when we saw them on a recent trip to Manchester but I didn't realise just how much colouring there was to this stamp.

I decided to use my new Pan Pastels and gaily went along smudging Blues, Magenta and Yellows into the sky and then, using the tiny tool, proceeded to colour in the houses along the front.  Not sure how I should have been using these but declined from using them on the boats and chose to use my Caran D'Ache watercolour crayons instead.  I was going to use my Gel Pen to colour the buoys in but opted instead for my Aquarelle pens - I must use them more often as I realise just how veratile they are now.

Hope lots of you are in the holiday mood and raring to go with Von's challenge.  It has been lovely seeing all the wonderful artwork that you all come up with week after week so here's to meeting up with you all again at the Artful Times.

I Like Playing with PP's

The back was a little easier yesterday, today not so but have just taken the tablets so fingers crossed I might get some crafting done.

Taken the opportunity to show you what else I did with my Pan Pastels so here are the last two samples in my book - now what can I experiment with next with them?

This first one was using them all over and then using a mask and spray ink on top.  The first one I did was a complete mess and I am not keen on this second one.  (I am not that good with spraying inks - doh!)  Then I  put some tissue tape in strips on top and went over with PP's.  Remember this is just a background and needs a focal picture on - perhaps I should have put one on in my book!

The second one was where I stamped some script on first of all and then went over in a very light colour.  I then added some bits of torn masking tape letting them overlap the script in places - it doesn't obliterate it.  Next I came in with other colours of PP's and finally stamped the flowers on.  This has to be my favourite of all the pieces I have done to date - but maybe that is because of the colours.

I have some stamped images left over from my workshop at Art from the Heart so I might do some experimenting with them - if I can think up some different techniques that might work with these chalks.

Hope these give you some ideas to get going with your PP's - remember to check out the previous ones by using the Pan Pastel link to my other work in my right side bar.

ps remember at 6 pm tonight there is the Artful Times blog entry on here and that used PP's again.

PP's Again

As I have not been crafting this week due to my back being bad I thought I would upload another couple of pages from my Pan Pastels experiments.  These are pages within my Pink Pig Book which I hope will carry lots of ideas in the end.

This was just using Versamark on a stamp and then going over with another colour on the top.  It was quite exciting to see (as in the top leaf) where one colour touched the edges and gave a variation.  If you use the lighter colours (tints) you get quite a nice shadow effect. I love doing this with them.

This was where I used Versamark and a large background stamp.  I really do like this idea and it will make for lovely mounts, especially if you experiment and tie in the colours with something in the main image.  I then stamped the poppies and just coloured them in with one of the pointy tools and sleeves. Don't forget that you can erase the PP's quite easily so any smudges when colouring in like this can easily be taken out.  It was a bit too intricate to cut out all the stems but it does look a little strange with the white showing.  Still I used the excuse that it is only in my 'experimental book'.

I will leave it there for today, tomorrow is an Artful Times blog entry which is scheduled and funnily enough features PP's as well.  Then on Saturday I will upload my final two pages (final as in how much I have done at the moment, not as in finished book) of experimental work for you to see.

I would love to see your experiments with the Pastels.

WOYWW 159

Well, nothing exciting to show you this week - just my desk as it was on Sunday.  I have had a real bad back for the past few days and no way am I going to be crafting at the moment.  Can't get an appointment with the doctor I want to see until a week Friday and only then if I ring early this Friday and manage to grab one.  Might have to visit the osteopath instead.

Here is my desk - pretty tidy - but as we had workmen in it had to be sorted at the other end - we were having a loft ladder installed.  This end just got left - but it did have a dust sheet over it.

Well, second time of keying this in - it just showed up as solid white lines when I went to do a preview (at the end!!!) so it is fingers crossed and a constant checking paragraph by paragraph.  (so far so good)

Starting at the left there is my Grand Calibur, a couple of ATG guns and a 'sewing house' I have only painted.  This is going to be shabby chic (or so I hope) and is a gift for the lady at the sewing shop who has been so kind to me (sh! it's a secret she hasn't to know) and only has the sewing machine in as yet because it arrived today.

Then there is a box, waiting to be decorated and have more paint on it, with some bags in and at the front you can see the lovely bunting that Helen sent to me when I bagged one of her lovely atc's.  Next is the fab Art Bin box that I bought from Oyster Stamps to store my dies in.  This is a fabulous buy and I just might have to get another whilst they have them in stock.  (I keep checking each paragraph and when I click Preview I get an orange square with some cogs going round inside it and then just those solid white lines I mentioned above.  I hope it is going to publish just like it looks here and not like it shows in Preview.)


Next you can see my card from Shaz in Oz (Hi Shaz, madly waving to you from the UK), then below on the desk some card and some Spellbinders dies I had used.  Sorry it has been a boring week for you but I hope that next week I can be a bit brighter and show you some cards I have been making as I need to get some done for friends who have had birthdays over the past few days.

Now you pop along to see Julia, Queen of Desks (be they tidy or untidy) and have a real good nose around.  Me?  I'm off to the massage chair before trying to get some sleep and then hopefully I can do a bit of crafting later in the day.

A late arrival which brightens up my post today:  at lunchtime the postie came and brought me this delightful atc from Dolores in Slovenia.  Thank you so much, it is fabulous - I love the lettering - goes so well with the little owl and the wood background.  Another lovely atc to add to my collection!

Another Page

Here is another page I made yesterday for my Fabric Book that I almost finished at the ArtsyCrafty weekend.  I just had this page to do but now am wondering whether to continue and make more so they can go back to back and create a meandering book or whether to call it a day and start another one.

I already have ideas of what I want to do in a new one so am bursting to get going - think Fabric is going to be the new me - thanks L & L!!  My PlayAway friends will be pleased to hear that I have been converted over to that medium and I cannot wait for us all to meet up - next year is such a long way off - thank goodness I will see some of them beforehand.

Anyway, this page did have a lovely white button on it so I thought I would enter it into the Out of a Hat Creations challenge but then this morning (I was up mega early) I was looking for another button to go with it and found the one I have used on his head so had to change the other one too.  Now they are a greyish shade of blue.  Slate?

Right, stop woffling and get on with it - here it is - a little less lavish than some of the others ...

... my entry for the Out of a Hat Creations blog challenge.  So sorry I missed you the last couple of times girls - don't know what happened - guess life just got in the way.

A Rusty Relic

Well, this is the last thing I made at the ArtsyCrafty Weekend and I enjoyed myself so much with all the different elements that went into the final piece.

This time I sat on a table with Freema and Inke and her lovely other half, Mark.  Must say that this Dutch couple have perfect English and it was lovely to hear them switch between the two languages so easily.

For this piece we did some rusting, painted metal, corrugated card and glass pieces, used polymer clay, wire and we cut away with wire cutters to our hearts content.  We also used tissue paper, Mica and Puffa Paint to get the overall effect that Lin and Leandra had so carefully planned.  The paint we used was the PaperArtsy Fresco paint, which I love.  It goes on so many surfaces and it has a beautiful chalky finish to it.  The main sample was in black but I chose to go light with mine.

This is Inke with hers

and Edwina with hers

The Class Sample

and mine

Closeup showing the rusty tree, frame and wings

the rusty bird

A bit of patina on a charm (Fresco Beach Hut)

Mica wrapped with wire

All too soon it was over and very sad to think that this was the end of an era.  We marked it with a few gifts for Lin and Leandra - some flowers, wine, chocolates and a rubber duck.  The flowers will fade, the wine will be drunk, the chocolates will be eaten but I hope they remember us when they bathe and sail their Jubilee Rubber Duck.

As I did the presentation I could not get any photographs so had to make do with these at the end

Thanks Lin and Leandra for a wonderful final ArtsyCrafty!

More of That Fabric Book

Went to the sewing shop and Wendy fixed my machine in no time, she also loved my book which I took to show her.  I now want some fabric that I just cannot find - I know I have it somewhere - it is the fabric that I made the "fancy dancy" curtains out of years ago and there are reasonable sized pieces in a bag somewhere - at least I think so - probably with all the organza I once had big ideas about using.

Anyway, here are the remaining pages from the weekend - had a chill out day today, think the tablets are putting me to sleep again so I have had a good old kip this afternoon.

This was from the Lucky Dip bag

(another image transfer)

Regal Bird (painted acetate)

Dragonfly

This last page was supposed to have dyed flowers on but I used them on the Lucky Dip one at the top and left them white.  I didn't make my "illegal flowers" when I got home but will do and then I will put them on this last page in the top left corner.

Hope you enjoyed these last few pages - now you will have to wait and see what else I come up with but tomorrow I will show you the "Rusty Relic" I did on Sunday.  Totally different and not a stitch of fabric in sight - but it did have stitches!

WOYWW 158 - Some ATC's ...

and what beauties they are too.

OK so this is a bit posed but they are on the side of my desk!

Top left Dumfing and card from Jo, then my atc from Mary Anne followed by my Dumfing and card from Annie.  Back again to the left is my Doodley Bird and card from Kay, my Jubilee atc (plus all the goodies) from Helen and my Phineas atc and goodies from May.  Didn't I do well?  But wait .... there' more

Another two and goodies from Tuire and Princess Judy.  Thanks Ladies and thanks Julia for a great idea.

These are my latest purchases - from Heart from the Heart and from PaperArtsy at weekend - I just spread them out a bit and pushed my stuff to the back

and this is my desk as it was when I first went to it this morning at silly o'clock before I decided to show you what I had been buying..

Now it is time to get yourself over to see what Ms Dunnitt has to say for herself and link in with your desk.  Not got one to link in with?  OK, well still head over and see what the others who join in with this massive blog hop on a Wednesday have to say for themselves and look at the state some folks leave their desks in.  Tut tut!

Sewing Has Come To A Full Stop

Last night I was carrying on with my sewing, wanting to get my pages to a more completed stage when my machine jammed.  I thought it was an empty spool/bobbin but when I looked there was still a little on it and  it was something else.  The metal arm that goes up and down (don't believe it, now I cannot find my manual either so don't know the names of these things - update, found the manual - the cotton is jammed somewhere around the "thread take up lever") has some cotton well and truly jammed in it - there was a bit of wire came out when I was fiddling but I think that was from wired ribbon I was sewing close to, hope so and that it is not part of my machine.   Doh!

Today the shop is closed so cannot even get to there to see if Wendy can fix it for me and don't want to unscrew a panel at the back in case I invalidate the warranty.

So my book remains unfinished, but not to worry as I loved doing it and want to do more.  I am making more pages and then I can sew them back to back.  On my way back from the hospital I called at Abakahn to match some fabrics up that I had been using over the weekend - closed - and no opening times displayed.  I gave up!  Now I have decided it is NOT MY DAY so I am showing you Four of the pages I have done so far - will show you the others tomorrow - it may be that there will be more stitched on at a later date or it may just be more pages - I will blog them as I get on and blog the whole thing when (IF with the luck I am having) it is finished.

 

Image transfer (Church window)

  

Padded Heart

  

Painted Fabric (Lynn Perralla stamp)

(pinned and waiting to be sewn)

  

Soldered Fabric (sheer over image)

(pinned and waiting to be sewn)

Hope you enjoyed looking as much as I enjoyed making - it really has got my creative juices flowing - I just loved doing this and cannot wait for my sewing machine to get repaired and ready - in fact my mum's old Singer might just have to come out for a bit of straight stitching until this one is repaired.

Workshop Overload?

First of all I must say "Welcome to my Blog" to my newest followers.  So nice to see you here and I hope I am going to keep you happy with what is coming up in the next few posts - and afterwards.  Welcome!

Oh My Gosh!  I am tired!  I did the taster session on Thursday (well, did the morning and the afternoon one) as in my previous post, and then on Friday I went to the ArtsyCrafty one which started before 9 am and ended at 9 pm! Yes, a twelve hour workshop - but oh how I did enjoy it.  Not stressful, but not finished - how can I not finish in all that time?

This was a new medium for them to have a workshop in and it was quite a new medium to work with for me.  It was all about fabric and sewing; so my all singing, all dancing new machine went with me. Thank goodness I was sat with my friend Wendy and her friend (who is now my friend) Edwina - both of them having travelled up from Wales ...

Wendy

Edwina

... and just behind us was Freema (right), Lou (left) and a lovely lady called Angela (centre) - think we were the naughty corner but this time we were good because we all concentrated so much on what we were doing there was no time to get rowdy.  That's me in the mirror taking the photo - ooer!

Well, I must say that Leandra and Lin have the most wonderful and meticulously planned workshops I have ever been on.  Everything is there for you and it is all so organised that it is a pleasure to take part in them.  We were making a fabric book and every single page had a packet, clearly marked and cram full of whatever you might possibly need to decorate your own page.  Plus there were "stations" up and down the room with equipment on that you might need to use and extra fabrics, laces, ribbons etc etc.  So much work had gone into the planning of this - so sad that this is to be the very last ArtsyCrafty weekend.  Yes, you heard right, this was the last one - I will so miss them but hopefully the two of them will still have PlayDays together and they will pass things on via their blogs (see my right hand bar for the links).

Not only have the workshops I have attended been interesting, fun and been so worthwhile but they have also forged many friendships amongst the participants that it was a joy to see so many old friends once more.  I even got to meet Sally who I have been in touch with via email for quite a while but never actually met before.

Anyway - I will leave it there for now and get on with a bit more sewing on my fabric book and then show you what I actually did. Here is a quick peek at one of the samples.

and a view - down the room - see how much space we had only three to a table.

Back later with my pages -  hopefully.

Di Day

On Thursday I went with my friend, Lorraine, and met up with Sam and her friend Maz (who had the most incredible nails) in Harrogate when we went for a Pan Pastell Taster Session with Di of Art from the Heart.   I won't say how much it cost us for one session (we had two - one in the morning and one in the afternoon although some people only did the one - personal choice) but we got the whole amount back in materials and therefore we got Di 'thrown in' for free!

I won't tell you much about the sessions in case she is repeating them but when left to our own devices (ie left to "play") I am afraid I got a bit carried away with the Dylusion Sprays and now know what everyone is talking about.  Bright, fabulous colours and no clogging!!! Some of my bits that I brought home have got Pan Pastells on them but to be honest the sprays are taking over a bit.  Here are some of the bits and pieces I did - just as brought home and not worked on any further (that will come later):

Now for our friends over the water and anyone else who has not visited her fantastic Alladins Cave (ie shop/studio) here are some photographs of the corridor you walk down to the work room - I did ask permission!

Fabulous tag of tags

Just love these tiles (and the Ranger goodies)

Some of the HUGE canvasses

The workroom where we had our Taster Session

My friends with Pastelly Hands

(Sam, Maz and Lorraine)

and me with Di

Hope you enjoyed this little peek and maybe in a few days time I will have some more of the brilliant images I stamped with worked on so that I can upload them to my blog.  In the meantime I have a fabric book to work on as I was on another workshop yesterday and am on another tomorrow.  No wonder my heart has gone tickety boo again!