A labour of love....

...  that we'll enjoy for the whole month of December...

The new advent calendar:

Last year after christmas I saw an advent calendar in the sale in Sainsburys - 24 little wood houses, the roof of each house lifts off so it can be filled with treats.. nice smooth surface for painting... well I couldn't NOT buy that could I?!

There was nothing wrong with them - just not my colour scheme... I planned to paint them in neutral colours so they could be hung on any tree... they could go on the main tree, or a garland or on their own tree as they have this year.

I love the end result, but they were a bigger job than I thought - TWENTY FOUR HOUSES... count them: TWENTY FOUR!! I'm just saying because I painted 18 of them with 2-3 layers of paint...(so technically that's 36 houses!) the festive spirit may have started to fade at some point - but it was worth it.

24 houses (there's that number again!) split into groups of 4 colour schemes, with 6 houses in each group.  It became a bit of a logistical juggle - I wanted my chosen colours to be used on each of the houses so remaining a group - (as the originals were - three colours used in different combinations)... I wanted the houses to be four different colours, the roofs four different colours too.... and I didn't want 2 dark houses together (at this point I may have started overthinking the whole project... lol)

The first thing I did was number the inside of the houses before I painted over the number on the outside- to keep the combinations evenly spaced - this was important if they were hung numerically along a banner - I wouldn't want to houses the same scheme side by side (not that I'm OCD or anything!)(ok, maybe a little bit)
House scheme A: 1,5,9,13,17,21
House scheme B: 2,6,10,14,18,22
House scheme C: 3,7,11,15,19,23
House scheme D: 4,8,12,16,20,24
It was the only way I could keep track of what I was doing!

I decided on colours - fairly neutral - Chalk, Snowflake, French Roast, Metallic Glaze, Slate and Annie Sloan Graphite chalk paint (I bought to paint a piece of furniture, its a lovely dark dark grey)...
I bought a couple of packs of snowflakes in Matalan that I wanted to use on the houses (I always head there at christmas - they often have really nice bits and pieces), book text  and corrugated card board (there's always corrugated cardboard isn't there lol).  The originally the houses were just painted - I wanted my make-over to have a bit more texture..  oh and glitter - there has to be glitter!

Here are the finished houses - they all follow the same format - snowflake on the front (attached with Matte Medium), snowflakes (JM07) stamped in Metallic Glaze stamped on the back with the number in Chalk or Black Archival ink on the back.. The number are a MaVinci stamp set called Fortress - I like this font because its a little bit distressed.

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House scheme A:  Graphite house, with a Chalk room covered in book text that has been washed with diluted Chalk paint. The bottom edge of the house has been glittered with Stampendous Frantage Crushed Glass Glitter in Gold.

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House scheme B: Painted  in Chalk, and the roof in Graphite. 

I thought the roof was too plain so I covered it wood effect scrapbook paper.. which was too white so I diluted a very small amount of French Roast and paint the roof... several times... until I achieved the colour I wanted...

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House scheme D:  Slate roof, dry brushed with French Roast to break up the colour, & the ridges were edged with Stampendous Frantage Crushed Glass Glitter in Silver (seems to be more of a very pale gold - very pretty).  The house was covered in book text and white washed to soften the text.

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House scheme D:  Slate house, with a Chalk roof covered in fine corrugation cardboard that has been 'peeled'.  I lightly dragged Matte Medium over the roof and sprinkled on Cosmic Shimmer Iced Snow Glitter Jewels - the glitter is translucent so is only seen when the light catches it.

Don't tell the other houses but I think 'House D' is my favourite - its grey (love grey), the glitter is so subtle, pretty & christmassy! (its closely followed by the book text house in my affections).

Here are the roofs:

... and the houses on the tree..  the plan for 'opening' the advent calendar is the houses are hung with numbers facing out, they once opened they re-hung with the snowflakes facing out...

These were quite a lot of work but were fun to decorate, and will come out for several christmases to come.

x

What weekends are made for...

... an evening with friends - one of those evenings where you laugh so much your stomach muscles ache, your throat hurts and in the end you have no make-up left on because you've cried with laughter..

We started off at the Blackfriar pub - I've always wanted to go in here to see the interior - & it didn't disappoint - I wish I could've taken photos. I hadn't noticed until I looked at this photo how all the building around it have gone... but its still standing! Fantastic.
I hadn't seen several of the friends in a long time - too long - missed them - great evening.

... a fun day teaching a workshop - at Its Crafting Time - where between us we built a terrace of houses - Balamory has nothing compared to these lovely JOFY houses:

... a day in the garden - tidying up, buying and planting new plants - LOVE lupins - mini towers of colour... this is my current favourite part of the garden:

... time spent with Family - nephews birthday - I made a card for him - boys/mens cards are hard aren't they? (or is that just me!) (must challenge myself) - this one was created thanks in part to the PaperArtsy brayer masterboard video that was on the blog earlier this month.

... all that, and there's still today!  Gotta love a Bank Holiday weekend!

Hope yours is good...

xx

'The house that JOFY built'...

.. is the workshop I'm looking forward to teaching this coming Saturday, 24th May, at Crafting Time in Shepreth.  

There are still a couple of places left so contact the shop if you'd like to book a place.
On this workshop we'll decorate/alter an mdf house (moneybox) using all things JOFY & PaperArtsy - Grunge Paste, Stencils, Paints and JOFY stamps... I'm really looking forward to this - its going to be a fun class!

Hope to see you there

x

Catch up post 1....

... i'm still a little bit obsessed with houses - in whatever form that takes...and christmas gives lots of opportunity for little houses .... (if you'd like to see the other houses click 'houses' on the labels list on the bottom left of the blog...

This house is one I altered for a class at Birds in the Barn a few weeks ago - a lot of fun - and quite a challenging shape..

Created with Fresco Finish paints & Crackle Glaze, JOFY stamps: mini27, 29 & JOFY20,18 & 19.  

The snowflakes around the edge are Sizzix/TimHoltz on the edge snowflakes die- now discontinued (which is a shame), the stand is created from a box of slices of wood by Artemio- they're surprisingly useful! great for stamping onto and for creating structures like this stand.

xx

Let its snow, let it snow, let it snow...

... and it did! Essex, along with other parts of the UK, ground to a temporary halt last Wednesday with the first snow fall of the year...  It was pretty and quite brief- all back to normal by Thursday evening... but it prompted us to stock up on salt for the ground... and it was an opportunity for us to see what our neighbours are like when events like snow happen: people came out and cleared not only their own drives and pavements but those of our elderly neighbours... so nice to see that.

and talking of snow...

I've been making (among other things) little houses (& unusually for me- not birdhouses!) but they are little houses.. I've had the church-like house for 3-4 years, I bought them when I went to New York (actually I bought a few because they were in the sale bin! result!)  Cute to alter - I've given this one a winter feel...

with the church is an altered mini (& by that I mean tiny) birdhouse available from PaperArtsy- I used white puff paint as snow - how can you see that paint and not think of snow!

I gave the house a cotton reel stand (also available from PaperArtsy) and the star on the top is from JOFY mini02 - Love that star! lol

There will be more of these but just the two for now.. (other things to do: christmas cards to make/send, & the christmas tree won't decorate itself!)

Keep safe & warm

ACP Week 4: Grey + D = Die Cutting

Week 4 of my Alphabet Colour Project, and is brought to you by the letter D and the colours grey and green.  I don't think I use a lot of green which might explain why, when going through the stash, I found a lot of green - lots there that I like! 
Look how nice they look together! Quite a calming colour combo.

D = Die cutting machines

 ... and not just the 'cutting' side of die-cutting more what else can be done with these very useful machines - which is why my first projects is this cute little altered birdhouse - one of my favourite pieces that I've made.

The roof of the house is covered in metal that has been run through the die cut machine (Big Shot) inside an embossing folder - I chose to pain the debossed side because the paint settles inside the impression - giving a limewashed effect - I really like this - lovely and aged.

Thanks for popping by - hope you're as inspired by grey and green as I am! I'm off to get painty... (though obviously I won't be wearing my new apron - thats for clean crafts lol)

Take care

"its nice,.. but what is it? What is it for?"...

... which prompted the response -"its a little house... and it doesn't have to be for anything does it??" Which prompted a further discussion about whether 'things' have to have a purpose, or use.  Can't it just be an attractive/cute/pleasing-to-the-eye object. (in my head i was already thinking 'its something I made that's going to sit on the mantlepiece so I can look at it (proudly) and think 'I made that'. :o) )

Here's the 'house' that prompted the conversation:

I was at my parents house and my dad let me loose with his scroll saw (supervised I might add, lol) (& add 'scroll saw' to the birthday/christmas list) and I cut of some bits of wood that were there - wasn't sure what I was going to use them for but something'll come to me...
So, its a house - or a potting shed that time forgot and the plants took over.  The metal leaves are a Habitat lampshade that has been many things in our house but never a lampshade - its thin die cut metal and I've used it as a stencil & mask, I wrapped it around a coloured ball in the bathroom.... and now I've added it to a house..- actually these pieces were laying on the desk - they're the sort of fiddly bits and pieces that are hard to file and tidy away so end up in a corner of the desk getting in the way - turning them into a piece of 'art' seems a much nicer place for them.

Its a small piece - only stands about 8cm high, the base is stack of buttons, and its covered in Basic Grey papers & corrugated cardboard.
I can feel a whole lot more of these coming on...
Continuing of my 'obsession' with houses...

Winter Cottage...

In my first post of the year I mentioned projects, & said I would show you... & I haven't (sorry!) ... well now I am!
Better late than never.... here is 'Winter Cottage'... it was a while in the making 'cos ...erm .... well... other things took precident.... & I couldn't decide how to finish it... blah blah blah

... on the bright side, & with a view of excellent planning (ahem) I've started the decorations for christmas 2011! :o)  I'd actually finished it before christmas but I kept adding bits to it, taking them off, adding them again ... generally faffing about with it really!

The cottage is quite small (as normal!) about 12cm tall.. & created with all sorts of dies (Tim Holtz' snow flurries & paper rosette; Quickutz scallop border) & punches (Martha Stewart snowflake)(had a lot of use out of that punch this christmas! lol) There's also a liberal sprinkling of 'frosted lace' Stickles ... snow snow snow

Houses... everywhere...

Little houses - they were all over our house but in September quite a few of them relocated.  Here are two of them: 'made do and mend' on the left (bought by a lady who makes patchwork items -very appropriate!), and blue/grey on the right....

And this house - didn't sell at Village Green - I think because I was sending out 'don't buy it' vibes because it was my 2nd favourite! (& someone had already bought my favourite! lol)(which I'm very grateful for obviously! lol)

Love making these - and I can feel a christmassy one coming on...  ho ho ho  (only 30 days 'til christmas day!!)

Lilliput PaperArtsy HQ?!?

or in 'JoLand' of miniature houses this is what PaperArtsy HQ looks like - made with the lovely new Thorndon Hall papers:

The house stands on a vintage cotton reel, is edged with spots of Distress Stickles and has a Tim Holtz book plate on the front.  I'm going to further embellish the house by adding pen nibs onto some of the printed nibs (I've just got to find them - they're in a safe place.. but I've got to find that too! lol) 

The roof is covered in metal that's been run through an embossing plate, painted, spritzed with glimmer mists (perfect pearl mists) and sanded back.  Love the effect that gives!

PaperArtsy have the new Thorndon Hall 12x12 papers in stock here.  Enjoy!
(oh and the house is from PA too!)(and the metal!)

Birdhouses....

... seem to be a bit of a 'thing' for me at the moment - I have about 4 (all shapes and sizes) on the hearth waiting to be altered/treated.

These two mini birdhouses have been sitting on the shelf over the fireplace for quite a while - and so I thought I'd post them for you to see... they are part of a themed set I'm working on - there'll be about 8 (hopefully) by the time I'm finished. A sort of street.  They're quite small - about 10/12 cm high and 8cm wide.. nice cute little size.

Each roof has been covered in embossed metal (cuttlebug'd), sanded back to reveal the base metal, and treated with acrylic paints and/or glimmer mists.

So thats 2 down, 6 to go.......