WOYWW 30/6/2010

So much going on on my desk today! Another shadowbox project of stamped images, some curtains for a stage that I have in mind for a special project, a Blogging handbook that has lots of info about self-hosting a WordPress blog on your own server rather than on the WordPress site, oh an up in the right corner my Tilda-skewered card.

Also my Copic colour chart from Monday’s post, and the remnants of a project that I am not happy with and will possibly abandon.  Oh yes, and as all the wireless stuff, all the VOIP phone stuff, all the security camera stuff, is all run by MY machine, the spaghetti junction of wires (which is NOTHING compared to the mess UNDER my desk) makes a very annoying addition to my W.

To save you hunting back for it, here is another closer look at the card

Smooch – last SI layout ever

Oh well.  Even when you KNOW it’s coming it’s still just that little bit sad.  After the first Scrapbook Inspirations idea book came out, and was sooooo lovely, there was hope that while the magazine had died, SI might live on in this new incarnation.  But the overwhelming feeling seemed to be the price was too high and I guess maybe that played a part in the decision by the publishers to stop after the second one (which I just got in the mail today and which is even better than the first one, IMHO, with lots of work by lots of different people, all clean lines and white space, and a real pleasure to flip through once fast, then slower) even though book 3 was well on the way to being complete and ready to go.

Along with the book was my returned layout.  Here it is – regular readers will remember some of the bits from past posts, but here they all are drawn together on a layout:

A sneaky photo my sister snapped at a family wedding, with more beading, the rif-on-Tim’s flower, and the fabric embellishments on interfacing, cut out and popped.

So bye-bye SI … it was nice to know ya!

Busy day

Usually I would hold this for a Sunday-someplace-else but I have SUCH a busy day today (well, this week is really manic with all sorts of school appointments and other things getting in the way of crafting…and, oh yeah, THE HEAT) so rather than stick to my usual “skip only Saturday” schedule I’m going to post a link to this site, Scrapbitz, which has some fab Copic tutorials and a handy colour chart you can download and print on the sort of cardstock that you usually use for your stamping or printing and colouring, swipe on a quick slash of the markers you have, and use it to select your trio (or duo) of close colours for shading.  Very handy.

The tutorials are all on You Tube as well, and specifically for Copics, although I imagine you could use the basic principles for Promarkers as well.  I must hunt up a Promarker chart, there must be one, to add as well.

Also wondering if anyone has done a chart that shows the different inks from ink-jet printers and how they bleed (or don;t bleed) when using markers like Copics and Promarkers.  I have an Epson Photo 1400 and I have to say I almost never get even the slightest smearing of the printer ink even when colouring over the printed lines with the markers.  I wonder if this is an Epson thing or if other printers work the same? Anyone want to share their experience via a comment?  Seen a chart anywhere?  I’d love to know!

Sunday-someplace-else 27/6/2010

Today, I thought I would post a link to Cheeky Magpie. I am always inspired by this blog, and looking at this little paper and wire birdcage, I’m sure you can see why:

Be sure to really explore the site – there is a LOT to look at and lots of neat projects and info.

SDC10 – Freedom

I always try to check out the Stampotique Designers Challenge and usually have an idea of what I want to do pretty quickly after seeing it.  This week was no exception till I read that ALL the stamps had to be Stampotique. That scuppered my original idea, but I did have a favourite “freedom” quote that I thought would be good to use so I shifted gears and came up with this one:

I found the little waving flag image online then printed it forward and reverse and wrapped it around a toothpick  so my little American Girl could wave it.  I used her last time I did a card, but her sweet expression and strip-y outfit fit better than the rest of the images.  I’ll have to make a conscious effort to do a different one next time!

The quote is one I remind myself of (as the mother of a teenager) quite often but it is so hard to step back when you see your kids making what YOU think are the wrong choices (along the lines of A-level revision v shooting people in Call of Duty, not driving drunk or getting involved with drugs – at that point rational thought would go out the window.  The Wrath of Mom knows no limits when it’s not just poor judgement but actual danger on the table!)

And just because once an idea takes hold I usually have to carry it thru, I did make the other card, even if it isn’t a fit for the challenge.  It uses one of my favourite stamps, the little shish kebab skewer with a space – perfect for skewering all manner of things for comedic effect.  I skewered a little screaming head, to make a warning for a pot of especially HOT dip we put out at a BBQ once.  I’ve skewered nuns, a bald Hilary Clinton, other screaming people, a family of Edward Gorey dancers, and even once poor Dan99.  But I recently bought an unneeded set of Copics from someone who very kindly included a number of stamped images she had no use for.  They were all in the “cute” range, something she would have no idea was about as far away from my style as possible.  I was delighted, nonetheless as they were PERFECT for practice colouring in.  Having done the no-mouthed girl, and I think fairly well, it seemed a shame to just toss her aside.  She merged in my head with the challenge to give me this:

If she had a mouth it would be screaming, yes? Seems to me there is a gap in the market.  All those frankly creepy no-mouth kids crave a little six-sided stamp cube, each with an expression – screaming, smiling, an O of surprise, a stuck out tongue, an unhappy face and, oh I don’t know, maybe vampire teeth?  That might tempt me to buy one someday….

The folding flower book

I did one of my little videos for the folding flower book from my WOYWW – there are links in the info section for the template I used and a link to the Alan Beck quote.

Hope you enjoy it. If you make one, do send me a comment so I can see it!

WOYWW – 23 June

Todays WOYWW is all about a mini-book I’ve been working on. Based on a template for something completely different (a folding Flower CD case) it went from this:

How it come in to play:  I was looking for a flower shape to use as a template for a completely unrelated project and this popped up.  I was pretty intrigued by the idea of a CD case that folded down from a flower so I downloaded the PDF.

and this:

How it came in to play: I was looking back at a very old layout, one of my first published ones, and the bit of the quote that I used on it made me go looking for more by Alan Beck.  Instead of NEW ones I found a much expanded version of the OLD one.  And it’s a corker!

to this!

How it came in to play: I unearthed a kit Shimelle put together for a GoGo retreat, I think, that I was meant to get a few extra bits from her to finish (a few more embellishments and the INSTRUCTIONS LOL!) Loved the kit, no idea how to make theoriginal  project, but it worked a treat for this one!

I’d best snap a quick wider view for you, so I am not accused of hiding my shame thru careful cropping!

Quite a large mini-album

I did a little slideshow/video on the album that was my WOYWW last week.  I managed to forget one score and fold but I hope I sorted that by an annotation.  SO like me LOL!

Hope you like it.  I used a Papermania paper pack, which had some lovely paper, but only one of each and only A4 size, which dictated some of my choices.  Still I think it’s very pretty and it may wind up as an end-of-year gift for DDs escort on her bus – she has a few great-grandaughters and photos of them will fill it nicely.  And she can open it out on display of she wants.  She always comments on my “inky fingers” at drop off time (I’m usually pretty clean at pick-up time in the morning!) and is always interested to see what I have been working on, so it’s probably a good choice and better for her than a box of chocs.  The teachers will get chocs and wine as I figure after a year of DD they will need the comfort – much as I love her she is hard work sometimes.  But in the end I think the escort will appreciate this more.

I used actual music this time, rather than an audio swap – Vangelis – and You Tube pick up on it right away so they popped an ad on there for buying the song.  I really must find some new copyright free music to use, as I fear I have exhausted all the MusicShake selections in Audio Swap and don’t like using the same ones over and over again, and I never want the music to be intrusive (well, except that Stampotique project, in which case Terror Couple Kill Colonel was a perfect choice and I still have All You Zombies in my hat for a later one LOL!)

Delayed from yesterday

I did promise, and here it is. And a two part Sunday-someplace-else this week, to make up for the late post too. I would SO play with this house – I would set it up on my window sill and play with the people like they were The Sims. At least with a pretend family I could make them behave, tidy up, and I wouldn’t have to feed them EVERY DAY!  Plus I LOVE that 50s style house!

Next, I am enjoying having a little explore of The Cottage Industrialist and am particularly taken with these little freebie cards and envelopes. Tiny and cute.

And who can resist cupcakes dressed up as Pirate ships? Adorable. Check out the site here for more Pirate Printables and see what else you can uncover there.

Happy Fathers Day Card

I’ve mentioned couple of things before – firstly, that the family is in love with Words With Friends and that not too many days go by when some combination of us doesn’t have a game or two on the go; secondly, that  am NOT a master card maker.  what I think I am good at is tying the theme of the card with the person.  I don’t make generic cards in stacks – I make a card when I need it and I like to make the card match the person a best I can.  So it seemed natural for me to make a FDC for DH using Words With Friends for the design element.

I started off grabbing letters from online images and trying to print them and create the words I wanted but it looked frankly rubbish, even for me.  It was just too hard to get the letter tiles all the same size.  The easy route would have been to use my Scrabble tiles, but I don’t often tend to take the easy route (maybe that is why I don’t make too many cards as they take me longer than a scrapbook layout to produce!) so I instead created the letter (with superscript scoring number) pairs then worked out the size of the card based on how I could make legitimate words (and yes, EL and ED are both on the approved two-letter-word lists) and have it still make sense and look pleasing.  Luckily it all fit on a standard card size that I had from a GoGo kit – phew.  I printed the letters, punched the tiles, rounded all the corners, edged them with Spiced Marmalade (to mimic the yellow with orange shadowing of the game) and mounted them on pale blue-grey card.

It’s not going to win any prizes, but it is cute enough and DH totally got the connection as soon a he looked at it, so I say … RESULT! Inside  it says May you always get both the letters and the spaces to play them – We Love You!

Continuing on the Fathers Day theme (and Sunday Someplace Else will come tomorrow, if you are dropping by to see what link I posted, so come back then) I’d just like to be a bit proud of DH.  People ask “What does your DH do?” and I usually just say that he is an iPhone app developer.  True enough but I can never remember what apps he’s written, as he does them as a third-party programmer so it isn’t like his name is plastered all over them.  Someone says “Hey, I need an app to do this” and he then writes the code to make it work, and then disappears back behind the Mac.  Well, this app he wrote, called Melodala, has seen a bit of press recently in some of the London commuter papers and will be used in an exhibit at the Tate.  People will be able to create their own mandala on an iPad and it will be printed and displayed on the walls.  He’s done a presentation on using it as art therapy, and there may be other uses to come. The people who conceived the app mention him on the site, so I figure I can mention his involvement here.

Check it out – you can see a video demo on YouTube