Happy WOYWW to all! WOW. The days are rocketing by. I am thinking a clean desk every week might be a bit boring, and vowed to snap some progression shots of what I have been working on. I didn’t remember but will try to do so for next week if I can! A few things, like some samples for one of the Mixed Media Emporium’s challenges, Watercolour Texture, have graced my desk:
Clearing those away, I made some ATC(oins) using the little stamp that you can just about see in the box next to the glue blue bottle, shown better in the middle here:
They are done now but won’t share them today (texture challenge tomorrow, coins on Friday.) And there were many more stages of chaos that I didn’t grab a shot of, so I guess it is the boring clean desk that is the main one this week:
After snapping this, I got set-up for a cardmaking session that is a bit of a cheat, but I’ll explain THAT in a weekend ACAD post:
Man Bites Dog – I waffled between 340Lb. Psychic Blames Banker and this one. I wonder what you do if the pulls make no sense? I first got 340Lb. Banker Blames Wed, so I pulled another card. Must ask Kyla what her method is!
Knitting mates come for a natter today, but I will get to all the desks as soon as I can. Have a great WOYWW day and hopefully there will be a whole day of SUN sometime soon.
Oh dear. I fear I might have forgotten all the correct people who sent what, but I am going to do my best! I got a LOT of stuff from Spyder. The ATC folder was actually cut in half, and each side filled with a little multi-coloured notepad made up of hand-dyed papers. The little top stapled holder was part of her envelope!
There was a belly-band around the holder, and that became a belly-band on another page, with the little journalingg cards created from another bit of the envelope:
The back of both cards again, lined with hand-dyed paper. This is some of the ones dyed with Dylusions spray ink! And that envelope was not yet done. The last bit made a pocke to hold more journaling cards:
Honestly, I think I used every scrap of that envelope except the tiny bit I punched out here and that bit was slightly ripped so it was fine to toss it in the bin. Lastly, I had the ATC holder from Susan Renshaw. It was so cute, and made a perfect pocket just as it was, although I added a punched circle (and promptly broke my punch, no idea how, and made the little folded journaling stripto fit inside from a scrap of card on my desk and yet more hand-dyed paper.
In the end I regretted chopping up Julia’s card so I opted not the use the lovely postcards from bothe Spyder and Sue. Maybe I’ll scan the writing and keep that then use the cards. Finally, eye test for me today and my daughter on Thursday, WOYWW tomorrow, and my knitting friends are popping round for a session in the garden, if the weather holds… Busy week!
Oops. Sorry about the typo. POUCHES. If I change it I think it will mess up the permalink to the post so Imma gonna leave it. Oh the shame of it….
I have been beavering away on that junk journal and am very nearly to the point where I can make the covers. Almost all pages have an addition of some spot for journaling added to them and I have used most of the bits from the WOYWW swap – at least the ones I can find. I know Caro sent me some bit and I know I tucked them away in a “safe place” (HA!) and will add them as soon as I remember where that is. But I had to make some tea for The Hubster yesterday and he had bought some tea with colourful packaging, so I decided to make use of it.
I needed to keep the box intact (mostly) as there are still many tea bags stored in it, but I felt the lid coud come off now. Not too complex at all. I cut down the tea bag pouches:
I wasn’t sure if I should cover the writing, but for now, I left it. I do have a die that MIGHT pretty much fit the spot but I don’t mind seeing the “junk” aspect of the things I am adding. I seem to have missed out a photo of adding hand-dyed paper with lines to the back of each half of the lid (cut to fit inside the pouches) and adding the ea bag labels as a pull to the top, but here they are in place in the journal:
I think they are pretty cute! I will probably do a quick re-cap of all the other WOYWW swap mailings that I used tomorrow, so the people who pop round on Wednesday can see them. Finding interesting ways to use as much of the stuff as I can was a fun process!
Thursday, I had a handful of these card fronts that have an embossed area in the middle. They are VERY old. But I’d like to use them up so:
Pretty basic stuff but I was glad to use that heart die that I have had kicking around for ages. Not 100% sure of the two-different-heart styles but it’s fine.
And I left the scraps on my desk for Friday and just shuffled the scraps around to create another card.
And I still had a couple of scraps at the end. Really, this process is just scraps making scraps until those scraps are too small to be useful. It’s endless!
Yesterday (Saturday), I could have maybe tried to make another card with the leftovers but I wanted a change of colour. I have to say, I do love this one. I have a ring full of curves that I used for a scrapbooking class I tough 10 years ago. And a curved ruler as well that I never really use anymore. In the end I just used the ruler, cause I could run my blade along it and cut, where I can’t do that with the cardboard curves. I just grabbed some cardstock that (mostly) spanned the width of the card front and stacked the curves
I also used a sentiment die and both cut a printed sentiment AND some plain strips to create this kinda snarky card – I have someone in mind for this one LOL! These sentiment dies are so much more useful than just cutting the stamps that come with them.
I dragged out some paper strips, pre-punched borders and a pack of slimline cards for my Sunday card. a very fast one, and a little tip.
I have some foam squares that seem to be sticky only on one side. I save them for using in the middle of popped items. That way the full sticky-on-both-sides squares do the actual attaching round the perimeter of the element and the one-side-sticky ones stick to either the card or the element and still do the work of popping where it doesn’t matter. Instead of just tossing them in the bin I can actually use them. You can see the top protective film is just falling off, but the bottom is fully sticky.
On Monday I made another simple card with two coordinating designs of patterned paper, from another paper pad with scraps tucked inside I seem to have a lot of them. Again, using the waste from die cutting the sentiment then I filled it with a stack of white card topped with the other patterned paper. I did the base card then added two different elements tot he envelope for adding as needed, one more masculine and one more feminine:
I don’t think the pearl dots make it too feminine, especially with the colours, but the floral elements make is girly, despite the colours! I will possibly do this more often, doing no-sentiment cards, for example, as a stash of for-any-occasion cards to have on stand-by.
Tuesday:
As I was putting away the paper pad from the Happy Birthday card, the paper pad from a card last week caught my eye. There were still scraps in that one so I tried to use them up if I could.
I still have a smidge of the solid pink but I used up some big chunks and a couple of bits from a cut-apart sheet.
I wanted to make a special card and the card I shared yesterday was still fresh in my mind so I decided to give it another go, with an alteration. Instead of beginning with a square, I began with a strip of paper, 8 inches by 2 1/2 inches
All the beginning folds are exactly the same – fold in half lengthwise and widthwise, fold in half widthwise then fold over the corners, and reverse the folds to make a little house shape.
Then you want to fold one side over then flip and fold one side over to create a split arrow, sort of
The little triangles at the top are the only bit you are going to stick to the inside of the card. This leaves you plenty of room to decorate but likewise it leaves the inside of the card neater with no need to decorate if you don’t want to! It is also a bit more economical with your pretty paper, if you want to use patterned paper or light card to make the structure.
I show it sideways, but the other goal was to show the same device works equally as well as a side-opening card. It does, and here it is! Lots of bright colours, one of the sentiments printed and cut with the die (still haven’t stamped or used the ones that came with the die LOL!)
and inside:
The HI line was actually the HOWDY after a little surgery – the other die of the trio is a HELLO and I didn’t want two HELLOs, so I did a little nip/tuck on it. I really like the top-to-bottom orientation and the smaller device that is completely hidden by the pop-out. Had I wanted to I could have left the inside of the card bare and still had plenty of room for writing a message. But leaving the bottom bare works too. OK, A Card A Day recap over the weekend and then back to other things.
I am warming up to the whole cardmaking thing. Mine may not be brilliant examples of stellar cardmaking, I use 90% cardstock and patterned paper (cause that is what I have to use up) not stamps and inks, except as a bit of an addition, but I like them. And I love a good interactive card. I watched a YouTube video with my daughter by 5-minute crafts
Oh boy does it go by FAST. At least the card I am making is the very first one so you only have to watch from the beginning and no hunting to rewatch. YouTube knows its audience pretty well and another video popped up in my suggested list, by a name I recognize. He watched, s l o w e d it right down, and laid out the steps pretty well. I wanted to see if I could adapt the style of the examples (very much not MY style) and make one of these cards. My photos are possibly not as clear as either of the videos, but it really is a very easy process so maybe they will be enough. If not, click away on either of the ones above and that should do the trick.
It begins simply enough, with a square of paper. I did an 8×8 square of lightweight cardstock (90 to 120 gsm – you don’t want it too thick!) so it fit perfectly into an A6 card. I wasn’t abandoning my use-my-scraps goal so that size worked well for me. If you begin with an A4 (or US letter) sized paper you can make use of the strip you cut off to square it up.
Fold the square width-wise, open, and fold length-wise. Or do the reverse. Either way.
Fold this up into a smaller square along the lines and mark about 1 inch along each of the folded edges, top and left. You want to make sure you are cutting away four loose squares and leaving the folded edges intact
Open the piece up to a T shape. This is the first slightly tricky bit. You are going to fold both the top arms of the T over to match the middle upright of the T, like so:
Now when you open that up you can reverse the folds of the two side pieces so they fold inwards:
And ultimately it will look like this when stuck inside the card! I did top-fold, but I see no reason why side fold wouldn’t also work, I have to test it to be sure.
I picked out some VERY old paper and a few bits. Again, the goal is to USE STUFF UP rather than creating more scraps! One 12 x 3ish strip of paper, with clever cutting and a spare nearly 3/4″ strip of cardstock filled the card front with some leftover
Trimming the cut-off strip of card from the squaring up so it is just wider than the T-arm (for me this was about 2 1/4 inches but it can be wider) accordion fold it so you have four equal pieces and a valley, mountain, valley fold arrangement. Cover each section with patterned paper. I was able to make use of the heart from the original design, which was a bonus!
Add some adhesive to opposite ends of the middle cross, and stick this strip in place, centered, like so:
This is the “action” of the card. I found it helped to make sure this bit was trained to do what it needed to do by collapsing and opening it a few times, and reinforcing the folds:
You can see how the cross-strip rotates and folds inward to nestle inside the structure. Now you only need to stick THAT to the inside of the card
Decorate the font:
I decided to cover the top and bottom bits to hide the device a little better
Card DONE! I had a lot of fun doing this and know I will make more. Once you know how it is super simple, really.
Happy WOYWW to all! Apologies in advance for this massive post. I hope you will find it worth it.
There is only one thing on my desk but what a thing it is! Debbie (Tattered Rocks) gifted me the MOST BEAUTIFUL JOURNAL IN THE WORLD, adding a note to say she used about 20 items from the box I sent her and could I identify them all. It is breathtaking in the extreme.
You cannot believe how amazing and dimensional it is. I spy the rose and the flower at the bottom with the heart, the small roses too, I think, and the spray of beads across. Another heart and I think the X and maybe some of the gears. Oh and the IMAGINE word buckle thingie…and some watch hands! How she took my pile of cast-offs and transformed them into this bit of heaven I don’t know. I suspect there is witchcraft involved and I 100% got the best end of this deal. Thank you Debbie. I am in awe of your talent.
The last of the swap ATCs have arrived! I got a re-send from Spyder, and a bonus one, along with a super cute folder that will appear in my junk journal in some fashion. You can see it there at the top but they are worth a closer look:
I love the envelope too. So pretty, again, great for junk journal fodder. Then after I took this shot I got the ATC from Susan Renshaw. Love the string pull flowers! What a glorious location as well.
I also claimed one of the Shaz commemorative pieces and that was in the box from Debbie as well:
Lurking at the top of my desk, unseen in the top shot, is a little strip of Archival Ink-stamped bits for Morti – just awaiting her address to mail them!
And finally the MBD cards. I am reminded that at some point I found my old VHS tape (it MIGHT have been a Betamax!) of the original 1992 movie. Imagine my surprise to see it is now on DVD:
An interesting one – the topic seems serendipitous as just this week my son asked about an old scrapbook layout I had done called Saints and Sinners. It told the story of how the same couple, quite a few generations back in my family tree, spawned an actual Saint as well as a member of the Pretty Boy Floyd gang, convicted and executed for his part in The Kansas City Massacre.
In case anyone is interested, I had to type out the journaling (A LOT) for my son so I might as well add it here:
Saint Pauline – Sister Pauline of the Agonising Heart of Jesus
Amabile Lucia Visintainer was born in Vigolo Vattaro, Trento (once part of the Austrian Tyrol but now part of Italy) 16 December 1865. She was one of three children born to Antonio Napoleone Visintainer and Anna Pianezzer. Her brother, Antonio Giuseppe Visintainer , was my Great-Great Grandfather, making Saint Pauline my first cousin 3 times removed.
Amiable lived in Vigolo Vattaro until age 10, working in the silk mill until her father learned of the Brazilian government’s invitation to Europeans to settle in Brazil. In the same 2.5 month period, approximately 20% of the population left Vigolo Vattaro and settled in Brazil. Amiable felt called to the religious life, but the death of her mother in childbirth left her to care for her now 12 siblings. When her father remarried, Amiable and two friends founded The Little Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.
The congregation grew and their work spread, reaching out to the sick and poor of Brazil. In 1903, Mother Pauline, as she was now known, was elected Mother Superior for Life and she added to her duties work in Sao Paulo among orphans, ageing slaves and orphans of slaves left to die because they had no work. In 1909 she was relieved of her duties by the Archbishop of Sao Paulo following a series of disputes within the congregation. She went to work with the sick and aged in the Hospice of Saint Vincent de Paul at Braganza Paulista until she was recalled to the congregation’s mother house in 1918. She lived there for over 20 years, caring for sick sisters, praying and living away from the world. In 1938 complications from diabetes led to rapidly failing health. She spent the last year of her life confined to bed and died on 8 July 1942. The congregation she founded continues its work in Brazil to this day.
Beatified 18 October 1991 by Pope John Paul II in Rome, Italy
Canonised 19 May 2002 by Pope John Paul II in Rome, Italy
Adam Richetti (member of the Pretty Boy Floyd gang)Adam Richetti was born to Bartolomeo and Elisabetta (Zamboni) Richetti on 5 August 1909 in Strawn, TX. He grew up in Lehigh, OK farming and working in the mines. He spent most of his time with his older brother Joe, who taught him to repair cars. He attended school to the 7th grade but then Adam became involved with one Otis Harper, participating in several minor robberies in Oklahoma. He and Otis, on the run from the local law, went to Hammond, IN to Adam’s other older brother Dave.
Adam and Otis were arrested for the first time on a robbery-related charge 7 August 1928. He was sentenced to one-to-ten years and was sent to the State Reformatory in Pendleton, IN where John Dillinger was being held. Adam spent August 1928 to October 1930 in Pendleton and was paroled on 4 October 1930.
Adam went to New Lima, OK and was eventually released from parole on 22 Sept. 1931. He took part in the robbery of the First National Bank at Mill Creek in Sulphur, OK on 9 March 1932. Leaving the bank, the robbers were met with a hail of gunfire. But they were gunned down by vigilante citizens, not the police! Adam was shot three times. He was tried and convicted in April 1932 but was released from prison in August. He jumped bail and joined up with Pretty Boy Floyd. He was also identified as one of the accomplices of Vern Miller, another criminal, and helped him in an attempt to free his friend and convicted killer Frank Nash. This resulted in the infamous Kansas City Massacre.
Historians disagree on the identity of Verne Miller’s accomplices. The FBI identified Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd and Adam Richetti as the other gunmen, but there are questions both about who was actually involved and if it was a rescue or a gangland hit! According to the official FBI version of events, while Miller was being transported two (or possibly three) men rushed forward, one shouted “Up, up!” There was no time for the lawmen to reach for their weapons. The order to “Let them have it!” came quickly and the “rescuers” opened fire with machine guns relentlessly, from all sides of the car. The result was truly a massacre, with four lawmen killed, and the other two injured. Ironically, Nash, rather than being rescued was killed as well.
In October 1934, Pretty Boy Floyd was killed by FBI agents in a shoot out at a farm in Ohio. Adam Richetti was arrested there and returned to Missouri. On 1 March 1935 he was indicted by the Jackson County Grand Jury on four counts of murder in the first degree. His trial, predicated on the indictment charging him with the murder of Frank E. Hermann (one of the police officers killed in the Kansas City Massacre) began in Kansas City on 10 June 1935. The jury delivered a Guilty verdict with the recommendation Richetti be given the death penalty. He was sentenced to be hanged, but appealed his conviction. The conviction was affirmed by the State of Missouri Supreme Court on 3 May 1938. Richetti’s lawyers alleged him to be insane, but a hearing was held at which time his sanity was clearly established. On 31 August 1938, Richetti was again sentenced to death, this time in the gas chamber of the Missouri State Penitentiary. He was executes on 7 October 1938.
Saint Pauline and Adam Richetti are both descendants of Caroli Marzari and Hyeronima Perezzoli, who lived in the 1700’s. Pauline is from one child (Anna Maria Marzari) and Adam from her brother (Joannes Andrea Marzari.)
Jeez. And epic WOYWW post but very little in the way of my OWN crafting. DOH! Pop back to the weekend to see all the cards from my Card A Day fun, if cardmaking is your bag…
I magaged to use up the lovely envelope from Zsuzsa and the ATC swap, including the back of Julia’s card as a pull out journaling card. I love it. I had to fiddle a bit to get it the right size, in the right orientation, but I got there in the end:
I also took a pretty glimmer-misted bit of vellum that had been run thru an embossing folder from YEARS ago – it was from an old Scrapbook Inspirations magazine article sample, that is how old it is – and made another simple flip up with some hand dyed paper under it for journaling.
Couldn’t be simpler, really but I do like it a lot. I am at the point where I am looking at the lessons learned from my 100 Days project and the wedge-shaped first book. I have tried to alternate the inclusions on both sides of the accordion so there is no one area that is filled with thick pieces on every surface. I am marking where I know I need to add something to try to keep track!
So far, it seems pretty OK – not too thick but satisfyingly chunky IYKWIM. I am working on a card, that I think will fall OUTSIDE my A Card A Day project, that I will share after WOYWW. It’s really quite a nifty design, although not mine. It satisfies the conditions for my ACAD challenge to myself, but it needs more than just a shot of the finished card, so I am opting to treat it more like a normal blog post. I can see me making a ton of these – so cute and not hard at all! WOYWW tomorrow! Yippee!
I am still beavering away behind the scenes, working on that l o n g accordion junk journal. I am always on the look-out for interesting inclusions and this week I got a really fun one. I ordered a few things from Paperchase, including the CUTEST Father’s Day card for my Hubby.
Frankly, I do have a shish kebab stamp and if I could have worked out an easy way to do the 3D waffle effect of the grill I might have tried to make it, but time was short. Anyway, the packaging was brown paper that was unlike any I have seen. I like it a LOT better than miles of bubble wrap, if I’m honest. The interesting part was that it tore off into perfectly sized little squares, albeit wrinkly ones:
And from there it was easy to stamp some journaling lines on the bits and create a little note pad to slip inside a small envelope as the journaling spot on a page!
I also made a little flip-flop-flappy thing from a magazine advert with a cool image and a ink+embossing folder sample and one from an old Wagamama menu.
At some point I will finish this and be ready to actually work in it. Where it goes when I get to that point, I don’t quite know yet. I’m just enjoying the process!
scrappystickyinkymess 