Tidying up my blog, bad news and printable ATC backs

I am getting close to the limit for storage on my blog. Back in the good old days, when it seemed like I had nothing but space, I tended to upload quite large images. Now, after blogging since 2009(!) I find I am nearing the limit. Because I have never monetized my blog, it is not something I am keen to start now paying for. So I am going back and deleting stuff – mostly it’s old calendar PDFs. The thing is I don’t trust what I see when I click to see “unattached” images. I can’t figure out a clear way to know if they are actually attached to something or not. So there might be things (links) that no longer work, especially for old (2020 and earlier) Calendars. I have left the images of those things but I feel like I might need to delete them as well. I am also considering deleting all the Project Life printables. I feel like the style of the ones I did years ago are no longer in fashion, and for the very very occasional hit they might get, it isn’t worth keeping a big PDF file and a large image. Sorting that.

The bad news is my knitting mate has tested positive. Almost 100% caught it from her daughter and her daughter from school. Not good at all. I did a test and so far I’m negative – it was almost a full week between when last we met and her testing positive, and while we met inside cause of the crap weather, we did keep distance between us and no hugging hello. Not sure having the 3rd jab yesterday will help but you never know. Have now had to tell the potential birthday guests the timeline and test status, and will test again (and maybe again) and update them on the day for a final decision. It’s only three guests in total and if need be I can just stay well away (on a different level I think) while guests are in the house, if they do choose to come. Bah!

So now I am going to ADD stuff LOL! I have been printing and attaching backs to some of the ATCs and Coins I have made recently. I have my standard image that I tend to alter with colour so all my backs don’t look exactly the same.

It’s simple to do and keeps things fresh. So I made a set of Halloween/Creepy ones to download (see the bloody drips above for a closer look) and they look like this:

And the other set is a trio of three cards in three different patterns to download as well:

Hopefully that will be helpful.

I have quite a lot of behind the scenes stuff I need to do

Can you resolve a blurry art journal page? Printables for you

{sigh} Yeah, I had an idea but it went badly awry. I planned to do a fairly simple art journal page in my very small Roben-Marie journal and decided to begin by stamping a large-ish Dina Wakley figure on it. I thought I had worked out a way to use my stamp positioner so I could get a dark impression on the heavily coloured base page. It did not go to plan.

The page shifted, which I should have expected, and I got a bit of a double image, as you can see. There went my plan, out the window. I won’t share the original plan, cause I am not giving up hope I can use it some time in the future. I will share how I … fixed it is not right, but how I resolved it, I guess. I added some mark-making and some watercolour and stamping to complete the background and focal point image

I decided I would embrace the blur, and find a quote that said something about the blur to complete a page. After a short hunt and a bit of reading to winnow down the choices, I came up with a small handful of quotes that I thought could all work. I began working on the text, readying it for printing and while doing so I ended up making a full sheet that I thought might be useful to others who find themselves in this predicament. Only a handful of quotes, but in different sizes, fonts, spacings, etc.

I printed the sheet and cut out some to test them. You can grab a PDF copy here. I liked the ones I tried and had kinda settled on this one:

But then I saw that the final line on the page was blurry as well! I think I pulled it out of the printed before it had finished printing! It was perfect for the page:

And there you go. The longer quote bears sharing – it is from a BBC interview with J.R.R. Tolkien:

J.R.R. Tolkien: I suppose … I was about three and a half. Pretty poignant of course, because one of the things why people say they don’t remember is, it’s like constantly photographing the same thing on the same plate. Slight changes simply make a blur.

And over the last 18 months it has all been slight changes, hasn’t it, after the massive changes the pandemic brought? Glimpses of freedom, slight easing of restrictions (some self-imposed, some mandated) and really the whole thing just feels vague and unclear. There are no defined and sharp edges. Just a slight blur to everything.

Will the world ever resolve into clarity again? We can but hope.

Remembrance day poppy folds

Hey there.

It’s been a busy few weeks, with visitors coming and going. The last one is due back from a side trip today and will be gone next week.  Phew.

Triggered by a request for a “Lest We Forget” pattern, here are a few I designed.

There are the two poppies, which would work ok as a straight book fold.  They might work best as a combined Cut&Fold.  If they are done so the central section of the flower is concave, you could easily add a printed bit that says REMEMBER or the date or something similar. Don’t be worried by the overlapping darker areas in the first one.  They do not print like that.  Download that set here.

The initial Lest We Forget design is one that was requested.  The ones with the poppy variations I thought might be easier to do.  You can get that trio of designs here. I think it is very clear that those will only work as Cut&Folds!  Very complicated!

Additionally you could Cut&Fold (or maybe just fold?) the Lest We Forget words and add a poppy (knitted, crocheted, paper, whatever) in the middle rather than folding it!

If you make one PLEASE share it!  I’m sure people would like to see it.

 

 

 

 

Been a while… Tear off calendars for 2019

I have been busy and also had a little relapse of my NAM so blogging has not been my top priority.  But I did manage to make a couple of sheets of tear-off blocks for 2019.  Those of you who like to make calendar related gifts might find them useful.  There are older posts, like this one,  that show how to make a tear-off calendar from cut month blocks.

I’ve tried to make these simple to cut this time, just cut along the lines.

Here is the flat-topped circle one:

And here is a version with a bit more space around it, in case you want to make your tear-offs a bit special, like these:

You can see how I do that here. There is also a cute, simple foldable calendar card project in that post, so worth having a look anyway.

And here are the plain block ones:

No idea why the line looks darker here.  I doesn’t look like that in the PDF preview!

I hesitate to say the dreaded C-word (not THAT one, the DECEMBER one!) but if you make gifts, that Calendar card project is one you can easily whip up and have a stash on hand in case you need an emergency gift!

Also bear in mind that many of the Project Life sized cards also make nice tear-off blocks:

and you can see other 2019 calendars here.

Have fun!

PS I am still more or less keeping up with the book folding templates, getting a few requests every day, just in case people think I am not doing them because I am not posting about them.  I am.

International Women’s Day PL printables

Yes, yes, it has been a while since I have made printables.  But this year I really wanted to make a set for International Women’s Day.  2017 was a tough year, personally and for women in general.  CNN says 2018 will be the Year of Women – but then again it could just be “fake news” right? {imagine a snort of derision here}

I have been seeing a few graphics for Women’s Day and most of them are more like Mother’s Day in tone – very sweet and floral.  If 2018 is the Year of Women then I think the graphics should reflect something … stronger.

I’m still playing around with things but these two (very different) sets are heading in the right directions.  The first is a combination of the sweet and floral feel that I mentioned:

Download that one here.

The second one is a little more graphic, although it IS pink…but then, so are the pussy hats, so I think that is fine.

Download that here. There is also a trio of little circles that can be used as embellishments for anything really – might be nice as a full sheet of bits for a planner, for example.

Hope you find good use for them!

 

2018 DIY calendars (Decorate it yourself)

By request, I have a couple of 2018 calendars that you can decorate yourself.

First, here is a CD calendar sized one:

Download that here.

And the other is the smaller PL size cards:

And you can download that one here.

Hopefully this will give you a chance to get started on some Christmas gifts! Thanks, Kristi, for the nudge.  {wink}

Just a few Xmas tags for 2017

I tend to design things I need then share.  Here is a sheet of Xmas tags for you.  Hopefully you will find them useful!

You can download them here.

There are a few different styles so hopefully one of them will appeal! If not, I do have a ton of Xmas stuff in the menu under Freebies & Project Life Printables at the top.  Lots of tags there – here are a few (links to all, and more, in the menu link):

There are also some ornaments, a few cards, and more.

And although I showed this as a holder for swapping ATCs, I think it words perfectly as a gift card holder.  You can find the post on Twisted Cards here and here. You can see in the second link how to adjust the folding to accommodate a sideways card, which would pretty much equal a gift card.

 

As requested – 2018 Banner calendar

I haven’t been doing the Project Life printables like I once did, but there are loads of them available in the drop-down menu at the top.  Most of them are not year-specific, but the calendar ones are.  If possible, I do try to update ones when people request them.  Myranda asked that the banner calendar be updated, and she did so in such a nice way, how could I say no?

I left the same font, in the interest of speed, but I may try to change that if I do a 2019 version! Here is a reminder:

And here is the download!

Make sure you check out the calendar projects page.  There are some ways to use 3×4 cards that you may not have seen.  Hopefully they will increase the usefulness of these, even if you don’t do PLT

Already? Yep. some 2018 calendars.

Just something I was playing with.  I’ve had gradients on my mind.  So there is the pretty standard B&W version:

which you can download by clicking this link

And there is a pretty, colourful version:

that you can download by clicking this link.

Because I’ve done them as five blocks per page, you get three blank frames at the end for journaling if you want.

Been a while since I made any calendars so this was a bit of fun for me.

 

Yep, still here. PL printables for Easter

<sigh> so busy.  In addition to completely re-painting the kitchen table and chairs, I have:

• sanded and varnished two end tables, a library table and a coffee table for the living room
• hung about 30 pictures in various places around the house (not all very well LOL!)
• hung and hemmed curtains in the living room (why can I only get ones that are too short, or 16 inches too long??)
• hung curtains in the master bedroom and my office
• made curtains and replaced blinds in hubby’s office
• made curtains for both upstairs bathrooms
• painted and decorated the dire downstairs loo – a stop gap as it really needs tearing down and rebuilding, including adding a sink and a heater and insulating
• cleaned and painted a particularly filthy bit of ceiling outside the kitchen
• painted the kitchen and the chimney
• redecorated the bathroom (including painting cheap furniture to look better)
• moved my sewing room so I could…
• …sort out the guest room

and about 100 other small jobs. Hence my absence from here for so long.

We are working on a small cyber-crop over on UKScrappers for National Scrapbooking day, which is a much needed creative task to balance out the hard work of getting the house in shape for three different sets of visitors over the next couple of months (including DS and his GF – very excited about that!) and the in-laws (also excited about THAT – MIL and I are going to dye sock yarn with KoolAid!)

BUT while waiting on the phone for something or another, I made this set of printables for Project Life – or regular scrapbooking, if you prefer, but in the 3×4 size. I had a plan to make some calendars but not had the time.

Anyway, here they are for download:

 

Pretty basic but cute, I think.  Hope you find them useful, and I will be back with a calendar or two at some point (2018, for sure!)