Steampunk Dolly AKA 'SuperMum'

I finally finished her... and she is kinda cute in a not very cute way and she has been named SuperMum!!

and she appears to have some 'borg-like' features.... (wonder if Chris will like her as he has always had a thing for 7 of 9 from Star Trek) ;)

Her 'body' is made from a Bisto Gravy granule tub... yep I have a heap of them so they get pulled out for all sorts of projects!!

No dolls were harmed in the creation of this project.... oh alright... one little dolly got hurt!!

This is inside the dolly...  being a supermum meant she had to have a huge heart

and that special feature that all supermum's require... an eye in the back of her head...

Now I need to get back to the LP mini book... I think I have a plan!!

What's on You Workdesk Wednesday 26th October 2011

I have missed a couple of weeks of WOYWW but know I can spend some time blog hopping, so am joining in again this week.  Nothing ultra-exciting on my work desk at the moment... I am a bit stuck.... when I was at the heirloom sale the other day and picked up the typewriter I also found a couple of old 78's (one of them is an old Nat King Cole record) and bought them immediately... they are the perfect size for covers for a mini book!!

I managed to cut a section off of each for binding the edge with my big Zutter Cutter.... but when I practiced with the BIA on the offcuts it just shattered into lots of little pieces!!   Eeeek... now I am trying to figure out how I will bind the pages and covers together without making holes in the records.  I have tried the obvious things like heating them and covering the edges with tape but these are pretty old and thick 78's... and they are very brittle.  I perhaps should have bought the thinner 33 LP's they had there instead!!

 Also on the edge of my desk is a dolly...

 I had to buy a new from the supermarket (i know, it is a crime but needs must and the local charity/goodwill didn't have even one old dolly.... not one and an old stuffed toy just wasn't going to give me the effect I am looking for)!! This one is going to be beheaded... and steampunked... and I am not sure if she is going to become a part of the typewriter yet... it depends how she turns out....
Don't forget to check out the linky list at Julia's for all the desks to nose about in this week!!

Look what I got....

Chris, Mum and I went to an 'Heirloom Sale' yesterday and there it was... an old sit up and beg Underwood typewriter!!  I learned to type on something quite similar to this and the price tag was $25 so Chris bought it for me... and then had to carry it to the car... and I had sort of forgotten just how heavy these things were!!  It is now plonked (quite unceremoniously, I might add as Chris had also forgotten how solid they were and is now used to carrying a super thin laptop) on my scrap desk.  I promptly went into ' the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog' mode.... but the ribbon is pretty dried out.... hmmmm, wonder if I can still get ribbon for it?   I have an idea... just a little idea... of steampunking it for my scrap room... think it might look pretty cool then, don't you?  I'm still looking for a smallish old dolly... couldn't find one at the goodwill!!
It's kind of sad in a way... that things I used to earn a crust or two a couple of decades ago (oh alright... maybe more than a couple of decades ago) are now deemed 'vintage' and 'heirlooms'.... I suddenly feel very old....

Donna's 'Art' Journal - sort of... kinda, maybe...

It is now in the post... I can't change it, add to it, alter it, make it better... which is rather a relief in an odd sort of way!!  I have had it sitting on my desk for the last two weeks and I would go and turn the pages and think.... it looks a bit naked and bare... (ignoring the small voice in my head that says an art journal is sent to be completed by the arty farty type of recipient that would play with it) so I had a brain wave (yep, you should be scared) and thought I will add a couple of completed pages so that the ever arty Donna would know where I was going with it... so I did.  It still looked bare and naked.... so I did a couple more... all on the same theme of songs from my dim and distant past... and I left it on the desk.... and returned to flick through with Donna eyes... and it was not good... so I added some more pages... filled the little pockets with tags and the envelopes with odd bits... and left it for a couple of days... to flick through the pages and thought... hmmm... I think it needs something.... so I got the stamps and ink out and went through the pages... and my Mum said that if I didn't post it off soon it would require a second mortgage to post it....  (Mum was right about the postage... but then Mum's usually are) ;)

Front Cover

First page inside cover

pocket page and fold out map 

I tried to be art journal-ish... adding weird bits... ;) 

pocket page and one ready for Donna to add her thoughts (hopefully nothing to do with what she thinks of my attempt) 

My page using the lyrics from the Sounds of Slilence. 

More attempts at arty pages.... hopefully to be enhanced by Donna! 

My page using 'Just another manic Monday' as my theme. 

Donna must save these pages from my 'arty' attempts... 

Paperbag page and pocket page with tags. 

Paperbag page for California Dreaming by the Mamas and Papas... (yep, I am that old)

This old house by Neil Young was the theme for this page... this song is strangely as relevant today as it was in the mid 70's when I first heard it... 

an envelope page 

Tina Turner's 'I can't stand the rain'.... 

Knocking on Heaven's Door page...   

and Donna, you were right to get me to finish it... because as much as it stressed me out and went against all my instincts, I really enjoyed making it for you and I know it isn't a 'proper' art journal but it did make me think outside of the box and try new ideas.

All the leaves are brown....

and the skies are gray.... yep, you can join in and sing along with me... Autumn is here... oops... I'm in Canada... Fall is here!! ;)

I have my Mum visiting me at the moment - she wanted to see if Canada did any colour other than white because last Christmas when she came to stay we had snow on the ground for the entire 6 weeks (she thought that was bad until I explained to her that I had it for an entire 6 months)!! 

So before all the leaves fell off the trees we took her along the road to Kananaskis and visited Elbow Falls.

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the leaves were lovely shades of gold.

Elbow Falls

Mum at Elbow Falls

Chris and Mum

and we found this little squirrel in a fir tree munching on pine needles...

Mum and Chris - the trees were fabulous.

I always find it so surprising that I can drive 10 minutes out of Calgary and be surrounded by such beautiful scenery...

Road to Kananaskis with the Rockies in the background.

What's on You Workdesk Wednesday 5th October 2011

It's that day of the week of the again... the one that comes about at the speed of light and catches me on the hop!!  If you have no idea what i am talking about... pop over to the Guardian of the Desks, Julia, and you will find all the details and the links to all the fabby desks to snoop into!
Chris is home this week so we have been busy catching up on the shopping and this evening we went to the airport and fetched my Mum home to stay with us for six weeks... she has just gone off to bed as it is silly o'clock to her being on French time.

This is what my work desk looks like this week... it has the pieces of Donna's journal there... it really needs tweaking and putting together but I have to admit to not really being an art journal kind of gal... I love them when other people do them and I would love to free myself to be able to smear paint on magazines and glue stuff willy nilly and then do arty farty stuff to the page to make it look awesome.... it really is a lot harder than it looks but this journal... well, the makings of it, have been sat at the side of my desk for a couple of months and I had sort of decided to put it down to experience but then I mentioned it to Donna and she asked me to finish it.... 

I have to admit I love the cover... it turned out exactly how I wanted it to... which is something of a surprise!! It looks almost metallic and bronzed but its only tissue paper painted onto the chipboard with black paint and then a bronze paint smooched into all the crevices but its really fab looking!!

See?  Isn't a lovely finish?? Now if I could just get that to flow over onto the pages... hmmm! LOL