Canvas Photographs

So to go with the birthday books I made, I thought I would have a go at printing on canvas and making some little hanging pictures for my three brothers.

This one is for my little brother and is of his two gorgeous daughters.

This one is for my older brother and is of his son and daughter, the photo was taken in Bali, Indonesia.

This one is for my eldest brother and is of his son and daughter, photo taken in the Tarn, France when visiting my Mum.

The canvas was easy to rpint on but you have to take into account that the colour becomes less saturated and you have to back the canvas onto something solid, I have used chipboard covered in patterned papers and then inked and stamped.  

They were fun to make, and I hope my brothers like them.

WOYWW Week 214

It's that time of that week... the one where we all link up on Julia's blog and then have a darn good nosey at what is going on at all the other desks all over the world!  If you have never joined in before, then now is the time, you can always be assured of loads of interesting bits of information and inspiration.

This is my desk this morning, looking pretty neat and tidy with a range of garish brooches all laid out ofr inspection to find just the right one for the little box I have made... yes, that one, on the desk!  A cup of tea, my ATG and stand, my new glue gun and some paintbrushes I just cleaned.  Now, if you had seen the desk yesterday, it was a mess!  But, I am one of those folk that has to clean up between projects, especially if they involve paint.

This is the box... it all began with that bit of transparency... I saw a box done by a friend, Carole, and had to figure out how to use that idea because I liked it so much.  I ran the tranparency through my bug and embossed it, then added the pearls and backed it with Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante papers.

This is the front of the box, with the folded down transparency piece.

One side, with a pocket watch and Tim Holtz wings.

The opposite side, with chipboard cogs that I have painted to make them appear like brass.

More cogs...

Cogs that I papered with music and printed word.

and with the lid removed... yes, I revisited an old idea... the exploding box.  Only the outside walls and lid are chipboard on this version because I wanted it to have some weight and be sturdy.  The cardstock exploding boxes I made years ago have not travelled well... LOL

The chipboard outer layer is decorated with cogs and wheels and a brass butterfly.  

The inner cardstock layer is decorated with paper images and butterflies.

The outside walls without the lid...

other outside wall

third outside wall

and final outside wall.

The centre of the inside I have decorated with cogs, pearl sticks, flowers, beads, a little light bulb and gems.

some wire springs and a bottle of glitter... think that is enough bling, don't you? LOL

I should mention that this is a birthday gift for my step-daughter-in-law-to-be... and her birthday is day after tomorrow... and she is in the UK.... oops!  Guess it will be a bit late?  Think she will believe that it is 'in the post'? LOL

Dress Up March 2011

As a child of the '60's I read the theme of March's Dress Up challenge and smiled... now this is my era!! Pop Art or Popular Art started in the UK in the late 50's and then later took off in the States with people like Andy Warhol.  Sadly, I think a lot of people think it all began with Warhol and it is his images of Marilyn Monroe that come to mind when Pop Art is mentioned.  Well, I am English so I thought I would use Peter Blake as my muse for this month.  Peter Blake is best known for the Beatles' iconic album cover Sargent Pepper's and England was the place to be in this period of history... we had Twiggy, Mary Quant, and Carnaby Street, we had The Beatles and Cilla Black.  Music, fashion and design were at their peak and we embraced it with everything we had.... no more post war rationing, no more austerity...
Paper dresses were actually sold and worn, people looked at different materials to produce even more outrageous (and ever shorter) dresses!!  (Unlike today's youth with their mutton muffin tops hanging over their hipsters, we were skinny and fit)!! LOL, now corrected... blonde/senior moment!! Dresses were made from weird and wonderful things and this is where my dress up idea came from:

Known as the 'dirty dirty dress' it was made up of photographs of men's bodies which were laminated and then joined together to make the dress.  I'm not saying it was the most comfortable thing to wear, as I can imagine it was not, but it would certainly have got you noticed, wouldn't it? LOL

I used chipboard circles in two sizes and covered them with paper, sanded the edges and then inked them. (and that was a labour of love, let me tell you)!! I then sat for an entire day and added the links to each piece and joined them into the dress shape (that was not a labour of love, it was sheer torture and one of the first times I have had to resort to using my reading glasses for close work and you have no idea how many of those little links litter the scrap room floor because they had a life of their own and kept pinging off my desk).  I then went on and made her a shoulder bag to match and my 'dedicated follower of fashion' just had to have a copy of the Beatles' LP, didn't she?  (Anyone now humming the song by the Kinks?  I had it going round in my head for days)!!

This is the back of the dress....

and this is the little Beatles' album, I even made the little white sleeve that protected the LP!!  LOL

I would like to think I would have worn a dress like this but the reality is that my Mum wouldn't have let me leave the house!  It was bad enough when my best friend, Sherre, gave me my first pair of jeans with the fly zip.  Mum was horrified and said I could only wear them indoors!!  Anyone reading this who is under 30 is probably scratching their head about now, but really, ladies trousers always zipped at the side on the hip, it was deemed pretty racy to wear them with the zip at the front like men!! Aaah, the memories.... 

If you want to look at all the other dresses, pop over to Angela at Sew Loquacious and check them out.

WOYWW 23 February 2011

Here we are at What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday again... time flies and policemen look like they should be in school... both definite signs of getting old!!  If you have chanced upon this post and are wondering what I am waffling on about then please go to Julia AKA Specialist in Snooping and keeper of the blog roll where all will be explained! In short it is the day when many peeps from around the world take a peek into the craft spaces of others to see what sort of mess their desk is in and what they are up to, it's fun and it's informative, so join in if you will!!
My desk this week just has some chipboard pieces I am working on, the plan being that I will hang from the dress form of last week, though that idea may change in the next day or two as Chris came up with a fab idea that I might have to try out!!

The now notorious d.stress is evident, it is a whizz with chipboard!

Here is a close-up of the chipboard pieces, they are a work in progress at the moment.

On my other desk is another snippet roll that is awaiting the sewing machine.

I have more snow... shovelling snow from the path and driveway has become monotonous... no sooner than I have it all clear and looking nice and some more of the stuff comes down - and today was pretty nippy, -15 degrees C but with a bit of a breeze that made it feel a lot colder!  

The sides of the driveway just keep getting taller and taller...goodness knows what will happen to it all when it thaws in the spring - I think I will invest in some sand bags - just in case!  It is completely white out there again now... and still snowing, in fact, I could have saved my energy as nobody would be any the wiser but the local government bylaws say that you have 24 hours from snowfall to clear your path in front of the house or they will come and do it and then bill you! Why this worries me I have no idea, as there are houses on my street that haven't cleared the snow since November and nobody has been and cleared it for them.... but SOD's law says if I leave mine....  LOL

WOYWW or What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday...

OK... somebody please make the world slow down just a wee bit?  Where are the days going and why don't I have enough time to do all the things I want to do?  (Apologies to all those wonderful scrappers that have jobs, have kids and other commitments and still find time to do everything)!  I used to be so organised time wise... I worked full-time, looked after my son, got the house cleaned and washing done and occasionally caught up with the ironing.... now I have long leasurely days to do what I wish and I never seem to have enough time to do half that stuff!!  (My Dad always said air fills a vacuum.... I think I know what he meant now)!! LOL
Did I finish the book that was on my desk last week?  Nope, it still needs a few pics and some tweaking but then I had to get on and do a couple of other projects which I can't show you yet... sorry!  Then the girls who scrap here decided they wanted to do my Book in a Box that looks like a Book class... but from chipboard like this one...

but... they didn't want it in that size!!  Nooooo, they wanted it bigger so I had to start all over and make a new one.... which is what is on my desk today!!   (See, I was going to get there in the end)!!

Well, the book part is on my work mat... and the box bit is to the left...

but I made the box too deep for a normal fatness book so I have changed my mind and it is now a Memory Box and I am filling it with all sorts of (s)crap.... you wanna see inside?

There are a couple of altered picture frames, a little teeny BIA tag book, a chipboard tag set of a bride and groom, a glass bottle filled with beads and a poem.... and the book on my desk, which should fill it nicely!!

Of course, I now have to make another one that is not so deep for the class.... harrumph!!

And because I have joined the clan of people lead by Julia, who cannot resist having a nose about in other peoples' scrap areas... I thought I would give you an insight into my drawers!!  LOL... my left hand drawer to be precise!!

I am right handed so all my tools are either at the back of my desk or in the drawer to my right... so this one has my inks and stuff in it.  I found the drawer dividers at Ikea and they fit brilliantly and keep stuff from becoming big heap mess!

I was in downtown Jubail a few days ago and found another store that is similar to Big World (be still my beating heart) and came across these small felt hats that have clips to fasten them to your hair... well, its not a look I would personally go for but I picked two up 'as having potential' for something....

Kinda cute eh?   So I made a handbag!!

Now all I need to do is make a shoe and the book to go into the bag and I think it will look cute on my scraproom shelves...

Tag Board 'Book'

It's my friend Trudie's and her husband's 25th wedding anniversary this Sunday so I sat and had a play this morning and came up with this.

Trudie has taken to scrapbooking after the classes I have been doing and is now a full blown scrap addict just like the rest of us.  When we were at the Ladies Valentine's Lunch Trudie picked the gift that I had wrapped... for the tags I had tied it up with!! LOL  Sadly, she had it 'stolen' from her during the present laughter and had to pick another gift... which I promptly 'stole', so she had to go and pick another gift... which Rose 'stole' from her immediately after that!!  Poor Trudie, she didn't stand a chance and it caused much hilarity among us women.  I thought a tag type book would make up for it... and she can either fill it and leave it as is or she can break it up and use the tags in an anniversary album of her own.
I have to admit, I find it very restful playing with chipboard, all that therapeutic sanding and inking is such a relaxing thing to do. 

I found these little glass bottles with cork tops in a cheapy shop in downtown Jubail so I filled it with a mixture of Doodlebug sugar coatings and it looks quite cute hanging off the front cover.  I paid a fortune for those sugar coating things and have never used them because it always leaves a sugary trail on anything I have done.... so it's great to have found a use for them at last!! ;)

Family Mini Album

A mini album I have just finished to put all the family photos in we took just before leaving the UK - when the kids actually get around to emailing me them! (Hint hint)...

I used the sticky back suede and lace I found in the 'scrap shop' in Khobar and added some crystal danglies, sewed some beads into the lace and then added some Primas and bling with my Bejeweller!

Can you ever have too much bling? LOL

Used my BIA to bind it but made the covers so that the wires weren't visible, its going to be laods easier to do this look when the Coverals by Zutters hit the shops - I can't wait to get my mitts on them!

Used Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste papers - I love this range, add some ink and you get this lovely aged looking album.

Used loads of chipboard shapes and covered them with paper, I love the look of a fat book!