Post Craft Fair High

 The craft fair on Saturday went very well.  I met a lot of lovely people, had some great feedback and sold a lot more than I'd thought.  So all in all, a very successful day after a lot of hard work.  I can't wait to do it again!

 Some of my journals remain unsold so I'm going to try to set up an internet shop sometime soon but in the meantime I'll sell direct from my Facebook page via Paypal.  (If you 'like' my page you'll get my facebook updates appearing on your home page).

 I had two great helpers on Saturday, friends who went above and beyond the call of duty so I decided to make them a couple of brooches to say thank you.

I discovered Bojangle Beads in Loughborough last week, a very friendly and totally inspiring bead shop that also do mail order.  One of my friends had asked me to make her a kilt pin brooch for Christmas, as she spotted on there, and well, I couldn't wait to make one! 

Craft Fair Here I Come

 Out of creative chaos has come forth....

 fabric hearts, made from old embroidered napkins and salvaged materials, together with a dash of vintage images, lace and buttons....

little fabric collages, mounted on recycled cards....

here they are before mounting, and

a stack of decorated fabric journals.

With many thanks to PG tips for the copious amounts of tea I've drunk, the support of my cats, friends and family who put up with my creative antics and for the Co-op for supplying that cheap, but ultimately, very drinkable, Soave at the end of an exhausting creative day.  I couldn't have done it without you!

Seriously though, whilst it has been long hours this week (I've taken the week off from my paid employment) I've really enjoyed it.  Nearly done, just got some business cards to make, paper bags to decorate, a lampshade to make (don't ask, just had another idea and think it might look good), get all packed up and might get to sit down at some point this evening.  Wish me luck!

Journals and Collages

 I've been making fabric journals for my first craft fair in a couple of weeks and loving every minute of it.

 Lots of lovely lace, torn edges and tea dying :)

 Building up the layers of interest

 I had a quick wander around a local car boot at the weekend and came across these lovely aged books which will find their way into my art work at some point I'm sure.

Working on simple fabric collages to top lavender bags, think I have a vintage pets theme going on, lol.

Wedding Journal Revealed

 Now the bride and groom have seen the journal and are on their honeymoon in Copenhagen I can let you see the journal I created for them.  They are hoping to put photos and other keepsakes in it.  The theme was pink roses with other cottage garden flowers playing a supporting role.

 They also love vintage so I tea dyed the pages and included lots of vintage images, most of which I had used on their wedding invites.  The hard part was not over decorating it to allow them to customise and add to it to make it theirs.  I can so easily get carried away, lol.

Some of the lace that I used to make little pockets was off cuts from her dress, to make it more personal. The groom is a musician so I used music sheets throughout, mostly love songs, although there is one, nearer the back of the album where the words are 'I married a wife, she's the plague of my life' but knowing them I knew they would find it funny.

The brides mum found old postcards of the Guildhall, Leicester, where the ceremony was held so I placed them in the pockets so they could see them.

I raided my rather extensive napkin stash for roses and vintage style images, these red roses being opposite a song entitled 'My love is like a red, red rose'.

 This vintage postcard was in my collection but I just had to give it to them as it was addressed to someone with the same name as the bride.

 This fabric used to be an embroidered linen napkin, old and stained but this portion of it was sound.

This atc was part of my initial designs for the couple's wedding invitations.

The journal was constructed using an old teaching manual and here you can see part of it's spine together with a napkin that the bride gave me.  The bride is a teacher so it seemed right to use this book.

I used the same stamps in the journal that I used on the wrapping paper and then a friend kindly lent me her roses stamps so I could add more variety to the images.

Billyboy Studio Assistant was carrying out a bit of quality control , checking the inside back cover for sitability, yes, he was comfy on there until I picked him up.

The pages are all tied in so more or less pages can be used if required.  I just adore frayed edges.
I hope I haven't bored you with too many pages, there are more but they are less decorated so that it gives the happy couple more room to personalise their journal.

And here they are on their wedding day, a perfect day, full of love, warmth and friendship.  I will long remember it.  Many congratulations to you both and I can't wait to see the journal full to overflowing with memories of your special day xx

(I'll pop the whole run through of the journal on my Flickr - see side bar, just in case you're interested)

Making Journals

 Long time no blogging, but I've been busy, honest, making journals and here is just a little peak at the front cover of one of them.

And here is Billy 'helping' me with a special journal, hush, don't tell anyone, it's a secret for now :)

It's getting fatter

My journal that is! Finally found some time to get back to decorating and embellishing some more pages in my journal.

I only started it in August! Maybe I'll have it done by this coming August :-)

Been making Journals

I've been busy in the studio of late; christmas gifts in the making. I thought I'd share some glimpses of some of the journals I've been making.

Less than a week till the big day. I think I'm on schedule, how about you??

New Journal Finished

Finally finished my Oriental themed journal and just got time to show you. It's a bigger journal than I normally make, in terms of pages

with lots of lace, fabric collages, napkins, fold out flaps and ledges to tuck emphemera behind :) It'll be looking for a home shortly when I've got the time to figure out how to set up an etsy shop.

Giveaway!

Hello all, I promised a little giveaway and here it is (better late than never). This giveaway is for one of my 3 latest ATCs - Tudor Diva, Prize Onion and Geisha Teatime.

I'll draw three names out of the hat on the evening of 21st November and all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. My only rule is that you have to have a blog, as I'd like this giveaway to go to fellow bloggers as I've been so inspired by many different bloggers since finding this big wonderful creative blogging world :)

If you'd like to be a follower, or already are, that's great but not necessary for this giveaway, just make sure I can contact you and track back to your own blog.

Good luck!

On the creative table at the moment I have a 'larger than my average' journal, tentatively titled 'Oriental Garden' as I had no plan when I began it and this theme is emerging and I'm enjoying every minute.

Harvest ATCs, Giant Poppies and News of Birthday Giveaway

The theme for this month's ATC swap over on Roses on My Table was Harvest. I started thinking about horticultural shows and the gardeners trying to grow the biggest, heaviest and longest vegetables. I thought this Victorian gentleman looked like a gardener in his Sunday best and here was the results of his labours, a giant pumpkin or a giant onion. I also liked staying with fall colours, so lots of oranges, rusts and browns.

I got to do some crafting at work today. A colleague asked me to make some poppies to use in her Rembrance Day display and here is the result, large giant paper poppies. They are about
1 1/2 foot across. I got the pattern and instructions from this website.

Then as my birthday is around the corner I've decided to run a small giveaway, I'll pop the details on here in the next few days so keep looking!

As it is soon to be my birthday I decided to treat myself to this wonderful journal by Suzi at Suziqui's Threadworks. I just couldn't resist it when I saw it earlier, I've admired her work for a little while now and this journal just screamed my name and when you see it you might see why, lol, you know how I love my cemetery angels. It is just so gorgeous, beautifully shabby and chic, I can't wait to hold it in my hands :-) Do pop over to see her beautiful work and blog!

Peonies Journal #2

A while ago I made a second Peonies Journal and I thought you might like to see some piccys.

This is a theme I love working with as I adore peonies and have a couple of plants in my own garden.


Lace, acrylic paint, shimmer sprays all came out :)

I thought this geisha looked as if she was juggling with peony flowerheads. She's transfered onto fabric with Transfer Artist paper.

I used photos of my own peonies to indicate little flaps and pockets that things can be kept behind, putting lined scrapbooking paper on the back of the photo so the person receiving the journal can journal there easily.

A little butterfly tag made using my favourite napkins.


Stamps and vintage book papers

Another little fabric collage with a lovely image of a bluebird from the Graphics Fairy blog.

I love to see all the lace peeking out of the sides but I've left plenty of space for journalling in this journal.

Enjoy your weekends wherever you are. Be creative!