Book binding and double entendre abound.

I've been spending lots of time lately making mini-books and, as with anything I do for too long, I start to get bored. So, I've been looking into different ways to bind them and to add interest to the ones I've already made using the straightforward book-ring method. Such as this:

My friend 'Hannah Banana' happens to love flamingos. Really love them. Really really love them. In fact - have a look here - for documentary evidence of this fact! See what I mean? So I was delighted when upon opening my Gauche Alchemy 'Pink Parts' Mixed Media Colour Kit I discovered the perfect item to add to my album cover .....a pink flamingo cocktail stirrer:

I attached it to my cover by stitching its legs to a 7Gypsies pouch which, in turn, I adhered with a strong double sided tape. [The postal mark stamp was from Studio Calico ].

I want this album to reflect both Hannah's and my love for colours and patterns so I used green book-rings rather than the usual silver. Despite this I still wanted to add interest to that slightly empty look of plain bookrings. I've often tied ribbon around them in the past, but thought I'd try something a bit different on this.

So [now, if i get through this next sentence without making some indelicate double entrendre well, I'll deserve a medal ...here goes...] I again turned to my 'Pink Parts' to bring an element of fun to the project. [Stop it!]

All of the plastic beads and charms came from the kit and simply slid onto the rings. I love little plasticy things like these - that little pink safety pin fair makes me swoon in its wonderfulness. I find it all so reminiscent of an 80s childhood. In fact, I remember using lots of similar bits and bobs on a layout last year, beneath which someone left the comment: 'I wish I'd saved all the little bits of plastic crap I had as a kid'. I believe that's what one would call a 'backhanded compliment' no?

I punched the holes using my Big Bite [no, I'm not bragging, despite my party trick some years ago of being able to fit my fist in my mouth...don't ask ...please!!!] the Crop-a-dile Big Bite is a strong hole-punching tool which pucnched easily through my double layered chipbard cover.

To decorate around my punched holes I first stamped, with a Fancy Pants doodled flower design, over the hole then heat embossed using a neon embossing powder in 'Hot Pink'. And if you know Hannah ....you know that no other colour could be more appropriate! Lastly I added some eyelets to give a more 'finished' finish ...if you see what I mean?

I didn't have enough of the papers I chose for my front cover to do the back as weel, so I chose ones whose colour ways matched while the patterns clashed:

The overall effect reminds me of a patchwork quilt and that can never ever be a bad thing.

If you'd like to see some of the pages inside my album then have a look here, here and here.

If you have any other examples of interesting ways to bind mini-books, please do share.

And ....if you have any backhanded compliments about my work then feel free to leave me a comment below. I have a broad mind and, luckily, I have the shoulders to match!

Soon enough,

Julie :)

There's something in the air.

It's September. Which means that all things autumnal and 'back to school' are in the air and I'm ambivalent about that.

For a start, there's the fact that I much prefer warmth and sunshine to ....well, to just about anything else. That crispness which has crept into the air in the last few weeks - while it has it's own fresh charm - brings with it flashbacks [or maybe flashforwards!] to dark evenings where I never feel like sitting and creating as much as I do while it's still light outside.

Don't get me wrong, there are lots of things I do like about the Autumn such as: settling down in front of Sunday night comfort-TV-dramas and having an almost legitimate reason to buy new boots! Until those events are well and truly upon us [OK, OK, so I admit that I've already begun trying on boots ...it's never too early to equip oneself sartorially appropriately for an impending meteorological shift! Never.] Until those events are upon us, I'm going to just hang on to every last possible 't-shirt-but-no-cardigan' moment that I can.

And as those colder days advance ....I'll be turning to photographs like these to bring a summery cheer to my days:

Eating an icecream, in Whitby, in July is the epitome of a traditional English summertime activity and therefore deserves to be scrapped!

It's another layout for my mini-album recording the giddy adventures embarked upon by Hannah and I. I used a vintage magazine article [from my Gauche Alchemy 'Ball & Chain' kit] as the backdrop - mainly because the colours matched those in the photos. My journalling block was from the same kit.

Lots of the embellishments [the pearls, gems, pins, play money] came from my Gauche Alchemy pink mixed-media colour kit.

Sometimes, in scrapping / art / choosing an outfit / cooking, you need to know when to stop adding ingredients before you spoil what it is you've just spent precious energy putting together Equally, there are times when you need to ignore your inner minimalist and just keep adding more and more until the thing finally comes to life. At least that's how I felt while making this page as I sat adding another element, another patterned paper, another rub-on etc etc. I'm really pleased that I ended up liking it rather than wishing I'd stopped several embellishments back.

However, I had started the day by proclaiming 'I think I've forgotten how to scrap' .... so there was nowhere for my artistic self-esteem to go but 'up' after that or else I'd have been hanging up my craft knife and seeking out another less-scrapbooking-shaped hobby!!!

I hope that today is the start of a month of new beginnings, new opportunities, new projects, new attitudes or new whatever-it-is-you're-all-wishing-fors. If not ..... there's always new boots to look forward to.

Always!

:)

Index card & fabric folder.

After an annoying morning where the bank got my appointment time wrong and then a pair of amazingly wonderful high, high heels I'd spotted didn't fit me, I returned home, put the kettle and got down to some crafting.

This is what I made:I simply took a pack of blank index cards [50p for 50 from Wilkinsons] and wrapped fabric around them:

Using one of the cards as a template I marked the positions and punched a hole in my fabric:

I then eyeletted the hole to strengthen it and used a small bookring to attach the cover to the cards:

I then hand stitched a length of ribbon around the cover to act as a wrap closure.

As the note above mentions, the fabric and trimmings used are from the 'Hot Date' Quirky Kit from CraftyTemplates.

So, there you have it, a handy, pretty book to keep in my bag. I could use it to make notes about crafting projects, to keep shopping lists or just record my day. If I'd had it with me this morning the first entry in it would read:

"Bank appt @ 10:00am - not 10:30 like they tried to say! Tried on most perfect, high, grey, ankle strap shoes - didn't fit. V. bad. Even shop assistant said it was a shame!"

New Quirky Kit: Hot Date

I'll keep this nice and simple.

Crafty Templates have just released the latest Quirky Kit - called 'Hot Date' - which can be used to make a 2010 calendar or diary.

I've just received mine ....and it's beautiful . You'll probably want one. I know what you're like.


p.s: it comes packed in a pink box and includes sticky backed woodgrain vinyl. Need I say more?

The one with the chimp.

Us scrappers - we're not hard to please you know. No. Not at all in fact.

The simple combination of a yellow flower /black and red teapots /cerise table mat pretty much made Hannah and I light up with scrapping joy on a recent girlie day out to The Art Cafe which is exhibiting some of Hannah's work.

Before any food or drink could be consumed we each drew our cameras for a shoot out:
[Note how the flower considerately faced the camera in both shots. Weird eh? It's almost like two mad women obsessively moved the crockery etc around whilst seeking the most perfectly scrapworthy shot .....].
Everything I've used on these pages is from Gauche Alchemy. The card, trimmings and ephemera are from the 'Ball and Chain' mixed media kit and the pink bits and bobs are from the coloured-themed embellishment kit, all of which is available from their ArtFire shop. [The alphabets: model's own!]. Yes, the colour kit is called 'Pink Parts' .....the Gauche girls are in the process of allowing you, yes you, to choose new names for their kits. If you think you can think of something appropriately unique to name an orange kit then head over to their blog now where, for your trouble, you'll be entered into a prize draw. In fact they're hosting several giveaways at the moment so it's all yours for the taking!
Now, seeing as how you all stuck with me through my brief flirtation with misery in my previous post allow me to offer you some light relief ... at my expense ...
In an attempt to pull myself up by my bootstraps on Wednesday I embarked upon my Banana Frog 'Stamping School' project for September thinking that getting it completed a month early would lift my spirits. Until .... until I crouched to adjust my near-complete project, which I'd laid out on the floor just beneath an open dresser drawer .... and then I stood up.
Long story short: lower backs + the corners of solid oak drawers = pain; watering eyes; slight breathlessness; a pathetic phone call to sympathetic [but unsurprised] James; a lovely bruise and a swelling that gave me the appearance of having 3 buttocks. [Which I haven't].
Fast forward to Thursday night where I'd showered, applied Arnica to the unfortunate area and arranged the waistband of my jogging bottoms in a sort of low slung, extreme hipster style ....and I think you know where this story is going don't you?
I then attempted to unplug my laptop which involves leaning over a mini filing cabinet ... directly in front of a window ..... which has a house directly opposite it. Whilst mid-lean, balancing on one leg and at full stretch with my arms I could feel the waistband slipping and could do nothing to stop it! If it was not for my T-shirt being so long .... well, let's just say my neighbours would have had a front row view of those 3 buttocks.
So, there I am all aching back and joggies around my ankles when I manage to unplug the plug and straighten myself up, luckily with the majority of my dignity still in tact. Until .....
.... until I spot a pencil [from the pot I'd been leaning over] sticking out of the bottom of my T-shirt sleeve. Which is when I realised that, to add insult to injury, a chimpanzee had lodged itself into my armpit:

Dignity? Dignity?

Who needs it?

Personally, I think it's over-rated .....