ALBOTAT... a sewing kind of Sunday...

... I used the extra hour created today by the clocks going back for Autumn to sew 8 lovely new buttons onto cushions (a little job which has been on the 'to do' list for a while..)

 .. and as that little job put me in the mood for a more sewing I made this patchwork cushion.  It was a created from a batch of fabrics (and accompanying guidelines) that I bought at The Handmade Fair... spending the morning making this reminded me how much I enjoy sewing..

I bought the kit from The Vintage Twist Company who had a lovely stand at the fair, and had great ways of using the vintage fabrics they supply in their online shop (www.thevintagetwistcompany.co.uk):

.. and this is my pincushion - love this!! It was upcycled by one of my colleagues at the college... its such a cute little thing!

I'm off to find something else to sew...

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'tote'ally in the bag.....

... over on the PaperArtsy blog tonight where my monthly project is ready and waiting for you.. click on the pic to take a look..

ALBOTAT... a festive mash-up...

... JOFY getting festive with Woodware...

Loved this Woodware stamp (Festive Background JGS260) as soon as I saw it - knew it would make a fun background for my baubles!  This was a 'make it quick, see how it looks' card - might do other versions with more baubles...
(The bauble is from JOFY28, painted with the new JOFY Limited Editions paints (love how they look against kraft card)

ho ho ho

A little bit of DIY....

... in the form or card 'washi tape'.  

My last blog post featured cards and work from a recent class at The Stamp Attic where, as part of the cards' design, we created strips of patterned card to coordinate with chosen colour schemes - a sort of bespoke washi tape... (but don't get me wrong - I love a bit of (a lot of) washi tape but sometimes you just need 

something 'bespoke'.

Here are the two samples I made for the class featuring a strip of 'tape'...

To create strips of patterned 'tape' you could cut up a previously created masterboard, but for the strips I made/taught I wanted the pattern to be more specific so started with strips...

The stamps I mainly used were the stitched lines from JOFY26...

.... I'd been playing around with ways to use the corner stitches other than as a corner motif.... I created (nearly)all my sample on kraft card and with similar colours so that the patterns are obvious and we're not distracted by colours... :o)  these strips can be created in whatever colour scheme matches the projects in hand - really useful .... (and fun... and possibly a bit addictive  - so many variations/options!)

*  stamped the corner image centralised along the length of the strip of card, and another strip with alternating colours...

*  stamped contrast colours facing different directions - love the 'tweedy' look this creates:

*  used the border stamp of stitching to created simple vertical stripes:

*  2 lines of contrasting diagonal stitching:

*  mix of vertical and horizontal stitching, and another with contrast colour:

*  teamed it with the corner motif of the borders from JOFY27

I looked at the new plates to see what else I could use on a tape and the fuzzbuds (named by Leandra!) jumped out....

*  black stamping..

*  'mermaid' painted spots..

*  'snowflake' painted fuzzbuds..

*  the strip had lots of 'open/bare' patches so I added dots with a black pen... I might add Stickles/glitter glue on top of these for a bit of sparkle....

I hope this has inspired you to create your own 'tape'... great way to use up strips of coloured card left over from other projects or to alter strips of masterboard... so many options!

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ALBOTAT... inspiration works both ways....

... when I teach workshops, & I hope to inspire people and this weekend at The Stamp Attic it was my turn to be inspired- by some colour choices that were made by people in the class:

Here are Alison's chosen colours and one of cards she made with them:

 and here are Joanna's

(and now I'm wondering what Turquoise, Tikka and Chalk would be like??)

Not colours I would normally reach for but I really like them!

ALBOTAT... sample pages...

.. from AllyPally... all created using JOFY stamps, Fresco Finish Paints...

Th panel above combines Turquoise (on of the new JOFY Autumn Fresco Limited Edition paints) and Chartreuse (Lin Brown's Fresco Limited Edition paints, set 1) - love this colour combo!

Lots of lovely painty layers...

ALBOTAT:.. Happy Birthday.....

... to my youngest nephew... I made him a card (obviously! lol).. love using the Stampotique images on their cards - this time I teamed my latest edition (to my Stampotique weird and wonderful family) with Ellen Vargo sketched shapes and my greeting stamps...

x

ALBOTAT... teeny tiny...

... book created as part of a demo at the recent AllyPally trade show...

Its only 5x5cm in size, created from a 10x10cm chipboard panel that was painted, stamped and cut up to create pages which I stamped with detail on each page.

All wrapped up....

... and ready to go...

This is the mini journal I took on holiday with me (you've seen several pages already in a blog post over on the PaperArtsy site HERE).. but when I created those pages it was only one book and as I didn't think that would be enough 'space' for creating while I was on holiday I attached a second book by sewing their back pages together..  In the book I used tipped-in pages, photos, pocket-scrapbooking size journaling cards, stamping, pockets.. anything I could think of really! {and pack in a suitcase of course :o) }  its a play book..

On the original front page I attached a panel of masterboard left over from a previous project, stamped a scallop edge & sewed a loop of calico to hold a pen, rubber, or pencil....
(I felt that the covers needed to be covered so that they were more resilient to wear&tear on holiday and against finger marks (kraft can be easily marked))

On the other 'front page I attached another piece of the materboard and sewed on 2 lengths of calico that I would use to tie the books closed - I thought it was going to be necessary to tie them shut because when all the pages were altered and additional pages tipped-in the books would be difficult to close :o)  I tipped in pages by sewing them using my sewing machine - I positioned them so that they overhung the original pages of the book.

The plan for the book was a journal, holiday 'diary', sketchbook... and to use my stamps (especially the alphabet) and to just play...

The pages of the first book:

A delivery label re-purposed on the inside of the front page- an 'if found' page where the JOFY alphabet is combined with a simple stamp alphabet

When travelling we seem to be identified as much by barcodes as by our names.. I attached a small luggage bar code with another piece of the masterboard, stamping across the background onto the panel to 'tie' the two pages together (I like doing this).

On this page I used one of the prints created with my Instax camera printer (love!!) nice size prints - allows space on the pages for journaling & other decoration, here I used the photo as a flap to create a hidden space for journaling.

Another doodling page - I'd doodled on the white panel and so glued it on to the page and doodled, stamped over the edges and onto the page until the space was filled.. (the green page is another tipped in)

Tiles with journaling, brief notes on the holiday - bite size pieces.

Every-so-often its nice to have a really simple page.

This page makes me smile - its a dress cut from one of the magazines I took on holiday with me and I doodled a person (and her pet) around it - I've given her the most Scottish name I could think of inspired by her tartan dress (and her scottie dog - yes that is a scottie dog! lol)


Pages in the second book:

Another print this time teamed with some of the book words/phrases, and extra paper that I took with me.

... contained in the pockets I created by sewing together the last two pages of each book, and punching a scoop out of the top to make it easier to take items in and out of the pocket.

I read a book on holiday that really inspired me and so I created a page using one of phrases from the book.

The spread below has a tipped-in page gingham page that has a olive green reverse and folds over right to left, & left to right to reveal different layers.... 

... easiest way to show you is in a little video (please excuse my video-ing skills! lol)...

A pretty page using JOFY flowers to hold the photo on to the page.. I like the way the pink page behind frames the flower page.

That's most of the pages - still a few pages waiting to be filled - it was a fun book to work in - and a nice size - just 6x4inches.... & I like how the size has been extended by the jutting out tipped-in pages.

And here is the little book making the most of the Grecian sun.. a sun lounger makes a useful desk!  lol

This photo also shows the basic kit I take away with me (or at least some of it - the cocktail menu is optional lol) - alphabet stamps, scissor, metal ruler, a5 craft mat, doublesided tape, kraft knie, pens and pencils...
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