365 Journal. Is there anybody there?

Long time no blog!

It's that time of month again - time for showing our 365 Journals.  I've not prepared the daily squares for Oct yet but thought I'd show what I've done so far.

I've been doing lots of sewing lately but not photographing stuff.  My craft room is more or less sorted now, but I'll be spending most of my time downstairs sewing as it's my papercraft stuff I've moved.  Hopefully now it's sorted I can get down to doing more.

We've had 3 absolutely glorious days in this part of the country; bit of a change today though, but still warm.

FAME - Remember my name

Haha, well here it is at last, what you've all been waiting for!  Many of you will know I go to a tap dancing class.  The teacher, Wendy, is an ex-Tiller Girl.  For those of you not of a certain age or not from the UK, in the 50s and 60s there was a show on TV called 'Sunday Night At The London Palladium'.  this was a very popular variety show and the resident dancers were the Tiller Girls.
Wendy's daughter, the very talented Louise, is a singer; she's not made it big yet but did a spot at Glastonbury this year.  She's just released a song and had asked her mum if her class would take part in the video.  The majority of us are strictly amateur dancers with one or two having danced at an early age, but luckily for us due to the brilliant editing of the very handsome Saul who shot the video we don't look half bad.  Here's the link for the video on Youtube: Louise  For the most part I'm front row, 2nd from the left, short white t-shirt.  Wendy is at the front of the class most of the time.  I must say it's a really good song, hope you agree.  There are other videos of Louise if you'd like to see more, just type in Louise and The Pins (The Pins are the other girls in the band)
;-)
EDITED - thought you may like to know you can buy the song on itunes for 79p

365 Journal

August pages completed, September's prepped.  Pop over to Kate's if you want to find out more about this venture.
I'm busy sorting out my craft stuff to take upstairs to it's new home in the spare room.  So if anyone drops by, I will pop round to yours soon :-)

My 15 minutes of fame may be imminent!

I'm not saying any more just now, you'll have to wait till the first week in September haha!  Just one thing though, it's not craft related!

I bought some dance trainers a couple of weeks ago for linedancing.  I only had my ankle boots which had started making my feet ache plus they are on their last legs, well in fact they are past it - new boots this winter (I do have some Uggs though)  The dance trainers are very similar in style to some other trainers but are made specifically for dancing and are very flexible as  you can see here.  I was extrememly lucky as they are £40 or more and I got these for £20 (plus £3 postage) and they're pink too :-)  I know black ones would go with anything but how boring LOL

More fun at Southport and Birthday Stuff

I went to see my son and his girls last week, my other 2 grandkids came with me.  The girls live in Formby, he lives in Southport.  There are a couple of pics of the kids in a park in Formby and DS with his new bike.  He got the bike through Merseyrail, who he works for through a scheme called 'Wheels to Work'.  He only pays £5 a week and less than half the price of the bike which means he could get a really good bike at an affordable price.  We then went into Southport and onto the carousel with the girls love, then the amusement arcade and through the hall of mirrors.  We also hired a little boat for a ride round the lake, all the kids had a turn of being skipper ;-)

Some time ago I showed concertina box files that some friends and I made.  When we did the journalling class with Kate a couple of weeks ago she had something similar but the outer cover was like a book cover.  Some of the 'Ladies Who Lunch' were there and wanted to have a go at making one.  So as I'd done the other one I sorted out how to make the one with the book cover.  When the LWL met up for our monthly playday we did this project.   I forgot I actually had my camera with me or I would've taken pics of what everybody did.  Basically we used a hardback book and took the innards out and made the concertina folder bit.  We didn't have time to decorate the book cover, but I'd already done mine as I thought it would take too long on the day and if I didn't finish it that day it may have ended up being another UFO!  The technique I've used for my book cover I found on Youtub and is one of CapricornArtist73's techniques.  We also made some 'bobbins' mine still have to be embellished.
Pat made me an absolutely beautiful book for my birthday, which was in July and Tracey made me a gorgeous little chipboard 'hangy'.

I bought a new 'toy' from Lidl which I simply love.  It's a Brother Lable Maker, £14.99  This one can do 3 different font sizes and has 4 frames plus an underline facility.  I resisted one of these for a long time as I could do any printing on the PC but it's so handy for card greetings when the PC's not on and DD always wants any cards, she asks me to make, personalised.   I've used it for the 'days' on my 365 pages for August.  Mine has 2 different fonts but for some reason the one Pat bought is slightly different and only has one font and one of the frames is different.
Spent a lovely day in Manchester on Saturday with Suzanne, who is one of my oldest friends.  I treated myself to a vanilla slice in Kendals and bought a lovely long-sleeved black top and a black sleeveless cardi - not a colour I usually go for.

Bags, Kate's Workshop plus 365 Journal

I've made to craft bags recently.  The first out of 2 pairs of jeans - I decided just to use the legs which is why it took 2 pairs.  I used the waistband for the handle, I didn't neaten the edges just cut close to the seam.  I've left raw edges all round and had intended to wash it before use to fray the edges more but used it before I had time to wash it.  The 2nd one I used upholstery fabric, I just loved the fabric when I saw it and liked it right up to completing the bag, now I'm not sure.  I like the style though.


A week ago yesterday (is that good grammar?) I attended one of Kate's workshops at Art From The Heart with Pat, there were a couple of other 'Ladies Who Lunch' there too (we meet once a month in Sheffield for a playday).  These are the pages I did there and the workshop was thoroughly enjoyable, Kate is such a good teacher.

Just realised it's now August so hurriedly took a pic of my 365 Journal pages.  The colour of the August pages are more kind of mellow than they look here.

More stuff

I bought a cheapo mirror with frame from Ikea at the weekend for my little sis's birthday.  They're just soooo cheap, but excellent to alter/adorn/embellish.  I took this picture in the early hours of the morning when I couldn't sleep - as you can see, no flash used; best to turn of the flash when photographing indoors.  And no pic of my mug (face) in the mirror hehe.  I made the butterflies from a lemonade bottle (with paper butterfly underneath), stamped and slightly coloured with alcohol ink and edged with silverleaf pen.  The flower is made from organza, the shape created by melting over a low flame - you can use a tealight for this.  I got the technique from YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U918ZjtBNr4&feature=related This is going to be my entry into Hels' Sunday Stampers challenge, which I haven't taken part in for many weeks.

Had a great day yesterday at Pat's, along with another friend, Margaret.  We made storage boxes, with concertina sides.  Mine and Pat's weren't complete, but I finished mine this morning.  The top part of the box was too plain so I added a bit of stamping, added the ribbon with some beads and a leaf and made the flower (without the aid of a die) by folding strips of paper back and forth.  The ribbon should've been addedbefore putting the covering paper/card over the bookboard/mountboard/thick card, but due to my jst looking at the picture and not reading the instructions properly at that stage, we put the ribbon in the wrong place, so had to cut it off.  Bt it's fine attached to the back of the box once complete.

What I've been up to

I've hardly blogged in the last couple of months, just don't seem to have time - it's not the blogging itself as such, it's just that once you enter Blogland and start visiting you get caught up with so many interesting blogs and get sidetracked following links.
I have painted the spare bedroom and am going to move my craft stuff back upstairs from the kitchen, that will probably take a year to complete haha.  I've also painted the bathroom. So I've not been idle.  I hate painting ceilings and hate the cutting in!  But on to more interesting stuff, I've made canvas postcards (the grain of the canvas seems to have affected the clarity of the picture here) and a mug rug at the doll group in recent months; decorated a torso with the 'Ladies Who Lunch' we've have also made a hanging thing but I have yet to attach the means by which it will hang; made myself a car seatbelt thing too (just so you know, the white strip is one side of Velcro for fastening).  I dont know if it's just short people who suffer with the seatbelt chafing the side of the neck.  The mug rug is rectangular rather that square to allow you to put your biccies on too - due to the name 'mug rug' I'm assuming these originated in America.  The chicken hangy thing was a project in Craft Stamper by Helen (sorry can't remember her surname)



365 Journal Pages

No excuses for not blogging!
Here are my completed pages for June for the 365 Journal and July's pages prepared - oops, I know I've put June again but wanted to get them posted so will amend that some time during the month.

Also some pics of me and 2 of my grandchildren on the carousel at Southport last weekend - I look like I'm missing some teeth on that one :-(  The carousel is very close to the start of the pier which is the 2nd longest in England and was opened in 1860.  They say the tide never comes in in Southport and the pic of the beach seems to support that.  It does come in but most times not very far up the beach.  Looking at this pic it doesn't look very summery, it was for the most part a lovely day but just a few spots of rain and some clouds, whilst back home in West Yorkshire it was a glorious day.  Some pics of us in the House of Mirrors and a couple taken from the tram that goes along the pier.

Long time no see!

Hi folks, in case you're interested I haven't really had the inclination to upload and sort my photos for a while.  I've been online on and off, but no blog-hopping.
First up are my 365 Journal pages for May and June.

Next are some fairy shoes we made at the doll group in May - well started in May completed at home.  The intention is to make a doll at some point to fit the shoes!

Lastly a pic of my thumb after I tried to chop the end off with the guillotine!  Luckily the blades on those are quite thick so didn't do a s much damage as it would otherwise.  I really must learn to keep my thumb well in, as I did just catch it once before!  See that dry skin!  It's not so bad now :-)

Doll Making Playday

I've previously mentioned several of us like-minded crafters get together once a month to play.  Ann really wanted to have a go at making a cloth doll and I found one in my collection that I thought would be suitable for beginners.  Why is that things that look simple very rarely are!  Her arms and hands are incorporated into the body and as Margaret said, she looks as though she needs the loo LOL.  The hands are supposed to be painted but we decided not to bother.  Everyone did splendidly and Jill, our hostess for the day; Friday; had almost completed hers before we left.  I completed mine over the weekend.  Pat's is done now and is fabulous and funky.  As Pat has mentioned on her blog that this is a Tsunami Butterfly Doll, I thought I'd explain.  The designer; Patti Lavalley; designed it a few years ago so people could sell it with the proviso they gave some of the money in aid of the Tsunami in Asia a few years ago.

This fabric paper box is one we started at the last playday.  It originally had 5 sides and closed at the top, but I decided to change the shape and leave it open.  I've gone for 'less is more' with this just adding some machine stitching and beads.  The fabric paper was made with muslin, PVA and tissue paper, then painted when dry.  The box is approx 53/4"x21/2".  The skeletonised hydrangea head is off my hydrangea; I found it in the garden some weeks ago, I think it's lovely.



365 Journal

April pages completed, May pages prepared.  April's pages have changed :-) - It's too long a boring tale to go into but suffice to say I've ended up using the previous pages and now, what where April's pages, are May's but painted over.

Gawthorpe Coal Race plus Sunday Stampers

I live in Gawthorpe, Ossett, West Yorkshire where, on Easter Mondays, they have a Coal Carrying Championship.  This year was the 48th and the first I'd watched.  My daughter's children took part in the 8-10 year olds races.  Lewis came 5th or 6th in his race while Robyn came 2nd in the girls.  The children carry a small plastic bag with sand in.   Both women and men run 1,108 yards, mostly uphill, the women carrying a 20kg sack of coal while the men carry 50kg.  (Apparantly there were approx 2,000 people watching the race).  Gawthorpe also still celebrates May Day with a procession and May Queen, this year is the 139th celebration.
Lewis is wearing the brightly coloured shorts

Robyn is on the left of the photo here; you can see how far ahead the girl is who won. The Maypole can be seen in this picture.

The theme for this week's Sunday Stampers is 'Wings'.  I've made what I call a puffy tag ;-) It's a canvas tag which has been stuffed.