WOYWW 169 - The Long and the Short of it!

Morning WOYWW friends - my you are all up early!  I was hoping to have one of my last lie ins before school starts again but the postie had other ideas - bless him.  I had to answer the door looking very scary after having to trick our dog with a biscuit to get him out of the way of the door.  I can't believe how heavy he is and at a year old he does not always listen to 'move out of the way so I can open the door!' When his mind is full of, 'Who is it, who is it - let me lick him!'  Poor postman standing at the other side not knowing what he is in for.  Daft but rather large, vociferous and definitely over excited golden retriever pup with his definitely not looking her most glamorous owner!  Oh well the lengths you have to go to to get your hands on your Creative Expressions parcel of goodies!! More later.......

As I am up I thought I would post - I know you all don't mind the scary morning face!!  Here is my Long shot (tall probably a better description!)  I don't think I have shown this view before.  These are the shelves that hubby and I put up.  The miracle is they are still up!  I say miracle because even though we did the work to turn our garage into my craft room and what used to be hubbies office we had expert guidance on hand then.  But we are still very much novices when it comes to DIY - decorating no problem but when we had to put up shelves on this partition wall we suddenly remembered very wise words indeed - 'mark where your studs are so if you need to use them you can find them easily!!'  Oh well after a few test holes we did work it out and we must have done it fairly well as the shelves are filling up nicely as you can see and they haven't landed on my head yet - touch wood!!

Don't you just love Ikea ;-)

And the 'short 'of it is that my photo frames from last week have moved on a bit and have been shabbied up.  I put Rock Candy crackle on them and they look like they are made of old china now!  I was looking at what to put in them before I finish them off as you can see.  I think I have decided on two photos of each of my boys growing up and two shots of them together but I also think I am going to go either black and white or sepia - They may be finished and hanging by next week although as class prep is about to start I won't promise!!

.......And finally this is what the Postman bought.  Look at the lovely new papers that Creative Expressions are doing!  Loving the Kraft ones and the fact that they all are perfect for cards.  At the top of the photo are the stamps I will be designing with this week for my class in September.

Tummy rumbling now so off to get my breakfast and to feed Comet too.  Busy day ahead of clearing the decks for class prep - and finishing my Tag Tuesday Tag and of course last but definitely not least desk hopping all over the world - we should be so fit with all these leaps into the magical unknown we take!

If you think I am loosing it then you probably want to click on this link to find out what on earth I am talking about!  Hope you join in the fun.

Thank you to all my WOYWW pals who pop by.  I love reading your lovely comments as much as I love seeing what wonderful things you are up to this week........ok revise that .....almost as much as - gotta keep it honest right!! ;-)  Have a great week X

Tag Tuesday - Table Games

Is it time to post a tag again already!!?  That will teach me to be more organised - though I do have to say this tag design came to me much much quicker than the last one.

Our family love playing board games.  My favourites is Pictionary for obvious reasons!  As a child my favourite was a game called 'Tell Me'.  We used to play it at my Aunty Mary's and Uncle Jack's.  We all used to sit wherever we could perch (it was always a full house) then one person called out the question - 'A fruit beginning with'.......We all waited with baited breath until the spinner stopped and the letter was called....'G'  Then the room erupted with everyone shouting out a fruit.  The Question Master was in charge of awarding the card to the first person shouting out the correct answer.  Not always an easy task in all that hullabaloo!  Some of the answers had us in fits of giggles as well as the rivalry when two people were trying to persuade the Question Master they really were the first person to say grape!!

I had a quick look in our games cupboard (no easy task as it is chocablock!) and I spotted an old favourite with happy memories attached so that was my inspiration for this week's tag.  The Greek writing at the top of my tag says, 'In Greece table games are called Tavli' and the bottom strips say 'We learnt to play Tavli in Cyprus'.

 Here is what the tag looks like when you open up the Tavli board.   You will recognise it as Backgammon.

The counters and dice are Fimo so you can actually play for real on my tag.  How's that for a pocket board game? :-D

I started off my tag by working out the sizes to construct each section of my board.  I have seen box frames made and I knew this would work.  All I had to do was scale things down.  So scored and then folded each line.

Next I had to work out how to cut the corners.  I stuck two sides in place first and then as I wrapped the next side into position so I could see where I needed to trim to get the box frame to take shape.

I left two sides free so I could add a brad fastening.

I started out by using tape to put the two sides of my board together but I wasn't sure I liked the pattern.

I added a large brad to one side of my Tavli board before folding it into position and a small brad and metal thingy to the other side.

The board is taking shape nicely so next I took a few photos of our life sized board and then scaled them on the computer to fit my mini version.  That's when I really decided to make a replica board and I covered the tape hinges I wasn't sure about earlier with card ones.

I trimmed and stuck in the board markings next.

I made a tag for my board to sit on and added a photo I liked of two Cypriot men playing a game of Tavli.  As I mentioned before I made the Tavli dice and counters with Fimo.  I stuck the board to the tag and added ribbon and some Greek words to finish my Board Game tag.

Here is my mini tag game next to the real macoy!  How did I do?  You can see from this photo our game is much loved and has seen plenty of action on the beaches of Cyprus usually as the sun went down and the barbecues were lit!  Happy Days!

To see more tags by the Tag Tuesday artists follow this link!

WOYWW 168 - A Little Progress!

Welcome to some progress on a project you saw on my desk a post or two ago!  I have deconstructed and started a paint job!  I want these frames to hang on my bedroom wall above our two bedside tables with photos of our family - much better looking than the family in the ones below!  Tee Hee ;-)

As I write this post I am listening to The Osmonds - don't you just wish you were here?!

'In a restless world that this is
love is ended before its begun
and too many moonlight kisses
seem to cool in the warmth of the sun!'

Sing along - I could do with someone to drown me out!!!!

Colour scheme picked and frames separated they got two coats of paint.  Those colours look better in daylight.  Very ice creamy.

 Playing with patterns.  I think I will probably dry brush the frames with cream paint when they are done to tone them down a little and shabby chic them up a bit.  I may even finish them by next week at this rate!

One final photo to share.  Placed carefully at the end of my desk well away from the messy paint is this fab canvas that I received yesterday from Cindy of www.plantslist.blogspot.com.  I was lucky enough to win her July Art Draw.  I had admired the canvas and the cute and forlorn looking snail backpacker on Cindy's blog so I was really happy to be lucky enough to win it!  THANK YOU SO MUCH CINDY.  I will treasure it.  Each time I look at it I see another small detail - I have just spotted tiny ants.

That's it from my desk this week except to say thank you to you all for the kind words about my debut video and my surprise box card design last week.  There will be a tutorial I promise.  I was made up with the response and you have really spurred me on to get my camera bought and set up ready to film in earnest.

Thanks for popping by my WOYWW friends.  If you don't know what WOYWW is and are intrigued by this post then follow this link to the lovely Julia's and find out the massive fun she started!  Wishing you all an inky, painty gluey week of creativity.

Helen
X

Tag Tuesday - Theatre and Cinema

My tag this week is definitely emphasis on the Cinema.  It has taken me a while to do this one.  I think I was trying to include too many elements.  I definitely wanted popcorn but I was having trouble coming up with a nice design including some other cinema elements.  I got there in the end so here is my tag:

Found a great poster of a Disney film I love (all versions) that matched perfectly....maybe a little too perfectly so here is another so I can tell you about the details of my tag this week.

I started by printing out a popcorn box template I found on the internet which I resized a couple of times until I had the dimensions I wanted.  As you can see I am into zentangling a the moment!  It was after the zentangling frenzy that the colour and design of the tag finally came to me.  I printed out some old cinema tickets which I attached with a cute brad.  I made a black tag with a red border that I zentangled again and before I put the whole thing together I sliced into my black tag to weave in the film strips (which were taken from a movie production logo I found).

Whilst I was doing all this my kitchen roll popcorn was drying!  I did toy with the idea of real popcorn - but it probably wouldn't have made it to the photo!!  I stuffed the bottom of my box with more kitchen roll and added my now dry popcorn to the top of the box and its a wrap!

Here are some of the bits and pieces that didn't make it to the editors final cut!

Off now to see what the lovely folk at Tag Tuesday have been making this week - probably in much better time than me (follow the link if you want to see more).  I'd better check out what the theme is for tomorrow I guess!

WOYWW 167 - Debut Video!

I am keeping my fingers crossed I can do this.  I promised to reveal the surprise that was hidden in the pretty envelopes that were on my chair last week.  A photo just wouldn't have done it justice so I decided to have a go at making a teeny tiny video even though I have no idea how to put it on my blog!

Drum Roll Please..........

Thank you to my cameraman Callum.  I think he needed a tripod and I needed a script writer or at least the skills to edit out the ummmms!

Now for the easy bit what is on my desk today?

From this angle you can see the My Minds Eye - The Sweetest Thing papers and embellishments I treated myself to on Saturday.  How could I resist :-)  Another zentangle pattern in the making and the set from my debut video.

On the other side of the film set is my Tag Tuesday tag taking shape - last weeks tag is propped up at the back - if you want to take a closer look then go to my previous post where I did a little how to.  I had a lovely time making this miniature penny arcade game from my childhood.  Just looking at my empty popcorn packets - I wish I had one of those Star Trek machines to make the popcorn to go in them!

That's it from me except to say if you don't know what WOYWW is then follow this link to some desk hopping fun and if you do know what WOYWW is then thank you for popping by - have a great week.

Tag Tuesday - Casino, Amusements and BINGO!

I just about made it this week!  I taught classes on Friday so the whole week has been taken up with prep but I didn't want to miss out making this weeks tag.  I started out wanting to make a one armed bandit but when I looked at a few photos on the internet it all looked a bit complicated and then I saw this.....

.....I remember playing on these when we visited the beach when I was a child.  After a day on the sand we would all dress and then set off for some tea.  I didn't much like the feeling of salt dried on my skin as I pulled on my clothes nor the vigorous rubbing of my feet to get off the worst of the sand before putting sandals back on.  Still it was a small price to pay for all the fun of the beach.  After tea we would sometimes visit a Penny Arcade and I used to love flicking the ball around the metal spiral to see where it would end up! So here is how I went about making this blast from my past!

I started with my usual tag shape and then started cutting out the shapes I would need to construct my arcade game.  My new Stampin' Up punch was perfect for the sign on top of my arcade game to be!

Next I made the box for my tag using my scoreboard.

Starting to take shape .......

It's not glued together yet but I think I have the construction right.

The photo I found was very poor quality and even worse when I printed it out a little larger for my tag. I decided to go over it with my pro markers.  First I did the 'Have a Go!' sign and you can see the huge difference it made.  I also started to look through my stash for suitable metal bits and pieces to make my game look real.

Here is the sign in place with a piece of acetate to mimic glass.

Next for the fiddly bit!  After I pro markered the background image I carefully cut around the spiral shape.  I also covered a strip of card with metal foil and snipped into it so I would be able to follow the spiral curve.

Here are all the metal pieces added and I am ready to put it all together.  I really wish I could have made this work!  I took me a little while to get it all together and I almost forgot my metal ball (silver bead in my case!)

Here it is all finished.  Why are small versions of things so darn cute?!

A bit closer on the details.

I couldn't do this with the Arcade games of my childhood!!  I feel like a giant!  Hope you like my tag.  If you would like to see more tags that were inspired by the Tag Tuesday theme this week then follow this link.

I'm off to bed now - Night Night, don't let the Bed Bugs bite!!

12 Tags of 2012 - August

I was at my monthly crop yesterday having fun with the girls and believe it or not I actually managed to get started on my August tag!  I say believe it or not as those of you that go to a crop will know that much time is spent chatting, admiring each others latest projects or newest additions to our stash..... oh, and now and again we get down to some crafting!! :-)  I have been itching to start my tag since I immediately had something in mind when I saw Tim's tag and read he had been inspired by his trip to the Magic Kingdom - so from one Disney Princess to another.......

I know my tag is a whole lot brighter than Tim's tag but I think I had to go dotty for Minnie!  Here is a quick run down of what I did.

I did not have either the frame stamp or embossing folder so it was the perfect opportunity to try the paint resist technique again with a dotty embossing mask.  Because it was a mask I couldn't swipe the paint onto the spots as the emboss wasn't deep enough so I opted to dot the paint onto the tag instead and I used a border punch to shape the bottom of my tag.

Way back on the April tag I had used a chipboard Kay and Co frame to make an embossed frame for my love birds and I still had it stashed away.  I couldn't use it all as it was a little large so I cut off some of the swirls and used a smaller circle frame ready for my Minnie Mouse silhouette.  

I coloured it black using Ranger Distress Black Soot embossing powder and it came out fab!  I didn't scratch off any of the crystals as I liked the look of it without doing that.

Now my paint was dry enough to add Fired Brick Distress Ink and Black soot around the edges.  Then, just as Tim did, I gently wiped my raised dots to remove the ink from the paint resist.

As I began to put this together there were a couple of things I wasn't quite happy with but I wasn't sure exactly what they were exactly (you know the feeling I am sure!).  Here is my Minnie silhouette.  I opted to leave her bow red as it looked very odd all black!

Then I made more of the elements for the tag.  I cut out black and white flowers from the two smallest Tattered Florals die and some of the Elegant Flourishes in green.  I doodled on the black flowers with a white pen and then used Distress Crackle Paint on them (it made them look a bit like grunge paper).  I made a paper rose and added crackle to it also.  I gathered some charms together and used my pro marker to turn the diamond into a ruby on my trombone clip and to add some mini polka dots to a pearl drop.

Here is where I got to at the crop - told you lots of chatting, coffee drinking, the odd biscuit or three and it was time to go home and watch Mo Farrah and Mr Bolt do their thing at the Olympics.  I can't believe it is almost over - The Olympics that is not my tag!!

And here is my Minnie Mouse August tag - finished.  As you can see I have added some things!  There were three things I wasn't quite happy with.  Minnie needed to be the same texture as the frame so she was distress embossed, a couple of colour coordinated jewels for her necklace and glossy accents on her bow.  The rose I made was too white so I made another one!  I also toned down the silhouette background and the bottom of the tag as they were a bit too pristine - and it did the trick!

A close up of the floral arrangement.......

........and a close up of the beautiful Minnie - can you see that my glossy accents still isn't dry?! :-D

Another great tag from Tim.  Follow this link to see where Tim's fabulous inspiration leads!  And a big big thank you to everyone that pops by to leave a comment.....and of course a BIG BIG thank you to Tim and Mario for picking me as one of last months lucky prize winners - I am just about calm again after the excitement of winning!  Nothing like a good calming crafting work out!

WOYWW 166 (I must have been busy!)

Morning everyone.  Just a quick post as I am out and about today.  I will be back to have a good old rummage around your desks later!  To anyone thinking 'How Rude!' click on the link and you too will soon have an open invitation to join lovely crafty folk at play!

I can't believe my last post was WOYWW 165.  I must have been busy as I didn't notice I haven't posted since then.  I am even late with my Tag Tuesday - tag still in my head.  So what can I share with you today?......Great British Nails!!  We went to the Olympics on Saturday and I found some fab nail stickers for the occasion.  They are still on - just about!  We had a wonderful time as we were lucky enough to be in the Athletic Stadium when Team GB took 3 golds!  How fab is that!  The noise from the crowd (me included) was amazing.  I have never witnessed anything like it.  I have also just about recovered my voice and the use of my legs after a massive step workout to get to our seats!  It was worth the climb though as the view was amazing and we sat right above the Olympic Flame.  One more photo to share and then on with the craft stuff.....Did I say short post!? :-)

What a fabulous view.  The stadium is just filling up.

On my chair are two packs ready to go for my classes on Friday.  They have a surprise element that I can't show you as....It is a SURPRISE!!  On the floor is my bag that has 3 other card packs in it.  Only one more pack to go!  I'm thinking I need a bit of girly pink for my last card!

On my desk are all the projects from last week, still not much done there because of card class prep so it will be next week before I get to those.  I did try to get better organised with my scraps though.  For a long time they have been in colour families in plastic wallets.  I think they don't get used as much as they should as they are in an out of the way cupboard so I thought I would treat myself to this hanging file storage box.  Now I have a dilemma as it is fit to burst already and I don't have all the papers in it yet.  I need to decide if I go for box number 2 or downsize my scraps.  I think it will be much handier to keep next to me when I craft whatever I decide.  Also in the photo is a ray of sunshine....at last! my Lavinia stamps, a Rudolf card from last years classes, a Christmas Tree Advent project still blank, my ink dusters and a couple of cards waiting to be written and sent.

Must be off now.  There are some clothes with my name on and a couple of folk to get out of bed!  See you later.  Have a great week and thanks for popping by....... X

I almost forgot Congratulations to all (including me!! click here if you want to see my tag) that won this months Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2012.  Great acknowledgement of the talents of the WOYWW gang!  I am so excited - emails from Mario and a shopping voucher for Simon Says Stamp!!!   Really going this time XXX