Another Monday

Seems like Monday is the magic day for getting here. Try as I may, every day just doesn't seem to work.
But I'm going to keep working at it. I'd love to blog each day. I'd like to show others how I do stuff like so many other BLOGs I see. Mine seems so boring in comparison.
I once saw a sign that said "A neat studio is the sign of a sick mind"...I laughed at the time and thought to myself ' well no sick mind happening at my house'...Now as I look around, I compare it to that Hoarders show. Now THAT'S a sick mind!!! There has to be a happy medium. I need to know I am not alone. Please write me and tell me I am not alone. I know  people have been unable to leave comments (not complaining,  love the e-mail) but please keep trying. Deb I see that you have no problem...Thank you for being so supportive.
Okay so here is what I have done:
In my group  mixedmediastudio@yahoo.com we also have a paper studio run by Robyn. She has a book page thing going on. I thought that might be fun so I joined.

That was fun. I think she draws a name and sends all to one person. Nice start to an art journal.
I did manage to finish my Banner.

The theme was "Winter song" so I thought the carolers were appropriate and the Christmas carol is curled on the ends of a torn sheet. It was the first time I made my own paper trim and I kind of liked it. Then I topped it with some copper trim. One day I will lay out all the ones I got...they are all so different. They should make a lovely winter display hanging from my shelf in the dining room.
I also did some work on my "doll". My monthly challenge is I dare you to make....this month is a Doll from a plastic container. All sorts of idea's ran through my head but the one I liked best was a plastic nose spray bottle. Oh stop laughing...wait until you see it LOL Then laugh.
For Mothers Day I got to spend time with my Goats. Cleaning their pen is always fun...NOT. But they are just so darn cute, it's hard not to enjoy them.

Jake ran to the fence when he heard me coming. "It's about time woman where the heck have you been?". That's what he said...really.

Harley said "YOu don't really expect me to help clean up that mess do you?". He is my quiet, shy boy.

Jake, However, is not shy and decided that helping would be fun. For him perhaps but for me hmmm I think it would have been faster without him. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful Mothers Day. Every one of my kids and grand kids remembered to send a card ON TIME. That's a first LOL They always remember but I often get them after , not before. I even won $25 (they all sent me scratch off lottery tickets. So it was a profitable Mothers Day too! Stick around and let me know what you think of my "doll". Thanks for stopping by.

Finished!

You can tell Spring is Sprung. It is still rather cold and it rains a lot but I try and get out and play as often as the sun shows her pretty face. I have some more garden art up my sleeve but I have several projects to finish first.
I did manage to get those charm ATCs finished.

I had been working with the coral beads and they just seem to go nice with the brass Cat. It's a cute charm, a cat with a heart, held onto the card with a paper clip.

My fairy cards charm are pearls holding a fairy charm held onto the cards with a star brad. I like them, hope the girls do.
I had a BD gift to make. Remember those little mini books? This is what I came up with.

I've got a ton of pretty charms. My friend likes yellow and green and she also likes Cats, so this seemed perfect. Another one of those "better late then never" situations.
I also made some angel earrings.....

Kind of cute huh? Hey it keeps me out of trouble.
The last thing on my to do list for last week was to get the color palette charms done.This was the colors for May..

I found these coral and turquoise colored beads that seemed perfect. Normally I would have made something out of clay, perhaps more beachy. Considering all I have to get done, I had to take the easier road this time.

Twenty of anything is a lot.

When you are pressed for time, you do the best you can. It's a perfect color match and that's what this swap is all about, the color.

So, for this week coming I have a Banner due, an Initial swap, a mini album swap, a bird page swap and I might as well start working on my spools...I'm sure there is something I'm forgetting, so stay tuned and thanks for stopping by.

You know how it is

LOL or at least I hope by now you do . Life just has a way of screwing up my good times.
How dare these animals of mine need care and food and baths and exercise , not to mention love and affection. Where do they come off demanding such things?
Of course I jest. I get as much pleasure out of my animals as I do playing in my studio. Unfortunately, I can't so both. Then there are doctor visits to fit in along the way. It's what happens as we age...Them's the facts.
I do find myself saying "there but for the grace of God..." a lot, so I am luckier then most when it comes to health. No sense whining about it...Now if whining helped, you bet I'd do it...A LOT!! Since it doesn't, why waste the energy?
I have managed to get somethings done...or part done.
I did manage to bake 4 loaves of Irish soda bread...

Oh come on now, that's a craft in itself. As you can see by the time I got my camera, part of a loaf was already gone. Making bread helps me relax. What can I say?
I think I told you about the Charm ATC's

One group will have a Kitty kind of charm and the other a fairy charm. I'll post a pic of each when they are ready to mail. I found that Kitty on line and stuck a feather in his mouth. Does he has a cute face or what?
Heaven forbid I should sit still and do nothing while watching a class on line..Actually it's more listening then actual action at this point, so I made myself a friend.

One animal I don't have to feed...YAY ME!!! His name is Bud.
So that's about it for me. Hardly what I see as a weeks worth of work, but I've got a real clean Barn, a clean Peacock house and some well groomed goats, so that counts. I should have more to show tomorrow so come on back ya hear? Thanks for stopping by today.

Coaster Book and Hinge Tutorial

AS promised here is a simple tutorial for making a book out of coasters  as well as a hinge technique some of you may already know.

The supplies you will need are: sharp pencil, 5 coasters, sharp scissors, a punch of some kind, card stock pack and hinge paper. I used CD stickers for this one because I liked the sparkle , although very little shows. You can use paper, card stock, ribbon...what ever. I used a square punch but in the past I have used round and even a butterfly (it was handy).

 trace and cut out your card stock. Lay out the way you book pages will
look. IN this case the cover is black, then a coaster, then another piece of card stock you can't see, then the next set is red card stock, a coaster and another color card stock (hidden under the red page)


Right now you are saying "you're as clear as mud Kathie"...it will all make sense as you go along.
Here is the back of the cover (the green) and page one (the red) with a coaster and page 2 under it. I like to lay them out this way so I  can move along in order.



Punch out your squares, or rounds or what ever. The CD labels I used had a sticky side which made everything easier, other wise you will glue them in place.

You will take, in the case the green and red and put them together facing each other (what you see in the above picture, is the back side of the red which, once the hinge is in place, will be glued unto a coaster.)

Fold your hinge in half, put glue on one side and slide it over both pieces of card stock, so half the hinge is on the red and half on the green. Make sure the hinge is on the wrong side of the card stock. Or the side of the card stock that will be glued to the coaster.

Then take you next set, right sides held together. IN this case the yellow page and the one that will be opposite it in your book (What you see here is the wrong side of the yellow page) I lay  the two new pages on the two I just finished so the hinges will all be in alignment when the book is done.

Here is each set of pages, minus the coasters..The hinges are all facing up, the valleys are not attached, it just looks that way.You can see the black covers one on the left and one on the far right. The cover will be glued to a coaster, the other side of the coaster will be glued to the card stock that is hinged to the blue you see on the left. A coaster will get glued to the blue side, then the next set will get glued to the blank side of that coaster and so on.

This picture shows the cover, coaster, back of cover page glued to another coaster. The green check will be glued to the back of the aforementioned coaster and then another coaster will be glued to the hinged page.

Remember if you are going to use brads to decorate anything, in this case a pocket, do so before gluing it to the coaster.

I use LINECO PH glue because it is used in book making and doesn't make pages bubble. I also use my 24K gold pen to edge all the pages, so it looks nice and neat and pretty.

You can hardly see the hinges once the book is all together...don't forget to add pockets and fun things for your partner to fill up with memories.

AS you can see the book lays nice and flat, before adding pockets and embellishments. I'm only going this far because I want you to come up with your own embellishing idea's. I have found that once I set a theme, everyone seems to follow. This is something you will be making for a partner so make it unique. Make it capable of holding small photo's, tickets, small maps or trinkets from a trip. Add things she can write on as well as add to. Hope you understood the process. If not write to me. Once you lay it all out, I think it will all make sense. Good Luck!

Getting Better

Have you noticed? I manage to get here more often and I'm also getting stuff done. One of these days I may actually get to some projects I can  keep or sell. You know, something of my own LOL
Actually I did make something I can keep. The challenge was to make a book sculpture. You all saw my hand reaching out of the book. I wanted to light one up so this is the first. I think I can do better so I will make something more elaborate.

as you can see, the light changes colors, clear, blue, pink and yellow. I had it in my bedroom last night with all the lights out and it was really rather pretty to watch. Yes, I do believe I will make more of these.
Also in my group we have a swap of Origami pendant books. They open and have a few pages to write on.
I made up 3, will probably make more because I think they would make adorable  R.A.K.'s to cheer someone up and wouldn't cost a fortune to mail. They are far from perfect i.e. not all pages are exact, but I'm happy with them as a pendant.

Never a dull moment in my studio.







That was all I got finished yesterday. I have to finish a simple tutorial today, then work on some charm ATC's....the idea is to make an ATC then a charm to go with it.
I have some Idea's...Oh what a surprise huh? Thanks for stopping by.

Finally!!!

What a task LOL Actually if I had nothing else to do , I don;'t think 25 ATC's is a big deal. Unfortunately I view task one at a time and see nothing as a big deal, until I start ALL of them LOL

I did manage to finish and wrap all 25

Of course my favorite is "Do you know what this is? Frosty the Snowman's baby picture" that's would be the card to the far left. The little antique Christmas card in the center is cute and sends the message, then I made 3 odd ones, just because that's the way I am. Then they were wrapped, with a snowflake added to each and a number 3 on the back, because that's the day everyone will open mine.

There ya go!! Done!! I have to admit, I had fun finding pictures I wanted to use. Had I had more time of course they would have gotten way out of hand with embellishments. But the task is complete < sigh of relief>
Then I had the 3 Asian cards for my old group. Again I kept it simple. I was wishing for Asian coins which I didn't have or 3 D  symbols which I didn't have. So this is the result and I hope my partner likes them.

My finally task for yesterday was to complete a Challenge on my Mixed Media Studio group. Each month I challenge the girls to make something from a common household item. This month was a Light bulb...any size
but it had to be altered. I used two tiny twinkle light bulbs and this is what I made.

I think he is kind of cute. I just happen to like dragon flies. So that be that...my accomplishments for yesterday. While I didn't get everything done that I would have liked to complete. I did get 3 things out of the way . I will continue to move forward today and hopefully complete the rest of my obligations.
Hope you enjoy what you see and thanks for stopping by.

Busy Days

What kind of silly woman signs up to make 25 ATC's and wraps them? LOL I keep asking myself that question. Obviously 24 other silly women besides me .
I have them all almost done and will be taking pictures, hopefully by this afternoon. Right behind those are 3 with an Asian theme and then another 10, 5 each with different theme , plus charm. Don't even ask.
Those are only the things on my work table, now follow me over to my OTHER work table and you  see a book sculpture, some little books that need "stuff" and another little mini album...Oh but wait!! ( now I sound like a TV commercial huh?) off on another small table in my studio is a tunnel book LOL OMG!! what have I done? I ask myself why I am busy playing in this "Storybook Blog" when I should be finishing stuff up.
I did manage to finish my Banner. I think it was called winter night, or something that had to do with evening.
When I think winter evenings, the color blue comes to mind, so this is what I did.

The fabric is actually called "snowy evening" then I cut out some glittery snow flakes and frame, then found an antique pic of a darling little girl with a furry hat and muff. Added a hanging jewel and some bling and called it done.
I never know with these things if I've done too much or not enough, so I ask myself "would I like getting this as my banner ?" My answer was yes, I'd be delighted. I love sparkle and bling. I try and do that with what ever I mail to someone else. Considering some of the swaps I have gotten (we've all had the experience) I don't think everyone feels the same way. Sometimes it looks like a matter of "Git 'er done". I finally dropped out of those groups and stayed with the ones I feel have "standards" and feel an obligation to do their very best. I'd sooner write to my partner and tell them I will be a little late, then rush something. That being said, I've only had to do that once. I'm usually early with swaps.
So instead of talking about these 25 cards, I guess I should bite the bullet and get them done. They seem to need a little something, so I will ponder that while I vacuum.
Thanks for stopping by!!