Another Card - Not Hallowe'en!

I have to admit, I am not a great fan of Hallowe'en.  Oh sure, I love candy, and there is nothing quite like the smell of a semi-roasted Jack o' Lantern when you blow out the candle, but.... it seems like a lot of work for one night. 

Don't worry, I still give out candy to trick or treater's (even the older ones, but that could be just so they don't vandalize my house later) and I have a lovely plastic pumpkin I plug in and put in the window.

As I cruise the blogs and websites in cyberspace, I see a lot of Hallowe'en inspired cards, pages, tags..... so I thought I would do a seasonal looking card with nary a skeleton or witch in sight.  Just some nice oranges, browns and greens.

The flowers are coloured with Copics, and die cut with Spellbinders.  The butterfly is a 3D embellishment from K and Company.  The ribbon is Basic Grey (I've had it for years, don't know if you can still buy it anymore or not.)  You can't see it in the photo, but I added a little orange Stickles to the flower petals with a paint brush.  The paper is also from Basic Grey.

I know this is a simple looking card, but it has 3 great advantages:  1) Apart from the Stickles drying time, it's quick to make.  2)  It's not lumpy and bumpy and it fits in a regular envelope so it can be mailed.  3) It doesn't have any heavy embellishments, and it doesn't cost extra postage.

Until next time....

Alaska Journal

 I was almost thinking I was going to have to rename this blog Yarn Persuasion or something, as I seem to have been doing a lot of KNITTING lately.  But here is my latest paper project, the travel journal I took on our most recent trip.

Usually I use my Bind-it-All to make journals, but this time I thought I might try coptic binding.  This is binding pages together by sewing them with linen thread.  I won't go into the how's of coptic binding, as there are many internet sites that show you in great detail.  That's how I learned to do it.   I will give you a few tips though:

     1) Make sure your thread is long enough.  I followed a mathmatical equation for calculating thread length, and it was too short.  I was not happy, because I had to redo the whole thing.I don't know if there is a way to add on to the thread and keep it looking neat.
     2) Don't pull the thread too tight.  If you do, the book won't stay closed.  It has to be tight enough to keep the signatures (that's coptic-speak for the page sections) from flopping about, though.  (A few more choice words were said as I redid the binding again)
    
The papers I used were Graphic 45 from the Rennasance Fair collection.  The flowers were punched from Memory Box and Sizzix dies.  Letters were punched using Quickutz Metro alphabet.   I embossed black cardstock with a clock embossing folder, then put some gold highlights on it.

Until next time...

                                        

Better Late than Never

Ok, after many attempts, here is the photo of my latest UFO, the Flying Geese Afghan.  (I had to go to another internet server to get this picture to upload.  Soon this blog is going to be more about dealing with and finding ways around computer and internet problems than crafting!!!)


Anyway, I did not much like knitting  the flying geese (moss stitch is not fun, and there were way too many yarn ends to sew in!), and I have replaced those panels with squares of garter stitch. 

This is only the first 3 panels stitched together, I still have 2 more garter stitch panels to go!

Missing in Crafting

I have been struggling for the past 15 minutes trying to get a photo of my most recent  craft project uploaded.  I'm getting a message, "Server Returned Invalid Response".  What does that mean?

It has been some time since I last posted to this blog, I will say the last few months have been quite difficult and stressful, and blogging has taken a back seat to the events going on.  Everything from family illness to a vacation (complete with a terrible cold and a sprained ankle!) to changes at work have really diverted my attention.

But this last month I have been working my latest UFO, the afghan.  I've had quite a bit of time, what with having to take it easy and keep off my poor ankle.   I have taken great comfort in it's soft texture and vibrant colours.  It's pretty simple, alternating ecru patterned strips with coloured blocks in garter stitch, which makes a good take along project, and I can even watch TV and not mess up the pattern too badly!

I also made a journal for our trip to Alaska, using coptic binding (not to be confused with Copic markers!!)  Hopefully one day the server will allow me to upload a photo or 2!

Until next time, which hopefully will be sooner than last time.....