One Little Word - Part 1

For my One Little Word project and documenting my 40th year, I knew I wanted something vibrant that I would love using for a long term project.  As part of my birthday present I treated myself to the Daily Grind collection by Simple Stories.  I first saw it when Sarah bought the S J Crafts shop to the local crop and I totally fell in love.  Alongside the full collection pack of papers, cut apart sheets and 2 sets of stickers, I also bought the 6x4 Snap cards, the ephemera pack and the chipboard pieces.  Having everything coordinating like this means I can keep it all together for the year and it also makes for speedy scrapping - win win!

I wanted something striking for the title page to separate it from my normal pages in my 12x12 album (instead of the conventional albums used for this class by Ali Edwards).  The dark woodgrain with the printed elements was perfect for this page which doesn't need journalling because the written parts are all to follow.  

I used the circular calendar sticker to signify the year long project and I obviously used lots of hearts because that is my word for the year.  The little woodgrain letters are part of the collection pack and I added a few Thickers for dimension.

The printables that come as part of the class are meant for specific page protectors but I wanted to make mine work with my normal size of album.  This means I have to tinker with the arrangements a bit and fill in blank pockets etc or, like here, use the printables on a standard layout.  I matted the Intentions page onto green cardstock and then matted that onto that fab speech bubbles paper.  The red frame is the reverse of the title page.

 I am really enjoying using the bold happy colours and I know this will help inspire me to keep up with documenting this project through a year which I hope will be full of positive changes.

I've almost completed the next couple of tasks which are in pocket pages so I'll share that here soon and then it will soon be time for February's prompts!  I'll let you know how I'm getting on with actually living with my word then.  Wish me luck!

Bye for now

xx

WOYWW 242

Brrr!  It's definitely staying in and crafting weather here at Crazy Towers.  It is also staying in and catching up on the cleaning that hasn't been done since I was first feeling poorly at Christmas!  I'm feeling much better now after all your kind wishes and a course of antibiotics and a steroid nasal spray - yuk!

I've been busy in my craft room this week - putting things away and getting other things out!  Top left is the rest of the decoupage from last week.  After the super speedy card I thought I may as well make a couple more with the rest of the kit.  Central is my current album with the beginnings of my One Little Word project.  I am loving using Simple Stories Daily Grind for this - isn't that rainbow chevron paper just amazing!  I've also still got my Christmas stuff on the go in my cake stand to the right and then a new project beginning to the left.  That collection is Echo Park's For the Record 2 and I've pulled that out for Shimelle's class that starts this week called Return to The Collection.

Some of the things I have put away this week include my Christmas and birthday presents.  The Promarkers are in their new aluminium case and next to that is a very solid glass photo frame with a pic of Miss Bella in a rugby shirt and tutu!  That pink box there came inside a vanity case at Christmas filled with Soap and Glory bath stuff.  I love the box and the vanity case and the bath stuff - everyone's a winner!

The last new addition there is a pink glass cake stand which was a birthday present from a very good friend.  I put it together but it needs a little adjustment and it being glass and me being accident prone, I thought it a job for Management :-)

I'm gradually finding my feet again so I hope to be able to visit a few more desks this time on our weekly nose around crafty areas.  Why not join in?  Its fun and easy - just link up with Julia over the Stamping Ground for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 241

Oh dear... this is the state of my desk after a rather eventful weekend.  I managed a few hours at the crop before I gave up with this stupid virus and came home.  I didn't even unpack the car, Management did that.  Other than the fabulous surprise party that I got dragged out to (and thoroughly enjoyed!) I've pretty much been laying flat because my sinuses are so painful that my head feels too heavy to lift for long.  I can't use a screen for long either - dagnamit!

So we have boxes of punches from the car, my Selphy printer (that Management is very cross with because they have no intentions of being compatible with Windows 8 and you can't buy a computer without that these days...), a gift bag from the lovely Paula from Artful Angels and my new aluminium case (see below) and then my Jo Malone box.  A wonderful friend bought me a Jo Malone candle and perfume for my birthday and the box smells fabulous.  It's very sturdy too so ideal for transporting embellishments to crops.

Please excuse the following photo - new lap top means new software and getting used to things again.  Its a bit different for me because I've never done decoupage before but it was an emergency.  I was so wrapped up in my own birthday that I forgot to get a card for the little girl that Louis was going to a party with!  I had fifteen minutes to find something so I grabbed a pile of stuff that was free with a magazine.

Ta da!  My new aluminium box for my Promarkers!  Management is on the case with a remedy for the floppy insides but I love it anyway!  I can carry them about too which is what I wanted.

Have you got transportable pen storage?  What do you use?  What else is on your desk this week?  Link up with WOYWW and see other creative spaces.  Hope to see you around!

Bye for now
xx

One Little Word

So far being forty has been a bit of a mixed bag.  I'm still suffering with this awful cold but I think it is finally on its way out - hurrah - so that wasn't so good.  On the very very up side, my wonderful husband threw a surprise party for me!  Boy was I mad at him, making me get dressed up and go out for dinner when all I wanted to do was have a takeaway in my onesie.  He was so determined to get me out that I suspected he had managed to arrange a late dinner with someone.  Little did I know that it wasn't last minute at all - he'd been planning it for nearly 4 months!!  After lots of hugs with some wonderful people and a couple of glasses of wine, my nose stopped running and my head stopped pounding for a bit and I had a fabulous time with lots of dancing.  

Its a bit odd having a birthday just after Christmas because there's the whole healthy eating / must get fit / New Year's resolutions thing going on.  Not for me though.  I've learned that any new start type things have to wait until after my birthday celebrations have finished!  For me this year with the very extended celebrations it is after next weekend but it won't be a new start with resolutions such as "Run 3 miles every day" or "Only post on Facebook once a week".  No.  Both of those would be very silly for me indeed.  No.  

I wanted to make some big changes this year and I needed some sort of guidance and accountability without the failing side of things you get with very definitive resolutions.  I'd heard things about Ali Edwards One Little Word class before but this year it really grabbed my attention.  You choose a word to kind of "live by", something that embraces the things you want to develop.  People choose words such as flourish, patience, health, up, focus, smile etc, whatever is the area of your life or your self that you might feel needs a bit of work.  

My word is heart.

To...
live with heart
look after my heart
be true to my heart
put my heart into it
make time for love
do what I love
love what I do
love what I have
and to absolutely follow my heart

Each month we have various tasks to try help us live with our words and embrace the changes we want to make.  As the year goes on I'll be sharing more about what my word means to me and how I am living with my word and using it to help my fortieth year be the best year ever.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 240

Happy New Year!  Lets get life back to some normality shall we?  The children went back to school yesterday but I am suffering with a horrid virus so it doesn't feel quite like normal yet but it is getting there.  Also I am 40 on Friday *twitch* so there are still a few celebrations to come.  I shall be spending the day in my studio, crafting for me, not making things for other people but me!  There will be lots of cups of tea too.

Don't worry that there is no tea in this picture, it was taken in a hurry this morning and I have hardly been in my studio since Christmas.  This photo is as new to me as it is to you!  Lets take a look around.

Top left is my Christmas present - a Selphy printer.  Not had time to try it out at all yet but hoping to very soon.  Sellotape dispenser, which I wouldn't be without, that it looks like Management was using for my birthday presents and couldn't "manage" to put away.  Next to my ATG gun is a Christmas card with what looks like Elvis on.  Its actually a picture of Lord and Lady Montagu dressed as Elvis. In the middle there is my Festive Planner. It is looking a bit worse for wear because it had an entire glass of Bucks Fizz tipped on it on Christmas Day.  Thank goodness for the Mod Podge!

My cake stand with my bits and pieces for Journal Your Christmas is still there and that is ongoing but I do have another project on the go too.  This year I really wanted to make some changes in my life so I signed up for Ali Edwards One Little Word - I thought it would be cool to do this for my fortieth year.  I'll be working on that on Friday, accompanied by tea and biscuits - well it is my birthday ;-)

This post is brought to you by the wonders of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday with the lovely Julia.

Bye for now
xx

Just call me Peppermint Patty

Remember that bossy red haired girl with freckles from Charlie Brown?  I used to look like her!  My hair isn't so red any more but the freckles are still there though.  I kept thinking of her when I was making my soaps and scrubs for teacher's presents because I used peppermint oil!

I really enjoyed making these soaps and learned so much too.  I can see this being quite addictive! There are a couple of ways that you can make soap - one is quite technical and involves double boilers and thermometers and such like.  I went for the much easier melt and pour method.  You buy chunks of plain soap (I got mine from various places on E-Bay depending on quantity and price) and then shape, colour and scent it to your own design.  You can get various types of soap base and initially I went for glycerine for the red layer because it takes the colour well and an opaque base for the white layer.

Basically you melt a few chunks in the microwave and then stir and stir until it has all dissolved.  I used enough chunks for one layer which was a total estimate but as long as you keep the quantities the same each time then the layers will be the same thickness.  You need to keep stirring frequently to stop a skin forming because it does cool quickly and then I added a few drops of scented oil.  I used peppermint to keep to the theme of candy canes and to match the invigorating scrubs.  I also coloured at this stage too - one tiny drop of red soap colour (also from E-Bay) for the pink layers.  I used a silicon loaf mould and didn't line it or grease it or anything and it just popped out - easy peasy.

You need to work on one layer at a time so melt, add colour and scent and then pour into the mould.  Then spray with rubbing alcohol to disperse the bubbles.  About half an hour later you can do the next layer but before you pour the alternative coloured mix in, spray the hard layer with the alcohol again.  This makes the separate layers stick together and form one solid large soap.  If you don't want to use rubbing alcohol then you will need to pour the subsequent layers on before the previous one hardens but then they layers will merge together a bit more.

For the top layer of my first batch, I crushed up a few candy canes like I had seen in the original pin that I got the inspiration from.  Then I put on another layer and placed a mini candy cane at intervals so I could slice it with a candy cane in each portion.  These teeny candy canes are very minty (huzzah!) and are from the pound shop and are just perfect for embellishing gifts.

You can see the two batches I made here - the bright red and white striped one with the candy canes on top is the first batch.  The pale pink and white version is the second batch where I used all opaque base instead of the glycerin layer for the red.  On the chopping board you can also see the disaster that occurred as part of the learning experience.  On the second batch I left out the candy cane on the top because I needed to slice them more thinly and I didn't like the way they went a bit soggy.  I should have taken the hint from that. The exposed bits of crushed candy cane on the top went very soggy and literally melted off of the top when I laid the slices down.  They do just rinse off and all is well but it makes for a bit of a sticky gift really.  Also I must have neglected to spray one of the layers with enough alcohol because the top two layers have come loose.  Hey ho.  We will have festive soap in our bathroom for a while yet...

The jars of scrub there have turned out quite well too.  Just a mix of olive oil, caster sugar and peppermint oil.  You just mix the things together until they are the right consistency.  Enough oil so that the sugar doesn't fall off your skin but not too much that it runs off.  Once I had this part sorted I separated it into 2 bowls and coloured one with a spot of greeny blue and the other with a spot of red.  Then I used a teaspoon to plop it into the recycled jars and press it down a bit before adding another layer.  Great for tired and dry feet, and painty or muddy hands or any other place that needs a bit of a buff.

I needed to cover the lids of the jars so I used mini doilies, bakers twine and some of the lovely Bundled Up papers.  I finished off with a snowflake punch and a snowflake brad.  I really hope people like them and don't mind the initial sticky bit too much.  Hopefully they won't mind it being another bottle of wine or box of chocolate.

Only another 15 slices of soap to wrap....

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 237

The last Wednesday before Christmas!  Oh my!  I still have so much to do and things have gone a little awry in the studio here...  Can you see the blobs of pink on the left there?

Please ignore the empty mulled wine glass... it was from last night and not this morning...

I made another batch of soap but I used a different brand of candy cane (I didn't realise they were cherry flavoured! CHERRY?! What's that about?!) and left the crushed pieces exposed on the top as per the pictures on Pinterest.  The bits that hadn't sunk in nicely went very gooey and slid off the slices of soap that were laid on their sides.  The soaps are fine once you have rinsed off the sticky layer but it is rather a shame that I will have to put that instruction on the little labels!

This was my desk about 15 minutes later once I had cleared up the goo and started to decorate the jars of layered peppermint body scrub.  You can see the sort of production line of half finished gifts there and things needing normal wrapping etc.  The blue parcel at the back was a potential error present that I checked and then couldn't get back in the wrapping - darn!

I've also been working on something different this week - a box frame of butterflies as part of a 30th birthday present.  I've seen them around on Pinterest for ages, hearts too, and been meaning to try one.  Now that I have, I want one for myself!  The papers are from an old Laura Ashley line.

This is still my favourite die and I never tire of using it.  The butterfly in the middle signifies the young lady in question, my step-niece (if there is such a thing) who is strong and independent and has blossomed into a beautiful young lady.  I do like art to reflect the recipient where possible!

Taking up my time this week was also this little lot...

Its quite an old Playmobil princess castle and we didn't have any instructions because it was second hand. Cue much head scratching, bad words, huffing and puffing...

Thankfully between Management exercising more patience on the internet search, and me Tweeting Playmobil, we got the instructions and have also got a form for the couple of missing bits.  I absolutely adore it and I'm so excited to play with it  see Bella playing with it...

Right, onward and upward.  Lots of jars and soaps still to prettify and I'm running out of school days left!  I will make time for some desk hopping today though too :-)

Don't forget that there is a DT call open at S J Crafts so please do pop along and read mroe about it if you are a UK based scrapper.

This post is brought to you by What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday with Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/

Bye for now
xx