Handyman book

Hi, I'm back with some more boy type stuff today. We've been having a bit of a theme, so I thought I'd go with it.

Part of crafting is not just the making, but the collecting of supplies too - we all know about that, don't we?

In the effort of doing something a bit different, I bought this handyman book on etsy a while ago with the idea of cutting it up and using it on man cards.

I love all the graphics in it and the tool-y stuff. It was printed in the 50s - love the pics from that era.

Check it out...

"I have big muscles and I will fix your table."

"Will you? Will you? That would be so great!"

These types of pages would be good for card backgrounds...or scrapping bits on pages.

Same.

And here we come to one of my favourite parts - the section openers (coming below).

You'll notice a lot of pipe smoking and very specific gender roles, that's for sure.

(She's in there and giving it a go in some of them, so they're definitely a team. Good on her)

I've used this next one on a card - I'll show you that soon.

Well, what'd you think?

The next time you see an op shop, check it out for old books. Or Bookfest - another winner. And while you're there, keep an eye out for old music books, they're goodies too.

Back soon with the card I made :o)

Oh my word...

...just had to post about this...

Check out this link

Can you imagine???

Oh man, all the things I could store in those drawers. All would have to be clearly labelled otherwise I'd spend my time opening and shutting drawers rather than actually crafting, ha ha.

If you're a little drawers freak like me, check out these salivating worthy images. 

Was watching a video of a lady from the UK who was showing her craft room and she called her set of drawers a plan chest. Sounded weird, but I googled it anyway and found lots of fun cabinets to look at. I'm most fond of the wooden ones - so gorgeous. Her video is here if you're interested.

Washing to hang up! Bye now.

More punch videos

Hi again,

You know I do a flick around for these videos around CHA time, but sometimes I just don't find them. Then when I'm not really looking, I come across them. Thought you might like a look-see too...

New garland punch by EK Success. Note the shape in the background at 1:26. The label type one with a hole in the middle. I like that one.

New garland punch by EK Success - a lady this time. Quieter than the video with the guy above. These punches are kinda like a barrel of monkeys. I like the concept - really easy to punch and make - no adhesive or anything.

New EK Success Dimensional Flower punch - same lady. She shows how to make the flower from the beginning. You have to punch a couple of strips and off-set them before you roll them up. I didn't realise that. Makes sense.

New Layering punch from EK Success - it's interesting seeing all the new types of punches that are coming out now. Imaginations are working overtime. I'm still into the plain shapes though, they serve me better, although I'm not opposed to rolling a flower or two. Sometimes I just want to try them and not buy them. You?

And while we're at it - Flower and Garden Edge punches. Nice. What she calls a trim, I call a paper ribbon. Same diff. Get a load of the big half flower one.

Enjoy the vids.

:o)

PS. You can see most of the new punches here. I keep seeing ones I haven't seen before (butterfly and flower garland one) and yet some of them are missing. Where's the Christmas tree one I like? Coming, but not released in their shop, I guess.

Oh my word...

...I tipped that they'd do a Christmas line because there wasn't one last year, but then there was no Christmas line at CHA...little did we know.



Thank you, October Afternoon, you are my very favourite. If you stop producing stuff, I'll probably stop scrapping.

:o)

PS. This is my second post for today - scroll down if you'd like to see the first. Have a wonderful day, hey? I can't wait to see the rest of Holiday Style. It's a full line...so it'll be cool. Looks like I might be doing a December Daily now, ha ha. Check out the Oct Arvo link above to see the blog post about their new reveal.

New EK Success punches

Hi there,

Found this video that a lady named Colleen made on the new EK Success Dimensional Flower punches (she shows four).

You punch a long paper ribbon basically and then roll it up to make a flower. Thought you might like to see.

Thanks to Colleen for making the video for us.

Bye for now everyone...more soon.

Boy banner

We've had the cards for the fellas, but what about the decs?

A banner?

What else is there?

I think it's fairly obvious that I like banners...

And every party needs an invite...

The speech bubbles are a good way to dress the info up a bit...of course I didn't write any time/date info because it's a fake party...but still, you get the idea...

Having a few of these in one's stash (mine is very low at the moment) would be good, I reckon.

Very useful to whip out at the appropriate time and hamburgers are a guy theme, I'd say.

Do you like the red or yellow scallop better?

Today I'm leaning towards the yellow because it stands out more. And I like the red in between the yellow and white (ie. light, dark, light). 

Here's the banner at PC. 

And here's the Sizzix die set I used. 

You'll notice I followed the colours on the pack pretty much. Took the thinking out of it for me! 

Well, I hope you enjoyed. I think I'm going to make more circle cards in the future. Kinda like 'em.

A coupla others for the boys...

...big or little. 

Out come the circles - so fab. 

If the sight of the soccer and beach balls make your eyes twitch and your hands sweat, flick 'em and go the easy route...

Your desk, your rules. 

And the fellas will be none the wiser. 

Total punch art soccer balls I've made? 

One! 

The easy route is just easier... 

All of them are covered with Dimensional Magic to make them shine too. Just so you know. 

Okay, enjoy the cards - talk again soon. 

:o)

Video of new punches (from Two Peas in a Bucket)...

...just a snippet, but it's good.

I'd like to see the garland punches in action.

Check out the video here. Fast forward to 10:27.

The punches are here in the store (EK Success) 

and here (Martha).

Christmas craft, can you believe it's come around already?

One for the boys...

...the little boys.

Or the big boys really.

Any boys, they're not fussy about their cards.

This is where your square punches come into their own. You can cut them, but punching them is easier because they'll be exactly the same size. Not so when I use a trimmer.

And it's also where mounting tape comes into its own too. I absolutely and completely love mounting tape and  wouldn't make a punch art card without it really. Would you? Are you as sold as I am?

Made this pic bigger for you so you can see the pen detail - the dots, commas and the gold bits.

The fish is a Candy punch with one end taken off - just in case you didn't know.

Okay, well enjoy - I'm going to share another boy card soon...I think I'm going to share a few boy things actually...

Mum's bag

Hi there,

Just a quick share today.

I bought this cute bag years ago at a market and I've had it on my craft room door ever since. I've never actually used the thing, but I love it anyway. Worth the price of admission if you ask me. I just like looking at it.

Evidently my mum liked it too because she saw it again recently and it inspired her to make her own version.

Hers is a bit bigger because she made it as a crochet bag - mine's smaller than an A4 piece of paper.

Mum's has the extra addition of a crocheted flower. Nice job, Mum.

Nice bag too.

She said she had to take another pre-made bag at home apart to see how to make the base for hers. The things you do when you don't have a pattern. Don't have to tell me...

Doing any crochet or similar at your house?

Just wanted to share ours.

Have a great day!

Something else I made...

...for another family dinner.

A 70th family dinner, in fact.

This one was a biggie.

Double-sided and layered.

What would I do without my kitchen bench?

I made the glittered doilies there too. It's my default crafting place for big things...

I based the banner on the Hello dangly thing I made for the June show. Liked the colours and all that, so I decided to go with a version of it. Changed the pink to red.

I'm pretty methodical with big things like this.

Work out the colours.

Work out the order of the colours.

Work out the shapes.

Even though I was copying something, I still had to tweak the banner. Always happens when I change even just one thing.

The heart was a Sizzix die too.

The big circle was from my trusty CM circle cutters and I just used my trimmer to cut the squares. The small circle is a punch, of course.

In typical Masterchef style, I had a couple of problems I had to overcome.

I won't go into the details, but you know how it is...you have an idea, you get to work on it, you hit an unexpected roadblock that you have to shift and you come out tops in the end. Hopefully!

What it usually equals is more mucking around with colours, the order of them and basic creative thinking. Yes?

And note the cream card used to help hold the string in place? Hold that thought...

It was a 70th party, so I made six of these to hang from either ends of the banner.

Should've made seven?

Nah, six is even...three on each side...

Here it is at the party...sorry, babe, caught you unawares.

You can see the 70s hanging down the sides here.

There are two banners - one on each side of the opening.

Got that thought about the cream card? It glared at me all night. Would've been better if I had used coloured card to match each letter. Rats.

Other people don't notice these things, but we do. We know when we could've made it better and not burnt the jus.

Here's the banner over at PC.

The cream backs don't matter here. Good.

I love the wall of dies...it's one of my two favourite walls in the store. I don't have to tell you what my other favourite wall is...

Okay now, peeps. Hope you're all doing well and enjoying the winter sunshine...I know I am. It's been glorious this year.

I'll finish with a pic of one other little thing I made at PC. A lot of people don't know that you can cut the dies with lots of different materials. Steel rule dies (the big thick ones) are my fav because they cut the most stuff.

There's acetate, bubble wrap, pizza box cardboard, thick chipboard, felt, fabric, cork, tulle and plastic on that there string. It looks a little Christmassy, but it's not supposed to be.

Anyway, bye for now.

Talk soon :o)