What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #151

From kitchen table to lounge floor. I needed a bit more room to spread out.

I was playing around with some new dies and embossing folders and figuring out the best sandwiches for cutting. I’ve not used the crease pad in my Bigshot for a while and as my trusty machine is around 6 years old, sometimes a few shims are called for to get a clean cut.

Once I’d cut and embossed a stack of pillow boxes, I used all the other bits and pieces to make this card. I don’t think I’ve got the balance quite right. The curved edge was throwing me a bit. It’s now winging its way to a friend. I hope it brings some cheer on this miserable wet day.

I can’t believe how much rain we’ve had overnight here. Just the sort of day to stay in and go on a virtual journey around the desks of Britain and beyond.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #150

Well I managed to totally miss WOYWW last week, due to the Bank Holiday and it almost passed me by this week too. My two had an Inset Day on Monday and I find myself a day behind again.

The decorating is finished at last and we’ve had a bit of a reshuffle in the lounge. This is what I now see when I stand where I used to take my desk shot.

I took this photo last week, when I was reloading the bookshelf, while you can still see the colour of the walls. It’ll be crafting on the kitchen table and the lounge floor for the forseeable future, until I can make myself a space upstairs. That may be a while. In the meantime I made these little bags for a swap last Sunday.

I decided a few weeks ago to sign up as a Stampin’ Up demonstrator and these were for the other ladies in the team. I think they liked them, but that may have been due to the chocolates inside! I only had SU ribbon in white, but I think they would look great with co-ordinating handles.

If you’d rather look at desks than shelves, then head on over to Julia’s place where you’ll find plenty to choose from.

10 Things on the Tenth ~ Favourite Books

It’s World Book Night later this month. On their website there is an ever changing list of 100 books, from which they have chosen 25 titles to give away on the 23rd. The master list was compiled by asking people to submit their own list of 10 favourite books.

I have agonised over this many times and never been able to limit myself to just 10 titles. However, I have read a lot of the books on the list and thought I would share a few favourites from there. But….I still couldn’t pick only 10! In the end I just grabbed a random selection from my bookshelves and here they are…..

…..in no particular order:

1. Rebecca ~ Daphne Du Maurier
2. Chocolat ~ Joanne Harris
3. The Time Traveler’s Wife ~ Audrey Niffenegger
4. Birdsong ~ Sebastian Faulks
5. His Dark Materials ~ Philip Pullman
6. Tess of the d’Urbevilles ~ Thomas Hardy
7. The Lord of the Rings ~ J R R Tolkien
8. One Hundred Years of Solitude ~ Gabriel Garcia Marquez
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ~ Mark Haddon
10. The Secret History ~ Donna Tartt

Can you pick just 10 favourites?

Easter Treat Holder Tutorial

I saw these carrots on the Bo Bunny blog and mentioned I was making some for my nieces and nephews. A couple of people asked how to make them. I must admit I had assumed there were instructions, if you followed the link in my previous post, but it would seem there are not.

Rather than doing my usual FTILTF, I’ve put together a tutorial on how I made mine. DST = Double Sided Tape

Take a sheet of orange scrapbook paper and cut a piece measuring 6” x 4”. I have seen various measurements for the ‘sour cream containers’, but this meant I could get six treat holders from one 12” x 12” sheet. Turn it to the wrong side and apply DST down the long side and top and bottom edges, as shown in the photo.

Remove the backing from the tape on the long side and the bottom edge. Carefully roll the paper into a tube.

Seal the bottom of the tube together (the seam running from top to bottom is on the left side underneath) and put your treats inside. Turn the tube (as in the centre of the picture) remove tape backing and seal the top. Snip off the corners on both ends.

Cut a piece of green paper to measure 6” x 2” and fold in half, matching the short edges. Cut the paper to make a fringe, leaving about 1/2” uncut at the folded edge. Curl the paper over your fingers and then fold the long sides over each other.

Staple the carrot top onto the back of your carrot, with the seam in the middle. Punch a scalloped circle from coloured paper and a circle from white card. Glue them together and attach to the front, using a couple of foam pads. This will cover the rough side of the staple.

I used caramel bunnies inside my carrots, but you could use mini eggs or jelly beans. I’ll be personalising them with my niece’s and nephew’s initial letters. All ten of them have a different letter, which is handy.

The carrots on the Bo Bunny blog have had the tops crinkled with a paper crimper, but I don’t have one, so I’ve just left them as they are. If I was making them for very young children I think I would avoid using the staples altogether. Instead I’d put extra strong red backed DST all the way across the top edge and sandwich the carrot top inside when I sealed it.

I hope that all makes sense. Any questions just ask and I’ll do my best to answer. Apologies for the dark photos. It’s a very dull day here and I’m banished to the kitchen, while the lounge walls are being painted blue. Hooray!

Have a lovely Easter weekend.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #148

It’s kitchen table crafting for me this week. It’s also the school holidays, so finding a moment when it is clear, of food or children’s activities, is rare!

I found a few minutes, before they were up this morning, to cut the paper for some sour cream containers. The idea is to make them look like carrots and fill with mini eggs. I’ll be handing them out to my nieces and nephews on Easter Sunday. It’s also my niece’s 18th birthday that day and she is having a tea party for all the family. I need to finish her card and make one for her sister, who is 20 tomorrow.

Fingers crossed for an empty kitchen table at least once today. Although that may not be until the children are in bed, if we have more rain. Yes, I know the gardens need it, but children on their school holidays don’t!

Head on over to Julia’s place for more crafty spaces. A few people asked about the woodgrain stamp I used and it’s from Hero Arts. I’ll be back on Friday with a few more Spring themed projects. Last week’s list is here, if you missed it.

ETA As Rita asked so nicely, I have written a tutorial which can be found in the next post.