Tarty Burlap Birds Nests

Hello!

I took part in the handmade flower swap over at Your Paper Pantry last month-one I haven't taken part in before,and the challenge was to make shabby birds nests from burlap and lots of other bits-kind of like a magpie collection lol. I must say I struggled creatively with this one a bit (and the feeling of freshly trimmed burlap in ones clothes is akin to fresh cut hair :-/ ) but I got there in the end...I think! We had to do 3 sets of 3. 

I have no fingerprints left from burning them off with the glue gun,but here they are in all their shabby glory!

Bye bye birdie nests,have a safe trip State side :-)

I'll take an 'A' please,Bob!

Hello! 

I am back in the swap saddle-after a bit of a break. 

I joined Mini Album Scraps a while ago,and have been lurking,but stepped out and joined the May Tags swap,which this month (yeah,I know,it was last month ;-) ) the swap was to each make 6 pennants for a banner saying "CREATE" ,then you keep one and send 5 off. I LOVE this idea,and as the challenge was to use sepia's,browns and creams in a vintage style,well,that is me all over. So I got letter 'A',and this is it:

I cut the 'A' with my Slice and layered it up on some burlap,vintage lace,a doily and some antique music paper. The pennant itself is super duper thick chipboard sent to me by a lovely friend. I nearly broke my hand cutting through it,but at least it will not bend! I wrapped the pennant in my ever-so-useful Ikea music wrapping paper and Mod-Podged it all down (with the help of Boo and Tiger) then layered the lace and bits up over it. All the other girls have made the other letters-I can't WAIT to get the other letters!

A shabby Prim swap catch up

Bonjour!

I am slightly rubbish at remembering to blog-I'm sure I will get better (I AM getting better-my new job is ensuring that :-))So,I found these pics on my computer from a swap I took part in over at Your Paper Pantry,waaaay back in March. I signed up for the Shabby Chic Grab Bag Embellie swap and also,as I am completely obsessed with all things Primitive and Folk Art-y,I joined the new Prim swap over there. 

I took the stamped tags and flowers spots,which require five of each. I had seen a flower technique a while ago (I cant remember where)using strips of scalloped fabric to make shabby flowers. I LOVE the way these look! For mine I used bits of vintage linen,tulle,vintage pillowcases,burlap,antique doilies,and some very old Cath Kidston PJ's I had in my fabric stash forever,paper...I got so into it I just grabbed anything that I thought would look good,lol. I made the centers from some pearl earrings I picked up at a broken jewellery sale  

 This is how my five came out...

And a couple closer up

I had good feed back from the girls that received them,so I think they went down well :-)

Next up was the Stamped Tag swap-I always struggle with this one,as I find it very hard to JUST do stamping,lol. I used a few stamps from my fresh-through-the-door Unity KOTM and the script from a stamp I have had for a long time. I embossed the script over the rose stamp with clear semi mat powder,which I like the effect of on here and finished the tags using some of the seam binding I dyed whilst on a seam binding dying frenzy(I get gripped by these occasionally, frequently) and put some vintage glass beads onto the ends to add some weight.

And finally,onto the Primitive Swap. This was a one-on-one for a candle mat and we had to use thick felt and Prim colours,leaving a 4x4" space in the center for the candle to go on. I love embroidering,so jumped on this to use some of the designs buzzing around my head that I had seen on a Google search. It is made from a very old woolen blanket that had got felted,and again,has been loitering in my rather ominous looking fabric stash cupboard. I backed it with coarse burlap,for a truly feed-sack rustic look ;-)

The lovely Alease got mine,and sent me such a lovely message of gratitude :-) 

And I got a gorgeous one from Linda :-)

Back for more catch-ups soon!

Aaaaaannd I'm back!

Whew! What a lot to happen over the last few months. Moving is never easy or straightforward but we have now reached a sort of equilibrium and routine around the remaining boxes.

What have you missed make wise? Quite a bit really! I can't seem to go a single day without skulking up to my craft room to have a tinker,swiftly followed by the children :-/ And I can't seem to pass up the challenge of a swap,so I usually sign up for far too many,and then I was chosen to be a part of a design team with a weekly blog post. It is a wonder we haven't all starved and the house lays dusty and forgotten while I remain a hive of activity up in my eerie! I feel a photo montage moment is called for,starting with the annoying glitch way back with the Halloween bits I had been feverishly working on. So,without further ado and blabbering on,here is what I have been up to over the last few months....

HALLOWEEN

Yup,its THOSE hands! These were for a stickpin swap...

The tags for the bags....

One of the stickpins (I should have used longer pins-these babies just kept on growing down the shaft!)

The whole package :-) I hope customs liked them,hehehe

A stamped tag swap

AUTUMN  MAIL-ART SWAP

Front....
using Autumn Nights Glimmer Mist,the leaves are from a PTI set,the moon is a print from Retro Art Cafe and the old lady on a goose stamp is a random from a grab bag-I would love to know what set she is from!

And backs...
Using TCW Birch mask,Tim H Falling Leaves and feathers from a Stampendous set.

CHRISTMAS TAGS

A couple of Christmas tags for various family members...

These tags are made using the cutest Molly Blooms stamp EVER!

POSTCARD SWAP...

MINI ALBUM SWAP
These are my pages for a chunky mini album page swap(we had to do 9 pages)....I do not want to cut another snowflake for at least 8 months! ;-)

I made my first ever junk journal for a swap too (woah,that thing took OVER!) I will do a separate post for that,as there are loads of pages!
And then I was chosen to be a part of a Design Team over at Make The Day Special
which was a dream come true! I had been shopping there for a loooong time,saw the DT call and entered. And in a strange twist of fate,Emily the owner,asked me to stay on until the shop moved ownership in March,which I gladly accepted,and now..... I am the new owner! Whoop whoop! :-D 
So thats me all up to date. Big changes,lots of happy dances and great new beginnings :-)