Fabric ATC

Just sharing a fabric ATC I made for a swap (actually I made nine!) ...

The background is made from strips of fabric and lace woven together (sorry I couldn't get a better photo) ... I've then added a fabric 'patch' with a stamped birdcage and a die cut bird made from 3 layers of card and patterned paper on the top. The little circle embellishments are a bit like brads - they have little spikes on the back that you can poke though the fabric - I have had them years!

WOYWW 181

Resurrecting this blog again ... it's not that I'm not creating, just that I am lazy about uploading :-)) Anyway I am inspired to join in Julia's blog 'hop' today ... you will find dozens of other desks to visit here ... most of them much more interesting than mine ...

Some finished ATCs for a swap and some background paper ready for another project.

Edit 22/11/12 - sorry the ATCs are a bit blurry and a bit distant - deliberate because they are meant to be a surprise BUT they will show up on here in the future when they are swapped out :-)) and YES I do use the flat iron to straighten stuff out - it is nice and small and heavy,

More Mini Album videos ...

... for anyone who is not mini-albummed out :-)) And an update photograph of 'the puppy' - now 11 months old - at the end ...

Time ...

... where does it go? I didn't continue with uploading LSEDN pages - too personal - but there were some great prompts to get you thinking.

I have been making ATCs and mini albums - I love both ...

This ATC was made 9 times to share/swap with a group of internet friends and the theme was 'Creative Embossing' ...

The background is made from paper that has been scribbled with wax crayons, spray inked, crumpled and inked with an ink pad and then over stamped. This background has been fused to a felt background and then I have used some fabric paper (Beryl Taylors method) to make the heart and free machined this to the back ground. It is embellished with a UTEED  and pearlexed hand made button and finished with a machine stitched boreder and a coat of matte medium over this and the background.

I put my mini albums onto Youtube (I'm too lazy to take all the photographs) and if you would like to look at these just click here  for my channel ... or on the individual links below ...

LSNED Day 3

Just a picture today - the prompt was about feet and moving forward - I think I am doing all I want but not everyone I love is in the same place - I have to keep relearning that I can only be there for support - I can't make 'it' happen ...

LSNED Day 2

Today's task is to consider the 'teachers' that have influenced you throughout your life ... I loved thinking about this and chose these people ...

My Dad
My Mum
Miss Cole
Dr Claire Weekes
Dorothy Rowe
Ruth Bell
Nick and Sam

NB I don't know Dr Claire Weekes and Dorothy Rowe personally but their books have been invaluable.

These people have taught me ...

• a love of words and stories and nature
• a love of making ‘things’
• a love of biology (science)
• the value of friendliness
• how important it is to have a sense of fun
• how to stop being so anxious
• how to learn about me and those around me
• how to reflect
• how to listen
• how to get better at being true to myself
• how to ‘lighten up’
• what family and love means to me

In other words everything that is important in my life ... 

Again I'm not to happy with the finished page - although I do like the 'painty' background - but felt it needed to tie in with the first page.

Blogging or not?

I enjoy sharing what I make but am not a very active blogger these days ... since my last post I have continued 'creating' but not sharing so much. Some of this is due to laziness, other things to do etc and I have been trying to stay offline a little more than I used to! Some of the 'stuff' I have been doing is more along the art journaling lines ... scrappy, painty and a bit personal and I haven't decided whether or not to show some of those pages on here.

But in the meantime I have joined Shimelle's 'Learn Something New Each Day' online class - a little late in the day.

I 'discovered' Shimelle many years ago and love her reflective, easy style of scrapbooking/journaling. I still have the prompts/essays she wrote for a class that I took way back when - (I don't really 'do' scrapbooking, but do increasingly use photographs in journals and have developed a passion for mini albums).

I am thinking of recording the outcome on here - I'm probably going to be too lazy to do an actual physical journal page each day but might achieve a bit more blogging?

Day 1's task was to think about my 'last big adventure' ... and my first thought was studying for and getting a degree five years ago (fits well with the learning theme too). It was a first class honours and I won a prize so I did pretty well - but ... well read on.

As a by the way I have had many 'adventures' since then mostly involving new experiences, new scary opportunities, some travel, new jobs etc but the degree was the start of jumping outside my comfort zone.

But what I have really learned since then is:
1. I love being in my comfort zone
2. I don't care about money (much)
3. I value peace of mind over most other things

So ... the 'good', but extremely stressful job that I got after the degree has been abandoned; a year 'off ' just to be me has followed, and now I am looking forward to a new (part-time) job unrelated in many ways to that formal learning.

I have no regrets about the 'adventure'. I value the learning and the piece of paper that came at the end of it and I value the opportunities it has given me, and will continue to give me ... the thing that I value most though is what I have learned about me over the last few years because of it.

Finished journal 'page' is a bit weird but never mind ... it's done in a style that's not really me!