On the Third Day of Christmas ...

... came the next new journal.

This was a gift for my sis-in-law. She's a crafty girlie, too, and we swap home made gifts at Christmas.

It started with a file folder, covered with a sheet of DP that I cut in two, to get the roses in the right place on the front, and enough spare to cover the back. A piece of lace down the spine covered the join.

Luckily, there was a sheet of DP for inside the cover, in the stash,

that coordinated well with the outside.

The book is made up of three signatures sewn in, and the ends finished off with a bead dangle.

The pages and most tags and journal cards are coffee-dyed.

The blue additions are napkin decoupage snippets.

There are doilies

and stamping

and pretty vintage DP pages

and pockets and tucks aplenty

Lines were added on some pages, stamped with corrugated cardboard.

Book pages were a welcome addition, for tucks and pockets.

and belly bands

I hear she loved it, and is already planning what to put in.

I'll detail some other goodies later.

Happy Wednesday,

Chris xx

A Crafting Year in the Life of a Flutterby

Hi - now that all the gifts have gone, I can post about them. I started with all good intentions, back in January, with these baubles for my brothers and sister. The decorations had hung on Mum & Dad's tree, and I thought making bead covers would turn them into cute keepsakes. Once I got the hang of them, they were easy and fun to do.

However, in true flutterby style, the attention then wandered, and during the summer, I attended a workshop run by Debra, aka Miss Clementine. I'd fallen in love with the fabric pictures on her stall at the NEC a year back, so couldn't wait to have a go. I love this one; it's hanging in our sitting room, and I hope to make more as gifts, later.

In Autumn, I discovered junk journaling, and it was love at first sight. I set to work on a journal for a friend's special birthday, and learned lots of new techniques. I've always loved card making and other paper crafts, so was able to use lots of rubbish kit I've hoarded collected over the years. 

This one has a soft cover, using fabric left over from a baby's dress (she's now 37 lol!) and lace.

I covered inside the front and back covers with paper from my stash, and adding a lace tuck spot in the front, with a couple of journaling cards to write on and a ribbon tie.

In order to get a vintage look, I coffee-dyed the papers for the inside, and made one large signature, which was sewn in with pamphlet stitch. It was all a steep learning curve, and I've made changes in books since this one.

There were blank pages to write on, with pockets and tuck spots and hidey holes for notes or squirreling things away.

There were pages with napkin decoupage

and pretty vintage-looking papers from my stash.

There were envelopes

and doilies

and hand made envelopes with more napkin decoupage (I love this effect).

Some of the dye-ing made interesting patterns

and I added larger journaling cards, too.

I really enjoyed this project in particular, and couldn't wait to try some more ... but having bored you enough, it will have to wait for the next instalment.

I hope you've all been enjoying a lovely Christmas break.

God bless you all for the new year,

Chris xx

Days of Mellow Fruitfulness

Mornings like today are very precious at weekends, this time of the year - a quiet Sunday when Basil and I could sit and enjoy the warm sunshine, listening to the breeze and little  birds, with a coffee (me) and watching for squirrel intruders (him).

The garden's settling down for the winter, but there's still quite a bit of colour tucked away. I'm so glad I didn't dig this out as a weed earlier in the year - the bright white brings a lovely sparkle, flowering its socks off, while the faithful catmint is still producing food to nourish the bees.

A demure fuschia is still producing blossom and a rose I was given in memory of Mum still has a couple of blooms.

Haha - excuse my thumb!

After five years, the pond is looking really established now, with all the shrubs bulking up nicely. The addition of frogs has been a godsend. Although they're rarely to be seen, we haven't had any slugs or snails this year, and previously we've been overrun with them.

Again - sorry for the rogue finger - the sun was so bright, I didn't notice it.

The last of the colour comes courtesy of the lemony evening primrose, round the pear tree. I don't know how they first arrived, but happily seed themselves freely. The little primulas (courtesy of Lidl a couple of years ago) certainly earn their keep, too, popping up all over the beds, and still busy flowering.

Indoors, I've been using up old/donated stash on cards to sell for charity. It's slow and laborious, trying to match in-matched stuff, but good fun.

I've been making embellishments and clusters to add to cards later - this actually does save time and head-scratching, when you have the pieces already to hand.

Happy Sunday and a great new week, all xx