Dies, free stash and a warning

Hello peeps, I hope you are all well.

Those of you who know me will recognise this scene:  Kyla at home, friends house, coffee shop or street....walks past some junk, rubbish and/or recycling....Kyla has a root through and pulls a bag from her pocket before stuffing new found goodies into said bag!! Yep, even at the WOYWW crops I ferret through the desk bins and LLJ once caught me peering into the kitchen bin (well you never know what you MIGHT find!!).

My latest discovery is cereal packets.  Now, I have often used them as a fake thinner chip board for crafting, but my favourite cereal is Dorset Cereal.

Whilst dismantling the box for recycling I noticed the inside was pure white and smooth......

 So I decided to cut it up carefully (rather than the carefree tearing I normally do!). I soon realised that the side panels fitted my X cut letter die....would the cardboard be thin enough to go through I wondered?

 Only one way to find out!

 Result!  Free smooth white letters that can be coloured with pens, inks, paint, embossing powders, foil, glitter.....the list goes on.  Because its cardboard it takes wet mediums quite well.

 I then tried the cereal box on a few other dies....this die is notorious in my craft room for causing an outburst of unladylike behaviour (me?  Never?!?!) as hardly anything cuts well on it apart from paper.

 But lo-and-behold!!  They too cut perfectly.

I coloured them with promarkers and promptly made a 'sailor jerry' inspired tattoo card.

So if you know me you have been warned....normally I am discrete with the bin diving round friends houses....now, I think I will be looking in their larders too and bagsying the cartons before they are used!!!

Also, I have been lucky enough to win 2 tickets to the craft show in Exeter in the new year!  Thanks Craft Stamper  magazine for choosing me as one of the winners.  After missing out on the NEC I am hoping Santa will be bringing me some cash so I can splash out of new stash!

Happy crafting

Kyla

WOYWW and Bunting

Happy WOYWW peeps.  This week finds my desk with some Chrimbo items on it as I have properly started making cards (well the fronts, still waiting for the card blanks to be delivered....they really are very few card and art shops in the West).

I am doing some bird cards at the moment. Some of you may know that my darling father (and fellow crafter and painter) died earlier this year so Christmas will not be celebrated quite the same way this year so I am making some non religious (and to be honest not too Jolly Christmassy) cards I can send the immediate family.

Also on my desk is my cuppa (pushed right back so I don't do the inevitable dipping of the dirty paintbrush in it!!) and my night scene stamp (its just sitting there on the right, no idea what to do with it this year....hoping my mojo will surprise me!)

My "Man Bites Dog" cards this week (it could be any variant but I chose)..."Exec Tells On Dead Killer Cop"!!!!!...ooohhhhh.....  

On a lighter note...here is a picture of my bunting from my lounge thrown, without care, onto the chair....why?

 This is why.....LunchLady Jan kindly sent me some of her fabulous bunting...little did she know I have a red and cream/burlap lounge so hers matching marvelously so up it went straight away (I am taking bets on how long it takes the hubby to notice its change!!).

It was a fabulous giveaway on her blog-thanks Jan, its loveerlllyyyy and is in pride of place every time I walk into my dining room from the lounge.

Right, off for a legal snoop around some desks courtesy of the lovely Julia....come and join us...its calorie free!!!

Happy crafting

kyla

 

A turkey of a card!

Howdy folks, just a quick update as its becoming mighty chilly here so I need to find my fluffy socks and get a hot chilli chocolate on the go!

I made a couple of these cards for thanksgiving for a couple friends of mine over in the states.

 

I cut the dies from some scrap white card and coloured them in with pro markers (to be honest I couldn't work out which part should be cut out of which colour card so thought this way was WAY easier).

I die cut a fence which I distressed with DI and mounted it all on a gingham background, adding some highlights on the turkey with a white gel pen.

Nice and simple.

Happy crafting

Kyla

 

WOYWW

Happy WOYWW!  

As we approach Christmas is does appear these visits are becoming closer!!!

On my desk this week (its getting a mess again...I will clean it up this week! Honest!) are bits and bobs that quite frankly I should put away but for one reason or another I haven't (I think we all know why I haven't.....lazy and the classic "I will need to use that soon" clause!).

Also my 365 journal as I am a couple of days behind so I need to fill them in.

 

Now, after hearing the news today about the Mayor of Toronto I did set these "Man Bites Dog" cards up!!

If you fancy a legal snoop at desks across the globe then pop over to Julias desk (link over on the right), they are ever such a friendly bunch.

Happy crafting

Kyla

 

How to deal with a difficult day

  Hello peeps, this is quite photo heavy so why not grab a coffee and settle back whilst catching up with my latest exploits (or click away and come back tomorrow for the WOYWW post which is MUCH shorter!!)-the choice is yours my lovelies.

Sunday was my Dad's birthday.  He would have been 71 but sadly died earlier this year.  Before he died he helped me and my mum choose some fancy yarns for me to make my mum some scarfs with. I have already made the other scarfs but I hadn't gotten round to making the final autumnal colour one.  I thought Dad's birthday would be a nice day to present mum with it-she was delighted.

 The scarf is actually doubled over as its nice and wide so it can also be used as a wrap around the shoulders.

 The photos don't really do the colours justice, they are so rich and deep.

We knew the day would be difficult so we bought tickets to see the Tashi Lhunpo Buddhist Monks on their Power of Compassion European tour.  Their spiritual leader of their monastery and his family were taken from their home in 1995, one of the worlds youngest political prisoners, and to this day their whereabouts remain unknown.

 The monks played ancient instruments made from human leg bones and skulls drums.  As well as ancient instruments and dances.

Their costumes were fabulous.

It offered an opportunity to experience a mysterious and endangered ancient culture.

They ended the exhibition with a dance by the snow lion, the symbol of tibet.  We were right in the centre front row so had a fabulous view of the entire show.

It was a lovely way to spend what was a difficult day and if you are at all interested in foreign cultures and get an opportunity to see the monks I recommend it (I have been lucky enough to see Chinese dragon dances and Japanese tea ceremonies in the past couple of years).

Right, off to catch up on Ripper Street on the TV (I love the series!!).

Happy crafting

Kyla

 

 

Left over metal, ribbon and paper and viola!

Hello everyone I hope you are all well.  

Its getting really chilly here in the UK, proper scraping of the car windscreen time!!

When its chilly outside I don't feel as guilty about squirrelling myself away in my craft room (the smallest room in the house and therefore the warmest!!).

A friend is 50 in a couple of weeks so I thought I would make her a special card. 

The card is stamped in versamark to create the watermark effect and I used similar pieces from my scraps box (seriously...HOW does that box hold this much?!) to stamp the saying and mount it.  I used fabric dyes to dye a tag and then using my tiny attacher to staple some leftover ribbon (it was really thick ribbon, but only a couple of inches long, so I cut in half along the length so it fitted through the hole in the tag easier).  

Ferreting around in my box I also found a third of a metal tube (I know, I literally chuck everything in this box, leftover fabric scraps, off cuts of paper...basically anything too small to put away...but as we know a lot of us crafters are hoarders, so I CANNOT chuck out something that can be used again....those of you who know me from WOYWW crops will know I am the one who actually went through the bins on everyones desk...well, other peoples rubbish is SO much more interesting!!).

With this tube I flattened it out and dyed it with alcohol inks before die cutting leaves out of it.

There you have it, a card for next to nothing (shh...don't tell the recipient it was so cheap!!).

I am entering this in the playground at the snippets challenge here

Why don't you pop over and see some of the fabulous creations, all made using up some snippets-genius.

Happy crafting

Kyla

WOYWW

Hello peeps, its hump day...so that can only mean one thing!  Yep, crafters across the globe bare all (well, their workdesks at least!!).

Some are tidy, others not so...mine....well, you can see for yourself-not tidy but not total chaos!

On my desk this week is a card I am making for a friend who has just had a baby boy.

He (the dad not the baby!!) is a massive Dr Who fan so I made a resin tardis and masked off part of the stamped design so the tardis could hang from the line!

My "Man Bites Dog" cards this week spell out "Czar Wanted Thousand (of) Rare Dog(s)"!!!

If you fancy a legal snoop at desks across the globe then pop across to Julias blog here and stare in wonder at some of the gorgeous makes and spankingly clean desks!!!

Happy crafting

kyla

 

A regal card

Hello, I hope you are all well....its certainly getting colder here in the UK (they even had snow 'up north') and I have had to give in and put the heating on (best start counting my pennies now!!) AND get out the fluffy socks and thermals (its an attractive look, I know!).

I thought I would blog the latest card I made.

I darkened the edges of the patterned paper with brush corduroy DI and added some turquoise foil for a little 'bling'.  I did the same on the grungeboard numbers and added some roses, a wired ribbon bow and a crystal pin to finish it off.

I have not been making many cards recently and it was really nice to have a focus.

Happy crafting.

Kyla

 

I won some wool!

Morning, just a quick update as the postie has brought me a surprise!

I won this lovely booty of merino wool tops from the wonderful people at Torbay Textiles

I came across this company at a local show in the south west and instantly fell in love with the fabulous colours of their fibres.  

I have used them ever since and love it when the postie brings me my orders...but this was even better as it was a surprise, just for commenting on their blog!  How lovely was that?

Right, off to play.

Happy crafting

kyla

 

WOYWW - call me a sheep!

Hello peeps, its Wednesday again!!!  It really feels like this comes round every week!!

So, the past few weeks some of you (you know who you are!!) have been showing your Christmas cards all ready and made!!  At first I decided to ignore it, pretending it wasn't going to happen....but then a few more blogs had them and before I knew it this week saw me actually making some cards!!!

I am not normally one to follow the herd......but this time I gave into the pressure!! 

My "Man Bites Dog" cards this week are a bit gruesome - "Bored Thug Stabs Blonde Priest"!

Right, I am off for a legal snoop at desks across the globe and hopefully will not be led stray to making something else I didn't intend on doing....you ladies are SO persuasive!!

Happy Crafting

Kyla

PaperCloth bookmark and no new stash in sight!

Hello peeps, I have finally finished my first paper and cloth project, its only a small bookmark but I was quite pleased with how it came out.

I thought I would do some steps to explain how I made it, but for full details on how to create some amazing projects then I recommend the book "Stitch Alchemy" by Kelli Perkins (mentioned in a previous post) as its SO inspiring.  

So grab and coffee and kick back for a couple of minutes if your interested in how to make one. 

 First I laid out some ironed cotton fabric onto freezer paper (the freezer paper protects the table).  I then mixed PVA with water (about 50/50) and soaked the fabric with it adding torn vintage book pages, tissue paper and pattern tissue paper.  I kept adding the PVA/water until it was all soaked through.

 I added some colour with mica powders and sprayed a little water over to help fix the mica.

 I then left it to dry overnight.

 I then added fabric dye sprays and some water to help the colour flow.  I am sure you could use paper spray ink, but I wasn't sure whether the colour would transfer to other surfaces and I knew that the fabric dye was permanent once heat set so I played it safe.

 I then added some more colour and texture with stamps

Here is the finished sheet.  I then decided to free machine embroidery all over the sheet to add some additional colour and texture.  Now, this was a BIG mistake as I was going to make a patchwork bookmark so when I cut the sheet up the embroidery started to come apart, so I had to unpick it all!  That's an hour of my life I won't be getting back!

I then cut the sheet up into random pieces and sewed them together with a zig zag stitch on the machine to create a long thin piece.  I then backed it with grey felt and machine stitched all around the edges several times.  I finished it off by punching a hole in the bottom, adding an eyelet and some fancy fibres.

 

Voila, a new and unique bookmark using only old stash, but with a new technique.

So there you have it, a nice colourful fabric and paper bookmark using my current stash!  Its so easy to buy new stash (I know, I am terrible with it!!  Missing the NEC this year so I am having withdrawal symptoms but I have SO much stash I really need to concentrate on using up what I already have!!).

Happy crafting

Kyla

 

Buddha card and keyring

 Hello peeps, I hope you all had a good weekend?  Mine was busy, the first time in over a month I managed to get into town...not for long (it got a bit too crowded for my crutches) ...but I managed it!

I thought I would share my latest make, this is a card I made for my mum who has moved into a new house. The tag is coloured with some dyes left over from a fabric dying session back in the summer and the Buddha is made from air drying clay in a mold.  The flower and oriental papers are all out of my scrap box (which seems to be growing again!) and I stamped the background.

I coloured the Buddha with coloured gilding waxes and a thin covering of matt multi medium to seal it.

I also made a matching keyring with the Buddha this time made from friendly plastic and encased in resin which I drilled with a hand drill to make the hole.

A small, but very personal gift.

Right, its Sunday so that can only mean one thing....craft, sofa and maybe a veggie roast!!

Happy Crafting

kyla

ps - Same (Hettiecraft) suggested I join in the Snippets challenge which can be found at http://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.co.uk/ - so I did!!

Resin cufflinks

Hello peeps, just a quick update.  

I have been playing with two part resin again and decided to make some cufflinks.  

A lot of my work blouses use cufflinks but there are very few female ones on the market, and even fewer that don't feature pink!

I backed them with some vintage pages from a book and some watch parts (boy these are hard to take apart...I may have to give in and purchase some already deconstructed watch parts!!).

One of a kind...a bit like me!!!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend

kyla