Institue of Making London Pt2

 Welcome back to my blog and Part 2 of the catch up of my recent trip to London.

Day one we visited the RA Summer Exhibition and I blogged about that in an earlier post.

The following day we went to University College London (UCL) to their Engineering department for a free Festival of Stuff!

 They took over a large outside space and inside one of their labs too

 There was free ice cream, coffee and music too!

 Whilst there was a lot children could do there was a lot of adults without kids (like us) taking part in the experiments

Willow weaving large balls

 Homemade silly putty

 I made a LED badge with copper tape and a battery (again a free workshop)

 There was a handmade geiger counter demonstrating the radioactive levels of bananas and brazil nuts!

 Alka-Seltzer rockets were exploding round this corner

 This group were hand carving a large wood cut image 

 and then using a steam roller to act as the press!

 Printing on a HUGH scale!

 There was copper bowl and spoon making sessions

 Lots of explosions and things on fire!

 Many hands on tables.  This was aluminium smelter and a neon plastic where without a light source the cut end glowed

 

 This was a fine knitted metal mesh which looked dull grey until a certain spectrum of light shone on it and it glowed white!

 As you can imagine with all these experiments taking place there had to be a certain level of Health and Safety.  For once common sense ruled as these were the only signs I saw!!

 

A fantastic free afternoon.  I like to think of it as extreme crafting!

Kyla

 

A dylusions icy tag

Hello, I hope that you are all prepared for the festive season...and for those that believed the world would end today...oops, looks like you need to get pressie buying quickly!!

I thought I would post a photo of my latest tag.

I coloured the tag with inks and used craft stamper magazine free cover stamps (I thought the hanging stars look a little like icicles with stars hanging off them) and a dylusions quote (I do love her quotes).  It doesn't show up in the photo but I added some glittery icicle stickles to the stars....after all we all need a little bling at this time of year!

I am entering this into the http://thestampmanuk.blogspot.co.uk/ the theme of which is "In the bleak mid winter", which is my all time favourite carol and one that if I hear it at Christmas time I belt it out......much to the horror of those near me (and the local dogs!!) and I think the cool blue colours and icicles are reminiscent of a bleak winter.

Merry Christmas 

Kyla

Dying fabric with Distress Inks

 Evening all....we have just had the most awful storm!  It lashed it down for about 15 mins, complete with lightning.  The roads flooded almost instantly as the ground was already so wet!  Add to that the fact that Dr Who is filming their Christmas (oops...sorry the C word again!) episode in the centre of Bristol over the past couple of days and the fact that there was a security incident in the centre of the city today meant that it was GRIDLOCK!!!!

What fun.....so I have retreated to my craft haven (I can say haven as its still tidy!!) to chill (you have to admit crafting is SO very therapeutic....apart from when Mr Mojo decides to take a wander!).

I decided I didn't have a enough tags (gulp....please don't look behind me at the basket full of them!!) and made a tag out of pearlescent card, distressed it with DI and stamped the background with the same DI and inked through some sequin waste.

I added a leaf and some flowers with a tag and some vintage book pages (also stained with DI).

I then tried dying some satin ribbon with DI and water, and guess what...it worked!  I got lots of this ribbon, which was a neutral colour from the scrap store for next to nothing (I had a carrier bag full for a couple of quid, including leather scraps, boxes etc....so it really was a few pennies for several meters of this ribbon). 

When I dried it with the heat gun, I loved the fact that the satin shine was still there.  I think it complements the pearlescent card rather well (even if I do say so myself!!).  I attached it with some coloured mini staples I picked up in a discount shop (you know the ones, where things are 99p or £1) and mounted it on some TH Crowded Attic papers.

I love the fact that this uses almost free items (I need to go back to the scrap store to see if they have any more of this ribbon!!) to make something so dimensional with many layers-I had to buy nothing for this, it was all scraps I found hidden on my desk when I cleaned up last week! 

 I am entering this into the Simon Says Stamp and show challenge which this week is 'No Rules'.  I have not tried using just one colour before or dying with the DI, it was a 'what the hell' moment and I gave it a go.....and I think i will give it a go again!

You can find all the details for the challenge here, there are some lovely design team pieces which are totally inspiring.

Happy Crafting

Li'l Pidge x

 

Compendium of Curiosities 2 challenge

Over at Studio L3 the challenge is the faded layers technique from Tim's new book.  This week it is the faded layers technique.

I couldn't resist using my honeycomb mask and bee stamp and I used my new dylusions number stamp as for some strange reason I always think that inside a hive I can see the bees buzzing around like numbers.....moving quickly but with purpose.....but with a sting in their tail (yep, I didn't particularly like maths at school....not the numbers fault...I blame it on how the teachers teach it!).  I added some stickles to the wings just to add a bit of bling....well, why not?!

I hope you all have a great evening...I'm off to get inky...

Happy Crafting

Li' Pidge x

A magic Porridge pot

I do hope you are enjoying the May day celebrations.....its a tad wet here so no celebrations, but lots of housework and a little crafting.

Over at simon says their challenge is to use your favourite stamp.....now that is not as easy as it sounds.  I have a favourite to make backgrounds, a favourite saying, favourite bird.......you get the problem I am facing!!!

So I went with my favourite Stampotique (not easy to get hold of down here in the west country, but the lovely Laura of the Artful Splodger had lots)-its just 'different'.  He just makes me smile.

I mounted him on a tag and used some left over die cut swirls with a typed word....again all these bits and bobs came from my scrap box....still trying use it up (I think its like the Ladybird book I used to read as a child about a porridge pot that kept refilling itself....!)

 Right, bank holiday, raining......Over the Hedge on the TV.......off to do some ironing!

Li'l Pidge x

Vellum tag

Now, this isn't my usual style, but in an effort to continue using up (UIU) products I have and reduce those that I buy (and boy do I have a LOT of stash!!) I have decided to use my vellum and angelina fibres.

 This tag is made by colouring with distress inks, adding a paperartsy stamp and some vellum punched foliage behind the flower.  The bee is die cut from vellum also and coloured using markers.  The wings are made from ironing some fibres to make a sheet then die cutting these also.


To finish I splatted some butterscotch dye across the tag and distressed the edges to add depth.


I would like to enter this into the Stamp Man Vellum challenge which can be found  here

Happy crafting

Li'l Pidge
 

A mini book

 Some of you may remember the mini book that was on my desk a couple WOYWW's ago.  Well I have now finished it.


I cut the mount board with my ATC sizzix die, used medium gel to adhere some scrap paper to the covers then painted on some crackle paint.

Once it had dried, I coloured the covers with DI flicking some water to help move the ink then used my crop o dile to punch holes and added some metal corners.

 I used my new Tim Holtz techniques that I learnt on the Creative Chemistry 101 course, without this course I would never have thought to stamp with distress stains!

I coloured the keyplate with alcohol inks to grunge it up a bit

Then tied it all with some raffia

Voila, a lovely wee book of inspiration that I will keep in my handbag for those days when I need to remind myself that I can create art, no matter what I think!

I am going to enter this into the Simon Says Stamp and Show for the Tim's techniques the deets can be found here .

Happy Crafting

Li'l Pidge
x

After an evening browsing the net I decided to enter some challenges as a way of forcing me to think and make items outside my comfort zone. 

So, first up is this tag.  I cut the tag with Colin, inking it with distress inks (I now have black soot fingers-hurrah, proper crafting!!).  I then spritzed some water on a script stamp and stamped on the tag to remove some of the colour, overstamping with a compass style design stamp.

I then added some metal on the bottom half of the tag.  This was a recycled tomato puree tube (I cant get enough of these...I have even started asking friends to save them for me!) which I used a Ten Second Studio embossing mat with to create the word TIME and the clock faces. I used black paint over the top, wiping some off to expose the decal.

I added a couple of eco green craft cogs which I covered with black rub on wax then glossy accents.

I ran versamark around the edge and added some bronze embossing powder and added a stamped sentiment on a spellbinders label adding bronze embossing and black soot DI to bring it all together, finishing it off with a spritz of gold mica and water so blend the DI a little bit more.

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Back to Black - at Sunday stampers on http://pinkleart.blogspot.com/
Steam Punk - at http://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com/
Anything goes - at http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.com/

So, if you fancy popping over to any of the blogs above I recommend it-they have all inspired me to actually try something new and actually enter a challenge (not something I often do).

Happy crafting

Li'l Pidge

A challenge

So, over on theshabbyshed.blogspot.com, home to the lovely Kaz that I met at the Tim Holtz paperartsy event she has a gorgeous tag for a challenge run by Hels (http://pinkleart.blogspot.com/.  After being a watcher on her fabulous blog for an absolute age I thought I would finally enter one of her challenges.  No-where near the standard of the other entries, but I really enjoyed making it.

The theme is Diamonds and Pearls.  I embossed a tag, smearing rangers paint dabbers in white, black and pearl then a little acyclic in teal and removed most of it by dragging a damp baby wipe over the tag.  I added a little teal foil, stamped the face and cut it out, adding a grunge crown.  I added a pearl necklace and decorated the crown with pearls, adding a flower with a bit of bling in the centre.

If you got the chance check out Kaz and Hels blogs-they are both inspiring.

Anyway, Mars Attacks has just started on TV (I cant help cheesy sci-fi, its SO addictive!!) so best fly.
Happy Crafting

Li'l Pidge x

Lots to Do Challenge - Alter

So, after entering last weeks monochrome challenge over on the Lots To Do Challenge blog I decided to entrer this weeks challenge-Alter.

So, on Saturday I scoured the charity shops and found this very boring and plain letter rack for £2.49

and turned it into this:

First I sanded the blank rack and applied a layer of white gesso to give an even base. Then I painted it with ranger paint dabbers in lake mist and pearl and distressed the edges with distress inks. Next I stamped some old text, earth post stamp and post marks onto tissue paper with green and black stayz on, adhering them with modge podge. I added a vitage postcard sticker and a postage stamp and gave the whole thing a coat of modge podge.

I then got out the hot glue gun, adding scrabble letter tiles and then a coating of varnish to protect....once its dry it sit proudly by my telephone.

I hope you like it and enjoy checking out the other posts on the LTD challenge site

Happy Crafting

Li'l Pidge x

A quick challenge

So, I have entered a challenge on a great blog, called 'lotstodochallenges.blogspot.com

The theme is monochrome so I have added this green card with a domino affixed.

Its a great blog, pop over and check it out if you have a chance.

Happy crafting

li'l pidge x

Happy New Year all in blogland

Happy New Year!
Well, we had a lovely new year spending some time with my brother and his partner (the photo is them on the beach at midnight with sparklers-its hand held in the pitch black which is why its blurred, but how clever are they using the sparkler to make a heart. I would have posted a photo of my OH but he drew porn with his sparkler-typical!) in Whitstable, Kent. A few days down by the sea with fresh air in my lungs (though getting fed up with bronchitis by now-its starting to wear very thin indeed).

Came back to sad news that my OH Grandfather had passed away that morning, just over a year from when he also lost his grandmother. He was such a lovely man and always made us laugh, we'll miss you granddad, rest in peace.

On a lighter note, I have been catching up with my crafting.

These are two of my recent ATC swap on the CB forum. These are from Jintz and Ultramum-thanks ladies, we do love a bit of pink.

These are mine that I sent:

I am getting quite a collection of ATC's now and love getting some post that isnt just junk mail or bills! So, as my new years resolutions I thought I would try to enter some of the forum challenges rather than just lurking and reading the blogs!

So, in the spirit of things I have entered my first one. On the CB forum the set a challenge to design & send a new years card to the CB Magazine, and here it is:



So I am going to be on the look out for a few more challenges-find the time to look and then to make the stuff is the hard part, so if anyone knows of a site that lists craft challenges-please let me know!

I also got a handmade card from my OH for Christmas-bless him, how lovely was that. He sat in the craft room and said he was going to make me a card. Then those words all crafters dread to hear......"can I use ANY of the stash in here?".........what should I do? Nuture the creative thread he was displaying and the loving effort he was going to? Or, be honest and explain that some of the stash is SO pretty that I didnt really want him potentially hacking away at it? Well, of course, I did the only thing I could and resonded "use whatever you want me dear..." then pray to every god and goddess you could name that he couldnt use that lovely glittered vellum you'd been saving or those swarkoski gems!! 2 hours later he emerged-triumphant, though bemused at how long it takes to make a handmade card (what did he think I did up there all this time!). His card to me included my favourite of the moment-owls. What a lovely card, and even more so because he made it for me.
This is the card I made for him. The cat is from a stamp I carved myself, embossed and adorned with a flocked hat with big chunky glitter. I also added a glittered stamped image and used a heart shaped brad that I embossed then dipped in red glitter for that bit of seasonal bling!

Having been SO lack at updating this blog, there is a fair bit of catching up to do. I made my first 18th card for my cousin in New Zealand, her birthday was New Years eve.
I am hoping she liked it-I've not done one before so had to pick the brains of the girls at our weekly crop (thanks Jill for lending me the cuttlebug to cut out the pieces, to Becks for the great silver paper and to Tracy for the ribbon and idea!).

I also made some earings, a handbag charm and the box for my OH's aunts birthday just before christmas:
Well, that's probably about as much excitment as you can take for now, so I'll do another installment in a few days (during these sub zero days the craft room is the smallest in the house and the warmest! So, I have yet another excuse for spending time in here!!).
I hope you are all well (and if not, then I really feel for you, if I cough anymore I am going to SCREAM, apart from the fact that would hurt my poor old chesty, so I think I will just clench my fists in a spurned evil nemisis kind of way!).

Happy Crafting

Li'l Pidge