What's on your workdesk Wednesday?

This is how my desk looked at the end of Monday's crafting spree:

2 finished cards for upcoming Christenings and Baby shower. I will miss both of them, sadly, as we are away so I needed to get my cards made ahead of time. No babies on my side of the family for 10 years and them 2 come along in 1 year!

A Star Book for my grandmother with photos from her 90th birthday. It was held together with pegs to make sure the glue dried properly. I'll share a tutorial for this in a few days. hopefully, but I need the permission of a non-blogging, crop friend who showed me how to do it. Scroll to the post below for a tutorial on making this project.

An almost completed birthday card for my daughter. I used an idea in Papercraft Inspirations to make cardstock biscuits. The magazine used Core'dinations cardstock but I didn't have any in the right colours and I never buy papers for cardmaking (except maybe at Christmas) so I improvised with plain cardstock and shaded it with pastel chalks. I love it - the bourbon looks good enough to eat. Think I might be using this idea again!

This is another scheduled post as Wednesdays are usually crazy for me. Today I will be invigilating exams all afternoon. I'll try to visit some other desks tonight. Go over to see Julia, if you'd like to do the same.

Hope your day is a good one.

Star book tutorial

Fiona at Scraploonies taught me how to do this and she has kindly said I can share it with you, provided I make it clear that "she originally learned how to do it at the Craft Co, which is no longer there, but some form of mention might be nice, as in a skill learned and then passed on."

You need: 6 strips of cardstock sized 12x4in.
                 6 strips of  co-ordinating cardstock sized 10x4in
                 6 strips of co-ordinating cardstock sized 8x4in

1. Fold all the strips in half and crease well.

2. Decorate the 4x4 pages with any combination of photos, journalling and embellishments. I used 12 square photos from my grandmother's 90th birthday party. Keep the embellishments as flat as possible so the book will close easily.

3. Glue the edges of the 4x8 and 4x10 strips together securely. Only put the glue at the edges. I pegged mine to ensure a strong bond.

4. Now glue the 4x12 strips on the back in the same way so you have 6 'points' of the star  each with 3 layers.

5. Adhere the 6 points together. Glue the whole of the back this time, not just the edge. Remember  not to stick the front and back together.

6. Create the front and back covers from stiff card, slightly larger than 6x4. Now's your chance to use those bulkier embellishements.

7. Attach the front and back covers, trapping a piece of ribbon in between to act as a tie.

8. Et voila!! A star book, which would make a fab gift or memento of a special event.

It comes to something when...

.... our society has reached a point where the effort needed to

• extract oil from the ground;
• pipe it to a refinery;
• turn it into plastic;
• shape it appropriately;
• transport it to a shop;
• buy it and bring it home

is considered to be less than the effort required to wash the spoon when we've used it!

Photo scavenge hunt

There are several keen amateur photographers amongst my in-laws so we established a Facebook photo club some months ago. Having held 2 themed competitions, I suggested that we have a go at a scavenge hunt this time round. I put together a list of 25 'items' to photograph. The closing date is the end of this month, and I have got them all so I thought I'd share. Some are more 'literal' interpretations of the topic than others!

I'd love to open this Treasure Hunt up to my Blogging friends. If you would like to join in, post your 25 photos (or as many as you can get) and link to me. Leave me a comment on this post and I'll put your name in the hat for a prize. Closing date - 1st July.

Here is a full list of the items you are looking for:

1.       We all love a man in a uniform.

2.       Insects

3.       A flag

4.       That’s Magic!

5.       A sign of the times

6.       Show of strength

7.       Close up of a smile

8.       Purple

9.       Yummy!!

10.   Life on the ocean waves

11.   Something that begins with the letter “Z”

12.   A family of animals

13.   Fast Food

14.   Dance party

15.   Bridge Over Troubled Waters

16.   View from the top

17.   A sports action shot

18.   A still life

19.   The Sky at Night

20.   A self portrait (don’t cheat – no-one but you can hold the camera)

21.   Something rusty

22.   Your main hobby

23.   White

24.   A picture of a smell

25.   Pyjama Party

Happy hunting!

A cheeky polaroid layout

Using my counterfeit kit, I set out to scrap these cheeky photos of my daughter.

I had picked out the pink cardstock and the dressmaking patterns and I was determined to use them so I decided to make rosettes! I have had the wooden flower embellishments for ages, but they are a bit chunky for my taste, and I found the colours too masculine. I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but I pulled them apart and used a single layer to finish off my rosettes. With a pink button in the middle they look completely different. It was a good reminder to me that there is an alternative to buying expensive embellishments or making them from scratch - adapt what you already have.

The rest of the layout came together quite quickly, so I made a card for my cousin's baby shower, while I was 'in the groove'. It also featured die-cutsI've had lying around for a long time, as there hasn't been a new baby in the family for 3 years, until now. Sorry it's a bit bright in the photo.

Why don't you look through your unloved embellishments and see how you can jazz them up?

Misc

Amy set a challenge to blog the 7th photo in the 21st folder on our hard drive. My 21st folder was, tantalisingly but unhelpfully, named 'Misc'and the 7th photo turned out to be this one from 3 years ago:

When R was in Year 2 the PTA held a Hallowe'en party. These are the lovely PTA mums - from left to right: Jan, Diane, Me, Lucie, Brandy, Suzanne and Tasha. In the front you can see R, aged 6, and his (still) best friend Stef, alone with two little siblings of his school friends.

Much as I enjoy all things crafty and dramatic, I am absolutely rubbish at creating costumes. I just don't have the vision, let alone the talent. Or a sewing machine, for that matter! So R is wearing a supermarket-bought vampire costume and face paints (for which he actually won a medal! Or did we give one to all the children?) M was there too, but not in this photo, in the cutest witch outfit and I went all in black with a cat mask.

When I explored my Misc folder further, I found this picture which shows the costumes better. M is looking at me trying to work out whether it really is Mummy. I don't think she'd seen me in costume before!

So, there you have it, the 7th photo in my 21st album. Care to share yours?

Smash pages - La Belle Vie

A fun collage of tickets and flyers collected during our Easter holiday in France