Happy Halloween



Inchie House Template

Thank you for commenting on my inchie houses and a few of you have asked for the template.

I just want to say that I did not originally design it but after a few attempts of the one I had it wasn't measuring up so I adjusted the template  so I guess you could say I redesigned it.

There are 6 houses on a 8 1/2x11 sheet. Print either on a piece of white card stock and cover with your favourite papers or directly onto the papers you want to use. make sure you have the lines facing you so you can use them to guide you when scoring. I used a light weight card stock then glued decorative papers on top. Score all the dark lines. Those lines will be on the inside of the house and you will not see them. The roof is measured 2 inches by 1 inch. Score it at 1 inch and fold. If you want to hang your houses like I have, make the house first, then on the bottom find the center and pierce a hole, on the roof find the center pierce another hole. I used wired and added beads and jingle bells but you could just use gold or silver string, elasticated strings or whatever. Just have fun. If you are not adding beads and just hanging from the roof you won't need the hole in the bottom of the house. I have done them both ways and both are just as nice.

Click on the image and get the full size. If this doesn't print out correctly email me and I will send it to you.

I had a number of you interested so this is why I am posting the template.

If you make any please let me see, I am always interested in what others make would be fun for kids to make and they are really pretty to use up scraps, old book pages, stamps etc.

Have fun and don't forget to show and tell.

NB  on the templates there is a line just under the roof and it is lighter than the other lines. DO NOT score this line. I forgot to mention that so this has been edited for you. Thanks again.
 

Inchie Christmas houses

I finally was able to get some half decent pics to show you my inchie houses. What are inchie houses? The base of the houses are one inch square not including the peaks on the front and the back of the houses. I have a template I print off then use to construct my houses. The roofs are 1x2 folded in half . So cute and fun to alter. I used images I found around FlickR. One source I found wonderful vintage Santa's was from riptheskull. He has some excellent images of many types of themes.

I used 2 sided scrapbook papers which are quite sturdy, some German scrap, scraps of borders and anything else I could find to use. You can be fancy or just dress the houses up. I usually print off my images in the format of a one inch square(inchie) then I cut around the main image. That way you get a good dimensional image according to the size of the house.

If you are at all inclined to make some I would be happy to send you my template. This is not my original design but I have modified it as some houses on the internet are not one inch square.

Thanks for dropping by and have a super weekend.

I am off to make some small cards and a few post it note holders. I have one week left to complete items for my first show at the Sweet Sentiments scrapbook store so I best get back at it.

Til next time.......stay crafty.

Just a ramble

You all know now I got my car back and the door locks were causing the dead short so now I don't have automatic locks. Ok no problem. I had to go out of town for an appt today and hubs had to go to work.

I park at the office and then decided I would lock the car. So I have to do it manually now and I go into the office. I wait and wait and finally after 2 hours I am finally done. It is drizzling and cold and I walk over to my car, insert the key and it won't even turn. Yikes....so I go over to the passenger side and try the same thing, no key turning. Next I thought I would try the trunk and it opened. I go back to the drivers side and try and the key still won't turn. Now I am in a panic, hubs has the cell phone at work, he wouldn't be able to leave anyways since he just started the job. I look at my options and thought golly if I call a locksmith they are going to cost me money so well if I can go through the trunk then maybe I could get into the main part of the car, but.....before I try that.... I try the passenger door again and the key turned and opened. PHEW.....I was so relieved. I thought the garage may have changed the locks and not told me but they didn't charge me anything to change locks and I couldn't figure out why they key wouldn't turn. Boy I was so relieved and I was very grateful I got in.

Now that I am home safe and sound I can get back to doing something productive now.

How is it that an appt is after lunch and you get back home around supper time. It was packed and people were patient but you could tell some of them were getting antsy.

Anyways all is good.

Have a super day and my inchie houses are just about complete. Off to go finish them.

Til next time....be happy and creative

and....check your locks

♥

Just so you know

I have been asked about the 2nd bird cage that I used in my post yesterday. It is from Ecstacy Crafts, the product is a Marianne Design called Creatables- Birdcage Tunis. Scroll down the page and you will see it.
You can use this in the Cuttlebug very easily. The Ecstacy store is just down the road from me, that can be a bad thing sometimes, but, Dennis the owne,r and his staff, are great to work with. Most of the products they carry come from Holland and the Netherlands and Dennis is the sole distributor to North America.
Check out the link I have provided, they sell great dies and the prices are quite reasonable. They sell retail as well so you can order online.

I have my car back, many bucks later but I am so glad to have my own vehicle once again.
Now off to make inchie tree ornaments.
Lesley

A new twist to birdcage dies

I am just busting to show you how these turned out. I have had this in my brain for months. While taking a computer break for a couple days and hubs has been getting work I thought I would tinker with these and they came out sooooo cute. I used 2 birdcage dies and cut these out of chipboard (cereal and cracker boxes) in the Cuttlebug. I cut 2 for each and then glued them together to make them stable. I did painting, heat embossing, more paint and sanding and really distressed them. Added the birds and some stamped words, ribbons, bells, I love those bells and all kinds of glitz. I really love the blue one and also the purple one. I couldn't stop at one, I must have 10 or more of these babies. I am going to take them to the Sweet Sentiments sale in a couple weekends and try to sell them and if any left over to the Christian High School sale. I think they are so darn cute.

                                                      

   

                                                                             And here are more mini dominoes and I wasn't sure they would take any drilling but I drilled a small hole in the bottom used a jump ring and added a little jingle bell. Now that turned out cute didn't it? These would also be cute on winter coats for zipper pulls, key chains for the season, necklaces or an altered project or swap.

My painting is dwindling down now and next inchie houses and more goodies.

Thanks for dropping by.

Oh and my car is finally fixed. Who would have thought that your door locks would cause a dead short and drain your battery? Well after all the wiring was checked and 2 weeks later, they found the problem. Now the bill, YIKES. I better sell lots in the next couple weeks or Christmas may be a little lean this year.

Take care all.

Lesley

mini dominoes and a painted canvas

I am winding the painting down and trying to get a few other things added to my stock for the shows.

Here is a hinged canvas from my friend Marie's website where I purchased the pattern. I couldn't find small black hinges so I just used a permanent black marker and covered the gold and made it black, works for me. I even added the hinges, no help from hubs on this one. I can cut wood, drill holes and do a bit of sanding, although I have soft tissue injuries, so, sanding using anything motorized really gets my extremities buzzing, so I do a bit by hand.

I used 2 5x7 canvases. I think it turned out rather cute if I may say so.

And for my birthday my friend Becky sent me 2 packages of these mini dominoes. So.....I added some alcohol inks, the birds are cut from tissue paper and glued on, the insects are rub ons I got a long time ago from Michaels,some of them have glitter on them, they add a nice bling, and the Santa's were resized images I got from the Internet and cut out and glued on. I added a few gems and after I took this picture I put Glossy Accents on the surface so they would have a nice finish to them. They are drying as I type. I found these inexpensive necklaces at the dollar store and will see if I can sell them, or you could easily add them to your key chain. Either way I am quite pleased with how they turned out. I love using the rub ons, they are so quick and easy to do and looks like you may have paid a fortune for them.....NOT.

Click on the picture to get more detail and see them sparkle. I think a couple of these will be nice gifts and maybe include in a couple trades before the holidays.

And thanks to Becky for sending these to me. I wonder if I smile real nice if she could snag me some more.

Thanks for dropping by. Just a few more ornaments and gourds to paint then back into paper, a few ATC's a couple matchboxes for a trade and then before you know it...show time.

Stay creative and be happy.

♥

I am addicted to domino books

Like I really need an addiction right now with painting, and getting ready for the shows, bu,t I stopped over the weekend to take a break and make these 2 domino books. I found this very relaxing and fun.

Laura Carson of Artfully Musings has a great tutorial on accordion domino books and it is much easier than you think.

I made a template for the inside images so I could just print them out then take a small piece of card stock, place it over the image and then cut it so I would have even and exact measured images for the inside pages.

These 2 books are for a trade I am in to come and thought it would be a nice little added feature. I used alcohol inks, 2 sided card stock, images from the internet resized and some gold ric rac I had laying around waiting to be used. I probably will cut my ribbon down a bit since it is way too long now but I always like to have extra so you can make a nice bow on either side.

Well that is it. Today was a busy day and I accomplished a lot. Still no car but it must be ready soon, I can only hope.

Thanks for dropping by.

PS if the link for the tutorial doesn't work just take a peek down the RHS of Laura's blog and you will find the link there.

Happy Thanksgiving in Canada

To all my  friends, family and newcomers to my blog, Happy Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow is officially the celebrated day but today we had the big turkey dinner. I don't generally shop on Sundays, I actually feel that it should be a day of rest for everyone like the good Lord intended it to be. So I generally do not shop or do too much, but, having said that, I had to get a few items and being without my car again, and still, I needed hubs to take me. I hate not having my car, I feel like a hermit, it has been a week Tues and still no word on whether this time it is the alternator or not. I guess the big surprise will come Tues or Wed when I have to fork over more money. ARGH

Anyways I did get groceries and came home and got to work on the meal. Potatoes from the garden and squash, a 10 lb turkey we already had and I made dressing from scratch, no Stove Top stuffing in this house. And my gravy actually turned out quite nicely and very flavorful.

We give thanks for the bountiful harvest the Lord has provided us with, food on the table, a roof over our heads and most of all for each other.

PS every wonder why we celebrate Thanksgiving before the US? well it is because we are further north and our harvest is sooner and winter comes generally sooner. At any rate I wonder if this will all change one day since the weather is certainly not what it used to be.

Time to relax now, I spent more time in the kitchen preparing then cleaning up than I did eating the dinner, but it was very tasty just the same.

Take care and give thanks.

Lesley ♥

Paper creations for upcoming shows

Hi all, I have been painting and then stopping to play, I mean, create with paper. LOL You all know how I have fast become addicted to paper creations, altered art etc...well after visiting Astrid's blog and her post about designing this cute book card for a DT project, I had to make 1, well actually I am on the 2nd one in between painting and doing fiddly stuff.

I had seen this book card idea before on someone else's blog earlier this year and I had copied the instructions which were in English so I am so happy that I saved them. Astrid will direct you to another site which does have a translator and very good visuals but I find being able to print off instructions and having them at the table really helps things zip along, when I need a pic to refer to then I just go look at the pics.

Here is what I have done, I think these would be cute to put a few chocolates in and give as teacher gifts, Grandma from the kids, just a friend or......to put a matchbox in when you are doing a trade. Place it in a good little sturdy box or a bubble wrap and send off. I advise for the base of this you use a good sturdy card stock. You will be applying layers of paper and that will help but for the base of the card after doing my 2nd bird card I would venture to suggest using a sturdier paper. The first book card I made which is not complete here because I had no inspiration for pics at the time, I am still thinking but I think I know what theme I will finish it in, maybe a shabby, with flowers and flourishes and something really girly.

The bird theme here was inspired by the beautiful Bo Bunny paper I have had for ages, it is actually a holiday themed paper with music notes and glitter in the paper but it was a good backdrop for my bird theme. I am not sure now I like the bird cage I put in the inside, that might be removed and something else to replace it as I already removed it and the paper ripped a bit, hate when that happens.

Oh and I must add, those cream coloured roses on the bird card, well I wanted to see what would happen if I dampened them, then dried them with the heat gun, I used tweezers so I wouldn't burn my hands holding the flowers, I just loved how the paper really crinkled and the edges of the roses almost got a burnt look to them. Again be careful doing this, I don't want to read how you burnt yourself and I didn't warn you.

And...on the Tim Holtz's bird from his Alterations birdcage and bird die cut, I painted the bird in a tan colour, then used a bit of burnt umber to add a bit of depth and colour to accent. Then I applied clear crackle medium to it as I was going to just add a bit of charcoal to it after the cracking was finished. Well I used the heat gun again and got it to dry and bubble up and gave this really cool glassy knobby look to it. Click on the pic for a close up and see all the crunchy details. I love how things you don't expect happen. Just add to the fun and uniqueness to your pieces.

Anyways thanks for dropping by, Just thought in case you were bored with my painting I would show some paper creations that I plan to try to sell when the shows start up. yikes this month is all the time I have left. The days are just flying by.

If you need any help with this project email me or leave me a comment and I would be glad to share the English version with you.

Til next time....stay crafty