Thanksgiving Desert

Going to a Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and going to bake Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart, I do love Ina Garten's deserts and the reviews are excellent.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/pumpkin-banana-mousse-tart-recipe/index.html

This receipe was wonderful, it was better the day it was made than the second day but none the less fabulous. I still prefer her croissant bread pudding though, that is to die for.

Paraphernalia Book Swap

This was a project set by a group I belong to for twelve women to create an altered book in time for Christmas from a children's hardboard book. The book was to have 5 pages inside making a total of 12 sides to be altered inside and the front and back covers were to be decorated however we wanted. Each of the 12 women chose a subject for a page and my choice was Seasons. This is the front cover of my book which together with the back cover is covered with a napkin and decoupage medium,the paraphernalia letters are stickers and the 3 dimensional decoupage rose in the middle is cut from a design on a piece of heavy paper. Simple but very effective I think. I am eager to see the book that my swap partner has created. It took some time to alter all the pages but it has been fun and from the other images posted of books that people have swapped already the standard of work has been exceptional.
The rest of the pages can be seen on my flickr page
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulaexukatcs/sets/72157622717401057/

Christmas Holly - For No Bangles and Beads - just baubles

This bauble is made for the Christmas Bauble group I joined. Using the template supplied I cut 4 baubles out and embossed them all on both sides with red/gold embossing powder. A sash of Christmas Holly ribbon was added at an angle across one side of each bauble. I then folded each pattern in half and glued all 4 together to make a three dimensional bauble. Though it says no beads I added a red berry bead to dangle at the bottom and added red stickels to the berries on the ribbon to give them a 3-dimensional look. I inserted gold wire through the top and added a red ribbon bow. The whole thing folds flat into one layer. I hope my swap partner likes this bauble.

Key Holder

Just a plain wooden key holder bought from a local DIY store covered with torn pieces of patterned paper and decoupage medium. Gives a nice mottled effect I think.

Autumnal Notelets Wallet and Needle Books

The notelet wallet has been made as a gift for a friend. Inside are 4 notelets made with paper castings of fruit (see July for method) and 4 small matching cream envelopes. The cover is made from a napkin fabric paper lined with orange felt. The edge of the wallet is trimmed with maroon ribbon on the outside(to match the pomegranite on the front) the stitching and also serves to securely fasten the side pockets on the inside. The fastening is a pair of elastic cuff links that lock over each other. Finally all the fruit on the outside was embossed with a clear sepia liquid to make them stand out.

Using the same method I have made two Needle Books for relatives and put in self threading needles (a must have old eyes) some decorative pins and a needle pusher to save fingers when sewing thick material.

Silver Rose for MAMMA group

This is another ATC that I have done for this fortnight's MAMMA challenge to include at least one jigsaw piece on an ATC. I bought a reel of ribbon for a few cents at a garage sale that was so pretty and was exactly 2.5 inches wide. Perfect for an ATC. I covered 2 jigsaw pieces with the ribbon so that you can see what it was like originally. The background piece of ribbon I cut at 3.5 inches and covered with white tissue paper and gave a light coating of2 colours of Lumiere paints. I sewed along the lines in the pattern on the ribbon with gold thread and pearl beads, putting one too many beads for each stitch to create a wavy sprinkle effect. The areas where there are no jigsaw pieces are embossed with silver. I hope you like this ATC.

Translator

Hahahaha I just looked at the french translation of my page done by babel fish. It makes my gender masculine LOL. No matter, I hope that my international friends will get the gist of what I am saying on my blog and if they have a questions will email me or comment under the posts. Goodness knows what it is saying in Japanese???? or indeed what country the one to the right of the Japanese flag is. Does anyone know?

Harvest

Not feeling too well this weekend and been a struggle to do anything, thanks to my partner for sharing his cold with me sniff sniff. The challenge on MAMMA this fortnight is to include at least one jigsaw piece in an ATC composition. I again used a wonderful napkin to create a fabric paper for the background and another with grapes on it to cover the jiggy bit. I sprayed some glimmer mist on the background to give it some shine. The "H" for harvest is an old car part, not sure what car it came from, it was silver and I altered it with some adirondack inks to give it a copper hue. The stalk of wheat is covered with coloured gold leaf to give it a shimmer too. I mounted the whole card on some black cardstock to give it a bit more substance due to the weight of the car part. Of course this ATC represents my favourite season and colours. I hope you like it.

Post it Cover

Time for me to start thinking about gifts for Christmas, going to try to make a few this year. This was an experiment, to make a post it pad cover. I am really quite pleased with the results. Wish the pad had been pink though. Made a cover out of cardstock sandwiched between fabric paper and felt. The fabric paper was brought over the sides and stitched with gold thread to hold it all together. The heart is one of my tissue paper molds covered in gold leaf and the sequins are part of an earing from a garage sale. I used some specialty ribbon that I picked up in a sale at Michaels(I think it is organza)to secure the post it pad inside and to wrap around the outside to hold it closed. The post it pad kept on coming off inside so I glued a strip of this organza ribbon along the spine of the pad and underneath the back, this seemed to hold it together. I then glued another smaller ribbon along the spine to hide the 6000 glue that showed through. I tried to stamp on the back cover with glue and cover with gold leaf but it didn't work so I just worked the leaf into the glue that was there. Finally a small loop of fabric paper was glued at the open edge to hold a pen/pencil. I will have to look for a small pretty one to go in there. The purple one was made in the same way but with a silver embossed tissue casting flower in the centre, white ribbon attached to fasten the booklet and I finally added a border of ribbon diamonds LOL. I hope whoever gets them will like them and find them useful. The colours are much brighter on the pink one than it shows in the photographs.

Polar Cap Bound

Another box made for the GAS MAMMA travelling matchbox challenge. This one was inspired by a piece of white fake fur I had. This is a slightly longer and not so deep box made from a piece of blue cardstock covered with white tissue paper and Lumiere paint to give a cool feel to it. The drawer pull is an earing and the jewels along the sides are a piece of ribbon. The top of the box is decorated with a collaged tall ship and broken pieces of clear plastic beads to represent the polar ice cap ( I put the beads in a plastic bag and hit them with a hammer). Inside the box is a polar bear cut out of the fake fur fabric. I like to think that he hiding in the water under the ship. I hope you like this altered matchbox.

GAS MAMMA Matchbox Swap

This month's challenge is alter a matchbox and the theme is to be on travel. This matchbox was inspired by the stamp I used which shows a map with a yatch in full sail. I wondered which ocean I would like to sail and where I would go. I have always wanted to go to the Seychelles so this was my destination. The matchbox was made with Gio's pattern and the painted with a mixture of acrylics using a brayer. After stamping I stenciled the nautical compas and added the jewels to define the letter N, (I guess I was setting out from Austrialia). More jewels line the sides of the box. Inside I put a map of the Seychelles, a holiday brochure and some rupees. I hope you like my travel matchbox

Matchboxes

I made these two matchboxes as presents for my mother-in-law and my aunt. They were made from a link kindly supplied by Gio on her blog thank you Gio and method from Thealie's blog thank you Thealie. Then they were covered with fabric paper made with napkins, with a contrasting colour of Lumiere scraped across each surface. The two drawer pulls were fixed with a brad (both were garage sale finds). The beads on the top of the pink box were threaded onto wire along with the angel charm and held in place with a large gold brad. I ran a line of sequins along each side of the box. The blue box has beads threaded onto wire along the sides and the crystals, dolphins charm and words were glued on with clear E6000.

The angel box is for my mother-in-law and I shall put two tiny embellished photographs of her identical twin great grandsons (the two tiny lights in my life)inside. The dolphin box is for my aunt and I shall put two tiny embellished photographs of her daughters inside. Two little surprises for Christmas Day.

Gift Wrapping

I just wanted to post a picture that I just found of the way I wrapped my birthday present for my Mother-in-Law. It was so pretty I had to show it. The pink and the white wrapping papers were pleated before wrapping and then the store bought peony and spray flowers were tucked under the white pleated band. Simple to do and very effective.

Handbag Booklets

These are two booklets that I made to give as presents for some ladies I know. I put these here to show how I got the clean edges on my gold leaf stripe. I used on the booklet with the flower casting a mask and spray tacky glue, this way the edge is defined and it is easy to brush away the extra leaf. For the heart casting booklet I used a jumbo tip ZIG 2 way glue pen, let it dry then leafed. This was easier and gave a cleaner edge. This is what I will use in the future. I still have to seal the gold leaf or otherwise I have read it will tarnish.

Paper Casting

So many people have asked me about this method I decided to put some blurb here about what I did. Paper casting is so easy and the results are great. I use bathroom tissue (clean of course LOL) and water with a little school glue in it to help bind. I first used some popsicle molds I got from a garage sale to do the fruit ones, and the heart (see below)is done with a soap mold. Just put a single sheet of tissue into the mold and wet it with the glue mixture and pushed it into the detail of the mold with a paint brush. I then did the same with about 5 or 6 layers of tissue, until I got the thickness I wanted. I then left them UNTOUCHED over night to dry out thoroughly. The fruits were decorated with gold acrylic paint and mica powders and the heart I decorated with gold leaf. The castings are a perfect size for the ATC. Yay for popsicle molds!

Music to my Heart

This started as a toilet paper (clean I hasten to add) casting in a candle making mould. When the heart was dry I trimmed and applied gold leaf. The background is coloured with pink and edged with purple pastels. I then sealed this with a spray sealer. The background was then stamped and embossed with holographic powder. A strip of sheet music was torn and coloured with purple pastel, again sealed. The top of the heart at the bottom of the ATC was sprayed through a stencil with adhesive and then gold leafed. A small line of beads and sequins was then sewn along the torn edge of the sheet music.

I hope you like this as much as I enjoyed making it.

First Post Tuesday, August 11, 2009

This is my first posting on my newly created blog. This little handbag notebook cover was made with fabric paper painted with Lumieres and edged with copper leafing pen. The topper was made from a doiley, embossed and edged with copper leaf. A small organza flower was added at the side and on the back cover. The pages inside were perforated with my sewing machine so that they can be torn out as needed. Threads with flower buttons were added to bind the book.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Pattie for her inspiration in creating this fabric paper. The effects and uses are boundless.