Flower Tutorial - Calla Lilly - Video

Hi folks.  Don't faint......this is not your imagination or an illusion!  Tis I......Loops!  Heehee

Boy oh boy did my mojo take a turn for the worst!  It really was touch and go there for a while.....we thought I might lose it all together.  But, I am glad to say that after a great deal of looking after and the arrival of a certain Ginormous Birthday Box I received (see last post) gladly, Loops's mojo has made a full recovery and is ready and raring to go, lol.  Phew, Im glad to be back.....Shucks but I missed you guys (she blushes meekly........"Oh Aye" you say "Loops is real meek"!!)

I was asked ages ago by Sonia if I would mind doing a tutorial on a Lilly Flower.  Well, we all know I love a good challenge and love requests and as I had made these wee babies before I thought to myself.....why not do a wee video on how to make them.  Now the video I have done is for a wee Calla Lilly and you can basically make them any size you want with any centres you want as you will see from my video.  BUT, if you want to see how to make a Tiger Lilly, well I thought there was no point in me doing another one when Fiona Jennings from Jennings644 on Youtube did one already.  Here is Fiona's channel here.  She also did a video on how to do these Calla Lillies too after I sent her a few of mine for her Birthday. So that video is on her channel as well.

Anywhoodles, back to my Calla Lilly.  You need very little to make these wee cuties and they literally take a minute or two to make one.  Please do excuse the state of my nails and hands.  One poor old index finger is healing from hot glue burns.....dont ask!  And my other index finger nail completely broke off!  I know, I know.....it was a complete shock to the other nails on that hand.  But they came to terms with the loss of the index finger nail and they are moving on and if they can move on, then so should we! heehee

Enjoy the video.  As always, any questions, comments, requests or challenges, please shout on the comment section or shoot me a wee email on the contact button above.

DONT FORGET YOUTUBE MAY PUT AN ADVERT ON THE SCREEN.  PRESS THE WEE "X" ON THE TOP RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE ADVERT TO CLOSE IT.

These ones make incredibly beautiful stickpins too.  So keep that in mind when you make the wee ones.  They dont need to stay as single wee flowers - bling'em up with lovely spacer beads and wings etc.  I ended up painting mine with Diamond Stickles, just to bling them up a bit more and make them sparkly and yummy.  Oh and dont limit these wee babies to teeny tiny proportions.......BIG these bad boys up.  If you dont have a punch or die big enough, just draw and cut one out.  That way you can make these any size you want.  Let your imagination run wild.......I know mine does!  So much so that Im gonna have to go chase the wee blighter down as I need it back to make something!  Tutt, tutt....running wild imaginations, huh?  Whatever next Loops?!?

Thats it from me folks, I promise I won't leave it as long next time.

Toodles Noodles,

Loops xx

Maaaahoosive Birthday box from Fiona

Well folks......long time no see.  I know Ive been MIA on Blogland.  And I can just hear you all sigh with relief and say "Well thank goodness Loops is back on the scene"!  Heehee.

A lot going on at the minute and we have been busy wee beavers trying to sort out my Tip of a Craft Room.  I have come to the conclusion......which Ive told a few bloggy Friends already, but I'll say it again as Im really starting to believe it............I THINK IM MAGIC!!!!

Oh aye......I totally rocking Hermione Thingie Ma Bob off Harry Porter (Hermione Granger? Isnt it?.....shame on me for not knowing!).  And my reason for thinking Im magic?  I have actually defied all laws of physics and I have managed to fit more "stuff" (trying to be polite about it!) into a space that doesnt actually allow that much "stuff " to be placed into it!  Get my drift?

Therefore, the only conclusion I can come to is that Im either some sort of Super Science Genius......which is highly unlikely OR........I'm actually MAGIC.......which, lets face it,  is highly more likely than me being a science genius!

Anywhoodles, "The Tip" is getting there.  New shelves have been put up to house more of "the stuff".  The poor things were only up approximately 20 seconds and out I came with me super sticky red line DST, frilly lace, pink ribbon and flat back pearls and I totally Girlified those bad boys up!!  And considering Ive never been a girlie girl and would never have considered adding lace and trims to the front edge of my shelves.....I kinda shocked myself a bit when I did it and actually liked the results.

Anyway, the room is slowly getting there.  We were making pretty good progress and then something arrived in the post!!  My Birthday Pressie from Scrubby!!!!!  YIPPEEEEE!  Yes, Im aware that my Birthday was in February but what I asked for wasnt able to be here for my birthday down to me asking for it too late and the person I asked to do the pressie up was heading away and being a busy bee with life and whatnot.

Anywho..........heres a video of what Scrubby bought me.  My wonderful friend, Fiona who is the incredibly talented Jennings644 on Youtube kindly did me up a wonderful box of goodies.  Little did I know that when I received the box that she had jam packed it full of extra wee goodies too as a special gift to me.  So not only did I get what I paid for......but I got much. much more.

Thank you so much Fi, I greatly appreciate everything.

DONT FORGET TO CLOSE DOWN THE WEE ADVERT BOX......if its there on the screen!

See......so my room was getting all tidy and organised and then came a massive box of goodies which I had to find space for......and "The Tip" reappears again, lol.  And Im not even one bit apologetic or sorry about it.  Thanks for watching folks.  I'll be back soon with some actual real life creations!!  SHOCK HORROR!

Toodles Noodles,

Loops xx

Grungy Journal - Completely made by me

Hi folks, how are we this very fine day?  Any word of Spring making an appearance around your neck of the woods??  It was 10 degrees at the hottest point of the day in grey Northern Ireland so that's practically summer around here!!

Anywhoodles, I just wanted to show you this Journal I made for my very good friend Fiona (YouTube Jennings 644 and Etsy Store Jennings644).  This Journal was actually the first one I ever made.  From scratch I mean.........sewing the papers, making the covers, putting the book together.....proper making a book from scratch.  And I just love how rough and ready it turned out.  It wont be to everyone's liking I'm sure,  but I really love it and Fiona was so chuffed when she received it too.

Im not going to waffle too much and just get on with the photos!  WHAT?  I hear you cry!!  And no, I do not have a temperature and Im not sick!  In fact when I have a temperature and am sick......I tend to waffle more!  Or is that moan more??  Who knows!

As always, I handmade all the flowers on the book.  Lets face it, it wouldnt be something from me if it didnt have handmade flowers on it!  The lace I used on the book cover and to make the large flower was actually lace that I used in my wedding!  Though I did grunge and stain the lace up a bit.....it wasnt like that on our wedding day!  I just love how grungy the flowers look.

I wanted the Journal to look like it had travelled about quite a bit.  So I added ink spots and added torn paper to the cover along with torn book pages. The actual "Journal" word was from Tim Holtz Grunge Board Alphabets pack and I painted each letter with Burnt Umber Acrylic paint and then added Crackle Accents over it and it gave it this great beaten up leather effect.  Im not even sure I could repeat the process.....it was a happy accident!

I wanted the inside cover pages to look a lot cleaner and more feminine.  The outside can get battered and bruised all it wants but I wanted the contents and inside pages to be kept well. 

And as I said above, I made and bound this book myself.  I didnt just buy a book and alter it.  It was made entirely from scratch by me.  I have Bookbinding Video Tutorials coming up soon so watch out for those and you could be making your very own journals too.    

The completed book.  I just love it.  I wanted it to be a journal that could be stuffed into a bag or left on a table and a coffee cup set on it or whatever.  A functioning Journal I suppose.  Something she could pick up at any time and scribble in if she wanted, or write a serious journal entry or just doodle in it or stick in a clipping from a magazine she read.  The book doesnt need to be handled with kids gloves, its meant to be chucked about and have tea stains on it.  Its the contents that is the important thing about it.  So, so what if it falls in a puddle or a kid scribbles all over the front of it!  Its meant to look grungy, well loved and well used.

Thats it from me folks. I hope you like this journal.  My room is slowly but surely getting there.  I might show you a before, during and after video once its all done, but Im not sure yet!  We'll see if and when it gets finished! lol

Toodles Noodles,

Loops xx

Craft Organiser - How to make an album or folder

Hi everyone.  Ok so I was using a wee book that I made......way back when I started crafting to keep as a wee Craft Organiser.  You know, with Crafty Buds names and addresses, Swaps I did, or needed to do, Blog Candies I won, or held, Inventory of Craft goodies like which Distress Inks I had etc and where I buy my stuff from.

But sadly, this wee book which is the same size as the Journal in the last post is, well, completely insufficient for the job as crafting has inevitably taken over my life!  So I decided to make a proper Organiser with dividers so I could organise everything all fansy shmansy pantsy styly!

I wanted to get the binders that Tim Holtz was selling.  But to be honest, I was not willing to spend £4 for two wee binder do-daa's.  So Little Miss Tight A**e here went on to the old World Wide Web to see if I could maybe buy 10 or 20 from some sort of stationery supplier.  Now if you have ever tried to find these things, you will know how much like gold dust they are to find other than the Timmy ones of course.  But I eventually found a guy who was selling them in boxes of 1000 on ebay!!!!!  So Im in no way behind the door in asking for something I want and I certainly wasnt paying hundreds of quid for 1000 binder ringy thingies.  So, I emailed and said

"Pretty please Mr Binder Seller Man, could you by any chance pretty please sell me some of your binder rings in a smaller quantity pleasy?  I be a teeny wee crafter and dont need to buy them on an Industrial scale!!!"....

So Mr Binder Seller Man emails me back and says "I appear to get quite a lot of emails from you Crafty Lot but to be honest Misses Tight A**e, it doesnt make financial sense for me to sell them in teeny tiny crafty bundles of 10 or 20."

So, I flutter my eyes at him.....even though Im emailing him and I cant see the guy and I type in my sweetest typing Northern Irish voice......"Well pretty please Mr Binder Seller Man, how many do you think would be financially viable for you to sell to little ole me?"

His reply, in an abrupt salesman typing voice " The smallest bundle that I could sell them in is a box of 100 but the price would be a bit more expensive per unit as it is a much smaller quantity than I usually sell".

"100"!!!!.......I screamed!!!

"Yes" he replied, "but I will do them at a good price for you."

"Aye right"  me thinks ......."he said 2 seconds earlier they would be dearer per unit because of the smaller quantity but now he's saying he'll do me a good deal!  Hmmmmmm?"

So me being the complete and utter mug that I am thought to me self, "Awww well why not.  I can give some away in Blog Candies, use them myself obviously and maybe sell some to people who need them but at a good price".

So.......Muggins here has a rather large box of binders sitting in my craft room. SO......if you see a lot of mini albums and binder books being made in the next few........centuries........you will know why!

Anywhoodles, here is the video of how I made my Craft Organiser Album.  Its not filled with papers yet, not decorated on the front or inside or any wee pockets added to the inside dividers or anything.  This is just the basic video showing you how to make an album using the binders.  They are perfect for organiser albums, smash books, mini albums, photo albums....you name it.  Wendy AKA Flower Girl Cards you will probably find this video useful as you asked me how to make an album with the ones I sent you in your Candy.  Any questions just give me a shout.

DONT FORGET>>>>>YOUTUBE STICKS AN ADVERT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN. SIMPLY CLICK ON THE WEE "X" AT THE RIGHT TOP HAND SIDE OF THE ADVERT AND IT DISAPPEARS.

Ps......you might want to grab a cuppa tea/coffee and a bicky or two to munch on......

I hope this has inspired you to have a go and make any kind of album of your own.  Im going to have a go at a mini album next.  Any questions.....as usual just holler in the comment section below or contact me through my wee contact me button on the top right above.

Ohhhh isnt the dreamy music lovely?  I stuck my headphones on last night and nodded off listening to it!  Im such a baby.....play me a lullaby and Im out like a one year old!

Toodles Noodles,

Loops xx

Small Hand-bound Shabby Chic Vintage Journal

I probably should have put a bird on the cage....but it flew away!  Thats my excuse and Im sticking to it!

 I am showing you a small Journal I made last summer but never got around to posting on my blog.  I was going mad (or more mad than usual!) not having anything to show.......previous post gives the reason for my distinct lack of crafting.  So, I was churning through my photos and came across this little journal I made. I think when I started my blog I decided to show only projects from my first blog day onwards and not really considered previous projects which is silly really.  Ok, my pre-blog projects wont be quite as good as my projects now as I only really started crafting in April of last year.  And as I havent been proper crafting for even a year yet, technically Im still a beginner......so go easy on me, lol.

Anywhoodles, I think I did enough waffling in my last post that it can carry over for this one so without further ado (and waffly waffles from me) here is the wee journal I hand.  It sort of reminds me of a Victorian Steel Conservatory for some reason!

So this is it.  The individual pages inside are just blank unlined pages which I find handier than lined as I like to doodle in my journals. They are A6 in size so its a lovely wee Journal that can slip easily into a bag or even your coat pocket if you fancy being arty farty and going to the park, sitting next to a water fountain and writing poetry in your little journal......all the while trying to look very deep in thought whilst really trying to fish out the money from the fountain without getting caught!!!!  I saw you!! lol  

I think this is the only project I have EVER made that hasnt got all my own handmade flowers on it.  There is only one of mine on here which is one of my very early ones....the scrunched one in the corner, lol

I used wee red and white flowers on green wire but kept them on the wires and wrapped it around the bars of the Tim Holtz Caged Bird die to make it look like the flowers and stems had enveloped the cage after years of growing.  I think this is what reminds me of an old Victorian conservatory.  The old pitted metal with vines wrapped around the metal structure.  I added little green vine leaves also.  I put a wide organza trim along the bottom and spine side of the book and then dyed some lace with a homemade glimmer mist I came up with just to make it extra shabby chic looking.  I didnt want it to be a crisp and clean cream coloured lace. I wanted it to appear old and discoloured and worn.

I embossed the die cut cage in Antique gold embossing powder but I wanted it to look aged and pitted almost.  So after adding 2 layers of the gold embossing powder, when it was still hot and melty I sprinkled in some lava black embossing powder just by pinching some between my fingers and sprinkling it here and there in the warm gold embossing liquid and heat set it also.  It gave it the effect of pitting and wear and tear in the metal gold coloured cage.  I love how it turned out.  I them added some wee charms off the cage.

I made a bookmark in the spine of the Journal with ribbon and added a ruby red Crystal to the end of it.

The book was covered in a K&Co paper which was originally cream coloured but I again sprayed it with my homemade glimmer mist and used distress ink also.  I heat set it and tried to pool the glimmer mist in sections to make it look a bit old and battered. I added 3 wee pearls to the top right of the book just to balance the cover out a bit more.  A small wee touch but I think it worked well.

And thats it folks.  Another wee journal I made from scratch.  They are extremely easy to make.  I promise I will redo my Bookbinding tutorial videos and get them up asap so you can make your own if you fancy a go.

Toodles Noodles,

Loops xx

CHALLENGES  I WOULD LIKE TO ENTER

Craft Room Challenge - Shabby Vintage (19th March)
Shopping Our Stash - Embossing Wet or Dry (12th March)

I havent fallen off the face of the earth.....honest!

I know, I know......you are all starting to get that little niggle in the back of your mind arent you?  The one that says "I feel like Ive forgotten something or something is missing"!.  So before you start patting yourself down looking for your keys or looking through your handbag to make sure your purse is there, checking your pockets for your mobile and checking the kids to do a head count.......Its ok............the only thing that youve been missing is ME!!!!!!

Heehee, Jeez I have a high opinion of myself dont I? Lol.  Im so sorry I havent been about to fill your heads with some (opps, Im mean "all"!) of my silly nonsense and making you laugh until tea comes out of your noses (again....high opinion of my comedic value too, lol), I havent actually fallen off the Giants Causeway and been swept out to sea.  I have been MIA for a number of reasons.  Ok, theres one major reason for crafting MIA and it has to do with the simple little fact that my Craft Room has serious issues!  Yes......my craft room has issues....not me.  Its issue is that it refuses to tidy up after I make something in it!  The cheek of it!  And now, Scrubby has decided (with a little help from wee Jiminey Cricket on his shoulder......thats so much nicer than saying "nagging wife"!) to decorated and is painting the bathroom and kitchen, pulling apart and kitting out a big cupboard with shelving and storage, putting shelves up in my craft room amongst many other decorating and DIY thingies.  The bathroom is now complete but the rest isnt.  And living in a teeny tiny 2 bedroom bungalow means space is a major issue so guess who's room has been turned in to the DIY and decorating dumping ground?  Yep......my craft room.  And thats on top of the fact that Im a messy pup to start with....opps, I mean my craft room is a messy pup....not me....never me!

So my room refuses to tidy itself up, my desk......well my desk looks like a tip and somewhere in there buried beneath paint rollers and dust sheets sits my big comfy chair......sitting neglected and alone (Queue lonely, sad music), shivering and scared by its lack of use and feeling distinctly abandoned from the lack of my squishy bum sitting on it!  Did I just say my bum was squishy??  I meant to say "my athletically toned perky bum" (aye right.....maybe 10 years ago Loops!!).

So I have created nothing, nada, zip, zilch....not even one tiny flower petal and I feel like I am getting Craft Withdrawal.  Oh yeh.....thats a real Withdrawal thingiemabobber.  It can be fatal for mojo if left untreated.  And as my Craft Room is out of bounds, the Craft Doctor (my very own professional craft doctor-ey mind!) is telling me I need a dose of a crafty shopping spree at least once as week.  And if thats not incentive enough for Scrubby to work quickly, well I dont know what else is, heehee!

Ive even been trying to get decent photos of the Journal I bound from scratch and decorated for Scrubby but as Northern Ireland appears to be the grey-ist place on the planet the photos are AWFUL!  AND I uploaded my Bookbinding tutorials and in the ones I talked in, I sounded like a bloomin' Leprechaun on fast forward and when I did remember to slow down my talking, I just sounded like I was drunk and then to top it all off Youtube gave off about the music I had put over my talking instead and you'd have thought I had committed a murder!!!  So they have to all be redone again.  So Im sorry I have had nada to show you.

If I dont get me some crafting soon, Im gonna go crazy!!!  Oh and if I havent visited you in a few days.....well, Super Geek strikes again!  Scrubby had to reinstall Sammy....my laptop.....Sammy the Samsung!  Im sad I know.  So not only can I not get into my craft room but I was laptopless for 3 days.....that sounds kinda wrong doesnt it?  But Sammy is back to full health again....WOOWHOO!

So now that I have bored you all to tears with my tales of Woe......Im outta here.  Hopefully I will have something to show you soon.  Dont forget me! lol

Toodles Noodles,

Loops x