Things in jars

I have always loved jars.  I have jars (not a jar collection, you must understand) of various sizes and shapes, and I have a vintage button jar with inherited buttons which the grandchildren like to play with (who needs toys?). 


Think of this for inspiration.






I found a Mason Jar free clip art on the net and experimented with getting stuff in it.


First I tried photographing jellybeans.  This was fun, but I had to do it fast because they kept disappearing ...




 For this one I made a shape card using the jar shape and filled it with my photographed jelly beans.  I did this by printing the jellybean photograph, then overprinting with the jar clip art, then cutting around.  Then sticking it to a base card and cutting it to shape, then tracing around the shape and cutting inside the lines to make a shaped insert and ....  whew!






 






Then I filled this one with purchased
liquorice paper ... After taking this photo I covered the single sweet with Tim Holtz Clear Rock Candy which made it look sort of crusty-glazed.


Much less fattening than the jellybeans. 












                 
And then a couple filled with
coffee ....                     
mmmmmm..mm...m

                               







and my photograph of cashew nuts ...  brown card cut with decorative scissors and sanded to distress.

Imagine my joy when I discovered this Hero Arts sentiment stamp!
















                      ......my photograph of Snake Sours ...  unfortunately these kept diminishing too. 
I used clear glitter on the cutout sours to make it look like sugar.















Some spiders I photographed ...  one of the models crawled onto the card.  The background was embossed, smooshed with embossing ink, then clear heat embossed.











And lastly, what I set out to do - my button collection in a jar.  At least these are sugar- and fat-free!




I hope now maybe you'll look at things in jars in a different way.

Cheers,
Carol

Wonderful workspaces

WONDERFUL WORKSPACES

 

One of the great things about building is being able to design around your needs (or is that wants?), and I was lucky to be able to do that.  Since we moved to our new house I have been asked "are you organised yet", and "how are you going to fit it all in" (some people have actually seen my stash!).  Weeeell finally ... dahdahdah DAH ...  here it is.  The space is arranged in a "U".  All the shelving was built by my husband Ian from MDF (isn't he a sweetie?) with the shelves totally adjustable. 

This photo shows the left hand side of the space with papers, inks, dies, punches, and stuff like that.  You can just see my little desk in the right hand corner.

It is easy to keep it reasonably tidy when it's well organised and has good storage.  I have a dinky labeller so everything is easy to find.  I haven't gone out and bought anything specially, but have gradually collected the containers over time as I could afford it.  Some of them are re-purposed, the wooden boxes had gifts of fancy vinegars & dressings in, and some are old icecream containers.

In case you're concerned that I'm a bit OCD, this photo is of my desk.  Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to keep stuff off it!  ... AND I'm sure everything on it breeds like rabbits when I'm not looking...    The pink box on the left is a tool box with compartments for scissors, craft knives staplers etc; next to that is a little drawer set for d/s tapes, foam pads, and leftover scraps of ribbon; then the  pen container and the wooden box with stamping stuff like acrylic blocks for clearstamps; then a mug of paintbrushes etc. 

 

I must confess I get in a real messy state when I'm working on something, and I really don't care about that!  I find I sometimes I go from one thing to another to another to another when I'm on a roll or get inspired.  What a mess! 
The window faces south so the light is even all day (that's northern light to those of you in the northern hemisphere), and there is a corkboard with bits and pieces for inspiration and testing. 

 Then to the right of my desk is....

more shelving with cards and envelopes; ribbons and boxes with bling, glitter, sequins, spraymisters, decorative scissors.  The shelves on the far right have my collection of stamps.  Just in front of those shelves is small salvaged table on castors that I have my rotary cutter, scoreboard and cricut machine on.  Just to the right of this is the home office cupboard with the computer, so it will be really easy to hook up to.   It's a great space to work in and I know I'm very lucky to have it (it's right next to the laundry too so very easy to get water or wash out paints etc).

Next door is my quiltroom which is the nearly the size of a single garage - even so, you can see it is a bit of a squash to get around the longarm quilting machine to sit at the sewing machine.  We put shelving in an ikea wardrobe, which holds the patterns, threads, batting etc. 



I do feel really lucky, and would wish everyone could have magic spaces like these.   Of course, now I have to do the work!   What a pleasure!  but ... now you know why I can't stop making cards ....

At last I have got back to The Blog.  I aim to update it about once a week, so here goes.

The Sacking & Lace Saga

Recently an acquaintance asked me to make a special card for a wedding in the UK.  The theme was sacking and lace, and Lynda wanted the card to reflect that.  Eeeeek.  This is what I came up with (also shows the insert before it was put into the card):  

 

 

She was very pleased with it and showed it to the groom's mother who loved/coveted it, so Lynda gave it to her and asked me to make another for her:               

                      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fortunately she loved this one too. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But of course by then I couldn't stop, and kept going until I had used every scrap of sacking and lace I had been given.  The last card was the one with three little hearts made out of the last tiny scraps...

 

 

So that is how I got inspired by sacking and lace!  I had such fun coming up with different ideas using the same materials.  I guess the challenge for us all is to use improbable materials together, and see how far we can go!

Have fun with your creations!