Ghosts from Christmas Past

The large white envelope was in the mail yesterday, indicating a free issue of something that I've been published in recently.  There is no index in the 'Just' publications so you have to page through to find which one(s) they liked this go 'round.  On the patio with some ice coffee, I did just that and could not find a thing I recognized as mine.  Hmmm....

Going through it slower and looking at the names of the artists I finally found the two they chose.  They are easily from at least three years ago, probably more like 4.  Pages 105 and 112 of the Just Christmas 2013 - Vol 1.

Always nice to see my stuff in print, even if I'm having trouble recognizing it!  BTW - if you pick this issue up, there is one extremely prolific gal showcased in a big way.  I counted 62 cards by Beverly Sizemore.  Some were pretty cool, some not so much.  I'm going to have to google her and see what I find.  If you are into Christmas in July, this has some pretty good inspiration for you. 



http://scottpublications.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/1162

Easter Greetings!

These went out in the mail on Monday to friends and family.  The first one is made entirely from scraps I had in my pile.  I think there were 12 of them when I got them all done, so, yeah!  I used up a bunch of old stuff that's been hanging around since forever.  The carrots are a stamp I picked up from 'The Picture Show'.  I blogged about that Etsy store last October, if you recall.  Ink the top of the carrot in green, ink the bottom in orange, stamp, repeat.  They are all clear embossed to give them a little depth and shine.  I brought them all to the coffee shop one Sunday and commenced with fussy cutting them into individual carrots.  It sounds like it would take forever, but it really doesn't.  Muscle memory takes over after about the 5th one.

The second was cut using a card pattern I bought via the Cricut Craft Room for a paltry sum - less than $2.  All the little hearts are cut out with just the push of a button!  I will say, all that detail cutting x 12 cards pretty much spent the blade in my cutter.  Blades are easy to come by, so not heartbreaking. You get the liner as part of the image purchase and with the easy-peasy way the Craft Room lets you layer, it was super easy to layer the liner to fit the inside of the card.  Those bedecked little birds are also from 'The Picture Show'.  If you haven't stopped by her store yet, take a look.  Her stuff is truly unique.  Happy Easter, folks!

The Ides of March...

With the Ides of March only a few days away, the snow is rapidly melting as we await a late winter storm.  Given the mild temperature it will be mostly rain.  This creates the perfect storm for wasting a day in the craft cave!

Ink pads are great for small endeavors; a quick card here and there, or for an afternoon's detail work while parked at the coffee shop.  But when planning a larger project, or a mass production of cards, I prefer the ink refill bottles dribbled on my pallet board.  It allows for SUPER easy blending, and clean edge stamping.  Mind you, this works best with pigment inks.  They won't dry out on your pallet board for weeks.  Seriously, I've left ink exposed on my boards for months.  Of course if I don't hide it on a shelf or put it in a drawer, Pye gets into the action and I get her version of artwork all over creation.  Its a good thing this stuff is non-toxic...  She's lucky she's cute

The background piece of the finished card starts out as a plain sheet of 8.5x11 card stock.  I like to use either white or ivory Stardust.  I buy it by the ream from Office Max when they send out those paper bags in the Sunday paper.  Anything you can stick in the bag is X% off.  You can fit quite a few reams of paper in those bags. 

Choose your color pallet from your ink bottles.  The number you pick is only limited by the number of clean brayers you have.  Here's a tip.  When you buy an ink pad, buy the refill bottle with it.  Just because a pad gets dry doesn't mean it's not still good.  If you have the refill bottles your ink pads can last for years.  I've had most of mine for 10+ years.  The only reason I've thrown them out is if they get ratty and start shedding their foam or fabric on my projects. 

Dribble your colors onto your pallet. You only need about 4-6 drops per color.  I use small brayers so I space my dribbles just wider than the brayer.  Run a brayer through each of the puddles a few times back and forth to coat it.  Choose the lightest color first and start rolling it on the paper.  Alternate directions and colors until you like what you see. You can add back in lighter accents if you lost it all during the process.  No problem. 

I save the darkest colors for adding the stamped details.  In this case I used a 4-leaf clover.  Tap it onto the pallet board to ink it and then tap it onto the paper, repeat as often as you want.  Maybe add another color to the board that has some shimmer in it and stamp away.  You can see the pallet board below after I'm done.  The colors have blended to create ever different shades than what you started with.  Yes, you should line your work surface with something disposable as you will be inking off the edge of you page.

The embossing powder in the picture was used on the leprechaun's hat in the finished product.



After it's dry, I cut up the page to create the accent pieces for the card's background.  This is what it looks like, dry and cut.  You can encourage it to dry with your heat gun.  Or you can let it sit for a few hours.  When pigment ink is applied to paper, it will dry, albeit slowly.  The pallet board does not allow the ink to penetrate so it stays wet on the board. 



The horse shoe (below) is the first cut I did from the Cricut Craft Room, a thing I've been blogging about in previous posts.  I've been updating those posts as I learn more, so if you are a Cricut owner, you may want to re-read them. 

The inside of the card was stamped using the ink from the pallet board and various themed stamps from my collection.  I punched a four-leaf clover from green glitter paper left over from Christmas.  That's a Martha Stewart punch.  Click any image to embiggen for details. 

Happy St. Pat's, people! - AMK

 

Mary's Valentine - 2013

We are fast approaching St. Valentine's Day and to my advantage, I over created last year giving me 23 extra valentines to use for this year.  Yeah!  When this happens, the trick to not giving someone the same card two years in a row is a simple one. 

• List out the recipients in alphabetical order.  This is easy if you have an address book. 
• I like to make 5 or 6 of each design.  When it's time to send them out, I use up all of one design before moving on to the next. 
• If I wind up with 1 or 2 from the last design I'm sending this year, I start with it next year.  I'll be at the beginning of the alphabet next year so there won't be any repeats.

I call it Mary's Valentine, for two reasons.  We lost her just after Valentine's Day and she was nuts for frogs.  To remember her and to have a little fun putting frogs and hearts together (not an easy combination, mind you), here is Mary's Valentine for your enjoyment.  "Toadily cool...Truly Ribbeting".

More on my Cricut Craft Room Review

Just a little follow up to my post about the Cricut Craft Room.  I brought my laptop up to the craft cave and started linking all my cartridges.  After you log in you have to connect your Cricut and insert the cartridge, follow the prompts for about 4 clicks and it's done.  On to the next cartridge, over and over again.  If you have a boat load of them like I do, this is going to take a while.  I got about half way through mine before my attention span wandered.   

I'm hoping that once they are linked, I don't ever have to load the cartridge again to cut from it.  The existence of digital cartridges makes me think that will be true.  But we'll see. 

When looking for your cartridge in the long, long list of ALL Cartridges, they are alphabetically listed, but if you own one designed by Teresa Collins, you'll find it under T for Teresa rather that C for 'Chic and Scary'.  Duh.

One very odd thing is happening.  If you own a Cricut you probably have the 'George and Basic Shapes' cartridge.  This was the one they gave away for free when you bought the Cricut during its first 12-18 months on the market.  When I bought my Expression, they gave me 'Plantin Schoolbook'.  I had to buy the 'George' font separately.  No big deal.  I only mention it because 'George and Basic Shapes' is likely the most owned cartridge they have and I am not able to LINK it.  I've tried it twice now, and both times it hangs up.  I guess Provo Craft still has some bugs to work out of their Craft Room...

More to come as I get them all linked and start to play. 

Updated as of 2/16/2013

Just some more things to note as I've completed linking my cartridges started to cut from the Craft Room

HOLD THE PHONE - don't remove your Design Studio software just yet folks.  I've got a number of projects that I built using DS.  They are saved on my hard drive as .cut files.  I tried to import them into the Craft Room today and it was a total fail.  I updated my DS product from the Cricut.com Support page and took yet another firmware update, but no go.  When I want to cut those again, I'll be heading back to DS to do it. 

I have another cartridge that Craft Room will not let me link.  Pagoda will not link with the Craft Room, telling me a rather unhelpful message "This cartridge cannot be linked.  It has been changed".  What the hell does that mean?  I've never used it and yet somehow it's changed?  I guess when I want to use those images, I'll be heading back to the old Design Studio software.  Since I had to take another firmware update today I tried to link 'George' again.  Nope, still a no go on that one. 

While you are cutting from the Craft Room - forget trying to do anything else with your PC.  It takes total control of your computer while it's cutting.

The interface was pretty slow.  I filled a 12x12 page with 3" horse shoe shapes.  I wanted to move them away from the edges a bit more.  I was able to do it, but the response time was slow.  This is probably a function of my Internet connection.  When I am upstairs, the signal from my router in the basement is OK, but not like it is when I'm on the first floor.  Something to consider if you don't pay for maximum speed from your service provider like I do. 

As it turns out - I was correct when I said that linked cartridges never have to be loaded into the Cricut again as long as you use the Craft Room.  However, you have to have one cartridge loaded for the thing to work.  It can be any one.  Since 'George and Basic Shapes' was in my error pile, I used that when I cut shapes from '3 Birds On Parade'.

If I had to give the Craft Room a grade right now, I'd give it a B-.  (see my next update below)

• I like access to digital images, not having to buy cartridges that take up space in my craft cave will be great. 
• I like not having to load the cartridges any more.  It means I can move all that I already own to boxes in the basement rather than on the shelves in the cave.  (except of course those two I can't link...grrrr)
• But since I can't use my .cut files from Design Studio in the craft room, that is a big negative.  And, this will make me keep my cartridges on the shelf rather than in that box in the basement.  Provo Craft has GOT to figure out a sync between DS and the Craft Room.  I tried to use 'Cricut Sync' but it failed as well. 
• And, with two cartridges unable to be linked, I can only asuume there are others out there like that, and the only reason I don't know about them is because I did not buy them. 
• Moving the images around on the page is slow.  If you are using an irregular shaped paper, like scraps, it is not a smooth click and drag.  You can do it, but you have to play with it. 
• The way the Craft Room depicts the different layers on a given image makes it SUPER easy to get everything the right size.  Each layer is a different color and they are all shown on the same tab.  That way, if you are trying to cut and orange coat to fit your brown scarecrow, you can actually lay the coat over the scarecrow and size the coat right to him.  When you cut, it cuts one layer at a time and shows you where they are on the page.  Nifty. 

UPDATE #2 - 2/18/2013

I've never been one to give up, so I started poking around on the Cricut site and found in the FAQ's the trick to converting your .cut files from Design Studio to project files you can use in the Craft Room.  All you have to do is open them in DS and save them again as .gypsy files.  Then the Craft Room will let you upload them.  Yeah!  Apparently the update I took the other day is what let's me save them as .gypsy files.  Who knew?  Since there is a way to convert, I have to raise my grade of the Craft Room to a solid B+. 

I've been playing with one of their digital valentines I bought for $1.78 the other day.  It's going to be an Easter card when I'm done with it. It works quite well now that I have the hang of layering.  I will say, it's a bit tricky when you resize the card.  I was shooting for A2, but had to go a little bit bigger to make it look reasonable.  I think the card is optimal at A6 or A7, but again, I made it work.  It will fit in Martha Stewart's A2 envelope just fine.  Hers are designed larger because she assumes you will have chunky embellishments to account for.  Way to go Martha!  You know us so well. 

I must have missed a memo...

I've been a Cricut owner for about, oh, I don't know, say, 6 years give or take.  I own the 'Expression' machine and have over 65 shape and font cartridges.  I also purchased their Design Studio software which at the time was another $40 or something like it. The software allowed you to connect your Cricut to your computer and use the computer's monitor to design just about anything you could ever want to cut.  Saving your work into .cut files makes it ready any time you want it.  Periodically, as you purchased more cartridges, you had to update your DS product to recognize them. This was no big deal, just surf out to Provo Craft's website and download what you needed. 

About a year ago I went looking for an update to my DS software.  Provo Craft had TOTALLY revamped their website.  And for the most part it was a total fail.  There was no DS information ANYWHERE on the site.  And most of the links to ANYTHING threw an error.  I went out to the message boards and quickly found I was not the only one missing their DS updates and pretty much giving Provo Craft the finger for leaving their Cricut site such a mess.  Fast forward another 6 months (yes, that's how long it took them to clean up their mess) and someone finally found and posted on the message boards a place to update your DS software.  Whoo HOO!  Off I went!

Provo Craft also had this product called Gypsy - a hand held device that was essentially the DS software with all the cartridges already loaded. I never saw the reason for that product as the design window on it was SOOOO small as to make it downright silly. Why buy a Gypsy when I can run DS on my 17" HD laptop?  In my mind, the only reason to buy the Gypsy is if you took your stuff to the local crops and didn't want to carry cartridges or your laptop.  Me?  I never do that, so yeah, the Gypsy was silly. 

I started getting email for something called 'The Cricut Craft Room' at about the time the 'Imagine' product hit the market.  (The 'Imagine' product allows you to also color anything you want to cut, while the 'Expression' machine just cuts.)  I had no plans to purchase the 'Imagine', as coloring has never been my thing.  So, I pretty much ignored the email coming out of Provo Craft related to 'The Craft Room'.

Well...duh.  This past weekend I finally put two and two together and came up with four.  Yup, that's a little over a year it took me folks.  The Craft Room IS the WWW equivalent of Design Studio, which is now defunct.  If you have a copy, it still works, but they are not updating it any longer.  Instead, they have a thin client version of the product that you download for free from The Craft Room tab on the Cricut.com home page.  You will probably have to update the firmware on your cutting machine.  I did, and it was not a big deal.  Just follow the directions that pop up as you load the thin client. 

Once I got it loaded, there it was, the new and improved version of the Design Studio, hence forth to be known as The Craft Room.  Yeah!  You mark the cartridges you own by clicking the LINK button.  (You have to have your cutting machine connected to do that, which I thought was a minor annoyance.) Once you get all of yours linked, you can then design just using what you already own, or if you are shopping for something new, switch to ALL Cartridges and start taking a peak at what you might want to buy.  (Gypsy used to let you do this too, but that small window just made it nuts.) 

Using The Craft Room is a FABULOUS way to preview ALL the shapes on a cartridge so you can be sure you really want it.  Cartridges can now be purchased digitally or actually.  Although, they are discounting the digital versions by about $10.  And many of the older cartridges are no longer available.  You can only get them digitally. 

There are also a number of the full cartridges broken up into smaller sets.   Lets say you liked the haunted house from the latest Halloween themed cartridge, but the rest you could live without.  You can now buy just the image files for the haunted house.  These are ALWAYS purchased digitally and become available (or, are LINKED) in the Craft Room as soon as you get your receipt.

I haven't tried this but I believe any digital cartridge or image you purchase from The Craft Room is stored in the Cloud, so you can access it from any computer that has the thin client on it.  You log in with your Cricut account/password and, BOOM!  Off you go.  If this is true, then when you go to a crop, all you need is one computer and one Cricut and the whole room can cut all night long.  If I'm right about the cloud thing, when Andrea or Lynn want to borrow something I own digitally, I can just give them my account ID and Password and they can cut. Of course, if they want something I have on a cartridge, we'll still have to swap the old fashioned way. I don't see a way to 'convert' from actual to digital - although - it could happen just by LINKING them. If Provo Craft were smart, that's how it would work.  I'll have to play around a bit with some friends and see what happens.

Other cool things about The Craft Room:

• There are Craft Room exclusive images.  These cost between $1 and $10 depending on the number of images in the offering.  Those email's I've been ignoring announce the new exclusives. 
• Each week you get to cut something for free for the full week.  This week, the Extreme Font is available in The Craft Room to cut at your disposal until Saturday at midnight, at which time something else will be free for the cutting.
• Seasonal sales on images - this week you can get a host of Valentine image files at a discount.  Something that would cost you $1.99 is now $1.47.  Every little bit helps.

Yuletide Greetings...

I've completed the Christmas cards I need for this year, but like usual, since I'm in the mood, I just keep going knowing I'll use them next year.  All together, I sent 37 hand made cards to friends and family this year.  If you didn't get one, it's because I don't have your mailing address.  Send it along and I'll put you on the list for next year.

This is the list of items I used to make the Yuletide Greetings card.  I turned off the flash to keep those plastic wrappings from shining.  If you click on it, it will get bigger and you can read the details pretty easily, hopefully.  I'm still working my way through the pile of Merry January paper I bought a couple of years ago.  This card uses "Breeze" and "Slush".  You can still find it on most paper crafting sites. 

I also used a couple  of Spellbinders nesting circle dies to cut out the dough-nut shape that gets stamped to form the wreath.  I stamped the dough-nut multiple times.  Stamp Forest Green just once, first.  Then stamp Cactus Green 3 or 4 times moving the stamp around on the circle.  Last, stamp the Teal Blue 3 or 4 times making sure you get it close to the edges of the outer circle.  The teal color ink brings out the teal in the background paper and makes it all work.  The black and silver dotty paper behind the wreath is more from the Die Cuts w/ A View Glitsy Glitter stack I wrote about a post or two ago. 

The 2012 Cookie Book Reveal

Whew...OK.  It's done.  It wore me out.  I admit it.  But in keeping with this year's theme of "It's a CRAZY Christmas", I went a little nuts piecing all this together.  I decided I needed to use up the giant box of Christmas themed scraps I had been accumulating.  And I did.  But it nearly killed me. 

Before I get started on the narrative, a big thank you to all the girls who take on the baking.  We have new people every year and we've got a few who've been in on this from the start.  You all are awesome and I love each of you to bits.  Thank you for giving me a reason to build a book every year. 

The pages of this book are all pieced together from the scraps.  I was going for the crazy quilt idea to keep with the theme.  I thought of actually stitching them together, but apparently the Prozac kicked in just in time and I opted to only stitch the upper and lower edges of the pages rather than all the seams. 

Book making is tricky.  There is a lot of engineering that goes into it.  Every time I make one I learn a little bit more.  For example, each page when pieced together winds up with multiple seams.  The seams on the pages need to be in different places for each page, otherwise you get a bulge in the book when it's closed.  The same goes for the recipe cards.  I attached them with small Velcro dots so that they can be removed and used easily.  But the dots can't all be in the same place for each one or again, you get a lopsided book. 

I needed to make 23 books this year.  That's more than ever before.  We have 15 at the exchange and the rest are for gifts.  My sisters have been hinting that they want to be included in the gifts so this year I made one for each of them.  In year's past, I made only one to give to the sister who was into baking, first Mary, and since her demise, Joanna.  Well, this year Bridget and Virginia will get one too. 

And, as usual, I like to make a book jacket.  That center piece is also sewn together with a zig zag stich.  I designed this year's as a full box that opens with flaps on the back.  The flaps can be closed again with the same Velcro dots on the sides of the box. 

This is the Fruity side of the book shown in the open box...

...and here is the opposite side for Nutty recipes.  Remember, now, it's a CRAZY Christmas...

The book on display is an accordian style.  So here is a shot of what it would look like on your mantel or down the center of you buffet table.

 

 

Here are some individual pages and a look at the index.  There is an index for each side, fruity and nutty.  Each recipe page is stamped with a different Christmas image and the edges are stamped with a zig zag stitch.  The hinges were cut with my Cricut as were the page numbers and titles.  Hinges have three layers and all numbers and letters have 2.

Happy Christmas, Everyone!  I'm off to commence with the card making.  I don't have enough yet!

- AMK

The Rose Breasted Grosbeak

This card, still with a song as it's backdrop includes Tim Holtz's bird image.  This is a Stamper's Anonymous wood mounted version, so you'll have to find it there.  It is, of course, a Rose Breasted Grosbeak in silhouette.  I layerd over some holly and ivy cut from Cricut's December 25th cartridge.  We are still using WRMK's Merry January card stock and that Merry Chistmas stamp is from my latest favorite Etsy store, Picture Show.  The inside of this card finishes the chorus with "...and a happy new year!" 

I thought about chalking the breast of the bird to reflect it's natural red color, but I stamped this on a pearl textured paper and I did not like how the color took to the paper after a trial run.  So, he stays in silhouette. 

Christmastime is here...

Hidey-Ho, Everyone!  It's Christmastime once again, and we have got no snow.  :/  Despite that, I'm beginning to get in the groove.  Here are some cards to help you do the same. Once again I take my inspiration from the music of the season.  Vince Giraldi's 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' is often on the iPod this season so, to pay homage, I put some papers from a couple different lines together to make these two versions with the same theme. 

We have WRMK's Merry January line mixed with Bo Bunny's Timepiece line, and to add some shine I pulled a sheet from Die Cuts with a View's Glitzy Glitter Neutrals Stack.  (Sorry, I could not find this product on their site, which btw, is a terrible site.  They could use some help there, but I digress...  They have a brights version available on Amazon but not the neutrals).  This stack is REALLY nice.  It's not your typical DCWV nasty, stiff, white core, impossible-to-crease-cleanly paper.  Rather it's paper coated with a nice, heavy vinyl.  The glitter stays on the paper, not all over your room.  Yeah!  They got something right!  (Am I being harsh?  :p )

Anywhoo...I've added in some clock hands, an oldie but a goodie from Sizzix, a snowflake from Lifestyle crafts, and another from Memory Box.  The words? Just use your computer, folks.  That's what its good at. 

A follow-up...

....To the Ring Lord post...http://annespaperplace.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-ringlord.html

Ha!  I'll have you know there are now a total of 4 Halloween bracelets in existence now.  My original,  one I made as a gift for my friend Ann Flick, and I actually SOLD 2 of them for $30 each.  How about that?

And, I'll digress with you into my next nutty adventure that I could not pass up.  (Damn Pinterest all to hell...)  I'll confess I've been a bit of a secret fan of Hello Kitty for a while now.  I know, I know, but before you judge me, follow the link below to ORCA Tactical.com and you'll see just how cool Kitty is.  I bought 5-6 of these little patches.  I'm not quite sure what I'll do with them yet, but she was just too bad-ass to pass up.  I'm holding out for the Hello Kitty Iron Man patch which is out of stock right now.  I guess that means I'm not the only one who thinks Kitty is bad-ass.

http://www.orcatactical.com/store/search.aspx?searchterms=Hello+Kitty

Halloween 2012 - Part 2

They are Trick-Or-Treating the Saturday before the holiday this year so I needed to snap-to on getting the treats packed up for the kids.   True to a paper crafter's nature, I throw nothing away.  I have this bin full of Halloween themed scraps and trinkets from over the years.  Yes, there's one for Christmas and Valentine's too...  from this I can whip up tags for the treat boxes. 

 

This pile of stuff transforms to backgrounds first.  I save the negative images from my die cuts too.  They always add interest to otherwise plain backgrounds.

 

 

Then come the stickers, trinkets, ribbons and what-have-you.  Before you know it, there are a pile of finished tags and a smaller pile of trinkets and trash.  The mom's like these too.  They add them to their own scrap book pages.  They make good bookmarks, although, since each has a pin on it suitable for pinning to your backpack, you'd have to take that off before using it as a bookmark. 

Happy Halloween!  - AMK

Halloween 2012 - Part 1

It's a rainy day here and I'm lovin' it.  It's a rare Sunday I get all to myself.  And, left to my own devices, into the craft cave I go!

Fresh from the latest stamp show in Milwaukee, this wonderful lady packed up her Etsy store and brought it to the show.  No matter what I do, for some reason I can't get this picture to rotate correctly but here's a shot of some of her Halloween collection and a link to her store.  The cat's ass is too funny, and may wind up on the back of a whole lot of cards in the next little while.  Her prices are reasonable and if you order from her Etsy store, she sends you a little freebie.  At least she did for me.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/pictureshow?ref=seller_info

Next up is what I'd call a CAS (clean and simple) Halloween card.  I know, hard to believe from me, right?  I used a die cut from Die-Versions that fills a 5x7 card nicely.  Hang it on a full moon cut from velum and add your favorite witches hat stamped in orange and clear embossed for some shine.  The bling possibly takes it out of the CAS category, but come on...what could you possibly have against some bling?

The entry is all set up for Halloween, got that done before the rain this weekend.  Fingers crossed the lighting does not short out before Trick-or-Treat.  There's Pye right on queue.  She'll sit there all through tick or treat waiting for kids to come to the door.  And, of course my reflection...no photo shop skills to remove it.  The spider's name is Steve.  Kids have asked, and I was not prepared so named him on the spot.  Now when they come they pat him on the head and say "Hi Steve!"

Happy Sunday, everyone. - AMK

The Ringlord...

In my last post I alluded to some things I'd been doing over the summer that I have not yet shared.  Before I share this little project there's a back story that goes with it...

Two years ago, while making the Death By Chocolate cookie book, I found myself in need of a LOT of jump rings.  I needed to build paper Death ornaments and was using jump rings to connect the bones of his skeleton together.  (I know, what the hell (pun intended) was I thinking, right?) 

In my search, I found myself on The Ringlord's website.  Yes, that's what he calls himself.  You too can go there, www.theringlord.com , will take you right to his online shop.  His craft is making chain maille.  Yes, you read that right.  All you 'King Richard's Fair' knights of the round table wanna-Be's, take note.  He sells everything you need to make ANYTHING you want out of tiny metal jump rings, any color, any metal, any size.  It's jump ring Nirvana.  I swear.

I have, to this day, no idea what came over me.  I bought what I needed, to be sure, and then oh-so- very-much more.  It's a sickness.  I fully admit it.  I definitely need a support group.  When the box arrived I was aghast at what I had ordered.  I didn't stop at jump rings, oh no.  Not only did I buy a bag of every color ring, I added the matching color in SCALES too.  Why not, right?  Kill me. 

OK - fast forward to a couple weeks ago when the Oriental Trading catalog showed up showcasing all the fun Halloween lamp work beads.  Add to that the boredom of working 3rd shift and we have a perfect storm. 

The good thing in all of this is I finally cracked my box from The Ring Lord, added in the stuff I got from Oriental, broke all my nails and scratched quite a few links before I got the hang of it, but....

TA DA!  The Halloween Charm bracelet is born.  The chain maille weave I used to build the chain is called a Full Persian.  It made the chunky chain I was looking for to support all these beads.  I've got Franken-finger beads, bats, eyeballs, candy corn, mummys, crystals, and a host of seed beads and rounds that I've had in the arsenal for a long, long time.  The small jump rings that attach the charms are all lime green.  The chain is made from a mixture of purple and black rings. 

It's hard to take a picture one handed.  I tried to get a shot or two of the weave.  I added in some silicone rings for stretch at the back of the bracelet.  I'm not sure I like them.  I may take them out and add a clasp.  But for now...what do you think?  Would you wear it?  I know I will...but that's me! 

And, before you ask, yes, there will also be a Chistmas version in the making. Can't wait to see the lamp work beads they have for Christmas! And, let's not forget all those scales...still have not found a use for those things.

Somebody help me. Please? :)

Happy crafting! - AMK

Windfall

It's back to school and back into the craft room - hooray!  That's not to say I took the summer off, mind you.  I've been hard at work on the cookie books among some other little things that you'll just have to wait to see. 

So - I was out on www.createforless.com and ordered some mini Velcro dots for use in the cookie books.  But what they sent me were these 12 foot long Velcro strips meant to be put up on the wall, with 20, 7/8th inch dots that can hold up to a 1/4 pound.  Well, obviously this is overkill for the little cookie book.  I called and let them know the problem, which they corrected immediately and to boot, they let me keep the stuff they sent in error.  Windfall!

What's a girl to do with all that Velcro tape? 

If you are like me, your craft room is nothing but little hidey-holes filled with treasures.  The biggest problem this presents is forgetting what you put away in this place or that.  Like my drawer full of embossing powders that I love, but don't use all that often.  So, I thought if I pulled them out of the drawer and put them out somewhere where I can see them, I'll play with them more often. 

In a previous post I showed you the shelf I built from bits from the local Home Depot.  I actually have two of them spanning the walls of the craft cave.  Each of the boards are 2" thick and that Velcro tape they sent me was 1.5" thick.  Sounds like a match made in heaven, right?  After running it along the edge of the wood shelf,  I stuck the round dots on the lids of the embossing powder and stuck them up!  Below you can see them running along the edge of the shelf. 

Did I mention I have 8 packages of this stuff?  I've used two.  If you don't want it, then I'll just have to find another hidey-hole for what's left.