Bobbing and Weaving, Ducking and Diving, Picking and Choosing

What feels like a really long time ago I made this tray – for me. There was a second tray, destined for the husband’s lap, which never got altered.

Until now.

Over at Scrapbook Challenges it was my turn this month to post a technique challenge – so, thought I, the perfect opportunity to finish this two-part tray project!

My technique? Paper weaving. I thought about repeating the sunburst effect on his tray, but since good old checkers are really his thing, the paper weaving idea fit much better:

he loves the black and white

It's not finished - I need to add his name, laminate it and varnish the frame, so I'll post a nice picture when I've done all that.

But I liked it so much I did some more on a birthday card for our friend:

the birthday boy's gonna so totally, like, flip over this

If you want to see in-progress pictures of me weaving paper, get onto the Scrapbook Challenges forum!

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In other news, the Gauche Alchemy mamas challenged me in December to make a video showing how to make a scrapbook layout with their mixed media products - for anyone who is stuck in mixed media canvas mode but wants to switch to layout mode and doesn't know where to start. Now, I want to add a little disclaimer here for the video quality: December was a tough month for me – it seems that I ate everything in my path, including all the hours in all the days, and I just couldn’t get to doing anything as properly as I wanted to. This project included. But to go with this GA blog post, here is the video nonetheless – and a promise that next month’s will be altogether more… together!

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Finally, my trusty assistant, DJ the Dog, helped me pick out two winners for the SC blog hop RAKs here on AndHandmadeToo:

Winners, PM me your addresses – there’s a long-awaited trip to the post office I have to make anyway, so I may as well send all the packages in one go!

Trayding Places

Altering things is a pastime that often evades me. I fail to break down the project into small, manageable pieces and then get so overwhelmed with the seeming enormity of the task that I put off starting - or, to be truthful, in most cases, finishing - the job.

Not so with this one. It kind of wrote itself, in a way.

do they actually have a name for these cushion-tray-things?

Take one TV-cushion-tray-thing. Take a bunch of old scraps of paper, a pair of scissors, and some glue. Sit down in front of the TV (in my case, it was a silly film called Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), and proceed to cut and stick. Afterwards, laminate and paint the wooden frame (only if you like painting wood. My husband near forbade me to do it as the tray is one of two which came from his late grandfather and for some reason he dislikes painted wood to an almost extreme degree. But I am working on that, now we're married).

it's mine. it's not any one else's.

Finally, brand it as yours so no one else can use it. Then promise that you'll make one for said person trying to steal usage minutes of your tray, but remain vague on the timescale involved. You never know, this might be a one-off case of finishing something within a day of starting it.

it's the shabby-chic distressed effect of painted wood he dislikes the most

To round things off, here are some end-of-the-month competitions for some weekend crafting:

• Punky Scraps - three October challenges to choose from: a collage, a spooky sketch, and a recipe
• True XOXO Girls - October's scraplift challenge is still open: choose one of the team's eye-catching creations as a jumping-off point 

As always, if you enter you could win a prize. There's no excuse not to get crafting!

And if you're still reading, a small toot: I'm usually their video alchemist, but today I'm also being written about on Gauche Alchemy's blog.

Striking a Balance Between Hoarding and Rejecting

When I was a lot younger, I had a far-off vision of myself living in a foreign land, and at the weekend enjoying a morning coffee on a cafe terrace, or haggling at a flea market. I am very lucky to be able to say that these visions have since come true.

Sunday morning was gorgeously sunny, warm enough for short sleeves, and full of promise. There was a big flea market/car boot sale (without the cars) in the park around the corner from us, and for once I had a definite idea of what I was looking for. There was a gypsy swing band playing music, the smell of delicious pastries wafting through the air... but nothing would distract me from my quarry.

I didn't actually expect to find the thing. When I clocked it I fairly pounced on it, and when the lady at the stall said to me "Two euros" I nearly dropped it.

I finally get to start my own letterpress tray-like project! It'll be a long time coming, but watch this space...

 

(The mug is for scale, and the chipped piece of wood to the left of the mug is due to me. And our dog. While we were queuing for said pastries, Django dog decided to make a dart for a pigeon. I was holding the house frame in the same hand as the leash. The house frame went flying, but possibly worse, Django dog caught the pigeon, much to the distress of onlookers. A few minutes later a passerby saw the feathers on the floor and joked to me that our dog had been eating pigeons... he stopped smiling when I told him that it was the truth. I can't report that the pigeon is OK, but I can say that Django dog had his teeth around it for less than ten seconds, after which it went into hiding.)

All in all I spent ten euros, and I got the house frame, three tins (one of which is for altering) and an old letterpress hand-printing set, which was too fascinating to put down, even if it's incomplete and doesn't work so well anymore.

So my tip for today is not to underestimate the value of things, and in particular the things in which others no longer place value. Go to the car boot sales, the jumble sales, the flea markets, the house clearance warehouses. Be prepared for a lot of junk, but hold out for that gem you know will make your day. This one made my week.