2007 February | Scraps Of Mind

Archive for February, 2007

Posted by Karen on

February 14, 2007

Paper Wishes Weekly Webisodes

Welcome to Scraps of Mind. I'm delighted to see you. Why not check out the site, and if you like what you see, subscribe to my RSS feed and get daily updates delivered to you. If you're not sure what the RSS thing is, then check out this 'RSS made easy' post. Thanks for visiting and I look forward to seeing more of you.

For the past year I have been following the weekly scrapbooking and cardmaking info segments that are put out by Hot off the Press over the Internet. They’re called Paper Wishes Weekly Webisodes and run for approx 10-15 minutes each.

Although their main aim is obviously to market their products, I find that they are not a hard sell and each webisode is packed with heaps of useful ideas and tips regardless of what products you use. I should point out for the digi-scrapping girls that this is very paper centric.

Paulette Jarvey and Sara Naumann, who present the shows, are fun and pleasant to listen to and they show some great examples of cards and layouts using that week’s tips and products. As well as a ‘how to’ tutorial for one of the techniques.

An extra bonus, from my point of view, is that they archive all their past episodes so you can watch them again months later when you might find you need a refresh on a particular idea or technique. And they also provide printable instructions for the layouts and projects that they show you on the segment.

The products that they use each week are also available to viewers in a special price bundle for that week. This is great if you live in the US but the price is not so special if you have to ship overseas. Never mind, the Webisodes are fun and full of useful information and I am a regular follower. I strongly recommend you give them a go.

29th Annual Festival of the Sun

Yes folks it’s that time again…

The Annual Festival of the Sun, held as always at the home of the lovely Doreen and Rob in Belgrave Heights. This year celebrating 29 continuous years and still boasting many of the original players.

Once again, in the teeth of fierce competition the Festival managed to secure the musical services of the internationally renowned (well I think some guy in Hamburg bought one of their CDs over the Internet) Jack Rabbit and the Pubic Hares. And once again the little red taxi collected my good friends Thatch and Jools and, together with Allan, headed for the hills.

The weather was quite mild and the swimming pool wasn’t attracting the annual marathon water polo match. Hmm…is it a sign of the maturing age demographic of this party that the polo match is losing its attraction? I’ve seen these crazy water babies leaping about the pool in the freezing cold and pouring rain in years gone by.

But, as always, it was a great party! An opportunity to catch up with some old faces that often don’t get to meet except at this one event every year. An opportunity to reprise the Pubes repertoire of songs, listening out for old favourites. And an opportunity to enjoy our annual pretentious picnic. This courtesy of the Thatchers who are second to none in the pretentious picnic stakes. This year’s repast was as delicious as always; progressing gently from a starter course of dips and some delicious feta stuffed olives, through an unexceptionable main course of quiche and cob loaf stuffed with an amazing array of goodies from hard boiled eggs and vegetables to cold meats and then compressed to pack them all together. It was a taste sensation. We washed it all down (in a totally refined manner, you understand) with a delicious muscaty rose which I found at Aldo’s Wine Warehouse in Nicholson St, Carlton.

And then of course came dessert, where the pretentious chip really kicked in as Thatch caramelised the tops of our Creme Brulees by torchlight using his mini blowtorch. Accompanied by a nip of Glenlivet, just to cut the sweetness of course. Now that’s what I call a picnic!

And at the end of the night Doreen showed us her doll and quilt collections. She doesn’t just collect these…she makes them all too. I knew that she did this but I wasn’t prepared for how marvellous her pieces are. Especially her dolls, I was assuming they were traditional porcelain dolls which she made clothes for. But these were wonderful fantasy characters, between one and two feet tall, that she designs and creates herself and makes totally from scratch. We were completely blown away!

Scrapbooking Techniques & Tips - Doodling for the Drawing Challenged

Do you like the look of doodling on scrapbook layouts but you are hopeless at driving a pencil? Me too. My doodles do not have that graceful free flowing look that I admire in the magazines. More like the drunken rambling of an inebriated spider with a Texta tied to his leg.

Here’s one of my favourite scrapbooking techniques that you might find useful.

Find a piece of fabric or clothing that incorporates something in its design that you could use as a doodle on your layout. Lay a sheet of acetate (the sort used for overhead presentations in offices) over the fabric and with a permanent marker pen, trace the part of the design you want to use for your your doodle.

Let the ink dry properly, then cut around the outside of your tracing. The beaut part of this is that you don’t need to cut right up to the edge of your tracing or in the tricky little loops and curls because the acetate will be transparent on your layout so you will only see the doodle.

You can attach your doodle to your scrapbook layout either by carefully applying a glue stick under the pen marks (so you won’t see it from the front) or by incorporating brads into your design and using them to hold your doodle in place. And, unlike with doodles done directly onto the layout, you can play around with the positioning.

The doodle I have used here is from part of the design of a tray cloth that my Mother embroidered many years ago. I just used the parts of the design that suited me. I didn’t slavishly try to trace all the design as that would have been too busy.

Other sources I have used are: the embroidered pocket on jeans, part of the design from my kitchen tablecloth, patterned shirts,bedlinen, etc.

You can use your doodle as a stand alone embellishment or, as I have done here, you can add flowers or ribbons to it to dress it up a bit. This is one of the easiest of scrapbooking techniques that you can use and can create a fabulous effect on your scrapbook layout.

If you enjoyed this article why not subscribe to my free RSS feed. That way you can easily track all the daily posts on Scraps of Mind. Not sure what RSS is? All is explained here.

A Stroll Down Lilliput Lane

Time to write about another of my collections.

This time it’s miniature cottages. There are a number of firms making these nowadays, but the ones I collect are from Lilliput Lane. Apart from having a very cute name, they’re one of the longest running firms in this market. Lilliput Lane was founded in 1982 by David Tate who, with his wife Sandra, moved up to the beautiful Lake District of England, bought the picturesque little Rose Cottage (model on the right) and began designing and making these miniatures. The cottages are all authentic examples of vernacular architecture from all around the British Isles. They also have collections from other countries but the British cottages are by far the most popular.

The models are cast from Amorphite, which is a compound David Tate invented, composed of finely ground gypsum with other substances added to it. I just love the exquisite detail that the modellers and painters bring to these little houses. You can display them from any angle and there’s always something interesting to see.

On a trip back to England in the 90s I visited the manufacturing works where they are made. It was really interesting to see the process and the level of detail and hand work that’s involved. The original cottage where the Tates lived, now a museum for past pieces, is set in beautiful gardens. The model of Rose Cottage can only be purchased by visitors to Lilliput Lane and is not available in shops or by mail order. And in a magnificent piece of reverse engineering they have built a full size replica of one of their early cottages, Honeysuckle Cottage, nearby to house the showroom and cafe.

I began collecting these models in 1988 on a trip back to the UK. I’ve bought a few in Australia but they’re really expensive here so mostly I buy some each time I return to England. They’re one of my ‘must have’ holiday souvenirs and my collection currently stands at 37.

I had so much difficulty in selecting a few of the cottages from my collection for this photograph, because I just love them all and choosing was really hard. The Secret Garden (back left with the purple slate roof) is definitely one of my favourites as it was one of my original pieces from that first trip. And I love the Victorian Gothic architecture of the house as well as the intricate detail of the walled garden. The other large one on the right is called Tudor Court and is a model of a Tudor ’shopping mall’. It’s another early one and a favourite.

Many of the models are of houses that really exist, not just ‘in the style of’ designs. The tiny gray stone Bridge House is one such example. I’ve been to this little two roomed 16th century cottage in Ambleside, Cumbria. It is the tiniest of cottages, straddling the river, with one room sitting on top of the other and reached by an outside stone staircase, which must have been a nightmare to climb in the freezing blustery Northern winters. But apparently a family with 6 children once lived in it! This one is a bit extra special as it’s autographed by David Tate when he came on a visit to Australia.