WOYWW #421

Well that was a darned short week! definitely doesn't feel like a week ago we were all linking up at Julias place, The Stamping Ground, for our chance to browse desks and workrooms around the world.
A shot of my desk, whilst having a bit of fun with my Stampscapes stamps over the last week.I now have a batch of scenes done, just need to turn them into cards now. Along with making a gazillion birthday cards, as our 'peak season' for birthdays is coming up, and we're on holiday for almost two weeks next month, so I have less time.
 Also on my desk, two new ATC's for the swap have arrived, Thank You ladies.

This one first from  Kelly Henkins, an ATC and a selection of die cuts too, all in a little folder.

This one from Sharon Madson, has a couple of little embellishments with it, they are almost like some sort of shell, or mother of pearl. Lovely.

Spent a bit of time making myself some new earrings again.These cabochons are 8x6mm ovals, took a bit of hunting to get some suitable sized studs that also had the notch for butterfly backs.

 We had a lovely evening on Saturday, as we met up for a meal with the Bromilows-Diane (Morti), David & Livvy. They were coming up to Birmingham so Livvy could go to the Birmingham Uni Open Day, and as we only live less than half an hour from there, they came over and we went for a carvery. Typically, none of us thought to take any pictures!

 These are a few of the scenes I finished, I'll blog them towards the weekend.

Not used my Stampscapes as often as I'd like, one or two need a few tweaks, but are pretty much finished.













If you remember, last week I posted about doing some stencilling using a stars stencil and glitter embossing paste? Here's a funny story, that those who visited early on last week won't have seen in my comments, from my Beloved Hubby. Here is his comment:
       "I found out about the glitter stars when I washed up on Monday night. The sink of water I ran looked more like a snow cone , as a certain someone hadn't rinsed the sink properly :) everything had to be re rinsed under the tap as I didn't notice it until I had almost finished due to the ever-so slightly OTT amount of liquid I tend to put in.
I looked over to the draining board to see a nice clean stencil trying desperately to look innocent and failing miserably."   Guess who was in trouble?😈

Saw this last week, but I don't think I'll get away with it!

WOYWW #410

Another WOYWW, courtesy of Julia at The Stamping Ground. So what IS on my workdesk? Well, a batch of cards made with the Mixed Media dies, that are blogged below.






Also, a visit to our local craft store yielded these Teasel stamps from Woodware, as well as a couple of Tim Holtz layering stencils I forgot to photograph!

Quite large stamps, so should make a good stamped image, I hope.




A walk through town yesterday, and a visit to Poundland to get some more foam tape.

A roll of tape, and 10 sheets of 25 square foam pads for a quid is a great buy.



There were also ear rings on my desk earlier, from a few days ago.




I had to repair a pair which had separated from the posts, and as I'd been having problems when wearing them, I came to the conclusion they were not nickel free, so ordered some new posts. Which came in a pack of 100. As I only needed to repair two pairs, that left me with 48 pairs going idle. Thats the two sets of square glass stones on the left.

 So I had a bit of a shopping expedition on Google, and bought a bunch of flatback semi precious stones, and made another dozen or so pairs. As most of the stones cost me between 30p and 85p each, it was a cheap batch.


Well thats me done, fairly short & sweet this week. Happy Wednesday folks, and see you later.

Making some new ear rings!

Okay, so something a little different to my usual posts today. This all came about after the post came off an ear ring Doug bought me the last time we were on holiday, which I wanted to fix. I had also noticed though that after a few days, my ears started to get irritated when I wore these, leading me to think the metal posts were not nickel free.

 So after a bit of Googling, I ordered some new ear ring posts, and backs. Both Surgical Steel, the backs silver plated as well.

Both packs came in 100 count, so that meant I was going to have 48 pairs left after fixing mine.

Which left only one option- a bit of Internet shopping for some suitable cabochon stones to make myself some new ear rings with.😀
   





I went looking for semi precious stone cabochons, and found quite a few in suitable sizes. I did discover that the backs that had been on my original ear rings were slightly smaller than the new ones, and as some stones I ordered were intended to fit the old size, I've had to Google again and find some smaller ones, lol. Good old Amazon to the rescue.
 Anyway, I found 8mm round was ideal for the new posts, so set to adding the stones to the posts.
 Roughed up both the back of the stones and the posts, then used superglue- as thats what most jewellery sites were selling for the purpose- to add the stones.  I have to say, it's possible I didn't add enough glue in some cases, as a few came apart, so next I tried some Epoxy resin glue,but next day I still had a couple of pairs come apart.
 I cleaned them off, and tried the superglue again, this time adding it to both faces, and this seems to have done the trick.

This is the first batch, and from left to right, the stones are:
Flourite, Jasper,Blue Goldstone, Amethyst, Black Onyx and Green Aventurine.
 Although it doesn't show in the pic, the Blue Goldstone has tiny sparkles within the stone.

The remaining stones, L to R again:
The original glass ear rings in Brown & Blue, Tigers Eye, Malachite,Sodalite, Carnelian,Smoky Quartz, Haemetite, Blue Paua Shell and Snowflake Obsidian.


I just have to wait for the smaller posts to arrive, then I can make up some more using the smaller stones. Best part of this is that most of the stones cost between 35p and 80p each, meaning I got new ear rings for less than £2 a pair, which is a great deal, I think you'll agree.


Supplies bought from:
 Kernowcraft
Manchester Minerals
Beads Direct
Beads.co.uk