Crafting in 2010

So here's what i made in 2010
i'm going to try and be more focused on my crafts this year - well really i'm going to try and be more focused on everthing - i've spent way to many hours sitting here staring at my computor screen
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yeah yeah i said that last year too
but i really REALLY mean it this time

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honest.

"button" cotton reel stamp

i am a real hoarder
and hate to throw anything away,
these plastic cotton reels have been sitting on my desk
waiting for me to find a use for them

i like to decorate the envelopes i send my orders out in
and made some button stamps from funky foam and stuck them on top of my mini versa-colour ink pads
but it was bugging my that the edges of the lid got inked up too

hmm what i needed was a round base for my stamp

so here's how i made the stamp
i cut out some circles of self adhesive funky foam
with my sizzix machine
i tried doing it by hand but i couldn't cut the foam neatly
then i made the button holes with my leather punch

then i cut a disc of card a little smaller than the button
and stuck it to the back
{this is because of the hole in the spool
the first stamp i tried wouldn't print evenly}

stick the button stamp to the spool

ink it up and stamp away to your hearts content!

i've made a few so i can have different colours
without having to clean the stamp in between printing sessions

so there you go
easy peasy crafting and recycling too!

feeling inspired

so because of this very excited young man
who just started school and is apparently
now already cleverer than his sister

same mess different location!

my work desk is in it's new location and
probably because {believe it or not} my desk was tidy
i've been feeling inspired to create "stuff"
during my massive tidying and sorting session
i unearthed a batch of glass bottles
which i've been saving for years
just waiting for inspiration!

here's what i came up with
they aren't finished and i think they are one of those projects
that don't have an easy finishing point

i'm going to hang some little charms around the necks of these

and this one will be sporting a pair of wings

i couldn't resist adding a doily to this one!

i'm just looking for the perfect "something" to fill this gap

i've really enjoyed making these and i think i'll be making some with a slightly more steam punky feel to them,
'cause i also unearthed a jar labelled "rusty old stuff"
see i was right everything has a use!

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more of my workspace

somewhere along the line i seem to have become a doll collector
i don't know quite how this has happened to me
i have always gently mocked my Mum
for her own collection of dolls
and somehow this has happened!
Well they do say we turn into our mothers!