Sure! Here's the top and shelves all sanded. Now I have to manually sand the legs and the fluted sides of the top. I may not take the paint off all the way to the wood. I just need them "smooth enough". 

I love Edward Gorey's illustrations and rather bizarre world view, so when Knickertwist opened the Completely Ghastly Edward Gorey swap, I just had to join. I was paired with Knickers herself, which is quite an intimidating event. Plus, it's Edward Gorey! How in the world does one do him justice?


After a little research, I came upon this happy little fellow, The Doubtful Guest. The Doubtful Guest just showed up one day and moved in with a random family, who never really appreciated him being there. I love this illustration:


I made my Doubtful Guest out of paperclay, and put him on a paper maché trinket box that I painted black and white. Gorey had great handwriting, so I copied the words "Doubtful Guest" from the book and put them in a metal piece that was bent to fit the curve of the box. The scarf was simply cut from a striped knit material I had in my fabric stash.


Sharpies were used to draw on his eyes and to get the texture of his fur. Sharpies don't like drawing on paperclay; it dries them out. This I know for a fact.


This was only my second experiment with paperclay, but I'm quite pleased with it, even if my Doubtful Guest is a little chunkier than the original. I think he put on a few pounds raiding that poor family's fridge!

The gallery for The Completely Ghastly Edward Gorey Swap is amazing. Everyone made and sent awesome crafts. Click here to check it out! 

[Supplies Needed]

Star books are such a great way to display atcs or photos, and they're not as difficult to make as you might think. Here's how to make a colorful 4 1/2" x 6" book like this one, perfect for spring-themed atcs or whatever you wish.


Supplies Needed
2 pieces of sturdy matboard: 4 1/2" x 6"
2 pieces of cover paper for matboard cover: 6" x 7 1/2"
Black pages, 7 pieces cardstock: 4 1/2" x 12"
Small red filler pages: 14 pieces of cardstock: 4 1/2" x 2 1/2"
Red pages, 7 pieces of cardstock: 4 1/2" x 9"
Cream pages, 7 pieces of cardstock: 6 1/2" x 8"
Beads for spine decoration (optional)
2 yards waxed linen thread
At least 2 feet of ribbon for closure
PVA glue
Glue Stick
Double Sided Tape
Tracing paper

Let's start with the cover. Using a glue stick, glue your matboard onto the wrong side of the cover paper you have chosen, and trim the corners as shown. Carefully fold the sides in and glue securely to the back of the cover. Decorate the covers any way you like.


Now, let's fold the first of your pages: the black pages and the small red filler pages. Fold the black pages in half so that you have 7 folded sheets measuring 4 1/2" x 6". Fold the small red filler sheets so that you have 14 folded sheets that are 4 1/2" x 1 1/4". These are the pages that will actually be sewn, with the red papers inside the fold of the black page.

Make a template for your stitching out of tracing paper. Mark the top and bottom of the pages, and make four marks for the holes you will punch. The top and bottom holes (end holes) should be about 1/2" from the edge of the pages, and the two center holes should be about 1 1/2" from the edges. Use this template to punch holes in each of the seven nested signatures with an awl or needle punch. Each signature should have one black sheet, with two of the smaller red sheets nestled within.


Thread your waxed linen with two needles, one at each end. Take the first signature (one black page with two red pages inside) and thread the needles from the inside to the outside through the two center holes. Then cross the needles and thread them back through the center holes towards the inside of the signature. Bring each needle back to the outer spine of the signature through its closest end hole.


Now add the second signature. Thread the two needles through the corresponding end holes to the inside of the second signature from the outside spine, and pull the thread fairly snug. On the inside of this signature, thread each needle through its nearest center hole to the outside of the spine. On the 2nd, 4th, and 6th signature, add beads if desired. Thread them through one needle and then thread the other needle through the beads before going back through the center hole to the inside of the signature. Then, thread the needles back out through the end holes as before. Continue sewing each set of your seven signatures in this way. On the pages that don't have beads, just cross the threads before going back through the center holes.When you have added the last signature, you will end up with the needles on the inside of the pages in the center holes. Tie the threads off with a square knot. Whew! That was the most tedious part.


When the book is closed, you will have six sets of black pages that are back to back. Using a glue stick, carefully glue these six sets together, so that each set makes one page. Set the book under some weights to let it dry.

Meanwhile, fold your remaining pages. Fold the red pages in half so that you have seven 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" pages. Fold the cream pages in half for seven  6 1/2" x 4" pages. Fold the 6 1/2" side of the cream paper up two inches to make a pocket. This page should now be 4 1/2" x 4". If you wish, round the corners of the pocket with a corner punch. Then, using a thin doublestick tape, affix tape to the outside edges of the pockets where they will fold up. Attach double stick tape to the outside edges of all the red pages where they will affix to the black.


Attach the taped outside edge of each red page to the outside edge of a black page. Make sure the edges line up well. Press firmly to adhere. When all the red pages have been attached, go back and attach the outside edge of the cream pages to the edges of the red pages in the same manner.


Once all your pages are affixed, attach ribbons to the outer sides of your book block with double stick tape. Glue the covers to the book block, using PVA glue. Make sure that the covers are lined up and the edges are affixed well. Put the book under heavy weights, and allow that glue to dry!

Now you have a beautiful Star book with a beaded spine. Decorate the inside pages and fill it with your favorite little works of art.


You can change the dimensions of the cover and pages to make any size book. Here's one I made with triangular pockets and extra embellishments to hold "Comedians in B&W" atcs.

Alpha Stamps is hosting a Language of Flowers atc swap this month, so they asked the design team to create a few atcs. I am still having so much fun with their Little Darlings collage sheet that I decided to use a couple of the kids for the cards.


Party hats, butterfly wings, and flowers. Everyone's happy, with the exception of that poor boy on the right with his sad tale of woe. (His sign says, "I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died.")

Am I a bad person because he makes me laugh? Probably.

I received this weekend from the talented Ms. Knickertwist! Here's what she sent:

A fabulous set of alphabet inchies depicting the Gashlycrumb Tinies meeting their untimely demise, and a proper couple on a keychain.


And this wonderful Edward Gorey theater, with all sorts of fine ladies and upright chaps milling about. The theater measures about 5" by 6" or so.


knickers was kind enough to also include some little extra goodies, including these fantastic cards of her own design! I'm tickled pink about these, but I'm so torn about whether I should frame them or actually send them on to friends. I'll probably have to keep my favorites.
 

Thanks so, so much, knickers! I love my Gorey gear. And thanks for organizing such a fun swap. I have loved just about everything posted in this gallery. 

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Spellbinders has a new line of products out called Media Mixáge. They are specifically tailored for the mixed media artist, and I was lucky enough to receive some goodies from them to take for a spin. The thing I love best is that each set of bezels has corresponding dies that will cut the perfect shape to fit exactly inside. This is especially convenient for odd shapes, like circles or hearts. No ragged or awkward edges!


For this piggy magnet, I used the medium sized bezzle and die set, plus an image cut from one of their new paper packs. I just loved the pig image. I couldn't use a naked piggy, though, so I gave her a little tutu using some cut paper, and then added the "oink (oink)" cut from an old dictionary. Once this image was glued to the bottom of the bezel, I used the new ICE resin. I've never used resin before, but this was so easy! The two parts are in a plunger, so it's pre-measured. No mistakes!

After the resin had set a good 24 hours, I added some beads to the bottom loop of the bezel, and a nice rubber piggy to the top. I glued some magnets to the back, so this little piggy can live on my refrigerator. He'll remind me that we only need one pig in the kitchen.   

To see what other great products I received, and what else I made, make sure to click here.

Questions? Comments? You know I love them. 

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I don't usually do a lot of jewelry, but Spellbinders has started a new line called Media Mixáge, and sent me some great products to work with. I'm pretty stoked about this pendant I made!


I used these great metal bezels from Spellbinders, along with special dies that cut paper to fit perfectly inside.

First I cut a circle out of some scrapbook paper, and put a tiny bit of gold glitter around the edge. I glued it into the bezel, and then cut a smaller circle out to highlight the bee image. I attached this layer with a foam glue dot so it would add dimension to the art.

I poured some ICE Resin into the bezel and let it sit for 24 hours. This was my first time using resin, but if I'd known how easy it was, I would have started long ago! Once the resin was good and hard, I added the bee charm at the bottom and put the pendant on a chain. That's all there was to it! Wheee! I can make jewelry!

To read more about this new line of mixed media supplies from Spellbinders and to see what else I made, click here. 

I have an old magazine table that belonged to my grandmother that really needs some TLC. Mr. 'Coo maintains that it's not a nice piece of furniture and should be discarded (silly boy!), but it not only has sentimental value for me, it works well as a phone stand in my craft room.

I'll probably just repaint it, maybe in fun colors, but first it needs to be cleaned and the paint removed. It's peeling off the top at a fairly good rate. Does anyone know if it would be better to try to sand it, or should I chemically strip it?

Here's the before shot. I'm hoping that posting here in the craft along will finally get me to work through to the "after".

Alpha Stamps came out with another great collage sheets containing vintage images of kids. I saw these two children standing together and decided to send them to the circus. Once they were there, they chose to dress like clowns. Billy and Tess: who knew?

I was happy I had an old sardine tin ready to use, because putting the hats on the kids made them too tall for an Altoids tin.


The sardine tin is a bit of an odd shape, and had a little metal lip around the opening. I gave that a scattering of gold glitter, then glued on some red and white baker's twine and surrounded it all with black pom poms. The image of the kids was colored with Copic markers. I added the polka dots to Tess' shirt and the stripes to her leggings with the marker. I also gave them some skin tone, but not on their faces because I wanted them to look like they had some white makeup on. Billy's hair was done with colored pencils before I cut the image out, and their flag was cut out from scrapbook paper.

The top medallion is fan-folded scrapbook paper, with Alphabet Baby Beads. I colored those beads with the Copics, too, because they were just too white to go with the rest of the tin. Because of the pom pom border, the tin wouldn't stand alone. I glued a thin wooden block onto the base for stability.


Have fun at the circus, kids!

The Paper Craft board has a great start to the new year! Here are some of the projects that you thought ROCKed this last quarter. Thanks for hitting "This Rocks!", and thanks to the following artists for sharing their work:

City Map Papercutting and Watercolor by Phantome


Just tea for two, and two for tea... by Phizzychick


Hearty har har - Quiller Valentine and Some trees by mezcraft


Fabric Paper Tutorial by PurpleHeather


My Very First Hand-bound Book! by leather and lace


Quilled Retro Telly Fish Tank by littlecircles