I was looking and was inspired by something I saw over on the Stampington site in one of their upcoming magazines - a mixed media advent calender that was made with little lidded tins.  I thought that was cute and wondered if anyone was interested in a swap around that idea.  We could make advent calenders for each other that could be reused each year, and put something small in them, like a mint, an ATC, a lipgloss or something.  Also, if people don't want to commit to a 25 day advent calender, we could do a truncated 12 days of Christmas/holidays advent calender.

In case anyone was wondering about the inspiration, it was this one - isn't it cute?

http://stampington.com/somersetstudio/2012/som_nd12.html

I may still do one for myself anyways, but make the calender from tins and turn the tins into ornaments to be hung on the tree.

I learned how to properly do viking knit this weekend and I am pretty darn proud of myself.  In my city, we have had a crafting festival for 25 years, twice a year, called the Creativ Festival.  It features a  3-day floorshow for product and product demonstration, and about 5 days of hands on workshops you can sign up for.  I signed up for as many as I could fit in, and one of them was a 3 hour viking knit workshop.  I learned the basics and finished this bracelet the other day. 

It's almost like magic, how a pretty manky looking nest of wire on the mandrel, can end up looking so nice after being drawn through the drawplate!

I just found out yesterday morning that they have opened a store at 66 Orfus Rd.  I have not been there yet, but I am hoping they carry all the great fabrics and more I usually see at the craft shows, as well as the craft items and yarns they supposedly sell at their other locations.

I made these this week and wore this first one for my birthday.  It is made of dark indigo embossed leather, with a stamped copper tag.



This one is made with brown embossed leather, and I made sure that the design was precisely symmetrical, and the tag is brass, with copper rivets.

I really like how they look.  I am hoping my neices do as well, because I was thinking of making some for them for Christmas.

My blog posting about them

Is no one interested in organizing or being in an OTT swap any more?  I have been looking for them, because I want to swap, but the shipping charges for larger packages suck big time!

I made this today, while playing around with some scrap leather, leftover from my minibook frenzy.  I love the mix of metal and leather, and the mix of textures.  What do you think?





If anyone is interested in making one themselves, I made a rough tutorial and posted it on my blog.

Hmmm - not having great luck with this upload pics to post option.

This is my favourite of my newest minibooks.  Like the Alice one, this one has a resin window.  The covers are brass, and I think this one turned out better than the Alice one.  Of course, I am a bit biased, as I love the Mad Hatter and his mad tea party.  But I think the window turned out better too.





The resin just slightly domes over the metal cover, and it makes a nice contrast to the metal.

As you can see the image is quite clear too



The inside, like the Alice one, has images and quotes from the book. 



And the etched images make me think Victorian, and the reminder of tea time



I have worn this one out and it seemed to be well liked - I even had a waitress notice and comment on it at dinner the other night.

A bit more about it on my blog

I added a bit of a twist to the mini book pendants I have been making lately and added a resin component.  This is a bit of experimentation that I am quite happy with. 



I took a disc cutter and cut a hole out of the front cover of the copper piece that I had already added patina to, etched, and finished.  Then I covered the back, added a wee teensy bit of resin, floated a picture of Alice in it, and domed a bit more resin on top. 



When the resin cures, it becomes an almost totally transparent window. 



Here is the back cover, with a large mushroom for the Caterpillar to rest on



The inside is pages with Alice images decoupaged on, and a couple of my favourite quotes from the book.



Here is a bit more about it from my blog

I am definitely going to play around with this, I really like the look of the resin window.

I made these recently in my mad rush of pendant making

The first one is with hand cut brass covers, etched, riveted with some gears and watch parts I had. 







The pages are a bit steampunk related too - with definitions from a vintage dictionary about craft, artisan, artistry, etc, after being stamped with a letter stamp that has that vintage feel to them.  The brass is aged, sanded, and hand buffed after an application of Renaissance Wax.  Love that stuff.  It stinks, but it protects the patina and adds a nice sheen.



Here is a bit more about this item on my blog

This second one is made with copper covers, embossed.  The inside pages are about innovation.







A bit more about this copper on on my blog too

I have a lot of watch gears and the like in my stash, so there is no point in hoarding them longer, and I am quite addicted to making these minibooks.  I am working on different ways to make them, so I hope you all don't get sick of seeing them from me.

I made this pair for the recent Put a Bird on it swap.  They are small enough to fit in the palm of my hand and I am rather taken with the two.  I made Fiona first, but she seemed rather lonely and looked like she could use a mate, so I made Ferdinand to be her companion, and they do seem as though they like each other well enough.  I made them each little neck ribbons with their names on it as well.  I got the pattern off Ravelry, and they were both amazingly quick to hook up and put together.





Here is a bit more about it on my blog