Booktree making

Ok, I found the original instructions for doing this on the internet, but they were a bit basic, so I'll try and do a more useful version.

You will need:

• Pages of a book, approx 30, with either glue or fabric binding
• Acrylic paint (I used a cheap set from The Works)
• Either a paintbrush, or a material that will spread paint with minimal absorbing
• Small gems (I got mine from Paperchase)
• Micro beads
• Tweezers
• PVA glue, or stronger, in a fine tip dispenser (or in a puddle on some greaseproof paper)
• Foam pad
• Plastic star or similar

Making the booktree

You'll need pages that are either bound together, or well glued. They will need to be able to stand a bit of pulling and twisting, so if they're glued, make sure they're well embedded in the glue.

Take the chunk of pages, and fold the top right corner of the front page into the "spine" of the chunk, as below:

Then, fold the page into the spine again, which looks like this:

Then fold the bit that sticks out at the bottom up, parallel with the bottom of the remaining pages:

Continue folding the pages: very quickly they will start forming the tree shape, and it can soon hold itself up:

Make sure you push each fold into the spine as well as possible: the closer to the spine you can get it, the better/sharper the folds at the tip of the tree (where you can see them most) will be:

Once you've folded all the pages, you can decorate it. I used a green acrylic paint, on a little, very non-absorbent sponge chunk, but a paintbrush (not heavily laden, you don't want the pages being soaked, but to almost dry-brush the edges):

Brush down the page edges from the top, and up from the bottom until they're all well coloured, and select your decorations - I used red micro beads and green and white gems, but you could use bits of tinsel, glitter etc.

Next, use the fine nozzle glue dispenser to start decorating. Add blobs of glue scattered randomly around the tree on the painted edges:

Add your micro beads/gems/other decorations. The gems have a tendency to try and slip to one side or the other when the glue is still wet, so keep an eye on them and straighten them up if they try to do that:

Making sure the paint is dry, put the foam pad on the top of the tree:

And then add your star. Done! I promise it looks better in real life, and daylight!

It can also be folded/clamped flat for easy posting - just make sure you wait until the glue has dried before jiggling it about :)

Also, you can either pull the two opposite sides to each other and glue/pin together to make a fully round tree, or put two back-to-back to make an entire tree.

Crafting up a frenzy

I had some time off work, and decided to do....absolutely bugger all. Well, other than craft, and bond with my sofa.

So, this week I've made...a normal peacock

(which turned

into a commission for 2 peacocks, one red, one green

), a flying pig (that I'd promised for the Bright

on Twestival)

plus a mini flying pig as an apology for it taking a while

, a mini basket of roses,

a glass bottle full of rainbows,

a decorated horse / zebra, a miniature superman comic,

and a mini canvas...

And now...time to replant the triffid / spider plant into a bigger pot, and put the rhubarb and asparagus into pots and put on the window ledge.

Oh, and I need to deliver the pumpkin plant to Lorna...

Happy New Home!

This is what I made to celebrate @nancetron getting into a place of her own, and moving on with her life. Was torn between putting "Home is where the Tron is", "Home is where the Bot is" and "Home is where the robot is". As you can see, I went with robot in the end: 'bot' was a bit too close to 'bottom' to be taken seriously, and Tron didn't make sense, as Tron is Nancetron, so that would be like saying "home is where I am".

Happy Nance Home!

The cross stitch

Well, Aunt J ended up with it - we agreed that she's definitely the one most rapidly turning into my Gran! Although she did manage to survive the car journey over to see me today without any sweeties...this is verging on the miraculous!

I had washed it...and that made the green outer edge thread run a bit...so then I had to get a run remover sachet, and wash it again. Let me tell you, I am SO glad to see the back of that cross stitch!!

Crustacean creation

So, @CharonQC requested a quilled creation, and I was happy to oblige. I would have found it difficult to quill something recognisable as 'him', as quilling is not really good for fine detail, more for caricature or stylised representation. So, he asked for a prawn...with a red flag!
I was happy to oblige...and I'm quite chuffed with this design, to be honest. I can't see that there'd be a lot of demand for prawns in the future, but at least if there is, I can do it again! :)

Mini craftage

So, t'was Hannah's birthday today, and we had planned to get together, but I think she's suffering from a hen-night induced hangover, so that's postponed.
In the meantime, I thought I'd post a pic of her card...my cards ain't genius, just simple, but I like 'em, and like making them, so that makes it all ok :)

I also finished another project, but I'm not uploading a pic of that until it's safely with the recipient.

Cross stitch meltdown

So, my Mum and Aunt J have been pretty hard hit by Grans death in February. They had nursed her, 24 hours a day, in Aunt Js home for 3 years, and it nearly destroyed them. 2 years in a dementia home helped ease the burden, but twice daily visiting meant no breaks, no rest...she was the centre of their life for over 5 years.

She died in February, we don't know why. Death certificate said 'Dementia', but dementia's not a reason for death, but a diagnosis of a condition of the living. She had been in pain, but morphine eased it enough for her to go painlessly. We didn't want a post mortem: what more could it tell us than that a 91 year old stopped breathing finally?

Since Gran died, their lives have been vacant: no need to go up to the Home and feed her her lunch, then ice cream and sweeties after to keep her weight up. No looking for nice things to brighten up her room, cardigans that would button up to the neck to keep her warm and warm blankets for her knees, no washing to take home and do, no bulk buying Werthers Originals, Jelly Babies, Aero Bubbles, no curling her hair and doing her nails, no singing Rawhide while pushing her in her wheelchair. THey're lost, and don't know what to do with themselves.

So, as is normal in my family, we don't take things seriously. We go visit her grave, that she shares with Grandad. We take him a fag (a heavy smoker, he died of lung cancer 25+ years ago), and leave it on the gravestone, and bring her flowers...and sweeties. The gravestone has been host to toffees, Werthers, Jelly Babies...all her favourites. It's daft, but we like it, and they would have too.

And as is also normal for us, I've been making a silly wee thing to make them laugh, but has a meaning. Y'see, the two of them are turning into my Gran. No trip was ever complete without sweeties, and now when we get in the car Aunt J starts rummaging in her bag within moments, then whips out the mints, toffees, or Werthers. Mum's acting more like her by the day too...

So, I've spent a ridiculous amount of time on making this cross stitch, working on it on train journeys and evenings. It's driven me mad, I've made so many mistakes, I've ignored it in irritation for weeks at a time, but kept going. Cos it's for them. And for my Gran. It may just look like a bit of crappy cross stitch, but it's love.