Making PaperTape

A few days ago I mentioned a tutorial I had found on line telling about making paper tape.  In order to do it myself I had to order some adhesive paper which finally arrived.

Today I set about to try it out.  The nice thing is I will be able to make it up any time I like.  I can also use fabrics and ribbons to do the same.  It is especially nice now that I am working on various art type journals.

This is the scrapbook paper I used for my first attempt.  I chose it cause it had stripes and there for would be easy to cut and use.

 And here is one of the sheets of paper I will use for the journal with the tape joining two different papers. The tape is pink.

By the way the blue flowered fabric is my ironing board cover, not a part of the project.  (LOL)

Paper I used was a little stiff so it didn't wrap well around a spool like I would have like.  But it sure works well on the paper which of course is its actual purpose.

Tea Cup Tuesday

Here I am again on Tea Cup Tuesday.  Be sure to visit the other sites after you visit me.
(Just click here...  to go to the site that has the list of those participating.)

Here are pictures of the two tea cups and saucers I bought at the flea market this weekend.  They are decorated wth violets which are my favorite flower.  When I was in my college they were my sorority's flower so have double reason to love them.

My sorority was founded in Maine and I lived there for many years.   Violets grow wild there in spring time.  Happily, when I moved to Pennsylvania I found more.  My back yard is filled with them in the spring time.

Here are the two sets I bought.  The first one has no name on the bottom so probably was made in Japan, maybe in the 40s or 50s, and it is just missing the sticker.  It is a dainty size with a nice edge.

The second one was made in Japan for sure as you can see from the label on the bottom.  It is such an unusual shape and almost demi-tasse size and of course covered with sprays of violets.  Just had to buy it.

Now I normally just buy bone china cups and saucers but for some reason I was really drawn to these two.
I will have them on display just as soon as I decide where to put them.

So what do you think of the teacups and saucers I chose this week.

What I found when cleaning up my studio

You never know what you will come across when you work on cleaning up an art space!  I was pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of home made papers and projects I had made a number of years ago.  When we lived in Maine one of interests was making homemade papers.  I was quite gung-ho for awhile and even got involved in a few swaps.  But as with a number of my interests once I have learned to do it, I am off on something else.
Amongst the homemade papers i found these few little projects I had made using paper and some pressed items from my gardens.  I think I will probably use them in my new FTB garden journal.  They should add an interesting contrast to the other papers I will be using.

If you click on the picture it will get larger and you can see some of the details better. There are dried daisies, pansies and something else I don't remember.  And a lot of the paper was made using inclusions of dried herbs from my garden.

An aside to this story:

One day a friend of mine and I decided to make some paper using cat tails and didn't realize we shouldn't "cook" the stalks in the house. (Cooking is how you can make them "mushy" enought to press into paper.   My dear, normally patient, husband was not at all pleased! The smell was awful.  Since I didn't have a good place to cook outside I sort of changed my way of making paper and didn't do so much anymore.  Here is a picture of a bit of cat tail paper that I still have left.
It isn't very pretty is it. I suppose it would look interesting as a layer of a project.  I may end of using it in the journal and tell this story again.

Another Day, Another Flea Market

We went to a local flea market today and found quite a bit to buy for the antique shop.  I saw some teacups and took a couple of pictures.  After looking closer I ended up buying two.  You will have to check back on Tuesday when I show which ones I bought on my Tea Cup Tuesday blog.

I found some "crafting stuff" too. A pile of pearl like beads for the snowmen, some porcelain knobs for heads of the dress forms and this wonderful book to use to make a journal.The cover is from a book about taxes or such in Pennsylvania, from 1904.  BUT....  the inside of the book it self was a mess. The covers and inside lining pages are wonderful.  The inside pages of the book goes into my pile of papers for possible use later.  Here is a picture.  Isn't it beautiful.  Or rather it will be.

Yesterday I worked on my FTB journal, the one I showed a day or two ago.  I plan to make 5 signatures for the journal and I have 3 1/2 done.    Here is a picture of the first signatures, probably a bit confusing to those not taking the class.  It is hard to show the "insides of the signatures by doing other than just spreading them out.  You will notice that the papers should go nicely with my idea of using the journal as a record of my backyard garden and flowers from elsewhere.

I will be interested in hearing your comments.

Sneak peeks at some of my crafting.

My antique shop has been open since Wed. this week after two weeks of being closed due to travel.  Thankfully my customers are used to my quirky ways and came back.  Have had a good three days and two more to go this week if weather holds out.

Because of this I haven't spent as much time on my projects as I wanted but have managed to sneak in a few things.
Here is a picture of some bottles filled with pearl like beads.  Now what will they be....  I will be able to show you in a few days.

The Full Tilt Boogie workshop has started.  I have been watching the videos, several times over and getting ready to start.  For the first project I won't be using the albums I had found earlier.  I needed to find  a different  book  to use for this one. Here is a picture of the one I have chosen.  It is a very old journal.  The book itself is pretty messy looking at first glance though perfect for what I will be doing.  I was very surprised to open it and see that NONE of the pages had been used.  I will use those pages for something else I imagine.

And today I will stuff all the little dress forms for that project. I have made the bodies and collected up things to use for the heads.  Is that secretive enough?  I hope to have some actual finished projects in the next week of so.  I find if I do a little bit at a time I eventually get stuff done.  It is when I spend too much time I get impatient and don't get anything done.

So hope you enjoy the little sneak peaks.

New classes, new ideas, busy busy busy!

We went to Pocono Raceway which is fairly near our house, this past weekend.  We saw the Sprint Cup Race. Had a good time and met some nice people.  My favorite racer... Carl Edwards, didn't win.... oh well, he is still in first place  It was a very patriotic weekend at the races.  Out in the fan zone they had displays from various  military groups like the Marines, Army guard and such.  At the beginning of the race there was a lot of patriotic pomp and circumstance including a beautiful rendition of God Bless America.  Here is a picture of all the soldiers getting ready to do the opening ceremony.

Since I was away all weekend I didn't do a Tea Cup Tuesday entry.  You all can still check out the pages of the folks who did entries.  (Just click here...  to go to the site that has the list of those participating.)

I  been  busy this week collecting up things for a few on line classes I signed up for.  One is Full Tilt Boogie.  which I mentioned a few days ago.  Click on the title to go to the site for info.
Another is to make the most adorable Dress Forms....   Go to this blog entry to learn about them.  They are so cute. I have already started working on them.

Today I went to home in our area to pick up some little porcelain knobs to use on those forms.  I put a request in on Free-Cycle to see if anyone had any and sure enough I got a good response.  The fun part about going to the house was that I got to drive through one of the great covered bridges in our area.  And I enjoyed seeing all the kayakers out on the water, going under the bridge.  What fun.

 This morning I spent some time running through favorite blogs that  I have listed on my Google Reader.  While there I came up with the most wonderful tutorial on how to make paper tape using all sorts of paper.  I have some paper tape I have bought for other projects and it is ok but not really the designs I love.  This tutorial shows how to make my own with designs I really want.  You may want to check it out if you have an interest. Click here to go to Cathie Holden's blog to check it out!!!! 
I have ordered the adhesive sheets I need and will collect up everything else in the meantime.

Tomorrow I open my shop again for the remainder of the week.  I plan to work on some of these projects  while I am out there between customers.  Lots to do!!!!!

Oh yeah, right now I had better go do some housework.................................

Tea Cup Tuesday Again

 

Here I am again on Tea Cup Tuesday.  Be sure to visit the other sites after you visit me.
(Just click here...  to go to the site that has the list of those participating.)

And I would love your comments as well.

This week I made a quick trip around my own antique shop and found some pictures of tea cups
to show you.  Hope you enjoy them.

 

 This is a child's tea set, possibly from the 40s or 50s.  You can also buy a full adult size set of dishes with the golden wheat pattern.  Homer Laughlin was one of the companies that made that set.  This child's set was made in Japan. Wouldn't it be fun to have both sets.

 

 This is a bone china set, made by Queen Anne.     

Pretty blue pansy like flowers

Another bone china set.  This one is called Winter and is made by Dutchess.

And finally here is a cute set to use as you serve tea.  On the bottom it says Holland.  

Hope you enjoyed this quick look at items in my shop.