just listed

so i now have many hundreds of book pages that I'm slowly working through listing in stevensstuff, in fact i think ill never get through them all because every weekend i seem to find new books that i rip apart...last week at the car boot i actually sat down at a table, riped out the pages i wanted and left the rest of the book in a bin...is that wrong ?..i just couldn't carry any more...lets just say my arms were full already... and here are what i have just listed now... i love the flag one... should i keep it for myself ?...

im doodling

just a sneak at some work in progress that I'm doodling away at... just an idea I'm playing with... and if i must admit it then, I'm being a bit of a sheep and following some flocks i have seen... flocks being a style i like... and i want to have a go... so i am. watch this space...

it was just too hot

so i have been back from Vegas a few days now and I'm still cream crackered...if you know what i mean, and cant quite get back into the swing of things, and i generally just feel a bit tired, but we did have a good time. but it was soooooo bloody hot that it drained my energy, and made me want to do as little as possible, and meant that i chickened out of doing some of the things i previously said i wanted to do... the neon bone yard was given a miss as i was convinced i would faint.... as its all outdoors... and an adventure to find a Michael's craft store was traded in for an afternoon nap in the luxurious air conditioned hotel room... ill do a blog about the Caesars palace hotel room later because it was just very special...we visited many more hotels this time and whilst they do kind of merge into one after a while, the carpets still amazed me, the Wynn hotel was just incredible and very beautiful, whilst the Stratosphere hotel was just horrible and really grotty, the views from the top were good though.we ventured downtown to what we called CSI land, do you watch CSI Las Vegas ?...well we felt this area is where most people die in that programme because it just had an air of danger and felt a bit wrong... the Freemont street experience was very disappointing, but the big light show was fun...and some of the gift shops were highly amusing and as usual Vegas left me wanting more, but not the heat, i love how fake it all is and how around every corner something makes me smile, and i know we will go back many times.. we have already booked 1 night in December as part of another Californian adventure we are having... and now maybe ill get some more crafting done... but maybe ill sleep first... lots more pics here, if you want to see a sweaty me...

guess where ill be this weekend

so I'm off to Vegas, again, i was only there a few months ago but that was for just 1 night, as part of a Californian holiday we had, but this time we are going to Vegas for 4 nights and I'm very excited....and the best part is, we kinda won this holiday when we were there last time, my David bought an expensive autographed giclee of Cher,in the Cher shop. and unknown to him this meant his details were put into a hat along with anyone else who purchased this picture on that day, well the following day he got a call and was told because he was the only one who bought a picture, he had won 3 free nights in ceasers palace, and free concert tickets to see Cher, again... so that's why were going, we bought an extra night to make it 4, cashed in some air miles and off we go, and ceasers is just amazingly over the top and I'm very excited to be staying there...
and having more time means we get to explore every little outragous part. I'm excited to visit freemont street to see the gigantic light show, I'm going to the neon museum to see the old signs and letters, and I'm excited to venture out a little to find as many craft shops and outlet centers i can find... which Michael's and Joannes is the best ones to visit ?...help me... i want to go to the top of the stratosphere just to see the views, i want to eat in serendipity which has just opened and I'm going to shop in anthropologie, and last time i was there the fountain show in front of the bellagio hotel nearly made me cry, so I'm excited to see that again... ill post some of the gazillion pictures I'm sure to take next week when I'm back... i know I'm very lucky..or should i say my David is the lucky one and I'm tagging along hanging onto him... but its a fun ride..

guess what i made

so yeah i made more cushions, and i gave you a sneak peak last week at the fabric i had printed, well here are the end results, i soaked the fabric, splashed on some fabric paint, dusted on some powder dye, blotted it off, splashed some more, and on and on, then i washed the fabric 2 times and the end effect is quite special i think, i love how its totally un repeatable, and a guaranteed one off design, and the contrast with the love heart fabric makes an interesting visual impact...well i think it does..i now want to try and do this on a more absorbent fabric to see what patterns and effects i can achieve, but if you follow my blog you know this might take some time to materialize.. the big pillow with the full front cover is my favorite and id like to keep it, but its for sale in my shop now... and on the other two cushions i threw in some patchwork and some pleating, just for added interest.. wonder what ill make next.. wonder if it will be square and cushion shaped ?...watch this space...

more rescued goodies

so again this weekend we ventured over to the car boot sale at Wimbledon dog track, and at first i was slightly disappointed because it didn't seem as good, last time it only took me a few seconds to find something, and this time took me at least a few minutes before my pocket had less cash in it, and what i bought was the mother load of display board letters, you know, the type that are used in cafes to advertise what they sell..sausage and chips, £3.50...well this box was under a table and as soon as i saw it a grabbed it and asked how much, he said £2.00. OK thanks, handed over my money and he gave me 50p change ?.. very amused by this i was. and it would have been all the better if he had the boards to use them on, but never mind, i think what closed the deal for me was that on the top was a very random small wooden letter S, i knew it had to be mine, and with a quick soapy scrub in the sink they were as good as new, now i just have to decide what to do with them...there are hundreds, possibly thousands of them..
so on we went strolling around and it was ages until i found my next bargain,....anyone for a quick game of bingo ?...yes please , me, i saw this dirty and crumbling box and im sure i possibly said hello out loud to it, and even though it was almost falling apart, i lifted the lid to find everything was still inside, all the cards, and he little dispenser where the numbers come from, i asked the guy how much, expecting a silly price to be told to me, and he said £1.00... i snapped his hand off and walked away ready for a game,i love the graphics on the box, the cards are an ephemera lovers dream, ill get some of these in my shop soon.
and then i found some books that i will be selling pages from in my shop and some cards that you can see in the top photo, and home we went, happy and content. and with empty pockets where a few hour earlier some money had been happily sitting.

rescued from destruction

so a few weeks ago when i went home to see my family i went to a local car boot sale and i found a brilliant old harmsworth household encyclopedia, volume 1, that was dusty, battered and bruised and certain to be destroyed had i not rescued it, and it is...or should i say was, full of really special full colour plate images and many technical style illustrations and instructional photographs that are something quite special. and whilst i do know its probably wrong to rip these pages out, that's what i did, and I'm now in the process of slowly listing them in my vintage etsy shop, because i feel they are too nice to be squashed between 2 hard covers and hidden away. and i know by giving them a new opportunity of being used and appreciated is better. the above collage shows some of the pages that i liberated, but these ones here below are some of my favourites that i think i want to keep. they are just funny, and if i ever break my arm, ill know what to do.. and i just like the imagery on this next one, the man looks so Victorian, and so stuffy and proper, and the 3 of these pages together i think will make a great addition to my ever growing collection of things that one day will be put up on a wall....somewhere ? so keep an eye out in my shop because i have many many many pages yet to be listed, just today i listed one and it sold almost straight away... and i havent even shown you some of the best ones yet..

print and splat

so yesterday i just had an urge to make a mess, well it was more like i had an itch i had to scratch,if you know what i mean, and i wanted to know what would happen if i soaked some fabric with water, splashed on some fabric paint and scattered on some powder fabric dye... and these pictures here are the result, this took all of a few minutes,and this is just a sneak peek, because now that the fabric have dried and been washed a few times,the colours have changed and merged and left some very pleasing effects and i can honestly say just wait and see the lovely things ill be making from this little experiment... these are the results of just doing it, and not thinking about it too much and seeing what happens.. a happy accident if ever there was one...i know ill be doing this again soon...

the best find ever

so on Saturday me and David ventured to parts of London we have never been to before on the promise of a good car boot sale... and holy crapola it was insane.. it was in Wimbledon, where the tennis is played, and as we approached the gates we were walking past people coming out arms full with goodies, so we paid or 50p entrance and crossed over into junk heaven, and I'm not joking when i say that within the first 30 seconds i had spotted something i wanted, and another 30 seconds later, after paying with all the loose change in my pocket, 77p, i walked away with a battered and bruised and totally falling apart board game, i just wanted it for the front image as its really nice, i know nobody else would have even looked at it but it spoke to me.and amazingly for something that is obviously old,and has definitely not been much loved or cherished, all the contents of the game were there.. I'm sure the man who sold it to me laughed and called me an idiot under his breath, but i don't care...i love it.
and on i went, me and David don't even walk around together because whilst i like crap, he likes nice things, preferably without a scratch, i think the more scratches it has the better.. or is that just me ? and the next thing that caught my eye was this lovely old jigsaw, again its the packaging that had me at hello, not sure ill ever make the actual thing but i know the box will look quite lovely in my bathroom..and the guy who sold me this had many more just like this, but the illustrations just didn't scream to me the same as this one,... so on i went and then i honestly think i found the mother load of treasures that ill give you a sneak peek of now, because believe me it deserves a post all of its own, lets just say its from the 1800's, was practically falling apart, and has made me smile every time i looked through it since, i just now need to work out how i can use it to its maximum impact, both in a financial way because i do intend on selling parts of it on, and in a creative way that i just have to try, because it deserves it... here is a little double page teaser.. and this is not even the best of it, it is bursting with the most incredible intricate illustrations and text, pages upon pages of them, and guess how much it cost... well i got it, and a bunch of other books and things for the massive sum of 50p.. bargain of the century.. I'm so going back next Saturday, weather permitting, to see what else i can get... i love other peoples rubbish..if you know what i mean...ill post pictures this week of some of the other things i got.

i made more cushions

so I'm on a bit of a cushion ride at the moment and its not one i want to get off just yet. so many techniques and ideas can be applied to this square shape, like patterns and textures, be they printed or constructed, they are my current favorite end result for the textile crafts I'm enjoying making.and these newest ones are extra special because they are made from clothes that i designed and printed and made as part of my graduate collection from fashion college in 1998, and i knew it was time to give them a new life. the gold foil printed text really catches the light and shimmers and the mix of wool fabrics creates a nice contrast in textures, they are totally unique and quite unrepeatable. I'm not one for recreating the exact same of anything.and they are in my little shop now..

so last week before i ventured home for a few days i went to view an exhibition that my friend gemma from lazy oaf put on all about drawing, it was to launch their new collection and they invited anyone and everyone to come and have a doodle. and so i did. horribly the photograph of my doodle is rubbish so ill have to share that another time but look at these ones to see the creations that occurred when you let strangers doodle all over your walls.my favorite of the night was by an artist called gemma correll, i would really like this on the wall above my bed,its just so lovely.and i also really liked how the lazy oaf team bought cheap frames and sprayed them a whole range of pastel colours, it looked excellent.the exhibition certainly put a smile on my mush and my doodle which was a spur of the moment idea really sparked off an idea i intend on exploring further...watch this space.