stonepicnicking_okapi

I am pushing hard to get to the finish line by the end of December!!

I like Advent calendars and advent calendar-themed challenges.

Fic

Two multi-fandom comms I am participating in this month which have daily prompts and an advent calendar type graphic are.

1. adventdrabbles. There is a tree. The prompts are images (with text descriptor).
2. fffc has a Winter Calendar of text prompts

To make it murder, I had Sherlock gifted an anonymous advent calendar. Those who know me can imagine who this is from and what dark things it might contain. This is for drabblezone prompt 426: see if I care.

Title: Arrival of an advent calendar
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Rating: Gen
Length: 300
Characters: John, Sherlock, Mrs. Hudson
Summary: Just prior to John's temporary absence from 221B, Sherlock receives an interesting anonymous gift.

( Read more... )



Crafting

Also inspired by a video on the Treasure Books Youtube channel, I made an advent calendar for bethctg. This is Super Secret Craft Project #2 and she's going through it now. I used one of Minor's old binders from school and covered it and trimmed it. I made most of the envelopes and some of the things inside (little notebooks, bookmarks, Xmas tags) but a lot of the things inside are stickers collected from various places and bought on etsy. There are big envelopes for the first day, the last day (Xmas day) and yesterday (Jin's birthday because my friend is Jin-biased). So the themes were Silver and Gold (Jin and Xmas), Mocha and Ink (chocolate/coffee and books) and I tried to include a representative of each of the four categories in each day.



Links

I haven't gotten very far but luvbarryfefe posted this and I like it. It's personal care (deep breaths, drink water, etc) or social (share a recipe) tasks to do every day of December. Advent of Joy.

https://adventofjoy.com/

( The list )

I made something called a flipbook for my sister for Xmas. It's kind of a two-sided picture album using photos of her own orchids. It hinges on both sides and the pages fold left-right-left-right. Here is the cover:



And the sides flip out like this:



And this is the base. I included a poem about orchids and some artwork and some book pages from a Nero Wolfe novel about orchids (which she gave me).



Honestly, I don't know if she'll appreciate it. I think she will. She has a kind of practical, literal side to her but she doesn't NEED anything. She buys what she wants when she wants it. But she's volunteered to be vice president of her orchid society (and no one wants to be president) so maybe it's something she can show off. I included some orchid stickers for her to give to her orchid pals.

My first attempt to make a junk journal was for Hobbit's birthday (aka Super Secret Craft Project #1). If you aren't familiar a junk journal is here is one definition:

A junk journal is a book made out of found and recycled materials. It is often handmade and can be used to collect and record memories, thoughts, ideas, and inspiration. The journal can be made out of different pages and ephemera, such as packaging, junk mail, paper scraps, book pages, music sheets, maps, illustrations, and ephemera. Rather than discarding meaningful objects from your day-to-day life, you give them a home in the journal.

If you want to see one, just search for 'Junk Journal flip through' on Youtube and you will get your fill!

I am much more inspired when I craft for other people than for myself. I first got the idea of making this journal when I went to look for some kind of fannish item to buy smallhobbit for her birthday related to one of her favorite fandoms: the dance productions of Sir Matthew Bourne (British choreographer). I couldn't find much so I decided to make a junk journal with a Matthew Bourne theme.

Every journal project is different and this one I had in mind: interaction. I wanted to provide Hobbit with as much interaction as possible. No writing space. This wasn't a journal she would write in (because frankly in our years of friendship I've never heard her talk about keeping a journal). One thing I need to improve is beadwork. I don't know much about how to add beads but I did my best with the tassel and the embellishments of the pages. One of the most fun parts of a very fun process is the trim of the pages so I was very excited to find creative ways to use ribbon, trim, stickers, and other things to decorate the page edges.



So I gutted a book and made 2 signatures (bundles of pages) and bound them into the cover. The first signature's theme was the Bourne version of Swan Lake and the second was the Bourne version of Carmen called "The Car Man."

Then I decorated the pages with many, many interactive elements. Flip ups, flip downs, flip out, envelopes. I also printed out two of Hobbit's ficlets and cut some of the words and pasted them on the pages. I ordered a used copy of Matthew Bourne: His Adventures in Dance and used that, too.

30 pages, 9 postcards, 17 tags.

So here are some examples from the Swan Lake signature.


This is an example of a flip out. You flip out the movable part. This includes Hobbit's ficlet as well as the cover of the Bourne book (the Swan of Swan Lake).


( Swan Lake )

The Car Man is inspired by Carmen as well as The Postman Always Rings Twice so for this signature I got to indulge a retro vibe and use black/white/red as the color themes as well as travel, gambling, and old movies ephemera. These are mostly pictures cut out from the Bourne book.



( The Car Man signature )

I think it's important to remember the person you're making it for and what the purpose of it is. That determines how you proceed.

And finally, the inner cover/ex libris postcard (removable). And the strip of ribbon across is called a 'belly band' in junk journal lingo.

I just finished this cross stitch. It's a gift for Minor for his birthday, which is this Sunday. He picked out the colors of the thread and the backing (orange!). It's the Sanskrit character for the sound OM, which is a holy sound in many religions, so it's kind of a blessing.

It's Craft Month, and appropriately, my cross-stitch gift has finally arrived at its destination. I began it before Xmas but quickly realized I wouldn't finish it to post as an Xmas gift so I finished it in January. FYI this pattern is from Cross-Stitch to Calm by Leah Lintz.

I'm going to post these questions. At first glance, they don't seem like my kind of questions, but we'll see.

Day One: What show or movie original cast would you like to see reunite for an update - where the intervening time has passed and we're getting a view of where they are now along with glimpses on how they got there?

I like Venom. I would like to see another Venom movie without any romance subplot, just Venom and Eddie solving mysteries and fighting interesting villains.

It's the first day of summer break for my kids so I am imposing a Craft Hour and/or a Game Hour (board games). Today we made a wooden shark. Ba-by, shark, doo-doo-do-doo!

It's Mother's Day in the US.

I have to say I prefer the UK term 'mothering day' because it recognizes that mothering is found in many different relationships beyond the strictly biological. But the US is not known for its nuanced holidays. :)

I usually take the week between my birthday and Mother's Day off and so I have. On light duty, I call it. I didn't do laundry or cook most days. I didn't do a lot of things. I worked on a puzzle (which isn't finished) Today's the last day of my week. I did not cook or go to soccer games or do anything I didn't want to do. I did work on my miniature garden porch. I am about 80% done. I wanted to finish completely today but it's almost dinnertime and that's not going to happen. But here it is.



I've got some more plants and vines that go along the roof area. My fingers are very sticky!

I have a cross-stitch pattern book of famous works of art and this is the first time in about 20 years I've done a cross-stitch to keep myself (not to give as a gift). This is Kandinsky's Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles.

Given my recent fine for spilling coffee on a library book, I am thinking having 27 teeny-tiny books in a coffee shop is a bad idea. But what do I know?

These aren't books with pages, just pieces of wood with paper covers.