Bodies and bling

My dress form finally arrived - hurray! She made it to me through the backlog of mail; I have decided to call her Chiana (a gold star to anyone who can tell me the relevance of that name *lol*) At the moment she's in the bedroom corner - M is a little creeped out by her though, so she may not stay there *lol* She needs some adjustment though because I'm not as sylph-like as Chiana, unfortunately!



Here is the Lariat style necklace I also made for my Mums Birthday. I really like it and I might have to make myself one! I keep saying that, but I just never seem to have the time!

To get a better idea of what it looks like when worn, here is Chiana modelling it!

Another thing that finally made it through the postal backlog was my Mighty Boosh DVD's! Hurray!! I'll be watching those this weekend!

I had also claimed Homerof2 for some artwork in the last round of OWS, so I drew her some chalk pastel flowers which are here in my 101 blog! Unfortunately there was no jewellery class this week as Mo couldn't make it, so I've not got any further on my pendant or ring. I did manage to get to yoga class though instead and have a list of the other classes that Mary does, so I'll be able to get back to a regular yoga class (it clashed with my jewellery class, but I've really been missing my yoga! I've been doing it at home, but it's not always the same!)

Paint me a picture

Or a picture frame at least! I have been quite busy lately with school and stuff and in my spare time I have been stocking up a little for Christmas. These Celtic Picture Frames are now available in my eBay shop and there will be more lovely glass to follow as soon as its all dried *lol*

As Mo forgot the borax this week at jewellery glass, I wasn't able to get the finishing touches to the solder on my heart pendant, so I started making a ring instead. This is made from copper with a random line design pressed into it. It was so easy to do I was shocked *lol* It will need soldering to finish it off, and I haven't decided whether to add a bit of enamelling as well. It's a nice wide ring, so it may not need anything else. The join where I pierced it is a little crooked, but hey, it was my first attempt at cutting a cylindrical shape rather than a flat one! I'll see what I think when it's soldered and polished. I also had a go at making jump rings. Again, they were so easy!

It was my Mums birthday on Thursday and one of the gifts I made her was this Tinkerbell painting. (Yeah, she likes Tinkerbell!) I haven't seen her to give her her gifts yet as she is away in Torquay with my Dad at a Rock n Roll Weekender (My folks, the party animals! *lol*) It's painted in gouache with a little sparkly fairy dust. I hope she likes it, Tinkerbell (the real one) has a bit of a weird shaped face (if you've ever looked at a piccy of her) and I had to play with it a little to get it looking okay. I've just got to find a frame for it now.

Invite your Partner Harry Potter Swap

Unbelievably for the Muggle post, Karan has received her parcel from me already!! I can finally post piccys of the things I have been crafting for the last month or so.

Firstly, every new student to Hogwarts has to have their Hogwarts letter:

A wand (made using the instructables tutorial):

And a witches/wizards hat; I used chunky wool so that it will stand up on it's own, or fold down for a more Muggle look:

A scarf in her House Colours (Ravenclaw); I made a corkscrew scarf in blues, with a fancy silver edging for those formal occasions when you want to sport your house colours.

A bespoke Pensieve; this was hard to photograph, but I think you can see it okay here. Here's the bottom, it has runes running round the outside:

And here it is viewed from above so that you can see the inside; I also sent enchanted crystals and candles so that it can be used for scrying:

Ravenclaw Goblets; they have the House emblem on one side and a star on the other to represent Kookaloo*Starr

The goblets have been fired so they can be used:

A set of Hogwarts coasters in a tin so that the House Elves don't get angry about cup rings in the dormitories:

And a Monster Book of Monsters; The cover is removable so that a new book can be put in when it is full!

I love this project and will definately be making one of my own *lol*

A Concise History of Hogwarts Altered Book:

An Owlery windowcling so that the owls know where to deliver the post (it just sticks to the window and looks like stained glass):

And so that Karan can join S.P.E.W. a couple of sets of House knitting needles and a crochet hook:

A bit of bling to wear to the Yule Ball (I made the diamond-y shaped beads from sparkley Fimo) :

Again, another little Starr motif:

And a keyring for when she comes home to the Muggle World:

I also sent some Muggle Wildflower seeds for Herbology classes but I didn't have a photo :-)

I had good fun making all this, and Karan says she likes it all, so it's been a good swap all round!

Scarves, stockings and Short n Sweet!

Window update, we are entering our third night of 'hole in the window temperature torture'. My Dad is arranging a glazier friend of his to come and replace the whole window with a fancy double-glazed one. The window is being constructed (I hope) as we speak. Well, not right now as it's night, but you get the idea. I hope it gets sorted soon, it's cold and noisy with a hole in the window, and the bubble-wrap crackles with every breath of wind.

Anyway, Simplyfussfree has received her scarf from me and says I can nick her photo as I stupidly forgot to take one before I posted it. It's in white yarn and alternates granny square patterns, with fringing. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. She wanted a single colour scarf, so I thought I'd make the patterning through contrasting granny square designs rather than the normal way through colour.



I must be crazy, I've started another Short n Sweet. I have this big cone of machine yarn which I bought at a car boot sale. It's a lovely deep magenta plied with a silver thread and the colour completely matches a Nomads batik wrap skirt I have. It's nice to be making something for me.

I'll be able to post it in Ravelry, which I have been spending far too much time on recently! I've already got 12 projects listed, and 12 queued!

I've also been doing some painting as the gift giving season is practically upon us and I need to get my shop stocked up ready. This is a teaser as I'm not quite finished this yet. It'll be a big Celtic picture frame.

I posted Karan's HPIYP swap package yesterday. I had to send it Standard Parcel so hopefully she'll get it within a couple of days. It's been soooo hard not posting any piccys, but I will post them all when she gets it! Fingers crossed.

I also received from Rosemary in the HPC Weasley Household object swap. A floo powder pincushion and doily, badges, an owl charm, a skein of Sugar and Cream in red, and a packet of HP trading cards which I've never seen before, but then I don't have kids, well, only a grown-up one. The S&C will come in handy, you can't get that stuff here, and I wanted to have a go at some dishcloths. The HP trading cards had a Severus Snape card in! :-) M said that he should have that card as he's a Slytherin.

I signed up for the Christmas Stocking Swap...I really couldn't resist. I've regularly make stockings and fill them for gifts, but I've never had one back, not since I was a child and my Mum used to put a stocking at the end of the bed, filled with small gifts for us to open Christmas morning. We weren't allowed downstairs until Mum and Dad were up, and the main gift giving came after breakfast. The stockings were designed to keep us happy and keep us busy in our rooms till breakfast. We used to get little games, mini colouring books and pencils, puzzles, satsumas, stuff like that, and when we got older, we'd get little bits of cheap jewellery, make-up, and crafty bits. Last year I made mini stockings for everyones tree gifts and filled them with home-roasted savoury herb mixed nuts. I love the Yule Season!

Oh yes *whispers* I succumbed, I bought a dress-form from eBay - *shuuuh* it hasn't arrived yet, I'm waiting excitedly! It was a bargain - luckily I've sold quite a bit in my shop recently and had money in my Paypal account!

WTF?

Look what happened this morning! Some bastard threw a rock through our bedroom window!!! 9 o'clock! I had just got out of bed as we were going to go to a car boot sale, and Mark was still finishing his morning coffee, when 'BOOM'. It sounded like an explosion.

Look at the size of this thing! Where it landed is right on my side of the bed. If I was still in bed it could have killed me!

Look, here's a penny next to it so you can see how big it is! And yes, that is an earwig next to the rock. There was also a snail that hitched a ride on that rock, but it seems to have done a dissappearing act. By the time we got to the window, there was no-one in sight. And all the glaziers want to charge £150+vat+materials to come out on a Sunday just to board your window up! Not even to reglaze it! You'd have to pay that on top. And wait in another day for them to come back.

We've patched it with a bit of bubble wrap for now and will have to get it sorted over the next couple of days. It took us about 3 hours to clean the bedroom up. We had to strip the bed and hoover everything peticulously, then sling it all through the washing machine. I really wanted to get new bedding, but we can't afford that at the moment. Replacing the window's going to stretch the finances as it is. And yes, we are insured, but you have to get the work done, then claim, then wait and answer all the stupid queries you get back from the insurers, it'll probably be a month or two before we get the money back. If we're lucky. Which we don't seem to be at the moment.

Life sucks.

Got my Ravelry Invite!

How weird is this? Tuesday night I'm lamenting the Ravelry wait, Wednesday night I get home from Jewellery class to find my Ravelry invite waiting for me in my e-mail box!! Wheeee! So now I'm a bonafide member of Ravelry under the name of Samsara (obviously!) I'm starting to add projects n stuff, it's definitely a WIP at the moment! If you're on there too, say Hi!

Just thought I'd update you on the jewellery WIP. I've now created my little hearts, soldered them, soldered them to the big heart and pickled it. I have to clean it and polish it, then I'm ready to cloisonne!

Waiting patiently for my Ravelry invite....

*Sigh* Ravelry.

Everyone is talking about it! I'm still waiting for my invite. When I put my e-mail address in a minute ago to check where I am in the queue, this is what I got...

Found you!
You signed up on July 17, 2007
You are #17895 on the list.
456 people are ahead of you in line.
17819 people are behind you in line.
48% of the list has been invited so far

On a more positive note, I think I may be finished with the HPIYP package for Karan. I packed the box up loosely last night and it's pretty full. There will need to be some more 'cushiony' packing and I may yet slip in a couple more teeny tiny items, but I'm pretty much there.

I've claimed Homerof2 for some artwork in the OWS 23 so I've got to decide what medium and subject I'm going to use. I'm quite tempted to sign up for the 'From my Stash' swap. I keep looking at it, I have loads of stash, and till we've got a few paydays under our belts, money is still quite tight. The sensible side of me tells me to craft for Christmas and the Christmas Fairs whilst the swap addict is egging me to sign up. If it wasn't for the International postage costs....Still, I've sold quite a few things in my eBay shop recently :-)

I posted Rosemary's Weasley Household Item swap package which was the 'Beauxbatons' cape from Fleur, these spider earrings from Ginny and the Weasley is our King badge from Ron. My partner wanted stuff to wear. Hope she likes it all.

Tomorrow is my mega day - I'll be teaching classes all day from 8.30am till 5.00pm. I then have an hour to bolt down some tea and head across town to Jewellery class from 6.00pm till 9.00pm. I have to get some lesson plans organised for tomorrow.

Tornado warning

Look what happened today - a tornado hit our town - just a mini one. This is one of the big old lime trees on the golf course by the centre where I work a couple of days a week. It was fully branched and huge and now is barely a half of its size. Most of its poor branches were lying on the floor of the car park. The greenkeepers spent most of the day clearing and chipping all the fallen branches.

My mirror of Erised....

The evil beast that is temptation is rearing it's ugly head. I really, really want an i-pod shuffle. Tescos keeps shoving them under my nose every time I go into the store, I've even gone as far as to compare the prices on eBay and Amazon. They are just so cute and tiny and come with a handy little clip to clip them onto your clothes, something my other mp3 players sorely lack. I'd love one in purple, but I will be happy with black or silver.

It's my birthday in a couple of months, maybe I should wait and drop a few hints. M's pretty good at getting me techno toys as gifts. He has kept me well supplied with laptops, games consoles; both hand-held and home consoles (I love Nintendo, though I don't have a Wii yet), tv's and dvd players (I even have a portable dvd player), mobile phones and cameras. He doesn't do the traditional girlie gifts; jewellery, perfume, lingerie, etc, although he did buy me a Harley Davidson bracelet one year which I guess he got because he was hanging out at the dealership regularly. It's on one of his bike 'burn' routes and he stops and has a coffee with whoever's hanging there.

A less techno temptation that I'm trying to resist at the moment is a dressform. *Sigh* I really want a dressform. I'm not particularly materialistic, but occasionally I get the urge for something.

These are what I would see in the Mirror of Erised. I think I will hint :-)

Back again!

Hello, hello! I'm back! I feel like I've been offline for AGES!!!... My ISP has been playing up and I've been offline since Tuesday night! It's been horrible! I have so much news ! Javede received my OTT (One Tiny Thing) - I made her a crocheted coin purse of her favourite colours with a butterfly bead at one end (she likes butterflies).

I also sewed a small zip in, which I'm quite proud of. I was amused that Javede and I both sent each other purses. Great minds think alike!

I had intended to add a long strap too, but decided against it at the last minute.

My first day back at school went fairly smoothly. I managed to regain my composure even though most of the timetables had changed between Friday and Wednesday and people were turning up left, right and centre that I hadn't got on my register! *lol* I had totally forgotten what it was like in that first month where all you got was blank looks when you spoke to the class. They lighten up once they start to get a grip on the language! I have loads of work for next week now!

Wednesday is going to be a busy day, I will be teaching from 8.30 through to 5.00 with an hour for lunch. I then have an hour to grab my packed 'dinner' and get across town to silver smithing class for 6.00. I have my small hearts cut, formed and soldered now. I'm just giving them the final file and sandpaper before the 'cloisonne' process. I'm really enjoying this class. I just love to learn and I'm learning every week. Oh yeah, I get to melt metal with a flame and cut it with a saw too. that's such good fun.

I did my first baby prints today too. Baby hand imprints in clay, and hand and footprints on pottery pieces. It never ceases to surprise me how wriggly babies are. I'm not a mum and I don't have friends with babies. The last baby I had anything to do with (my mates) just started secondary school! I normally work with adults and young adults. Still, it was an experience, and the baby in question was unbelievably good-natured and adorable. She didn't cry either which made all the difference. I find it difficult to tolerate babies screaming.

Saturday is Karan's Birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARAN!!! I wish you happiness, health and good fortune for the forthcoming year. You deserve it Hon!

I have an interview next week too. Wish me luck, it's not going to make me rich, but it may help to free me from a job I hate...

Crazy Week

Yep, it's been one crazy week - I've been working, been doing jewellery workshops, had staff meetings, been car booting, crafting and lesson planning. Term started this week and I have all my lessons grouped together this year, which means I have a couple of days where I'm not in school, though I'll probably be doing freelance stuff. I found out Friday that I have Foundation art for all their classes this year, and I've never actually taught that class before so I've been cramming and trying to get together a few lesson plans. It means that I teach from 8.30am till 5.00pm, and then go straight to silversmithing class for 6.00pm, till 9.00pm. I've just made up a packed lunch and tea for tomorrow. Wow, Wednesdays is going to be knackering!

I also never updated from last weeks smithing class. Here's some of the girls:

Unfortunately Mo who is taking the class has her back to me in these photos. She's the one in the black t-shirt. We have a good laugh :-)

Here's the design I'm currently working on. I'm going to be doing a cloisonne pendant, so I'm cutting out very thin strips of metal to make the mini hearts. Then I have to solder them on before I can enamel them.

That very fine strip you can see there was cut from a sheet of metal and is about 1mm wide. I also filed and sandpapered all the edges! There is about 3 weeks work on that pad there!

This is Fleurs Beauxbaton Cape I made for my swap partner in the Weasley Household object swap - I also have a couple of smaller projects to send off too! I love this pattern from the Happy Hooker - it's the first time I've made it and I think it looks great! It crocheted up like a dream!

I sent Simplyfussfrees crocheted granny scarf off on Monday, but I forgot to take a photo before I posted it! Arrggghhh! I hate it when I do that! I wish I had a photo, it was an all white scarf (white's not really my colour and it's just not practical for an art teacher *lol* ) but it took me quite a while and I was pleased with the result. Oh well, never mind. I'll see if I can nab a picture when she posts one in the swap gallery.