Scarefest and Stash Crafts

On Sunday, Sis and I went to Alton Towers, a huge theme park and had an amazing day. The weather was a little cold, but we laughed so hard that the tears ran down our faces. We went on all the big rides and screamed our heads off – a little fear is good for the soul after all!

I’ve managed to get a few moments to squeeze some creative projects in recently. I used a length of ribbon to create this beautiful headband.

I was going to use it as part of a tribal headpiece and it still might become part of a costume, but I also wanted to be able to wear it everyday if I wanted to, so I backed the ribbon with some black lining fabric using Sergei, and attached a tie at either end.

I took a quick break from Lana’s hoodie to make this red Meret for a friends birthday.

I love the way the centre comes together in a star pattern! My friend really loved it; I gave it to her yesterday when we all met up for a birthday lunch. I used two shades of red dk held together and the dappled colour is lovely.

Of course when I started the hat, I couldn’t find any stitch markers. There’s probably loads around the house, but I have no idea where they are! I’m sure they’ll turn up! So what do you do when you can’t find any? You make some of course! These took about 5 minutes to do and involved wrapping wire round a piece of dowelling. They worked really well, so they’re now in my new stitch marker stash. 

It’s amazing how necessity is the mother of invention eh?  Another quick project came about because I was trying to knit and read in bed at the same time. I realised I needed a page holder and I knew that I had some woven tape ribbon in my stash that would be just the right width and length. I have a downstairs page holder but that one’s used regularly, so I decided I needed an upstairs one too.

I whipped this up today in about an hour and embellished it with a printed picture of my avatar, some felt and a couple of sequins. It’s filled with rice and is weighty enough to hold pages down, but not heavy enough to be a pain when I have my hands full!

And here is an ongoing WIP. I found this little tribal chouli and I’m busy embellishing it with shells and sequins.

I’m on half term this week, I’d like to say I’m enjoying a well earned break, but I’ve been up at the same time each day getting my car MOT’d, meeting friends and having blood tests, stuff like that. I’ve been trying to do some work, but the college appears to be doing maintenance on the system, so I can’t access the network (and my files) from home. I spent an hour trying to log on and ended up painting my nails instead! Shame the flash takes out alot of the colour; they’re a deep peacock blue, with bright pink glitter and iridescent sequins!

I have nothing planned for tomorrow though, so I’m going to have a couple of hours in bed with my knitting and a book! My book holder will get some proper use then although I have used it today to hold down text book pages that I’ve been working from. Hope you’re enjoying your week! 

It’s beginning to feel alot like Christmas….

After finishing my Sealife Swap goodies I made a start on Lana’s poncho hoodie. Lana’s a Craftster friends daughter and she has a whole wardrobe full of handmade clothes and toys courtesy of Craftster members. This is the start of the poncho. I based it on the adult one I made for TintedShadow except I went down a couple of mm’s in hook size. I’m using a 4mm hook and DK yarn. It’s quite a good stash busting exercise which is a bonus!

Speaking of stash busting, I don’t know about you but I always keep greetings cards and I always have a massive pile of Christmas cards thanks to students. I reuse the best ones to make new cards with. I had a mass card making session the other day and here are some of the fruits of my labour.

I discovered that some texture plates that I had for using with Fimo also make wonderful embossing plates and so some of the cards have fancy embossed backgrounds.

It’s also a great way of using those short lengths of ribbon that aren’t long enough for anything else.

Are you ready for Christmas yet? x

Up, up and away!

This week has been really exciting for me! Last Sunday I had a flying lesson! M had bought me a lesson as a birthday gift last year, it was a special birthday and I wanted an Experience, something I’d remember and although it’s been almost a year, I finally got around to having my Experience. I took my entourage with me just like a Diva, M came with me, my mum, bruv and sis, M’s mum, M’s mate C, and my mate G with her kids! There were 11 of us all together! Do you think that’s too much? *lol* I flew in a small light aircraft, 2 seater, the pilot took off and landed and I flew the plane for the rest of the flight! I FLEW the plane!!! Wow!

It was absolutely amazing!!!!  The weather was kind of cloudy when we took off and a little bumpy, but we climbed up to be above the clouds and that decreased the turbulence and bathed us in glorious sunshine! It was so beautiful and serene, with the sunlight glinting off the tops of the clouds; it was quite a shock when the pilot said we were flying at over 100 miles an hour!

I stupidly handed my bag to my mum to hold when I strapped into the seat and didn’t get it back from her before I took off so I didn’t have my camera with me, just my mobile phone which was in my pocket. I didn’t have much time for taking photos anyway, what with flying the thing ‘n’ all, but I did get a few quick shots in when the pilot took over to land.

We flew all over the county and burned through a few clouds which was fantastic and such a surreal experience. You fly into whiteness and it totally encompasses you, it’s quite disorientating, like being in the worst pea-souper you can imagine! You could be flying upside down for all you know, it’s quite bizarre. I tried to see my house but it’s totally unrecognisable at an altitude of 5000 miles in the air. The pilot asked if I’d flown before – I said no but I was a dab hand at Nintendo! The pilot had given me a briefing before we took off so I knew how the flaps and stuff worked but I was unprepared for just how sensitive the controls were! It made me nervous feeling that responsibility, like a second lapse in concentration could have us crashing to the earth. Of course, that was never going to happen. I felt totally safe. I knew that the pilot would never let us fall! I would do it all again in a heart beat!

I was up in the air for about three quarters of an hour; the best forty five minutes I can remember! I didn’t stop grinning for days! I would love to take my pilots licence! *Sigh* one day maybe!

I’m hoping my entourage managed to get some good shots…I have these photos, my certificate and some fantastic memories…I have some photos and videos promised to me, but I have yet to see them! I’ll pass on any I get

Bourton and Butterflies

Last week I found this great vintage warehouse, Trashy Flowers, with tons of stuff at very cheap prices and one of the things I bought was this bright green corduroy jacket which apart from a tiny stain on the back, was in lovely condition. I decided to cover the stain using a patch I got in the Hippy Swap last year from the lovely Holistic Knitter. I finally found the perfect project for it. The jacket perfectly matched the colour of the Ohm, the other little stains were covered with the use of some sequins and beads which I built up to create little flowers.

The jacket twinkles in the light now; I can’t wait to try it out!

I also raided my bead stash to create this sweet loveheart necklace. I got the beads in the bead fair at Towcester earlier in the year and I just haven’t had the time to play with them. I love the result though.

Should have made this back in February, it’s the perfect piece for Valentines Day isn’t it?

The main reason that I’d busted the bead stash out was to create a gift for my Mum for her birthday. Mum loves butterflies and I had this handmade fimo pendent from the same bead fair as the heart from above.

I also found some beautiful little cloisonné butterflies which matched the colour scheme perfectly.

and I made her a necklace and matching bracelet from memory wire.

We took her to Bourton-on-the-Water for the day. It’s a picturesque little village in the Cotswolds which has rivers running through the streets and a fantastic crystal shop.

We had a drink in one of the pubs along the river, followed by a stroll along the streets, stocking up on crystals in the crystal shop. Then we had a cream tea (freshly baked warm scones, butter, jam, clotted cream and a pot of tea) in one of the tea shops (mine didn’t have cream because I don’t eat dairy; the home-made strawberry jam was lovely though!)

Having finished my Sealife Swap gifts and my birthday gifts, I made a start on Lana’s poncho hoodie. Lana is the young daughter of Atsuko, a Craftster friend, I agreed to make Lana a miniature version of the one I made for TintedShadow and in return Atsuko is making me some steampunk jewellery – how lucky am I?

Speaking of lucky, I finally managed to book my Birthday treat from last year…I have a flying lesson booked on Sunday…hurray! In the immortal words of Ace Rimmer (Red Dwarf fans know who I’m talking about here), “Smoke me a kipper; I’ll be back for breakfast.” I’m so excited!

Anyway, tiredness is overcoming me. My Mondays and Tuesdays are very long days this year, which see me start teaching my first lesson at 8.30am, and finish at 6pm. On a Tuesday night I also have yoga class in the evening and it wouldn’t be the first time that I’d nearly fallen asleep during the meditation section!

 

Rip Rip Hurray!

Saturday night my town was treated to a pyrotechnic extravaganza of fireworks, music, projection and performance by the World Famous, a travelling company which has toured round the world. As far as I know, ours was the only performance done here in the UK. What a treat eh? The display was set up in a circular arena, with the fireworks, projections etc, all set up round the edge, so you had a 360 degree view. We went down with my friend and her sons and after a long wait, finally made it into the arena.

This photo’s purely for Javede – me wearing the rainbow beanie she sent me for the IYP Swap! Look how preeetty it is!

There were projections onto a central screen, with very loud music (I was wearing earplugs *lol*) and a compere treating us all to a monologue about taking risks, and finishing with a strip tease! She was on a very high podium surrounded by fireworks as she got down to the bare necessities so young eyes didn’t get the full Monty! There were also living statues decorated with burning sparklers and the burning of the wicker men. Then came the fireworks! A surround sound, surround view, ceiling of light and colour!

What an amazing night!

Yesterday was the send out date for the Sea life Swap so I packaged up my box of goodies for Seamlessgem. I finished the Ocean Wave wrap; my first attempt at the ripple stitch, and though I had to frog it a couple of times, I finally figured it out!

It’s wide enough and long enough to drape over my shoulders and I’ve only seen one photo of my partner and she seems pretty much my size, so hopefully it’ll be a good fit for her too!

I also made a fishy pin from copper wire to secure the wrap when she’s wearing it. It looked alot more like a fish when I created it, but it kinda looked a little squished after I hammered it to anneal the metal and make it less pliable. It looks like a whale now, so I guess it’s more of a whale wrap pin!

I had an oyster shell which I cleaned up and drilled a hanging hole into. Then I glued white glass globs, little mirrors, shimmering shreds of gift packing material and a copper sheet fish motif to create a kind of hanging shrine.

 

Then I painted a light bulb with an underwater scene, which I didn’t get a good picture of before I sent it, and a candle burner/trinket dish

I also made an octopus brooch from felt, with little glistening beaded bubbles…

And I finished off the shell pendent I made by stringing it onto a ribbon necklace with some antiqued beads. 

I really hope that Gem likes everything. I would have liked to have made more for her, but time has just been zipping along at a fair old pace this month and my new teaching roles have really cut into my precious crafting time!