Christmassy stuff!

Well the lurgy has attacked our house! So only a short post from me this week.  I managed a couple of crafty endeavours.  Here is a little experiment I have been working on.  I have illustrated a couple of books in the past and I thought I would have a go at trying to make them 3d!  Here is the start of Pip and Pigley.  I used this lovely air dry clay from Woodware, it is so light and dries easily within 24 hours.

I made little wire bodies and bulked out with clay.  Then I started to paper mache with kitchen roll scraps.  So far I'm quite pleased! 

Here is a family portrait I did last year.  The littlest is Pigley (my youngest) and the older girl is Pip (my oldest)  Hopefully you can begin to see how they are forming in my models!  My big plan is to create a little model of everyone in our little family!

I also got myself in gear to put up my alternative Christmas decs!  I decided that the youngest is still far too little to not try to pull a tree down so I created a swag instead!  Nowhere to put presents but looks so pretty!

I am so fussy about my tree/swag!  I love baubles which reflect or refract the light so there are lots of whites, translucent baubles and glass shapes!

I have also managed a little bit of silversmithing!  My degree was in metalwork and jewellery but in all honesty I haven't really done much in the past ....erm  too many..years! It was so nice to work with the silver again.  Sorry the photo isn't that good.  It is a domed hammered square with a blue bead.  They look much better in reality!

Well better get on with piles of work and trying not to drown in my stinky cold!

Hope you are all well and getting in full swing for Christmas.  Oh and don't forget to pop by handmade harbour.

xxx

December's Crafty What Nots revealed!

I just can't believe how quickly Christmas is coming! November was so hectic. I thoughti would share the latest Crafty What Nots with you. 

Here is the box opened up! December's box contained 24 6x6" Christmas papers, 3 Bazille Basics green 6x6" card stock, materials and tutorial to make a Christmas bauble garland, clay hanging decorations and origami gift boxes. As usual lots of embellishments, card blanks and sticky stuff, pearlised card and to top it off a personalised scrapbook in a tin and a handmade card.

Here is a close up of the scrapbook in a tin. It is a 5x5" tin which I decorated with one of this months papers, a heart doily and beautiful blossoms and buttons also found in this months box. 

Inside, the tin it comes with folded white paper which fold into 10 pages. I then trimmed down coordinating papers and rounded the corners. I also cut out some journalling shapes so all that's needed now are some festive photos and a few memories! 

Here is the little Christmas card I made for each box. Again using buttons found in the box. This was also the same as the enclosed card blanks!

Here's a sample of the hanging decoration kit and the origami box kit

I also popped in some inspiration for other makes, one of these cards has a chippie bauble from the bauble garland kit!

Here is a pyramid card idea too!

Well I hope you have a wonderful week! Of you would like to order January's Crafty What Nots box the deadline is the 15th December. The theme will be Noir Chic! A bit of sophistication for the new year! Pop over to www.Jennysis.com to find out more, read reviews or even get hold of some of the past box contents!! 

I'm off to the fab handmade harbour to see what everyone else has been up to, hope you can pop along too! 

Xx

Bell heart tutorial

Well with the Decembers Crafty What Nots all ready to go out I thought I would share with you one of last months crafty tutorial to make this really cute bell heart!  I really love the little bells and they make such a lovely sounds!

To make this you will need 1m thin wire (the sort you can cut with scissors) 11 bells, 11-12 crystal beads and ribbon.

Step 1 - fold your wire in half and thread a bell so it sits in the bend.  I laid all my beads and bells out first so I had heavier, bigger beads at the bottom of my heart.

Step 2 - Twist the wire close to the bell for about 1cm.

Step 3 - Thread a bead on to one of the ends.  Sit it about 2cm away from the end of the twist you just made.

Step 4 - Twist the wire close to the bead...

...and then twist for 1cm like before.

Step 5 - Continue threading beads and bells until you have 6 bells and 5 beads on the same end.  Now you need to start threading the other end working back from the middle (why?? well if you just started from one end and kept going you may not have a symmetrical heart, by working from the centre you are always keeping it symmetrical and if you run out of space you can make sure that each end is the same!) Here is my string of beads and bells.

Step 6 - Straighten out your wire a little so all the bells are sticking out on the same side.

Step 7 - Twist the two ends together and finish with a bead or by just folding the wire over.

Step 8 - Attach your ribbon.  You should now have a circle of beads and bells!

Step 9 - Shape your circle into a heart!  I then moved some of the bells so they looked a little more random.

I used a packet of Krafty Christmas bells which are available in gold or silver.

I also had a go at making a mini wreath with bells, buttons and beads!

Do you like making little Christmas decorations?  What have you made so far this year???   I seem to have been Christmas craft crazy while planning the Crafty What Nots!  If you don't already know what a Crafty What Nots is then why not pop by here, There are some really lovely reviews and photos showing you the contents of the last two boxes!

I thought I would leave you with this little pic I snapped yesterday, we were so lucky to see such a stunning sunset and it was pure fluke that I managed to get this bird in full flight!

Have a lovely week one and all! Hope to see you at Handmade Harbour.

xxx

Craftea Afternoons ~ Festive Pyramid cards!

Well what a busy week!  I have been busy getting ready for this months Craftea Afternoon workshop.  This month we are making Pyramid cards with a festive twist!  Each card contains a secret compartment to fill with sweats and goodies (I forgot to take a picture of this part tho!!!! typical!)

Here are a couple of my samples!  The arms velcro together in order to keep the card standing.  The wonderful thing about these cards is that you can fold them flat to post (great if you aren't including sweets! unless you flatten them too!)

These are the lovely cards made by my very clever ladies!  Aren't they beautiful!  So much creativity!

If you would like to have a go at making a standard pyramid card then here is one of my tutorials.

Sorry it's so short today! Hope you are all well and had a creative week!  I shall be popping by Handmade Harbour as usual to see what some fellow bloggers have been up to so please do pop by and say hi!

Crafty What Nots ~ Winter Wonderland!

Well I can finally reveal November gorgeous box!  Can you tell I like this one?  This months theme was Winter Wonderland and focussed around the beautiful papers  called Guilded Winter from first editions.  Here is a look inside the box.

Inside were 16 sheets of beautiful guilded or double sided papers, gold ink pad, Krafty Christmas snowflake stamps, ribbon, 20 bells, die cut snowflakes, doilies, cream buttons, snowflake embellishmnets, wooden tree embellishments, wire, twine, numbered discs, gold mirror card, gold tissue paper, cream card and some 5x5" cream card blanks with envelopes and a couple of pegs! Oh and two handmade gifts, a hanging heart and a decorated peg as well as a little personal card.

I had lots of fun making samples for the inspirations sheet!  Here is this months inspirations sheet.

The tutorials this month were to make a treat pouch advent calendar and a bell heart! There were so many other things that could have been made however and it is so great to see what people have been up to! 

As you can imagine I have bell heart and advent treat pouches all round the house already! (shame for them to go to waste after I had made them as samples!)   

I have been quite busy this week where I have found time!  I have been painting more story stones for a present (I can show you as she knows all about it!) 

Do you know where these characters are from???

I was also lucky enough to have pictures of my work in the letters page of Simply Handmade magazine, unfortunately they wrote completely the wrong Twitter account down from the one I sent the pictures from, But hey ho!  I was pleased!  I will be doing a tutorial for the really lovely surprise card you can see int he lower right (it is a card... honest!)  I was really please with these pieces as I only used their free stamps and white card! (Oh and a little ribbon and buttons!) All the colour and pattern was created using the stamps!

So what have you all been up to?  Have you got a busy week planned?

Off to visit Handmade harbour now so do pop by to say hi!  There are always such lovely blogs there!

xxx

What on earth can you do with a paper doily?

The last few weeks have been full on filling 'Crafty What Nots' orders for November as well as getting stock ready for an upcoming craft fair.  This months 'Crafty What Nots' theme was Winter Wonderland and sooooo beautiful!  I loved everything inside this one and I do so hope those who ordered loved theirs too.  I daren't post any photos yet in case people haven't received them yet (delivery over a weekend) but I will soon!

One of the items in the box however were a little pack of paper doilies.  I was desperate to use these since I bought them and they looked so fab in the box, but when it came down to it I couldn't think of anything to make with them!  

First I discovered if I cut out the centre of my little doily and then wrapped the pretty edge around itself I could create this really cute rose.  I bound wire around the base so I could make it stand up.

Then of course I had to try making snowflakes!  They were a bit fiddly but looked so sweet in the end!  Not sure what I would do with them mind maybe stick them on the window or hang them with fishing line?

Lastly I tried this little bauble.  Thought I would share with you how I made it.

Step 1 - I used about 8 doilies.  I started by folding each one in half so that the holes all matched up and they were all exactly the same.

Step 2 - I stuck double sided tape onto one half (avoiding the holes like in the picture)  and carefully lined up another doily and placed it on top.

Step 3 - I repeated the last step with all my doilies.  Like this!

Step 4 - I took a little string cord, I cut a piece about 30cm long and then tied the ends together in a knot

Step 5 - add another bit of doublesided tape as you had done before, this time you need to add an extra bit of tape to cover all the folds.  Stick the string to this bit so the knot is just sticking out of the bottom (this will hopefully stop it pulling out)

Step 6 - Open the doilies out so that you can stick the top of the top doily to the bottom of the bottom doily.  And Hooray! Hopefully you will have a bauble!  I think these would look great with glittered edges!

If you would like to buy these little paper doilies or the string cord then do pop by www.jennysis.com.

Well I hope you have had a wonderful week!

Off to Handmade Harbour now so maybe see you there! 

xxx

Crafty Coasters

I hope you have all had a lovely week!  Normally I am so desperate to get my blog done for Sunday but there just didn't seem to be time this Sunday..We had been exploring yet another National Trust property, This time Kingston Lacey, A firm favourite and one we often visit.  This time we got to show a lovely friend round.  My youngest thoroughly enjoyed finding all these little hidden doors!!

I have been busy preparing the Winter Wonderland Crafty What Nots.... looking totally gorgeous so far!  I have also been making some coasters and hanging hearts ready for an upcoming craft fair.  I have also prepared a few tutorials, but these are for the Crafty What Nots so I'm afraid you will have to wait for those.

I thought I would leave you with some piccies of my coasters.  I really love them and although they take a little time to make (mainly varnish drying time) I think they are really effective.  What do you think?  I have recently become a stockist of Country Love Crafts and they have so many wonderful things.  These coasters were my first experiment!

Hope you have had a creative week!  I'm off to say hi at Handmade Harbour as usual although I feel a bit like the late girl this week!

xxx