dandelion dreamer

Burn's Supper, Screen Printing Napkins and Belstead Bezzies

2012-01-27T10:28:00.000Z

Burns Supper at Sally and Andy's....

I was born in Scotland and lived there till I was twelve and we always had haggis with neeps and tatties. Amazingly, I have never hosted a Burn's Supper but Sally and Andy do it so well I daren't!

I do get asked to 'do the ode' and my broad Scottish accent comes out. 'Fair far your honest sonsie face, great chieftan o' the puddin race.....'

I love this bit..... 'an cut ye up wi' ready sleight!' and plunge the knife into it!

It was a really atmospheric evening and the food was superb. We started with cock a leekie soup and then the haggis. They served clapshot with the haggis....a mix of mashed swede and mashed potato and gravy for the sassenachs!! We finished off with Tipsy Laird and then a selection of Scottish cheeses and my home made oatcakes

I have just got back from Belstead where I had three days away with The Bezzies! This was our last meeting at Belstead as it is to close at the end of the year but I have six more visits to go....four of them teaching scrapbooking. It truly is Heaven on Earth...I do hope we can save it from demise!

I made jelly baby bag bunting at Barbara's suggestion, for my mum's 90th birthday at the end of February so I'll blog it then when it is up. It really was great way to use up the huge pile of jelly baby bags I have held onto!

I thought it would be fun to screen print some napkins for the occasion so here they are drying out after Grace helped me to print them

I have showed the process before but here is a quick reminder....cut out the design carefully using a fine tipped craft knife or scissors...remember to keep the centres of numbers and letters.....

Here, the paper stencil has been laid onto the first napkin and the centres of the numbers and letters added. The silk screen has been masked off around the design

Add the printing ink along the top.....

and then flood the screen with the ink...

and press hard on the second pull!

Grace really enjoyed doing this....and then finally

we added gold dots to the the crown and left them to dry covering every surface in the studio!

The best news of all is to hear that my cousin Ena is going to ocme over for the family paprty to celebrate mum's 90th birthday at the end of February...I am SO excited. The whole family will be together and this will be the first time in 45 years that my four cousins and I will be together. I can imagine we'll be sitting chatting into the wee small hours and catching up with all the gossip!

'The Fallen Angel Restaurant'

2012-01-05T22:03:00.001Z

I decided to have a bit of fun today as the girls were coming over for supper and I wanted to make it special for them. Hope is nearly 9 and Grace just 7. Well, we all need a bit of pampering at times don't we? First job was to make an invitation and ask them to dress for the oocasion

next job was to make a sign for the door

then it was time to do the menu. A choice of starter, then pigs in blankets and cheesy jacket potatoes....mmmm...

When my own children were small, I used to make little sponge puddings in glass dishes with jam at the bottom, so they were on the menu too, and fruit to follow

The table was set, the candles lit, and the food nearly all prepared.

When the girls arrived looking AB FAB they were knocked out. Both of them were so thrilled it was worth the effort!

Hope and Grace both chose the crudites to start while Tony and I enjoyed the king prawn cocktail

After dinner, the girls went into the lounge and rehearsed a dance for us to go and watch. A perfect ending.....

Now what I really must do is get on with designing new cards but my throat is burning and my voice rapidly getting croakier and croakier. Oh dear.....hot honey, lemon and whiskey I think!

Vintage goodies!

2012-01-04T11:16:00.002Z

Oh how I love little visits to the charity shop. Today's was a much needed one as I'd taken the girl's money box contents to the post office to invest in savings certificates and I had to re-bag all the money in little envelopes. Hard work! Worse still, I needed to get more out from my saving account and could I remember my pin? Nope. Grrr why do we have to have so many pins and passwords to remember. No wonder people keep money under the mattress!

Anyway....here is my reward :)

I LOVE all things vintage, particularly sewing equipment. The wooden darning mushroom has been well used. I can just imagine someone years ago, sitting by the fire, quietly darning socks and listening to the radio. I wonder what was on? Reminds me of 'The Clitheroe Kid' mum and I used to listen to as she sat knitting. That brings back another memory....the 'fairies dancing' on the back of the chimney...my friend called the same thing 'soldiers marching' as the soot burnt off the blackened wall.

I can even take up a little surgery now....although the silk is not sterile it can soon be boiled up and used!

I so love all the old wooden reels and the lovely old labels.

and this is for Marg. It is my colourful quilt, made with hand dyed old cotton sheeting....(what else?)and a variation of her lovely quilts!

2012-01-02T12:02:00.005Z

Tra la!!!! I'm off to a flying start today and been very industrious making up 50 of these to send out to accounts inviting them to our stand at the NEC in February.

I folded up an order form and tucked it into each card along with the invitation. (Ever hopeful!)

I've been playing with Blogger buttons too and added a few bits and pieces here. I pledged I would try and get to grips with Blogger this year and I have made a start. I have also managed to get rid of the adverts on here too. I hope you like the new look

Now I'm off to look at tiles for the shower......

This is what Tony has been faced with over Christmas!! What he thought was water getting behind the tiles from the shower turned out to be the shower leaking behind the plasterboard. Oh dear. He has stripped out all the board and now waiting for it to dry before re-doing it.

Next job.....cook a gluten free vegan curry for tonight! Ha...will blog it if it works well

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T23:39:00.001Z

Little me. A doodle I did a couple of years ago....

Well, it is the first day of a wonderful New Year. A new chance to make a fresh start, to feel energised, be creative and make a success of my little card making business. It is nearly midnight as I write this....family life has taken my day but that is how I like it. Everything else has to slot around it and fill in all the little gaps in my day.

It was fun playing on the computer yesterday with Hope. Here is her Gluten Flea! The background is one of my wax and watercolour resist papers

I made a good start to the New Year by walking round by the barn at a good speed....something I've not done for a few weeks as it has been so dark and dreary. I plan to make myself do that every day now. No excuses! All the chocolates have gone, I've finished the stollen, we've eaten all the cheese.....all that remains in my fridge are a few healthy vegetables, a couple of ancient yogurts, far too much bacon, a tub of quark. WHY? There is something too healthy about the stuff. I buy it with great expectations of making something incredibly delicious but I never get much further than getting the lid off! The texture is offputting. Am I missing something here? Can you make anything tasty with it? We'll see.....

I am in for a busy time in the next few weeks as I have taken a stand at the Spring Fair at the NEC in Birmingham to show my card range and I plan to have 12 new designs by then. First step is to turn on my creativity and then get ready to roll. I am going to hand embellish this range of cards and need to get thinking and playing, playing, playing until I get it right. I guess I need a phrase for this year.....something like keep on trying, don't give up, you CAN do it! Believe in yourself, the sky is the limit.....be kind to yourself
Anyway, what I do plan to do this year is get to grips with blogger. I love this little space where I can share what I've been up to. It's like a diary I can add photos to. It is fun taking a peek into other people's lives too...there are so many creative people out there. I also hope to get a bit fitter and to make more time for friends. Last year I was on a rollercoaster as I tried to get my business up and running. This year, I am giving it one big push at the trade fair in February and then I'm hoping to sell my cards online too. It all takes time and energy and I am going to have them both in abundance!!!

I wish all my creative friends a truly wonderful year, filled with happiness, fun and laughter. May 2012 be a truly great year!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-30T23:40:00.000Z

I LOVE this picture, taken after lunch on Christmas day as we all set off, with the two dogs, around by the barn. My mum who will be 90 very soon, managed to walk all the way too, with Hope on one side and Gareth on the other. When we got back, it was getting dark....just right to set fire to the pudding and force yet more food down!

It has been very busy here for the past few weeks...we all love getting ready for the big day and I wanted to share some of the preparations.....

After the children saw the crackers I made, they decided they wanted to make some too. Here is Grace, ruching up crepe paper on my very old Elna with its gathering foot, which works brilliantly on crepe paper...

I liked Hope's technique of slinging the paper over her shoulder to keep it out of the way! Here, she is making the ruffles for both ends of the crackers by sewing down the centre of the crepe

Here is the result. A set of 8 to be enjoyed on Christmas morning. How many others had breakfast crackers I wonder?!!

Here is Nanno's cracker expertly made by Grace!

I love the preparations on Christmas Eve. Claire, mum and both the girl s came over and we played Christmas music full blast. Hope was in charge of the brussels sprouts....and still has 10 fingers!

and Grace was busy peeling the carrots and developed a brilliant technique. The peelings were draped over the the taps, on the floor...EVERYWHERE by the time she'd finished, but Rosie helped out with all the stray bits that ended up on the floor!

I did have several crafty bits I have been making....but the computer has hidden the pictures. Bother!

I shall add them another day. I have made a really naff little bowl and covered two more diaries

One more thing....two people in our family have a gluten free diet and I was annoyed to pay £2.50 for a gluten free loaf only to find it to look like THIS when I opened it.....

What a con! Holey, dry and crumbly

Anyway, it made me start to make gluten free bread and I am so impressed with the result I wanted to share it here but again...where is the picture of my fabby creation? Yep....with those others I have lost. Ah well. You can't win then all!

2012 Covered Diary

2011-12-22T14:15:00.004Z

Diary or Book Cover…

A quick and easy method!

Please excuse the awful picture by the way...I could not get a picture without reflection on the photos. Bother. It looks better in real life!

First of all, make the base fabric. This year, I am not going to use paper fabric as it is fragile and needs to be covered with tulle for protection. Instead, I have come up with this idea. It does need some drying time but hopefully you can get on with another project or get the dinner cooking while you wait!

Choose fabric large enough to wrap around your diary. I’m using hand dyed and printed fabric but pretty commercial material is fine. It is a good idea to use avoid white or light fabrics as the diary will get grubby in your handbag during the year! Well…..mine does!! Choose material that will compliment your photos too.

Lay the fabric onto polythene and paint it with a watered down PVA solution. Leave somewhere warm to dry flat. (Once dry, the material can be cut without it fraying.)
Iron a sheet of Bondaweb onto the reverse of the fabric. Peel off the backing and then iron it onto Pelmet Vilene, to bond the two together, making sure you use a silicone sheet to protect your iron.
Wrap the cover around the diary to find the exact size required. Make sure the diary is CLOSED first or it will not be large enough! I use a rotary cutter and mat to cut it accurately to size

Laminate some tiny photos…your family, pets, craft work. I have used little pictures of my card designs 3” x 2” and smaller
Add any appliqué you want and the year too, if you are making a diary cover. First of all, work out where the photos are going to be placed and avoid having them over the spine!

For appliqué, iron Bondaweb (Wunder-under) to the back of it. Draw the shapes on the paper backing and then cut out and peel off the backing. Iron the shape onto the front of the cover making sure to use silicone paper over it to protect your iron and iron it to hold it in place securely. Machine-sew around the shape. I like to use black thread and a straight stitch with the feed dogs down and with a free machine embroidery foot. I sewed around the photos first and then added the flowers.

When you have finished the appique, zig zag around the outside of the cover to prevent it from fraying.

Add beads and hand stitching at this stage. I Added vintage buttons and seed beads

I use hot glue to attach the cover. I never make my covers removable as they get worn out and grubby and you wouldn't have the fun of making a new one next year!

I like to glue the front on first, lining up the front edges of the cover and the diary. Turn over and repeat. I always sit on it for a couple of minutes to make sure it is well and truly stuck down!!!

Idea....

I love covering little books and diaries and Claire gave me a couple of free tall slim diaries I have yet to cover. One of them will be used to record meals I cook for friends so I don't give them the same thing next time they come round!

Think about pictures of friends and food for the cover.This is my homework and I'll post when they are done. Oh so many things I want to do and so little time. I shall be busy working on new designs for my card business after Christmas so won't have time to play!

Christmas Crackers and a trio of pheasants!

2011-12-20T13:49:00.002Z

Here is my next Christmas project...I haven't made crackers for well over 10 years but I still have lots of crepe papers, liners, card and snaps and the all important formers so I decided the only way to get Moshi Monsters into them was to make them myself.

I took photos as I went so you can give it a go yourself

Lay the crepe paper, liner and card as shown and push the snap under the card....

Lay the two formers on as above if you are left handed like me! If not, you would feel happier with the long former on the left...you will see why in the next pic...

Roll up the papers and card and run a tiny amount of glue along the edge. Roll the cracker up and press hard on the edge until it has stuck

Now for the clever bit.....Attach a piece of string under your work top. I used a little metal screw with an eye. Tony was most horrified at drilling my worktop but hey! It won't be seen and you can unscrew it when you are not cracker making!! Pick up the cracker with your non-dominant hand, pull the shorter former out about 10cm and wrap the string around the gap and PULL! Hey presto...it is starting to look like a cracker

You can remove the short former now!

It is a good idea to tie a little ribbon around to hold the goodies in place. You do not need to do this if you glue metallic paper over the crepe. It holds the crimp perfectly but I was in a hurry!

Now it is time to add the goodies! Hold the cracker in you non dominant hand. Pull out the long former until it is just past the card liner and pop the gift, hat, motto, balloon, paprty popper etc into the barrel. Keep the cracker vertical for this part!

Pull the former out a further 10cm and crimp as you did the first end

Yes...I know the former looks a bit blue

I realise that I used it for indigo dyeing cloth many years ago and put it away dirty. Someone is going to get a very stained hat and balloon and BLUE lips!!!! LOL

and this is what they look like unless you decorate your papers before you begin as I used to do MANY years ago!

I like to crimp up crepe paper for the decorations and have a wizzy gathering foot on my sewing machine. I cut the zig zag crepe paper and the sew along the edge and BINGO!!....

all you have to do is cut short lengths of it and glue in place like flowers.... and add more around the ends to cover the non-matching ribbon. Ha ha!!

and finally, glue on decorations. I have used my old scraps (do you remember their WONDERFUL smell?) but you can use photos of children then they know which is their cracker. You could also add tiny springs of ivy, tinsel, ribbons...ANYTHING! the main thing is to have fun and then sit back and feel most proud of yourself!

And finally.........

I was standing at my sink this morning, washing the dishes as you do, and I could not believe my eyes!! These three guys were sitting on the fence, perfectly spaced!!

Yes REALLY!!!! We are not talking Photoshop here!

Happy Christmas to you

Gingerbread house, hearts and MEN!

2011-12-19T21:27:00.001Z

How I LOVE Christmas and all the preparations and build up. Having grandchildren is wonderful as I can re-live the fun that we had with Claire and Gareth a LONG TIME AGO!

I cheated this time and bought the gingerbread house parts from Ikea. Assembling it was a nightmare but icing is good for glueing broken bits together. For Hope and Grace the best bit was buying all the sweets needed to decorate it and we got stuck in. I had icing bag failure which caused chaos but finally it was finished, just in time to share with their friend Chloe, who is back here from Singapore for a couple of weeks!

It is still fun to make the REAL stuff so here are a few shapes Grace cut out before they were baked.....

Grace is only just 7 but really enjoyed playingg with the icing....

and here is Hope's little man. She got bored very quickly and spent the rest of the time licking her icing bag which popped!

Clean up is Hope's favourite part

Grace was on a roll....squiggling icing on all the shapes.... including the little iced biscuits she was eating at the time!!

She even decided this armless old lady was worth decorating....

Her piece de resistance was this heart. LOVE it! I'm so pleased she enjoyed using the piping bag...the saddest part for me was the pain in my thumbs after I had decorated one gingerbread lady:(

Right...now I am off to make CRACKERS for Christmas day! Whoooopppeeeee!

Marshmallow Bouquet and the Heart Shaped Nut!

2011-12-13T20:25:00.001Z

My little granddaughter Hope came over to ask me something and I showed her the picture I had taken of the wonderful heart shaped walnut in a shell she gave me the night before. I was so thrilled when she gave it to me. I love that she notices the little details and that she knows how much I adore hearts. I photographed it on my paper fabric background and decided it would be totally FAB as a Valentine card…I’m nuts about you! I shall re-photograph it properly

Anyway, she saw an opened bag of marshmallows on my windowsill and asked if she could have one. I said “No! I want to dip them in chocolate first” I said, so that is what we did.

Hope rang homeand asked if she could stay and then Grace ran across to play too. We started by melting milk chocolate in the microwave. We melted dark and white chocolate too. We pushed ALL the marshmallows onto barbeque sticks and then I found some oasis blocks and soaked them in water so we could stand our sticks in them to let our marshmallows dry.

I showed the girls how to swirl the mallow in the chocolate and our first attempt was pretty disastrous!!! FAR too much chocolate stayed on it and when we stood it up it all dripped off!! We decided on a better method. Here it is, from the top, in case we ever want to do it again or if you want to give it a go:

· Push barbeque sticks in mashmallows and set aside

· Break up the chocolate into a glass bowl. Microwave it to melt on a medium setting. Stir every 30 seconds or so. We melted white, milk and dark chocolate.

· Soak oasis in water or find something else to stick your barbeque sticks into. Maybe half a grapefruit or a potato?

· Swirl the mallows into the chocolate. Press the end on the mallow against the side of the bowl and swirl gently to remove the excess chocolate. Do the same with the side of the mallow too

· Now for the fun! We worked in pairs, one person twirled the mallow stick while the other one sprinkled on sugary goodies.

We used citrus flavoured sugar strands, blue and green sugar crystals, and best of all…tiny silver stars. TIP: Use a plate to catch all the runaway sprinkles so they can be put back into the jar. Have a clean plate for each variety.

· We piped some of ours with dark chocolate. You can make a piping bag from silicone paper folded into a cone shape. Fill the cone with the melted chocolate and then snip a teeny-weeny bit off the end and drizzle it all over the chocolate covered mallow. You can be very creative here and write names or draw heart, stars and other tiny designs too. Work quickly as the chocolate sets quickly!

· Finally, set the mallows aside to set and then make them up into a bouquet for a very special friend. It is a good idea to keep them in a lump of oasis and tie them up with cellophane and a pretty bow. I photographed our finished arrangement and then added a few words to the picture in Picasa and printed it out as a gift card.

I took our bouquet round to Lynda’s the next day and she was thrilled! She adores mallows.

This was the girls favourite part. Clean up time!

Hardly any washing up required!!

Belstead....Book of Me

2011-11-29T09:28:00.002Z

Hello again! I've missed blogland so much but got totally fed up with the bother I was having uploading pictures. I think I have now cracked it. These pictureswere in a Picasa web album and they appeared here instantly so I might be back on a roll with all the stuff I want to shere here.

I am just back from a weekend teaching at Belstead, the World's Ultimate Retreat and my favourite place to be. It is so lovely being surrounded by like minded souls and to share so much laughter and ideas. This class was oversubscribed and I had a second one four weeks ago. Already, both courses for next year are completly full but there are to be extra ones on

27th-29th March 2012 and 12th-14th October 2012

Book quickly..there are only 12 places on each

Post: Belstead House
Sprites Lane
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP8 3NA

Telephone: 01473 686321

Fax: 01473 686664

Email: belstead.house@suffolk.gov.uk

I LOVE upcycling all sorts of things and here is the basis for one of the mini books we made. These are Belstead House loo rools. They are very small and have nasty glue lines around them but.....

stick them through the embossulator and ta da! They take on a new life.

We painted them white and then rubbed them with gold and other colours to highlight the embossed design, and make them into mini books and made tags to slide into each one

Below are little books made by two of my students

Now I have cracked the photo up-loading thing I shall put a tutorial on here. In the meantime, start saving loo rools/kitchen rolls ...you will need about 8. I'll be back soon with newfound enthusiasm!!

Blogtoberfest Day 7... Thoughts on Girlfriends

2011-10-07T10:51:00.002+01:00

I am teaching scrapbooking at Belstead House at the end of this month and again in November. The subject this time is a Book of Me (or You). It got me thinking it would be fun to make a little book of girlfriends and I have been having thoughts on girlfriends and what they mean to me.....

My girlfriends know a different me. A fun-loving, carefree me who has a huge capacity for fun and laughter. People who are able to bring out the best in me and my happy, carefree, bubbly side. Girlfriends are the crack cocaine and the ecstasy in life with all the fun but none of the side effects, simply love and laughter.

Bring them on! I am truly blessed having such wonderful girlfriends in my life.

I am enjoying the blogtoberfest Challenge but have given up trying to get pictures here for the time being. I MUST be doing something wrong!!!!!

Blogtoberfest days 5 and 6

2011-10-06T20:39:00.000+01:00

Well I give up. I have been struggling with adding pictures to blogger for some time now but tonight I have not managed to get the stupid thing to work at all. How irritating.

I had a wonderful order for 500 cards to be hand embellished using irridescent glitter. Well....I can tell you that is quite a feat! My dear friend Di offered to come and help me yesterday and I cleared all the worktops in the kitchen and we got going. I took lots of pictures which show the entire kitchen filled with cards, all having to lie out to dry for several hours. I'm just sorry I am not able to share them tonight. I used glitter glue but OH was it gloopy?!!! It was a nightmare to use and behaved like snot....all stretchy and irritating! Di loved the effect and felt that it really lifted the designs. I do hope thay sell well but I'm not sure I would want to be doing it manually again. It is called flittering in the trade....usually done on litho print runs but I am just having digital runs at the moment...perhaps it is the time to change? Bring on a few BIG orders and I can.

Anyway, now I realise that I am still short of two designs but I'm expecting a consignment of cards tomorrow so I'll be having to do battle with the gloopy stuff once again. Argh!!

Finally, today some good news. Four orders from my agent in the South East. Great stuff. Now I just need 8 more agents for the rest of the place and I'll be sorted.

Oh I do wish I could sort out this picture problem!!!!!!

Blogtoberfest Day 3 and 4!

2011-10-04T23:28:00.003+01:00

Rosie really enjoyed our family celebration on Sunday when Hope escaped from hospital for a few hours.The girls decided she needed to dress up for the occasion!

This picture should be at the end....Ho hum!

It is the lunch I had in Woodbridge at the little cafe near the tidemill. Perfect!

Hope was given this wonderful crochet kit in hospital but I had to learn how to do it first before I can teach her. It was great fun but I'm not so sure that Hope will agree. I can see Grace winning this...

gosh, these pictures are out of order. I seem to have lost all control over blogger at the moment. Nothing seems to behave itself! This is sunset in Bandol where we spent a few days in the South of France last week on Dave and Eve's boat. Bliss! I just LOVE those colours

Yesterday, Rita and I had lunch with Barbara in her gorgeous little SHED! it was blissful. Another gloriously hot day with lots of fun and laughter

and this morning, Barbara and I had a quick stamping playtime before I left and went off on a sales trip to Felixtowe, Woodbridge, Hadleigh and Lavenham with not a lot of success. The shops are saving themselves for Christmas stock. Grrrr!

Tomorrow I shall be spending the day adding irridescent glitter to 500 cards. Dreading it!

To join in the fun at Blogtoberfest, pop over here!

http://tinniegirl.blogspot.com/

Blogtoberfest Day 2

2011-10-02T22:29:00.002+01:00

Well now, now...I simply CANNOT turn this doodle heart the right way round!!

Today, our little grand daughter Hope came home from hospital for a few hours of normality to join us for a family barbeque and to celebrate out Ruby Wedding! I can't tell you how lovely it was to see her quietly doodling this heart. It started off with a funny head on the right hand side and it ended up all being incorporated into her design.

Hope loved seeing her puppy and it was so lovely to see her enjoying being home for a little while. Here in England, the sun is shining and it is HOT! Just like it was 40 years ago when Tony and I got married and I wore a long sleeved wedding dress and thought it was not the thing to be wearing on such a hot day!

I'm sorry I have not returned visits to you yet. Thank you for your lovely comments and kind words. I am still catching up with my business. I need to order more cards (good sign...people are coming back for more!) and I need to get ready for a couple of days selling. I am going to Felixtowe for a couple of days to catch up with friends and chase a few more orders.

If you want to join in the fun at Blogtoberfest pop over here...http://tinniegirl.blogspot.com/

Blogtoberfest Day 1

2011-10-01T23:09:00.000+01:00

I’m really excited about joining in the fun this year. I have never been involved before but I do love having a challenge…. ‘Thing A Day’ every February makes me spring into action and so I am hoping to get the same buzz from joining in here and meeting new online friends

What I do want to share is the fact that it is my 40^th wedding anniversary in the morning and so I have been making a card for Tony. I love to use my sewing machine and black thread like ink to add details. The background is a painted paper I made using wax and watercolour resist. The doily came from our local charity shop.

I have filled the card with tiny red sequin stars which will fly out when he opens it! Oh dear…..

Unfortunately, we are not able to celebrate our big event as our little eight year old grand daughter is ill in hospital. Circumstances beyond our control delayed her admission and resulted in an emergency situation arising. Maybe, as a result, I shall be able to write a few words of wisdom to share to prevent a similar thing happening to you and someone you love. Life is so very precious and fragile...

It is very late as I write this so I shall not be blog hopping tonight! If you want to join in the fun, simply join up at http://tinniegirl.blogspot.com/

Breakfast Club: Memory wire bracelet, pearly necklace, newts and stuff

2011-09-20T21:00:00.000+01:00

It was Breakfast Club day today. The girls were here at 7.15am for a quick breakfast then it was time to play!

I taught Grace how to make a memory wire bracelet. It is a PERFECT project to do with young children! You can buy the memory wire in bulk....see below....my computer refused to upload the pictures in the correct order so scroll down for more info

I use large flat boxes lined with beading mat to keep everything coralled!

Meanwhile, Hope chose to make an elegant pearly necklace. I bought beading wire yesterday and the pearly heart. I'm slowly accumulating more and more to make jewellery. The girls LOVE it!

Even Claire designed and made a fabulous button necklace. I shall have to get it from her and take a picture to share.

Hope loved choosing matching pearly beads for her neclace......

Oh....this seems a bit random....my hallway with boxes of cards waiting for the rest of the designs to complete the orders before they can be sent out. I've been working on the ALL DAY! Some of the boxes have moved to a new 'complete' area to be sealed and sent off tomorrow.

Back to the Memory Wire Bracelet:

The coil of wire is the cheapest way to buy this product. It has 50 coils in it. Ideally, you need three coils to make a bracelet. Memory wire is available in ring size too, making it perfect for wine glass tags

You should use memory wire cutters are the wire is very hard and will blunt your cutters (I don't actually care as mine came from a cheap shop!!!! Ha Ha)

This would be a GREAT thing to do at a children's party. All you would have to do is prepare the loops in the ends of the wires first and then let the children have fun sliding lots of beads on!

Use a pair of round nosed pliers to make a little loop in one end of the wire, making sure you turn the wire outwards, not inwards as it could scratch the wearer's arm if not. This is to hold all the beads on, as you work. You can buy endcaps if you prefer.
Start threading the wire with little beads, flower beads, curved beads, made especially for bracelet making....anything you fancy.You could make your own Fimo beads or cut up old necklaces and jewellery from a junk shop
When the coil of wire is filled with beads, make a loop in the end in the same way as the first end.
Add a little bead that says 'hand made' to make it more special

We love to go to Wandlebury woods at this time of year although it is even better once the leaves are falling off the trees. We haven't been for a while so I was surprised to find they have added three huge blackboards to an area in the car park. There is no shortage of chalk....the ground is full of it!!

And finally.....I showed this big gold fish bowl a few months ago that was filled with tadpoles after Hope requested we have tadpoles on the kitchen windowsill. )(tony quickly moved it outside!!) Later I showed it again when we released froglets. Well, image my delight to find we have also bred baby newts too! Isn't she gorgeous?

I'm back!

2011-09-18T12:31:00.000+01:00

Now I know why I'd given up blogging...I still can't upload pictures from Picasa by email and it was so easy! Ah well, it has made me find how to upload from web albums instead.

Here is the stand I had at Top Drawer. It was TINY!"!! 3m x 1m but I did get a good few orders AND an agent for the South East so I am very happy. I'm waiting for my print run to arrive then I can fill all the boxes with cards and send them off.....

We were out walking Rosie and Claire's puppy Tizzy one Sunday morning and I stumbled on a tree root and ricked my ankle. Yowch!! Anyway...I bruise very easily so I decided to just lie there with my foot in the air while Tony went to get the car. I thought I'd share this view of my foot up a tree for 20 minutes! It worked. No bruise at all althouh it does still swell where I tore some part!

I LOVE being a granny and having Hope and Grace round for Breakfast Club or for supper and play. Grace was on her own here last week so I taught her how to make a button necklace using narrow ribbon. It is really good fun and very easy....a great craft to do with children of all ages.

I can't show her face, but this is the necklace, designed and made by 6 year old Grace.

Method

Lay out the beads on a tray in the order you want them to appear. (Grace's was a symetrical design using some of the buttons Harriet gave me last year. LOVE them.) She started with a large button in the centre and then chose buttons to go either side.
The necklace is double sided and occasionally will roll when it is worn so it is worth paying attention to the buttons underneath. Grace chose red buttons for the back and laid them out in the same way
Take some very narrow satin ribbon and thread it with a needle that has an eye big enough to take the ribbon and small enough to go through the eye of the buttons. Cut it about 3 times longer than the length of the necklace you want to make
Thread in and out of the centre button from the back, pulling it to the centre of the ribbon. Here, the button has two holes. If it has four holes, go back through the other two. We decided it looks better to have the ribbon going through all the holes! (Trial and error) It is a good idea to make the middle buttons slightly larger and heavier than the others so the necklace hangs better
Next, take an 'underneath' button from the left side of the button collection and repeat, pulling the ribbon tight as you go. You can turn it so it fits back to back with the first button.
Continue threading a top then a bottom button until you reach the end
Re-thread the other end of the ribbon and sew the other side of the necklace in the same way.
Tie a tiny knot to secure the buttons in place on either end. The necklace can be tied around your neck, or, if you are clever, you can use jewellery findings to secure both ends. Tra-la...job done!

I went to the Hatfield bead fair a couple of weeks ago with Liz and Helen and was temped to buy some glorious beads! I was so thrilled to be shown how to add the findings at both ends to make them look professional. This is the first of three necklaces I made in the morning

My necklace collection. The stars in the centre necklace are lovley big ceramic beads. I'm not so keen on the rt hand necklace but the beauty is that I can cut it up and start again.

LOVE it. It is such fun to find a new 'play'!

That is all for now. i'm exhausted at having spent so long trying to get the pictures on here and re-size them. It used to be such a simple job but I guess uploading from web albums is actually a better method? We'll see

I've really missed recording my day to day life....blogging is such a great way of keeping a record and keeping in touch with so many talented people. I'm off to see what you have all been up to!

A picture at last!!

2011-07-17T10:16:00.000+01:00

Aha!!!!! I have found a new way to add pictures so maybe after my night in Aldeburgh I shall be able to blog-a-dog a bit. I simply dont understand why I can no longer email pictures to Blogger from Picasa. It was so easy.

Anyway....at lease I can share this lovely sunset. I hope to have time in the next few days to visit bloggy friends!

Picture-less blog!

2011-07-16T15:51:00.001+01:00

Gosh….it is nearly a month since I was last here. I have been on a bit of a bloggy-holiday…well that is my excuse for not visiting any blogland friends for weeks. Sorry! Now I'm here I find that I can't upload any photos and so rather than get annoyed I'm going to do a picture-less blog!

I have taken lots of pictures over the last few weeks and so much has happened so this is going to be a quick potted history lest I forget. My blog is a kind of photographic diary that I can look back on when I’m OLD!!

First things first. Claire and Phils’ puppy Tizzie is a total delight although Rosie might not agree and has bared her teeth to the wee might on many occasions! It reminds me just how much hard work puppies are and what a huge commitment. Rosie is not eight yet so hopefully she will be with us for a good few years before we have to go through the puppy training nightmare again!

I have spent the last few weeks out on the road to get orders for my cards. I had one day in the Surrey area, where I lived from the age of three, and drove about 240 miles for just ONE small order. I took a photo of my old home but I hardly recognised it, but then I have changed a lot in the 51 years since I left!

The following week I had a similar trip to Kenilworth, Warwick, Stratford with no luck at all and then suddenly, this week, success!!!!! Six new accounts (PHEW!!) and my confidence has been restored. I really need to allow myself the luxury of designing and now I have had a good week, I can. I’m so looking forward to sitting down in my studio and playing. I shall make gorgeous backgrounds, dye fabrics, snip and chop all sorts of things as I create a lovely new range of cards for the ‘Top Drawer’ show in London, later this year. I need to spend time creating a few special Christmas designs too…pretty hard when the sun is baking hot and the garden calling!

The Ladies Group in Histon had a trip to Childerly Hall gardens which as wonderful. It was a perfectly still night….just right for getting lovely reflections on the water. It really must be a super venue for a wedding. They held a Red Cross ball there recently too. Although we have lived in the area for over 40 years I have never been there before. Shame I can't upload any pictures!!

There was a fab sunset too I wanted to share but words simply wouldn't do it justice. It just shows how much I rely on my camera and how much fun it is to take and share photos especially since we no longer have to worry about getting film proccesed and printed.

I hope to be back ASAP and that Blogger will allw me the pleasure of uploading phots!

celebrate

2011-06-19T23:14:00.000+01:00

Today I am taking part in my very first ever blog hop event, organised by Sandie. Her title is ‘Celebration’ which suits me just fine as I have to work on a series of special wedding anniversary cards for the big events. Here is the starting point for my card for a pearl wedding anniversary, very much in its infancy. I like the background but it is the wrong colour. I had hoped to get it stitched before posting it but the DEADLINE is one minute past midnight tonight so here goes. Do join in the blog hop if you like by following the link here or checking out Sandie’s blog for details. The letter here is T

A second naff attempt! I am going to paint some Bondaweb in blues and attack the design again in the morning. you will see it eventually

There is so much more to celebrate right now so my whole post this time is about celebration. Tony told me a week ago he had found two spotted orchids in the field next to our house and he took me to see them. I decided to go off a see if I could find a THIRD but instead I found a single, solitary bee orchid. How cool is that? It is incredible to think that 15-20 years ago it was arable land and now it is a haven for the local wildlife, deer, two kestrels, rabbits, foxes and an incredible number of birds including green woodpeckers. We stumbled across their beautiful, dumb offspring the other day and watched as it fluttered about trying to get out of our way. How I hope it survives!

My solitary bee orchid.

I jusy had to photgraph the loostrife too....just LOVE that colour!

I love working in my studio and watching the sun setting over the field. Tonight, there was a beautiful kiss in the sky so I grabbed the camera to capture it.

A few minutes later I looked out of the window again and my kiss had become a shark diving into the deep blue (or is it an aeropane?) Wow!!! No Photoshop touch up here…just Nature at her very best!

I have a few more things to celebrate too. It is nearly a year since I gave up nursing through extreme stress. I slowly grew my little card making business and then recently had my very first trade fair in London, having had them all printed. Today, Tony spent all day fitting out our little front bedroom with Ikea shelving to store all the packs of cards before I send them off to the shops. He is truly a STAR, especially as he survived the trip to Ikea yesterday (his worst favourite place in the WHOLE WORLD!!!!). They do not deliver CD towers and I wanted 6 of them. More of that another day once the shelves are full and I have something to photograph.

We’ve also been celebrating the arrival of a new cocker spaniel puppy for Claire, Phil, Hope and Grace. She is called Tizzy and she is simply divine. I think she is going to give them a huge amount of pleasure.

Here, Tizzy is meeting Rosie and I can tell you she was not impressed! Rosie would have loved to play. I just hope they become really good friends.

I could find all sorts of other things to celebrate but I shan’t as I shall never get to bed if I don’t stop. Thanks for dropping by……now get celebrating all the little things in your life too. M x

Now hop over to Deb.... www.debs14.blogspot.com

At Quarry Bank Mill with Louise Gardiner

2011-06-09T11:36:00.000+01:00

Oh what a blissful three days I have had away at Quarry Bank Mill with the wonderful Louise Gardiner. I LOVED her creative enthusiam and on the first day she had us all mark making to music and then we were blindfolded and had to draw what was put in our hands. Fun!

Later we drew each other without looking at what we were drawing. That is difficult. Fianally, we were set free on our machines to create what we had drawn. Well.....my drawing was such rubbish I altered it somewhat but hung onto the quirkiness which was the whole point of the piece.

Here it is, unfinished, but I am quite pleased with it. It is worked on canvas

There were 14 of us on the course and we all produced completely different faces. Here is the line up. Unfortunately there is no flash so the pictures all look very wrinkled

Here is a close up of my work as I started to paint in the eyes...

and the body

The course ran from 10-4.30 each day which left a LONG evening to fill and so I went along to a quilt meeting where the speaker talked very knowledgebly about kimonos and was really entertaining too.

I could not believe my eyes when this trolley appeared laden with cakes....so cake for supper it was....3 big pieces. Yummy! When I asked if they always had this much cake after meetings I was told 'only when we have a speaker' and that does not happen often, so it was my lucky night!

I arrived home at 8 last night to a pile of mail...as you do, but can you imagine my total DELIGHT when i opened this package and out tumbled all these gorgeous goodies form Sue. Just look at that tube that her hand made beads are packed in...a humble paper towel roll cunningly printed and made into a pillow package. How clever is that? and those beads....all hand made, and 4 dyed quill stalks from feathers. very clever indeed....!

But that was not all. There were these lovely cards and delicious pieces of fabric and coffee filter all dyed with blackberries. Oh I am going to really, really enjoy playing with this lot but first, I must get my business back on track. I have had dozens of emails to open and the printers to chase. Aaaaarrrrgh!

Girl in a sweet shop

2011-06-05T06:14:00.000+01:00

My favourite place to be...in my studio surrounded by COLOUR glorious colour and old hand dyed lace, muslins, piles of dyed OCS, ribbons, buttons, beads and sequins and STUFF!

I have packed my machine away now as I'm off to Quarry Bank Mill for a few glorious days of machine stitching!!!!!

You know I reported how disappointed I was with the rusty fabric on the wheelbarrow? Well....I went back with a BIG bottle of vinegar and water, turned the barrow over, rearranged the fabric inside it this time and saturated the OCS with the solution and.....

I am delighted to report that FINALLY I got what I wanted...a nice rusty old, cruddy old result. GREAT! It is now in the stash waiting for that special moment when only a piece of rusty old stuff will do. I will share the moment when it happens. I have left the handles wrapped. As you can see they are still white. Useless!!!!! Maybe some bad weather will help.

One of the greatest pleasures of having a dog is walking in the country, camera in my pocket 'just in case' and capturing nature's colourful creations.....

I haven't had time to look up what this tiny beauty is but that COLOUR. Knockout!

I couldn't blog without giving a froglett update. I was SO excited to see two little ones inching their way up the glass. The one on the right had his arm right over the the one on the left who had more tail so is not quite as mature. He seemed to be saying 'come on...you can make it!' I grabbed my camera to capture the amazing moment but his arm had slipped off and he was on his way up the glass. Hope told me that he made it to the top and she watched him bounce away.

Grace set 7 free yesterday and Hope set another 3 free.I've now lost count of the total froglett production line!

I'm thrilled that both girls are sharing in the fun. I need someone to take over looking after the pond when I die! It is a natural clay pond in the filed by our house. I think we should put in a liner so that it never dries out again but I would need a working party for that.

My cards arrived from the printers on Friday so we have been frantically folding, stuffing envelopes and cello bagging them for the oders at PG Live. I NEED OUTWORKERS!!!! Must sort it out when I get back. See you again on Thursday when I hope to have plenty of excitement to share.

Creativity or productivity?

2011-06-01T20:44:00.004+01:00

I was given this beautiful piece of work on my birthday, years ago by a second cousin when I went to visit in Canada. It is so beautiful but belive it or not.....

it is simply French knots tightly stitched onto an old facecloth. I love the way the stitches have distorted the edge of the work and the colour story that Hannah has chosen to use. This has been lying in my studio for many years and I wanted to share it here. Hannah used to make them with the old folk she worked with. Money was tight but there were always old facecloths which could be upcycled in a colourful way. It is a delightful combination of creative productivity simply filling in the gaps with whatever came to hand.

Today I have been thinking about my need to make, and do, and be busy and to work with colour. It is a real need but there are times in life when creativity does not come easily, and maybe not at all for a few weeks or months even. I have been intensely creative this year producing over 80 card designs and working towards the trade show I went to last week. It has been so satisfying having a wonderful reason to be creative..it is such fun to be playing in order to earn a living. At times it has felt as if I have been flying effortlessly on a glorious creative cloud.

Now the show is over, I've been processing invoices, ordering envelopes, cello bags and sourcing bits and pieces. I am not feeling at all creative but not in a bad way. I simply do not have the need to make anything beautiful at the moment.What I do still need to do is be productive and I've noticed that that need rarely goes. I think it is worth trapping that producivity, harnessing it and using it for future projects and that is the stage I am at right now. Hence me and the rusty old fabric on the wheelbarrow. I have no idea when I might use it, but use it I will at some point. In the same way, I sometimes paint a pile of canvases in a variety of ways and different colours .Nothing complicated, simply productive, but how lovely it is to be able to pick up a canvas when one of those glorious 'aha' moments strike and you grab one and create a masterpiece.

All the creative people I know have highs and lows, it is what makes us who we are. What we all share is the understanding of the frustration that can accompany that feeling, but I am slowly learning to overcome it and find ways of dealing with it. Being part of blogland has opened up a whole new world of friends. People who are driven by the same insatiable need as me to constantly be learning something new, to experiment and try out new things. Rarely does my brain leave me to rest peacefully enough to read a book!

I am so touched by the lovely comments people leave here when they visit. It is wonderful when someone spares to time to stop and read and let me know they've been here. Thank you.

Now I want to share a few bits of fun....

Hope and Grace came back form a few days in the Cotswolds and Hope came for supper and prepared the plates for the starter (below somewhere!) I only asked her to bung some lettuce on each plate and she produced works of art! After supper, Hope decided to make an 'anti mole hill' potion for Lindsey whose garden is filled with molehills.

Her recipe is a follows:

Plety of plucked grass
A selection of petals...rose, peony, any old thing will do
some tiny 'fallen' apples for the tree, grated across the path first!
A selection of flowers heads from all around the garden
A BIG bowlful of salt

Stir well and then add several handfuls of soil to thicken. Serve up by pouring it down each mole hill until it spews over the top!

I had a superb picture here of it wizzing round in a colourful blur!!!!! GONE grrrr.

Hope and her starter plateful.

Blogger is being irritating and has just got rid of three pictures here and I can't be bothered to reload them but i did just want to add the froglett update:

As we sat eating dinner, one little froglett climbed almost to the top of the glass bowl before falling backwards into the water so we launched a rescue mission. 7 froglettos were picked up with a seive and released into the flower bed.

Total frogletts released: 12

PS I came across this wonderful competiton
here is my entry:

'What is in the bottle?'

It is filled with words of kindness, encouragement, love and laughter. It is bulging with words packed in so tightly. Once uncapped, the words pour out in a golden stream, wrapping themselves around you in a huge colourful blanket of love, conveying their power of renew and energy just when you need it. Then the blanket will whisk you away to a special place where harmony and happiness are restored within you. Bliss…if only I owned that little bottle or maybe it could be hired out in times of need.

What a delightful way to be distracted from work on a Thursday morning. Thank you! Moira

Rusty Update.....

2011-05-31T08:28:00.002+01:00

I just could not resist a peek at the wheelbarrow rusting progress and was I disappointed?

YES I WAS!!!!!

Not much signs of rust here...and the fabric had dried out under the black bin bag covering so off it came to let the lovely rain fall on it

The 'feet' looked interesting but I was not tempted to unwrap them yet....oooh I'm good!

Back at base....here is my 'rusty chicken' piece and it looks 'done' so out it comes.......

WOOF!!!! Result......!

and here is the piece underneath......naff!

The plastic bag was the biggest surprise of all...LOVE it! But it is so delicate and the rust scratches off it so I think I shall whip it onto the scanner and commit it to a few pixel thingys....and maybe print it out onto cloth....or maybe not!

This piece was a nice surprise too....maybe a few ripples in a beach or something...who knows? That is the fun of all this play...it will be there for when the 'aha' moment strikes...then i'll have to try and remember where I stored it!

Mmmmmmm.....messy.....Elaine's tin is looking even worse for wear now....but the rustier the better. I think that stupid wheelbarrow needs a bit more rough treatment to make it behave as well as these pieces!

My kind of washing....fluttering in the breeze, three luscious bits of rusty old fabric after I had neutralised the acid by putting them into a bicarb solution.

GREAT!

Now to get on with my work and get those invoices out.

I have just found out it is a year since I took Kelly Rae's course 'Take Flight' and I have!

Today's achievements so far:

I have an accoutancy package I am battling with and now I can raise a credit note and I have added my bank details to my invoices. This might sound nothing but to me it is a GIANT LEAP and I am proud of it!!!!! it is only 10.17am. What more can a girl learn in a day?

Froglett Update:

Last night, one little frogletto was teetering on the top edge of the gold fish bowl too terrified to slide down the outside....well....that is the way it looked.....so I helped him off and into the flower bed.

Total frogletts to date set free: 5