Pay it Forward 2012

Just a quicky from me today…

I originally posted this on my facebook page, but have a couple of spaces left, so thought I’d offer them here.  Doesn’t matter where in the world you are, feel free to join in xx

Pay it forward 2012. I promise to make something handmade for the first 5 people who comment. They must in turn post this and make something for the first five who comment on their status. *The rules are it must be handmade by you, and they must receive it before 2012 ends.

Not too difficult is it, so why not join in!

A bit of a hiccup

Just to show not everything goes according to plan, here’s a felt brooch that didn’t quite work:

I had wanted the Sizzix Petal Power die for some time, as I’ve seen some really nice things done with it.  This is definitely not one of them.  I don’t think it’s far away from looking okay, I just need to put it together differently.  On a positive note, I do love the colour.

To make me get off my butt and start sewing, I treated to myself to Sew What! Skirts by Francesca DenHartog and Carole Ann Camp.  I love that these don’t need a pattern, just your measurements.

On the subject of sewing, I still haven’t finished the stole I was going to make about 6 months ago.  To be honest, although I really like the fabric, I don’t think I like it for the stole.  I originally wanted a very lightweight wool, but our local fabric shop didn’t have any because it was summer.  The stuff I ended up getting is quite slippery and, although it’s a lovely colour, it’s just not right (are you picking up a theme here?).  I’m thinking about taking a trip through to Mandor’s in Glasgow one Sunday in the next couple of weeks – better set my budget before I go though, as it is a fabulous shop (or was the last time I was in, which is a few years ago).

Onwards and upwards…

Lisa xoxo

Fair Game

I’ve still been busily working away, making stuff for our stall at the forthcoming craft fair.  I’m really looking forward to it, but a bit disappointed we can’t take any jewellery with us, as there were already 2 jewellery stalls booked before us.  I’ve also been working on my website when I’ve had a spare few minutes  – it’s very basic at the moment, but it’s beginning to come together now (ok, typing that put a certain Beatles song in my head!).

Here are the brooches I’ve been working on:

I want to make some appliquéd cushions, and maybe a couple of evening bags, for the fair, but it is less than 3 weeks away, so hopefully I’ll have time.

My shorter circular needles arrived today, so I should be able to get a bit more of my Belle Ruffle Gloves done, although I have to pull some back, as I stupidly transferred my work onto 4 needles too early, instead of showing some patience and waiting for the new circular.  Grrrr, will I ever learn.

I also made a little brooch for myself, to go with my new coat.  The coat is much brighter red in real life, with black and blue print, so the brooch actually goes really well:

Thanks for looking.

Lisa xox

Mid Month Mutterings

I can’t believe we’re half way through January already, and I’ve still made very little.  I have started the Belle Ruffle wrist warmers, but have had to order a shorter circular needle, as mine was too long after I started decreasing.

I’ve also signed up to do another local craft fair, with Lesley and Sigrid.  I’m going to be making lots of felt brooches and hopefully some cushions and evening bags.

As well as this, I’m trying to organise my craft space, as it is completely out of control.  I definitely need to pare down and get rid of the stuff I no longer use.

A very quick post today, but I will be back sooner than you think (with some new makes to show).  In the meantime, here are a couple of brooches I made for my fair stock:

I picked up the little easel in The Works for 99p on Saturday – it’s perfect for photos, so I may well invest in a few more.

Lisa xoxo

Knit one, crochet one

One of my aims in 2012 was to update more regularly, and I still fully intend to do so, even if I was off to a bad start, only posting once last week.  I have been busy behind the scenes though; I’ve been working on my own website and hope to have it fully up and running in the next few weeks.  I’ve also been trying to declutter the house, mainly because I’m sick of the sight of all the stuff lying around that we neither need nor want. Another thing I want to do this year is more batch cooking/freezing, which will allow me to spend less time in the kitchen and more time making things. I’ve also started a couple of knitting/crocheting projects and been busily making owls..as well as last week being my first full week back at the day job after the Christmas break.

I saw these Bell Ruffle Gloves on Pinterest recently and fell in love with them.  Imagine my delight when I found out there were available as a free pattern on Ravelry.

I’m going to make them in a dark charcoal colour, with dark red piping and buttons.  So far I’ve cast on, which is an effort in itself, as I’m left handed but have worked out a way to cast on that means I don’t need to read the pattern backwards.  I would have had some done over the weekend, but realised the yarn I thought was double knitting was actually 4-ply, so had to nip to the wool shop in my lunch break today.  This will be my first attempt at using a circular needle, and I’ve also not used 5 double-pointed ones to knit gloves since I was a primary school.  Hopefully if I could do it when I was 7 or 8 years old and can do it now.  Here’s the first of the work in progress photos:

I’ve also been refreshing my memory re crochet.  I learned to do this last year but, to be honest, haven’t done much since.  I made these little star flower things, which I’m going to stitch together to make into a dressy scarf:

What are you making right now?

Lisa xoxo

Twit-twoo

Happy New Year, everyone.  Hope you all had a good one – mine was very quiet and low key but still nice.  I’m now all ready to take 2012 by the horns.

I’ve not been hugely productive so far though, with only one crafty make in 2012, although I have had orders for another 4 of these in different colours, which I’ll get done this week.

What do you think of this cute little fella?

We’re doing another craft fair next month (a retro one this time), so will definitely be taking some of these along.  I am really looking forward to it; there are quite a few things I noticed at my first fair that I should have done, but it was still a great success.  In fact I’m putting it down to beginners luck, as don’t think the future ones will be just as successful.

I’ve also been doing a bit of crocheting, which I’m pretty new to.  I originally was going to make a shrug, but it started out with a chain of 257 stitches, so I realised pretty quickly that there would be no way I’d still have 257 stitches once I did my foundation row.  I’m not yet comfortable enough with crochet to be able to count my stitches with ease and find the foundation row really difficult; I never quite know if I’m going into one chain loop or half of one loop and half of another.  Recognising my lack of experience, I’ve decided to do a scarf made of star-like flower shapes instead – is it a bit of an easy option? Why, yes it is, but easy isn’t always bad

We hosted the first wine club of 2012 on Saturday night.  It was a great success, not least because my bottle won best bottle!  For food I did home-made pizza (with the help of Eve from Cupcakes & All That), penne & Nigella’s meatballs (although I cheated and bought in the pasta), cheese & crackers and whisky mac cupcakes, from the Love Bakery book, which are exceeding scrumptious.  I have to say the Love Bakery book is my favourite cupcake book ever; I’ve made quite a few of them and they’ve all turned out fantastic.

Well, better dash and start 2012 as I mean to go on, by spending more time making and less procrastinating

Toodles

Lisa xoxo

Christmas 2011

Season’s greetings everyone.  I promised I’d be back with a tree pic and some of my 2011 Christmas favourites, so here I am….and here it is, my first ever artificial tree.  I’ve always bought a real one in the past but last year was a disaster, with the tree being frozen solid when we got it and it losing all its needles well before New Year (even though it was a Nordman).

I’m really quite please with it, it’s a lovely shape and not too bulky at the bottom (although I did leave some of the bottom branches off, in order to get it closer to the window.  Will definitely need to make something to cover the ugly base next year though.

I also promised some of my favourite things of this Christmas, so here they are:

Woodwick Jar Candle in Fireside – love the crackling sound as it burns!

Soap & Glory cosmetics – my new favourite.  Luckily they’re my sister’s new favourite too, so we were discussing them before Christmas and lo and behold we both bought each other some as presents .

This gorgeous cardigan Mum gave me.

Our Lego advent calendar – Stewart was the lucky one that got to open Yoda in a Santa Suit, but at least I got the Millennium Falcon to soften that blow a bit.

The best bits of all though, were spending time with family & friends, along with being off work until 4th January.

Thanks for reading – hope you’re looking forward to 2012 as much as I am!

Funky, Fuzzy Felt

Nothing screams the 70′s to me like Fuzzy Felts – I love those things and used to play with them all the time.  My favourite set was the hospital one – I can still picture the ambulance, hospital bed and vases of little fuzzy felty flowers.  As I’m going through a bit of a 70′s phase right now, with the dresses I’m wearing and my love of fondue, I thought I’d stick to the theme for my first craft fair.  As well as the Christmas spiders (which probably aren’t particularly 70′s-ish, I also made stacks of coconut ice (which went down a treat) and lots of felt brooches.  I made ice-cream cones, cupcakes, flowers and cherries.  Here’s a sample of them (sorry the photos are so bad – I took them with my phone in really bad light).

I was really pleased with them and they are so fun to do.  It’s lovely being able to make something from start to finish in an hour, instead of working on it for days or weeks (or even months), as I normally do with my beadwork.   I’ve already had requests for more cupcake ones, as I only had one of them and it went very quickly (thanks, Eve :D)

If you remember the Christmas Spiders, I posted a few weeks ago, you may like to take a look at the little German folk tale that goes along with them.

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The Legend of the Christmas Spider

On Christmas Eve, a long time ago, a gentle mother was busily cleaning the house for the most wonderful day of the year… Christmas Day, the day on which the little Christ child came to bless the house. Not a speck of dust was left. Even the spiders had been banished from their cosy corner on the ceiling. They had fled to the farthest corner of the attic.

The Christmas tree was beautifully decorated. The poor spiders were frantic, for they could not see the tree, nor be present for the little Christ child’s visit. Then the oldest and wisest spider suggested that perhaps they could wait until everyone went to bed and then get a closer look.

When the house was dark and silent, the spiders crept out of their hiding place. When they neared the Christmas tree, they were delighted with the beauty of it. The spiders crept all over the tree, up and down, over the branches and twigs and saw every one of the pretty things.

The spiders loved the Christmas tree. All night long they danced in the branches, leaving them covered with spider webs. In the morning, when the little Christ child came to bless the house, he was dismayed! He loved the little spiders for they were God’s creatures, but he knew the mother, who had worked so hard to make everything perfect, would not be pleased when she saw what the spiders had done.

With love in his heart and a smile on his lips, the little Christ child reached out and gently touched the spider webs. The spider webs started to sparkle and shine! They had all turned into sparkling, shimmering silver and gold.

According to legend, ever since this happened, people have hung tinsel on their Christmas trees. It has also become a custom to include a spider among the decorations on the Christmas tree.

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I’ll be back tomorrow with some of my favourite things this Christmas and a photo of my first ever artificial tree.

Lisa xoxo

 

Incy Wincy Icy

Greetings, poor neglected Oodlers, so sorry I’ve been a bit lax in updating lately.  Been bedlam here in Oblibbyland, trying to get ready for my first craft fair, which I’m doing on 10 December, along with Lesley and Sigrid.

I’ve been busy making Christmas Spiders.  These are black faceted glass, but I’ll also be doing some in Swarovski Crystallised Elements.  They’re chunky little guys – each one is 30mm tall and 40mm fat (including legs)  Just need to print the little stories to go along with them.

Christmas Spiders

I’ve also been trialling some Coconut Ice.  I can’t believe I’ve never made this before…well, actually I can because I only tried home-made stuff a few weeks ago at The Butterfly & Pig, and I’ve never liked the shop-bought stuff – too fondanty and not coconutty enough for me.  This would make a fantastic Christmas present, and the beauty of it is you need zero cooking ability – you don’t even need a cooker!

Coconut Ice

If you fancy giving this a try, it really couldn’t be easier.  Grease a small baking tray (I used a silicone one, so didn’t bother greasing it).  If you don’t have a baking tray, you could probably use a plate, as the mixture is pretty firm and should stay in place.

• 200g desicated coconut
• 200g icing (confectioner’s) sugar
• 280g condensed milk

Beat the icing sugar into the condensed milk until you have a smooth paste, add the coconut and mix well.  Spread half the mixture onto your tray (try to keep it around 1cm thick).  Add a little red food colouring (optional) to remainder and beat well until you have a nice even pink colour.  Spread this on top of the white mix and smooth down the top.  Leave in the fridge overnight then cut into squares.  If there are any uneven edges, you can do what I did – cut them off and eat them.  Enjoy!

Will be back shortly with more craft fair makes.

Until then…

Lisa xoxo

November?

..how on earth did that happen?  One minute it felt like I had just returned from holiday, then I blinked and it’s November.

Since my last post, I haven’t done much crafty stuff, but do have a head full of plans – just lacking some motivation.

One thing I did have a go at was making my own sweeties. I had treated myself to Home-Made Sweet Shop by Claire Ptak.  I made the salted caramel chocolates and adapted the peanut butter fudge (although I think next time I’ll put even more peanut butter in it, as I adore peanut butter).  The book as fantastic – I can see me making quite a few things from it.  I especially love that it’s aimed at the UK market, so all the ingredients are easily obtainable.

I also may have mentioned this before, but I am determined to get to grips with bead embroidery this year.  Dimensional Bead Embroidery by the wonderful Jamie Cloud Eakin is a brilliant book, with really well-written instructions.  It follows on nicely from Beading with Cabochons.

I’m really keen to learn to make my own clothes, so much so that I have visions of myself in glorious party frocks, designed, cut and sewn by me.  I think reality may not be simple – so far I have only got as far as acquiring The Party Dress by Simon Henry, The Vogue Book of Sewing edited by Crystal McDonald , and Advanced Pattern-Drafting for Fashion by Teresa Gilewska I still need to get my hands on a copy of the basic one!)

I have so much to learn!!

Finally, in keep with the festivities this year, here’s Stu and I with a couple of friends at a Hallowe’en party last weekend – I’m Liza Minnelli.

Hopefully November won’t fly by as quickly as October did.

Until next time…

Lisa xoxo