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

Party Time

This necklace was a Moonshadow kit from The Bead Merchant that Mum gave me last year at Christmas (yeah, yeah, I know it took me almost a year to do it, but this year seemed to fly by!). I opted for the Sage colourway and really glad I did as I think the subtle colours offset the sparkle of the Swarovski crystals perfectly.

Here’s a little close-up of the centre part:

It was made using seed beads, delicas and rivolis in peyote and tubular herringbone twist stitches.

I had it finished in time to wear it to one of my work Christmas nights out at Airth Castle.

To finish off my outfit I wore my Melissa grey mesh skirt from Monsoon

…a knitted black top and these Autograph shoes from M&S (which are so comfortable even though they are quite a bit higher than they look in the picture:

Hope you all had a good festive period and are looking forward to 2011.  I have so many things I want to do next year ( just hope I have the time to do them).

Lisa xoxo

Christmas Spider

I love making these Christmas spiders, it really means we’re getting to that time of year again.  I adore their chubbiness and because they’re made using Swarovski Crystalized Elements, they really sparkle when they catch the fairy lights when they’re hanging on the Christmas tree.  I also have one that I made into a pendant.  I make them up with a little scroll of the Legend of the Christmas Spider.

In case you don’t already know the Legend of the Christmas Spider, it is an old German folk tale.  Here it is:

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 the 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, then take 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 by 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 please when she saw what the spiders had done.

With love in his heart and a smile on his lips, the little Christ child reached over 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 custom to hang a spider among the decorations on the Christmas Tree.

I love this little tale and these spiders so much, I think they’ll be the first addition to my new Folksy shop.

Thanks for looking.

Lisa xoxo