The Rain in Spain

Hello again, Oodlers. Since I last updated, I’ve spent a lovely few days in (not so) sunny Spain.

On the Saturday, we decided to explore Malaga a bit. I fell in love with the city, even though the weather was a bit on the chilly side (okay, I was so cold I thought I might die!) and we ended up leaving early than originally planned, just to get a heat on the bus. Some stunning buildings and we took in the Picasso museum as well. Next time my task will be to take only hand luggage but find space in it for my DLSR camera!

I’ve also managed to master bead crochet and made this necklace for a crochet group swap on Ravelry

The best part of the swap was that I managed to swap in person whilst on holiday, as by a total fluke, my partner lived about an hour away from where we were staying. We spent a lovely couple of hours chatting and drinking coffee.

Here are my lovely swap goodies.

The pincushion will be fab for when I start learning dressmaking (definitely this year – no excuses!), as I’m really bad for sticking pins in my trousers (well, jammie bottoms) and forgetting about them until they stab or scratch me later.

Toodles for now xoxo

¡Hola!

It’s been longer than I hoped since my last post, but I do have an excuse.  Last weekend the hubster and I hit the sunny climes of Spain for a lovely long weekend, which just happened to coincide with my birthday.  It was really nice and relaxing (so relaxing in fact, that I have barely made a thing since I returned) – so much better than late February in Scotland!  On my birthday we went to a gorgeous restaurant called Oliva – the food was fantastic

I got some lovely goodies with my birthday money too:

A handmade leather bag from a wonderful shop called Manos – you can see the 2 leather work when you visit the shop.  The choker is also handmade and was from a boutique called (I think) Luisa Haan:

We’ve signed up for the next Tryst Craft Fair at the Dobbie Hall in Larbert, so I will definitely need to shake off my nonchalance and get making stuff.  I’ve also been aware that I haven’t done any beading for months; to be honest, I had sickened myself of it a bit, so the break has done me good.  I think it’s time to start again though.  I also want to get some polymer clay out and have a play with that…oh and my sewing stuff!!  I really love my job, but sometimes I wish I could take a year off and just spend all my time making things…well that will never happen, so I need to structure what time I do have a bit better, spend less time procrastinating (a.k.a. faffing) and more time making!

One thing I did do was make dinner on Saturday – spent over 10 hours cooking but it was well worth it.  I made lobster ravioli with lobster sauce, venison with cha-cha-cha sauce (my made up on the spot name for cherry, chilla and chocolate) on butternut squash puree, with fine beans and pancetta.  I really pleased with the sweet (mainly because I normally hate doing sweets).  I did this Pomegranate Meringue Rose Tart from Saveur, but made individual tarts, served with homemade pistachio ice cream, crystalised rose petals and pomegranate sauce.  The tarts looked exactly like the one in the picture, but I’m quite gutted I forgot to take photos – was too busy to think about it really!

Until next time…

Fabulous Fabrics

Greetings, oodlers.  Hope this week has been good to you so far; mine has been pretty good and to top it off, I’m away for a long weekend on Friday.

I took a trip, with my good friend, Lesley, through to Mandors on Sunday.  Mandors is a fantastic fabric shop in Glasgow -  those of you who know me in person, know I’m not much of a shopper, but I could seriously spend all day in there.  I was lucky enough to have an itison voucher, which saved me some money but still spent a fair bit (and could have spent way, way more!).

Would you like to see what I got?  If not, please look away now, because I’m going to show you anyway.

First I got this gorgeous (and very expensive) wool crepe.

The photo doesn’t really do it justice.  The feel of it is amazing and I can’t wait to make my 1950s stole from Decades of Style using it.

I also got this fabulous tulle with large velvet spots and some nude lining:

This is going to end up as a party skirt (my favourite item of clothing).

What do you think of this atlas oilcloth?

I think it will make a great weekend bag.  I’ll be using the weekend bag pattern from The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam.

Finally, some fabric for cushions:

I’m hoping these will be perfect with our sofa – they certainly seem to go well together in the photo.

So, my wallet may be lighter, but I’m really looking forward to using these fabrics to make (hopefully) wonderful creations.  The reason I am so keen to learn dressmaking is to have really well cut clothes in beautiful fabrics, not to save money.  I really want to move away from quantity and end up with a few really good quality pieces.

What skill do you want to learn in 2012, and why?

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

 

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

 

Very Moorish

 

I did mean to post this a couple of weeks ago, but have been suffering a bit from labyrinthitis, so haven’t been doing much in the evenings (apart from feeling a bit sorry for myself ).

When the hubby and I were in Spain last month, we had the pleasure of visiting The Alhambra Palace in Granada.  They day wasn’t without its hitches, including me being too tight to pay for a taxi from the bus station and dragging us halfway across the city for the shuttle bus, only to find out on the way back it was less than €10 for a taxi anyway (oops).  Poor Stu was suffering a bit from heat exhaustion too (on top of an early start – 2 hr bus journey at 06:30 to get there).  It was very warm, but have to admit I’m lucky enough not to be affected by the heat.  I’d definitely going to go back again at some point next year, but might just go myself,  and let Stu sit and enjoy a few cold beers somewhere.

So now it’s time for me to bore you with my photos!

Wonderful stonework…

… windows, doors and archways…

…mosaics…

…gardens…

…and flowers:

Thought I’d leave my favourite until last

I’ll be posting some jewellery and other makes in the next few days, so please pop by again soon.

Toodles,

Lisa xoxo

 

 

There and Back Again

AKA Oblibby goes to Spain.

We went back to Spain for our summer holiday last year.  I normally like to go a new place every year, but last September we went to Nerja for a week in September and absolutely loved it, so we went back for our main holiday this year.  Have a look, isn’t it fab?

One of the things I love most about Nerja is the atmosphere.  We were staying in the old town, which has a really nice Spanish feel to it (although I should say it is more resorty one the outskirts of town).  Fab traditional tapas bars, there you automatically get a little bite to eat every time you order a drink, tavernas and lovely restaurants.  There are a couple of flamenco bars in town, we loved El Molino, which is in a old mill and a traditional style flamenco bar (no fancy dresses etc), just a singer/guitarist and bar-goers getting up to sing/dance:

…but if you’re desperate to see some flamenco dresses, I snapped these in a shop window.  Unfortunately each time I passed this shop it must’ve been siesta time (unless it only opened at certain times).  These are definitely not the typical tourist tat flamenco dresses you see up and down Spain:

Hope you’ve enjoyed this little peek at my holiday snaps.  I not posted about my trip to The Alhambra yet, but thought it deserved a post of it’s own, so please check back in a couple of days.  Oh and I meant to say, we’re going back for 3 nights at the end of February for my birthday – yipee!!!

Lisa xoxo

Before I Went Away

I’ve been quite quiet lately, but do have an excuse; I’ve just come back from a couple of weeks in Spain (which was fabulous – I love Spain) and was mega busy finishing a couple of jewellery pieces (and doing the day job) before I went.

Firstly I made this Laura McCabe bracelet as a raffle prize for The Little Lucy Flynn Fund Elvis Tribute night.

I also made this Blue Russian bracelet for me.  I used cobalt and gunmetal seedies and gorgeous lampies given to me by Helen at LaLa Lampwork.  The bracelet is done in Russian Spiral stitch, with the toggle and clasp in Peyote.

I also had to treat myself to a new camera before I left, as my old point and shoot had broken (I was planning on getting one at some point this year or early next year, but timing-wise – if not money-wise – a few days before the holiday was a perfect time.  I ended up with this Nikon D3000.  I think the next book in my basket will be the “For Dummies” book for it.  It’s my first DSLR and I’m so glad I started off with an entry level one, as I think it will be quite a steep learning curve coming from a point and shoot.

I also treated myself to a couple of books from The Book Depository.  I’m really loving this site, as they seem to be able to get some books prior to their UK publication date.  I got Classical Elegance by Maggie Meister and Bead & Button Magazine’s Your Seed Bead Style.

I’ll be back soon to bore you with some holiday snaps and give an update on my next projects.

Lisa xoxo