6ichthusfish

2 Peas Stick Pin Swap...

A while ago, when I'd first got back from Kenya and was hit by a 'need to craft' bug, I decided it would be fun to take part in a crafty swap.  On the blog 2 Peas there's a whole forum dedicated to swaps and I chose to join in with a 'Stick pin and toothpick flag' embellishment swap.  It was organised and hosted by a lovely peanut called gus-gus. 

These are the pins I made...

...and this is what I used...

The stick pin swap wanted sets of four, similar yet different.  I made 6 sets...

I coated them with Glossy Accents and let them dry overnight...

They did look cute in my craft room...

Then I packaged them as directed and sent them off to gus-gus in the USA...

Well, imagine my excitement yesterday when this package arrived...

..containing 6 sets of very pretty stick pins...

I thought 'iamjen' had made pretty pins and her packaging was fab.  That's woodgrain fabric on a large badge in a glassine envelope.  Very cute.  Love it.

Now I need to get scrapping and use some of these lovely pins on my pages :)

If you want more detail about how I made my stick pins, click here where I posted in detail on IACW.

Making Christmas Decorations & Bird boxes...

We went to the same place we've been going to for 'Paddle Power' to make Christmas decorations with natural materials.  There was a variety of foliage like ivy, holly, pine branches and other greenery, with baubles and pipe cleaners too.

 

For the table decorations the children covered half a potato with foil and gouged out a hole to hold the candle.  They then spiked the potato with a bradawl and stuck their choice of foliage into the pierced holes...

 

 Smurf made a very bushy table decoration!

 

They also made hanging decorations by threading the foliage through some thick string.  I have one in the hallway and two in the lounge.  After this activity we went outside for a brisk frosty walk...

 

After lunch we made bird boxes and an insect home. 

 

 

Smurf made an insect home...

 

 

T-g made a blue-tit bird box...

 

The children really enjoyed the woodwork and I'd like to organise some more learning in that area if I can.  An action packed day for sure!

Making Christmas Cards with Middle son...

When Roman was a paper-boy he started the tradition of making his own cards for the people on his newspaper delivery round. Now Chef makes Christmas cards for all the people on his round. That's 55 homes to be precise.  We worked together and enjoyed the one-on-one time.

 

 

 Here's the second batch of cards he made...

 

Great to use my Craft Room for crafting together.  Here's a post about him making cards in 2009 and one abot the whole lot of us making cards in 2008.  Suppose it's a bit of a tradition :)

Tiger-girl painted Rudolph again this year for the game 'Stick the Nose on Rudolph' that she organises for the younger girls at the Girls Brigade Christmas Party.

 

It went down really well and one of the Leaders asked if she could keep the poster & foam noses to use with her class of school children.  Yep, T-g was pleased.

My New Craft Room....(YAY!)

Seems a while ago now that Smurf approached Husb with the idea to turn our home-school classroom into a Craft Room for me.   Old post about schoolroom.   With Roman at College and the younger three all studying in their bedrooms, the classroom was not really being used much.  The transformation was a lot of work but totally worth it.  'Cuttlebug green' and 'Cropodile pink' were the colours I chose for the room and we used the furniture we already had.  Below is the view into the room from the hall...

 

To the left of the door is a large storage unit and the computer...

There's an old mantlepiece in the room which I covered over with pink shiny fabric.  This area holds tools and some cute cookie cutters and tea-pot and cup & saucer.  Also there's a little bear which I crocheted. 

To the right of the mantlepiece there's a tall set of drawers and Ruby (my tortoise) and her habitat...

 

There's another set of two drawers and the special wooden box that Chef made for my birthday, which houses inkpads and ink...

 

After the french windows (which let in loads of light) is my sewing corner and my childhood wooden sewing box...

 

I have a trimmer table next, with small basket storage below... 

 

My wheeled tote stands between the sewing table and trimmer table.  It's hard to see but after the trimmer table is a metal set of drawers with the door beyond...

 

These storage tins are magnetic and stick to the side of the metal set of drawers.  Smurf helped me sort my buttons to be stored here (and look cute too)... 

 

I made the bunting in the room.  Some of the fabric was leftover from a quilt, some was re-cycled and about half were made from 1/4 yard strips.  This craft room has turned out to be the best I could ever have imagined.  I am truly blessed.

My bracelet and necklace arrived (yay)...

A while ago I had a special birthday treat from my sis-in-law, where we went to make glass beads. We both really liked the teacher, Caroline from Craven and White  & getting to work in her studio was fab.  Caroline finishes the beads you've made and then makes them up into a piece of jewellery of your choice.  I had my beads made into a bracelet (in the same style as their 'bon bon' collection) ... 
 

Another of my beads was put onto a necklace with a gingerbread man (which they cast in silver).  I love Gingerbread men...

We also made some Pandors style beads (with the silver core) which aren't ready yet.  I know my beads aren't perfect but the day out was so special & the finished bracelet is certainly unique! 

Thanks again, S for a memorable day & my own special jewellery.

I'm on It's A Creative World blog on 17th August...

Click here  to see my post about Tim Holts alcohol inks  :)

There's a crafty post every day to inspire people on It's A Creative World blog.

T-g is going to Pony Camp tomorrow and I'm a parent helper.  We'll be camping so I'm praying for dry(ish) weather. 

Making glass beads is addictive...!

Yesterday I had the best day with my sis-in-law making glass beads...

 

The day was a birthday treat that she organised for me with a designer called Caroline Craven check out her website here.  We made several beads including some with large holes to fit a pandora style bracelet.  Caroline finishes and polishes the beads and makes them up into a piece of jewellery of your choice (I'm having mine made into a bracelet) then posts them to us.  Here we are with a couple of our beads we made, still on the mandril...

Also, while we were taking turns with the blow torch we could make a piece of jewellery to take home, choosing from the huge array of beautiful beads that Caroline has in her studio.  I made a handbag charm and S. made a beaded bookmark.

The workshop was half a day, then we went for afternoon tea...

Yep, it was as yummy as it looked.  Such a lovely day.  Looking forward to the arrival of my bracelet & seeing the necklace that has the beads on that S. made too. 

Happy days.

Sneak peek...

Pssst.......go here to find out what these are about >>>>

 
 

 
(heehee got u guessing!) 

Blog Candy...non fattening!!!

Go get some blog candy here at Crafty Goings On  and you'll not be sorry....!!!!

fab blog...fab prize...fab creativity!!! 

Simple Things Project...

I am enjoying being a designer over on the It's a Creative World site.  The monthly 'Simple Things' project does seem to come around quickly!

This is what I said on the IACW blog about my contribution...

"It doesn't seem two minutes since I began this 'SIMPLE THINGS'  fabric book

and already we're onto word number three...HONESTY. 

Well, since I've had a theme of using quotes on my pages there really was

only one quote I could use... it was something my Mum said as I was growing up...

"Honesty's the best policy". 

Well, I researched who'd said it before her & discovered a couple of famous folks

(including Shakespeare) but my page is really about my Mum & how she taught me

to be honest, truthful and have integrity. 

The older I'm getting and especially since my eldest will turn 18 this year,

I have been reflecting on what an amazing woman she is and also a great parent. 

We aren't much for 'soppy stuff' so this page

(although quite simple - in line with 'simple things')

is actually quite expressive for me. 

I altered the photo in PSE5 so that the background was black & white

and me & Mum were in colour, then printed it out on canvas, together with the text.

I sewed a simple running stitch on the photo for emphasis and used my

sewing machine to do 'messy stitching' around the page edge. 

I made the shabby flower with ribbon & jeans fabric and added a simple red clip with ribbon tied on. 

I have been enjoying working with fabric... makes a change from paper!"

 

Also, I don't think I posted last month's fabric page 'TIME'...

This is what I wrote about that page...

 

 "For my fabric page, I recycled an old pair of my daughter's jeans (well just one back pocket really)

 to hold a small pile of old photographs.  I was really focusing on the passage of time and

embellished the jeans simply with some handsewn paper aeroplanes which appear to fly out of the

 jean's pocket.  I printed out my quote on some computer friendly canvas (£1 for two A4 sheets

from The Range) and trimmed it to look like a clothes tag.  This was a fun page to do & really

simple.

The quote was by Ralph Waldo Emerson and says...

 "The years teach much which the days never know."

 

The next word prompt for May is 'CREATE'.  The cogs are moving!