Random Craft Activities

I clearly have too much time on my hands because I have finished making my Christmas presents for the year, except the extra ones for my boyfriend. So I decided I would carry on with my dress for Laura's party since it's not long away!

With all the pattern pieces pinned on, laid out ready to cut.  

  

I also (for part of my boyfriend's Christmas present) needed to do some very tiny knitting, so I came upon the idea of 'micro-knitting'. I made needles from two bits of thickish gauge wire which I curled round at the end to stop the knitting slipping off the other end. I used embroidery floss split into individual threads so very thin 'yarn'. Very fiddly and a bit frustrating, I don't think I'll be branching out into knitting tiny mouse sized jumpers any time soon but it did the trick for what I wanted! 

I'm making a dress!

For Laura's birthday, we're going to a vintage night club! It's 40s, so we have to dress authentically. 

I'm having my hair done at Rose Tinted Vintage in Bedford on the day and I am making a dress. I have a pattern for a '47 dress and I'm making the one with sleeves and a back (rather than the halter neck) which is the one in flowery fabric on the front of the pattern. 

Underneath the pattern is my fabric! It's navy blue with a flower print and it is GORGEOUS! I have enough to make the dress and also something else... I fancy making a hair accessory to match but not sure what... suggestions welcome!

I'm going to take progress pictures, I have just over a month to make the dress... so we'll see how it goes! 

Christmas Preparations

I've been thinking about Christmas for a while.
Now that it's September, I think it is acceptable to give voice to my ponderings. 
So here we are. 

I make Christmas presents for my friends and family every year. Partly because I'm creative and enjoy it, partly because I put a lot more thought and effort into making things than if I went out and bought presents and finally because I can't afford to buy as many nice things as I'd like to and, this way, all my friends and family get something that I am proud to give them. 

This year I have been planning since about July, because I like to be organised. And I started gathering materials and formalising my plans in August. I think I actually started making on the 30th of August, nearly September... nearly not Christmas obsessed. 

I make Christmas decorations with the year and person's name on. So I have to be organised because there are a few to make! This year I'm using resin, so I have to be even more organised since each batch takes up to 3 days to cure (done in three layers, each layer takes 24 hours to cure). My 2012 decorations are my favourite so far. I'm very proud of them. 

I've also started making Christmas decorations to sell at craft fairs, since I have a few booked in coming up to Christmas. I've made some little glittery teddy bears:

I've also made some hanging plaques, with little Christmassy pictures inside and space for me to engrave a message on the bottom. These are the last of those I will be making, at least for a while since I have trashed the mould and it is no longer usable (the problem with resin is that it does weaken the moulds). 

I have also made a few other bits and pieces. 

  These are fimo modelling clay and will be hanging tree decorations, they just need some ribbon through the top. 

 This is a wireworked ring I made today. I'm practising my close work. 

This is a resin cupcake. It has multi-coloured sequins in it and the 'cake case' is painted white with acrylic paints. Since I took this photo, I have drilled a hole sideways through the cherry and will be threading some ribbon so that it can be hung. I think it's lovely. And... no calories! 

Apostrophes

This is a silly pet hate but... APOSTROPHES.

An apostrophe signifies when something belongs to someone or when words have been contracted: do not to don't etc.

If in doubt, don't use an apostrophe. I'd rather not see one at all than see pointless ones.

If you don't know whether something needs an apostrophe or not... do not use words which would need them.

It is just annoying to see signs, facebook statuses, sentences in books/magazines etc, which have stupid apostrophes in them. Just because there's an s or two, doesn't mean you need millions of apostrophes.

Rant over. :-)

This is a blog that I have owed Laura for AAAAGES

Hi Laura!

This is a blog! I do know how to use my fingers, I know how to apply my fingers to the keyboard in order to form words which will form a blog. I know I've been rubbish at keeping up with this!

I've been doing things!

I've been in school completing my placement with Year 2 and doing my first ever display:

Y Gemau Olympaidd Llundain 2012 

The Olympic Games London 2012. 

Oh yes, me and a staple gun had a fun afternoon! I'm very proud. 

I've been making sock things: 

Sock Lion for Vincent's 2nd birthday, sock Tapir for Kyla (she loves Tapirs) and sock monkey for Chloe, with his arms crossed... 

I've been here, there and everywhere visiting family and Paul. 

I went shopping for an outfit for my cousin's wedding and bought a lovely dress at the outlet place near bridgend. I say I bought it, mummy bought it. 

I did a workshop in Bedford which was good, I've got two more workshops booked more locally. I have a craft fair on Saturday... I'm starting my nursery placement on the 23rd. My cousin's wedding is on the 30th of July and Stef's wedding is at the end of August. Lots of things! See! 

My new leaf!

Hi!

I am embracing independence. I have been living on my own since my ex and I split up last June and during this time I have been swinging between hating living alone and loving it. My mum and I spent a week sorting out the front garden into a beautiful space - thanks mummy!- and I have had a couple of BIG clear-outs but I still haven't been quite content with my living space. Having now determined that I intend to stay in this house, I am keeping it tidy and enjoying the independence I have which means I can change things if and when I want to. Kirstie Allsopp is also one of my idols and I am taking a leaf out of her book (literally as I got one of her books for Christmas) and surrounding myself with lovely things, either things I have made or others have. I prefer homemade or handmade but I am working on a budget, so some of it has to be cheaper options. The first room which is prettied is my bedroom. So I thought I'd put some pictures up on here and explain what everything is. :)

My bed, with two little lavender scented pillows which I got from the Glamorgan Federation Women's Institute Craft Spectacular last November, made by a friend of mine Elaine. 

My bed, with some new bedsheets from Asda! Not very expensive but oh so cute! 

My bed is from Ikea and has four big drawers underneath and the headboard is also from Ikea and has little cubby holes on both sides which are great for storing books and make up and all sorts of things! Unfortunately it's also a great place for my cats to hide! I put the bed and headboard together myself as they were new after the break-up, I was very proud of myself and it hasn't fallen apart so far!

I think that the silhouette of birds and trees and leaves are really cute and they're neutral colours (greens and browns) which means they don't clash with other things in my room! I also have some bedsheets which are pink and purple with embroidered flowers on. 

The pillows have really cute detail of the birds on both sides, which means people like me who turn the pillow over half way through the night get the pattern whichever way up it is! The curtains I made myself last year, with thermal blackout lining, the pattern is little multi-coloured buttons in lots of different shapes and sizes. I made them with a sewing machine which only sews backwards so it was quite an achievement and they do the job. The curtain rail has clips on so there was no faffing with curtain tape and hooks, this also means I can change the curtains really easily as I only have to  sew a rectangle of fabric and clip them on! Fabulous! 

Headboard. Above my headboard I have a card board. I love greetings cards and there's a gorgeous little shop in Cardiff which sells so many different cards, including rude ones! There is also a guy who designs cards and sells them often at Roath Arts and Crafts Bazaar, he is an incredibly talented artist and has a great sense of humour. His website is: http://www.slightlywobbly.co.uk/ and he also does mugs and commissions! 

This is the wall facing my bed and has a photograph I took of some blue pansies in a friend's garden last summer, I think they look like Alice in Wonderland flowers and they are cheerful. The other picture is of a painting which was done at a life drawing class last summer. The model is yours truly and that picture really makes me feel proud of myself, not because I have the best body in the world but because I had the courage to do the modelling sessions, getting naked in front of a room full of artists is not easy but it made me feel so empowered. Having that painting there reminds me of that feeling. In between the pictures is a little wire heart which I got at a Christmas craft market last year because I thought it was cute. 

This is a close up of the pattern on the duvet cover

These are some bits on my headboard, my Disney calendar, Keep Calm and Have A Cuppa coaster which my mum and dad got me for Christmas. My phone, couldn't live without it. A lovely wooden box that my brother got me for Christmas, he has amazing taste. On top of the box are two tiny teddies. Bert is the turquoise one and is a limited edition bear, the other doesn't have a name yet, but she's pink and would attach to a mobile phone except I'm too worried she'd get dirty. In front of the box are: a black crystal cat from Swarovski, a brooch I made, some pearl earrings, a hair grip, a ring which was my mother's but I have 'borrowed' it from her. There's also a ladybird on a leaf which Laura also has one of, we made them a couple of summers ago from Fimo. There's a Penguin from Madagascar because I love penguins, a treasure chest I made from fimo and beads, a ballerina mouse which I've had for years and years, a resin dome with sequins in, a pen (as always), a lipbalm and a tin of skin balm from Nature's Little Helpers.

Nature's Little Helpers are a lovely company who raise bees and sell honey and wax and also natural skincare products made from wax and honey. They sell their goods at various craft fairs including the Roath Arts and Crafts Bazaar, their website is: http://www.natureslittlehelpers.co.uk/ and they do really interesting talks, we've had them at Aber-Valley W.I. twice, once a talk on bees and once about how they make their skincare products. Both really good!

I have also been trying not to throw things away when they break or are no longer usable. I had a top which was white/cream and I got some resin pigment on it which won't wash out so left a dark blue stain on the bottom of it, instead of throwing it out I thought I'd try dying it a darker colour. I have been wanting to use dye for a while but haven't really had the need, so this was a good opportunity. If it didn't work, I wouldn't have lost anything really. So I bought some dark green Dylon dye and followed the really easy instructions. This is the result:

I'm really pleased as it means I can now wear this top which I wasn't able to with the stain on the bottom. The stain is still there but so much less visible, dying this top has given it a new lease of life! 

Well, that's a long blog! Maybe next time I'll ramble about my living room! 

The Idiocy of me.

Hello!

I have been told by my family that I ought to post some of the stupid things I think, say and do. So here goes.

Yesterday I hit myself in the head with the phone, sort of by accident. I was on the phone to my parents and the line was crackling, I went to hit the phone with my other hand to see if that would help but forgot to move my other hand so just ended up hitting myself in the head. It didn't help the crackling.

While in Cheddar on holiday with my friend Charlene, I had to be told that Buffalo are mammals and therefore produce milk, which is then made into cheese... like Buffalo Mozzarella. I thought that Buffalo Mozzarella referred to the size of the mozzarella, so buffalo mozzarella is big, cow mozzarella is small. Makes perfect sense to me. This conversation then led me on to thinking about the fact that I also thought Buffalo were always male, like a Bull, so I thought there was another name for the female - maybe a Cuffalo.

I only recently (in 2012) realised that food labels have a 'sell by' date and not a 'cell by' date. I don't know what I thought a 'cell by' date was... maybe that after a certain date all the cells in the food just went crazy.

I used to think that the voice overs in lifts were real people who stood behind the panel in the lift and spoke relating to which buttons lit up. I never thought this was an issue, but I did think that the job must be really boring.

And finally (until there are more), Internal logic is about the way you think inside your head. Not (as I thought) the way logic works inside your house. Logic doesn't change depending on where you are, I thought there could be internal logic, inside your house and external logic outside... which might affect how logic worked. I think I understand logic as being a force, like gravity, which works differently in different environments... gravity has less of an effect on the moon... logic might be different outside, right?

I'm training to work with children... scared for the future? Me too...

xx