Friday, May 27, 2011

Do you have any old suitcases?....

A really cool cat bed......
These are made by Love Nostalgic Whimsey
and........
Not sure who made this but it's cool:)
I found them on a blog I happened upon today....Adelyne Stone.

Take care:

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Tiny Bonnet......

These are very sweet......maybe for a teddy or a doll?

The directions are at A Field Journal here.

Take care.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Damselfly done......

Well she's done and I have sent her on her way to my swap partner.

My partner likes shades of purple so......
It was very hard getting a good picture because she is fairly large......her wing span is about 15 inches and she's about 16+ inches in length. Her wings and body were spot dyed with rust from steel wool. I then dabbed gold paint on her wings to give them a bit more colour. Her body and head are covered with Stef Francis 5400 rayon thread. Her middle is covered with a bit of vintage beaded trim. The beads are in shades of blue and mauve. On her head is a small piece of gold vintage lace with a small purple swarovski crystal in the middle. Her face is coloured with pencil and crayon.

She looks very Art - Deco........maybe I was channeling Erté.


The light was terrible for taking pictures as we have had rain almost non stop. We've broken the all time record for rain in May.

Take care:)

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Giveaway at Enchanted Hollow Designs......

There is a lovely giveaway at Enchanted Hollow Designs
Cindy is giving away this story book called The Lonely Doll by Dare Wright...
Cindy used to have a blog called Thimbleprims but she has just started this new blog so go and visit and leave a comment to enter the giveaway. Thanks.

Take care:)

A bit of summer cross stitch pattern....

DMC Thread has a free cross stitch pattern.....

You will find it on their blog.......DMC Threads.

Take care:)

Friday, May 20, 2011

Printing on fabric.....

Recently I received an advertisement email from Joggles.com and in it it had a blurb about using Scratch-Foam as a way of printing on fabric. Now I had been looking into methods of printing images on fabric but this wasn't what I was looking to do.

However, I saw another blurb about it today and I wondered if anyone out there might be interested. I guess it's the new thing to do:)

This is the Joggles tutorial video and blurb here....."Making A Print Plate With Scratch-Foam"

"Scratch-Foam" is a product and I'm not endorsing the use of it because I think you could re-use those foam meat trays that you get from the supermarket to do the same thing. Don't you think???

Here is another little blurb from The Hive.........."Easy Printing On Fabric".

I love the fact that she has paint all over her fingers because that's what happens to me. I usually get covered in paint:)

I think this would be an excellent rainy day craft project for kids (with regular acrylic paint instead of fabric paint).......save those foam trays ladies:)

Take care.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Aaaaachoo......

We have been having a lot of rain over the last week and it's been too dull to take pictures indoors. I tried but they all came out very bright and strange. It finally stopped raining this afternoon so I went outside with my camera and this is what I saw on our porch furniture.....

That is pollen folks.....the rain has left it all behind on every surface in sight. It must be from the trees that are in full pollen at the moment:) If you look closely you can even see it on the deck railing and floor.

Geez:(

Anyway:)

I'm hoping to sell at a few craft shows in the fall and I'm trying out some ideas. Here are some Christmas angels I made from craft yarn...
 
I always try to make some small things for the kiddies to buy that are a couple of dollars.......here is a little fridge magnet....
I bought some hanging baskets on sale and they are looking fine after all the rain....


That's it from me today:)

Take care.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

On a wing and an arrrgh....

So I made the wings for the Damselfly after a few complications rust wise. I couldn't get the first type of steel wool I used to rust the first time around so I decided to use part of an SOS (Brillo) pad instead because they always rust when you don't want them to so it was an obvious solution:)

Anyway it worked a treat and I ended up with a piece of scrim (cheesecloth) that was very very rusty indeed.

Next step was to create the wire armature to put the scrim on....ahem. The pattern calls for 19 gauge dark annealed steel wire. Right. Everyone has some of that around the house.  I had no idea where to get said wire so I went to Micheal's. They had lots of different types of wire for jewellery making so I made two choices so I wouldn't have to go back and forth to the store.....20 gauge silver coloured copper wire and 18 gauge aluminum.

I ended up using the aluminum as it was much more malleable and I was able to get the shape that the pattern called for.......


The wing span is about 15 inches.

You make four seperate wings. Next time I think I will try to make two wing units......a one piece continuous shape. If you make this pattern you'll see why when you go to join your pairs together. The pattern suggests using florist wire to join the pieces in the middle. I decided that it was a bit too flimsy so I glued the wings together at the middle using super tacky glue. After it dried I then used brown florist tape to further bind them as it sticks to itself and it is much neater.

To finish the wings off, it further suggests that you wrap felt around the wing middle and stitch it, covering them before attaching them to the Damselfly. I decided to use something a bit more decorative. I have some bits of lace that I will dye to match the scrim (probably four oval ones) and then cover the join by glueing them to cover the tape. I think it would be a better finish.

So, that's all I can show you at the moment. The rest will have to be a secret until my swap partner gets the finished Damselfly sometime after May 30th.

This was a really different pattern to make. I enjoyed it immensely.  I have another pattern by the same designer called "Painting Her Roses Red" ....
Designer Cindee Moyer
I think I'll make that next:)

Take care.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Giveaway at "Two Bones and a Bagle".......

Debs at Two Bones and a Bagle has a giveaway for some lovely vintage stuff:) Please go visit her and join in the draw.

Wait a minute...may be you shouldn't because then I'd have competition...hmmmm.

Ah well:)

Take care.

p.s. Yes. I know bagel is not spelled as bagle. Debs has an explanation on her blog.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Three-Tiered Wedding Cake Pincushion.....

This is so adorable......it's made of felt:)
I have made a single tier cake out of felt for a kitchen witch but I never thought of a wedding cake.

The directions are here...............enjoy:)

Take care.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

This, that and the other....

Things have been pretty quiet around here. I've been messing about and tidying things up.......my ribbon drawer is a mess:(

Remember this stuff...
It's Stef Francis 5400 rayon thread that is to be used for the tail of the Damselfly I'm presently making......I finally had to do this with it because it was impossible stuff to work with.....
It is rayon that's been spun and twisted and it unravels at the ends as you look at it and it's like a snake. It wraps around itself and ends up it knots and twists.....arrrgghhh

One of the things they suggest for the Damselfly wings is that you use scrim that's been stained using steel wool and white vinegar.......Ha Ha.......tried that and the steel wool didn't rust. 

They are supposed to look like this.....
I'm trying tea bags now....:)

The weather is rainy here at the moment. I explained to Smokey and Deva that they can't go out but they refuse to believe me. Here they are waiting at the back door....
It's blurry because they kept moving their heads...drat:)
They are not allowed out unless someone goes with them as they are indoor cats. We have a large fenced back yard but Smokey has managed to get out once by climbing the roof of the garden shed. He ended up in the pool enclosure in our next door neighbour's back yard. So now he is watched and he's pretty good...... most times.

Oh....I almost forgot. I opened an Etsy.com shop......at least I hope I did.....I stressed myself out reading all the stuff and do's and don'ts. I'm not sure if I did it right or not:(

Anyway, it's called "Mainly Mice" I still have some tweaking to do re policies etc.

I also opened another blog called Mainly Mice in March because I was thinking of selling from there using PayPal. I have seen other bloggers doing that as well. And, even though the blog has virtually no activity I have 24 followers:)

So that's it for now:)

Take care.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

What to do when you shrink a wool sweater.......

Make a bag out of it of course......
Here is a tutorial that shows you how to make the bag in the picture........go to Not Dabbling In Normal .for the re-purposing sweater bag tutorial.

I'll see you around.

Take care.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Hanging Temple, Shanxi Province, China....

One place I'll pass on when I make my vacation plans........The Hanging Temple, Shanxi Province, China....

one of the sides......
worldphotocollections.blogspot.com
Go here and see the rest of the pictures of the temple and it's surrounds:)


Take care.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Shoes, shoes and more shoes.......

Judy at Judy's Fabrications took the Elegant Shoe tutorial and made some absolutely beautiful shoes for Mother's Day.

Go here and take a look at her pictures.......AND she is having a giveaway of some of her fabulous fabric flowers so go take a look :)

Take care.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

A Beautiful Day.......

Spring has finally made it to my part of the world. The forsythia hedge is blooming.....

The back end of our yard is very "natural" and it makes a lovely place to sit on a hot summer's day. There are three large fruit trees and there always seems to be a breeze. We grow lots of ferns and hostas down there as they like the shade but the odd little spring flower pops up among the grass....
It has been so rainy and the grass has gotten very high but it's too wet to mow as yet....
The poor daffodils are bent over from the force of the rain. The other leaves belong to lily plants that will be blooming once the tulips and daffodils have finished. They hide all the dying leaves very nicely.

In contrast this is what it looked like by the side of the road going home......a bit dead looking still.....


Well for Mother's Day I went to my youngest son's home and the weather was wonderful. We sat outside on my son's back patio and had a lovely cup of tea.

The short person got a new chapeau for the sun.......
And, we also saw her two best friends Lily.....
And, Jack.......
I couldn't get a good picture of Jack as he's all black and never stops moving:)
He finally crashed.

Take care:)

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Happy Mother's Day......

Have a happy Mother's Day tomorrow......I'm going to visit my favourite short person. She was 10 months on May 5th.
Take care:)

Friday, May 6, 2011

Little Bit Wired........

Nancy Perennec a Canadian Doll Artist aka Little Bit Wired was one of my first blog followers.......in fact I think she was my first follower. I have followed her work on her blog for some time and have enjoyed every minute because Nancy generously shows how she creates her art.

Last fall she started using a material called resin clay to make her One of A Kind dolls and I have watched her progress as she experimented and mastered the material.

Her work.......The Reluctant Prince....was included in a recently published book.....Inspired Remnants, Curious Dreams by Kerin Gale.

The Reluctant Prince (I borrowed this picture....sorry Nancy)

They are currently having an OnlIne Book Tour and there are prizes to win...please visit Little Bit Wired...and read all about her work. Thank you:)

Take care:)