Celebrity Button Art Book Launch Party – 12th November 2010.

http://www.celebritybuttonart.com/

A little while ago my lovely friend Stephanie (that’s her with the lovely long red hair and cream sweater) invited me to the launch party of the Celebrity Button Art Book. Karen Gammon the artist and author was one of Stephanie’s teachers at school and does the most fantastic things with buttons.  It was a brilliant night, that gave me a lot of ideas, as well as a chance to mix with the stars of DIY SOS, Deborah Drew and Chris Frediani.

 
Karen sent a button attached to a card and asked celebrities to “do” a design around it.

I bought the book, but was fascinated to see all the celebrity contributions in the “Flesh”

Some were quite simple ….

Some must now be worth a small fortune ….

And some were stunning, miniature works of art.

It’s so hard to say which one was my favourite ……

But, I as I adore insect jewellery, it has got to be these two spiders by James Opasik.

Karen also exhibited several stunning pieces of work, that just blew my mind!



And the attention to detail on the guests table was not wasted on me.

I couldn’t bear to eat my tiny cake, so it’s now rock hard and on my treasure shelf in my craft room.

There were a couple of ideas that I would like to try in the New Year,  like these framed collections of buttons, so simple, but so effective.

I just need to find a good framer …..

And finally, I love this ………..

Needless to say I came home buzzing …. with as many little bits and pieces as I could manage to secrete in my party bag….!!!

xxxxx Happy Christmas xxxxx

I hope you have a WONDERFUL Christmas, and that Santa brings you a few crafty type presents!

Christmas Day 2010

Last night the trees in our garden looked magical with the twinkling snow and all the little lanterns that I lit to remember those special  people, like my Mother in Law, who won’t be with us again this Christmas and for all the people that I love, who am so lucky to have in my life …….

And this is the most precious Christmas card of them all ….

…… nothing I could make would ever be this beautiful …… made by my profoundly handicapped brother, who has just turned 48, at his special day care unit ….. it makes me well up just looking at it.  Stunning!

It's Christmas Eve & I Shall Be Leaving Treats for Rudolph On My Special Plate!

I will still be blogging over Christmas, but rather than having crafting ideas, I thought I would share a couple of things I have done in the past couple of months but didn't blog about at the time, plus show you the things I have made for “Our New Years Family Tut”-  a family tradition where we all make a little gift for the people we will be seeing the New Year in with ……

But first ……. Rudolph’s plate ……

 
I’m a bit disappointed by my painted carrot tops on this plate, but I’m sure Rudolph won’t notice my shonky efforts as he’s chomping away on his Christmas Eve treats tonight!

I’ve used an old tea plate and ceramic pens for this project, which probably took less that 30 minutes to do. After leaving the plate to dry for about 24 hours, it needed to be baked at 160c /325f for 40 minutes.

It’s a daft idea ……as my sister would say, you’ve got too much time on your hands!

IKEA Memory Boxes

A little while ago I filled one of three IKEA memory boxes that I had bought a couple of years but left empty, with old wooden cotton reels, well, I have finally filled the other two …..

I didn’t know what to do with my scary spellbook box that I made for Halloween…. and then I had an “Ulrika” moment and put it in one of the boxes with a glittered spider, I am dead chuffed!

I also found, (when I was looking for something else), a bag of small pieces of driftwood that I have collected from beaches on various holidays.  The intention was to make a heart shaped wreath with them (one day) ….. but it seemed a pity to have them stuck away ….. so into the memory box they have gone, in the hope that seeing them each day will spur me into action.

It’s a bit eclectic, but it’s me! Now that I have filled these three boxes …. I think I may see if I can find another three ....... except that IKEA have stopped doing them ...... bum!

Blog Hopping

You may have noticed that my “Places I Like To Visit” has disappeared from my sidebar. When I went through it the other day I found some had disappeared and others had not posted for a while, so I decided to have a spring clean (?!!!) and start again.

So I’ve been on a blog hop and found this lovely blog written by Leigh (one of my followers) which has a sewing theme, something I will definitely be trying to get into in the New Year,  using my trusty £7 Singer machine I got off e-bay.

http://www.thesewingdivaandherreluctantmodels.blogspot.com/

Leigh makes such  lovely things and I was so jealous when I read that she had actually done a display of her work in a local shop window, something which I have ALWAYS wanted to do – in fact my post scheduled for 27th December is all about a window dressing course I went on in October.

Leigh also links to some fantastic blogs, my favourite has to be one called “ Crap I’ve Made” – what a brilliant name …… I howled when I saw it and I wished I’d thought of it first.

Anyway ….. have a look for yourselves……. why not give Leigh a visit ……

What’s On My Desk Wednesday

Treasure ……… rescued from the bin …… lots and lots of old, worn tape measures …… aint got a clue to do with them ….. but sewing them together springs to mind …. all suggestions welcome!

Snow Bubbles For My Festive Bathroom!

I know, I know, I know ….. I have too much time on my hands!!! (I wish!).  But this is an idea I’ve had in my head for ages and just wanted to see if it would work …..

It’s a large bottle of white foam bath (80p Morrison's) that I have covered with printed images on A4 paper, using a design set called Little Joys by Zoe Pearn http://sweetshoppedesigns.com/sweetshoppe/product.php?productid=16188&cat=0&page=3.  I have printed a background paper and snowman which I have cut out and stuck down then varnished over it with Modge Podge Sparkle (if I were to do it again I think I would prefer to use a mat finish). 

In between coats of Modge Podge I have added self adhesive letters and punched snowflakes, and then coated over them again.  When dry, I have added small buttons and eyes to the snowman and blue flat backed gems to the snowflakes.

I have used about six coats of Modge Podge in the hope of keeping the bottle fairly bathroom proof …. it will be interesting to see how long it stays in relatively good nick!

I’ve added a plastic snowflake and flat backed gem to the cap with strong epoxy glue.

Beer Mat/Coaster Calendar

I hope I am not teaching my granny to suck eggs, but I have put a tutorial together for making a calendar using a beer mat.  I know when I first started crafting and didn’t have much of a clue, I would have loved something like this to follow.

You will need a beer mat, a covering paper, a couple of magnets/magnet strip, a calendar tab, mini bulldog clips (not essential, but look cute), glue, and some embellishments like stickers and oddments of ribbon.

 

First, cover both sides of the beer mat, any thickish paper paper will do.  I have used DCWV self adhesive paper.  But because it is self adhesive it’s quick and I don’t have to use any glue.

Take your calendar tab (Anita’s do packs of 6 for 99p from most craft shops at this time of year) and make a little backing for it, to add a bit of colour, glue together and trim to fit covered beer mat.

I have decided not to glue my backed calendar tab down, but hold it together with mini bulldogs clips (these were from e-bay, but are  available in most craft and stationary shops and they don’t cost a lot for a pack).  By not sticking it down I can use the base again next year if I want.

Turn the mat over and stick on the magnets, I’ve used magnetic strip from HobbyCraft, they also sell A4 sheets of magnetic foam and packs of small magnets, all are equally suitable.  Use a strong glue to fix them with.

Next is all the lovely twiddly fiddly stuff.  I’ve used a scrap of Anita’s self adhesive ribbon  (99p a pack from craft shops, in lots of different designs)  along the bottom and some butterfly stickers (a bargain 60p at pack from an indoor market) and some flat backed gems. 

 

As a finishing touch I have done faux stitching round the edges with a black gel pen.

Simples! I’ll be making quite a few of these as stocking fillers.



Oh my life, I have found my perfect gingerbread man on this site:- http://www.fancyflours.com/site/4200-HS-WGM-1.html - he's 1.5 ins wide x 2ins tall - BUT - he comes from USA, costs $19 (about £12.22) plus p & p and is currently out of stock!  So in the words of The Apprentice - FiddleFarts search to find her perfect gingerbread man continues .....