Where do I start … it was just too WONDERFUL!
Marc is such an inspiration not only creatively but also as a person. I was very, very spoilt, my suitcase was bulging when I left, and I was very pampered with lovely food, the most gorgeous bedroom and the company of three beautiful Bassett Hounds. ….. I can safely say that Lottie and I bonded!
Unfortunately, for Marc, he soon discovered I have a propensity for tea leafing things, not deliberately with the intention to steal …. I just sort of aquire things by picking them up … for example:- on the underground I discovered that I was wearing his partner Rick's specs and in the morning after going out for a meal I found Marc’s VERY expensive pin in my rucksack!!!! He also found that I also liked to make little piles of “stuff” all around the flat …. a bit like a establishing my territory! I must have been a nightmare guest!
We talked constantly …. about everything, but crafting was always lurking there in the background.
The first thing we “played” with was Marc’s A3 Foil It machine, he’d had it for quite a while but this was the first time he had used it …..
All I can say is OMG, OMG, OMG .......
I always thought foiling was soooooo complicated, but all you have to do is print whatever it is you want to foil, e.g a card verse, on a copier or laser jet printer and then pass it through the Foil It machine with a piece of special foil over it (just like a laminator) and then Bob’s your Aunt Fanny!!
The foils come in all sorts of colours and finishes and I was unashamedly hooked …. already thinking about my son’s wedding invitations …And now I have a confession to make to Marc after he offered to lend this wondrous machine to me, I knew that if he did he would never get it back ….. so as soon as I got home, before I had even unpacked, I was online buying the smaller A4 version, (because I thought I would be able to take it to work on the bus and use it on certificates and stuff!!!) I have so many ideas …… and Marc was well and truly the hero of the day re: my mojo!!
Marc also showered me with a huge box of wooden embellishments from a company Crafty-Emblies who he has been raving about for ages, they are stunning, and I think you will be seeing a lot of them in the coming months. It’s really worth having a look at their website at the range of really unusual embellishments and boxes
and you wont believe the prices!
I love the large mdf folder above so much. Amongst all the goodies was a wooden train with twenty five carriages ….. Marc had an Advent train in mind when he ordered it … I don’t think I have enough time to do it for this year but I can see it becoming a labour of love for next year.
Marc makes the most exquisite pins ….
….. and he showed me his mahoooosive collection of beads and showed me how to make the pins …. oh my life they are stunning!
This is a box Marc made covering it first with microbeads ….
…and then adding other beads and 3D paint liners.
My pictures just do not do it justice …. and the work involved ….. wow!
And as for this cross!
I owe Marc so much, when I went to bed I made endless notes in the little book I took with me ….. I was so inspired and fired up with so many ideas, my mojo is back thanks to him! ….. Marc is the most incredible sharing and generous person I have ever met, he has so much talent but he is so quiet and modest about the incredible things he has done …… I am so lucky to be able to call him a friend and I cherish every text, e-mail, phone call and meeting we exchange. All being well I will see him again in January …. and hopefully I will be able to repay his kindness by one day having him and Rick stay with me.
Tomorrow my first make inspired by my visit …….
I made this book of spells as a very elaborate trick or treat box a few years back …. 
….. and because the skellybob hand was quite heavy I needed a light but secure and substantial fastener ….
So it was a case of ….. bring on the VELCRO®! On this occasion I glued the VELCRO®, but if I was to do a similar project again I would now use the self adhesive STICK ON variety.
VELCRO®fabulous!
…. and you can see that he has used VELCRO® adhesive dots for the fastener.
VELCRO®TASTIC!
And on my head I will also be wearing my Primark Christmas pudding hat £3, what a bargain!!
Ho, Ho, Ho!!
But at almost the same time as it’s arrival came my box of VELCRO® magic, and then it was a no brainer …..
….. I attached a strip of VELCRO® to the notebook and another to the pen top … simples!
Cheryl W suggests …….
And finally a heads up to this gorgeous tiny Christmas baby socks from Primark …. these are size 0 – 2.5 (early days) and cost £1.50 for three pairs. Last year you might remember that I filled Christmas baby socks (below), not half as pretty as these, filling them with sweets with sweets and they vanished as soon as I put them out. You could also buy three sets (24) to make a gorgeous Advent washing line!
This years socks will be put across our fireplace on a piece of pretty string and attached with miniature pegs …. photos to follow in December.
These very large and sparkly cabochons were amongst my treasures from Marc, The picture doesn’t do their sparkliness and colour any justice at all, and though they look like glass they are actually plastic!
The oval ones screamed Christmas bauble to me and the above card was my first effort …. but I didn’t like the positioning of the baubles, the gold foiling on the Craftwork Card sentiment or the colour of the card ….
So I went back to the drawing board and came up with this. It measures 19.5cms x 8cms and is made using a lustre effect card. I have swopped the gold foil sentiment with a silver one, added a clear square flat backed gem to the top of each bauble and then drew the thread with a silver gel pen, a few silver stars finish off the whole effect. I was so chuffed when it was done and it took me no more than ten minutes to do.
Marc is such an inspiration not only creatively but also as a person. I was very, very spoilt, my suitcase was bulging when I left, and I was very pampered with lovely food, the most gorgeous bedroom and the company of three beautiful Bassett Hounds. ….. I can safely say that Lottie and I bonded!
Unfortunately, for Marc, he soon discovered I have a propensity for tea leafing things, not deliberately with the intention to steal …. I just sort of aquire things by picking them up … for example:- on the underground I discovered that I was wearing his partner Rick's specs and in the morning after going out for a meal I found Marc’s VERY expensive pin in my rucksack!!!! He also found that I also liked to make little piles of “stuff” all around the flat …. a bit like a establishing my territory! I must have been a nightmare guest!
We talked constantly …. about everything, but crafting was always lurking there in the background.
The first thing we “played” with was Marc’s A3 Foil It machine, he’d had it for quite a while but this was the first time he had used it …..
All I can say is OMG, OMG, OMG .......
I always thought foiling was soooooo complicated, but all you have to do is print whatever it is you want to foil, e.g a card verse, on a copier or laser jet printer and then pass it through the Foil It machine with a piece of special foil over it (just like a laminator) and then Bob’s your Aunt Fanny!!
The foils come in all sorts of colours and finishes and I was unashamedly hooked …. already thinking about my son’s wedding invitations …And now I have a confession to make to Marc after he offered to lend this wondrous machine to me, I knew that if he did he would never get it back ….. so as soon as I got home, before I had even unpacked, I was online buying the smaller A4 version, (because I thought I would be able to take it to work on the bus and use it on certificates and stuff!!!) I have so many ideas …… and Marc was well and truly the hero of the day re: my mojo!!
Marc also showered me with a huge box of wooden embellishments from a company Crafty-Emblies who he has been raving about for ages, they are stunning, and I think you will be seeing a lot of them in the coming months. It’s really worth having a look at their website at the range of really unusual embellishments and boxes and you wont believe the prices! 
I love the large mdf folder above so much. Amongst all the goodies was a wooden train with twenty five carriages ….. Marc had an Advent train in mind when he ordered it … I don’t think I have enough time to do it for this year but I can see it becoming a labour of love for next year.
….. and he showed me his mahoooosive collection of beads and showed me how to make the pins …. oh my life they are stunning!
This is a box Marc made covering it first with microbeads …. 
…and then adding other beads and 3D paint liners.
My pictures just do not do it justice …. and the work involved ….. wow!
And as for this cross!
Remember the old chair I got for free from one of the shops in the village that was having a chuck out …..
Well, it's finally finished and I have to admit that it was the fiddleist project I have attempted so far mainly because of various nooks and crannies on the front legs. 
But, it’s now finished and I LOVE it and it is now sharing my boudoir with the bejewelled mirror I finished a few weeks ago. I am hoping to treat myself to a new look bedroom in the New Year, I plan the main colours to be cream and turquoise and then accessorised with a whole miss match of the jewel like colours taken from the chair …. and I have my next project in sight ….
…. an old dressing table mirror that was given to me by my Grandmother and that I have used every morning to bung on my slap for years ….. but I am still a little unsure of exactly what to do with it, I don’t think it would look right Decopatched, at the moment it is sprayed gold but it is very dull ….. I am wondering if I could inject some vibrancy into it by gold leafing it and then adding a bit of stamping ….???? Any suggestions are most welcome on a postcard addressed to "FiddleFart – Mirror"!!!!!
This is all I have made this Halloween (sorry) and I only made 12! The small plastic pumpkins came from Poundworld for a pack of 6, which I featured a few weeks ago.
All I have done is fill them with about eight Celebration chocolates, bought from Tesco when the large tins were only £4 each (I have another two put under the bed for Christmas …. if they last that long!)
…. and the tags were made using a punch and some Halloween stickers from Accessorize left over from last year. 
I’m sorry that I haven’t bought you more ideas this year, BUT if you scroll down the page and look on the right hand side you will come to LABELS and if you click on Halloween you will find 34 ideas from the last couple of years which I hope will give you a little inspiration. A lot of the stuff I used is still available in Poundshops etc. and I think some branches of Accessorize have packs of small Halloween stickers.
