Day Of The Dead Key Rings

After a long weekend with Marc, where on earth do you start with a head banging full of ideas and inspiration?

In the end I decided to go for using the 1” diameter metal charms Marc bought me for just 20p, as I already had a pretty good idea what I could do with them, nothing taxing, just something very simple.

I had a pack of skull cabochons from The Works and some keying fittings that I think Marc also gave me at the start of our friendship, all was going as planned until I started fiddle farting.

The charms, cabochons, fixed with E6000 and key rings when put together were fine as they were, then I thought I could add a couple of other small charms, hence the silver keys and bead drops taken from a disassembled necklace. 

Jump rings are my nemesis, Marc makes it look so easy, and he says I make it look soooooo difficult, but I persevered and in turn I am really chuffed with the results, which will probably end up in someone’s cracker this Christmas.

Car-Booting With Marc and Rick at Ketch.

I’ve just got back from a lovely long weekend with Marc and Rick at their Worcester Cottage and on Sunday we decided to go to a Car Boot Sale at Ketch, something I haven’t done with Marc for quite a while, so it was a really, really happy occasion, as Marc and I can mooch for England!

Last week Marc and Rick were buying up all the cut glass they could find for a Mad Hatters Tea Party Rick was working on. I need to get some photos of the end result as Marc put together some fantastic ideas that I am sure you would really love to see.

Needless to say, we found some bargains, I am absolutely desperate for old, wooden, straight sided dominoes as they are getting harder and harder to find, at a reasonable price to craft with, they seem to be getting thinner and often the corners are cut at an angle.  This set cost me 50p and are perfect!

Marc bought me the Gingerbread tin for 50p, which will grace one of my festive shelf displays at Christmas.  The gingerbread house cookie set was £1, I was so chuffed when I found it.  I need to find a good salt dough recipe and then experiment a bit.  I think the house may be a little too big for a Christmas tree decoration but I am sure I can adapt it to hang on a wall or as a centre piece on a door wreath.

These enamel effect stars had to be my bargain of the morning at just £2 for all nine! They are gorgeous, I might change the gold hanging thread for a matching narrow ribbon, but these will make beautiful parcel charms on a plainly wrapped parcel  again at Christmas.

I brought very few ribbons with me from Wolverhampton to Evesham, and occasionally miss having a big box full to trawl through to finish off a project, there are plenty of assorted 1m lengths in this bundle which I am sure will come in very useful, for sweetie bags or bow on hair clips for Iris.  The heads were a “Marc find” for 50p for angels (????), along with some conical shaped beads, which I might have an idea for already.

Another buy from Marc above, well at 20p for the charms and bubble caps it would have been rude not to buy them.  I have some Day of the Dead cabochons that I think might fit very nicely in them and I also think I have some key ring fittings somewhere, so watch this space.

I also managed to find a little bit of Sylvanian Families furniture to put away for Iris, sadly I missed out on a Sylvanian Family Camper van full of extra bits when I dawdled and said I’d think about it, needless to say it had gone when I went back, lesson learned!!  Rick bought quite a few plants, and Marc made several jewellery purchases of brooches and a necklace, for silly money, as well as two ex-restaurant kitchen cast iron frying pans, again for silly money, 50p each, but perfect for alfresco eating back at the cottage …… oh and Marc and I also both bought some very posh ex W H Smith gift wrap, 12 sheets for £1 which I would have been far too tight to buy at the proper price!  Happy Days!

Easter Bunny Or New Baby Tags.

I hope you are not getting sick of all my tags, I am just thinking ahead of what might sell best if I have a craft stall at a fayre in the run up to Christmas, there is so much competition for selling cards that I might sell more bits and pieces if I diversify, as well as trying to keep prices low.  I was at a fayre last month and my eyes watered at the prices, a small mdf gingerbread man like I have used in the past, simply glued onto a small slate heart with a string  loop £4? I am thinking that 50p would be a reasonable price for one of these tags?

These bunnies were bought this Easter from Home Bargains for 69p for 5, but I ran out of time, I then thought that they could also be used on a new baby tag.  The bunnies had a string attached between the ears which came out pretty easily.

The frames are pretty easy to put together as I have illustrated in past posts.

I added a small matching ribbon on each bunny and two contrasting buttons to the frame before faux stitching with a black fine liner pen all round the edges of the frame.

I tidied up the back of the tag with a scrap of white card which I edged with black pen, then drilled a hole in the corner of the frame to accommodate a silver jump ring to hold a thread for attaching to either a present or Easter Egg.  Sorted!

Christmas House Tags

The jury’s out on these tags, I confess I got carried away, but for me the results are just too over the top. I don’t think all the silver filigree works, but then again I am very less is more, and for some people, especially at Christmas, a little more is never enough!

I used children’s wooden picture dominoes as a base of the tags, something strong and long lasting, so that perhaps they can be hung on the Christmas tree in the the future, as a memory of Christmas 2017.

I stamped the Stampin’Up house stamps directly onto rolled out, beige coloured Fimo, which were carefully cut out and baked.

When the Fimo  houses were “cooked” the tags were gradually built up, it was at the final stage that I got a little unstuck, there was too much empty space and I was determined to fill it ……..

…… but it all became a bit pearls and filigree akimbo …. plus for good measure, a path of Ranger Enamel Accents! Hmmmmm, too much, too much!

I wonder if the houses may have looked more subtle against the blue and white if I had used a pale grey Fimo instead, as an experiment I coloured one in with a grey Sharpie pen, and I am still not sure!

I left the sides and back as they were showing the natural wood, although I did do a little faux stitching, using a black fine liner pen round the edges of the back to give the tags a more finished look.

There’s lots of ifs and buts  with this idea that I could twiddle with, flatter, silver peel offs in the corners perhaps, a sentiment at the bottom ….. if I wanted,  however on this occasion, this is not a project I think I will be revisiting.

Walnut Shell Christmas Tree Decoration

This is an idea I have been thinking about for ages, in fact I bought the walnuts last Christmas, I just never got round to using or eating them, but this year I am starting early with my Christmas crafting.

I got the idea from Pinterest and really, for my version, there’s not an awful lot to them. All I used were walnut shell halves, angels taken from a charity shop find, some strong white cotton thread, a  few stars and E6000 glue.

After halving the walnuts and removing the contents I drilled a hole in the pointed end of the shell. I then threaded the cotton through the hole to hang the decoration from, this was the most fiddly part, and made my eyes cross even more than usual!

Next I glued the angel in the middle of the shell using E6000, because I needed a really strong bond.

And the finishing touch……  a bit of an after thought, adding tiny silver stars around the top of the shell.  The top middle star is ever so slightly bigger than the others. I glued them with E6000 because PVA didn’t stick them securely enough.

Et voila!  I am now bursting with ideas for what else I can put in other shells, I am thinking ….. nativity scene made using Fimo, so be prepared for my crossed eyed look to continue for a while!

Jewelled Oval Mirror

Hmmmmm, not too sure about this one, at the moment …….

When my father-in-laws house was being cleared to sell last year, I asked if I could have the oval mirror that had hung in the dining room forever, it had no value, but I hoped that in time I could breath new life into it, so that it could continue live on, all be it in a different guise, hopefully somewhere in my new home.

The mirror measures approximately 58cms at its tallest  and 36cms at its widest .

With the mirrors I have bejewelled in the past I have been fairly random in my placing of the jewels, but this time, because of the shape, lack of frame and the type of jewels I was much more disciplined, trying to keep things as symmetrical as I could.  I am not sure if that’s really me though!

The roses were taken from four Poundland bracelets and the other gems taken from charity shop finds, costing no more than five pounds in total.

I started at the top, then the bottom, trying to “mirror” the pattern, then did the same again on the middle sections of the sides, filling the rest when I was happy,  but now looking at the finished results I wonder if it’s just a little too ordered, it seems to lack the character of my previous random mirrors.

Although there are jewels all the way round, leaving no spaces, I have decided to put the mirror under wraps for a while, to be continued at a later date. I don’t think the edges are “encrusted” enough, but finding jewels that will fit in might take a little while, perhaps a trip to Primark might help. I think it might also need another colour or two, and perhaps a bit of layering, especially on the large turquoise gems.   It’s all a bit of trial and error, but I think I will get there in the end …… it just needs that added element of randomness.

Wooden Angel Tags

These tags were made using mini 5.5 cm x .5 craft sticks (from e-bay)

The angels were part of a Christmas decoration, a 99p charity shop find which I bought and disassembled just for the twenty or so angels.

I didn’t keep the pegs that they were attached to as they were past redemption with holes drilled into them, but I still have the tree frame, somewhere.

I made up the frames with a starry background.

I used a black fine liner pen for faux stitching all the edges and then added four tiny blue buttons in the corners.

I drilled a small hole in the corner of the frame for a large, silver jump ring for a tying or hanging thread ………

……. and neatened up the back for a message, if used as a tag.

Not a lot to them, but very sweet and at least I can say that a crafty charity shop was not left languishing in a drawer as so often happens, but was used!

Home Sweet Home Card

This card measure 5ins x 5ins and is made using a hand cut white linen effect card blank.

This idea started off as a tag, then a fridge magnet and finally a card. As a tag I didn’t think the subject worked, perhaps having a limited appeal “if” I were to put it on a craft stall nearer Christmas, as a card I thought it would be more saleable, if that makes sense?

For the frame I used my new mini craft sticks, which measure approx. 5.5cms x .5cms, they are beginning to grow on me despite my earlier misgivings, their size gives them really delicate look when used for tags, making them perfect for small embellishments.

After the background was put together and stuck on the back of the frame, I added the wording and faux stitching using a black fine liner pen, two tiny blue buttons and finally the house, fixed by two foam pads, one on top of each other onto the backing, so that they stand everso slightly proud of the frame.

The houses were made by stamping Stampin’Up house stamps straight onto Fimo and then baked.  The roofs were then glued onto the houses with E6000 for a really firm grip.

Then I started fiddle farting …. as I thought the grass area  looked a bit bare, so after scratting about in my boxes I found some tiny weeny puffy flower stickers that just finished things off in that bit …… and then, I felt the need to give the door the tiniest of tiny pearl door knobs!!!

All that was left to do then was to stick the completed frame on to the card blank.  I mat and layered the centre using white card on Kraft card to compliment the wood of the frame.

Done and dusted!