Wooden Halloween Bat Pin Badge Brooches

I think at least four of these pin badge/brooches will find themselves in crackers for my annual Halloween sleepover party later on in the year, Covid-19 obliging.

The badges were made using MDF bats found on eBay, mini Christmas dominoes that I buy specifically for crafting and starry patterned paper.

The plain side of the dominoes were coloured using a black Sharpie pen and the fronts covered with the paper.

The bats were also coloured in black on both sides and then glued to the front of the domino with two tiny red flat back gems added for eyes.

On a few I added a “boo” using my Dymo label maker, but I wasn’t sure if I liked that idea or not.

I wish I had then simply varnished the front with PVA glue instead of using a generous layer of Ranger Glossy Accents ……

……. because I think it’s given them too much shine and somehow the bats and background are lost under it, but that being said taking pictures so close up don’t exactly do them justice. 

I then had another “play” with the idea, using a plain orange background paper and without the Glossy Accents to see if I was right.

Hmmmmmm, I am still not sure, I now don’t like the Glitter Modge Podge I added to the orange paper to seal it ….. and I don’t think the white dots on the bats add anything either. I think I could fine tune the idea again, but to be honest there are only so many badges we can wear on the day …… so perhaps I’ll just leave it at that ……. for now.

Acorn Peg Dolls Christmas Tree Ornament

The new set peg dolls I had ordered from China arrived much faster than I thought they would, two weeks must be a record, but what to do with them ……… acorn peg dolls!

I started by making a house base using plain mini craft sticks from Hobbycraft (£1), colouring the roof with a red Sharpie pen.

I used a small Christmas domino piece (painted white) that I buy especially for crafting for the shelf,  because the doll would have otherwise hung over the narrower stick everso slightly and I didn’t really want that.

I then took a peg doll and gave him an acorn hat, admittedly, at first, it looked a bit big, but there again it also looked pretty cute, so I went with the flow.  This autumn will now be spent looking for more acorn cups,  the ones I used on this project go back at least three years and I only have a few left now.

The peg doll was then given a green felt scarf, tiny, black, flat back eyes and brown flat buttons, left over from my daughters diamond art project.

I then attached the doll to the house base with a good dollop of Aleene’s Glitter Snow.  I have got through my first tub already but as I have enjoyed using it so much this past month or so I have ordered another two tubs, it’s only August, so with five months to go before Christmas I am sure I will be wanting to use it an awful lot more.

I also added the Glitter Snow around the top of the roof, the red Sharpie pen did bleed a little bit into it, but nothing a few dabs of white paint couldn’t hide.

It was then time to add the little Christmas Trees (Amazon), removing their original base and replacing it with a smaller bead to get a slightly better proportion and also trimming the bristles on the back so that the tree could be glued flat onto the house frame.

I can’t say I particularly enjoyed added all the flat back gems to the trees, it was blooming fiddly and I probably used far too much glue, but I think I got away with it.

The last thing I had to do was add a small finding on the back so that the finished decoration can be hung up on a Christmas Tree etc.

Voila, I managed to make twelve of these decorations before running out of suitably sized acorn cups, the rest were just too big.

I may however make a few more …….. if mission acorn hunting 2020 is successful.

Malvern Antiques and Collectors Fair

With lockdown easing Lu and I were feeling suitably brave enough to visit the Malvern Antiques and Collectors Fair a couple of weeks ago before we went stir crazy.  We got there at around 9.30am and dutifully paid our £5 entrance fee, despite Lucy only spending £1 on a set of four vintage, gold rimmed tumblers and me nothing, we were not disappointed, it was a glorious day out, with so much to see and talk about.

I was happy to just take pictures (with permission) of all the things I desired but couldn’t afford, like this 19th Century wooden shrine, it was £65 and despite stroking it lovingly it didn’t make it get any cheaper!

I dare not stroke this French marriage dome at just £120! However, I do have a spare dome, I could possibly find a Virgin Mary on eBay and then a few dried flowers ……. hmmmmm

You know I absolutely love a mirror and this one was not only right up my street but also absolutely mahoooooosive, I didn’t dare ask the price, but if I had the right sort (and big enough house) this would definitely find itself behind my bed as a bed board.

This second mirror was not so glamorous, in fact its flipping ugly, but in the right place I could see it work ….. in a bathroom perhaps?

This cruet set was within my budget at £6, but would I use it? Probably not. Would it sit on my shelves, gathering dust. Yes. Could I live without it, again, probably yes.

This table was cute …..

…… as this monstrosity was erm …… different.

I have two – "ones that got away" ……. this really colourful ornament of a church mouse wedding for £5.  I now wish I had taken a picture of the mark on the bottom so  that I could look for similar pieces.  There was also a cat, with two mice by the same artist but without a mark or name it’s going to be a long, hard search.  The mice remind me of Bertie’s favourite stories about Pip and Posy, I am not sure if they are related in any way.  Anyone any the wiser than me?

This second – “one that got away” was a bag of mostly glass leaves, which I was told, when all put together made some sort of a chrysanthemum type ornament.  It was all filthy and the wire fastenings on the leaves etc, well and truly rusted …… and the price £30!  Believe me I thought long and hard, it was the leaves I was really interested in, and after a rough count there were well over 30 of them, so all in all less than £1 each, without counting anything else.  If a fiddle farty idea had sprung into my mind then and there I think I would have had them, but it didn’t, other than painting them ……… so they stayed on the stall.

I believe originally it might have been a fancier version of something above, a vintage Chinese jade ornament …… I don’t think it was jade, but who knows.  Yes, I could have bought it, but it could also  have then languished in a drawer for years after than. 

And finally, this is Lucy’s one that got away, well, the booby ladies sitting on the edge of the glasses to be precise. There were four of them, but the man would only sell the glasses and the cocktail paraphernalia as one lot for £10 which was a lot to pay when only wanting one or two items from it to sit on her cocktail shelf, so we walked away, but I will be looking for something similar on eBay in the future for Christmas/birthdays etc.

So, that was our day, there is a Flea Market at the showground on August Bank Holiday, we’ve been before, the prices tend to be a little cheaper so perhaps there is more of a chance for a few considered purchase being  made, fingers crossed!

Little Snowman In A Bottle Christmas Tree Ornament/Decoration

This is another project Marc and I worked on while I stayed with him a few weeks ago, tiny snowmen in bottles.

Marc was in charge of the bottles (The Works – 6 for £1) ……..

……. wrapping a length of thread round the top, attaching a plastic snowflake charm and then gluing the charm to the bottom, as they had the habit of sticking up/out if left to their own devices.

On the cork Marc glued a silver spacer bead with a screw eye in the middle so that the bottles can be hung from the branches of a Christmas tree etc.

Above is my practice run bottle made at home, the purpose of which was to gauge the size of the snowmen I needed to make to fit in bottles and also to see what “snow” worked best, tiny polystyrene balls or glitter.  In the end I went for the glitter as the balls tended to cling due to static electricity. I can’t remember the type of pen I used for the hat, face and buttons but it bleed, I put this down to not giving the air dough sufficient time to dry out thoroughly.

When I got to Marc’s I made more snowmen who had the tiniest of tiny Fimo noses, aghhhhhhh!

It was then Marc’s idea to give the snowmen arms using legs cut off plastic Halloween spiders, they were perfect and “gave a little” when a few of the snowmen were later carefully inserted into the bottles.

……….then after a day or two of drying came the task of giving adding their tiny eyes, buttons and a scarves using a single strand of red cotton yarn.  Marc has so much patience with “the detail”

I spent a morning colouring in the hats with fine tipped red and green Sharpies and then the snowmen were all bottled up ready for me to add the snow when I got home.

However …….. the red ink from the pens continued to bleed into the snowmen, giving them a slightly pink hue around the gills, I admit to only giving them about three days to dry out ……. bum, I don’t think it was really long enough!  I currently have a month old snowman that I have marked with the same pens to see it will bleed after that length of time.  I know I am being a diva perfectionist, but if I was given one of these bottles, I know the first thing I would notice would be the pink seepage, I cant help it!

So, although Marc’s bottles were perfection, my impatience is questionable. I think I am going to make another set of snowmen, this time either using Fimo, adding a hat in another colour or trying air dough again, but giving it a good couple of weeks to settle before adding any colour.  So watch this space …………

Little Wooden Studded Christmas Trees.

Two very simple Christmas tree decorations today ……….

Made using plain, wooden Christmas trees bought from Hobbycraft last year.  I just coloured them in with two shades of green Sharpie pen on the top and a red one on the bottom.

I then dotted around the top part with white Ranger Enamel Accents and then put a small, silver, flat back gem in the centre of each enamel blob, before adding a eye screw to the top to hang each tree by.  Done and dusted.

The finish by no means perfect I know, but these are destined for Iris and Bertie’s Christmas Tree this year and they certainly wont mind the odd smudge or off centred gem.  If I were going to do them again, I would certainly take more time, but this was just a quick experiment to finally get the trees used up instead of taking space up in my craft drawers.

Flip Flop Birthday Card

This card measures 6ins x 6ins and uses a white, pre-scored blank bought in a bulk pack in one of  Hobbycrafts sales.

No real great shakes here on the creative front, just quick and easy card made for my lovely neighbour Kata who wears nothing other than flip flops on her feet!

I simply covered the front of the card blank with a suitable paper from my docrafts “In Bloom” paper pad, found out two packs of different sized self adhesive, silver glitter alphabet sets and jiggled around with them until they looked pretty balanced in the middle of the card

I added a flat back pearl to each foam flip flop embellishments and then filled in some of the gaps with various sized silver stars and a scattering of three black dots (that weren't really necessary).  One birthday card done and dusted!

Snappy Birthday – Crocodile Birthday Card

This card measures 6ins x 6ins and uses a white, pre scored, manufactured card blank from a bulk pack from Hobbycraft.

Another super easy card today, this one was made for my daughter Lucy’s birthday the other week.

I found the extra large crocodile puffy sticker reduced to just 50p online from Hobbycraft, I loved it so much I added another four to a follow up order as I could see it’s potential, “Snappy Christmas” (?), and especially as I am currently only making quick and simple cards to free up more time for making decorative stuff for Christmas.

I used two papers from the Docrafts In Bloom paper pad, red glitter stickers for the sentiment and then gave Mr Croc two different sized googly eyes for comic value before hiding his original black bow tie with a smaller pre-tied and embellished bow for extra dimension and texture …….. and that’s about it!

Wooden Santa Pin Badge Brooches

My apologies, I have a feeling that I may be posting a few very similar projects in the lead up to Halloween and Christmas, like these badges/brooches and the small craft stick houses, it’s just that I am enjoying playing with the basic idea and when I find other suitable embellishments, I want to go with the flow and if I do have a craft stall at any time in the future it also means I am able to offer a choice of the same idea.

I wasn’t all that keen on these wooden Hobbycraft Santa embellishments (6 for £1) to start off with, but needless to say I have since ordered a few more packs once I realised their potential.

After I had given them a couple of tiny black flat back gem eyes and a shiny red nose, plus a liberal dose of glitter they took on a whole new, cuter look.

I simply stuck the Santas on to a small, painted and covered wooden domino piece  as I have shown before …….

……. making the “ho ho ho” using my trusty old Dymo label maker and a few tiny silver stars ………

…… followed by a generous layer of Ranger Glossy Accents.

…… and finally adding the brooch finding to the back using a really strong epoxy resin glue to make as sure as I can that it won’t easily come off.

I then simply made a little backing card to attach the brooch to before sealing it in half a bookmark sized cello bag to keep it clean and look a little more professional if selling.