Experimenting …… Making Wax/Faux Wax Seals

I was having a rootle about in my craft room cupboards and found a Wax Seal Gun and a heart seal that the Duke bought me, goodness knows how many Christmas’s ago. I felt so guilty, I had asked for some proper sealing wax and a seal which he bought, plus the gun and wax sticks to go with it, but after a couple of disappointing results with the “real” wax and seal, it was all put away for a rainy day, the gun unopened and unused.  As I laid it all on my desk I said aloud …. “Oh Andy I am so sorry”.  If I could have that Christmas back again, Christmas dinner would have been late and everything would have had a seal stuck on it, to show him how grateful I was.

But I have had it out now, and am feeling pretty chuffed.  The wax sticks which I had in various colours didn’t go very far, perhaps making a maximum of four seals per stick, but the results were very pleasing.  Now, Marc will now be saying they need some gilding …. so I will be taking some down to London on my next visit for us to play with.

Then I got to wondering how the seal would work with Utee and my Ranger Melting Pot …. as I thought that if it worked, it would be an excellent way to use up all the scraps of Utee I had kept.

And as it happened all these scraps when melted together made a glittery, rich plum red which was perfect for seals!

Again, I was very happy with the results…….

….. I was even brave enough to “actually” seal a birthday card envelope for my Niece!

So now …..  my next job is to do something with all these seals …. I am thinking …… Kraft card tags and on parcels wrapped in Kraft tag paper………???

Three More Christmas Presents From Marc

This is how my boudoir bed looked on Christmas morning ….. with my presents from Marc (and Rick) laid out on it …….

I can’t believe how beautifully everything goes together.  Each parcel was beautifully wrapped in Kraft paper with lots of typical Marc-esque flounces and fluster, and tags with cryptic messages written on. The first thing you will notice are the two Big Love paperweights which will have pride of place on my desk when I get back to work …. made, I do believe, with the Poundland photo paperweights I took down on my last visit in October.

Marc says he made the gold background using Lancashire Rose Mega Flakes from Indigoblu http://www.indigoblu.com/flakes-glue-c12/flakes-c19/indigoblu-megaflake-lancashire-rose-p449.

There was also this beautiful box “commissioned” by Marc’s partner Rick to make for me …

It’s absolutely stunning, and now has pride of place on the top of my drawers in my bedroom.

Marc has covered it with millions of seed beads, sequins, micro beads and silver embellishments using a mixture of all the pva/water based glues known to man!  If anyone can out fiddlefart me, it’s Marc, and his patience? Marc is the most patient and diligent man I know when it comes to crafting!

And last but by no means least, this embellished notebook and pen, oh my life I just love them …… they are sooooooooooo Marc, and soooooooooo me!! The pen caused Marc the greatest fiddlefart, in fact he said that it was a “right bugger” as he had to hold it with a wire in order to cover it a tiny bit at a time so that the beads didn’t glob together and make the covering too thick    and then he had to allow it all to dry, before adding the next bit etc.  They are  beautiful and will have a special pocket in my handbag so they are with me all the time.

So Christmas Day was full of discovering wonderful, wonderful treasures made with an awful lot of love ….. I am such a lucky girl!!!

New Year Favours Using Rainbow Twizzlers

When Lucy and I went shopping in Walmart in Las Vegas one of the “most wanted” things on my shopping list was a big bag of Rainbow Twizzlers …….

….. no wonder I had to pay for extra baggage on the way home!!

It’s a miracle that the said Twizzlers weren’t eaten between the time we got back and just after Christmas, when I made these favours, believe me at times I was sorely tempted!

Wearing latex gloves, I put a layer of white mini mallows at the bottom of each cello bag (to look like clouds), added a 6cm length of each flavour Twizzler, and then sealed the bags using my Elitech bag sealer.

I then made thin bag toppers using gold card, fastening them with double sided tape to the cello bags and sentiment tags using my Stampin’ Up plain and scalloped edge punches.

In the centre of each tag I hand wrote my New Year message and added a matching ribbon to the side.

The final touch was a gold chocolate coin, (stuck on the front of the bag with double sided tape)  …… because at the end of every rainbow is a crock of gold! I shall give these to friends on our first day back at work after the Christmas break. Happy Days!

Super Swopsies

You may remember that I and the Equally Lovely Denise (The Lovely Laura’s Mum) had agreed to do a swop …… I had a overwhelming desire for some bright crocheted cushion covers, as I had decided to embrace colour to add a certain je ne sais pas to my largely magnolia rooms……. and Denise rather fancied a FiddleFart work of art!!!!!!……

Well,  just before Christmas we arranged the “grand hand over” …. oh my goodness, WHAT a swop! as I opened Denise’s parcel the whoops of delight just got louder and louder, not only from me but also from My Lucy ….. as each cover was revealed in all it’s glory, 

I just can’t tell you how thrilled I am ……

…… or how jealous Lucy was …..

…. and the backs are just as beautiful, made from a variety of cotton floral prints.

What a brilliant, brilliant swop, and I sigh every time I go into my lounge, because it looks so beautiful and bright!

Denise gets her Planet Penny cotton yarn from

http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PlanetPennyUK?ref=l2-shopheader-name

https://www.facebook.com/PlanetPenny?fref=ts

The Facebook page is always well worth a look for brilliant ideas and crafty links.

How I Spent The First Day of 2014 ….. Fiddle Farting Per Chance?

Lucy and I ended 2013 by going for an Indian meal just up the road with my Father and Brother-In-Law as we have for the past four/five years. I would say it was 9 noms out of 10….. but for me the best bit will ALWAYS be the poppadums and nibbles at the start of the meal …………. I could eat them forever!

We then came home, I fiddle farted a little bit putting together the first page of my 2014 scrapbook/notebook.

When Lu and I were in Vegas I religiously kept a daily scrapbook diary (above)  …. something I haven’t had a chance to share with you yet …. throughout this year I thought I would try and do something similar ….. not every day, I just don’t have the time, and I don’t lead that exciting sort of life ….. but just days when I do something special or where something catches my fancy.But I digress …….. Then we opened a bottle of Asti while we watched the fireworks (we know how to live!!!), and then both slipped off to bed.

I slept in till 10.00 …. pretty unheard of these days …. I am usually always up with the lark, only to be greeted with yet another very blustery day and yet more rain.

The house needed tidying (quite desperately)  ….. but instead, I decided to prepare what will be my bathroom mirror for bejewelling ….

It’s not going to be as easy as I first thought because on closer inspection there’s a lot of bevelling and curved surfaces going on which in my excitement of discovering a  “good” find I had not considered ….. but not to be deterred, I masked over the mirror, took it down to the garage and spray painted it white …. so farewell lovely background pattern that I thought would show through any small gaps.

I needed the sides to be sprayed white as they will be visible when the mirror hung and also the very inside bevel next to the mirror which would have looked odd left with a wood finish …… I might go all round it with flat back gems or pearls (I need thousands of them), or a couple of intact beaded necklaces to save time, perhaps a string of pearls would look good, but they will still need a white background to show through any gaps. I think two coats should do, and while it was all drying I sorted through the “jewels” I have left from previous mirrors!

It’s obvious that I am going to need quite a few more …. but I will use what I have first to build up the foundations and then pay a visit to Primark/e-bay/and the local charity shops to see what they have got.

So that was my first day of 2014 ….. riveting,  but at least  I spared you from the little bit of cleaning I did do!!! 

Happy New Year - 2014

Oh my life where did 2013 go? ….. and now here we are at the very beginning of 2014, another year spread out in front of us, and I never thought I would still be here .... again, still blogging  ….. and for that, you and I have Marc to thank ……. 3 cheers for Marc …. hip, hip ……hooray!!!

So ….. what does 2014 have in store  …… a couple of things are already planned, like lots and lots of London Lounging and the swigging of mahoooosive vodka and cokes with Marc!

Then a trip to Iceland in April with the A Level Geography girls at work, when I will finally get to swim in the Blue Lagoon ….. something I have dreamed about doing for as long as I can remember. I know I am going to see so many wonderful and amazing sights that will just take my breath away.

 Then there are other things on my list like ………

Surprise, surprise ….. losing a bit of weight ……  like half a ton!!  Marc has been on the 5:2 Diet with AMAZING results ...... so it would be rude to not follow in his footsteps!

Then there's the bottom of my garden ....which hopefully by Easter will be my special peaceful oasis and oft-time party area!!!!! 

I …… at the end of the summer I decided that I just couldn’t do it on my own and so I now have a lovely gentleman and his wife who over the coming months are sorting it all out for me, very slowly, bit by bit, ….. nothing fancy …

……. but in the end I hope it will be a very different area, with a place for a table and chairs, a barbeque, and a duck egg blue shed, fitted inside with a bit of carpet, an old arm chair and my faithful radio ……. and flower beds that I can keep in control and a few quirky ornamental  bits and pieces.

Lucy and I both fancy a proper beach holiday in the summer, perhaps Greece. It seems such a long time since we last saw and smelt the sea, let alone swam in it, I am pining!

On the really ambitious side I wouldn’t mind having a go at demo-ing, goodness knows what, but I think my confidence is high enough to give it a bash ….. so I am open to all offers!!!!!!

As for blogging …. well, let’s just see how it goes, a post every other day seems manageable at the moment ….. it is hard work, especially as I write two!!! But I am so grateful that I seem to have got my old mojo back and now get cross and frustrated especially when I can’t craft fast enough because ideas keep flooding into my brain……

It’s a year, I hope, we can all continue to share ….. all FiddleFarting together.

HERE’S TO 2014 … BRING IT ON!!!!

My Last Refurb Bastion …… My Bathroom

In the past eighteen months I have sorted out much of the house, it has given me something to concentrate on, a continual focus, as well giving me a bit of a thrill as everything has come to fruition.  Nothing has been that major, just a freshen up, a lot of painting,  new soft furnishings and the rearranging of my bits and pieces.  At first everything was very neutral in white and magnolia but as my confidence has grown, colour, mainly turquoise, lime green, fuchsia pink and purple has crept into almost every room, making things interchangeable!

My bedroom has been my favourite project so far …… it has become my “boudoir” … but February will see the start of the last bastion of my refurb,  to wit the bathroom …. at the moment it is sooooo urggggh I am ashamed, and is the room that no one sees (until now) …..

…. see I told you it was urggggh!  The plan is that it will all be retiled in white (again!), with a new loo and sink, flooring and a cupboard for storage.  I want it to be a girlie spa for me and Lu and so my bit is going to be making a patchwork effect bath panel, front and side!  I have Googled extensively for fancy bath panels but have drawn a blank …. so I just have a picture in my head …. heaven help me if it doesn’t work.  I am going to use squares of my prettiest, flowery craft papers and then coat with lots and lots of layers of matt varnish to make it waterproof. 

 

At the side of the sink I am going to make another one of my bejewelled mirrors, I am hoping that Primark will have plenty of bits that I can disassemble after Christmas and I still have quite a few bits and pieces still to be used.

The old mirror is very plain …. so I am hoping to find something like the mirror below to replace it, it’s from Argos, and is the perfect size, but unfortunately is cream …… so I need to do a bit more searching, and will hopefully find a bargain in the sales.

I have already bought two sets of glass shelves from Argos to go on the bath wall, which I am hoping to fill with lots of coloured glass charity shop finds that I can put tea lights in for ambient relaxing bath times, I am are hoping not to use the main light very often.

And finally, I found these picture frames in Poundland that are just perfect for the ideas I have in my head ….

…… measuring 10” x 8”, 7” x 5” and 6” x 4”, I am planning on filling them with more patterned papers and pieces of “dramatic” jewellery from Marc ….. and then arranging them on wall next to the loo.

Well, that’s the plan anyway ….. so it a watch this space situation as I start doing my bits towards a completion date at the end of February when hopefully everything will come together.