Marc’s Christmas Tree Bauble.

I found this Christmas bauble on Marc’s top shelf, it looked soooooooo expensive and then Marc laughed and told me that it was made from a polystyrene ball and a pair of old glittery tights!

He said he made a hole at the top of the ball, then cut a section (possibly the foot) from a pair of purple glittery tights, forming it round the ball and gathering the ends into the hole, securing with glue and a spare hanging fixing from another bauble.

He then decorated it using small squares cut from a mesh of faux jewels (I found an identical length of the same material in Home Bargains wedding section for 69p for 2 metres) and strands of very small silver plastic ball chain artistically swirled and glued.  It is stunning! And now, when I see glittery tights around Halloween I shall certainly be availing myself of a pair or two to see what I can come up with.  I am already thinking swimming noodle door wreath?

London For Eurovision

Eurovision will never be the same without sharing it either in Worcester or London with Marc and Rick and this year was no exception. 

Our money was on Belgium to win and Spain to get null points, but, what Rick and I were really thinking was that which ever country won, it would be one that was fairly easily to travel too, Stockholm was supposed to be a once in a lifetime, bucket list occasion, but somewhere along the way we really got the bug………

…….. so our attention in the next 8-9 months will be firmly fixed on the Portugal Eurovision website.  The competition for tickets is sooooooo great, as we have found in the past, so we have a plan, one of us will try to get tickets for the final and the other for The Judges Final and fingers crossed one or both of us is successful.

Inspiration wise, Marc’s flat never fails to get my creative juices flowing with all his bits and pieces and how they are displayed, I make no apologises if I am repeating some pictures of my favourite pieces throughout this post.

When not gearing up for Eurovision, we spent a lot of time watching videos YouTube, mostly crafts but a few “choice” others too, some of which had us in fits of hysteria or leaving us absolutely gobsmacked!

Now, about once a month I may do a post on my latest charity or Poundland purchases but on YouTube there are hundreds of people with their shopping bags making regular films on their latest shopping expedition, just type in “Poundland Haul” ……. I am just such a none starter!!!!!  I am really not tempted to follow suit ……. but, I did think that if I was ever in a mischievous frame of mind and I had indulged in an extra Asti Spumante or two I might, one day, do a spoof!!

We watched several videos on using gilding flakes, something I was given several years ago, but have never used, but Marc raves about and uses a lot.

It was his gilded seashells that inspired me, as I have it in my head to one day decorate a mirror using shells, coral, pearls and jewels etc. and the idea of  having a few gilded bits here and there really appealed.

I think I must drive Marc mad as I go mooching along his shelves, as he says, nothing’s new, but I see something new each time……..

…….. but the one constant object of desire is the venetian mirror in the lounge, my eyes are continually drawn to it ……. it’s the real deal, so well out of my budget ……… but, never say never ……

……. you may remember me finding this mirror in Georgian House Antiques in Evesham in December,  it was near enough the real deal for me ……..

……. I had got it down to £160 including delivery, until I saw sense!  It was stupidly large and was so heavy it would have taken my walls down!!!  However, I have decided to take in a few pictures of Marc’s into the shop and ask them that if they find anything similar on their travels to give me a call.

My flat still feels very, very new, but I know it will evolve as I become more settled and start looking round it again with fresh eyes and changing tastes,  and then it will be the time to get Marc and Rick in to advise me as how to be more adventurous with colour and the placing of things, not everything has to be centred to an inch of its life!

My First Order From Every Crafts A Pound

While I was staying with Marc a few weeks ago, he told me about Every Crafts A Pound, http://www.everycraftsapound.co.uk/ and as I am always up for a bargain I thought it would be rude not to have a look ….. and despite an iron will, I put in an order!  Having looked at the items they had on sale I have a feeling that I may have bought a couple of things from them at the Hobbycraft Show at the NEC, as some things looked familiar. I was especially pleased to see that they had the cardboard rings and hearts that I kicked myself for not buying at the time, as I have had a few ideas for seasonal door wreaths since then. When the box arrived it was crammed, it was just like Christmas as I had forgotten some of the things I had ordered,  in all I received 46 items (some duplicated), with prices ranging from 25p to £3, so I am well chuffed. (P & P free on orders £40 – I didn’t spend quite that much)

I ordered quite a lot of patterned paper pads and packs, as the prices were so good, I especially love First Edition papers because of the quality and designs, but I always baulk at the price (when not reduced) but at £2 and £3 I am not going to argue.

I presume that some of the papers and ranges may be discontinued (?), but though there are trends in crafting/card making, for me paper and embellishments have no use by date. I ordered, subconsciously, quite a few bits from the Paris inspired Tonic Studio and Dovecraft ranges because I just like the romantic, subtle coloured theme as well as having a thing about the Eiffel Tower at the moment …….

I have wanted some rub on transfers for glass pendant decorations for ages, so the Tonic Studio Parisian Transfers for just 25p per pack were a no brainer.

 

I ordered several packets of pockets and doilies, again at just 25p a pack plus some washi tape, thinking perhaps about making scrapbooks with/for Iris and Bertie.  At the moment Iris is obsessed with making at least one card a day for one of her toys, Kermit, Elmo, as well as various relatives, and at 25p a pop I can afford for her to use all the pretty things her heart desires!  The chipboard alphabets were 50p for 39 letters, again something I had been looking for but was being mean when looking at the prices in the shops.

The bows, well I am not really a bow sort of person but thinking of Christmas, and a couple of projects I have done recently, like my craft stick fairies, I think they could come in useful.  The chunky silver gem ribbon comes from Marc and I bouncing ideas off each other. I think the individual hard plastic hearts and butterflies will get cut up to use individually and some used on a jewelled mirror I have in mind.

I have not featured all the items I ordered, however a bargain is only a bargain when you actually use them ……. so I had better crack on!!!http://www.everycraftsapound.co.uk/

A Gothic Punk Style Popsicle/Lolly Stick Fairy

I am still experimenting with my fairies, this time going a little Gothic, inspired by some black feather butterflies Marc sent me, many moons ago, in the early days of our friendship.

I think this one may be my favourite so far.

Instead of using cake cases as I have before, I used a large, scallop edged punch to make a short, and full, five layered skirt which I think makes her look a bit punkie/gothic in style.

I made a small slit using a craft knife in the centre of the all the layers to push through the fairy’s body.

I wrapped wool round the top for hair but to go with the darker style, coloured it with a black Sharpie pen. 

Natural coloured wool and wooden beads create the arms and hands ……

…….. and one of Marc’s butterflies makes her wings, with a few clear, flat backed gems for some extra fairy bling.

When stuck down with a glue gun the butterfly wings hid the back of the stick and safely secured the arms.  I could cover the centre back of the butterfly if I was being really pernickety.

I used tiny gems on the fairy’s slippers and top and a small gem flower in her hair.  If I could improve her any more, I might add a little Ranger Glossy Accents to accentuate and shiny up her slippers.

A thread looped through the fairy’s hair would be easy to add so that the fairy could be hung on a Christmas Tree.

I hope you are not getting sick of my fairies, it’s just that as soon as I make one, I get another idea, and, though I love making cards, at the moment I have a very limited outlet for them, I would rather keep having fun making lots of different fairies with the intention of giving a selection to family and friends, instead of a Christmas card to put on their tree, to come out, hopefully, for a few years to come, rather than a card that generally just put out for one Christmas only.

Christmas Snowman Altered Domino Christmas Tree Decoration

I found a box of “proper” white dominos in a charity shop for £1.99, well, it would have been rude not to buy them. I have seen dominoes used for making pendants and decorations with stunning results before and thought that this would be my opportunity to experiment on a budget.

Compared to other ideas I have seen this is very amateur attempt, but it’s a start.

I started by directly stamping on the domino using StazOn ink, let’s just say it took quite a few attempts to get it right, and the image is still not as crisp as I would have liked.  If I were to want to use a stamp on a domino again I am afraid I would create the whole scene on a piece of paper cut to size, which I would then glue to the domino. The StazeOn wouldn’t completely come off the dominos from my unsuccessful stamping attempts, but no doubt I will find ways of covering it up on later projects.

Once successfully stamped I coloured in the image, added the sky with a Sharpie pen, with added silver stars and snow using  translucent micro glitter, followed by a good layer of Ranger Glossy Accents.

Once the Glossy Accents was set, I put a narrow strip of silver adhesive foil round the edges of the domino, it went on like a dream!  I then drilled two tiny holes at the top and the bottom of the piece to hold two equally tiny eye screws.

I used E6000 glue to help secure and keep the eye screws in place.  Using a split ring I attached a snow flake charm to the bottom screw loop. I now need to find some very narrow white or blue ribbon to thread through the top screw, with perhaps a small bow and/or tiny jingle bells, so that it will then be ready to hang on a Christmas Tree or used as a tag on a parcel.

Little Robin Christmas Tree Decorations

I have discovered mini craft sticks in The Works ……. and these little robin decorations are the result of my first experiment with them.

I started by deciding that I wanted to use them in a triangular shape, then coloured enough sticks on both sides with green Sharpie pens to make three decorations.

I glued the sticks together using E6000 so that they would be securely stuck, but PVA would have worked equally as well.

I then cut six holly patterned triangles as the background, sticking two back to back so that they were double sided for a neat back, as you may have realised I am a bit anal about the derrieres of my tree decorations, in case they twirl round and expose a tatty backside!!!

I also added a metal pendant loop to the top of the back so that a ribbon can be threaded through to hang on the tree.The final touches were made by finally adding the glittered paper robins, their feet and faux stitching round the edges using a white gel pen.

Looking at the pictures now, I think they need a little something else to really finish them off, a small red bow and perhaps a pair of jingle bells at the top????  I will post another picture when I have found some suitable ribbon, what I have at the moment is too thick, and you know me, it’s all about the proportion!