Non Essential Shopping!

Oh my goodness nearly four months without being able to explore the delights of a charity shop, I have sooooooo missed a mooch.  Well, I hung on until Tuesday before venturing out and oh it felt like bliss, even if I didn’t buy that much ………

My foot for scale in second picture.

……. however I did buy…….., a huge bag of wooden building blocks for just £2.50!  I did hesitate, as I need to find a place to keep them, but as soon as I saw them my mind was racing, after the success of my Jenga block snowmen, to all the other block ideas I’ve seen on Pinterest for Christmas and Halloween.  I’ve already sent Marc over a picture saying that when I go over to the cottage, legally, for Eurovision we can busy ourselves by either re-painting them or sanding them down to make them look rustic and aged.  I just need to sort out the shapes and sizes and see what combinations I can make up and how to decorate them.

I also found this extremely kitsch 50’s/60’s piggy bank, complete with stopper for 50p, it’ll probably end up in my festive tut sack, but for now she’s making me smile on the side in the kitchen.

The Works was also open, I went in hoping to find some more butterfly wings (no luck there), but these packets of 15 wooden fruit beads were a no brainer for 25p …….

…… as were the alphabet charms ………..

……. made all the more sweeter by the fact that I had £1.50 on my Works card, so in the end I only paid 50p for the lot.  I just need some ideas ……… though I am sure Iris and Bertie would also appreciate a bag of the letters to “do something with” ………………

Very Simple Hip Hip Hooray Card For A Boy

This card measures 5ins x 5ins and uses a smooth, plain, white pre-scored blank from a bulk pack from Hobbycraft.

A very, very simple birthday card today for my friend’s teenage son, not knowing his interests etc. I thought I would keep it pretty basic.

The paper came from an M & C Boutique paper pad bought from The Works on a buy one get one free offer, although a really lovely quality Christmas design pad, most of the designs are also suitable for a lot of other occasions/themes, so a bargain for just £1 per pad.

I covered the whole front of the card with a page from the pad ……………

……… and then mat and layered a 3D sentiment sticker from Home Bargains (I think they cost 69p or 79p a pack?) on the same paper, followed by silver mirror card and then a plain turquoise paper ……..

…….. before adding a little faux stitching using a black fine liner pen round the edge.  I did wonder about adding a variety of different sized silver stars here and there but when I tried it they just got lost in all the pattern, so I left it at that, short, sweet and to the point.

Finally …….. I Have A Craft Room!

It’s been an awful long time coming, what with three blooming meltdowns, but finally my spare bed, as was, has gone off to its new home ………..

……… and I’ve been able to move my Habitat sofa bed (Argos) from the lounge into the “guest room”, which is where you find me today!

I must have measured the settee and the space between the two sets of drawers a hundred times before making my considered purchase, and then daren't measure it when it arrived for fear it wouldn’t fit! 

Let’s just say it did slide in, but with about 2mm spare on each side, if that, talk about flying by the seat of my pants, someone was really watching over me when I tentatively ordered it!  The light grey colour isn't perfect, but I knew that, but it soon got the fiddle fart treatment when I covered it with the crocheted blanket I bought from a Worcester charity shop while out and about with Marc, a couple of years ago,  £8 very well spent!

The sofa, which has been well tried and tested for comfort and height over the past few months, folds out, with ample space on either side to get in and out, even with my craft table still in the room, giving an extra surface for guests to put things on if needed and saving me from having to move it back into the lounge if I didn't fancy it.

I really loved the bedroom as it was, but it served no purpose for around three weekends in every month other than for my continual traipsing in and out to find craft stuff.  This way I have everything instantly at hand, the mess stays contained and if I haven’t finished a project, I can just shut the door and leave it, where one thing out of place or extra in the lounge and it used to look as it a bomb had hit it. 

When the table is down and the chair back in the lounge Iris and Bertie have an extra place to play, as well as crafting to their hearts content. There are more than enough plugs in one small space to run a printer, computer,  glue guns etc. plus a kettle, it’s pretty perfect!  Another benefit of the extra space is that I can have my Dry:Soon heated airer out without it too being on display in the lounge ……. bijoux living takes some organising, as I am still discovering after almost 5 years, but I'm getting there!

The next job is to sort out the drawers (again), they are not too bad to be honest, but now it can be done on a table instead of on the bed, where things used to have a habit of rolling off and disappearing underneath.

The lounge feels pretty empty and bare without the sofa now, as does the kitchen area, even though its only the Ikea table that’s gone. With the radiator where it is, it’s not the ideal place to put something in front. I am toying with the idea of putting a narrow, white, console type desk there as place to blog, the view is pretty amazing (as opposed to the car park at the front), but I think I need to live with the space a little while longer before making another considered purchase.

Halloween – Fairy Skeleton

Typical, I’ve put off making these fairy skeletons for far too long, but now that I have finally got round to it they have turned out even better than they “looked” in my minds-eye, so obviously I now want to make a few more ……… except getting hold of the main components is turning out to be nigh on impossible, doh!

Marc found the skeletons two years ago in Tesco, he got me a little stash and though I have used a few, I was sure I still had a lot left, sadly, I find that I am down to my last three.

The same goes for the fabric butterfly wings too, bought from The Works specifically with this project in mind a while back, but now no longer available on their website, why didn’t I buy a few more packs (as usually is my want) when I saw them? Aghhhhh!!!

It was this reel of sequined lace that finally got my started, found in The Range (£1 for 3m).  I simply cut a “right looking” length off it, put a running stitch along the top, then gathered and tied it firmly together round the skeletons waist, before securing it with a blob of glue gun glue to create a skirt.  When it didn’t look full enough I repeated the process to add another layer to the skirt.

 

I then added the wings by putting a large and small butterfly wing together, sticking with my glue gun, to make a double layered set of wings, perfect!

The wand was made by putting a skull bead onto a cocktail stick with a small,  silver, star shaped spacer bead underneath before colouring the wooden stick with a silver felt pen.  The bead hole was a little large for the stick but another blob of glue gun glue at the bottom of the bead sorted the problem out.   The wand was then attached to the skeletons hand and chest using an epoxy resin glue as I wanted a quick but strong fix.

I wasted so much time trying to work out what sort of headdress the fairy skeleton needed, nothing looked right, so in the end I bought some large, silver crown charms from eBay, also attached with epoxy resin glue. The size was a bit of a guess, but the proportions are pretty bang on.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Antique-Silver-CROWN-Princess-Tiara-Royal-alloy-Charms-Pendant-Bead-Craft-Card/224326787458?hash=item343aeb2182:g:yigAAOSw4OFd4CcP

As an afterthought I decided to bend one of the skeleton's legs backwards using my heat gun to give him/her a more fairy like pose.  As this was my prototype I think I could do the same with the arms on the next two.

On the back of the wings I put a small jewellery bail fixing to hang the fairy by.

I can just see my twig Christmas tree full of these fairies ……. it might take some time, but at least I have a mission now to look out for more wings and new skeletons when I am out and about or searching online.

I do have another set of skeletons, but unfortunately they have a zonking great hole in the back of their heads, I could fill and cover it ????),  but I also need to try bleaching the skeletons too, as they are very dark. There is also, for me aesthetically, a problem with the positioning of the head, but I won’t bore you with the details until I work it all out!  I also have a few feathered butterflies, however their backs are very plasticky, and if I am making things to hang I like it to look good from all angles.

I could perhaps buy a large, plain butterfly die to cut my own wings, using a similar material to the originals and then spray starch them to add, pardon the pun, some extra body! Lots to think about and problems to solve, any suggestions would be very gratefully received …….

A Piece of Easter Charity Shop Tut!

This is what I’ve soooooooooo missed during three lockdowns finding erm ……. seasonally themed treasure tut  in the local charity shops!

I mean who wouldn’t want this piece of prize kitsch depicting a young, bonneted child proffering a carrot to her pet (or random) rabbit, gracing their Easter display for the third year running now!

Ok, so the bunny had been knocked of his pedestal at some time in the past but for just 25p it would have been rude not to make a considered purchase …….

……. because perched up on the shelf for a couple of weeks over the holiday no one ever gets to see the cracks! I am soooooo counting the days down until the charity shops are open again and I can go once looking for something to make me smile or go in Marc and Ricks Sack of Tut at Christmas …………. it keeps me sane?????!!!!!

Jenga Block Snowmen

Remember the box of Jenga blocks I found in a free giveaway outside one of the houses on the school run, well I have been busy ………not my idea, but one I found many examples of on Pinterest.

I have got 40 done, doing ten at a time, over a couple of days, as I waited for snow and paint to dry.

I think 40 will be more than enough for my fairing gifts in place of a Christmas card this year. There are 14 blocks left in the box, I am putting these aside as there were also a few ideas for Halloween characters on Pinterest that I would really like to try so watch this space.

Wooden Bat & Pumpkin Halloween Tag/Hanging Ornament

My first Halloween craft of 2021 in April, even for me that must be a record for early starts!

Taking a wooden tag from The Works (£1.50 for 10)  I started by covering both sides with scraps of Halloween themed paper (Avenue Mandarine – Origami Paper – Boo!)

I then coloured the bats, pumpkin and frame using appropriately Halloween coloured Sharpie pens.

I put a scrap of black paper behind the frame and then added the pumpkin to the centre.  The frame and green craft stick “shelf” (Hobbycraft - 50 small, assorted coloured sticks for  £1) were then glued to the tag.

I also outlined the edges of the tag with a black Sharpie pen.

When everything was stuck Ranger Glossy Accents was applied to the frame, pumpkin and bats and green Dovecraft Enamel Affects to the edge of the “shelf” to add a little extra dimension and texture. While these were still wet, the bats added.

Under the shelf I added half a confetti shaped spiders web.

On the back I handwrote “Trick or Treat” on scrap of paper along and then added a couple of small plastic creepy crawlies. A few clusters of white gel pen dots and tiny orange stars here and there complete the tags.

The holes on the tag were covered by the papers, so a flat jewellery bail was added to the back for a thread to either tie or hang the tag from.

Fiddle Fart Tag Challenge

Being a bit of a loss where to put my craft energies at the moment I have decided to issue myself a challenge to create a whole pile of tags, each using whatever theme grabs me, starting with this one ……

……. to be honest I started it weeks ago,  I got so far and then it wasn’t working, so it sat in my tray staring at me while I waited for inspiration.  

The tags come from The Works and measure: 5.5 x 3.5 x 0.2cm and I have quite a few, bought mainly to help fill up an order to get free delivery (??!!), hence the tag challenge.

I started by covering one side of the tag with a scrap of blue patterned paper.

I then decided to create a shelf, as is my want, to help give the tag a 3D element, by gluing a wooden house and glittered Christmas tree embellishment onto a short, natural craft stick. I also stuck tiny scraps of yellow and red paper behind the heart and windows.

This was then attached to the tag, with added Ranger Enamel Accents on the craft stick and house but after that inspiration failed me!  It needed something else, but what?

In my head I had been fighting off the idea of adding a snowflake, thinking it would look random (?), however, working on another idea, I decided to try a small, plastic snowflake as if to prove my theory right, but it worked, doh!  Adding more Enamel Accents around the edges of the tag and a few doodled dots and stars using a white gel pen bought it all together, I liked it!

This being the prototype I think it can be fine tuned a little, another layer of glossy accents to create a deeper snow effect, the craft stick needs colour (?) and perhaps the tree needs a star, or tiny baubles (?) ……… so watch this space for Tag Mark 2!