Such A Lovely Idea – LittledreamscapesCo on Etsy

This flu has really put me off my crafting stroke, Little Lily Rabbit is still without her “just in case pocket” and having finally gathered everything together I have yet to make a single start on any drawer of Iris and Bertie’s Disneyland Countdown ……. bum, bum, bum!

And then Lu went and opened a whole new world of Sylvannian Families out to me  ……... dioramas in a suitcases ……… this lady is just too clever!

Have a look at Linda's Etsy Shop

LittledreamscapesCo - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LittledreamscapesCo?ref=l2-shopheader-name

I wish I hadn’t started looking ……… because I then moved on to Pinterest and found simple patterns for Sylvannian clothes, after I had bought a box of naked bears going so cheap it would have been rude not to buy on Ebay, that I thought would add to the toy cupboard …….. but now I am tempted to have a go at a simple diorama myself perhaps using the wooden houses I got at the Hobbycrafts Show ……. using a couple of smallest figures in the box, when dressed, of course!

  Only problem is ……. when I am ever going to find the time?

The Final Piece To The Puzzle – Jomanda’s Save The Date Cards

Just a very quick post today as I am, after a week, still under the influence of a proper dose of flu, Lu and I had one dose over Christmas which rendered Christmas over before it had begun and then last Monday when I should have been celebrating my 60th, I was in bed hallucinating that my duvet cover was a game of Candy Crush Saga that refused to light up ……. days I can never get back, but at least I have New York to look forward to at the end of February as a way of celebrating reaching such a momentous age!!!

Anyway, this is the Save The Date card I received from my nephew Joe and his bride to be, Amanda, they had finally sorted out their photo stickers to complete the cards that I had made for them.  I am really chuffed!

I think I “may” also be asked to make the invitations, once the overall colour scheme is finalised,  but I won’t be offended if I don’t, because, oh my life, it’s some responsibility making someone’s vision and dreams come true as part of the most important day of their lives

Lily Rabbit Dressing Up Outfit

Iris, bless her, is very taken with being Lily Bobtail from The Adventures Of Peter Rabbit and I’d promised to find her a dressing up outfit for her box ……… even though finding a plain red dress was harder than I had first anticipated ………

….. however, with thanks to the Salvation Army shop in Evesham I have managed to make a certain little madam very happy for just £3.98

Let’s just say, it’s been washed almost every night so that it can be worn the next day ever since she’s had it.

I replaced all but the top button on the cardigan with large, purple flower ones from The Works, they are too big to fasten but “Lily” doesn’t really fasten her buttons.

I now need to get a scrap of pink material to make Lily's “just in case pocket”, when I can prise the outfit off Madam for long enough and add this huge flower button (£1) to it, it’s a  bit different from what I can gather is an appliqued motif on the original, but Iris will still be so chuffed.  I also plan to attempt to put a pink edge along the bottom of the dress with some bias deep binding, (??????)  any advice?  Sewing really isn’t my thing, it makes my teeth itch, but for Iris I am willing to brave a few uncharted crafty territories  

Disneyland Countdown Calendar Drawers

Iris and Bertie are going to Disneyland Paris in May, a legacy from their Great Granddad Colin. Iris knows she is going to see Mickey Mouse and have breakfast with The Princesses, but sometimes waiting and time is a hard concept for little ones to grasp, so to start the magic I have decided to make a Disneyland Countdown calendar to be opened on the final twenty five days before they go.

The drawers came from The Works, I got three sets when there was an offer that was too good to miss.  They are currently £15, or 2 for £28, but I got mine when there was a 30% discount code, so the third set only cost me £2.90.

https://www.theworks.co.uk/p/craft-storage/25-drawer-cabinet/5052089182363

I started the calendar last week, but almost as soon as I began covering the drawers I had misgivings, as I didn’t actually have any embellishments with which to create a scene on each drawer …… and for me the embellishment always comes first.  I could have spent hours covering all the drawers, including faux stitching, only to find that the colours weren’t really right …… so I stopped! 

I needed to sort out what embellishments I was going to use before anything else .……. and that was harder than it sounds, as size was hard to gauge (the drawers each measure 6cms x 4.5cms. At this point I thanked goodness I had started so far in advance and realised that this project was probably going to turn out to be quite a labour of love, but also hopefully a treasure that might possibly see future generations.

After much searching, I finally decided on using Disney themed Dress it Up Buttons, as I knew pretty well what size to expect. The plan now is to embellish twelve of the drawers to start with, creating the scenes individually from scratch, if that makes sense? Hopefully some of the drawers that I have already covered might be ok to use.

I was lucky to find these Advent numbers set  in The Works, so when the buttons arrive I think I can really crack on.

Once complete I am planning on putting tiny letters in envelopes in some of the drawers from the various characters Iris and Bertie might see and meet, as well as one or two Disney themed sweets and, if I can find any, a couple of small Disney characters. I think I have set myself quite a task ….. which is highly likely to feature regularly on my Monday posts in the coming couple of months.

Simple Craft Tape Birthday Card

I made this card for my niece’s birthday last week. 

The hand cut card blank measures 5.5ins x 5.5ins and is made using a white linen effect card (Papermill Direct)

I cut a smaller square of card for the centre and then laid strips of adhesive paper craft tape across it.

I then mat and layered the square on teal and then silver, although it’s hard to pick this out from the pictures.  I layered the silver Craftwork cards sentiment on just on the teal.

And then to give the card a little extra birthday bling I added a few silver stars.  I reckon the card took me about 20 minutes to make, but that included the “thinking” and working out time, repeats of the design wouldn’t take half as long.

The tape from B & M bargains only cost £1.99 for 13 x 3m rolls which really was a bargain.

A Lovely, Lovely Present From Lucy And The Potential For Holiday Mooching.

You might remember that I was very taken by the tamata votives Lucy and I saw in a church we visited in Kassiopi in Corfu last summer.

I was desperate to buy one or two but they weren’t for sale in the church or in any shop (not that we thought they would be) and when I came home I did spend a little time looking …… but then life sort of got in the way again …………….

However, Lucy, bless her, is made of more determined stuff and without her saying a word I found this tamata of an eye at the bottom of my Christmas stocking.  You just wouldn’t believe how thrilled I was.  As soon as I got home it was put safely in an Ikea Ribba box frame and is currently sitting on one of the shelves in my lounge, however, it might move  to my new look bedroom when all the new drawers and shelves have been built…… with a change of background colour, I think a rich blue would look much, much better.

Lu and I have already booked our next odyssey to Crete in the summer, so I will be on the look out again ……. and after some internet browsing I also fancy an evil eye plate ……. though I have never seen anything as stunning as these on any of our travels, you never know!

Blast From The Past - Valentine Hug In A Mug

The original idea for Hug In The Mug came from my friend Lisa wondering wondering what to do with her left over hot chocolate sachets etc. from making Snow Man Soup packets.

This could be a simple little something children could make/give to someone special, Gran, Grandad, Aunties etc.on Valentines Day.  Contains sachet of hot chocolate drink, mini marshmallows, a chocolate heart lolly for stirring and a few Valentine chocolate coins. 

Random Letter Birthday Card

This is the card I made for Marc’s partner Iain’s birthday, a design I have used several times now.

The card blank, which measures  6ins x 6ins was from a pack ready made Kraft cards and envelopes that I have had for ages

The alphabet letters are either from sticker or craft packs or from word games that I have found in charity shops that I have bought solely for the letters. A mix of different sizes of gold and silver stars add extra sparkle and dimension.

I always struggled with men’s cards as not every man is into football, fishing, boats or cars, so this type of is a perfect solution to the problem.

Save The Date Wedding Cards

These are the Save The Date Cards that my nephew and his girlfriend Amanda finally chose from the eight or so I sent them, however since the photos were taken  and after final approval, we changed the wording to “Save The Date” and got rid of the exclamation mark after it, as it wasn’t really necessary.

As I said before the design isn’t mine, Amanda sent me a link to an idea she liked and I worked on it from there, making my own template in Publisher so that I could make any alterations that might be needed after finding a free font that was as near to the one used on the original as I could.

http://somethingturquoise.com/2015/01/16/diy-instagram-save-the-dates-3/

The main card body was printed on ivory linen effect card and then mat and layered on slate grey.

The text was also printed in a dark grey, which after a bit of experimenting looked much more subtle than black.

The Clipiola spiral paperclips were expensive, but were just so much more stylish than the usual trombone shaped clips. 

All that is left to do is for Joe and Amanda to add their own sticker photo under the paperclip and then we should be good to go!

Fiddle Fart’s First Guest Crafter Of 2018 - Marc

This has to be the cutest, cutest, cutest thing ever and just goes to show, pardon my English was an incredibly clever b****r Marc is!

All I can tell you is that this beautiful Basset Hound (Marc and Iain now have four, see below) has been felted ……..

…….. required an awful lot of patience ……

……. and is totally stunning!

Marc and Iain’s babies.

Its New Years Day 2018!

First of all Fiddle Fart …….  as I said before, I haven’t really crafted properly since September due to my spending weekends away or people coming over etc. and as a result I think my mojo has suffered over that time, so I am going to continue for the next little while at least posting on a Monday, and then perhaps look in the Fiddle Fart archives and re-post  ideas for Valentines Day and Easter, as I did in the lead up to Christmas, just to keep things going and then re-evaluate again in a month or twos time.

My only resolution is a consequence of the above ……. not to buy anymore crafting stuff, no matter how much of a bargain or tempting, I bought too much before Christmas, mainly from The Works and none of it actually got used!  Marc and I had a bit of a discussion when I saw him last as to our buying habits, do we buy to craft or do we buy to collect (and stroke)? I need to learn to craft using what I already have and believe me I could craft for the next 20 years and not need to buy anything.  This I hasten to add will be an extremely hard resolution to keep!

The next two months are going to be pretty busy, the main reason is I that I am having a few alterations done to my bedroom (above, as it looked over Christmas). I decided I wanted drawers on either side of the bed and some extra shelving.

This is what my carpenter Dave and I came up with to match the wardrobes and drawers he created just after I first moved in (below).

Before Pete can get started I need an electric plug socket  moved and another one added to where the top of each set of drawers will be, so the period between Christmas and the New Year seemed to be the ideal time to see where existing pieces of furniture could be moved to or reluctantly got rid of.

 

As it happened the bedside drawers fit perfectly inside one of the wardrobes ….. so that’s a new home for vests, pants and socks sorted!

Initially, I was going to put the Ikea Billy bookcase in the guest room but it just didn’t look right. I had measured it previously and didn’t think it would fit in the hall cupboard but I decided to try it anyway, despite my fears of it getting stuck but it was a perfect fit!  I now have a space for shoes at the bottom and then found some collapsible boxes in Home Bargains that fit after re-spacing the shelves! I was thrilled as it created even more space.  However, in creating space that gives me the opportunity to fill said space, a double edged and very dangerous sword, so perhaps I should add “one thing in so at least one thing out!” to my resolutions!

It all kicks off around 8th January, so I will keep you updated on progress.