Here'a To Another Year of Crafting and Blogging .........

 Wishing everyone ........

................... a very Happy Christmas

Our Santa Watch Is In Very Safe Hands …………….

Just to let you know……..

……. that Santa Watch this year is in very safe hands!

Crafty Mooching……. And My New Love Of One Below Shops

With all my Christmas crafts all done and dusted for 2021, it doesn’t hurt to have a little mooch, especially thinking that we have a whole new year of crafting ahead of us in but less than two weeks time and taking into consideration that I almost “do” Christmas all year long now.

Firstly, from the charity shops of Evesham this box of 40 “wooden” pieces.  I think the use of the word “wooden” has been used very loosely, because on closer inspection they are more wood effect than wood.

I am not sure what the proper name for the material is, “reconstituted” something? But I thought £1.99 for 40 6cm squares was still a bargain, which should come in handy for tags and tree decorations, if they paint well. I am already thinking snowmen faces?

I don’t have a clue what to do with these pegs, so no doubt I will be spending some time on Pinterest looking for ideas, but for a bag of what I would estimate contains 100 pegs for £1.49 it was worth a punt ……….

…… especially because of their size.  I could break them up and make snowflakes with the wooden parts and then perhaps use the metal clips as a finding for a single bead pendants or charms?

Moving on to “real” shops, I’ve been so disappointed with Poundland and The Works this year, same old, same old, poor quality and fewer embellishments per pack with any of their  new stock (The Works), so on a recent visit to Wolverhampton and Liverpool I was so excited to see what One Below had to offer, needless to say I spent copiously!!!!!

The stickers above were £1 a pack, and may seem a little old hat, but I am hoping that I can make some microscope slide tree decorations with them, having the potential of a double sided element to them when sandwiched between two pieces of glass. That’s the idea running through my mind at the moment, I just need time to play.

I’ve already started using the Christmas Light Trim (£1) as you saw on the reindeer yesterday.  When I go to Wolverhampton again next week, I am tempted to get a couple more packs, however, as I have learned to my cost in the past, with shops like this, you have to buy when you see, because as often is the case, you will never see them again.

As you know I am a sucker for a sticker and One Below had a really good choice, however, since I don’t make that many Christmas cards these days, I was very reserved and just bought several each of the designs above as I could see them, especially the trees, on tags, with a little added glitter and a layer of Ranger Glossy Accents.

I only bought one pack of the snowmen above (again from quite a large choice) but if I nip in again, I might get a few more, even if they’re just for Iris and Bertie to craft with.

I also love a treat bag, something to put a small present in etc. as I hate wrapping presents with vengeance.  These snowmen bags are so cute (8 for £1) ……..

…… as were these reindeer ones (6 for £1) that I have already put into service.

I have left a few things behind at Lu’s, that wouldn’t fit in my bulging suitcase, like bottle brush Christmas trees (6 for £1), so I’ll have another show and tell when I eventually get them home.  But One Below has definitely been my budget shop of choice this Christmas for crafty bits and pieces, even if it was all a little last minute.

And finally, to have you gasping ……. what on earth is this all about, in my favourite charity shop in Evesham?  I can’t believe I didn’t even look for the price tag to see how much it was ……… I think I was too busy looking for the jug, which appears to be missing.

…….. even by my weird and wonderful standards, it’s absolutely ghastly …… but I wonder if it will still be there when I next pop in?

Right, that's me done crafting for 2021.  I'm taking a week or so off to chill, relax and perhaps think about putting all the ideas together that I didn't seem to have time for in the months leading to Christmas .......... I'll be back on Monday 3rd December ................ to start Christmas all over again!!!!!!!

Wishing you all a 

very happy, peaceful and safe 

Christmas 2021

Wooden Reindeer Tags

As a change from what has seemed to be a very snowman dominated crafty Christmas,  I thought I would have a cheeky little experiment with reindeer instead.

I started by giving both sides of these 10cm x 5cm wooden dominoes pieces (below) two coats of brown emulsion paint.

Then I set out to create some antlers ………

…….. from small, 6.5 cms craft sticks. .

These were then painted, again on both sides with a darker shade of brown paint.

Although I didn’t do it in the example above, I found it best to put a screw eye hook at the top of the domino (to hang the finished tag from) before adding the antlers!  When the antlers were set firmly, I was then able to give the reindeer two coats of quick dry, clear, glossy varnish. 

This wasn’t absolutely necessary but I just find that varnishing often makes a tag look more professional as well as protecting the paint from chipping.

Then it was time to add the character to the reindeer starting with a bit of a fringe made from a scrap of brown paper, making a tiny fold to stick on the top of the reindeers head in front of the screw eye hook.

Next came the face using 18mm googly eyes, a red Fimo nose that I had made earlier.  I did wonder about a mouth, but to be honest, when I tried, it looked too much and sort of changed the character of the face, if you know what I mean. 

I thought I was finished at this stage giving the reindeer a collar using a piece of red and white gingham ribbon with a jingle bell attached ………

…… then I thought about adding some Christmas light trim (One Below £1)  to his antlers for comic effect. This was sooooooooooooo sooooooo fiddly, I hated every single moment. The final touches came from clusters of three white dots here and there using a fine tipped, white acrylic paint pen. Et voila!

I am pretty chuffed with how these have turned out. I have another 17 of this size domino that really need using up, so I am planning on getting them done before January is out, done and dusted ready for Christmas 2022 (??????). I must be mad  but with, perhaps, a little more fine tuning, I think the noses need to be quite a bit bigger than the eyes, which isn’t a problem and perhaps I could find some more durable scraps of leather for the fringe?  We shall see.

Charity Shop Mooching ………

I am experiencing a bit of a barren spell in the local charity shops at the moment, which, to be honest, is no bad thing as I made a conscious decision that I wouldn’t be listing anything new on eBay until the New Year, because I simply couldn’t face the inevitable, horrendous queues at the Post Office.  I post all my cards, parcels etc. on 1st December and then that’s it, we remain strangers until January! 

However, it still doesn’t stop me from popping in (to the charity shops) to drop off the bits and pieces that I no longer want/need, December and January always being a good time to have a sort out and well, it would be rude not to have a little mooch…….

So to fill an otherwise empty Wednesday post I thought I would show you the things I have either lusted over or temptation got the better of me …….

I have fancied a dolls house to “do up” for a couple of years now, but size is an issue, it has to be really small, to fit on the drawer unit in my craft room/spare room, where my printer currently sits, but which could be put somewhere else at a pinch if the right house came along.  I saw these two dolls houses in the Salvation Army Shop over a couple of weeks, they were only £30 each, which was a steal as they must have cost much, much, more new.

If they had been half the size, at least, I might have been tempted, but really in my minds eye, I imagine me with a really dilapidated old house that could be quirky, rather than something pristine that I would be frightened of messing up and having to keep the contents to scale ……

I did however buy this box of wooden vintage style decorations for £3.99 in another charity shop. There are 45 pieces altogether, plus the wooden box that they came in, which I am sure I can turn into a small, whimsical style painted tray. 

The figures are very well painted, so these, I don’t think would have been cheap originally.

I am torn between putting these towards another Christmas wreath or maybe making up some small, craft stick, house shaped bases to create more detailed kitschy scenes as individual tree decorations. We shall see……..

This little wooden jewellery box for just £1 appealed to me, because, apart from my free Burnham On Sea charity shop chair, I doubt very much, due to space, I’ll able to paint any more  furniture in my current favourite whimsical style, but I could go smaller. I am thinking of re-painting it white to give it a base after which I could use acrylic paint pens to create the patterns, well that’s the theory anyway. So a few projects in the making for the New Years

And finally …….. my first pair of Irregular Choice shoes for £5. I don’t know what possessed me, because they are a size 39 (five and a half?), no where near my size, but they are beautiful, my pictures don’t just do them justice.  I think they were most probably wedding shoes and worn once for that occassion, as there is very little evidence of wear other than on the bottom, where the pattern is a little worn.  They are perfect dressing up shoes.

I know very little about this make of shoes, except that I drool over them and I seriously do not generally do shoes.  I am guessing the date 01/2013 was when they were produced/made?

I don’t know what I am going to do with them, dare I show Iris?

In all honesty, with undoubted sellers regret, I think I will sell them on ………..

…….. but only after I have loved them for a little bit longer ……….

Stand Alone Snowman Decoration

Remember those giant wooden dominos I found from the other week, well,  since I have been on quite a snowman roll this year as far as my festive crafting has been concerned the first logical idea was to see how they worked as a stand alone Christmas ornament ……….

I started by sticking two average sized  craft sticks together and just colouring the bottom with a black Sharpie pen, so there were no tiny edges to paint between the hat and face …………. 

 

……… and then glued the sticks to the domino at a jaunty angle, doing the same to the back, at the same angle.

I then applied two coats of black emulsion paint to the front and back of the hat and the same again in white to the snowman’s head.

When everything was coated evenly and dry, I gave the front and back a coat of coat of Wilko quick dry, clear, glossy varnish as a contrast to the matte finish of the head.

Then I was able to add all the fiddle fart, to the hat I put a double leaf holly confetti piece, to which I also gave a layer of Ranger Glossy Accents, followed by three, tiny red berry buttons.

The face was also simple enough with two 12mm black flat blak domes for the eyes ….. five smaller ones for the mouth, plus a nose, which I had made ahead using  orange Fimo.

At this stage I wasn’t sure if the snowmen needed a scarf or not, I tried various ribbons that I already had round the bottom but none looked right  so I decided to order some red 18mm gingham ribbon and if it didn’t work, I would leave them as they were.

I was dubious when it arrived, but as soon as I started playing with it I could see that it would work, adding the plastic snowflake was the icing on the cake.  I was so chuffed!

I have 25 more of these extra large dominoes (£1) and have already decided that I would rather have them all used up than have them cluttering up my craft drawers waiting for another idea, so I know it’s very early, but these are going to be my Christmas card favours for 2022. I reckon they will cost me no more than 50p each, if that, to make,  all I need is a pack of orange Fimo