Adding Another Day A Week To Fiddle Fart!

Wooo Hooooooo  …. Thanks to my WONDERFUL few days with the Fabuuuuulous Marc my mojo has gone into overdrive and as a result I think I can get Fiddle Fart up and running on THURSDAYS and FRIDAYS from now on .... until the New Year at least ........ !!!  So on Thursday  8th November  .... I will tell you about my "Marc and my Big Smoke Adventure!!!!

BM Bargain Bargains!

I know it’s not Thursday or Friday ….

But I thought I would give any callers to Fiddle Fart a festive heads up  ….. I was in B M Bargains today and they had copious amounts of Elizabeth Shaw Mint Crisps, in all verities for just £1.99,  which is a bargain as they are usually cost between £2.49 - £3.69 a box in the supermarkets at Christmas.   I find the milk chocolate ones hardest to get my mitts on so I was well chuffed.  There are 28 mints in each box, so plenty for making festive favours etc. I really stocked up because I want a few for Christmas but the majority of them are for the tables at my sons wedding next year.  I already know what I am going to do with them ….. but that’s for another day!!

B M Bargains also had boxes of Cadbury Chocolate Miniatures for £1.29 a box, these are always seem hard to find too  …. I had heard they were stopping making them, but am not sure if that’s true. Anyway I got five boxes, at the moment don’t have any plans for them, but when I do I’ll let you know.

My Decopatch Boudoir Chair

Remember the old chair I got for free from one of the shops in the village that was having a chuck out …..

Well, it's finally finished and I have to admit that it was the fiddleist project I have attempted so far mainly because of various nooks and crannies on the front legs.

I especially hated doing the round bits and all the bars which were narrow, there was no clear run of covering, if you know what I mean compared to the tables I have done before, everything was a fiddly faff .... but I got it all done in the end ….. only to be scuppered when I ran out of quick drying varnish … and it took me longer than I had hoped to just nip into town to get a new tin, so it’s been standing in limbo now for a couple of weeks.

However …. I was dead chuffed when I managed to find some very vibrant silky turquoise material from the market for a couple of quid (with enough leftover to cover a three piece suite!) and after borrowing a staple gun from work I think I have made a reasonably decent job of covering the seat …. but I am not showing you the underneath, because it was a case of why use just one staple when 340 will do!

But, it’s now finished and I LOVE it and it is now sharing my boudoir with the bejewelled mirror I finished a few weeks ago. I am hoping to treat myself to a new look bedroom in the New Year, I plan the main colours to be cream and turquoise and then accessorised with a whole miss match of the jewel like colours taken from the chair …. and I have my next project in sight ….

…. an old dressing table mirror that was given to me by my Grandmother and that I have used every morning to bung on my slap for years ….. but I am still a little unsure of exactly what to do with it, I don’t think it would look right Decopatched,  at the moment it is sprayed gold but it is very dull ….. I am wondering if I could inject some vibrancy into it by gold leafing it and then adding a bit of stamping ….????   Any suggestions are most welcome on a postcard addressed to "FiddleFart – Mirror"!!!!!

Happy Halloween –Trick or Treat

This is all I have made this Halloween (sorry) and I only made 12!  The small plastic pumpkins came from Poundworld for a pack of 6, which I featured a few weeks ago.

All I have done is fill them with about eight Celebration chocolates, bought from Tesco when the large tins were only £4 each (I have another two put under the bed for Christmas …. if they last that long!)

…. and the tags were made using a punch and some Halloween stickers from Accessorize left over from last year.

I’m sorry that I haven’t bought you more ideas this year, BUT if you scroll down the page and look on the right hand side you will come to LABELS and if you click on Halloween you will find 34 ideas from the last couple of years which I hope will give you a little inspiration.  A lot of the stuff I used is still available in Poundshops etc. and I think some branches of Accessorize have packs of small Halloween stickers.

So, will I be trick or treating this year? ….. Well, it’s half term …. and I have procured train tickets to London for just £7.50 each way …….. Once in London, I will be found curled up on the lovely Marc’s settee, watching hour after hour of Create and Craft, sharing an ample sufficiency of Maltesers and breaking my usual tea totalness by enjoying several vodka and cokes ….. (plus I can expect scrambled quails egg on toast for breakfast, so he tells me) and you can rest assured he will stoop at nothing in an effort to get my mojo back!!!! I am soooooooo excited ….. I am counting the hours!!

Jewelled Mirror

I don’t often make things for myself, but this is ALL for me ….. and my Lady Boudoir!!!

Do remember the jewelled mirror I saw in Accessorize in Exeter in April this year? Well I never forgot it and Marc and I often talked about the idea and other ideas he had used to make similar mirrors using all sorts of things, other than jewellery.

The whole thing took me about five nights to complete over a couple of weeks using an old mirror which measures approx. 23ins x 23ins, that I’ve had for at least twenty five years and has been on almost every wall in the house!

To cover it I’ve used up all my old unwanted jewellery, flat backed gems, charms, beads etc. anything that glittered was bunged on, plus a few new bits from Primark and Claire’s that I needed to fill in the last few gaps … so I guess it’s cost me £20 to complete, plus a tube of E6000 glue, as recommended by Marc.

I have to admit I had a love hate relationship with the mirror all the way through until the very last evening, which is why I kept on leaving it and then going back to it ……

It wasn’t pretty enough, the bits didn’t look right together, it looked messy  …..and then I got irritated by having really gluey fingers!

But the last lot of frippery that I bought especially, including six Primark stretch bracelets and three daisy chain necklaces from Claire’s sale …..….. especially the  metal daisies, that are the only “jewels” that I have scattered all round the mirror that seemed to bring everything together.It was on the final night of gluing and sticking that I could see that it was going to be even more beautiful than I had imagined and then I got obsessed by filling in the tiniest space with small pearl beads or tiny gem …..  less was definitely not more as far as I was concerned!  And now, I have my fairy mirror …….. even if I don’t exactly see a fairy looking back at me ….. I shall always feel like a fairy when I look at it!!!!!

Tom and Laura’s Engagement Card

This is the engagement card I made for my son Tom and the Lovely Laura, it’s a good job that they are just as monkey mad as me!

I’ve taken a photo from my other blog and just embellished it with micro fine glitter, which has to be one of my “Top 10 Can’t Do Without”  products and various heart shaped stickers from my vast collection.

I handwrote the sentiments and also added a little gold pen to parts of  the champagne bottle.  Done and liberally micro glitter dusted!

Save The Day Calendar Cards for Tom and The Lovely Laura’s Wedding

(above) My first efforts in trying to put an idea together….

Did I mention that my son and the Lovely Laura got engaged a few weeks back?  It was the most wonderful news the family could have asked for as we all love Laura so much …. and I couldn’t wish for a more wonderful “new” daughter.

(above) Aghhhh, a pile of rejects, mistakes and not quite right efforts trying to get the idea in my head to come together!

The wedding will be in August next year …. and I wasn’t sure if my crafty services would be needed …. but guess what ….. ???!!!  So please accept my apologises now, for I fear you may all get heartily sick of the constant wedding theme that will no doubt be running through this blog in the few coming months!

So, it’s going to be a lovely colourful rainbow of a day, “very them” …. and as we were talking Laura told me that when she last visited the hotel where the wedding and reception is going to be, there was beautiful bunting hanging in the courtyard for another wedding, which she loved  ….. and that gave me the idea for the “Save the Date” cards……

…… which in the end I decided to doodle, to give them a proper homemade/handcrafted style ….. but you will not believe how hard it was getting the bunting “just so” was!  I drew it all in pencil first, but as soon as I went near it with an fine liner pen I would put a line in the wrong place and as a perfectionist had to do it all over again! Once happy with the final result, I scanned the base and calendar parts to make jpegs that could be copied and pasted onto A4 sheets (using Publisher)  and then printed,  cut out and finally the cards put together.

And here’s what the final cards will look like …. (though I wished I hadn’t photographed it on a green background!)  I have mat and layered the base card on green for this example as Laura is toying with an emerald green dress …. but I think I may vary this with colours taken from the bunting.   The calendar is fixed in place with an adhesive foam pad for extra dimension. The bunting will be coloured in with Promarkers and sprinkled with Hunkydory Diamond Sparkles ultra fine glitter when I begin my production line.  The finishing touches will be made with a few tiny clear flat backed gems scattered here and there, there is one on the date, but it doesn’t show up too well, so that will be changed to a coloured one.   I will then attach a strip of magnetic tape to the back, so that it can be put on a fridge etc. to remind the guests  to “save the date”!

I hope I have ordered enough of the ivory linen effect card for all the stationary from papermilldirect, prices have gone up, as have so many things. When I first started cardmaking seriously P & P used to be free if you spent over a certain amount, which is why I used to order two Mega Boxes at a time to last me a year or so, I can’t afford to do that now,  however their ivory and white linen effect card still remain my favourite card with which to make all my card blanks.

http://papermilldirect.co.uk/?gclid=CPOBy-z83LICFSTKtAodDEsA3Q

A Change In Blogging ….

I only have eight scheduled posts left to blog, but, rather than come to an abrupt and final end, I have decided to post on Fridays only to see how it goes.  I have to be truthful and say that I really don’t have the enthusiasm or fire to craft or blog any more, but by posting on a weekly basis I am hoping that it will afford me the time to see if my momentum does come back.  I started blogging on 20th August 2009, and have written 1,396 posts and not missed one day! (and the same goes for Mums Monkey)  I had been mulling over the thought of stopping on 1st January 2013 anyway, leaving the blog “live” and the ideas floating about in the ether forever, but, I just wasn’t expecting the bite on the bum I received four months ago.

BUT as and when and if the ideas start coming rest assured they will still get posted if somewhat spread apart. 

I hope to continue writing Mums Monkey …. those boys have really kept me sane (!?!?) over the summer, by making me find a funny, quirky or poignant angle on the most ordinary things/occasions in my/their life …. so I hope you will continue to read their adventures …. because their adventures are mine too.

Let’s just see how things pan out ……..

21st Birthday Newspaper Card

This card is A5 in size and is made using white linen effect card …… and was still wet when I took the photos!!!!

The brief for this card was Patrick, 21, Aston Villa, and his cat Bella amongst other things, so I think I ticked a few boxes.

I tried to match the main colours of the Aston Villa strip to other sections of the card …..

……. and work in a message from the cat!

I put very simple decoupage layers on my newspaper cards to add texture and definition and then add a touch of Ranger Glossy Accents to highlight them further.

This is what the “bones” of my A4 sheet of      card look  like after I have printed it,  having already designed it in Publisher and then copied and pasted the sections I want to make the decoupage layers with.

Punched Art Christmas Rockin Robin/Elizabeth Shaw Mint Crip Novelty

I am being very lazy again, using more pictures than words for this post,  but hope you can still get the gist of how I have put this paper punched Christmas robin together …..

These are the two punches I used ….

….. and these are the punched parts I have used to put “Robin” together …… not a lot to him really!

In the top picture I’ve just popped him on a makeshift background to show how he would look on a Christmas card…. but  he would make an excellent embellishment for an Elizabeth Shaw Mint Crisp…. ……… by just adding a matching plain brown circle on the back!

Christmas Parcel Tags–Trying To Be Good!

I know there are going to be some very tempting new Christmas goodies in the shops very soon, but I know I need to resist …. I have got enough crafty bits and pieces to last for the next hundred Christmas’s …. so I really do need to use them up first …. but to be honest I know at some stage, a moment of weakness will envelope me and things will just slip into my basket!

….. And with all these good intentions in my mind ………I’ve made some  gift tags using felt parcels and clear flat backed gems  from Hobbycraft , kraft card and red string from Traidcraft,  all bought several years ago and all  needing to be used up, the parcels in particular.

They took a matter of minutes to make.  I am going to put them on parcels wrapped in my all time favourite brown paper which is always so versatile and so easy to match with ribbons etc..

Bejewelled Lizard Canvas

I’m not a lizardy sort of person, but I found this die cut lizard amongst all my bits and pieces and wondered if I could do something with it of an artistic type nature …

I first glued it on a 5ins x 5ins canvas as the card was too flimsy to support the hundreds of flat backed gems I decided to stick onto it, using Ranger Glossy Accents as a glue.

As I said …. it’s not really my sort of thing so I am not sure what I am going to do with it now its finished!

Cards Using Foil Stickers

Both these cards are made using ribbed effect Kraft card, and part of a text patterned 12 x 12 paper, mat and layered on purple mirror card.

The stickers are raised foil with flat backed gems and cost £1a pack from a funny little discount store I found in Brixham when on holiday last year, needless to say, I bought several packs!