Charity Shop Bargain–Polly Pocket Hogwarts Castle.

I don’t “do” Harry Potter at all, so when I saw this “castle” in my favourite charity shop in Evesham for just 80p, I thought I would take it, as something to just put in the toy cupboard for when Iris and Bertie come round.

The first discovery I made, when I got home, was that it took batteries and when I put some in it made (awful) noises and parts moved, which was all very exciting and then when I discovered what looked like a tiny Harry Potter figure in the secret drawer in the back, I thought I had better do some research .....

…… only to find it was a Mattel, Polly Pocket Hogwarts Castle dating from, I think, 2001. All the figures, except for Harry, a table and a telescope are missing. Needless to say Iris and Bertie love to get it out, but it seems it does have a value, even though incomplete.

I have been planning on doing some Ebaying for quite a while now, (last time I did, it paid for Eurovision in Stockholm) but this time lockdown got in the way, now, do I add this to the list of things to sell ...... or do I wait until Iris and Bertie stop asking for it ………that is the question!

Punched Flower Card

This card measures 6ins x 6ins and uses hand cut and scored ivory linen effect card.

I am not 100% with this card if I am honest, maybe because I didn’t know when to stop ……

……where generally I like to keep things much more symmetrical, this is all a bit too random.

The leaves are just too pale a green and the handwritten sentiment would usually be a huge no no, except for on this occasion when the card was to go with a personal message.

Close to, the card is quite pretty and delicate with all its tiny flat back pearls, but if I were to repeat it, there would have to be an awful lot of fine tuning!!!

Halloween Aquabead Pin Badges

It tends to be Nanny’s job to “do Aquabeads” with Iris and Bertie …………

……….. no one else has the patience, but oh boy they are little blighters to work (the beads, not Iris and Bertie!), one false move and the design can become a sticky, unrecognisable mess ……….

……. and Nanny is called upon to try and rescue them, to make sure such a long period of intense concentration was not all for nothing …….aghhhhhhh!

These (above) are my own humble efforts, but what to do with them once they are complete?  Usually we draw a little background scene to put the designs on, which is then framed to create a lasting memory and recognises that I and B’s work is valued.  I also have far too many frames under my bed that really need using up ……. but as these have a seasonal theme  I needed to think of something else.

In the end I thought pin badges/brooches for my annual Halloween sleepover.  The beads on their own are not all that strong so I applied several thick layers of PVA to both sides, allowing each layer to dry thoroughly which made the shape far more robust. I then added a small pin fastening to the back using an epoxy resin glue again to make the badge/brooch more durable.

It wouldn’t take much to add a pendant finding to the shape to be worn as a necklace or hung from a Halloween twig tree….. I am also thinking they could also be used to embellishments Halloween crackers for the party table …….. hmmmmmm

Memory Glass Christmas Tree Decoration.

I am not 100% with this decoration, but it was an interesting experiment after thrashing out ideas with Marc on ways to attach a hanger to a memory glass project without resorting to glue, which has never been aesthetically successful.

Finally, we hit upon using gold glitter Fimo to seal an embellished, patterned paper between 2 x 2ins glass squares. In making the frame I sank and secured a gold jump ring into the clay that would hopefully work as a hanger.

I used small, self adhesive letters for the sentiment, cutting them everso slightly to fit the glass.

When it all went it in the oven I wasn’t sure if the heat would crack the glass, but it held out.

This first very basic attempt is a bit rough and ready round the edges … leaving the back as it was……..

……….. but I can see how it could be dolled up if/when I have another go.

On the front I added a wooden Christmas tree (Hobbycrafts Xmas 2019)  with a generous layer of  Ranger Glossy Accents and a scattering of flat back gems, including the red star on the top. I also added three snowflake sequins also with a gem to the front of the glass to finish the look.

Everything needs fine tuning, the Fimo needs to be smoother and thinner round the edges, however I can see how being as thick could work if you wanted to create a little scene, i.e. white Fimo around a snowman in the snow…… I also think the lettering is a tad too big, but the hanger, the whole point of Marc’s and my original conversation, worked well, although I think I should now look to using a much smaller one …… so watch this space ……..

Christmas Tree Pin Brooch

This idea for a Christmas brooch/pin follows the Christmas tree decoration experiments of last week.

It’s only very small, measuring just 1.5ins x .5ins, made using a domino piece from a Christmas set found on E-bay which was a cheaper idea by far than buying ready cut MDF shapes, which is pretty mad really and why I always look for old sets in charity shops. It doesn’t matter if there are any pieces missing, they are still a bargain.

I started by painting the back and sides of the domino with white emulsion paint and covering the front with scraps of blue paper and white glitter card, plus a few tiny silver stars and a sprinkling of translucent white micro glitter.

On this first attempt I attached the tree using a glue gun, and then filled in the front with a good layer of Ranger Glossy Accents ………

…….. however, when I make another batch lot, I will put the Accents on first and leave to dry thoroughly before adding the tree as I think it might look neater.

With all that done, I just needed to add the pin/brooch fastening to the back, using an epoxy resin type glue to ensure that it would be fixed securely if/when worn.

I now need to come up with a simple idea for a presentation card on which to attach the brooches when I give them as small Advent presents at the start of December just to make them look a little more professional.

Guest Crafter – My Auntie Beth – Colouring Book Bunting

My Auntie Beth in Bude sent me a small section of bunting she has been making using completed pages from her colouring books

I’m saving it for Iris and Bertie’s next “special” tea party.  But what a brilliant idea for garden parties, weddings and summer fayres, or just to brighten up a room on a special occasion.  I am already thinking of Halloween and kicking myself for not buying a Sugar Skull colouring book I picked up, goodness knows how many time in The Works, after it had been reduced from something silly like £12.99 to £2.99 …… agghhh.  I could have bought it, and then given half to Marc as he loves a Sugar Skull, as well as Halloween.  I am also thinking crackers, and with a couple of coats of Modge Podge or just laminated, coasters, napkin rings, place mats ….. the worlds your/my colourful lobster!

Let It Snow Christmas Tree Decorations

There has been an awful lot of fiddle fart in putting this idea together …….. so for now, this post is more about the experimentation rather any finished articles.

It started with me finally finding these Craft for Christmas metal Christmas trees  (below) again after several years of searching.

I’d had a couple of packets a few years ago and used them on microscope slide decorations, but once I’d used them up that was it, until they popped up on eBay, and yes, I bought in bulk, as I now realise their potential for all manner of projects.

I started off with a wooden child’s domino piece as a base, adding the snowy background using scraps of blue paper and white glitter card, before securing the tree with my glue gun. The legend, “Let It Snow” was made using small, self adhesive, slightly trimmed alphabet stickers with snowflake sequins and stars added to fill in any gaps, and then the whole thing was covered with a generous dose of Ranger Glossy Accents.

It was the sides that I was finding difficult, I tried dipping the edges in melted, ultra thick, white Utee in my Melt Pot, (above) but the effect was a little too heavy and lumpy for me. It was also fiddly with little margin for error. I then had a go at using white embossing powder and my heat gun, but for the time and effort that went into it, the overall effect just wasn’t worth it.

Painting the edges with white Match-Pot paint (above) was OK, but not as “professional” looking as I would have liked.

In the end, although I don’t really like having both gold and silver together on the same project, I decided to try edging the sides with narrow, silver, adhesive foil tape, before edging the front with Ranger Glossy Enamels, with a silver eye screw in the top, I think it works, despite my misgivings, so that is the idea I am going to work with when I eventually organise myself to make more.

I also prefer the dead plain, blue paper (to the right, below) as a background, the more muted linen design paper is perhaps a little too subtle, although there really isn’t a great deal between them.

I am hoping to get at least twenty more of these decorations done, I think the design should work well with the red and green trees, but I might not use the gold, because of my “gold/silver thing”, we shall see.  I’ll post a couple more pictures when I’m done, so watch this space.

Christmas Embellished Patchwork Aperture Photo Frame

Forgive me, it doesn’t happen very often, but I am revisiting a Christmas project from two year ago, to wit my Christmas patchwork aperture photo frames.

I need to, as I have another ten frames taking up space under the bed from the 2019 Poundland sale where they were reduced to just 25p each, well, it would have been rude not to buy one or two, but they are serving no purpose unless I actually use them.

So, the plan is, after making this first one to reacquaint myself as to how I put the last lot together for Christmas 2018, to set aside a whole weekend to get them all done and dusted …….. and I have been organised, in preparation I have sorted out all the embellishments I already had, that were all roughly the right proportion for the frame and each other.

I also decided, rather than spend hours hunting for suitably matching papers in my boxes, I would instead limit myself to using papers from the Origami stacks I got from The Works (£5 each).  They have a more modern feel/colour way to them and in that respect the frames should be a little different from the 2018 originals.

I will use the completed frame above as a guide, but as I don’t think I have enough embellishments to make nine identical frames there will need to be some variation ………

…….. so rather than do all the backgrounds all in one go I will probably work on just two or three frames at a time so I can even out the embellishments and adjust the backgrounds if/when I need to use something new, if you see what I mean.

Once all the background with the embellishments are done, I will then be able to add all the time consuming frou frou, i.e the googly eyes, flat back gems, stars and faux stitching ……. that’s the plan anyway!

Before I went mad, I put two frames aside so that I can make something similar for Iris and Bertie for their rooms, but that can be on display all the year round.

NB: I remove and throw away all the glass before I start any work on the frames.

Wooooooo Hoooooo - The Charity Shops Are Open

Before lockdown, Mondays were my days for nipping into Evesham for a good old mooch round the charity shops, I have soooooooo missed it.  However with one or two now beginning to open up again, I have just returned from my first forage, admittedly I was a little hesitant, but the town is awash in hand sanitiser, and once I crossed the first threshold the adrenalin rush came straight back.

So above, is yet another glass cabinet that got away, it was free for goodness sake and believe me, if I had the space for it in my flat, by hook or by crook I’d have got it home! It had a key, the glass was perfect and the backing looked original.  There were a few doinks to the wood, but nothing that couldn't have been filled and sanded, because, in my dreams, it would have then been painted, I am thinking a black gloss ……. and then it would have become the most spectacular cocktail cabinet.  Aghhhhhhhh …… I really do need another house!!!!

However, I did make a considered purchase of just £2.97 for the three little dogs below.  I liked them simply because they were kitsch, kind of cute and probably something perhaps to put in the Sack of Tut on Boxing Day

When I got them home I thought I might as well look to see if I could find anything similar on E-bay etc., with their “foreign” stamp ……

……. it turns out that they are 1950s, 1960’s tape measure holders, where the tape pokes through the slot mouth to look like a tongue. Mine may have seen better days, there is plenty of crazing, some discolouration to the heads, a paint missing from the green ones nose, but no chips, so pretty OK for around 60 odd years old.  They will staying with me for the time being, they are colourful, different and kitsch and look pretty cute sat sitting on the shelves in my spare bedroom.

Halloween Pumpkin Microscope Decoration.

I am still continuing to experiment with microscope slides, this Halloween themed one turned out really well, one of my best so far.

I stuck the four pumpkin stickers (from a Halloween pack from Flying Tiger) onto a glass, goodness only knows why, because I meant to stick them on the paper, but hey ho, it still worked out ok!

I sandwiched the hanger finding between two scraps of patterned paper and then put everything between the two microscope slides.

Then as an experiment I sealed the sides and went round the edges with black Ranger Enamel Accents, without being sure whether it would work out or not .......

……. it did!  I was so chuffed.

My main problem with making anything with microscope slides has always been the hanger, but this was so easy, the finish around the hanger is seamless.  

The enamel took a while to set, so I had to exert a great deal of patience before adding a few little dots here and there using a fine, permanent black pen and a scattering of tiny, gold, nail accessory stars on the outside of the glass.

The back was then crying out to be embellished, on this occasion, because the decoration was already sealed I wrote/drew on the glass with a fine permanent black pen, but if/when I repeat the exercise I will do it on the inside paper first.

I will definitely make a few more of these for Nanny’s Annual Halloween Sleepover, though being made from glass they will be have to be looked at very carefully by Iris and Bertie under strict supervision.  I am now wondering if I can buy plastic stripes of roughly the same size as the slides to make something similar that they could take home without me worrying?  The answer is yes, 250 for £9.41 from Amazon  – I am thinking about it …… shame I can’t get just £5 worth!

It's also sods law, I think I can make this idea work, but I am down to my last twenty or so of the flat disc pendant findings.  I bought them in bulk quite a few years ago but cannot find any more  anywhere on eBay. It's all about the flatness, using them between two slides with no bulk or gap to fill, however, I do have some very thin, metal star embellishments that I think I can do a work round by adding a small silver spring bail to them, fingers crossed.

I also see that Dovecraft have a range of Enamel Effects for around £1.50 a bottle, half the price of Enamel Accents so I think I might give these a go too, I can see the green and purple working for Halloween and perhaps the blue and white for Christmas? All an awful lot cheaper than the soldering iron and kit I was considering .................