My Christmas Gifts

I didn’t ask Santa for many gifts of a crafty nature this year, because I have so much stuff it’s untrue, but there has been a bit of kit that I have desired greatly from the minute I knew it existed, a Stampin Up, Bigshot Matchbox Die.  I don’t know how he did it, and I love him to bits for doing it, because my lovely son managed to find one for me!!!!  How brilliant is that?

  

My first fleeting fiddle with it (for the purposes of this blog) was on 27th December, in a bit of a hurry and I have to admit that neat folding isn’t one of my greatest talents …. but my second attempt didn’t turn out too badly. I can’t get into my craft room at the moment, but as soon as I can I have so many ideas on how to use it, including an Advent Calendar!!!!!

I’ve also wanted this stamp for a while, from Lili of the Valley,  as I work in a girl's’ school, it’s just perfect for a few ideas I have ….

And now for a couple of non crafty gifts …….  this is the most fantastic present, another of my objects of desire for years, a crystal ball – not sure if I’ll be able to see the future in it …… but it’s beautiful.

As is my sandglass pendant and necklace ……

I am such a lucky girl lady!!!!!

My mum gave me this Peanuts book,  the pictures and words are so lovely and very true.

I am hoping that I can use it as a source of inspiration for my family Christmas cards next year – so I expect you’ll see it again sometime in the future.

And finally, a lovely bit of fun from my husband ....... a technicolour shower head to make the drudgery of my morning shower before I go to work a "Disco Experience"

My Jar of Holey Wish Stones

Whenever I go to the sea I spend hours looking for holey “wish stones”.  They say that a stone with a hole going through it has mystical powers ….. I have one with me all the time.  I also put one on a red thread and give them to very special people who understand what I am wuffing on about.  I think its all part of me wanting to be a mermaid in my next life …….!

My Glasses

My eyesight is pretty rubbish, I wear quite strong contact lenses but still need a pair of readers on top of them for when I craft, read, use the computer etc.

I have quite a collection, mainly because I panic if I don’t have at least three pairs in my bag, and I am always loosing them, as I tend to wear them on top of my head and they fall off without me noticing.   I can’t walk past a rack without having a look and Poundland has had some brilliant multicoloured stripy ones in recently.

My very, very favourite ones were from Liverpool about two years ago …. I had several pairs, they were leopard and tiger print with diamantes on the nose and arms, they were gorgeous …….. they weren’t very strong and so didn’t last long, but I loved them so much, I was like a crafting Dame Edna in them!

Me…… Would Be Window Dresser!

A while back I went on a fantastic Visual Display Training Course  (sorry about the poor quality of the pictures) and thought I'd tell you about about it today.

It was primarily about window dressing, how brilliant is that?  Something I have always wanted to have a go at. It was run by a company called Made You Look http://www.madeyoulookmadeyoustare.co.uk/ and the lady who took the course, another Helen, was truly inspirational. 

Helen has done displays for all the top people, including Monsoon, British Airways, Toyota, House of Fraser etc. plus she does some of those wonderful Christmas displays in shopping malls etc..  I am SO jealous.

The first part of the course was about the “science” of window display, but in the afternoon we had a chance of doing a bit of window display ourselves. I was so lucky, as there were only three of us on the course, so we had this wonderful lady and her knowledge to ourselves. She critiqued, advised and tweaked our efforts. I was in seventh heaven.  The above is my tweaked effort.

And this is what the other ladies created.

We also learnt how to wrap boxes for display (with no joins showing)  and as a gift wrapping.  I need a lot more practice, but we were given a brilliant copy of all the course notes that I can use as a reference.

The course cost £175 which was paid for by work – it was so well worth the money, I was bouncing for days afterwards with ideas and inspiration.

Celebrity Button Art Book Launch Party – 12th November 2010.

http://www.celebritybuttonart.com/

A little while ago my lovely friend Stephanie (that’s her with the lovely long red hair and cream sweater) invited me to the launch party of the Celebrity Button Art Book. Karen Gammon the artist and author was one of Stephanie’s teachers at school and does the most fantastic things with buttons.  It was a brilliant night, that gave me a lot of ideas, as well as a chance to mix with the stars of DIY SOS, Deborah Drew and Chris Frediani.

 
Karen sent a button attached to a card and asked celebrities to “do” a design around it.

I bought the book, but was fascinated to see all the celebrity contributions in the “Flesh”

Some were quite simple ….

Some must now be worth a small fortune ….

And some were stunning, miniature works of art.

It’s so hard to say which one was my favourite ……

But, I as I adore insect jewellery, it has got to be these two spiders by James Opasik.

Karen also exhibited several stunning pieces of work, that just blew my mind!



And the attention to detail on the guests table was not wasted on me.

I couldn’t bear to eat my tiny cake, so it’s now rock hard and on my treasure shelf in my craft room.

There were a couple of ideas that I would like to try in the New Year,  like these framed collections of buttons, so simple, but so effective.

I just need to find a good framer …..

And finally, I love this ………..

Needless to say I came home buzzing …. with as many little bits and pieces as I could manage to secrete in my party bag….!!!

xxxxx Happy Christmas xxxxx

I hope you have a WONDERFUL Christmas, and that Santa brings you a few crafty type presents!

Christmas Day 2010

Last night the trees in our garden looked magical with the twinkling snow and all the little lanterns that I lit to remember those special  people, like my Mother in Law, who won’t be with us again this Christmas and for all the people that I love, who am so lucky to have in my life …….

And this is the most precious Christmas card of them all ….

…… nothing I could make would ever be this beautiful …… made by my profoundly handicapped brother, who has just turned 48, at his special day care unit ….. it makes me well up just looking at it.  Stunning!

It's Christmas Eve & I Shall Be Leaving Treats for Rudolph On My Special Plate!

I will still be blogging over Christmas, but rather than having crafting ideas, I thought I would share a couple of things I have done in the past couple of months but didn't blog about at the time, plus show you the things I have made for “Our New Years Family Tut”-  a family tradition where we all make a little gift for the people we will be seeing the New Year in with ……

But first ……. Rudolph’s plate ……

 
I’m a bit disappointed by my painted carrot tops on this plate, but I’m sure Rudolph won’t notice my shonky efforts as he’s chomping away on his Christmas Eve treats tonight!

I’ve used an old tea plate and ceramic pens for this project, which probably took less that 30 minutes to do. After leaving the plate to dry for about 24 hours, it needed to be baked at 160c /325f for 40 minutes.

It’s a daft idea ……as my sister would say, you’ve got too much time on your hands!

IKEA Memory Boxes

A little while ago I filled one of three IKEA memory boxes that I had bought a couple of years but left empty, with old wooden cotton reels, well, I have finally filled the other two …..

I didn’t know what to do with my scary spellbook box that I made for Halloween…. and then I had an “Ulrika” moment and put it in one of the boxes with a glittered spider, I am dead chuffed!

I also found, (when I was looking for something else), a bag of small pieces of driftwood that I have collected from beaches on various holidays.  The intention was to make a heart shaped wreath with them (one day) ….. but it seemed a pity to have them stuck away ….. so into the memory box they have gone, in the hope that seeing them each day will spur me into action.

It’s a bit eclectic, but it’s me! Now that I have filled these three boxes …. I think I may see if I can find another three ....... except that IKEA have stopped doing them ...... bum!

Blog Hopping

You may have noticed that my “Places I Like To Visit” has disappeared from my sidebar. When I went through it the other day I found some had disappeared and others had not posted for a while, so I decided to have a spring clean (?!!!) and start again.

So I’ve been on a blog hop and found this lovely blog written by Leigh (one of my followers) which has a sewing theme, something I will definitely be trying to get into in the New Year,  using my trusty £7 Singer machine I got off e-bay.

http://www.thesewingdivaandherreluctantmodels.blogspot.com/

Leigh makes such  lovely things and I was so jealous when I read that she had actually done a display of her work in a local shop window, something which I have ALWAYS wanted to do – in fact my post scheduled for 27th December is all about a window dressing course I went on in October.

Leigh also links to some fantastic blogs, my favourite has to be one called “ Crap I’ve Made” – what a brilliant name …… I howled when I saw it and I wished I’d thought of it first.

Anyway ….. have a look for yourselves……. why not give Leigh a visit ……

What’s On My Desk Wednesday

Treasure ……… rescued from the bin …… lots and lots of old, worn tape measures …… aint got a clue to do with them ….. but sewing them together springs to mind …. all suggestions welcome!

Snow Bubbles For My Festive Bathroom!

I know, I know, I know ….. I have too much time on my hands!!! (I wish!).  But this is an idea I’ve had in my head for ages and just wanted to see if it would work …..

It’s a large bottle of white foam bath (80p Morrison's) that I have covered with printed images on A4 paper, using a design set called Little Joys by Zoe Pearn http://sweetshoppedesigns.com/sweetshoppe/product.php?productid=16188&cat=0&page=3.  I have printed a background paper and snowman which I have cut out and stuck down then varnished over it with Modge Podge Sparkle (if I were to do it again I think I would prefer to use a mat finish). 

In between coats of Modge Podge I have added self adhesive letters and punched snowflakes, and then coated over them again.  When dry, I have added small buttons and eyes to the snowman and blue flat backed gems to the snowflakes.

I have used about six coats of Modge Podge in the hope of keeping the bottle fairly bathroom proof …. it will be interesting to see how long it stays in relatively good nick!

I’ve added a plastic snowflake and flat backed gem to the cap with strong epoxy glue.