What I Do With My Stuff

A couple of people have asked what I do with the things I make, well usually I keep them for my own personal use, I get bored once I make about ten of something, my gums begin to itch and I want to move on to the next idea whirling in my head, so what you see in the pictures is usually all I make of a project!  I just make for pleasure and to share, rather than for gain.

This Halloween and Christmas, for the first time in a few years I did put a box of bits and pieces in the staff room, but again, a run of any one item is usually limited to no more than twenty.

Having said that, I am considering, perhaps, having a table at a couple of craft fayres next Christmas and maybe in the summer taking a few of my bits and pieces into touristy type gift shops ……. a bit of a hint there, but more of my future plans in the next month or so …… when things are a little more concrete!!!!!!!!!!!

Mini Pencil Gift Tags

These gift tags measure 3ins x 2ins

I wanted to use up a box of mini pencil crayons I originally bought in Paperchase years ago that were now getting on my nerves because they had been in my drawer for sooooooooo too long ….. and I wanted rid of them!!

So I took them, a pack of ready made tags, some graph paper, some small alphabet letters, some stars and a glue gun to stick down the pencils ……..

……. and this is what I came up with!  Another bit of stash hits the dust!!!

Snowman Christmas Tree Bauble

Following on from yesterday …….. and what to do with the rest of a  box of 48, red, green, white and silver baubles once you’d taken all the green ones out to make Ninja Turtles ……..

Well, you can make snowmen faces with the white ones (another idea found on Google)

I used black flat backed gems to the eyes and mouth stuck on the E6000 glue, to make sure they don’t drop off …….

…… and then made a pile of carrot noses (using one I already had as a guide), from orange Fimo clay, which then had to be baked.

Once the Fimo had hardened, it was time to give Mr Snowman his nose, and that’s when I think he got his personality!  I used E6000 again to stick it on and then kept him in an upright position overnight until the glue took hold.

Ninja Turtle Christmas Tree Baubles

This is not my idea, I just copied it ……. my friend Sarah and I were Googling “Ninja Turtle Craft Ideas” just before Christmas and all of a sudden a Ninja Turtle baubles appeared on our screen and when Sarah saw them she was desperate for a set for her little boy Jacob for the Christmas Tree in his bedroom, and as I love Jacob (and Sarah) soooooo much, how could I deny them?????

But first I had to find some green baubles …… and have you ever looked purposefully for green baubles? OMG!!!!  Let’s just say that in the end Argos was my saviour, after I had scoured Wolverhampton from top to bottom.

I walked in to said Argos, and there was one very battered box on the shelf, but they were mine ….. £3.99 for 48 ….. for me the 12 green ones were worth that alone, but then I noticed that there were two broken ones (not green ones though) and when I ask if there were anymore the gentleman said they were the last box but said would I buy them if he knocked another pound off ……. erm … yes ….. £2.99????? Bargaintastic!!!

So baubles were impossibly easy to make, using a black Sharpie pen to draw the mouth, scraps of ribbon left over from Tom and Laura’s wedding, stuck on with double sided tape ….. and googly eyes.

Needless to say Jacob was thrilled and his Ninjas hung on his bedroom Christmas tree all over the holiday.

I have another eight green baubles left to make another two sets of Ninjas, but what do I do with the others? More tomorrow ………..

Iris’s Dressing Up Box

This is what I “made” for Baby Iris for Christmas ……… it’s her dressing up box.

There’s a lot of history to this very simple box.  It was originally Andy’s fishing tackle box which he made for himself for when he went fishing, the children were little and we didn’t have a lot of money. 

And when we had a little more money Andy was able to buy a “proper” tackle box …… and then, his old box was painted different colours as it became a toy box, and later a dressing up box, until finally it was put up in the attic, abandoned as the children had grown up.

Then Lu said a couple of months ago, that we should get it down and “do it up” for Iris for her dressing up box………. as dressing up was always very much part of Tom and Lucy’s childhood with many many happy memories associated with it …… when they used to go to the village jumble sale on a Wednesday night with a bag of pennies, using their imaginations to buy “dressing up clothes”.

So, one Sunday night, just before Christmas, I finally got my act together and cut out all the squares and flowers from my My Mind’s Eye, Stella and Rose, 12” x 12” designer paper pad (that book now owes me nothing, as I have used it on so many projects) and got gluing ….. followed by coat after coat of clear, quick drying varnish while perched upside down on the table, in the kitchen utility!

But, I left the inside red, left untouched just as Andy had painted it.Iris may never know her Granddad Andy, but I know he will always, always be with her.  I am hoping that this box will follow her through her life, in different guises as she grows up ……. I would like to think that when the time comes for her to go to university it will be used as one of her trunks to transport all her gear ……. and if it ever needs a little tender loving attention, someone will always be on hand to repair it ….. and make it better, if not me.

Another New Year ……

Yes ….. I have made a couple of resolutions …..

…….. I intend to keep both blogs going for a little while longer….. I am not promising there will be a Fiddle Fart post every single day, but as with last year I know every other day is certainly do-able   Let’s just see how it goes.  However, again, like last year, I have a few Christmas posts already scheduled for January, as there were some projects I never got to post as time ran out  ….. and with the Christmas sales now on I have a feeling that I’ll be picking up a few bits and pieces that I will want to craft with rather than leave them till the end of the year.

I also need to lose weight, it’s been creeping up on me gradually for the past eighteen months and I have done nothing about it except in the last few months when I have bought the next size up and that, is not good!!  I am not going to harp on and on about it …. but, when I am back in a size 12/14 I think I will be reasonably jubilant enough to share it with you!!

I admit to having a certain hesitancy about the coming year ……….I have a few plans in the pipeline …… some of which I don’t want to jinx just yet by mentioning them ….. but, I am going to see Queen for my birthday in a few weeks time,  one of the few groups Andy didn’t get to see. When there was nothing on the tele we would watch Queen videos together instead ….. it won’t be the same without Freddie, but at least I can give Andy the thumbs up and say …. look where I am!

I am also hoping that Marc will be staying with me again in February, all being well …… I have promised him that the schedule won’t be half as punishing as it was last summer ….. but will include visits to as many charity shops as I can muster, several meals out, at least one trip on the Banga bus and of course lots of crafting ……this time I think we may be mostly working playing with air drying clay, Fimo and resin!!!!

January 1st 2015 - another year lays ahead of us …… “lets hope it’s a good one!”

New Years Eve Reflections

Well, what a year 2014 proved to be, more to the point, where did it go?  It’s so weird, some things seem like they were only yesterday, and then others seem like a million years away!

The one thing that blighted  2014, until July, was the announcement of redundancies at work, it was awful.  I found the whole process unbearable and so withdrew, taking no part in applying for any of the new positions created, until almost the very last week of term, when after many weeks of being gently persuaded constantly badgered and nagged by my best friend Sarah that she couldn’t do her “new job” without me, I finally applied for the one part time Admin post that hadn’t been filled, still admittedly with reservations.  Then in September I began working my new hours, 8.30 – 1.30.  It took a lot of getting used to, not only the shorter hours but the drastic cut in wages, but I had a job.

However by mid October I had adjusted and discovered that by leaving work at 1.30 it gave me almost another day to play with (if that makes sense?)…….no more rushing home to get the tea on and then crashing on the settee but more time to be creative, blog and as you have seen, finally bond with my garden!!!!  Work wise I am not sure what 2015 will bring, as more big changes seem to be a foot …… and whether I decide to fit in again is another story.But onto much happier events and memories …..

In June I became Nanny Nell to a very, very beautiful little Iris. The first baby to be born to all our families for at least 18 years, and we are all totally and absolutely besotted.  

And then …… later in the summer Marc came to stay play with me, something neither of us ever thought would happen, even as I waited for Marc’s train to pull in I still expected to get a text saying he wasn’t coming!! 

We had such a special time …. and in those ten days, no, we never, ever stopped talking or laughing, especially when he filled my bathroom with bubbles, when he put a few too many drops of luxury product in my jaccizi bath!! 

And I am sure the charity shops of Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton still remember our animated visits.

There were also all my return frequent visits to London to stay with Marc and Ian….. where we saw the Poppies at the Tower together ……..

…….. took part in unusual quiz nights …..

…… and who can forget the Live Theatre Window Event at WE Interiors in November or my need to cut those calories!!!!!!

Lucy and I went on our Greek Odyssey to Kefalonia, accompanied by three equally enthusiastic monkeys who embraced all things Greek, a time away in foreign climes that ticked all our boxes for the perfect holiday ……….

…….. accept that seven days was just not enough!

At Easter I went Iceland ….. this was the third time I had arranged the trip for the Geography Department and this time it just had to be my time to go with them.

It was the most beautiful, magical and at times “spooky” country I had ever been too and where I finally managed to tick off swimming in the Blue Lagoon from my bucket list. 

I know there’s been an awful lot more to my year, but these were for me the most memorable. Tonight I plan to go for a meal with some of my family to the local Indian restaurant up the road, and then toddling home early to see 2015 in very quietly ………remembering the year, good and bad and indifferent and the people who helped make the memories, then looking towards a New Year …… not with dreamily misty, whimsical eyes, but just hoping that it will be a good one.

Thank You

I have received some very lovely cards from followers of this blog and The Boyz which I thought I would share with you.  Lu made me laugh just before Christmas after checking the post and sighed saying, “Those flipping Monkeys get more post than I do!”

Once again, I am thinking that I really do not stamp enough …..
…… despite having a couple of drawers full of wooden and cling stamps …
….. as well as a whole plethora of inks and embossing powders and heat gun,
….. so perhaps one crafty New Years Resolution should be to include at least one stamped project a month ……..

And now I can hear Marc’s voice in my ear saying “…and you don’t use your Silhouette (as card above) enough either, do you Madam?” and then continuing the nagging by asking if I have downloaded this weeks Silhouette free file!! 

So that’s now one stamp and one Silhouette project a month ……… hmmmmmm!!!!!!  We shall see!!!

And last but not least, cards with Monkeys are always particularly special to me.

Overly Dressed Goat Bell

My sister-in-law loves Christmas and it is a tradition to try and bring her a Christmas tree decoration from places we visit during the year

Well, I saw some tacky baubles in Greece in the summer, but Lucy gave me that look that said “No Mum, that’s just too tacky!” …… so after further searching over the holiday I finally settled for a small, simple and very plain goat bell.

However, as Christmas neared I decided that it really needed a bit of embellishing, for fear it would look just too plain and simple amongst the other rich and ornate baubles …… but…. I think I only succeeded in making it look even more tackier than the bauble I left behind!!!!!

Maisie’s Christmas Card

I promised Maisie and her Gran that I would post a picture of the WONDERFUL 2014 Christmas card Maisie sent to me for all the world to see …….

It’s about A5 in size, using a textured white card, assorted red buttons and lot’s of different ribbons, my favourite being the one on the bottom edge, so clever, and would you believe Maisie is only 8 and is already giving us older crafters a real run for our money!!! Maisie I LOVE it ….. and keep up all the good work in 2015 xxxxx

Last Minute Christmas Packaging Idea

Well, I had finished making all my “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” bottle to give a small keepsake presents and was ready to parcel them up, but the problem was I didn’t have a clue how to. I had considered buying some Poundland crackers, just for the cracker packaging, but then I got “tight”,  why spend more money on stuff that would only be thrown away ….. especially when I had a room of paper and stuff, that owe me nothing?

It took me a couple of attempts, I know crackers was the obvious way to go, but me and crackers just don’t get on craft wise, past attempts always looked misshaped and uneven  …….

But this is what I eventually came up with, using some ancient lunch money envelopes.  I simple covered the front and back with small print scraps of 8” x 8” Christmas papers and then added a Craftwork Cards sentiment layered on plain and scalloped circles. Voila!  It didn’t really matter where I put the sentiment, front or back, but I think in the end I preferred it on the back, slightly overlapping the flap with a touch of faux stitching.

Festive Objects Of Desire

If money was no object ………
….. wouldn’t it be wonderful …….
……. to have a special set of bedding ……..
…….. just for Christmas! So this year in the sales, this is what I will be looking for, especially for the Christmas's that Iris will come to stay, it's a natural progression from Christmas pyjamas .... Primark has a "Nordic" set .... so I am off to mooch as soon as the festivities are over!

Christmas Day 2015

 xxxxx Wishing You A Very Happy Christmas xxxxx