What’s Waiting For Me On My Desk Today ….. Tumbling Block Snowmen Decorations.

I think I must have painted these tumbling blocks sometime last year while staying with Marc, but that’s as far as I got with them.

The box of 57 8cms x 2cms wooden blocks cost me just 50p from an Evesham Charity shop, so it was a no brainer purchase really and having them painted already all I have left to do is the fiddle fart!

My aim is to complete ten a day over the coming week so all the fiddly work doesn’t feel too onerous or repetitive.

Last year Iris and Bertie helped me drop similar snowmen all round Evesham as a random Christmas kindness, this year as I will be continuing to listen to readers in school two afternoons a week, I was thinking that they could be popped into reading book bags at Christmas, but before I do I need to check with Health and Safety that they are safe to do that.

The Perfect “Pear” Anniversary Easel

Sometimes it takes longer to find all the bits and pieces for an idea than to actually make it.  This idea follows on from yesterday and the spark of inspiration I got just before I was going to give a bag of wooden fruit beads that I got in a Works sale a while ago to school……….. an anniversary easel for my lovely neighbours across the hall, Kata and Laci.

I used a £1 mini canvas and easel and two wooden pear beads from The Works.

I started off with a faux stitching around the edge of the canvas and then spacing out the writing and doodled legs and arms as centrally as I could using a black, fine tip Stabilo pen.

On the pears I added googly eyes, pink flat backed gems for the checks and a smile made using a black, fine tip, permanent pen.

Then, all that was left to do was glue the pears on to the canvas using B-7000 glue ………

…… and then mounting it all on the easel…… simples!

I think I will make a few extra of these for my craft stall (if I am lucky enough to get one towards the end of the year) as I might just make a little extra if not all my stuff is Christmassy. We shall see.

An Apple For The Teacher Pin Badge.

This is a quick and easy fiddle fart I came up with after contemplating giving a bag of painted, wooden, fruit shaped beads to school, I took another look at them and thought I might just get at least one idea out of them, thinking on the lines of “an apple for the teacher”,  a lanyard pin badge for Iris and Bertie’s classroom staff on the first day of the new school year ????

The beads came from a sale at The Works, I think they had been reduced to 25p a bag, for quite a big bag, of which I bought two.

All I really did was add a clear, flat back gem over the painted shine on the apples ……

……. before adding a very small brooch back on the back using B-7000 glue to make sure I had a secure fix.

I then made up some small display cards to pin them on and put them in small cello bags,  simples!

I am now thinking of doing the same with a few of the strawberries…..

…… adding tiny clear gems to the outside pips.  I also think the pears have potential, perhaps on an anniversary card or two …… and then the rest can go to school!

Heads Up – The Craft Works, Leamington Spa

I was in Leamington Spa last weekend and look what I stumbled upon in The Royal Priors Shopping Centre ……..

It’s “The Works” but craft only!  Well, it would have been rude not to go in and have a mooch and make a couple of considered purchases wouldn’t it? As you know I have used The Works in Evesham for a lot of my craft supplies since I moved, but I always nip into other branches when I see one as no shop seems to carry a full range of their products and then if all else fails I look online.

Much of the stuff I had bought or seen/before, but perhaps not in such abundance, however I still managed to invest in a couple of packs of wooden embellishments.

I have noticed prices are slowly creeping up, but the wooden embellishments still remain good value for money.

I particularly liked these angel wings, I am thinking they could look pretty fantastic painted with either a silver or gold chrome pen on a wooden peg doll angel?

As far as I can see there are only two Craft Works in the country at the moment in Leamington Spa and Buxton, but who knows, perhaps they’ll soon be springing up everywhere.

https://www.theworks.co.uk/Store?storeId=0918

https://www.theworks.co.uk/Store?storeId=1163

With Halloween and Christmas crafting ideas looming (????) I would also love to see a “One Below” in Evesham, because at the moment I will have to travel to Wolverhampton to stock up on their fantastic range of seasonal craft items. I thought I stockpiled enough last year, especially their stickers and embellishments but I can see them whittling down very quickly.  Their favour/sweet bags/boxes were also brilliant, so fingers crossed they do the same again this year and I can get to them!

https://www.one-below.co.uk/

Wooden Birthday Easel

I’m not 100% about this easel, it was done in a hurry and I think it shows, partly because once I had decided on the embellishments I was going to use, I was determined, because I didn’t have the time, to use them, come hell or high water!

I started with a natural coloured wooden chalkboard easel from Home Bargains (99p for a pack of 4), small, wooden, self adhesive scrabble tiles (I believe I ordered these from the US, years ago, when I could afford the postage!) and a painted, wooden birthday cake button.

I first added faux stitching around the edge of the chalkboard using a black biro because the ink wouldn’t bleed into the wood.

Equally spacing out the scrabble tiles to fit everything in was a right pain, in the end I had to put the “birthday” nearer to the bottom than I would have liked.

However, once in place I was then able to add the “Happy” and the cake, filling small empty spaces with various sized, coloured confetti stars and clutters of three white dots using a fine nib Posca pen.

Looking at the easel now, I might have got away with not using the cake (it was for a ruffy tuffy man???) and just added a few more stars and dots???  Anyway, not a design I think I will repeat.

Small Crab Badges

With a holiday theme in mind, I made a few of these badge/brooches for Iris to put in her end of term “Thank You” bags for all the female staff who work in her classroom to put on their lanyards.

I started by using B -7000 glue to stick the brooch fittings onto the back of small wooden frames.

I then gave the MDF crabs one coat of “Cheese Puff” Ranger Enamel Accents …….

……. adding two googly eyes when the accents was dry ……..

…… before gluing the crab, again with B-7000, to the front of the frame.

I decided to leave the frame “au natural”, just adding some tiny, silver flat back gems for bubbles.  There wasn’t an awful lot to them really.

As these were going to be small gifts I decided to put them on a display card, just to make them look a little more professional ……

……. made using a 2cm x 2cm scrap of white card, a small hole punch and some doodling round the edges.  Et voila!

Aiye Chrome Marker Pens

I’ve been having a lot of Chrome Marker Pens popping up on my Facebook feed recently and although I was curious as the results looked really effective I managed to resist, I delved a little further and they seemed quite expensive, so I resisted some more …… but then I decided to look on Amazon, the prices varied, but when I spotted a set of six pens, three silver and three gold (1mm, 1-2mm and 3-3mm tips) for £12.99 plus 99p P & P I finally gave in, praying that they wouldn’t turn out to be pants!

It took a few weeks for them to arrive, I’d almost forgotten about them, so I am guessing that they came from China and although I haven’t used them much, I have to say I am quite impressed by the results.

I tried the 1mm silver pen on the buckles of four Santa tree decorations I’d made, where I had originally used an ordinary, metallic silver felt pen to colour them in ……..

…… and there’s no mistaking that they are definitely a very shiny silver now, so I am happy that they do what they say on the tin “marker creates a high-gloss, real mirror effect on almost all smooth surfaces” and “uses reflective ink which can bring a shiny silver touch to your projects”

According to the bumf they can be used on metal, cardboard, paper, canvas, clay, foam, clay, artificial fibre, plastic, stone, gypsum, concrete etc. so lots of playing to be done.

Hopefully I’ll be finding lots of other projects to use them on, especially thinking of Halloween and Christmas to help make things pop a little more …….. so watch this space.

Mini Snowman Easel Decoration

I really love how these mini easels have turned out especially as they were pretty quick to put together ………

………. I just wish I'd ordered more than five of the MDF snowmen at the time, because the company, my usual source for MDF shapes, where I got them from has let me down (not for the first time) with another order. After a month of waiting, several e-mails and the promise to re-send the order, enough is enough and I finally requested a refund.  The companies designs are a little bit different and the prices really reasonable, but do I dare risk putting in another order perhaps in September?

I ordered five of the 55/60mm snowmen last year and found them out the other day, wondering if they were in proportion with the Home Bargains mini chalkboard easels (found in the wedding section, 99p for a pack of 4, white or natural) I have stockpiled, just in case they disappear again. They are so versatile, I tend to zhuzh them up instead of making a a card these days.

After giving the blackboard a couple of coats of Wilko, clear, glossy, quick drying varnish to prevent any ink bleeding into the wood, I started by getting the lettering in the right position using a fine tipped white Posca pen.

Then I gave the head and body of the snowmen a couple of coats of paint from a Wilko tester pot and colouring the hat with a black Sharpie pen …….

….. before adding the eyes, mouth and buttons using various sized black, flat back domes, ribbons and cut out cardboard noses.

My tiny, £1 Hobbycraft, holly punch is such a valuable tool for Christmas bits and pieces, I think it might be worth investing in a spare when I see one, as I would really be lost without it.  I added tiny, red nail art gems for the holly berries.

I was then in the position to glue the snowman to the board using B-7000 as I wanted a really strong bond.

For the snow I used white DecoArt Americana Writer which has a slightly chalky, may finish and texture ……..

…….. and then added all the extra fiddle fart of plastic snowflakes, nail art snowflakes, tiny silver flat back gems and clusters of three dots to complete the idea.

I am really chuffed with how these decorations have turned out, but disappointed that I only ordered five snowmen initially just to see how I liked them.

Fingers crossed that I can find something similar somewhere, as I am thinking I wouldn’t mind making another 15 or so “if” I get my craft stall towards the end of the year.