Making good use of the things that we find ...

My Dad is always arriving home with 'things' that he has found, usually Argos pens and coins! Usually my mum is not impressed ...
Today he found these two metal beads on his way home, now they're not old, they're not really worth anything, but he handed them over to me. He had thought they were those chocolate footballs covered in silver foil!
So my daughter has 'claimed' the white flowery one, and i'm going to use it as a feature bead in a bracelet for her, and my mum has claimed the dark metal one, so I will make a bracelet or a pendant using it.

I will post some pictures of my 'reclaim' pieces when they are completed. And if you recognise these beads from a necklace you have recently broken, I apologise!

April ATC Swap - I have mail!

As I put the finishing touches to my own UK Handmade ATC swap offering for this month, I have received an ATC from Joolz Kay. Joolz is a photographer and jewellery designer. This month's theme was 'Songs'. Her design is inspired by Mumford and Son's 'Awake My Soul'. I love her use of wire to produce the lettering, it must have taken ages.

I will post my April card on here as soon as it had landed at it's destination.

http://joolzkay.misi.co.uk/

Spoonflower!!!

A while ago I added some of my designs to Spoonflower with the idea of getting some fabrics printed, eventually! I decided to get a swatch of 'giddything' - a repeat pattern using my little bird, and some purple 'Cute as a Button' fabric by CraftyLittleMia. Just after Easter I got an email to say my swatches were on their way, then came the Icelandic volcano, and I wondered whether i'd ever see those swatches ...

They arrived yesterday, the postmark is 12th April 2010, but i'm just happy they arrived. I don't know what i'm doing with my design yet, to begin with I think i'll make myself a tote bag for the Summer. I'm making myself a pencil case with the 'Cute as a Button' fabric, and hope to order some more to make cushions for my daughter's room.

'giddything' -
http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/203225
'Cute as a Button' -
http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/164736

Tuesday Treasury - In The Garden

Some sunny day have meant gardening rather than sitting in the house with my beads. Although I am quite partial to sitting on a blanket with my beading things once the garden looks nice. So, this week's min-treasury is all about gardening ...

Top Row:-
Watering Can gardening theme cufflinks, for those who like the idea of gardening, but don't like the dirt! - http://www.folksy.com/shops/pennydog
Hand-turner Ash gardening dibber, very useful and saves on grimy finger nails - http://www.folksy.com/shops/Diggiwoodturning

Bottom Row:-
Seedbom, I really love this idea - http://www.folksy.com/shops/Kabloom
Vintage Style Half Size Wooden Seed Tray, so much nicer than plastic ones - http://www.folksy.com/shops/artisancuriosities

Another mini-treasury next Tuesday.

Yellow Corsage for the Summer

Summer is on it's way, but some of use still need to be suited and booted for work. For me Summer clothes are a no-no, I work in an environment where there is machinery (nothing floaty that could get caught) and heavy objects (no flip-flops in case you drop something on your feet). My solution is to brighten up my outfits with accessories, so I have treated myself to a new SeventySeventyOne Design corsage. I already own a green one (my Spring brooch), and I suppose I ought to be thinking ahead to an Autumn and Winter corsage too! Here is my latest purchase, pinned to my vintage Jaeger cropped jacket ...

http://www.etsy.com/shop/seventyseventyone

http://www.folksy.com/shops/seventyseventyone

Chocolate Chunk Tray Bake

I've spent most of the afternoon working on my UK Handmade necklace swap items, making finding and experimenting with some polymer clay beads. The beads now need to be baked and sanded. Photos will follow soon.

So after all that 'hard work' I decided to make something indulgent to eat as a treat. I've recently bought a book called 'Eat Me', full of cakes, cookies and other gooey stuff. I decided on the Chocolate Chunk Tray Bake - 20 mins in the oven, so giives you plenty of time to do something while it bakes ...

Picture from The Book People website








You will need :-
320g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp salt
110g unsalted butter
170g granulated sugar
125g soft brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
340g chocolate (chopped)
110g chopped hazelnuts (although I didn't add these!)

What to do :-
1. Preheat the oven 190c. Grease a baking tin measuring about 38 x 25 x 2.5 cm.
2. Mix flour, bicarbonate and salt together in a small. Cream together the butter, sugars and vanilla in a large bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, and stir to combine. Then add the flour mixture and mix well. Stir in the chocolate and nuts.
3. Spread the mixture evenly into the greaded baking tin and bake for 20 mins. Leave to cool on a wire rack, then cut into 16 pieces.

I cut it into twelve pieces, think there are about six left!

Busy Weekend ...

I have made today my 'day off', but tomorrow I need to work VERY HARD. The post date for my ATC swap is imminent, so my first job will be completing my card ready for posting later in the week.
Yesterday I received a package with the UK Handmade Necklace Swap pieces in it. A very lovely package, Kella, the lady who sent it, recycles her envelopes covering them with bright pictures from magazines. This one is particularly nice.

So inside the package there was my original necklace with Kella's additions, Jane's necklace with Kella's additions, and the start of Kella's necklace, all to be revealed over the next week

I won't be adding anything to my own necklace, so that will be replace in the package, ready to post to Jane at the end of the week.
Kella has stuck to my colour scheme adding some of her style into the mix, I love the shell fragment and the 'friendly-plastic' fish.

So tomorrow I will start to add my sections for the other two necklaces, it's a bit scary, but also rather exciting!

A quick reminder ...

A very quick blog for today, it's been busy, but I promised blogging 365, so here is today's post ... a catch-up on my blog about the Caithness Rare Breeds charity. I'm determined to get involved with this charity, and am going to use the weekend to think about what I can do. Tracy updated her blog yesterday with more pictures and suggestions for how crafters can help this charity.

http://cupcakesathome.blogspot.com/2010/04/we-have-new-whippet-and-we-have-been.html

She also has a handy button that you can add to you blog to promote the charity ...

You just put the code into blogger and it will create the button.

Lots more things to blog about tomorrow ....

ATC Swap April 2010

April is turning out to be very busy, I am currently waiting for a package to arrive on my doorstep so the I can complete my 'bit' of the UK Handmade Round Robin Necklace swap. That will give me plenty to blog about! In the meantime I am working on this month's ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap, the theme is 'Songs', so my song is chosen, my sketchbook is bursting with ideas and .... well, as you know, I can't say anymore in case the recipient is reading my blog! I have to post off this month's card by the 30th April, so all will be revealed then.

http://ukhandmade.ning.com/group/ukhandmadeatcswapgroup
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1332652@N24/

How can we help?

I follow a blog written written by a lady called Tracy, she lives about as far north as you can get in a house that overlooks the sea. She also has lots of beautiful dogs and cats - you can see their pictures on her blog. She is also involved with the Caithness Rare Breeds charity.

We see and read lots about cats and dogs that get  abandoned by their owners, but this can also be a problem with sheep too. Obviously re-housing sheep is difficult as often they don't mix well with other flocks. So caring for the sheep costs money, and this is where the charity helps.

Photograph from Tracy's blog.











Tracy is not looking for cash donations, she is looking for help from fellow bloggers who craft. She has had the idea of a raffle of handmade items donated by other crafters. Many of us are keen to use unusual yarns created from the fleece of rare breeds, so it seems a good idea if we can help with this charity.

If you are interested, leave a comment on Tracy's blog, and you can find out more information from the charity's website, which is also listed below.

Thank you for reading this post x

http://cupcakesathome.blogspot.com/2010/04/time-to-put-your-thinking-caps-on.html
http://caithnessrarebreeds.com/

Tuesday Treasury - Orange

I was speaking (or rather tweeting) with some other crafters/makes at the weekend, and we decided that orange was THE colour for the Summer. Spring may have been about turquoise, but now orange was in! So, this weeks treasury is all about orange.

Top Row:-
Red / Orange Felt Handbag,Curvy Handmade Purse, small but very sweet - http://www.folksy.com/shops/createdandfelted
Circles Brooch -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/DitsyBird

Bottom Row:-
'Fire festival' Bluefaced Leicester laceweight yarn - http://www.folksy.com/shops/AbstractCat
"Sunburst" ~ unique silver-plated charm bracelet, would be silly to have an orange treasury without PollyOrange! - http://www.folksy.com/shops/pollyorange

More mini treasury items next Tuesday.

Habitat

I haven't been to Habitat for ages, but as it was time to restock on thinks like tea lights and plant pots, I had a look around. They've started doing lots of 'little things' again, I suppose I haven't really moved on since I was a kid buying pick and mix - getting lots of little things for not much money pleases me!

Some lovely tins for my buttons and beads. Little tins like these look lovely, even when they do start to get a bit bashed about. I love the little birds on the yellow tins.

And some brilliant paper clips - guitars, planes, lightbulbs, umbrellas, @ signs and apples. These will be perfect for attaching important things to my sketchbook.

Macaroons

More York photos as promised, but with a difference ...
Visitors to York and Harrogate flock to Betty's Tea Rooms. I've never actually eaten at either, but there are always huge queues willing to wait their turn to eat the fabulous cakes.
I spotted these macaroons on the window and couldn't resist taking a couple of photographs ...

http://www.bettysbypost.com/

York

After 4 days in York, it would be difficult not to blog about this wonderful city. I go there every Spring (if possible), to walk the walls, look at the daffodils and shop!
Obviously I have tonnes of photos of York that I have taken this week, so i've chosen a few that I find interesting.

Top left - York Minster, it's vast, you can see it from everywhere in the city, and I always find some new decoative detail in the stonework or the stained glass everytime I visit.

Top right - The city walls, a fantastic walk, with so many views, and of course the daffodils - a yellow carpet around the city at this time of year.

Bottom left and right - Details from St Denys church, a new find for me. I was looking for Dick Turpin's Grave (I didn't find it, but now know where to look next time!), and came across this little old church. I love the carving around the archway, so different to other carvings I have seen. The stained glass in the windows was these little diamond shaped panels - crying out to be made into patchwork!

Some 'different' York photos tomorrow ...

UK Handmade Round Robin Necklace Swap - Part 3

Today's blog is about my completed necklace section for the Round Robin Swap.
The lobster pots on my picture collection had inspired me to do some wire wrapping. I bought some pale blue wire and sculpted it into a fish shape, wrapping the wire around the initial 'skeleton' to make the shape three-dimensional. I tried this a few times so that I could pick the best one to add to my necklace.

I had intended to thread my fish and beads onto some leather cord, but decided that silver-plated findings would look better with the metallic blue wire and copper beads. I threaded my necklace sections on eyepins and then joined them together with jump rings.

I really enjoyed this project, and had to force myself to 'stop' so the other participants in the swap could do their sections. I am now waiting for their necklace sections to arrive through my letterbox - everything is still such a big mystery, so i'm looking forward to seeing what they have done, and will obviously blog about it!

UK Handmade Round Robin Necklace Swap - Part 2

On Monday I blogged about the first stages of my work for the UK Handmade Round Robin Necklace swap.
I used these pictures to explore the imagery, colours, techniques and materials I wanted to use. My sketchbook is also a notebook, so the page was full of writing rather than drawings, although there were a few.
I find mind-mapping really useful to explore different ideas - write the ideas down then sketch them out.
The next stage was to sort out what materials I wanted to use, so I collected together blue, clear and copper coloured beads, pale leather cord, silver findings and coloured wire... and then came some more sketchbook work ... and then some experiements using these materials and some different techniques.

More photo's of this project to follow very soon ...

Amy Butler Knits

I have long been a fan of Amy Butler, I own a couple of her books and their are things scattered around the house that I have made using her fabric. I love the colur combinations she uses, and she's made me 're-visit' orange and realise I do like it and can wear (certain) shades of it.
So, I got rather excited when I walked into the local department store and found out that she has brought out a range of yarn for Rowan, and a rather fab book called 'Midwest Modern Knits'. There are 24 patterns, a mixture of garments, accessories and household items. The photography is beautiful, really inspiring. I'll probably tackle a small project like the leg-warmers, but a lot of them are large-scale 'knit on cold winter nights' type projects.
The photographs below are from the book and have been taken by David Butler and Andrew Baasch.

http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/
http://www.knitrowan.com/

Tuesday Treasury - Bees

Spring is here, and with the change in the weather we also get all the creepy crawlies - some we like, some we don't! Well, I like bees especially the big round bumble bees that I get in my garden, so this week's mini-treasury is all about bees - hope you like it!

Top Row :-
Square Pink Bee Bowl - http://www.folksy.com/shops/JuliaSmithCeramics
Bumble Bee Bracelet in Lime Green - http://www.folksy.com/shops/chainofdaisies

Bottom Row:-
Queen Bee Cushion with Indigo Reverse - http://www.folksy.com/shops/PookieSu
Honey Bee Soap - http://www.folksy.com/shops/saffronbarr

UK Handmade - Round Robin Necklace Swap Part 1

During the past week I have been working on a Round Robin Swap organised through UK Handmade, well actually organised by Kella, the same Kella who organises the ATC Swaps on UK Handmade - she's amazingly organised!
Now that my necklace starting point has been posted off I can document what is going on here on my blog ...
I decided to use the seaside as a starting point, so my first job was to collect lots of interesting images connected to my theme using Google Images ...

As you can see, I have worked with the idea of fish and lobster pots. I love the fish made from wire in the bottom righthand corner. The next stage was to start some sketching ...

The return of the hot cross bun ....

Sorry this return of the hot cross bun is so late - i've had lots to blog about this week! Last week I posted a pattern sheet for a hot cross bun brooch, but I only had dark brown felt when I made my prototype! The result looked like a bit like a Hot Cross Oreo cookie, so I decided not to include a photograph!
Anyway, the Easter Bank Holiday is over, I have re-stocked my supply of light brown felt, and made another brooch ...

Slight changes I have made - I have used a dark thread to sew on the beads. The beads do have a purple lustre, but this doesn't really show on the photo.

kitty eden

About a month ago, I was looking at kitty eden's flickr page and saw some 'work in progress' - some cute chick brooches that she was making for Easter. I made a mental note of them, but then forgot all about them until last week! Obviously the Easter Bank Holiday was last weekend, but I had forgotten to order a little Easter chick brooch! Anyway, I decided that I did really need one, so I ordered one anyway - I like little birds, you may have noticed!

My lovely chick brooch arrived on Thursday, along with some other goodies, including a button brooch and a badge. I don't think it needs to be Easter to wear this brooch. The detail is lovely, even the back of the brooch is pretty - tiny pink polka dot fabric. I think I will have to visit her website more often.

www.folksy.com/shops/kittyeden
http://www.fromthehandsofkittyeden.co.uk/

Primulas

Finally there are flowers in my garden! Yesterday's nice weather enabled me to get out there and take a few photographs. There are grape hyacinths appearing and the tulips are ready to bloom. Scattered everywhere, including in my 'yet to be cut' lawn, there are primulas or polyanthus, lots of them, and a variety of colours. The wonderful thing about these little flowers is that they are in the garden because of a packet of seeds I bought eight years ago, and they keep coming, and the colours change slightly from year to year. Wish everything I planted in my garden was so successful!

Chester's Bed

My daughter loves PussyGalore's sock cats. She owns three of them, and would like to own many more. Yesterday she received PussyGalore's latest design - the Mini-Kitty Bed. These little beds have been designed to fit PussyGalore's mini kitties perfectly. Chester is a boy, but he had a pink bed! I'm sure that my daughter will now want another mini kitty so she can have a blue bed too.
Each bed has it's own little corduroy cushion, very sweet, and Chester looks very comfy, don't you think?

http://pussygaloresockcats.blogspot.com/
http://www.folksy.com/shops/pussygalore