I made things

So after my last post I did it - I made things. 

 A pretty napkin flower which fills my wooden bowl. If you love flowers and blooms and the bigger the better then go and check these beautiful ideas at Made perfect if you're planning a wedding or summer party. My flower is made using the wallflower tutorial. I can see them springing up (or should that be blooming) all over my house.

I always have cards to make and this one was inspired by a design featured in the May edition of Craft Stamper magazine using the free stamp. I'd made the background some time ago and thought it would make a good background the balloon. I think I might some more backgrounds ready to go for when I'm stuck for an idea. This one is a mixture of book pages and stamped images all torn and stuck to a cardstock square before being gessoed.

Next week I'm off to Scrap-a-mia, am I excited? Just a little bit, not least because I get to see Sonja and Michelle. Everyone gets sent a die cut shape to make into a name badge. Mine just happened to be cut from canvas ideal for the addition of felt onto which I handstitched my name and added a bit of stitching around the edge. If you're wondering what the crushed olive reference is that's the group I've been put in, just so I don't forget. I wanted to try and fit some paper flowers on and they do - just. I found some felted balls that I'd made and added some seed beads to them and finally a couple of beeswax butterflies.

This week I was enticed into buying a chipboard spools kit from 3D Jean I love all things sewing related so I have a few ideas rattling around my head of how to use them. I couldn't wait to crack them open and this is my first one. The little stamped doll is part of a larger stamp that also came from 3D Jean but sold out pretty quick. I bought the large button recently from a local shop where the shop owner said he really didn't know what people were going to do with them as when he ordered them he had no idea they would be so large. I could barely contain my excitement at finding it and am kicking myself now for only buying the one ( I need a return visit). What am I going to do with it? It's going to be a brooch.

And lastly I found this book in a local second hand bookshop.

Weirdly, or maybe not so weirdly as it was published in the 70's I think I made something from this book when I was at Junior School. It has perfect patterns (and some not so perfect very non PC) to make using felt and I am in the process of making a cat although as it's made from green felt looks a little more like Kermit at the moment. I'll let you know how it turns out I'm hoping it becomes a bit more cat like.

Christmas is coming

Now don't worry I'm not going to go on and on about Christmas for weeks to come although I know some of you just love Christmas. I always think I've got plenty of time to prepare and somehow time just slips away but I can tick something off the list today as I've made my Christmas pudding. However if my Nan is looking down on me she won't be a bit impressed as she would have prepared hers way before now and in fact she always had a steady stock that would mature in time for a family get together at Christmas and for some reason we always had one at Easter too. I have plans to make chutney like I did last year.......I'll just add it to the list.

After being inspired by an article in Craft Stamper this month I tried my hand at making some buttons. I've made some before with fimo so I had all the equipment that was needed but this time I tried using some air drying clay. I have to say it was great to work with and I produced some in the form of leaves, footballs and plain old round ones. Some I added a bit of texture to with stamping. I like the dove it's the perfect size.

I found my tiny holly cutter and made some leaves which I painted a shimmery green and also made some paper buttons. Take some circles punched from cardstock glued together in layers and sandwich between some  patterned paper. Then punch holes in the middle. Some I gave a bit of vintage grungy look with inked edges and some I gave a crackled distress finish to.

I liked the holly leaves so much I thought I'd make some without the holes to make some cards with. What do you think?

How is your Christmas crafting coming along are you any better planned than me? Happy crafting.