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.

Hello Dolly

Hi

Do you remember the doll swap I signed up for? So far I've had visits from two dolly friends to have their body decorated (best not mention that!), their face created and most recently I had a new arrival for a hair appointment. 

Meet Dolly.

Dolly belongs to Sonja and I did check with her first if she wanted to keep tabs on Dolly's progress so Dolly says 'Hi Sonja I hope you like my hair?'. And as all good hairdressers do I'll show you the back view too.

Dolly is packing her bags and getting ready for the next step of her journey while I await the arrival of a new doll.

This week I've been getting to grips with a new addition to my crafting kit - a Silhouette. I'd considered getting one some time ago and then reconsidered but after seeing how much Sandra liked hers and finding one at a bargain price I took the plunge. And now? I'm so pleased I did. I've been amazed at what it can achieve. Here are a few cards I've made using it.

This card uses the free shape for download last week - a dressform. (yes, that is more Glitz paper you can see!)

I couldn't resist this Keep Calm and Carry On sentiment.

This Happy Birthday sentiment comes free with the software. I put it together with a card blank by Craftwork Cards they measure 8x8 and I love working with them. This one is inked with distress inks and stamped with a leaf stamp around the edge. The watch stamp was free with craft stamper last month and once stamped I finished it off with a bit of glossy accents on the watch face. Some die cut tattered leaves and a couple of flourishes to finish. 

I have to say that I've had fun learning how to use it so far and I hope to learn lots more. I'll keep you posted.

An Art Doll

In the latest copy of The Craft Stamper there is an article all about making art dolls. I'd been wanting to make one for a while and had thought about ordering some character stamps or stamps of body bits (not as macabre as its sounds!) but using this article I had everything to hand and was ready to go.

A while ago I was very lucky to find some vintage wooden cotton reels in a charity shop which cost me about 50p each. I wish I'd bought more. I'd used all the cotton from the one used in this project so I wrapped some checked ribbon around it which was just the right width. The body is painted with acrylics and then stamped with a great stamp from the PaperArtsy minis range (MN20). It's a small section of a paper sewing pattern.

I added a tiny torn piece of a book page which is always going to make me smile when I look at it, it says 'Foo Tang'. I bought a book specifically to use in craft projects and it almost seemed like vandalism to tear it up. However, once I'd torn out the first page I got over it and I always have a little read of the page. Foo Tang features alot and amazingly was even printed on both sides of this tiny scrap of paper. I then added some stickers saying ' I Love To Create'. The wings are made from a free heart stamp I got with a magazine stamped onto watercolour paper and coloured with H2Os and the face is a stamp by Hampton Art stamps which I've had for ages. The final stamp I used was a royal crown by Pink Paislee which I decorated with some pearls and jewels. My finishing touch is a flower which I made and finished with a felt ball centre.

......and if you're wondering how she stands in the cotton reel I used a wooden coffee stirrer stuck to the reverse - now I know why I squirrel these things away.