Inspirational Road Trip

I recently went on a road trip with my friend to Cardiff, Wales, to see Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

While we were there we took the opportunity to do a bit of sight seeing as we had never been to Cardiff before.

We went down to Cardiff Bay for a look round and I found so many wonderful little shops and attractions that have just filled me with ideas!

The first place we visited was The Wales Millennium Centre where the tourist centre was selling a lot of local gifts, such as slate tiles and coaster, welsh honey, and other novelty items.  I bought a lovely butterfly bottle top from here as a gift for my parents.
The centre also houses the Portmeirion Gift Shop.  These sold a variety of gifts and items that I loved.  They have an on line store here.  I was really inspired by a few items of their stationary, particularly a writing folder made from oil cloth with a map pattern.  Unfortunately I cannot find it on their website now, but yesterday went on a fabric shopping trip and saw some oil cloth with a map pattern so am contemplating whether to buy the fabric to make myself something similar.  Decisions decisions......

The next place we went was Craft in the Bay, the Makers Guild in Wales.  This was full of all manners of items from glass to ceramics, textiles to jewellery.  I loved it here, and would highly  recommend anyone into crafts visit here.  I saw various things I would like to have a go at making myself, such as intricately decorating hanging hearts to fabric jewellery and fabric/stitched wall hangings.

The picture shows items made by a textile artist called Susan Smith, links are also available for many more crafters part of the makers guild on the website.

We also visited the Norwegian Church Art Centre where they had an exhibition on by Andrew Coslett "Made in Penarth".  They were also showing some very interesting jewellery using colouring pencil but sharpened to about 1 cm long.  They were very cute!

The last attraction we visited was Lightship 2000.  Originally built as a light ship, it was bought by Cardiff Bay and restored to be a floating Christian Centre.  You can walk around all the areas of the boat, including the engine room, old sleeping quarters and light tower.  There is also a cafe on board, and a chapel that is still in use for services.

There were also a few independent craft boutiques within Mermaid Quay of the bay, including Zia and Fabulous Welshcakes to name a few with websites.  For the rest I highly recommend you visit!

Until next time, happy Crafting <3

xxx

Patchwork, quilting and a new addiction

So, as promised, here is my post on my new found love of patchwork and quilting.

So, it all started when I received a free patchwork magazine with one of my craft mags, and I saw an advert for quilting classes in Sheffield, where I live.

The course was at Patchwork Garden, and I had been thinking of taking a class in something, so I thought "why not"

So I went in and the owner, Tricia, was very helpful, and a really good teacher.  She showed me a small cushion front people make as their first project, and told me to pick 4 colours, two main, one light and one dark.  I chose two different owl patterned fabrics, a blue and a cream.

Tricia showed me some of the basic patchwork techniques for blocks, small blocks, larger block and triangles.  I went for 2 full day sessions to complete this mini quilt, the first day spent doing the patchwork, and the second day I spent layer and quilting it.

This is the final piece and I am so happy with it for my first attempt, it is going on my wall.

Whilst I was making my first mini quilt I was given a few magazines to have a read through to try and decide if and what I wanted to do next.  I learnt a lot from these magazines, so much so I decided to take on a mammoth task (according to Tricia at the shop) but I had confidence in myself.  I will eventually be an eight point star quilt.  I have designed the pattern myself from looking at different patterns through the magazines.

I am working with 5 different colours for the start, and I tried to graduate the colours out from black to purple to blue and finally white.  The start is made up of 8 diamond shape, and each diamond is assembled by cutting numerous strips of my fabric, stitching them together staggered, so they can then be cut into strips at a 45 degree angle.

I have so far made 3 diamonds, and got the majority of my strips cut to finish the other 5.  This is what I have done so far, so I hope to keep you updated with my progress.

As usual comments, questions, anything is welcome, and do please follow me here on my blog, or any of my other media sites at the side, if anything I do interests you as I would love to hear from you!

So until next time, happy crafting <3

Taken a break but not forgotten

Well, its been nearly 2 months since my last post, I have just been so busy.  My computer has been failing me, but to be honest with everything I have been doing getting just 20 minutes to update has been difficult.

But I'm back, and have I got some things to tell you about.

First to the crochet blanket I was working on.  This is now complete, and I am so pleased with it.  It ended up being a lot bigger than I initially intended but I am so happy with the result I am now working on a baby blanket.
Towards the end of making it I had to take the time to sit down and really think about the colours and arrangement I was going to use, because, firstly, my wool was limited and I didn't want to run out of one colour as I wouldn't be able to get hold of exactly the same wool, and secondly, because I wanted it to look kind of 'random' which is something I find really difficult.  A lot of my work and projects centre around symmetry, I like very symmetrical, repeating patterns, but I don't think it would have worked on this blanket, especially with the number of different colour squares I had to work with.
That's not to say there isn't a pattern within the blanket! I was unable to steer myself totally toward randomness, there is a pattern in there! But like I said I am please with the effect I have achieved.

Next, I have also been learning patchwork and quilting.  I have attended a course at Patchwork Garden, Sheffield where a lovely lady call Tricia has been teaching me the basics.
Here is the patchwork I have done before it was layered and quilted.  I didn't spend long choosing the fabrics as I just wanted to get on and learn, and as I was putting it together I really wasn't sure they went together.  However, now the patchwork has grown on me and I am so happy with the results.

I have also been making my first ever bag! its a Cath Kidston pattern from her book Sew!  Although I have learnt things regarding assembling a bag, the biggest lessons I am learning on this project is all about my sewing machine, and tensions and just the importance of understanding your equipment.
Here is the bag half put together, just need to add the handle with some buttons and button holes

As you can see, none of the photos in this post are actually finished projects.  I want to be able to take some good pictures of what I've done, with good light. But typical north England weather has been putting a stop to that! Once I get them though they will be straight up :-)

As always thanks for reading

Sam <3

Time, Motivation and moving forward

So, I have been giving a great deal of thought recently to where I am now and where I want to be and what I want to achieve.  I know, eventually, I would like my crafts to be more than just a hobby. I know to achieve this, not only do I still have a lot to learn, I have also got to find my niche. I feel I am so eager to have a go at so many different crafts I'm finding it difficult to consistently work on something, or even a variety of things, that I could successfully sell on. Would even like to look into being able to run classes or craft clubs, being able to share my interest with like minded people.
So, the question now has to be, how do I get to where I want to be, what goals do I need to set myself in order to achieve my dream?
I'm a part-time working mother of 2 under 3 year old daughters. At the moment the best times for me to be able to sit down and get a good couple of hours work in is after bed time.  This is when I spend most of my time for my bigger, more time consuming projects.

I have also rediscovered my love of crochet.  I have made a few home decor hanging hearts as well as being in the process of making my first blanket.
For the heart which is pictured I also made the beaded charm to hang off it, and then gave it as a thank you gift to someone.

To make the blanket, so it doesn't seem as daunting, I have told myself I will make at least a square a day. This, I feel, is going really well. I so far have about 11 squares with a further 14 to make plus the putting together.
Crochet is something I really enjoy, plus something I find relatively easy to squeeze in around my girls, especially in the day, say at nap time or down time, I find it isn't something that requires at least a couple of hours concentration, like, say, one of my sewing projects.
So my goals: I am currently learning to drive so that I am able to travel and attend craft shows. In the meantime, I intend to keep working on various items I think I could sell, building up a stock for when I can get out. I would also like to start building some sort of online presence. I have this blog and a facebook page, as well as using Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram to share my pictures and thoughts. I feel its this cyberworld marketing I need to learn the most with, or get as much advice about as possible.
So, that's about it for this installment. As always I will keep you all updated as to my progress. I thank you all for reading and following me. If you don't currently follow me, please consider adding me to your friend list, and for everyone, please have a look round my facebook page, or just follow me on Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram. All comments always welcome, good or bad, and I hope to be hearing from you all soon.
For now, happy crafting
Sam <3

'Sugar Skulls' keyrings

I was watching a program on the travel channel a few weeks ago on Mexico and there was a section on the central and sourthern Mexico festival of dia de los muertos. It showed people decorating skulls and having gatherings or even parties round loved ones graves. It explained about how and why this festival was celebrated, and I just loved the idea.

Of course I'd seen these skull designs as tattoos, as they seem to be popular at the moment, and I am a fan of tattoos, but I decided I wanted to know more about the background of these skulls and what they represent.

I did some searching on the internet and came across a variety of sites, all explaining dia de los muertos. It's a central and southern Mexico festival, translated, means the day of the dead. Indigenous people believe that at midnight on 31 October the ghost of child past return to there families for 24 hours when the gates of heaven are opened. Festivities go on until 02 November when adult ghosts come to join the festivities before take the children back.  The families decorate for their arrival with beautiful altars, using candles, flowers and brightly decorated skulls. Plenty of drink and food suck as fruit, peanuts, tortillas and bread are also used in the decorating for weary spirits.  Toys and candies are also offered for the spirits of children, then on 02 November cigarettes and shot of mezcal are offered for the adult spirits.  On 02 November in the afternoon the festivities are taken to the cemetery where tombs are cleaned, people play cards, listen to music and reminisce about loved ones.

I just loved the idea of this, celebrating people who have passed, so I have made these embroidered sugar skull keyrings.

On analysis I think the green one I've made is a bit too busy. The orange one I think has a good balance but the black one us my favorite.

 I'd love to know other peoples views, not only on the keyrings I've made, but on the festival itself.
I am going to be selling these keyrings for £2 plus p&p, on a first come first serve so if your interested in one please message me.
If its not something that interests you, but you know someone who might like them please pass on and share the link.

So until the next time, happy crafting peoples xxx

References for this article:
http://www.mexicansugarskull.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead
 

Felted Creations

As I have been awaiting the arrival of my oven thermometer I thought Id try my hand at some needle felting.
I have already done a needle felted 'picture' for a present I am making for my friends birthday, but I am going to keep that little project a surprise until I have given it to them, just in the interest that they might read this and then my surprise will be spoilt :-(
However, I have made some little needle felted animals from the wool tops I had left.

I have two types of needle, a single, 25 Gauge triangular needle, and a 7 needled needle felting tool.

For these animals though I have mainly used the single needle as the tool didn't allow for details, though was handy for felting the balls for the body/head.

So first off I tried my hand at what started out as a cat.  Unfortunately though, it didn't quite go how I wanted it to go in my head and ended up looking like, what I think, is a dog.........

Although this technically did go wrong I was quite happy with it for a first attempt.

Next I tried my hand at an owl.

I felted 2 balls first, one in white and one in blue ( I picked these colours on the request of my Dad who is a Sheffield Wednesday fan, and these are their colours). 

On the blue ball, the head, I used my needle and a little more wool to create little ears on the top of the head.  I then felted these 2 balls together.

Next I felted the two wings separately before adding them to the body.

I then added the eyes, though I think these are a little bit off.

Over all though I am quite pleased with what I have done, and after all it is meant to be a learning experience.

Until next time <3 <3 <3

Fimo Soft and Halogen Ovens

As previously mentioned, have been working on some polymer clay Jewellery.

I started out with just some ideas of what I wanted to make, but was a complete novice to polymer clay. Didn't have a clue what brand to buy, so ended up just buying some off eBay's.  Fimo Soft is what landed on my door mat.

I've been experimenting with it for about a week now, and we've had our ups and downs, with a fair bit of help from the lovely people over at the Crafts Forum and the Clay Forum.
As I have been using the Soft variety of Fimo I have had my issues with the clay becoming very sticky, sticking to my tools, though this, lucky, has only happened on one of my sessions.
The biggest issue I have had have been while curing the clay, and even now I am still mastering what needs to be done.

Basically I have been curing my pieces in a halogen oven rather than a conventional oven, for 2 reasons.
The first being that my gas oven is next to dead. Why we still have it is beyond me it is so unreliable.
The second being the halogen oven is a lot smaller, therefore takes a lot less time to warm up and is able to maintain a fairly constant temperature, I think.
I say I think, because I am not 100% sure of this, I am going on advice I have found or been given regarding halogens, but I have ordered an oven thermometer just so I can be sure.

The thermometer has been order though because I have been experiencing problems curing my pieces. The packaging state 110 degrees C for 30 mins to bake the Fimo Soft.
Before baking anything I did my research on the 'net, especially since I was using a halogen.
So the first lot of pieces I made were baked firstly for 20 mins at 110 C (according to my halogen dial), but the clay when cooled was brittle.
I then baked my next pieces for 30 mins at 110 C, but again my pieces were brittle.
My third set of pieces were baked for 30 mins at around 120 C, and though these pieces came out a little harder, they were still flexible with a rubber sort of feel to them.
My last test pieces were bake for 40 mins at around 120 C with some surprising results.  Here I should say that I have been baking my pieces flat on a ceramic tile. On this experiment I had a test piece which lifted from the clay, and another that was double the thickness of anything I had previously tested.  The piece the lifted up from the tile had cured where it was lifted, but still had a rubber feel where it was flat to the tile.  The thicker piece was pretty much completely cured, which has told me that I either need to bake on a rack or put something between the clay and the tile.

Advice from the forums have been to put either normal or baking paper between the tile and the clay.  I am also going to try baking in a 'tent' of tin foil to protect the pieces from the halogen bulb, due to the size of the oven.  Am going to wait though now until I get my oven thermometer just to be sure my oven is at the temperature it is stating and this isn't my problem.



Will keep you updated as always, so for now Happy Crafting

Paper crafting

After seeing a pin on Pinterest recently from the blog, Homespun with Heart, I decided to have a go at making some paper flowers.

I then used these to decorate a heart, which I plan on hanging up with some ribbon as a cute decorative item.

Here are a few pictures of my first attempt

If you look carefully (though not sure it shows up too well on this picture) there are small gaps, and I'm not totally happy with all the flowers, though as I have made more I have gained confidence with them.

Therefore I am going to attempt another one, hopefully make it gap free, with flowers that are more similar in height, but not necessarily size as I think that variation helps with the look.

As I do plan on making another because I wasn't totally happy with this one I haven't bothered adding the ribbon to it.  However, my mum didn't want this first attempt to go to waste, as I was just planning on putting in my craft box and probably forgetting about it, so she has used it in her bedroom and stuck it in the middle of her bed head board (What would we do without proud parents????)
I have to say though, from a distance it looks pretty cute (if you dont get close enough to notice the gaps)

Will keep you updated with any new ones I make.

Until next time :-)

Completed Owl Doorstop

Today I finished my full size owl doorstop, and am really pleased with it.

Its a nice size and weight to do it job, and the sewing on it is a big improvement from my very first experiment.

And here it is in comparison to my first two owls....

I am really pleased with how its come out, and seems other people are too as I now have a request for my first commission one! Bonus!

Hope my readers also like them, and as usual any feedback always welcome!

Until next time

Oya Designs

Textile Owls

So I have made further progress on my owl designs to hopefully use as doorstops.  I have so far made two mini versions, both with their good points and bad points.

The first one I made was the one with green eyes.  It had been a good few years since I last used a sewing machine, so used this first one to try and figure out the best way to attach each component of the owl.

I used the sewing machine to pretty much attach everything, the eyes, eye outline and beak.  I thought this looked a bit messy tho, particularly the eyes, so with the next owl I made I attached the eyes with the sewing machine, but just using black cotton to attach both the black and whites of the eyes just sewn through the blacks of the eyes, and this was sewn onto the eye outlines.  I then hand stitched the eye outlines onto the body, which I think looks a lot better.  I stuck with sewing the beak on with a zig zag stitch on the sewing machine but didn't bother with the stitching down the sides of the beak.

When it came to the wings, with the first owl I attached them with a hand stitch at the top of each wing, so the stitch and seam was visible.  With the second owl, however, I tried to hide the stitching as much as possible, still doing it by hand but pushing my needle through the body fabric and the underside of the wing to try and hide it as much as possible.

 Each owl was stuffed with craft stuffing and rice to give them some weight. The second owl I think was stuffed better than the first, knowing to use more of everything to make it bulkier.

These two owls only measure about 25cm tall and 25cm wide.  I now have the fabric cut out to make one double these sizes, hopefully using what I have learnt to make a much better version.

Will keep you updated with the progress of these.....................
........................til next time!

I'm back and ready for ACTION :-)

Its been a while since my last post, and to be honest my crafts have sort of taken a back seat while various things have been going on, like moving house, and the due date for my baby is now fast approaching :-/

But I did just want to up load some of the pictures of cards I made this Christmas, and a picture of some handkerchiefs I made for my dad too.

CHRISTMAS CARDS

All these cards have been made from various bits I've had in my kits and free papers I've received in magazines I've bought.

HANDKERCHIEF

Here are some simple handkerchiefs I made for my dad with an embroidered owl on them

 

He absolutely loved them as he is a big fan of owls, or more specifically the Mighty Owls (Sheffield Wednesday)

Now its just time to start with my 2012 projects, and I have a lot of ideas in mind, trying my hands at a few new things and revisiting a few old tricks.  

So heres to a happy crafty 2012 !!!!!!!!

Quick update for loved Parents

I just want to make a quick post as regarding a card I made for my parents anniversary recently.

It was a card I was inspired to make after watching Kirsties Handmade Britain series on Channel 4.

Basically, its a card made up of different hand made papers, which I then cut into simple but effective shapes of a bird with wing and eye, on a branch, and a banner.  These were all sewn onto my backing paper (after being glued, as to not move around whilst sewing).  I think the finished effect looks really pretty and it is definitely a method I shall be using again!

The countdown is on!

In recent weeks I have been working towards my favorite time of year, and planning gifts and cards and such.  I love Christmas, especially making different present for my most favorite and loved people in the world and that's my friends and family.

I have made a list of possible gifts:

• Teacup Candles
• Embroidered Handkerchief 
• Cushions of various designs
• Butterfly Clips (previous blog)
• Decorated Picture Frames
• Truffles
• Homemade Body Scrub
• Wheat Packs
• Decorated candle holders

I haven't yet made a decision on who will be getting what, (I know only 42 days till Christmas), but this is the aim over the next 6 weeks, to get this sorted and ready.

I know I need between 10 and 14 presents, depending on what I am giving to who (no good giving a couple a present that only one of them can use, in my opinion), but I think how I am going to plan it is just making what I want to make, then decide at a later stage who gets what!

I already have requests for truffles off of a couple of people after making them for my brothers birthday in September, and them going down a storm with other guests at his party.

As well as gifts I also have to start thinking about Christmas Greeting Cards. The last few nights I have been working on some Forever Friends decoupage images I recently bought from Hobbycraft in order to make some, if not all the 16 cards (at least) I'll be needing to give out this year to friends and family.

So now you know where I am with planning for my Christmas.  As usual any questions or comments please don't be shy and leave a comment, or even get in touch.

Until next time

Sam <3 <3 <3

Current ongoing projects

Hello Readers,

Today I thought I'd update you all with some of the projects I currently have on going.  I find myself being quite scatty with my projects, starting and working on one, until I need to order something or go and buy something, by which in the mean time end up starting another project.

Anyway, the two main projects I have going on at the moment are my Butterfly clips and paper mache letters.

BUTTERFLY CLIPS

These clips were originally inspired by some butterflies my mum bought from a shop.  I thought them to be quite expensive for what they were and had a bet with my mum I could make them for the fraction of the cost - and so I did.  I have made a handful butterflies since I begun experimenting with these. They have evolved with each one as you would expect.

Originally I was just making the butterflies from jewelry wire and a black mesh sewn onto the frame, and embellished with black glitter.  With these, though, I found making the body difficult and hard to make it secure with the wings in place.

I have also experimented with tissue paper as the wings (right) and beads joined to form the body. 

 My latest experiments have been sewing some detailed lines onto the wings.  I have some clear jewels also, that I plan to experiment with as part of the pattern on the wings.

I have also recently purchased some crocodile hair clips from ebay, in order to mount the wings and body to, to make them more similar to the ones my mum bought, and so that they can be clips to various objects as decoration. 

Like I said this is an on going project, so will keep you updated with my experiments, and hopefully I will be able to achieve a few final butterflies that I am able to give as Christmas gifts this year!!!

PAPER MACHE LETTERS

After recently visiting a craft cafe I saw some decopatch being demonstrated, with paper mache letters and animals.  Again, I found the price of the paper mache letters expensive, and thought, with a bit of time I can easily make them myself, so I have done.

 

I made the letter templates out of card board and selotaped about a 2cm edge round the letters to make them block shaped.

 I then paper mached the letters to make them secure.  I then planned on decorating them with some decopatch paper.  However, my mum has recently also seen these and has decided that she wants them spray painted silver for her bedroom, so looks like I'll be making another set of letters to accommodate her request too.

So thats what I have going on at the moment, along with my planning for Christmas, and my Christmas card list.

Hope to see you again soon

Sam