Partridges, Pear Trees & Quilling

Hello Again!

Here we are in December and how quickly it has arrived!  The Robin is back and happily singing his heart out at the top of his favourite tree each morning while our house is full of advent calendar openings & munching sounds.  The current calendar count = 7  and apparently there's another 2 on the way from Grandparents...all that choccy before breakfast feels a tiny bit decadent ;-)

Of course we've also had the obligatory trip up into the attic to get down all the tubs of trimmings (..I can never remember which tub has what in..) and we've rescued our trusty old fake tree!  It'll just about last for another year by the looks of it and with a curious puppy around it's probably better than a pine-needle-in-the-paw drama! Maybe next year we'll splash out on a new one.

The other thing that the beginning of December brings is Christmas card writing and this year I thought I'd make a few cards too , especially being as I had all my card making stuff out following a recent magazine commission (sorry.. can't tell you any more about that right now... ) 

Anyway button cards are sweet & easy, you only really need a good stash of buttons and a glue gun.  I really like this simple tree design..

A button heart could be for Christmas or any other occasion come to that -  and who doesn't like hearts?

I also wanted to try something I haven't done for a while... quilling.  I discovered all my quilling bits and tools hiding at the bottom of my card making stash and decided to buy a new pack of paper strips and some glue when I went shopping at the weekend. That's pretty much all you need really.  Oh, and maybe a little patience as it can be fiddly.

As I was starting the project on 1st Dec I got inspired by the whole 'Partridge in a Pear Tree' vibe and started out with a rough sketch of a partridge-like-bird and pinned it to a piece of corrugated cardboard..

Then I began making a small yellow coil with the Quilling Tool which, for those who have never used one, has a split in the end that holds the paper strip while you start to wind.

I then put a tiny dot of glue on the end..

Let it uncoil slightly before pressing the end down to make a basic circle shape.

When it was dry I squeezed one side to make a tear drop shape.

Then I tried it out to see if it fitted the 'beak' of my bird and pinned it into place so I could go on working the rest of the piece around it.

I used lots of pins to help hold the paper strips in place and some longish strips to create the outline of the bird..

It's quite useful and time saving to make up a batch of paper coils in various colours and sizes as then you can pick, shape and place them without having to keep stopping.

Gradually I filled in the outline with shaped coils and used tiny dots of glue to stick them together.  Every now and then I checked I was able to slide a blade underneath the bird and that it wasn't all stuck to the paper.

Eventually, when dry, I was able to lift the whole piece off the paper.  At this point you can still shape it a little by gently squeezing the sides.

I made a few yellow coils and shaped them to looked like 'pears'..

After quite a lot of  experimenting with a whole tree design I decided that just a branch might look better and, more practically, would fit on a card a bit better.  And then, because it didn't look partridge-y enough for my liking - more like the plump wood pigeons I see in the garden - I added a couple of coils to it's head. I'm hoping the pears are a good clue to theme too ;-)

The cards just need a suitable sentiment to finish them off and maybe a little hand stamp on the back.


'Tis truly the season to be jolly and I'm sure I will be back soon with another festive inspired make but for now....

 Happy Making!

October... November... the blog that went MIA...

Oh dear - it seems I have been neglecting my blog a bit although I promise it has very much been in my mind to do an update. I think my to do list has just been very long this last month or so but I have been crafting.. honest!  

Part of the trouble is, the longer you know you haven't blogged the more you feel guilty, and the more you feel guilty the more you try to excuse yourself by saying well maybe no-one's missing it anyway.  I'm sorry *shameface*

Anyhow, to prove I have been crafting away here is a bit of a round up of things I have been playing working with...

So, backing up a little first, September was a blur of 'back to school stuff' and then came October with family birthdays & anniversaries and then Halloween.  To celebrate I put a new tutorial up on my you tube channel for some mini-crochet bunting (I do love cute little crochet things!)

The link to the video is HERE.  

We had so many 'Trick or Treaters' on the night that we pretty much ran out of sweets within an hour!  I loved that all the local mini-kids (as we call them) were out in their witchy, zombie, ghostie outfits - including some of the mums!

Straight after Halloween there was the festival of El Dia de los Muertos aka 'Day of the Dead' - one of my favourites  - and I was inspired to make a colourful eclectic necklace of skulls, flowers, butterflies and charms..

With Remembrance Day approaching, I also re-did the crochet poppy tutorial and put it on my You Tube channel in the new 'flip book' style HERE

In between I was writing and publishing the Autumn issue of 'PsAZZ News' (support group magazine) and got busy co-ordinating the new 2013 awareness campaign which this year is called 'A Bouquet of Hands' .  It has now been up in The Mineral Hospital, Bath for the last couple of weeks and they like it so much they are keeping it in one of the patient waiting rooms so hopefully it will go on being seen for much longer than we had dared hope!

I was so touched by all the wonderful hands that had been made by group members, their family, friends and other people who had seen the  posters.  Each one was photographed and contributed to the display and I think you'll agree it looked pretty fabulous when assembled...

Newly assembled....

In situ at The Min!

I've also (randomly because I love them)  been making crochet butterflies...

and birds...

and, because I decided to try and raise some funds for PsAZZ (so we can get some printing done etc) I've been doing lots of sewing type projects too...

Door stops...

Birds...

Hearts...

Brooches...

More little lavender bags...

and making a few more bits and pieces of jewellery to sell..

In between all that I also completed 3 new crochet poppy projects for Simply Homemade Magazine (issue 35)

New poppy trio: a cuff, a ring and a brooch/hat clip

 ...one of which made it onto the cover

(cover pic poppy...yayy)

Oh my - having loaded all those pictures I think even I forgot just how much I've been making & doing recently!

Right, I'm off to work on a new commission, tackle a few more 'to do's' and then I'll work on a new blog tutorial :)

Happy crafting - whatever you are doing!

Autumn, Arachne & Beaded Spiders...

Once you see a sky like this you know that Autumn has arrived!  There's also been a distinct chill in the early morning air which is scented with a mixture of damp earth and the last heady summer smells of lavender & roses.  

We've had a good few sprinkles of rain lately too and I've noticed the leaves on the trees are slowly changing colour.  Rain coats & brollies have had to be dug back out from the depths of the under-stairs cupboard and as much as I love the heat & light of summer things are getting pretty in a different way and I always find the changing of seasons quite inspirational, creatively speaking ;-)

One of the first changes you notice at this time of year is how the garden becomes adorned with lots of little webs that catch the raindrops and remind me of delicate floating necklaces - they are so pretty!   

I admit that maybe I'm not so keen when the occupants start scuttling indoors (time to put conkers by the doors & windows) but you have to admire the weaving skill of the spider.  When I look at them closely, I am reminded of a story I read when I was a child called 'The Boastful Spinner' which came from this book..

(well thumbed and a little worse for wear because it was one of my favourites!)

It's a story I must have read a dozen times (in fact I probably read the book from cover to cover several times over). Taken from ancient myths, it tells of a fair maiden called Arachne who was a talented weaver but who became so vain & arrogant that she attracted the attention of the Goddess Minerva with all her boasting.  A challenge ensues and unfortunately the tale does not end well for Arachne who ends up as a spider in perpetuity - silly girl, she should have known better than to upset the Gods!

Anyway, I hope you don't mind beaded creatures of the 8-legged variety! If so you might want to skip the rest of this blog post but I do hope not as I really don't think today's project is as scary as the real thing - especially as inspired by the gorgeous blues & pinks of the sunset picture and made with a pretty, heart shaped fabric covered bead like this one...

They are really simple to make and I've been experimenting with a new step-by-step tutorial format which is kind of a cross between a flip book and a video - just click this link to see it on my you tube channel - it works best if you open it up to large size (I'd be interested to hear what you think or if you just prefer lots of pics on the blog instead?)

Once you've got the hang of them you can makes lots of different ones with all sorts of beads - they'd make great brooches or statement pendants too or you could make a few in plenty of time for Halloween.


Happy Making :-)
xxx

Just click the video link below for a flip book style tutorial

Distractions, Butterflies & PsAZZ-ing...

 I've not been getting a lot of time to blog lately which I think is largely down to the general distractions of the school summer holidays and all the ins-and-outs that entails!  My making moments seem to have been crammed into little bursts of activity here & there which means this post is going to be a round up of several things...

To start with I've been spending a lot of time writing articles & producing the 'PsAZZ News' (which was originally a basic newsletter but now more like a mini-mag!) and also organising our next awareness campaign.  Some of you might remember the yarnstorm that was last years campaign and this year it's going to be  'A Bouquet of Hands'...

(I covered my first hand shape in lots of little fabric left overs and have lots more ideas in my head to make a few more - feel free to pass the poster around & join in :-)


Another thing connected to PsAZZ is that I have decided to make up some jewellery bits & pieces to sell so that I can use any profit to pay for things like getting some proper leaflets, posters & contact cards done or maybe even get a couple of copies of the mag printed to put at The Min. 

It's been a long while since I've made-to-sell but I been busy raiding my bead stash..

...and started making lots of earrings

It's filling up!

I also have to confess, that with the sunny weather and flowering of the buddleia we are seeing lots & lots of butterflies in the garden which I just love and keep get very distracted by! In fact, I have become a tiny bit obsessed with trying to get a photo of each different species that visits (and even did the 'Big Butterfly Count'!) 

So far we've had lots of 'Peacocks'....

" Fancy meeting you here!" 

...several visiting 'Tortoiseshells' 

Sadly there's not been very many 'Red Admirals' so far (and those that have visited are being rather camera shy)...

" No pictures please...."

We've had masses of large & small 'Whites' fluttering prettily around together (and who seem to love the lavender more than the buddleia)...

And we had a fleeting visit from a beautiful, raggedy winged 'Comma' which I haven't seen in our garden before so got quite excited about...

Then yesterday I spotted this little fellow flittering around on the lavender bush who I didn't recognise but,  I think is a 'Brown Argus' (thanks mum for doing a bit of quick research for me!) Like the 'Comma', it is also one I've not seen in our garden before so it got me a little over-excited again.  Anyway, he was very small & very cute and took a bit of a liking to my shoe..

Talking of lavender, today I've been making up some lavender bags which is a lovely pastime - not least due to the scent of the dried flowers that wafts around you as you work and generally induces a feeling of calm...

So that's it. I think.

I guess I should really go make some more now I've got all that updating out my system!


Happy Making whatever you're creating!
xxxx