A Christmas Star plus another Black and Silver Necklace!

As you can see I have been playing with my "sunburst crystal"  beads and created this Christmas Tree decoration!  Not sure I am happy with it as it would look better with graduated beads from centre to outside, but as it only took about 3 mins to make - I can soon take it apart and think of something else!

I also made another silver and black ribbon necklace today as requested by my daughter.  I varied it slightly to the one I made for her friend, and put two silver cubes on it!  This is the 3rd Black and Silver necklace I have made - is this going to be setting a trend?  (Particularly as eldest granddaughter was rather coveting her mum's necklace today!  Better go and buy some more black and silver ribbon!)

Close up of the silver cubes - wonder how easy it would be to make your own with some odd bits of wire?

Think I might try a memory wire necklace tomorrow, using some of the techniques Sarah from Beader's Companion was demonstrating today!

Thanks for looking.

Mags

Black & Silver Ribbon Necklace

Made this yesterday for my daughter's pal, who fell in love with one I was wearing last week.

I now have another one to do for my daughter!  Good job they both teach at different schools!  I love the little silver cube beads I bought last week (they are like little meshes of twisted silver wire)

and made a little box to present it in with my Hougie Board of course!

Mags

I have had a terrible day today - if it could go wrong it went wrong!  Fortunately once I had got the third one out of the way - things began to look up.   When I went to deliver the necklace, my daughter gave be a large bag of craft ribbon "stuff" (Craftlon Nylon Craft Ribbon) for knitting, crocheting etc with, together with a Craftlon pompom maker.  Her neighbour recently died and her daughter asked if the ribbon was any good to me/us.  Not only do I have various ribbons I also have a video tape of how to use it, and two instruction/pattern books - so watch this space!

Bank Holiday Weekend playing

Having spent a pleasant hour or so this morning with my pal Sassie and her husband who popped over to visit as they were staying with a mutual friend of ours in Guildford for the weekend, (and she said she wasn't going back home until she had seen me), this afternoon I finished off what I had started yesterday, some more playing with my Crafty Croc bits and pieces - working on a sort of Easter/Spring theme.  I was back working with cotton covered balls, which I painted with acrylic paint, googly eyes and felt, which I still had in my craft box.

The chick was fairly easy, and I managed to squash the base of the ball for him to stand up on his own.  The other animal was more difficult - it was supposed to be a Rabbit ! -  but I couldn't get the balls to squash into egg shapes, so it appears I have had a happy accident and made a dog!  (grin!).    I might try again using the smaller balls as in the chick, and see if they work better. 

Finally I had painted up one of the balls as a flower centre yesterday, and today I cut it in half - so have another half ball to make something else with.  I also cut out 6 petal shapes  from felt and threaded them on to some green glitter pipe cleaners, arranged them into a flower shape and glued them together, then glued on the centre, as you can see  I have turned it into a pencil topper.

Mags

Sunny Afternoon Painting

Well we had some sun again today - so I spent the afternoon trying to get ahead with some painting, of some of my Crafty Croc products.   Apart from the following bits, I painted the backgrounds of another 18 coasters ready to "fusion" for Christmas presents.  My poor brain was very confused working on Christmas gifts and Easter samples at the same time - but no doubt those that know me will say "What's new - you are in a perpetually confused state"  - LOL!

A Wooden egg painted with pearlised green acrylic and a painted Daffodil/Narcissus.  (Trying to get ahead with my samples for the Easter catalogue!)

Three egg cups for my granddaughters for Christmas (they do have their initials on, but have hidden that side so they can't guess who is going to get which one!)

A pencil holder - I like the finish of the gold pearlised paint.

and finally, I touched up the topper I painted of the Fir Tree - painted in some shadows and grounded the tree and added some snow - am happier with it now.

Thanks for popping by.

Mags

Two more necklace danglers

Well I said I had made these yesterday , and still haven't seen the family to sort out length/type of necklace they are to go on, but thought I would show what I had made anyway.

Mags

Blues & Greens

Just a couple of quick bits of jewellery to show you today.  I decided to play with my memory wire and make a quick bracelet.  It wasn't supposed to look like this, I wanted more of a floating look, but my crimp beads didn't want to play and stay put on the memory wire so I had to abandon the idea and create this instead.  My granddaughter likes it and wants one made for her!

I then progressed to some other bits I had in my jewellery making box, and made this necklace:

As it was such a wet and miserable day today, I occupied myself creating another couple of the wooden danglers for my daughter and granddaughter, (I was wearing mine yesterday and they put an order in for one each!) but not sure what they want them threaded on - so will post those tomorrow when finished.

Thanks for dropping by.

Mags

A Lovely afternoon painting...

.... with my daughter and granddaughter.   I am so lucky that we all share an interest in craft.   We are all supposed to be on holiday this week, but we couldn't get booked up anywhere - and as it turned out (apart from the rotten weather we have had most of the week) - just as well as my husband's leg decided to "breakout" again, and we spent an hour and a half or so seeing doc etc at the surgery this morning.  (long story!)

Anyway I spent a lovely afternoon round at my daughter's house painting. !  The last time we had a 3 generation painting day was on Mother's Day earlier this year, so this was a rare treat, and a nice way to relax - particularly as Dawn hadn't slept well last night worrying about the GCSE results (she is Head of Maths at a local school).  As it turned out she had nothing to worry about at the results were excellent.  We finished the day off with a great family meal out - and when I say great I mean great in all senses of the word - think we all ate too much at the local Smith & Western!

Here are some photos of our afternoon's playing:

Artists at work - the mess of turquoise in bottom of picture was mine - I was in process of painting backgrounds on some coasters I am painting for Christmas presents.

Dawn attempting her first rose

Ellie's box top

Dawn's coaster and her first attempt at freehand painting - a clematis

The base of Ellie's box

Dawn's completed rose and crackle finish tissue box

another view of the tissue box

Ellie's rose coaster

Dawn's rose coaster

and finally my painting of a Christmas tree - not quite finished - it needs some snow in the sky and some shadows to "ground" the tree.

Hope you have enjoyed an insight into our "holiday" painting party., and a big Thank You to my daughter and granddaughter for a lovely afternoon.

Mags

If at first you don't succeed ......

....   Share your failures with friends anyway!

At last the second set of my new Sheena Christmas stamps arrived today - Needless to say I had to have a play. Bravely I decided to tackle some more ceramic painting.  I was good and got an old tile out, and firstly sorted all the colours in the box and then tried them out on the old tile, as a reference!  I then tackled this bowl - ok so perhaps I should have found something flatter to start with and not curved - trust me to tackle the most difficult thing!

The Christmas Rose wasn't too bad, but the leaves were naff!

then I painted the other side - Ivy wasn't too bad - better than it looks in photo, and even the Poinsettia looked better in real life, BUT there is one good thing about ceramic paints that have to be set in the oven - until that is done they aren't permanent - SO ..... this is now all scrubbed off and bowl put in dishwasher ready to start all over again!

Having failed miserably at the ceramic painting - I then set to and tried my hand with the Christmas stamps and some acrylic paint!  I was going to paint the Christmas tree, and fir cone etc, but  decided that perhaps I would try out one of Sheena's suggestions and use the fir tree sprigs as a background for the Christmas Rose .  It didn't turn out to badly - so perhaps I had better stick to acrylics for a while!   (No I shan't giveup on the ceramic paint - I am just going to approach the painting from a different angle/technique - I will overcome !)

Mags

Anniversary Card

Gosh is it nearly a year since my son got married?  Where does the time go?

I have made this card for their 1st anniversary  later on this week.  Created with Forever Friends CD and then imported into Publisher to create a topper with a faux backing paper, and adding the wording.  Mounted onto Craftwork Cards cardstock.   Finished off with some peel-offs around the main image and the backing paper.  the backing paper and words are actually more purple in real life.

Mags

An August Sunday

It was a beautiful day yesterday - probably one of the nicest we have had since Easter.  It was even warm enough to still be sitting outside after the sun set.

I spent the morning creating a promised ribbon necklace for my Daughter-in-law, including painting a bead to match.

and also playing with some pretty "flower" beads I bought on Friday, and created this protype christmas tree decoration.  I need to get some more barrel and flat red beads/ buttons to repeat the creation!

Later in the afternoon the whole family descended on my Daughter for a spa and bbq together with a neighbour and good friend and her husband.  Theoretically the start of our week's holiday!  We had a fab time.  I even ventured into the spa - oooo I am hooked now and want one at home!  My youngest granddaughter didn't want to come out!

We had hoped to get away for a week, but everywhere we wanted to go was fully booked - the only place that had vacancies was on the Isle of Wight - but there were no available ferries! C'est la Vie as they say!

Not sure exactly what we are going to do this week - if the weather is kind we may venture out - but as my husband can't walk far - choices are a bit limited.   However, we may indulge in some meals out.  Having said that what have I done today - housework!  and the forecast tomorrow is heavy rain - so looks as though we shan't be venturing further than Sains for the fortnightly shopping trip!

and finally my eldest granddaughter made one of these yesterday with some of my spare wool, whilst we were at her house, showing her other gran how it was done.   We gave the necklace to her aunt as it matched the dress she was wearing  - so today, I made her another one to replace it!

Teenager birthday

Do you hate boys/men's cards?  I do

Blue cardstock, and some images and backing paper from JS Nostalgia CD.  Created a faux matt around the images in Publisher as well as the panel on the right - adding the text in same colour.  Mounted the two toppers on the card with foam tape.   Pity I have posted the card, as looking at the image,  I realised I was originally going to edge the backing paper with a peel off - duh - oh well recipient won't mind - probably more interested in what is in the card! LOL!

Mags

Paint Fusion Ivy ....

.....  or not as the case maybe !

One set of my new Christmas Stamps arrived today, so this afternoon I cut them out and had a play.  I have had some little tealight holders from Crafty Crocodiles waiting to be painted, and as I got a bargain offer in Hobbycraft yesterday - 32 pots of ceramic paint or less than £16.  My daughter had tipped me off that they had a load in the sale at our local branch - so nipped across and "filled me boots" as they say.  I got a mix of large and small pots which were marked at 99p - but when I got to the till they were on bogoff!  RESULT - particularly as the large pots are normally £3.99 .  No idea what the small ones sell for - but it looked like they had already been reduced from £1.49 to 99p, when I pulled the sticker off!  

I will say it wasn't easy - firstly stamping on the glass with Stazon - but Sheena's tip about taking it off with nailvarnish remover was an Ace one!  Evenutally I got an image I was happy with.  Then to the painting ..... - erm never having painted with ceramic paints before I didn't know what to expect.  I found I had to do a couple or more coats.  Anyway I got a result, and it will be interesting to see what it is liked when it has been baked.  (I could have painted it with normal acrylic paint - but then it wouldn't have been dishwasher proof).

I then thought I would attemp a canvass for the first time, and use the new ivy stamp again.   painted the background with the wet on wet technique - with three colours - magnolia and oak green emulsion and blue pearlescent acrylic, then stamped a spray of ivy leaves.  Well what can I say - I made a complete and utter mess of it - the Ivy was awful.  (How come I could paint free-hand Ivy last week on that tissue box, but using the stamps I muck it up? !!!! ).

I was ready to start again by repainting the canvass with emulsion, but decided to paint some roses over the top instead - of course if my other set of christmas stamps that I ordered had arrived today I could have painted poinsettias or fircones on it instead!  hey ho!  If at first you don't succeed - rethink!

Mags

Hand-painted Rose Card

My first hand-painted card.   I painted on some blue card I had - can't remember exactly where I bought  it - think it was in a pack of  C&C card from Wilkinsons.  This is for a friend who doesn't really "DO" birthdays, but I know she has admired some of my Paint Fusion projects, so I though I would paint this topper for her card, which she can take off and put in a frame if she wants.  Topper is mounted on matt silver mirri card, and main card is ivory hammered card. 

Think I am getting the hang of this painting lark!

Thanks for looking.

Mags

Craft Day with Granddaughter - Part 2!

I made this today for my daughter: - Turquoise ribbon, and a bead I made and painted myself using Cloud Clay and acrylic paints:

Ellie also wanted to learn to make my ribbon necklaces.   So I gave her free rein of the ribbon stash, but she decided she wanted to use my fluffy wool.   Well I won't even start to tell you how quickly she made this necklace! 

She then wanted to make something else using the larger wheel. As she started it we realised it was going to be rather large and might make a large fluffy bracelet, and that was the plan at first.  We discovered that as it was being created it had quite a "hole" down the centre - Then I had a brainwave. I had bought a couple of Alice Bands in the Pound Shop, with a view to doing something with them with flowers or beads for the granddaughters. Well we decided to turn her second project into an Alice Band cover. (Just threaded it through the middle!). She is now going to show off her creations to her pals and get me some orders! I have told her she is on commission!  (She made a list of all the colours and types of  ribbon I had ready to tell them what they could have! LOL!)

 

The ensemble!

Thanks for dropping by.  Hope you enjoyed sharing our craft day.

Mags



Craft Day with Granddaughter! Part 1

I had my eldest granddaughter for the Day today, and quote from her "I like coming here - you are fun".  This first part is our Paint Fusion session.

This was my main project today - a clock.  Ellie has "bagged" it as a Christmas present from me for her bedroom!   The background and the rim are painted with metallic acrylic paint.

Ellie came armed with this little box to paint and a coaster.   This is her first attempt at a rose.   She didn't want to try a free-hand "Stephanie Weightman one, so she stamped the open rose from Sheena Douglass, and then I persuaded her to have a bash at doing the centre.   Result - she can now paint roses.  Didn't she do well - she is only 9!  I then helped her edge the box with a gold pen.

Inside of the box, which I confess I painted for her with a little freehand rose and leaves.

This was her first project today - a little coaster in metallic acrylic paint.  It's actually more purple and silver in real life.

I had bought this pencil box from Crafty Crocs for her to paint.  Having mastered the rose on her little box, she then did the Daisy and the two roses on the side of her box.  No doubt another day will see her doing more on the other sides.

Ellie preparing the paint ready to do the roses.

and finally in this part - my second project - work in progess.  This side is metallic blue, and the reverse metallic green.   I shall probably add some Ivy to this side when my new stamps arrive.   Haven't decided yet what to paint on the reverse.   Daisies. Roses or Clematis - decisions, decisions!

All in all a FAB day - and if you want to know where we purchased the bits to paint - google Crafty Crocodiles.

Tissue Box & Picture Frame

After I had done the washing today, I gave myself the day off, (as I had worked really hard yesterday finishing painting the patio furniture and another bench further up the garden) and got my paints out. 

I have had this tissue box for quite a while and because I had put it in a safe place, I kept forgetting to paint it!   I have been so inspired by Sheena Douglass's demos on C&C of her Christmas stamps, that I simply couldn't wait to have a play, albeit the stamps and DVD I ordered will probably not arrive until the end of the week at the earliest!  So it was a case of nothing ventured, nothing gained!  

The box was crackle finished with plum and then a shade of ivory emulsion.   As I hadn't got the Ivy stamp, I planned the layout, by using a small Ivy stamp from Joanna Sheen's pressed flower range.   This was purely to plan the layout as I completely ignored the stamp when I free-hand painted the leaves.   I had intended to put a flower on top of the Ivy, but my husband said it looked ok as it was - so compromised by painting a free-hand Clematis on the other side.   I painted the flower petals in cream first, and then overpainted them with the two shades of pink with a touch of cream added.   The little trails of "vine" were also done free-hand with a fine paintbrush and two colours.  Can't wait for the proper stamps to arrive!  Thank you Sheena for giving this non-painter the courage to even tackle free-hand painting!

I then proceeded to paint this picture frame, which again I have had for a while.  I painted the frame with the wet on wet technique using a pale ivory emulsion and blue metallic acrylic paint.  The frame was then painted in a more traditional "fusion" method of stamping first.  The rose leaves, are once again from Joanna's pressed flower stamps, and the rose was from Sheena's PF Rose set.  However, instead of painting an open rose, I added a "bud" centre as per Stephanie's one stroke painting.   I stamped the swirls and added glitter to them, and then I stamped the little bee and painted it with gold and silver acrylic paint and overpainted the black of the stamps slightly.  Just needs a coat of varnish now.

I mentioned that I had been painting the patio furniture and another bench further up the garden yesterday - well this was it - to match the paint makeover that I gave the swing a couple of weeks ago.  That black paint is brilliant - I bought it from IW and the best thing is that the brushes wash out in water!  Not only does it have a rust inhibitor in it, but you can also use it on plastic!   I have had a little practise with it on a hanging basket container.   So when the hanging baskets come in for the winter, I shall wash them up and paint them black (and the chains too I might add) and then shall do a bit of Paint Fusion on them for next year!).

Mags

Experimenting!

Whilst glued to C&C watching Paul, Sheena & Joanna today, I thought I would utilise the time, and try out a new stamp I bought a few weeks ago, and in the process make a start on a couple of Christmas cards toppers.

The first one is coloured in with promarkers, and the second one is water-coloured with Sepia and Mocha Aquamarkers. It was a bit of an experiment, which didn't quite work - should have stamped it in brown like the first one, and used watercolour card. However, I will not give up on the idea - will do it on proper paper next time rather than card, and I may not abandon this - will see what it looks like when mounted on appropriate coloured cardstock. It does look better in real life than in the photo, and I may "tweak" it a bit - as I was interrupted in the midst of painting it by my son and family arriving for an impromptu bbq which my son cooked. Just as well they did - because my son discovered a leak in the gas pipe on the bbq! Fortunately I had a spare pipe for it - so he duly fixed it for me. Again fortunately I hadn't used the bbq this year!  So he cooked, and my DIL and I prepared the salads, coleslaw and tatties!   They brought most of the ingredietns with them, and I supplemented it with some bits I had.

The experiment that didn't quite work!

Our impromptu bbq!

Mags