Triple Row Macrame Bracelet

I watched Germaine from Bead Spider making some different macrame bracelets on Create and Craft on Tuesday, and one of the bracelets used cube beads, and another crystals.    I knew I had some cube beads in my stash, and decided to have a play.

The bracelet is made with quite fine cord and the beads are strung with monofilament.   The centre beads are pale blue catseye beads, and the outer ones my crystal cube beads.   I found a pretty pearly button in my button box, which was almost exactly the same as the one Germaine used - lucky or what!   

I did think that if I make more of these and don't have the right coloured button, I might paint some buttons with Pebeo Fantasy paints.  (Of course that does mean I would have to think about it in advance - erm difficult, as I just tend to make stuff on the spur of the moment!)

Having made this one I then went on to make another with all round beads in green and pearl ...... but you will have to wait until tomorrow's post for that!

A bit of Parching!

My eldest granddaughter got sent home from school yesterday about midday, having nearly passed out with the heat.   She said that the heating was on in school too !!!!!!   They are doing a lot of building works, at the school and building a lot of new classrooms, and I think they are having a few "issues".  They had the fire alarm go off and they had to stand out in the sun for 45 mins, which didn't help!

Anyway once fed and well watered, and having quietly sat and done some homework, she decided she wanted to play with my Groovi board, so to keep her company I delved in my stash, and found my pergamano tools that I had never managed to get to grips with, and some patterns, and sat alongside her and created this little bookmark.

It is nowhere near perfect, but pleased with the attempt, and it kept me quiet in the heat!

Lavender Wands

It was so hot today, I was good and sat indoors playing and crafting quietly.  My daughter posted a link to a video on FB last night, so I just had to try it out.

I didn't have a lot of choice of ribbons, and I only used 5 stalks of lavender, which were still a bit full of flowers, and probably I needed to wait for them to go over a tad, and then use more stalks, but you know us impatient crafters - when we get an idea in our head we have to "do".

The video I followed was from Red Ted Art, but there are a few more on U-tube, and one of them said to use a lot more stalks and thin ribbon.  So I will have to try that next.

Anyway they are ok for me and will add a lovely smell to the clothes drawers and wardrobes, and that is all that matters.

I hope you have a go, if you have some lavender in your garden.

Tomorrow I will share what else I had a play with.

The idea was good, but ......

...... it didn't go quite right,  You just never know how mixed media ingredients are going to react!

I ran the sheet of canvas through the embossing folder. applied gesso and painted the back ground with blue/green Pebeo iridescent DYNA paints, and then with my finger rubbed some green/blue over the swirl and painted the top of the baubles with precious gold.  Fine so far and then it went pear-shaped when I did the mixed media baubles!

The only two that turned out OK were the middle one at the top and the bottom left (well it would have been ok if the paint hadn't overflowed!)

However, I shall not give up on the idea - I shall just use fantasy paints on their own next time.

Parchment card - a semi fail!

on black background

on white background

I thought I would try one of my new embossing folders with parchment.  Ads expected worked a treat, and proceeded to colour it in with spectrum noir pencils .......

.... then came the "fail" .  I thought I would be clever and try an experiment using another embossing folder and try and add "Christmas" with an embossing tool.  Worked quite well - IF ONLY I had positioned the word correctly.  (Well it was quite difficult to see the outline).

Next time I will use my Groovi Board for the wording!

Mini Mannequin

Some months ago I purchased some mini mannequins from the Range for my grandchildren as Easter presents instead of eggs, and I also bought a set for myself.  So today I thought I would have a play with my set.

I dipped some t-shirt material in a mix of water and pva glue, and draped it around the figure, and set it in the sun to dry.  I was a tad impatient so I started to paint it with Pebeo Blue/Black DYNA iridescent paint (bad girl that I am), but actually I think it was quite a good idea as I was able to paint underneath the wrap in the front and arrange the folds at the same time.    

I think I will give it another coat of paint and try and get a bit of shading on it too, by perhaps adding a bit of iridescent silver to the paint.  (Hopefully by the time this gets scheduled for posting, there will be another updated photo below).

The flower was made from Hearty Clay using my new Christmas Rose folder from Sheena Douglass.  I just rolled the clay thinly and squished it between the folder, and then cut the flower out.   I set it to dry so that it curved.   I then painted it with a pale cream acrylic, over-painted/blended with the purple/blue and blue/green iridescent colours.

Final touches were the addition of a dark blue gem in the centre, surround by some tiny clear gems.

(My original idea was to create the dress using Paverpol or Powertex, but not wanting to get too messy I decided to use just the watered down pva.)

a second coat of paint this morning!  really pleased with the effect

Christmas Rose

Left: Card.  Right: Canvas

Yes I know it is only June but my new embossing folders arrived this morning, and I just had to play!

I experimented with card and canvas.  After embossing, both the black card and the small canvas had a thin coat of black gesso applied first.  I then applied silver gilding wax, before painting, but then decided to apply green/yellow Pebeo DYNA paint to the raised bits of the leaves with my finger.

The flowers and leaves were then painted with the iridescent DYNA paints in various colours. However, I did apply a bit of pale cream acrylic to inner parts of the petals before blending in the pink DYNA.

Finall, I went over the embossed bits again with a little gilding wax.

messing about!

Following on from yesterday's post,I decided to play with the macrame doll idea using beads.  Think I will go back to the original idea as this was a tad fiddly, not least having to use the thinner cord so that it would go through the beads!

Macramed Doll

My daughter shared a video on FB tonight and I just had to have a play  I am sure my granddaughters will enjoy making these!

Isn't she cute - and so easy

It only took a few minutes to make with some knotting cord from my stash, a wooden bead, and promarker for the face.

If you would like to know how to make them here is the video by Maggy Woodley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2iwxNpImlg

Have fun with your grandchildren, children, or just yourself!  

Groovi Board Parching with the Grandchildren

After painting their bracelets, the girls decided they want to have a go at my Groovi Board.  They were so good, as I only have one board and took turns really nicely.

Here are their finished results.  Didn't they do well for a first effort!  (In age order 9, 6 and 3).  I even let them use my new Spectrum Noir pencils and showed them how to do a bit of blending with the blending solution.

Connie wanted a rainbow, and as time was short I didn't have time to find my cake decorating circles, which were buried in my stash somewhere - so she used a plate!

and whilst her older two sisters were colouring their pieces, the 3 year old wanted to have a go too - so this is her effort (with a little help from me)

I was really chuffed with their efforts, and I know they were pleased with their results,   Think they may be hooked, and it is a nice relaxing occupation.  Rarely have I seen them so quiet!

I love crafting with my grandchildren.