Oh…..

Well it seems that I have been very remiss in my posting here, despite the fact that I got a new laptop! Lemme explain….

I tried to make a video for YouTube, because I thought that chatting on screen would make me oh-so confident (because really I am incredibly shy and introverted), so I made it, and made a thumbnail like this, which I thought was terribly clever!

Then I thought it was really cheesy and horrible and nobody would watch someone playing with scrap paper, and so I deleted it. Even that gleeful look on my face makes me cringe, haha!

So! Having decided that I wasn’t going to be a YouTube star after all, I cleared up all my arty crafty stuff and fixed up my room for making a study of sorts (being a student in August an’ all), then I got all dismayed at not being able to do arty stuff, retrieved all my  materials, and proceeded to organise them into boxes *properly*.

So that’s where I’m at right now. Organising and sorting. I’m thinking I can actually combine the crafting stuff with student life, because I can make stationery, folders, planners, and notebooks! So its a win win all round! Go me and my cheesy grin! 🙂

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Egg Head Doll

Hello! I decided to make something different today, rather than paint. I was in the mood for getting messy with fabric but didn’t know what to make – I thought a doll would be safe enough. This doll was made with a styrofoam egg shape, turned upside down and painted. (I think I’m all so very clever for thinking they look like heads!) Pipe cleaners (or chenille sticks, as they are now called) for the body and limbs, wool/thread wrapped all over and some hand dyed fabric for the skirt. I used mohair wool for the hair, and a piece of silky material for the headscarf. As yet she has no face…..I am scared to do a face because I haven’t practised enough on dolls and I don’t want to ruin her! I think she looks fine without one really…..ha!

I love that you can bend the pipe cleaners in any way, so that she can take on different positions. I’m looking at her face now thinking I should have done a second coat of paint. Ah well, the next one – its all about the experimentation. 🙂

Fun with a gun (Glue gun, that is!)

So my hot glue gun that I ordered finally arrived, and so I had to try it out. I embarked on a ridiculous project involving sticking buttons onto a boring lampshade. This project is all over the internet and I wanted something quick and easy to practice with.

Lemme tell ya – its called a HOT glue gun for a reason. And reason clearly left me alone as I began sticking those darned buttons all over the shade – the glue seeps up between the tiny holes and burns…oh boy does it burn! So I was kind of stick-press-ouch!, stick, press, ouch! a fair amount of the time, until I got myself a thimble to protect my finger.

So anyway, it got finished and looks nice enough for a craft room. (Please excuse the bad paint job between the ceiling and wall in the background there….cutting in has never been my strong point and I haven’t painted the ceiling yet…..)

Recycled Brown Paper Notebook

Hello, Happy Monday to you all 🙂 Today I made myself a little notebook, just because……

I don’t need another notebook, but I couldn’t bear to see the huge amount of brown packing paper that was scrunched up ready to go out to the bin. I mean, it was a huge pile…..so I tore it up into strips (easy as it was already perforated), and ironed it. Yes I do iron sometimes….haha!

After I ironed it, I folded it up into signatures

Then sewed along the edges to make the pages secure….one single page wasn’t thick enough, so I doubled them up.

After that I put a few signatures together and sewed up the middle so that it would fold over nicely

I glued some tissue paper onto the cover to make it….pretty, and placed contact paper over that so it would lie flat. It kind of detracts from the whole recycling thing, using contact paper, but I want to take this out in public and I’m sure nobody wants bits of tissue paper floating around their head, haha!

So there we are – a hand made little book 31 pages thick, and measuring 7 x 7 inches.

P.S My writing is atrocious, I know.…

Tissue Paper Dyed Fabric

Whoot!! I am so excited to get this post out – the first *proper* one of the year (thank goodness) I had an empty house today so got busybusy!

Ok, so this is fabric dyed with bleeding tissue paper. The fabric is actually a white duvet cover that has been laundered to within an inch of its life (charity shop purchase, £1.00. Loving the recycling and giving it another life, but y’know, I’m a bit OCD with the “launderation” of these things.

Isn’t this so pretty? Against the orange wall and the light coming in from the window on the left. Oh yes, loving this! (P.S there is nobody under there, I swear)

Here are the steps if you want to try this yourself:

Get yourself some white fabric and some bleeding tissue paper (I got mine from the poundshop at….well, £1.00, obviously!) Also, we are dealing with water here, so get some waterproof covering for your table, like plastic bags or a large bin bag for refuse. Even if you cover your surface with paper, you can end up with very pretty paper for another project!

You can just keep it one colour or loads of different colours if you want. Remember it bleeds so you don’t want muddy bleugh colours. Wet it down and flatten with a roller

I used a spare roller that I had from painting the wall, but a rolling pin, bottle of water, can of beans works just as well.

Keep folding and flattening until its like this, and then leave it for a couple of hours so the tissue paper soaks in.

(The next step is going to be a bit messy, so grab some gloves if you don’t want inky fingers!)

Unroll the cloth and dry with a hairdryer. (Or you could leave it overnight to air dry) The hairdryer dries the tissue paper and also seals in the colour. DO NOT TUMBLE DRY. Tumble drying this project will cause fire! I will not be buying you a new tumble dryer or a new house if you do. Sorry for the bossy voice, but three guesses why I don’t have a tumble dryer……

Anyway, moving on……you take your newly coloured and dried cloth and iron it. This again seals the colour – although its not totally waterproof. I mean….the colour won’t run if it gets splashed, but don’t go sewing up a bathing costume or anything. 🙂

Close ups of the colours….

So there you have it. Unique fabric that you can cut and sew to your little hearts content. 😀

 

 

Making cakes

Not baking, making.

I’m getting nitchy to do something else now. *sigh* I wish I could be consistent and turn out one thing all the time, instead of chopping and changing direction. It drives me nuts, but then being creative is a process of learning and exploration I suppose. And I have so many ideas to bring to life, my brain is fizzling. This is why I’m dragging my heels over having a shop – it would be like a Bazaar. An online version of the Doom Room, haha!

Keyring Fun!

Hello everyone! Its 05.28 at the time of writing, and I’m up at this time because the sun is streaming through the window and a blackbird is singing joyfully in a nearby tree. Love these kind of mornings! :D. I finally had to get this post up once and for all, after struggling with image sizing for the past few days. I huffed and puffed and grumbled, blaming WP, technology in general, the sunshine, the rain – but then realised it was my photo editor that was the problem.(Doh!) Anyhow, here we are – a bunch of keyrings made from paper. I made about 25 all in, so  job well done I think. Most have been given away now, so I’m making some more after tweaking a few things. P.S, just for fun, I worked out how much I would sell these for if I were to account for labour, overheads and cost of materials. Guess how much each key-ring would cost the customer…….. £52.80!! ($77) hahaha!

Paper Jewellery

Hello everyone! I know its Wednesday and I promised a post on Monday, but I’m here now, scatty as always – the ideas just kept coming, and…and…I couldn’t stop the roll.

So the past few days I have been cutting and gluing (being so careful of that dastardly knife!) and making paper beads and jewellery. Or Jewelry, as the Americans spell it.

A very nice man at the local hardware shop gave me 2 discontinued wallpaper sample books so off I trotted gleefully to play. I didn’t have jewellery in mind at first, but then I thought the pretty papers would look great as beads.

This is wallpaper beads, wooden beads and a cardboard bead. The wallpaper was a deep shiny blue and turquoise which I really like.

I really liked the cardboard bead so I made another one and painted it, adding a couple of shiny doo-dah things and a painted wooden bead.

This is a pendant made from cardboard, covered with wallpaper. A button and a shiny doo-dah thing finishes it off, and its strung on matching cord. After posting this, I noticed that the glue hasn’t quite dried up yet, ha! Sorry…how unprofessional of me 😀 It does dry clear, I’m just too enthusiastic.

A bracelet of wallpaper, glass bead, and cord. I’ll restring this because I don’t like the big knot. A proper silver fastening would look much neater – just experimenting.

I painted the paper for this one, just to see how it would look. Its quite vibrant – if you like red! Again I’ll restring this one.

So I have a ton of other beads and things to string up. The weather has turned for the worst now, so this will keep me occupied for a while. I won’t bore you with more pictures just yet though!

 

 

 

 

Little folk doll (with face)

Hello….I have totally fallen in love with the Motanka dolls of the Ukraine. Here is a picture of one I adore. These lovely little dolls are amulets for health and prosperity. The colours all mean something, and the material is all recycled from family and friends, thus capturing the happiness and luck from it, and passing it on. Its a wonderful sentiment. They have no faces on purpose so that the nasty spirits don’t think its a person and sneak in to bring bad luck.

(Link – its Russian though)

I have been trying to make something like it…..although clearly in my own odd style, haha! The material is all recycled, but thats as far as it goes….I just wanted it to look pretty. She looks very serious, so I doubt she will be passing on anything cheery 😀

and here is her little baby

The baby looks cheeky. I think I prefer the baby to be honest – I might make more tiny ones rather than the larger size.

Works in progress

Hello everyone, how are you? Its Friday April 1st and not one single joke or prank has been played, such a shame!

Anyway, here is a decal fail I managed to make something of:

Quite cute I think 🙂

And here is a paper mache sculpture I have rescued from the other day – I should know by now that wet strips of sticky paper don’t work well with me, so I peeled it off and let it dry out again. I’m thinking of a new plan for this:

I rather like the contemplative pose this has, so I’ll see what I can do with it. I’m thinking maybe paper pulp, clay or fabric.

Have a nice day 😀