Basket & Books.

Hi everyone,

sorry for the lack of a post recently. I have been busy behind the scenes, just not blogging my 'efforts'. To day I thought I'd show you a couple of things that I've been playing with.

Firstly, I've been making a few miniature books for my printer's tray. Over the years my tray has become a bit of a shadow box displaying mementos from my holidays abroad, plus a few other bits & bobs which have take my fancy. I've already got twenty or so  books but to my mind these trays look more interesting when they're filled with plenty of nicknacks and I do love my books.

Here's a picture of three of my newbies...... I made fifteen in total.

It's ages since I made some of these tiny books. I tend to make the full sized versions these days but here's a link to the first batch I made when I first got my printer's tray .........     printers-tray.html

Something else that sparked my interest, when I spied it on YouTube, was making baskets out of newspaper. The mess newsprint leaves on everything is a pet hate of mine so I decided to use brown paper instead of newspaper. I won't go into detail on the making process as there are literally oodles of YouTube videos that show how to make the paper tubes and  how to weave them.

Suffice it to say, I decided on a small, simple basket and set to rolling tubes. That, I found, was a knack in itself and no where near as easy the YouTube videos made it look!  After  twenty tubes, and with the help of a small bamboo knitting needle, I got the hang of things but the tubes still took me ages to roll and you need a lot..... I used a good few hundred for my small  basket. But it using the brown paper was a eureka moment. It's as cheap as newspaper, most definitely cleaner and more robust for the weaving process. Here's a small bundle of my rolled tubes........

The weaving process was hard but again there is a knack to weaving these paper tubes together. More than once I found myself muttering under my breath that it would have been easier to have bought some wicker! But what it is, is forgiving and I'm more than happy with my end result.....

Yes, it is rustic but it is sturdy and for a first attempt I'm happy with it.  

Originally I had plans to stain my basket when finished, mainly because I ran out of paper and the second roll I bought differed in colour from the first, but in the end I sealed it using Ranger Matt Medium and left the colour variation to add to the baskets rustic appeal. Matt medium is perfect as it not only seals the paper, it makes it more robust and this little basket is definitely and surprisingly sturdy.

Here's a quick close up picture of how it looked unsealed with the matt medium.......

Hope you enjoyed reading what I've been up to lately. I'll post a couple of new journal page makes soon but in the meantime if you fancy brown paper basket weaving I'd give it a go.... definitely a challenge but fun.

Happy crafting.

Carol. xx

Introducing Mr Ribbit

Hi everyone,

we have a Christmas tradition in our house that in addition to bought presents, we make and exchange Christmas Makes.  The year before last I had a go at papermache and made Marshall.

He went down so well my partner decided another one was required. So last year I made Mr Ribbet....

I saw his picture on Pinterest and decided he was what I was going to have a go at.  Here are a couple of pictures of Mr Ribbit coming to life......

First, I used an old wire coat hanger which I twisted into a basic shape and then set too scrunching up aluminium foil and attaching it to the wire frame with masking tape. Oodles of layers later the frame was roughly bulked out into the shape I wanted.  The piece at the top was for Mr Ribbit's hat but was actually turned out to be a very handy handle for holding him whilst I added the the papermache pulp and later the paint.

The next stage was applying the papermache by gluing torn magazine pages to the basic shape. I did

this all over, gradually building up layers.  But it took ages, as Mr Ribbit had to be set aside to dry overnight  after  every two or three layers. He actually took up residence in one of our spare guest rooms so that he was out of sight whilst he dried.

Here you can see the first layer going on. The pencil lines are where his jacket will eventually sit.

Side view

 And rear view.

Whilst the layers were drying I turned my attention to making Mr Ribbit's jacket fashioning it with card, paper and masking tape to get the basic shape and using Mr Ribbit, when I could, as a taylor's dummy for fitting purposes.

And here's a picture of the jacket. Bit of a mishmash but it provided the basic shape for me to cover with papermache.

Here's Mr Ribbit modelling his jacket when it had a few layers of papermache applied. It looks like he has a plaster over his nose but actually it's a strip of paper helping to fashion his nose.

As you can now see he has eyes. These were dolls eyes purchased off the internet.  You'll also notice that Mr Ribbit is now a beige colour and not a mishmash of paper like his jacket.  That's because after building up enough papermache on his body his last layer was a covering of paperclay.  Basically the same thing as papermache but it's made predominantly with shredded toilet paper  rather than torn magazine pages and it's mix and pulverised in a mixer to make a fine 'mash' or clay. Applying paperclay gives a ridge-free surface that dries hard enough it can be sanded to create a smooth surface.


Mr Ribbit's stop hat was made in the same way as his jacket. First the basic shape was made using card and masking tape which was then covered in papermache.

Here's the hat before the papermache layers were applied.

And again, perched on top of his head.  That handy handhold I mentioned earlier allowed me to place the topper at a jaunty angle and where it touches Mr Ribbit's head it's held in place with Glossy Accents.  I added a small length of red velvet and a black self adhesive facet as a button.
Finally, Mr Ribbit, now wearing his jacket, was ready to received a coat of white gesso before being painted with fluid acrylics. Here he is at the very start of the painting process......

As his hands needed to be smaller and more delicate than the rest of his body,  these were made from fine gauge wire coated with paperclay rather than both papermache and paperclay like the rest of the body. It was also easier to fashion them separately and holding a stick behind his back  than being clasped  together.  Either way it took more than a few attempts to get right.

Here he is holding his stick. I added a few half facets to his jacket to simulate black buttons.

And here he is once again in all his glory, topper in place on his head and a length of black spotted ribbon as a tie round his neck. Mind you when this picture was taken I was still on the hunt for his stick.  But nonetheless he's an amiable chap and good company for Marshall.......

Whether I rise to the challenge and make another papermache character as one of my Christmas makes this year is yet to be decided. Mind you, I have spotted a lovely image of a rabbit I wouldn't mind trying so you never know.......

Happy crafting everyone.

Christmas Make

Hi everyone,

can't you tell I'm still catching up on my posts......guess the title gives it away, ah?

This is another of the Christmas makes I made for last Xmas......

A tiny drift wood sculpture and I do mean tiny....

The piece of driftwood I found had two tiny tacks in it so I decided to leave them in place.  I used a small blob of air drying clay for my cottage and secured this in place by pushing it gently over one of the tacks. A wee smidgen of Glossy Accents never goes amiss so this was added too.  

The other tack became one of the anchors for my washing line.  I used small grade ecru crotchet cotton for the line itself and the other end was secured to the silver wire tree I made.

Because I didn't like the plain wire ends on the tree, I cut tiny leaves out of an old novel (Brideshead Revisited) and glued these in place, one on either side of each of the wire ends, using Glossy Accents. The book is ages old and was much loved but the pages have aged so beautifully that it has now become my go-to book when I want aged book print pages to craft with.

The clothes on the washing line were also cut from the same novel  and edged with a black pigment marker pen to add a little interest, before being folded over the line and glued with Glossy Accents.

It really was fun to make.  I've not played with air drying clay before nor attempted wire art but I can see me trying them again in the future...... Ohhhh, so many new things to try and sooooo little time. Life is just way way too short...lol.

Thanks so much for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment as I love reading them.

Have a wonderful week and happy crafting.

Carol. xx 

BAD Blogger !!!!

I can't believe it has been so long since I blogged.  Nearly had a fit when I saw the date of the last time I sat down to do a blog post.....sorry.

Ok to put matters right here are one or two things that I've made over the last few months:

WELCOME TO MARSHALL

Marshall was my first attempt at making a paper mache sculpture.  The minute my partner saw him he acquired the name ... don't ask me why.













Marshall's head was made of clay and his legs were a driftwood twig that I found whilst beach combing on holiday last summer and the base he is standing on is another piece of driftwood.  The feathers in his topper are courtesy of my bantams. Both the topper and the scarf are covered in black flock to give a furry texture.

This is a close up of the driftwood twigs.... a little bit uneven but I rather liked the look of that. When I found the driftwood and carried it home my partner asked what on earth I was going to do with it.  Then I had no idea but when I decided to make Marshall I knew I'd use the driftwood for his legs so my partner would recognise the driftwood we'd found together on our walk!

As you can see Marshall is a tad portly........   

I used self adhesive half pearls on his white shirt and self adhesive black facets on his waistcoat and   

 red coat.  His coat tails and scarf were wired up to try to give the feel of motion.  Originally Marshall

was to have a cane or umbrella in his hands but I ran out of time as this was a Xmas make... in our home we always make five presents for each other to be opened on New Year's day.  Here is another  of my other makes.....

He's a Scandinavian gnome but with a secret.......

 This is what he's hiding beneath his beard, a bottle of homemade cranberry and lime infused gin.The colours were absolutely gorgeous and there was enough over to make another bottle which we took over to friends.

My other makes included a bug house for outside and another reindeer to join our ever growing Xmas herd in the garden.

Ok, what else have I been doing?   Well as we seem to be on the theme of Xmas, here are a few of my Xmas cards.

This very simple card accompanied my reindeer Xmas make. The antlers were hand drawn and coloured/shaded using TH markers and then covered in Glossy Accents, the eyes were self adhesive bug eyes, a red pompom from my stash for the nose..... stamped 'Merry Christmas' and mounted with dimensional pads on to a red card base......... Bob's your uncle.  Couldn't have been easier.

These cards took a little longer but were amazing fun to make.  I swath design on Pinterest and fell in love with it..... the Stampendous embossing powder did the trick for me.

For this card I used some designer paper from my stash as one of the layers. But for the other two I used cardstock

Here's a close up of the embossing.... tiny flecks of gold amongst the white. I used Fluff It to give a little more snow effect on the trees.

I'm sure you'll recognise this TH die..... it disappeared from my wish list to materialise in my stocking last Xmas (YEAAAAA!!!!). With three male birthdays following in quick succession after Xmas  it was the perfect opportunity for me to play.

Obviously these two are very much the same. Just the odd touch to differentiate.... spot the differences.

 But with this card I had more time to play and had a ball stitching, shading my edges and stamping with DI, layering and scrunching the paper to get that distressed look and finally out came the Glossy Accents to add a touch of gloss to my gent......love this die.

                                                                                               Oh, and in case you're wondering, those are hare ears at the corner of the picture. It's a brass wall hanger for coats and jackets etc. But you knew that, right?

Bye for now everyone and thanks for stopping by. 

Carol  xx

 

All things Christmassy - Chocolate Coated Candy Canes, Sweetie Tree & Snow Dome.

I adore this time of year ... I love making all the decorations for around the house, popping up the tree, making foliage garlands and foliage candles for the front door and homemade goodies to go into our stockings at Christmas. 

I had a few candy canes left over from my sweetie tree and sledge table presents so I decided to try my hand at chocolate coated candy canes…..

A quick five minute job…. or so I thought.  What could be difficult about melting some chocolate and covering a dozen or so candy canes!  Not a lot really but  after doing 20 I managed to pick up a few practical tips to share just in case you’re thinking about having a go at these:

My candy canes came in a box of 15 from Home Bargains and the chocolate I used was Milky Bar as it tastes better than cooking chocolate. Milk or dark chocolate will work equally as well but I wanted to stay with the red and white theme.  I also left my dipped candy canes plain but hundreds & thousands or some other cake topping would look lovely on these.

1. Chill (not freeze) the candy canes in the freezer first. If you freeze the canes they’ll be brittle and shatter.  Chilling the canes helps the chocolate cool and set quicker. 

2. I used a jug to melt my chocolate in. Because it’s deeper than a bowl it’s easier to get the chocolate higher up the canes. A mug would be even better in retrospect.

3. Melt the chocolate and then once melted, let it cool so that it’s ‘sluggishly' runny.  Again this makes it quicker for the chocolate to set and you don’t have to spend minutes at a time twiddling and rotating the canes as the chocolate cools.  

4. Once the chocolate has slightly cooled on the cane I popped each one into the bottom drawer of my freezer for a couple of minutes… this sets the chocolate completely and stops any drips that might spoil the look. I literally only left each cane in there a couple of minutes. Basically swopping them over each time I added a new cane

5. After the canes come out of the freezer set up a rack and hang them for a couple of hours before wrapping.  I wrapped mine in cello bags with some festive ribbon and a label.

  

This is a picture of my home made rack …. my red wine carafe, the wooden carafe coaster on top and then a stainless steel trivet on top of that….… Perfect.

I've found a new use for my red wine carafe!

Here's a close up of my candy canes....not perfect but then that's the fun of homemade.

Finally here are my canes wrapped and ready to pop into our Christmas Stockings….. a nice treat just perfect for stirring mugs of hot chocolate with on cold wintery nights or just munching your way through. Christmas is a time for treats after all.

Here's a picture of the sweetie tree I mentioned.... a little elongated but I'll make my oasis cone core wider when I try again next year.

This'll be lucky to last until Christmas!!!

And finally here is the snow dome I made........

I am so pleased at how this turned out

Here's my little ceramic house with a battery T light inside.

The base of my snow dome is a Royal Doulton cake plate that I've had for years and hardly ever use. I just flipped it over which left me with a lovely lip to contain the snow and  secure the glass dome in place. The dome itself is an old light shade that I kept as a replacement shade just in case I broke the shade on my hall ceiling light. Besides it's gorgeous and I always knew I could find a use for it..... it's was perfect for this project.

I didn't have any TH Xmas trees in my stash but I did have some bottle brushes that I thought would do the trick. I cut off the long wire handles and twisted the ends to form a stand which I then taped to the base of my plate.

Even though I sprayed the bristles with green DS it didn't take and they remained brown. The Rock Candy Distress Glitter did take though and this softened the brown. I used hot glue to adhere self adhesive half pearls (for permanence) and then finally added a generous spray of artificial snow.  A happy accident was that some of the snow did pick up the green DS and added a green tinge to the trees.... perfect.

My little house also got a generous sprinkling of snow.  The final touch was to add snow to the base. I didn't want to use the spray snow as I wanted it to be fluffier and softer. Instead I used a packet of artificial snow that I've had in my stash for awhile... it's shimmery, very fine plastic, almost holographic (very hard to describe I'm afraid) and is sometimes used in baubles etc.  This gave me the effect I was after....softy drifts of fluffy snow.It's a good job it's contained inside the doom as the slightest breeze sends it swirling through the air.

As a normal T light wouldn't stay lit inside the dome and would probably have been a fire hazard in a any event,  I opted for a battery operated T light inside my ceramic house.  

I'm delighted how it turned out but I'll probably do a little more tweaking before I'm finished.  I 'd like to add a small die-cut snow-topped picket fence to the scene and also some tiny stars and/or snow balls.....don't you just love playing!!!

I hope you like me sharing some of my holiday creations. Thank you so much for popping by. Have a magical Christmas one and all.

Love & hugs every one.

Carol. x