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Friday 26 June 2009

New Creations



I've been very lucky with competitions lately! First I won NiftyKnits's Competition and received this beautiful knitted Corsage. Take a look at Nifty's new range of Star Trek Meerkat Cards which accompany her range of Meerkats - pure genius!

















Next I won Mollimoo's Competition and received these fabulous Fabric Strawberry Buttons! There was also a lovely stash of Vintage buttons - thank you Mollimoo!
















Mollimoo's shop has a great range of unique hand made buttons - I particularly like this set of duck buttons.







I finally finished my Stained Glass Panel. It's been a tough journey and I didn't think I could do it, but finally I created something! I adapted my design from one I found in a book.


Somehow I managed to turn that into this :



If I can do it anyone can do it! I've also been playing around with the Wire Crochet and practicing new stitches with wool in preparation for another session with Teri Howes. I am hoping to get to grips with more advanced Wire Crochet techniques and produce much finer work.

Thursday 18 June 2009

and the winners are...

I finally found a use for the pink straws! I know I could have used a random gadget thingy but this was much more fun!

&

Congratulations you are the winners! Get in touch with your address and these fabulous badges are on their way to you!
I had a go at Glass Fusing recently. I made three pieces - all pendants with varying results. Number one was a complete disaster and melted into a mess. Number two was ok but flawed - eventually ending up in tiny pieces on the dining room floor having slipped out of the hands of Twin B who was taking a keen interest.

Thankfully one piece was a success and gives me hope that I might have another go one day!




Disappointed not to win my competition? You can always pop over to Mollimoo who is having a giveaway. You could win a pack of four Strawberry fabric buttons as well as a few little extras from her own stash of vintage and modern buttons! All you have to do is tell her what you love about the month of June - for me it's Strawberries, Sunshine and the Children playing in the garden.

Monday 15 June 2009

Blog Giveaway!




I am quite partial to a Tunnock's Teacake from time to time - being married to a Scotsman it's compulsory!

A while ago now I bought a fantastic bag from designer Gillian Kyle featuring a massive Tunnock's Teacake!

I managed to pop along to Cockpit Arts for their Open Studios with 4 year old Twin B in tow! The deal was he'd behave and keep his hands to himself near all the Designers' lovely stuff and I in return would take him to The London Transport Museum.


Twin B was good and even had a go at some hands on designing at Cockpit Arts. He made his very own badge courtesy of Jo Sheffield the woman behind the Busbie label.

I was particularly drawn to these lovely badges - can you guess why?!!


GIVEAWAY COMPETITION!

If you would like to win a pack of the badges* above you can enter simply by:

1. posting a link to my competition on a social networking site, blog or forum of your choice

OR

2. Signing up to my blog if you haven't done so already!

Please leave a comment below telling me you have entered.

I have two packs so there will be two winners. Entries will be drawn on Friday 19th June!

*Tunnock's Teacake not included!

Wednesday 10 June 2009


There's a fantastic Craft Cafe opened up in my town called Wendy's Workshop and last week I went along to an enamelling class. Here are my first ever attempts!

I quite like this leaf. The glass beads didn't melt as much as I would have liked but they do remind me of three little insect eggs waiting to hatch!



I wanted to make something really colourful and summery. This would have been perfect but for one of the beads that has gone a bit skew. I love the Heart feature!


This one was supposed to let the natural copper of the copper blank show through. I wanted the black and red to look like poppies.


This heart is my favourite. The enamel has pulled away from the edges a little but what the heck - I'll do better next time. I've attached this to a Claret Suede cord and used Vintaj Brass findings. I'm really pleased with the result.



I made another Wire Crochet Necklace with Red Candy Jade beads. I've got another session with Teri Howes lined up so hopefully I can produce more elaborate creations!


Monday 8 June 2009

Wire Crochet





I had a wonderful day on Teri Howes' Crochet Jewellery Course on Saturday at her studio based at Cockpit Arts. Teri is a Jeweller who makes the most intricate pieces of work using wire crochet in pure silver and gold and her work is available in numerous galleries.

I hadn't done much crochet before even in wool let alone wire! I soon got the hang of it. I'm still amazed at the intricacy of Teri's work! (see pictures on left and below. Pictures Courtesy of Teri Howes)





Teri assisting a classmate!









Work in progress!





There was a vast array of different coloured wires to choose from - it was hard to make a choice!



The fruits of my day are below. I made a lovely necklace with matt pink wire and an eclectic mix of beads. The fastening is a lovely Vintage button. My next make was a flower which I will probably make into a brooch.



The results are very effective and very pleasing!

If anyone is interested in having a go at Wire Crochet Jewellery, Teri runs regular classes throughout the year. Visit teri's website for more details.

Cockpit Arts is having its Open Studios on Friday 12th - Sunday 14th (Holborn) and Friday 19th June - Sunday 21st June (Deptford). You can see the designers behind the scenes in their studios and have the opportunity to buy a few things too! Visit the Cockpit Arts website for more details.

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Holiday and Surprises




I've been soaking up the sun in Corsica with Hubby and kids (as much as my fair skin will allow before burning!). It was a lovely week of pure relaxation in spite of the 12 hour delay to our flight!














What a lovely surprise - I received a One Lovely Blog Award from Michele of By Your Side. Thank you Michele and I promise to pass it on when I can get round to it!








I received some lovely Mother-of-Pearl buttons from Jewellery Designs by Laura. I was the lucky winner of her recent blog competition. Thank you Laura and hopefully I can create something special with them!






The Crystal Lady is having another giveaway so go and visit her for a chance to win this lovely bracelet.





I'm just about to make some children's bracelets for the shop I supply - apparently they've been a good seller! Here's to more sales!

I'm looking forward to a couple of courses this week - more of that in my next blog! Bye for now!