Bits and Bobs (And a Little Bit of Bunting)

Well since my last post there has been a little bit of crafting, a fair bit of home (including really beginning to dream of our own home - dreaming still but not for too much longer!) and an awful lot of work! Now two weeks into the school year it feels an age since the freedom of the long summer holiday and all the business of child minding, birthday parties and, oh yes, preparation for the new school year. But, I do have a few small bits of crafting to share with you that took place during those few full weeks in late August.

A card for a five year old who had been four for far too long (his own words!)

A sign for Chris' garden shed - a treasure trove of crafting goodness. (I appear to have neglected to take a photo of the finished product but will try to get one of it in situ next time I'm over there - See the little bit of bunting in the design? Who doesn't love bunting on a birthday gift?)

(I just love candid photos of little ones! This as the dog she wanted to make before total changing her mind - I've kept the picture though, I love the detail!)

And the usual Lexi crafting session - she designs, I make. So far I've not been able to persuade her to use the machine herself but she's such a delight to make things for I don't really mind. If you can cuddle it, she's happy with it. This time she asked for a cushion, with a rabbit on.
She has a great knack of picking good fabric out of my stash and a lovely way of drawing characterful creatures which I try hard to keep as true to her drawings as possible. The furry nose made of velvet was a must.

Somewhere along the way I have missed taking photos of the crochet flowers I made for Chris' surprise birthday gift but they were such good fun to make I'm sure I'll be doing more very soon.

Enjoy the warm weather all. I'll try not to wait so long between posts next time!
S. x

Labels for Baking

A very brief post to share a little gifting, completed up in Norham at my parent's house and gifted yesterday to my dear friend Chris on her 60th birthday.

Long awaited for labels for baking jars. So easy to do on such soft wood, a real pleasure.
Happy birthday Chris and happy Sunday everyone.
S. x

A weekend away and a birthday gift

Last weekend we headed North to spend the Easter bank holidays with my parents. A long weekend filled with wanderings around the village and Edinburgh, far too much traffic (that's bank holidays for you) and a bit of crafting thrown in too.

Following on from the house-themed cards from a few weeks ago I had a go at making a totally fabric collage card for my Mum's birthday card. I think it worked quite well and will definitely give it another go.

And...

... Pyrographed labels for her roses - completed whilst there, sitting in the sunny bedroom and listening to our ageing dog barking in the garden below.

Happy weekending all.

S. x

Wood for school

A few months ago now we (Cathy, our Reception teacher and myself) discovered the wonders of The Phoenix Resource Center in Northampton. For a total of £25 including lifetime membership we were able to wonder the isles of this magnificent place and pick of the shelves whatever we could use in school. Along with various fabrics, bags of sequins and buttons, notepads and whole lot of other fabulous stuff, we found a stack of wooden discs.

We were limited to five, so natural we took five, without any real idea of what we would do with them but feeling sure that they'd come in useful somewhere along the line. And they were! They started out being used as chopping boards in our ice cream parlour, then steering wheels for various vehicles before I had the urge to get the soldering iron out and make them, well, a little prettier. So, several months of on and off work and a million coats of varnish later, they are done.

(And yes, I know the '16' is missing, fear not, there is one on the other side!)

As they dry from the very last coat of varnish (thank God!) I'm still not entirely sure where they are going to go - somewhere in our outside provision. I'll take a few pics of them in situe when the time arrives.
Happy crafting. S

The sewing box

I finally got a sewing machine for Christmas last year (a very cute John Lewis mini in red) and so far it has served me very well considering it's size and the amount of work it's had to do lately. So naturally along with a new machine came the need for a new sewing box. Search as I might I could not find one that I liked, was big enough to suit my needs yet cheap enough for me not to have to live off lentils for the next few months. What to do!

As so often happens, ebay came to the rescue and provided me with a blank, good quality wooden box that I could make my own in my own way. Cue my slightly drawn out asking-for-a-favour-tone of 'Saaam?' when i asked if I could borrow his knackered old soldering iron. Of course, being wonderful, he agreed straight away and I got to work on my first pyrography project.

And here is the end project. For a first attempt I'm very pleased with it (though I can't seem to get a decent photograph of it. Hmm, blurry anyone?)

I now have a proper pyro iron which is much faster and more versatile to use with inter-changeable nibs but I do still use Sam's occasionally as it gives such deep, thick, dark lines.
Happy crafting all. x