WOYWW - actually on my kitchen unit today.

Being a messy worker, I always have to work in the kichen if I am working with paint, dyes etc. Today I want to do some more silk painting so I have set up on my kitchen work top.

As you can see - the silk is all pinned out on my frame and I have paints, brushes, palette etc all ready.

At the back, in good Blue Peter fashion, some silk painted cards that I made earlier this week.

I put wadding at the back of each little silk painting and used silver thread to embellish them.

It was a costly project as I broke 3 needles before I realised that my metallic thread was not the best and it just didn't like my machine. Once I changed to Gutterman thread it was fine.

So .... if at first you don't succeed...

This is what I have achieved so far today...

I keep my flower shapes simple because I like to free machine all the detail - assuming I don't break too many needles.

Hopefully I shall have time later to finish them and then I expect they will go in our blog shop.

I am going to whiz round a few blogs now and see what you have all been up to.

Have a good week!

Cold weather to return!

The weather man says cold weather is to return at the end of the week.

My little friends know how to keep warm!

Lots of blog candy around!

It must be the time of year for bloggers who are crafters and card makers to offer a "Give away". Or as some call it "Blog Candy"! Here is a great stash of bits and bobs on offer over here on Normajean's blog.

Normajean kindly put a link to our blogshop and joined in with our Gift draw.

We also have lots of goodies in our draw, including some of Wipso's gorgeous crafts - a fab "dumfed" picture, a little feltie bear, cards, notebook and lots more!

Pop over and join in!

Shop Gift Draw

We have had a busy week making stock to fill the shelves to our shop as you can see here. We have now filled the picture, gift and card shelves. We have been thrilled with the encouragement and wonderful support you have all given us so far and would like to thank you by doing a Gift draw.

If you would like to put a link to our shop in your side bar and become a follower of our shop we will put your name into a draw for the selection of goodies you can see below.

Just leave us a comment in the shop to say that's what you have done and you will be in with a chance to win. We will be making the draw on Monday 22nd Feb. We will add a little extra to the gift for every 20 names in the draw so pass the word around. Many thanks and good luck.

20 minutes can stretch to hours!

20 Minuters

The idea was meant to challenge us to find time for 20 minutes creative activity each day. Well, I have managed to fit at least 20 minutes activity into my daily schedule but for some reason this week I have not felt very creative.

Anyway, I decided I would put a few photos on my blog, just to show that I have been busy.

This was a little "dumfling" heart brooch that I made before Christmas so I just popped it onto one of my new cards.

Valentine card/gift maybe?










The card on the right was a machine felted and machine embroidered card topper. The colours are much fresher than this photo.











This card reminded me of the English cottage garden pictures on hand embroidered cloths. I used a scrap of printed fabric and then embellished it with machine embroidery and free machine stitching.




So there we are - certainly a good 20 minutes each day and more but I think the snow has frozen my mojo!!

I am sure Wipso has had a much more creative week and I look forward to seeing it all tomorrow.

Is it a card or a brooch? - WOYWW

Well, I dumfed away with my embellisher and a bag of sari silk waste last week and created these tiny dumflings (another new word Wipso!!) I intended them to be a sort of card topper and I was just going to glue them to a decorated card. Then, as often happens - when I am wide awake at 4 in the morning - I had this brainwave of adding beads and some hand stitching and a little brooch back, thus turning them into rather unusual little brooches.

Then I found some white cards embossed with a curly design and just pinned each brooch onto the centre square. I think I shall pop each one in a tiny jiffy bag and then they will be ready to go onto the shelf in our new blog shop!

If you want to see all the gorgeous goodies that Wipso has been making, then follow the link on the right and head over to Sisters Crafty Creations. We had lots of fun setting it up on Fun Day Monday and just have a few more shelves to fill. We are planning a celebration "Give-away" once we have it all sorted, so do keep popping back to check us out.

Well, she is named Wipso for more reasons than you know - so before she cracks that whip and starts asking where all my little dumflings are - I had better get them sorted out ready for the shelf she has dusted ready!!

Have a great week - and all you lovely card makers out there - do let me know what you think about dumfling brooches on cards.

Exciting Developments....

Our Fun Day Monday has been used wisely today. Our shop is slowly taking shape and the shelves are filling up nicely. Mrs Overall has dusted down the shelves and much giggling and squealing ensued as the little pocket bears and felties were popped on a shelf next to each other. Following a squabble amongst the puppets, the giggle of Iggies convinced Wipso to use their photo for the link to their shelf in the shop.
In the next day or so we hope to fill the gift, card and the picture shelves. We would love you to pop over to have a look so please use the link to Sisters Crafty Creations on the right of this blog. Please let us know what you think by leaving us a comment in the feedback blog at the top of the shop.
Thank you.

Shop opening soon...

Wipso and I are opening a blog shop so please look out for future developments here. Lots of people have shown real interest in our crafts and many have asked if we are selling them. As we have decided to work together on this, our new blog site will showcase gifts and cards made by each of us. Our shop will take a little while to get up and running so please watch this space.

Gorgeous wool and a giveaway link.

Just recently I have bought some gorgeous wool to use with my embellishing machine. Wipso and I decided that the colour schemes incorporated in these lovely yarns would help us when we were creating our little works of art.

It certainly worked when Wipso was making her little bags with a wool/felted/embellished flap. Pop over here if you are interested - they are so pretty!

And what do I do with my yarns?

This was my experiment from yesterday - a piece of white felt, embellished with wool rovings in colours which toned with one of my new yarns - Wendy-Roxy-California
I think I will make little Valentine card toppers with it now that I have added machine embroidery stitches and beads. Perhaps I will blog the finished items!

I spotted a fab giveaway whilst checking out a few crafty bloggers.

You can enter at this blog if you are looking for beautiful yarns or some japanese fabric.
http://tinywhitedaisies.blogspot.com/2010/01/one-year-blog-versary-give-away.html

Whats on my workdesk Wednesday.

Today I am mostly going to be Dumfing!

Wipso has explained it perfectly in her blog "A stitch in time" so pop over and see how she dumfs so beautifully!

If you need more info then check my older posts here

On my desk you will see my embellisher, my sewing machine and my stash of dumfing goodies. All sorts of fabrics, threads, yarns etc can be dumfed so I usually choose a colour scheme and a base fabric first and then just experiment.

In the front of the photo you will see my "here's one I made earlier" samples. Being an ex - infants teacher I always like to have an example to look at before starting. My class use to love the little practice pieces which I made prior to starting a new craft project (as you can imagine - we enjoyed all sorts of art and craft in our school!)

So my samples are just two experiments that I made before Christmas. The pink one was so successful that I made a larger version and framed it for my daughter's new bedroom and Santa put it in her sack.

The other sample was dumfed and then embellished with beads and embroidery. I make most of my little experiments into cards. Lots of friends had a little pack of them from Santa!

Today I am working on a piece of white felt using pinks/lilacs/purples - Wipso's favourite colours. We haven't had our usual "fun day Monday" this week so will have a lot of catching up to do when we get together. Its like my infant school "show and tell". She shows me all her wonderful creations and skillful alterations and repairs and then I show her whatever I have been experimenting with. Much laughter - oohs and aahs later we get round to more crafting. Its great therapy and I would recommend anyone who has a pal with similar interests getting together on a regular basis for "creative therapy ".

Well thats my second WOWW blog so I will pop over and see what Julia's desk holds for today - check it out if you want to join in.

New life for spare scarf

"Here she goes again!" I hear you shout.
Well, I am keeping up my "20 minutes of sewing a day" along with an increasing group on a popular blog - Marmaladerose
I thought it might be tricky to sew creatively every day, but so far I have not found it a problem. Maybe the snow, and keeping cosy in my little sewing room, has something to do with it.



Yesterday I surfed the net looking for ideas. Of course there are lots of fab blogs out there with folk making amazing stuff. I tend to get carried away, following link after link and delving into the most wonderful work by crafty folk all over the world!
So, when I chose my project for the afternoon, my head was full of all the lovely stuff I had been looking at.


I decided that I would upcycle a scarf and see if I could make a quick and easy bag with it.






Obviously I could have made just a plain bag but my embellishing machine was calling to me, so I was tempted to decorate the flap of the bag.
Past experience has taught me to do the tricky bits first, so I set to and embellished one end of my scarf.
The rest was simple.
I folded my scarf in half - right sides together - then
stitched down both sides and turned it right side out.


I folded the purse section up (roughly one third over the middle third leaving the flap as the last third) and pinned it ready to top stitch the seams through all thicknesses.












I had some toning fabric from which I cut a strap.
Just a little more embellishing with matching yarns teamed the strap to the bag flap.

I folded the strap in half lengthwise, right sides together, and stitched down the long side and across the one end. Then turned it rightside out and attached it to the sides of the bag.

Here is the result of my afternoon - more than 20 minutes I know - but who cares?

I suppose I could have added inside pockets, fasteners or other embellishments but for a first attempt at a scarf upcycle I was pleased with the result.

Now I shall be on the look out for scarves on my charity shop visits!

Fingerless mits - latest upcycle news!

Remember the mauve angora sweater from previous blog?

Well I chopped off the sleeve ends and embellished them with a colourful yarn - eh voila!

A neat pair of fingerless mits!

They might prove useful in this cold weather.

Upcycling in snowy weather.

I know it sounds like a health and fitness tip - actually, its just the opposite.
I have been cosily tucked up in my little sewing room doing what Wipso told me to do yesterday. She challenged me to make something with my felted sweaters before buying any more!

So, always ready to rise to a challenge, this is what I have been busy with......


I love the colours in this tweedy jumper and Wipso thought it would go well with the mauve lambswool and angora polo neck jumper, that I had felted down to a size 6. I think she was right.
I found a little bag in my cupboard that I used for a pattern for the outside and I revamped it's lining for the inside of my bag.
I used the embellisher to create the design on the front and back and then beaded it.
As it only has one main pattern piece and two side gussets, it was easy to put together. It just needed a little coaxing to attach the lining to the inside. The handles were on the old bag so I just swapped them onto my new one.
I thought a little detachable matching brooch would be fun.



So, what do you think?

I should also thank Marmaladerose for inspiring me to sew a little every day as she suggested in her New Year's resolution.

What's on your workdesk Wednesday!

Well Wipso has been doing it for ages so I thought it was high time that I joined in.

This is my workdesk today.

Over the last few months I have been collecting a stash of woollen clothes and have felted them ready to "upcycle".

Some were from my own wardrobe and some from charity shops. My daughter even wrapped three lovely ones as a pressie from Santa!

I have been checking out lots of websites and blogs to see what other folks do to recycle woollen items and there are some super ideas out there.

So they are stacked on my table along with my embellisher, which will be used to beautify my pieces before I make any items with them.

I made a little bag with the sleeve of one jumper before Christmas and you can see it here

Any ideas or suggestions welcome!

Cheesy complaint!

Christmas table all complete
Four cheesy starters, such a treat.
Only breaded Camembert for three?
Sadly one had to settle for Dairylea!!!

---------------

Do you think my letter of complaint about a mouldy cheese will have more impact if I send it as a card complete with picture and poem to the cheese company??

Just a thought!

All things bright and beautiful!

I thought I would start the year with two things that made me smile this morning.

A crisp and frosty morning viewed from the warmth of my kitchen .

We have had snow on the hills but none down here where we are - just below the snow line!!

Only a few miles away, a few have been snowed in by drifted snow and some back lanes have had little salt and not seen a snow plough.

The flower is a most gorgeous Clivia - a bit like an Amaryllis. I have never had one before. This one was a gift from my next door neighbour and its really beautiful.

So - Happy New Year to all - thank you for reading my little blog and making such lovely comments.

Maybe I should start each blog with two things that made me smile - mmm now there's an idea!