Inspired by "All That Glitters"

 My name is Jessica and this is my first post on Mum's blog.

We have been watching "All That Glitters" on the BBC iPlayer. We were inspired to make our own jewellery. I settled on making necklaces out of wire and thread for me and my friends. This is how I did it:

1. Put pegs in a board to wrap the wire around to make a design.

2. Make coils of wire by wrapping it around something round!

3. Decide how long you want the necklace to be and measure your thread so that it is twice as long.

4. Thread it all together using the coils to keep the doubled thread together. Tie a knot at the top.

5. Share them with your friends and see them smile!

Bookmarks from Clay!

I have been desperate to have a play with Fimo Leather Effect since seeing it featured on Kirstie's Handmade Christmas so I chose this for our most recent Crafterzoom session. The concept of a clay that tranforms into a leather-like material that can be sewn and cut after hardening was inticing and the stuff has not disappointed. We've only been playing with it so far but Jessica and I have enjoyed our initial experiements which culminated in these bookmarks. 

The clay can be used in the same way as other polymer clays before hardening; we experimented with marbling and dotting before rolling out our clay as thin as we could and stretching it gently by hand to add additional texture. We also stamped messages into the clay using small rubber letter stamps ahead of hardening in the oven. It takes 30 minutes at 130^oC to harden and fix into this strange rubbery material. Once this is done, it can be cut and sewn just as you would leather. I used punches to create holes and fringed a rectangle of the fixed Fimo before rolling and gluing into a tassle whilst Jessica used a paper punch to cut out a heart that she stitiched onto hers.

There are loads of ideas and tutorials online but this one, from Hobbycraft, gives you a good sense of what can be done with Fimo Leather-effect: Luggage Tag.

 

Tatting - crafting in minature!

Our Crafterzoom sessions contnued with a Tatting kit from Harlequin Lace. This one required concentration and a significant amount of practice after the first attempt. It is another craft involving knotting thread and reminded me of making friendship bracelets. The big difference is that you need the knots to stay flat and so the manipulation of the threads and shuttle (think bobbin if you sew) is really important and was the element that made this craft challenging to grasp.

As with crochet, you can work either in a line or in a ring. You work everything in double stitches, which act against each other to stop the whole thing twisting around itself. Once I was happy that I'd mastered the basic stitches I had a go at following a pattern and making a butterfly. I have not mastered this craft yet; I'm finding it hard to get the rings equal in size at the moment. However, I intend to keep picking it up occasionally to improve my skills and confidence. 

 

Diamond Painting

We've completed two diamond paintings between us now and have well and truly got the bug. I've found it to be a great mindful activity through these difficult times and have already ordered another two for us to do. 

This one used almost 16,000 "diamonds" and the resulting picture looks fabulous up on Jessica's bedroom wall. 

We've tried both round and square drills with these kits. The square drills were much more time consuming and fit so tightly that they were a bit of a fiddle. I ended up using tweezers rather than the pen for attaching them. On top of that, there were a couple of different cuts of drill with the surfaces looking very different and I couldn't decide whether that bothered me or not! The circular drills are uniform and much more forgiving in the application so we could make much faster progress. Not surpisingly, the new kits are both circular drills!

Having completed the kits, we've now got millions of them left over and I can't bring myself to get rid of them so I have to think of creative ways to use them up. Cue more card making and tiny mosaics... :)

 

Foil and Fingerprint Cards

We had cause to make birthday cards for twins a couple of weeks ago and wanted to make them matching but not identical. With left over foil from her Galt Foil Art set rubbed onto double-sided adhesive, Jessica created a cake and some balloons. We then added fingerprint flames and more balloons before stamping the birthday message.

Super simple but Jessica was realy pleased with the results...

An Old Favourite of Mine

Our second Crafterzoom craft was my choice; I decided to return to a spot of quilling with a beautiful kit from Past Times. This was comprehensive and easy to follow but this was a much longer project. We met a couple of times online and both completed the project in our own time after that. Worth every minute though. I just love the intricate detail you get in a quilled card and this was a delightful pattern to work with.

Having rekindled my enthusiasm for this craft, I was also keen to revisit the production of paper roses using quilling techniques so I went on to create an anniversary card for my long-suffering husband.

I had only ever made roses one way before but this time I tried three different techniques for making them. The folded roses are my favourite but the different styles added a bit of interest and Jessica insisted that I also include some fringed flowers. It was my first attempt at making fringed leaves, which were incredibly satisfying and the results were very effective.

 

Another Year Older

How to Train Your Dragon continues to fire Jessica's imagination. At some stage, she requested a "Night-light" cake, at which point I stopped listening to all the other requests that came because I quite fancied the challenge of modelling one of the offsprings of Toothless and the Lightfury. She was thrilled with the result; I thoroughly enjoyed making the dragon and having a go at marbling fondant icing. If you fancy giving it a go, this is the tutorial I used for the marbling: Wilton Tutorial

 

Mindful Crafts - Macramé kit

It's time to catch up again! Other things have got in the way of sharing my crafts since my home was invaded, once again, by work and schooling but, mercifully, I have managed to squeeze in the time to do some more crafting at the start of 2021. 

The first exploit of the year took the form of a macramé wall hanging kit from Mindful Crafts. A lovely, well thought out kit with clear and simple instructions, this was the perfect kit for our first Crafterzoom session (massive thank you to Hannah for initiating this - it's doing me the world of good). Jessica and I had dabbled with macramé during the first lockdown but I am most certainly still a beginner and this kit was pitched just right. It took us the evening to complete and we were both pleased with the results, I think?!

As is customary in this household, when Jessica saw my effort she wanted to have a go herself. So, out came the dowel and chunky wool and we went through the instructions again. These now hang side by side in our lounge turning slowly in the convection currents from the radiator below them. A first macramé project but definitely not our last.

2020 calls for DOUBLE stockings!

Hanging hopefully on Jessica's wardrobe this evening are a pair of stockings that tell one of the many tales of 2020. This is a story of plans made, excitement built and then everything changing at the eleventh hour. 

Jessica and I were supposed to be in Wales with Dad for Christmas this year and so we had prepared for a double Christmas – one with Grandad and then another with Daddy. Two Christmas mornings surely must mean two stockings, right?!

I had made Jessica’s crocheted stocking for her first Christmas. I’m proud of it and I could never replace it but I do wish I’d chosen my wool to be Christmassy and that I’d actually thought about how I wanted it to look. So, one idle evening (yes, I do occasionally get one) I thought I’d break out the Christmas fabric and make a new patchwork stocking especially for this year at Grandad’s.

Fast forward to Christmas movement being restricted and Wales going back into lockdown and we’re back to a single Christmas at home but we’ve still got two stockings! We were also let loose with pompom makers this evening, so each stocking is now fully accessorised and ready for anything that the Christmas of 2020 can stuff inside!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Painting Bauble Fillers

Yesterday was a painting day. After finally finishing painting the kitchen walls (I started in August!) I got out my finest brushes and turned my sights on painting and touching up bauble fillers from Hobbycraft. 

The small wooden cottage and pine cones took a while to paint but I'm so happy with the results. I created a little scene in this unusual fillable bauble with snow and a tiny log pile. Here is it hanging proudly from our tree...

Jessica had chosen a small resin cat to use in a bauble a few weeks ago. We decided to use cotton wool as a snowy base with a few glittery snowballs scattered around. We then glued some snowflake confetti shapes to the inside of the bauble and painted some snow dots on the bauble along with some snow detail on the top and around the edges of the opening but they are difficult to see on the photo below. The cat benefitted from a little touch up with acrylics and I added some snow on the ear and tail tip just because I could!

We've got several other resin figures in my Christmas supplies but I think I'll save them for next year now. It doesn't do to add too many new decorations each year!

 

All About Crackers!

I've made my own crackers for years and years. It was something Mum and I started together. She would buy some lovely little gifts for us and I would make the crackers to put them in. I'll never forget the year that we put a beautiful silk scarf in Nan's cracker - it was not very well received but her response was priceless! 

Anyway, we used to buy cracker making kits that included everything else you needed - precut templates, snaps, jokes and crowns. In the last few years I've just used snaps bought from Hobbycraft and have used cardboard tubes wrapped to form the cracker but I had a bit more time on my hands this year so I decided to try making them properly. I used a template from Mr Printables, which worked really well. I printed one copy, which I have laminated to keep. I then used this template to make a dozen crackers and will keep it to use for years to come. 

All that remains is to see if they actually snap properly on the day itself! Fingers crossed...

 

Encaustic Baubles

We got adventurous over the weekend and tried a new technique for decorating Hobbycraft's ceramic baubles - hot wax painting (encaustic art). We used our encaustic stylus to melt and apply the wax, which seems to have adhered really well to the ceramic surface. Although time-consuming it was very satisfying and we were both pleased with the results. My photos don't really do them justice but here are our chunky wax painted decorations...

 

Miniature Modelling

There are times when Jessica takes advantage of my keeness to craft and I start to question my sanity. Last weekend I found myself modelling all sorts of things from polymer clay and hot glue for her Sylvanian families. It was therapeutic and Jessica was delighted but surely there were better things I could have been doing with my time!

It all began with making bowls of cream for the cats...

These were moulded around small marbles, baked and then filled with hot glue "cream". Jessica then decided that they needed remote controls for their television and a ladder to reach their top bunk in the caravan. Naturally, they also needed a new set of tiaras as well. 

 

Perhaps this weekend Christmas will arrive in the Sylvanian town and I'll find myself making tiny rrees, lights and tinsel!!! I will not be giving these ideas to Jessica; we're going to be far too busy finishing Christmas gifts.

 

A Very Merry Christmas Craft Weekend

We may be out of lockdown but it's December so Jessica and I spent the weekend crafting at home. Some of our crafting was for Christmas gifting so I won't share those bits yet but here's what we've been up to for ourselves...

Our little snowman is made from cork, wire, acrylic paint and embroidery silks. Super simple, aside from the fiddly nose, and so cute - he looks great hanging on the tree.

 

I did some needle felting on Friday evening whilst catching up on "Kirstie's Handmade Christmas". I had a polystyrene base to felt onto but it was quite thin so this was a bit more challenging than usual and I had to be extra careful of my fingers. I also squeezed in a bit of time to make my own little wreath. I opted for a "less is more" approach and kept it simple. I opted to use wire rather than hot glue to attach everything so I can easily make adjustments in future years. 

Finally, Jessica and I have been pottery painitng AGAIN! I can't share her efforts but I was really pleased with my little gnome / nordic santa. I'm now praying to the kiln gods that he comes out how I'd like him to!

Pine Cone Rudolph Decoration

This little fellow is a make from a few years ago that I seem never to have shared although I love him. This under five minute make has felt ears, googly eyes, a ruby red pom-pom nose, twig antlers and the ability to make you smile year after year when he comes out of storage!

 

Jessica's Christmas Wreath

It's certainly beginning to feel a lot like Christmas this week. I can't remember the last time we saw snow so early in the season and just a short walk around the neighbourhood yielded 65 houses with Christmas lights up last Sunday. Our tree went up on Thursday and out came all of our window ornaments, Christmas pictures and this wreath that Jessica made last year. 

She made candy canes, stars and bells from polymer clay and riffled through my suppliers to find ribbon, skeleton-leaves, ribbon flowers, bells, wire flowers, pine cones and pom-poms. She used a blank rattan wreath from Hobbycraft and carefully designed it before giving me the instructions with the hot glue gun! It would appear to have survived a year in storage and is now hanging in pride of place in the conservatory again for a few weeks. 

Inspired by Linda Lang - Part 2

Whilst we waited for David to return home with shaving foam yesterday I thought I'd reacquaint myself and introduce Jessica to encaustic art. This is a craft I haven't picked up for decades but the friend I used to enjoy doing it with, who now lives in New Zealand, gifted me her childhood supplies the last time I saw her and I'm delighted to be putting them to use now. 

The general idea is that you create pieces of art from beeswax mixed with pigment. The wax blocks are melted using a low heat and applied to special paper. We learned to use the iron first, applying the wax directly to the iron and then wiping it across the paper. Then we discovered the joy of making patterns in the wax by applying the iron and lifting it from the paper as if hinged to the table.

 

Once these basics had been understood we turned out attention to the stylus with it's two knibs and one metal brush attachment. You put the knib into the wax, which melts and is drawn up into the cavity of the knib where it is stored as liquid colour and released onto the paper as you write or draw as you would with a normal pen. It's brilliant! 

 

I was so impressed with the way Jessica handled the tools. She thoroughly enjoyed her afternoon working with melted wax and even managed to create tiny wax penguins on her homework piece, again in the bottom right hand corner...

I also wanted to share the paper she had for getting used to the wax and tools and practising the techniques. I think it's rather beautiful...

We had such a lovely afternoon that I've put some new encaustic waxes and papers on my Christmas list ;-)

Inspired by Linda Lang - Part 1

One of Jessica's homework tasks this week is to recreate a painting by the artist Linda Lang, whose work they have been studying in school as part of their current topic "Ice". Invited to use a medium of their choice, Jessica opted to depict Watching the Iceberg Calve in two ways - shaving foam marbling and encaustic wax art. She spent hours on these this afternoon and they are worthy of separate posts so I'm going to just look at the marbling for the moment.

We hadn't had a huge amount of success with shaving foam marbling before but the swirls of ice and sea on the painting were screaming out to be marbled so we gave it another go. This time we got it right and it was a lot of fun so I thought I'd share our simple steps...

1. Squirt shaving foam into a shallow tray (an old baking sheet is ideal), lather it up and spread it out.

2. Slacken down some acrylic paint with a little water and drip onto the shaving foam. I have also read that liquid watercolours and food colouring work well.

3. Use a skewer, cocktail stick or similar to swirl the paint around in the foam. You can do this one colour at a time or add all of your colour in one go and swirl altogether.

4. Place your card or paper on top of the foam. You will need to gently but firmly smooth the paper down all over to ensure contact and transfer.

5. Lift the paper off and scrape the foam off, holding the paper down and scraping from one side of the paper to the other. An old credit card is ideal for this but anything rigid with a flat edge would do. Make sure you have something to put the removed foam into so that you can clean the scraper between strips.

6. Allow to dry off and use to make greetings cards or just enjoy the pretty patterns. Jessica added the finishing touch of three penguins in the bottom right hand corner to complete her Linda Lang inspired painting. Can you spot them?!