Crafting update – Summer Slamdance

I’ve been crafting away on my swaps for the ‘Invite Your Partner; Summer Slamdance’ swap over on Craftster. My partner is Javede and here are the things that I made for her:

Firstly, I made her a baker boy cap from 100% lambs wool in a lovely brown colour. Javede doesn’t like acrylic for things that she wears or holds.

 

I know Javede has admired my glass painted creations, so I painted this sweet little glass candle holder for her.

I also made her a cushion cover based on one in her Wists. I combined a couple of her Wists; a cushion cover, and the colour combination of one of her scarves. I loved the brown, cream and pink combination. The front is little flowers and the back is a large granny square. I made the cushion inside too to make sure one fitted! 

I’m beginning to see a bit of a theme her, the next thing I made her was a sewing set; Javede had quite a few cupcake themed things on her Wists, so I used that theme, which meant that brown and pink colour combination again. I covered a tape measure

I also made a matching pincushion

and a needle case

and then I created a pair of cupcake themed knitting needles made from doweling, with polymer clay tips

 

She had some cute little chocolate charms on her Wists as well, so I made some tiny little charms to make stitch markers from. I made them so that you could use them for knitting or crochet. I loved how these turned out, so I can see myself making these again!

I could see from Javede’s Wists that she also likes brooches and hair clips, and the marytroska dolls are a favourite theme, so I made her a set combining all these.

and lastly, although Javede likes handmade soaps, she doesn’t like strong scents, so I made her some unscented honey and oatmeal vegetarian soap. I hope she likes it all!

Parcels in the Post

Well the news of the week for me was the discovery that Michael Jackson had Lupus (like me)! That explains alot about him! I’m not a big fan of MJ but I feel a little angry that he just couldn’t come out with it and say that’s what he had. Maybe there would be more understanding about the condition with such a famous spokesperson. Ah well, I guess he had his reasons, but I think the world would have treated him a little more kindly.

So this morning there was a little break in the weather and I decided to talk a walk up to the post office with the Uberhound to post some eBay sales and also my Hippy Swap package.  I handed over my packages and my money to the post office clerk and then we took a stroll in the park enjoying the sunshine!

It’s always nice to be in the sunshine

especially when you see such beautiful colours and wild flowers…

Sometime’s it’s nice to take a seat and watch the rabbits ….

There’s an old play area tucked away in the centre of the park which is sadly in need of a fresh lick of paint but makes for a good photo…

Anyway, my Hippy Swap package is finally in the post! I had to get it in the mail because the package was getting bigger and bigger and it was going to cost me a fortune to post as it was *lol* so here’s the whole lot spread out on the bed

And here’s a few of the things I made for the package that you haven’t seen yet…

These are window clings, you press them onto the window or a mirror and they’ll stick there until you want to peel them off again.

I also made a fairy pen from Fimo

and plenty of earrings for my partner as she’ll be getting her ears pierced soon. Now she’ll have plenty to wear…

I also made a crocheted bag

And some reversible hair bands

I made a little extra as well; this isn’t really a hippy item, but my partner mentioned somewhere in the thread that she pole-danced as a hobby, and that she really wanted a mini top hat, so I created this for her from felt and scraps that I had in my stash!

The crown inside is an old toilet roll, the brim is the flexible clear circle that you get in cd spindles, and the rest of it’s from stash items

I sewed a strip of elastic onto the bottom to keep it on her head when she’s dancing. I was really really happy with how it came out!

And remember I had a school t-shirt that was the typical boxy tee; just the sort of style that I hate. It was a small, but still too huge for me, so I chopped off the crew neck and cut it a little lower (but not too low, it’s for school trips after all!). I also cut about three inches off the length because it came nearly down to my knees, and a couple of inches off the sleeve length! I zigzagged around the neckline, and lettuce frilled the edges of the sleeves and bottom. 

I reconned it just in time to wear it on Sunday to escort a student from Gatwick airport to school as the person who normally collects students was ill, so I stepped in to help. It’s definitely much more ‘me’ now and more comfortable (though still white), and looks like it actually fits me now, and not like I’m wearing borrowed clothes!

Wow, so much to tell you today, I hope you weren’t bored

 

Bees and beads!

The last couple of days have been gloriously sunny and the local bees have been taking advantage of the blossoming flowers by collecting everything they can, especially from my Dystentra  (Bleeding heart) – look how caked his back legs are with pollen!

I’ve been working so hard!

But today my friend dragged me away from the books to go to the local bead show held at  Towcester Racecourse – Sarah Hornik was supposed to be there, but I think she was at the Flame Off which was yesterday – I didn’t see her today which I was most disappointed at.

The weather was lovely and the sky was blue…

and inside there were naked flames as exhibiters demonstrated their skills.

My haul for the day, although I didn’t buy as much as I could have…

I did treat myself to this dichroic cabochon though and I’ve already glued a sterling silver bail to the back so I can wear it as a pendant. It’s huge and sparkles like a thousand fireworks twinkling in the winter sky! It’ll be like wearing one of Klimt or Hunterwasser’s works of art!

I also found this lovely polymer clay focal bead which I can’t wait to make into a wearable piece of art!

And what else have I been up to? Well, I’ve been customising this plain old sage green jacket. It’s lovely and soft, almost velvet like to the touch. But very plain. The sleeves were much too long for me, so I altered them using this process which I admit is completely my own sort of mackled together technique and would probably make a seamstress drop all her pins in horror, but it worked for me, so I’m passing it on to you, in case you ever feel the urge to alter a lined jacket sleeve! So I measured how much I needed to lose off the length…

and then the scary bit – cut off just slightly less than you need to…

Make sure you cut through the lining too…

Then with the sleeve inside out, turn the edge over once, then again pinning as you go, so that all the edges are folded into themselves and won’t fray…

Then you can sew the edge and the lining so that it’s all neat.

And there we go, my cack-handed and very unprofessional way of shortening a jacket sleeve!

Look, all neat and shortened now! I’m probably going to embellish the sleeves a bit anyway, but at least they’re the right length!

And here’s where I am with the whole project. I found a beautiful butterfly appliqué patch and these matching flowers..

I had been intending to go for a leafy theme, but I saw these and was inspired! They’re all sequined and embroidered, and the embroidery thread I'm using for the swirls co-ordinates and makes me feel all summery!

So far, I’m loving it! I have some more swirls to embroider on it and some iridescent flower sequins to add to it too. What are you guy’s up to?

Right, back to the books then, and work again tomorrow! Holidays are never as long as you’d like!