Something different. Ikebana-ish - with a twist.

Before I begin my usual waffle - can I just say thank you so very much for your comments.  You have not idea how much they mean to me.   I haven't been able to do my usual blog rounds to all of you - but will do - I'm working my way around.

I went to a flower arranging workshop yesterday afternoon - torrential rain, flooded roads, but it was worth it.   I am really getting back into the 'swing' of things and hope to go more works shops in all things arty crafty this year.   I didn't get it finished yesterday as I only had two and a half hours and there was lots to do, so I completed it this morning.

To make this you need a some shrub branches, large metal rings, something to cover them with, some test tubes, spring flowers, a container and a bit of imagination!

 

This was really difficult to photograph as it is very tall. Here are some close ups.  The tulips have opened out overnight, the closed ones are those I arranged today

I used a square green plastic container which I have put in the basket

Our first task was to cover the bare metal frames with something.

I am not the most patient in the faffing about department but it was worth all the effort, so I was  told, as they liked the finished effect.  I wrapped the ring loosely with orange crepe paper, and stuck the ends down with double sided tape.  On top of that I layered some shades of orange sisal, and some knitting wool.  Then used silver wire all around to hold it all together - oh and some wispy bits of Kapoc stuffing - thought it would match the white gypsophelia and the other colours.

I had to repeat the process for the two rings and added the pearl beads as an afterthought

I cut up the branches and arranged them in the oasis, and secured the rings to them

The test tubes I covered in ivy leaves and wrapped silver wire around them,

 fixed them to the branches so that I could put tulips high up, and looking natural.

(Sadly you don't get almost 4ft high tulips)

I have tried to make it look interesting all the way around

And have use gypsophelia right up the middle through the twigs

It smells divine and the colours match the colours in my home.

It's a bit difficult to photograph indoors but here it is.

It looks better in the hall with a cream backdrop, but it was too dull there to take a photo.

Not bad for a total of £18 for everything - including the workshop!

I have booked myself in for next month - going to do something more traditional

I think it looks a bit Ikebana-ish, but with a modern twist.

 

Hey - the sun has come out - I am off to play with inks!

A bit of Oh La La - from beans

It's been a whole week since I have been able to do any crafting, but I was determined to do so today - even though it was tipping it down with rain and my studio shed is at the end of the garden.

Patrick thinks I am mad - I am convinced - but I do feel a bit stir crazy being hemmed indoors in our little bungalow day in day out in grim weather - there is only so much reading a gal can do!

We went into a biggish town about ten miles from us to get some shopping.

We had some store vouchers and I wanted to use them before they ran out of date

So I bought a tin of beans because I wanted to alter it.

Not eaten the beans though - sigh.

 Click photos to enlarge

I covered the tin with a piece of cardstock which had some French words on it, and some gold patterning.  So I stamped some smaller words and French images and embossed them with gold.

I did a heat tranfer of an image onto cream satin

and added a French stamp

Slinky satin, embossed images of all things French

Can you see where this is going?

The lovely material drape in the background I bought in a charity shop

yesterday after I had been to my weekly Adult Education class

And as soon as I saw it I thought - Oh La La.

So off I went to a great blog I follow here Ink Stained Roni

and downloaded the pattern.

I then commited sacrilege and copied it, drawing it in a smaller size.

I cut out the corset from the peach material.

Then I stamped the middle panel with a lace pattern

Then coloured it with Promarkers, and painted

the flower centres with gold.

And coloured the rest of it with Promaker.

And glued it on!

Off to daydream of summer weekends in France

Altered Box

You know how it is - you are in the middle of cooking lunch and you get a flash of inspiration!

Well you would, wouldn't you when you see an empty OXO box?

So you find and download of images from Crafty Computer Paper

and enhance the colours with chalks

They are so sweet

You paint the oxo box with blue pearlescent paint, and stamp it with a lace stamp - all over.

Glue it all back together, and add a picture for the front

Another for the back - and then fill it up with whatever takes your fancy!

Vintage Notebook

I had fun making these two notebooks and they didn't take long to make - which makes quite a change for me!

This was made from a little notepad available from most supermarkets.

I removed the front cover which I used as a template, and made this.

Printed card cut to size, using co-ordinating colours to enhance the image which came frm Crafty Computer Paper.

I enhanced/coloured the image with chalks to bring the colours out.

Added some vintage lace top and bottom

Finished!

Simple vintage note book

The are little note books with lined pages which you can buy at any supermarket at little cost.

I took off the front over and replaced it with one of my own making

This is the back - it covers the plain cardboard

And here is the front. 

I want to build up a collection of these so that I have some little

gifts to hand - probably instead of cards!

Image from Crafty Computer Paper

Thankyou to for my blog candy Linda B

My blog candy from LB Crafts

A B Line printed paper template

To make a paper art doll - never had a go at one of these

so will need to do some research.

I also won

a lovely butterfly rubber stamp.

Linda does great courses at her shop and she has  brilliant blog too

Thank you very much Linda

More art from scraps

I had fun making this tag today from a dowloaded imaged from Crafty Computer Paper.

I used a scrap of old, soaked, cardboard - which in itself looks vintage.

I stamped am old postmark on it, the sewed on a scrap of frayed materal

and the torn image.  I enhanced/coloureed the image with chalks to get the colours to match the material.

I used another scrap leftover from the bookmark project - the plae blue matched the image exactly.

I punched a hole in the top and added the package string. 

It is large tag with plently of room to write a long message on the back.

French book mark - from scraps

(Click on photos to enlarge)

I had a little play in the studio yesterday - just using scraps of material

and made this book mark.

The intention was to get out my sewing machine and play, but I coudn't be bothered

So I made this using a strip of Vilene which is used to repair hems that have fallen down.

Goodness knows how long ago I bought it!

I ironed the plain strip of material onto the blue back strip with the vilene sandwiched in the middle.

Using distress inks I stamped French script onto the plain material

Added a slither of blue nylon I found

Rubbed on an image I had printed onto dry decal paper

from Crafty Computer Paper 

A scrap of lace - from my daughter in law Haruko

All the black French images where stamped with Stazon.

I offset the France stamp at the bottom as it fitted in nicely with the lace and I wanted to expose the French script.

The hat creation was made from bits cut off an old bag

Voila!

A bag for Christine

At last I can post this present for Christine - it has arrived safely.

You have seen this bit already

You know what it is now don't you.

It looks like an oil painting

But it is a.........

Hessian bag for life

Pencil Note Book

I recently bought some new stamps from Happy Daze

With all the snow we have had today, it was enough to drive anyone stir crazy so  I braved the snow storm and had a play in my studio.

I just couldn't decide what to do once there - so I made a chunky notebook.

The pencils look very 3D in real life.

The rubber stamp is just the right size for a notebook

I stamped it directly onto thick mountboard, then spent quite a long time colouring it.

I coloured the grungeboard lettering with a promarker over copper.

It gives the letters a nice red lustre look to them

The back cover was coloured with all those of the pencils on the front,

then I stamped over it with five Tim Holtz mini stamps.

I used A4 computer paper which I cut up to fit.

It's great as notepaper, and with the mountboard as covers

they make great presents and at a reasonable cost too!

And each one is an original of course!

Crafting but no show and tell

I have been crafting - but just can't post any photos as they have all be for presents or for a design team I belong to.

Here are some sneak peeks - which seem to be all the 'rage' lately.

Some paint and inking going on here

A bit more going on here too - perhaps some texture?

Hmmm what can this be?

Peace

I've had a wonderfully busy weekend and little time to sit still - bit I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Sadly the weather kept us indoors most of the time, but there are lots of things to do indoors isn't there.

After a big Sunday lunch, I needed a little bit of time to recharge my batteries, and so did my grandson Luke. 

It was Luke's idea - ice cream smothered in chocolate sauce!

Us grown ups had the less messy version of a choc ice.

Who cares that it is sleeting outside - it's summery warm in here!

Spring cleaning at the palace - and eight eggs in total this year

dAfter the past few weeks of snow, rain, mist, fog, frost, ice, and a repeat performance of the list - Peckinghan Palace was looking a bit dingy, so I decided to give it a spring clean

The money I invested in the palace was well spent.

I slid off the roof, lifted out the back, and took off the egg hatch door.

The outdoor tap was still frozen so it was the old fashioned method I used.

A bucket of warm water with some disinfectant in it.

I emptied the 'litter' trays.

I gave all the surfaces a quick scrub and wiped them dry.

I sprinkled Stalosan on top of the Hemcore - I have been using it for years.  It is a powdered form of disinfectant, anti-bacterial, etc and it also keeps the palace smelling fresh and clean.

I also use it in the nest box area where they lay their eggs.  Scrabble tends to sleep in there at night.  The reason for the green seed tray, is for Daisy's benefit.  She tends to take over the whole nest box when laying an egg - or just contemplating it and gets very grouchy if anyone wants to share.  But having a separate tray for her - has solved the problem.

I probably should have posted these photos in a different order - this is just to show you how easy the trays slide out for emptying.

The plastic roosting bars seem almost non-stick - and only needed a quick wipe over both sides - no risk of red mite in this Peckingham Palace that's for sure

There we go - in less than an hour it looks like new again - the back top panel is just drying off

Meanwhile

The girls were keeping a close eye on the spring clean and having quite a cluck about it

Daisy being the top and very chic chick decided to do a bit of casual preening, trying to act all nochanlant  - but taking a keen interest in what I was doing

Teeny Poppy did a running commentary on the process - but Snowy got rather bored and went off to do some serious insect searching

Poppy decided to chat to Gozzie instead - who actually paid some attention to her - she is too polite to do otherwise

Daisy was in chicken heaven having discovered a nest of insects by the strawberry pots

Twiggy was checking out my efforts in the run and deciding whether to help me spread out the hemcore

Having been a show girl she decided it might mess up her pedicure so had a little snack instead!  Which I thought was priceless considering how she had spent the morning digging over the flower beds chomping at worms

Snowy and Poppy were deeply engrossed in their search for insects, and judging by the excited squawks coming from them - they were having great success

Twiggy has finished her snack and can't decide what to do next

Scrabble is looking like she had a late night - but she is getting old and it will soon be time to go in to roost

Hmm - she's twisting her foot - I will have to keep an eye on her.  She is prone to 'leg' trouble at her age, but it might just be what she is doing today - she always makes funny stances - often standing on one leg like a stork - especially if the ground is cold and wet - but she can stay in the nice warm run if she wants too!

She's OK now!   Well I can't be standing here any longer

But they are so fascinating!  Always up to mischief and fun.

I am getting cold - so off to tidy the things away - I will be back out again soon when they go in to roost