Stanley.

The Make it Monthly March theme over at The Felt Fairy was to make your very own Stanley Kidston from the pattern that Annie very kindly provided. Monkey downloaded it for me and so here is my version of Stanley attempting to strike the same pose as in the picture. Rather a handsome chappie I think complete with his rhinestone collar. (Sherry if you look closely at his collar it may look a little fishy to you!!)

Tried to post this yesterday but my computer was having none of it and booted me off the web so I couldn't go and visit any WOYWW's or followers. Most frustrating as I do like seeing what everyone else in blogland is up too. (Being a snoopy snout as The Doc would put it).

Workdesk 95.

Well my desk this morning appears to have been taken over by Monkey who is busy downloading the pattern for Stanley the dog. In the foreground you can see the pattern pieces have been cut from felt in readiness. To the right is a piecce of material I was doing a practice stamping on. In the dish you can just see a blue and yellow bird I have made using shrink plastic. I drew a bird outline onto the shrink plastic. Cut out and then coloured in using water colour pencils. Punched a hole and then shrunk using my heat gun. It really does shrink down to 7 times its size. Amazing stuff. I have been making buttons with it too but they are on their way to America so can't show you those at present.

I have been shoved off onto the side table by Monkey where I am working on a swap item, again destined for America. Here is just a sneek preview of it. Something I have not tried before

stamping directly onto material as the design. I'm quite pleased with how it is going.

Lastly Monkey wanted to show you his glasses he made.

Personally I think he should have gone to Spec Savers!!!

Hop on over to Julia's blog to see what the rest of the WOYWW crowd are doing on their desks.

Where's the rest of the team!

Meet my next little Footballer 'Boyo'. He is a commisssion that I have just literally completed (5am this morning)for a Birthday. As he will be going to his new home tomorrow and they do not have access to my blogg it is safe to show him to you now. Hmm! Wonder which team he supports. Lol. He is made from felt purchased from my very good blogging friend Annie of The Felt Fairy . I will be posting him as my March Make on the Monthly Make flickr page just in case I don't get my Felt Stanley dog made in time. I am going to enter Boyo into the following challenges: Pile it on: Asking for Cutie Patootie. Crafty Creations: Asking for In Stitches. 1st Unique Gifts: Asking for Handmade Mondays.

Workdesk Wednesday 94.

I have a lot of projects on the go at the moment but can't show as they are either swap items or commissions so are under wraps until they have been sent out or received.
I'm a bit miffed that monkey called my work in progress last week a pile of rubbish!


What can I show you on my desk this week? This may just look like a roll of plastic bags with one cut into strips but thanks to my late FIL I have found out about the art of "Plarning".
(To plarn with plastic instead of to knit with yarn is an easy explanation.)
I don't think my FIL ever threw a plastic bag away, either new or used consequently we have inherited hundreds of them. Even allowing for the piles that have been taken over to the local tip we still have rolls of unused bags to last a life time. What to do with them then. I have found on You Tube various tutorials showing you how to knit using strips of plastic bags so I thought I would have a go myself. Well its certainly different. Knits up very strong and quite stretchy too.
One thing you can make it into is bags so I will let you know how I get on.


Now last week someone left a comment asking how monkey manages to read books bigger than himself? Well I think you will find he is a very enterprising monkey!!!!

Have a great Wednesday and if you'd like to have a snoop around other desks then head on over to Julia's blog here.

Workdesk Wednesday 93

Oh. Hello. Were you expecting something else?

It's just me today. My owner says that I'm costing her too much in monkey nuts so she has set me to work to pay my keep.

Iv'e got to knit a jumper! I have been sat here for ages knitting. Er how long is a piece of wool please? Crumbs I just lost a stitch . I had 10 a minute ago. Anyone seen my missing stitch?

I got to read all these books too cos I'm being tested. on em. Whats a gesso and how about stumps.I dunno the answer do you!!

Before you go I have to show you whats on the table next to where I'm sitting. Nothing has moved since the weekend. Looks like a load of rubbish to me.

If you want to see some real working desks then head on over to Julia's blog where you'll find over 100 desks to snoop around.

Bye for now.

Monkey.

Whilst I'm on a Roll.

I saw this digi download on A Day for Daises and fell in love with it. To me it looked like a picture taken out of a photo album so that is what I have tried to recreate here.
The background and edge scrolls are paper by Dovercraft from their abstract prints range. The scrolls were cut using Sizzix Archectural Accents and I coloured the digi with watercolour pencils and baby oil! The flower was one I prepared earlier. The little girl sort of looks like I did as a child so I have made this card for my Mum for Mothers Day.



Entering into the following challenges.
A Day for Daisies. Girly Girl
Fab 'n' Funky. Make it Girly

I Don't do Cards!!!

So which part of 'I don't do Cards' did I not fully understand !!!!!!


There is a reason for this digression. Happy Birthday FLUFF.
I saw this stamp 'Retail Therapy' by Papermania and imediately thought Faye would appreciate this.
Now I don't own a single Promarker or Copics pen (I have seen your desks ladden with the little blighters in every tint and colour under the sun at a cost ) but what I have bought is a packet of 24 water colour pencils (by Docrafts for £8.99) and dug out an ancient bottle of baby oil (does baby oil go out of date? Well it smelt ok) and I was away. I stamped the image with Stazon (I do listen to what Faye tells me) and coloured in with the pens. A dab/dash of baby oil rubbed in and hey presto a not half bad attempt at a card. The flowers are some I made earlier in true Blue Peter Fashion. I added the sentiment 'Shop till you drop'.

Ever since Faye clapped eyes on the scarf that 'Sis' made me she has been trying to snaffle it off me. Not any more cos I have made Fluff her very own version. (Now I can pinch it back to wear)
Have a Happy day.

Cream it is then.

The votes are in and are as follows.

Green bag 4

Denim bag 5

Cream bag 6

This really suprised me as I thought you would all go for the green straw bag. I shall away now and do my craftiness on the cream bag for the March Artful Bag challenge. Once completed it will go here on my blog as a freebie give away so stayed tuned to be in it to win it.

Paris Themed Fan.

The swap challenge for the Art 'n' Soul flickr group this month is to make a fan (using the template provided) with the theme of
" Inspired by France". I was determined not to go down the pink route so this is my interpretation. A Paris themed fan.

The use of the turquoise ribbon was not intended but the lace I had in mind for triming each blade with was just 2" short. The feathers were from my local fabric store at 10p each. A bargain I thought.

This is the fan folded up .


Opened out showing each blade. (We had to use a minimum of 6).



A closer view showing the blades in more detail. The paper I have used is from the Chatsworth Vintage Collection by Papermania. Before cutting out the blades I stamped over the sheet using a French phrases stamp by Tim Holtz and using distressed ink. I cut the blades from card (empty biscuit boxes) and glued the paper over the top. The edging is 3 threads of crochet cotton fed throught my sewing machine and bound with contrasting cotton using a close up zigzag stitch. Ribbon was then glued to the back of each one and then another matching blade attached over the top using fancy cardboard (from a supermarket cake box) to neaten. The flowers (cut from a strip) each had a glass bead sewn into the centre and then glued to the front as decoration.


The blades were assembled by threading a ribbon through a punched hole in the bases and then tied together. I attached an assortment of feathers. fringing , beads and a fabric flower to the front.


The blades were then attached at the top of the fan by ribbon glued across the back. When the fan is folded up the ribbon pleats nice and neatly between the blades. You can just see the butterfly stamped on the back.
I'm pretty chuffed at the finished result.

There is still time if you havn't already voted to choose which bag you would like to see me make for the March Altered Bag Challenge. So far the green bag has 3 votes, cream 5 and demin 5 so I need a clear winner.
You can cast your votes here. up until tonight 22.00 (GMT).

Workdesk Wednesday 92

My workdesk at 5am this morning. Iv'e been attempting to make a Parisian fan for the Art 'n' Soul March group swap. I have cut the fan shapes from thin cardboard and now just playing with an assortment of bits and bobs to embellish with. I'm quite pleased with myself that I have managed to via away from using pink.

Also working on something else off to the side of my desk on my folding table.

The following were taken earlier this morning.

Is someone taking the monkey!!

If you want to see what over 100 other desks are looking like, then head on over to Julia's blog for a snoop around. Have fun.

Which bag? You choose!

I need your help fellow bloggers!

The March Artful Bag Challenge over at Frosted Petunias is to take an actual bag this time and Embellish it into something fabulous. Now not having any plain bags in my closet( me do plain!) I have toddled off to the local charity shop and come back with three bags. I have ideas for all the bags but am throwing it over to you all to chose which one I embellish. So come on let your fingers do the talking and leave a comment here on this post telling me which one . You have until Friday 11th March 23.00hrs(GMT) to cast your vote.
I will then be publishing which bag I am doing.
After I have entered the altered bag into the challenge it will then go up on this blog for grabs.

The choices are:
green/cream straw bag. (Has plastic liner which will be replaced with something much nicer)
Cream satin clutch bag. (Has 5 inner pockets. One with a fully working zipper)
Blue demin bag. (Has 1 inner fully working zipper pocket.) Embellished at the mo with sequins on the tab which are coming straight off.




Remember you are not voting for the one you like the most but the one you would like to see embellished the most.

Blast from the past!

The doc and I have sadly been going through my FIL's house but every so often we have come across some gems and pearls (figureatively speaking). This is one of them.

I made this evening bag for my then future mother in law in 1969!!

We found it carefully wrapped up in tissue paper and placed in a fancy hankerchief box (not the box I gave it in) wrapped inside a plastic bag in a chest of drawers. When I opened it up it still smelt of her perfume (another sad moment) as there was a cotton wool ball in the bottom of the bag which had been sprayed with it. The linning is made from cream crepe and though a little brown in places from age is still in very good condition.

I still have a little strip of that gold edging that I used (in my stash) and over the years have racked my brains trying to think what I had used the rest on. Now I Know!!! The bag is made from crimplene (a very fasionable material in the sixtys as it didn't crease) and is from a dress that was made shorter. Off cuts always came my way.

We have found various other bits and bobs some of which I will post up about at a later date.

Just don't mention plastic bags!!!!!!!!

Mini Fabric Collage.

At the beginning of the year I joined the Swap for all Seasons mini fabric collage swap.
The idea was to make a mini fabric collage 5" x 7" in a style and colour that you knew your partner would like from the information given to you . My partner was Angela from Pages by the Sea. I found that her favourite colours were blues and greens, sea colours being her favourites. Angela also liked lace, beads, ribbons buttons and has a love of birds and animals.
So armed with all this information I collected all the necessary from my stash.


I then set about playing with all the various bits and bobs until a layout I was happy with what evolved. This is the first one that I came up with but having loads of bits left over I started playing around with another blank canvas and made also made the one below.

Now I was in a dilema as I just didn't know which one Angela would like the most so in the end I sent them both off to her.Luckily both were liked but now Angela dosen't know which she likes the best!!

Backs of both collages showing the buterfly details. One from material and the other stamped on.

Workdesk Wednesday No 91.

So what is on your workdesk this Wednesday. This is mine taken at 3am this morning. The lighting is incredibly dim as the 100 watt overhead light bulb went and The Doc only had a spare 60 watt to replace it with.

I have been working on making some paper flowers, cutting round circles freehand with pinking scissors , using plain papers and white printer paper that I have used distressed inks on the edge and then cut into thin strips nearly to the centre of the circles. Once layered up I think they rather look like carnations.
Right in front are two hearts that I was experimenting making from shrink plastic. They will go on the next ATC playing cards.


In the middle is an hibiscus flower made from merino wool using the wet felting method. (I was not impressed with this way of felting the wool and much prefer the dry method.) So to the left is a pile of Bagpuss's fur (taken from where I have groomed her over several months) ready for me make the last self furred picture .You can see the other two on the right of my blog. These will eventually go onto frames that need to be painted in the dinning room colours and then hung.

If you want to see lots of other desks today then head on over to Julia's blog where you will be able to snoop around well over 100 desks.


P.s. The cardi (from last week) felted up really well. After putting through a hot wash I stuck it in the tumble dryer on a hot cycle for 40mins fro good measure. It is now half the size and twice as thick and perfect for the project in hand.