Mouse in a Tin

I made these two mice in Altoid tins for my grandsons.  I got the idea from Pinterest and they are made from small scraps of material with felt for ears arms and feet.  My grandsons are at a very nurturing stage so my daughter said they would love something like this.  One of them asked me just the other day to make something and send it to them, hope they like them.

Kids Theater

Made this puppet theater for my grandsons today out of a curtain and some remnants of material.  The stars on the curtain are glow in the dark which will be fun when the lights go down.

Altered Book Alpha Challenge - E is for Enamelling

This fortnight's letter over at The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge HERE is "E".  I chose to do some paper enamelling, (English preferred spelling) it has the most wonderful effect almost like broken pieces of china too.  First cover the surface with snail glue or double sided tape the old birthday cards are cut up into pieces and placed randomly over the page leaving spaces between.  Gold leaf in this case or mica powders or mica flakes are then brushed over the top and stick to the cracks.  Two coats of perfect paper adhesive gloss over the entire pages gives the faux enamelled look.  The pages looked so pretty without any other decoration I left them as is.  This technique also makes wonderful toppers for cards if done on ATC sized illustration board. 

Thank you for all the wonderful comments that were left last week, I greatly appreciate them.

European Peg Bag

My old peg bag that hangs on the washing line finally broke. I still hang my washing on the line outside for that wonderful fresh smell, not to mention the money savings from not using the tumble dryer, so I needed to make a new one.  This time I chose to make an apron that holds the pegs.  I used an upholstery remnant that I bought from Michaels to make this European Peg Bag.  No more falling off the line and pegs strewn around for me.  It works perfectly, even has a little tag at the center front for hanging it up in the garage when not in use.  If you want the instructions on how to make one for yourself you can find them at Mother Earth News HERE

Reading Corner Blanket

Taken me 3 weeks to complete but here is the blanket I crochet for our reading chair.  It is made from Homespun wool in two colours, pearls and barley.  The chair is leather so needs a little warming on these cool winter mornings. 

Altered Book Alpha Challenge - Celestial

Another letter to chose from for the altered dictionary challenge.  For the letter "C" I chose Celestial.  My pages are first painted with a mix of ultramarine blue and black acrylic paint, carefully leaving the chosen word clear.  I then splashed the whole page with alcohol (isopropyl not my best vodka) and then splattered with a mixture of Lumiere paint colours to create a planet at the bottom of the page with flares radiating out.  The comet was splashed on top of more alcohol and allowed to drip up the page toward the top right hand corner to create the tail.

I really enjoyed looking at everyone's letter last week and I am sorry I didn't get a chance to leave comments on them all due to time restrictions, but know that I loved them all and thank you for your encouraging comments on my first spread.

To join in this challenge please go to The Craft Barn's home page HERE

Knitting Needle Case

My daughter asked me if I could make her a knitting needle case that was strong as the one she bought not long ago the needles have poked through the end already.  I found a wonderful pattern an instructions on Loulabelle's blog HERE, thank you Loulabelle.  I used the double sided stitched material that I had left over from my knitting basket cover plus some homemade bias binding made with the singer bias machine that my son bought me for Christmas.  It is very sturdy indeed.  Hope it is big enough for her needles an that she likes it 

Indonesian Batik Shirt

Not made any clothes for a long time, since my kids were little, they are now in their thirties.  Recently bought myself a desperately needed new machine and a few patterns and some material in the sales after Christmas.  This shirt is made from Indonesian Batik cotton, ooh how I love sewing with this material, it is light, doesn't make bulky underarm seams, doesn't move when you sew it and comes in such pretty colours.  I am really please with the end result and this pattern also includes a mid calf dress in the same style and some day I will get round to making it too.  By the way this piece of material cost me $1 at Walmart, it was a remnant exactly one and three quarter yards long, perfect.  

Tag Tuesday - Alphabet Tags "A"

Another alphabet challenge for me over at Tag Tuesday.  I intend to try and keep up with the challenges this year, I sadly fell behind a bit last year.  The quality of work over there is really amazing and I love to look at everyone's work each week.

 I have chosen to make my tag in the shape of the letter "A".

I brayered Pearl Turquoise and Pearl Violet Lumiere paints over the base and stamped and embossed in white diamonds and squares over the top.   I cut a square of lace paper and emphasised it with Distress Stickles.  A border of fabric lace, more Distress Stickles, pearls,  beads and threads through a eyelet finish the tag.  Sadly the shimmer does not show on the photograph.

Altered Book Alpha Challenge - Letter "V"

A new challenge over at The Craft Barn is to find a dictionary and start altering ... it's that simple. You can either  alter the dictionary itself, or you can take the pages to insert them in an Art Journal.

I bought a couple of dictionaries from the thrift store and proceeded to rip out pages to allow for the altering of the proposed 26 letter pages.  A great tutorial for this can be found HERE.  I prepped the outer covers with 2 coats of gesso and the put some cling film behind the pages I was altering to protect the other pages from paint.  

I gave the two pages for altering 2 coats of gesso after carefully masking with painter's tape the areas of the dictionary I wanted to show through.  I then layered white tissue paper over the whole thing. After peeling away the painters tape the dictionary words were given a very weak coat of the mica watercolours. 

More mica watercolours, letter and shape stamps, torn and painted sheet music, a violin stamp, a stave made from blue wire wrapped round cardboard and a treble clef and notes from the same wire adorn the pages.

To join in the challenge you can find The Craft Barn's webpage HERE