Spooky, piratey, crafty fun

Is "piratey" a word? It is now!

I was expecting to be doing something else today (long story) but it got postponed, and I found myself at a loose end. I'd seen instructions on the web for making skull beads from polymer clay, so a Mum and daughters craft afternoon seemed called for.


Spooky little crania duly modelled, cooked and painted, and strung into very piratey/emo bracelets. Aren't they the cutest most adorable little skullies you've ever seen?

Yet more October ornaments

Two this time, the first is the Monthly Challenge from the Jayne's Attic Forum (Gaynor, Jayne's shop has closed, but the forum is still active here). This month we chose a complimentary design from The Drawn Thread. I changed mine slightly from the original to "anglicise" my birdies a little bit, so I've got two robins, a blackbird, a wood pigeon and a bluetit, (but not a partridge because its not a pear tree). It doesn't show too well in the photo but the fabric is a remnant from a grey and white hand dye with an irridescent finish. I think it came from Silkweaver in the first place.

When I came to finishing this one every trimming I put on it looked top heavy and overdone, so I ended up just pinning a very plain organza bow to the bottom.

The other finishes are in the album here

The second one is a design from Heidi's blog. The only change I made to this one was to put the pudding onto a blue plate. I wanted a very naive, primitive finish on this so I made it up as a little cushion, then very roughly buttonhole stitched the edges and added some little buttons.

Off now to see if I can squeeze in another ornie by the end of the month!

Another October Ornament

...for the Monthly Ornament SAL at Jaynes Attic. This one is a complimentary design by Midnight Stitching.
I seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment, so I'm making the most of it, you never know how long it might last!

A little gift

I made this small gift for one of the teachers at school, who has just had a baby girl. No prizes for guessing baby's name ;)


The fabric it is lying on is what I used to back it.

Fudge and Buttons

Sounds like a bad children's cartoon show doesn't it?
This is the fudge. Naomi has been nagging me for ages to teach her how to make it and here is her first batch.

And the buttons? We were out and about on Saturday and I saw some wonderful heart shaped button ornaments in a shop. They wanted silly money for them, and I thought to myself "I could do that", so I came home and did...

I'll have to make some red and green ones at Christmas.

October Ornie already

Speedy or what? This one is by Miss Crescent's Crowne from this year's JCS Ornament Edition, though I changed the colours to use what I had in the house.

I finished this one a little differently to my usual style. I padded the front, which I don't normally do (Shh, don't tell anyone, but it was to disguise the rather uneven job I made of cutting out my mountboard ovals), and sandwiched some pretty dark red and silver ric rac between the two sides when I stitched them together, and overall I'm quite pleased with the result so I might do it that way again (plus it avoided the use of glue which is always a bonus)

Suddenly feels like Autumn

There is a crispness in the air and the leaves are starting to turn.
Here are a few of the last summer flowers arranged in some of my collection of jugs on the kitchen windowsill.