Needle felted styro foam head

I worked hard yesterday on my "Nefertiti" and she is almost finished.....yay!

I have really enjoyed this project even though at times I thought I was mad and the felting got a bit of a chore, but the worst is over and she is almost finished!

Why I set myself this task I dont know, perhaps it was the challenge that tempted me!

Whatever it was, I have enjoyed it!

I get quite a mixed response............WTF to WOW!!!!! lol :)

How did your 2012 start?

I had a bad end to 2011, my father in law died on the 14th Dec but the funeral wasn't until the 5th Jan, so Christmas was a bit of a blur. My laptop got a virus that completely gobbled everything up so I was left with nothing, it was like an empty box, all I was doing on it was making the order of service for the funeral!

Then....as soon as the new year was in at work we were all told that up to six people needed to be made redundant, voluntery redundancy was offered but of course no one came forwards for it, so the next step was to tell us that in effect our jobs as they were, no longer existed and we would now have to go to points and apply for our jobs. This has been a very difficult time and basicly it's a dog eat dog world and your work mates change towards you.

Interviews started on wed and finished sat, I had mine on friday afternoon. All morning I was fine but ten minutes before I went in, my heart was almost coming out of my chest. I felt quite comfortable in the interview apart from the heat and my heart pounding, it was so hot in there I wish I had taken in a glass of water now. Once the questions started my voice quivered and my mouth went dry, I almost went blank at one stage, so I didn't do too good as far as I am concerned. When I came out I was redder than red, but I felt quite happy, maybe relieved that it was over! Now I have a week to wait for the result and I cannot sleep properly, it's going to be a long week waiting. If I lose my job it will be very hard working my four weeks notice along side those that haven't, people I have known for years that have become more than a work colleague.

On a happier note (I am trying to keep my chin up!) I have been making resin filled hearts, you can find these in my Etsy shop here http://www.etsy.com/shop/SNOWQUEENTRINKETS

I have hand painted them and finished with a layer of resin and co-ordinating ribbon.

They could be turned into pieces of jewellery, given as a token keepsake or wrapped around the neck of a wine bottle to make an unusual gift!

And................ as usual I still have lots of other crafts on the go at once too!

Been poorly!

I am now almost recovered from my two weeks of laryngitis, but still suffering from the vertigo caused through an ear infection in my right ear, got lots of bright red anti-biotics to take, wish they would hurry up and start working!
Wed I was due to fly to the Channel Isles for my annual visit to my Mumsy, (I always go in October for her Birthday), but the vertigo was bad and my doctor advised against going on the plane and signed me off work until November. I have been looking forwards to my visit all year so am rather disapppointed at not going, will just have to be happy with phone calls instead!

So, inbetween dizzy spells I am doing what I can craft wise.

My Folksy shop is now completely empty and I have been filling the Etsy one, was really pleased as I was featured in two treasuries, both lovely autumn colours.
This one is called Falling Leaves: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTI3NDA1NzV8ODk0OTQ0NTAx/falling-leaves and this one is called Homage to the leaf.......Autumn:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/ODk1Mjc1Nnw5MDMyMTM3OTY/homage-to-the-leaf-autumn

I am working on some box canvas painting collage projects at the moment, even though I still have others (felted stryofoam head, felted tree collage the list goes on.....) that I really should finish but just can't help but start a new one!

I will post pics soon of my latest items but not just yet as they look a bit bare and blue and lumpy, can't wait to finish them!

Up to date ramblings on..

I have been listing things on Etsy lately, wish I didn't close my first shop there that I had a few years ago now, but never mind!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SNOWQUEENTRINKETS

My Folksy shop will be closing at the end of the month, I could keep it open but I am not allowed to add handstamped notecards anymore or beaded jewellery, they e-mailed me and said that my glass jewellery and needle/wet felted items are fine but if they don't want the rest there is no point.

I am full of cold/flu lurgies at mo and have had a few days off work but have just laid about feeling crap to be perfectly honest.

I still have lots of unfinished projects, so nothing has changed there! lol

My daughters wedding in August was wondeful and everything went so well, Her chosen theme was sunflowers and butterflies, So pleased she loved the cake which I decorated (bought it from M&S) and just tarted it up basicly with sugar paste butterflies,ribbons and bling!

The long cake in the second pic is a M&S cutting bar, my daughter had the figures made but I didn't want them on the wedding cake as I had already made my plans for that with lots of bling etc. and felt they would look out of place, so suggested the cutting bar as a sort of wall that they could sit on, I put two of my sugarpaste butterflies either side and some sparkly silver ribbon and to finish used gorgeous cake miniature bunting that I found on Etsy, the seller (Jooles) was absolutely wonderful and made the bunting to my colour requirements and finished it off with the lovely label, I think it works so well with the little figures! You can see more cake bunting here http://www.etsy.com/shop/SewSweetViolet?ref:=seller_info along with all the other goodies that Jooles makes.

The cars were great, the bride had the Beauford and the bridesmaides and me went in the midnight blue Citroen Traction!

I found this wishing well on eBay and was able to rent it for £25.00 plus decorate it myself, the lady didn't mind at all!

So, I arranged purple butterflies around it and added colour co-ordinating ribbon to the bucket and a big white organza bow, The sunflowers were from my daughters garden.

The brides maides looked gorgeous and the bride was stunning.

This is my youngest daughter on the right and the grooms sister on the left!

The beautiful bride (my eldest daughter)

Infact I think everyone looked fab (I didn't scrub up too badly either!)

(Here I am with hubby!)

and all had a great time even though it rained all day, the the rain didn't spoil a thing, infact I don't think anyone really noticed!

Moving on!

I have opened a new shop on Groovy Cart as I will soon be closing my Folksy shop :( due to recent happenings, although I haven't had my reply yet from Folksy about my shop items, I am sure there are a few that do not qualify by their rules. You can see the Groovy Cart items here http://www.groovycart.co.uk/snow_queen_trinkets UK postage and packaging are FREE!

Latest makes

I bought some fab findings on Folksy recently and this is what I have turned them into!

I have listed them in my Misi shop, please take a look!

Butterflies

I was pottering about on Misi the other day when I spotted these gorgeous butterflies, ideal for decorating my daughters hen night goody bags and the wedding wishing well.

They came today (superfast rocket propelled post) wrapped up safely and are brilliant, just perfect for what I need.

If you want to see them plus more with embellishments on and ready made wedding invites too, just click on the link http://www.misi.co.uk/handmade/pinkunicorncards.html