Mini Me!

I won a fun competition a few weeks ago, the prize was to have a doll made to look like me and today my mini me arrived!

Isn't she great fun, very beautifully made by the fab and very talented Karen of Reddskinbags, if you click on the above title you will be taken to Karens shop on Folksy, if not try here! www.folksy.com/shops/reddskinbags You will find a lovely selection of bags made from re-purposed materials and sumptious ethnic print fabrics in wonderful colours.



I think mini me is very happy to meet her big me!

Thankyou Karen! :)

Needle felted styrofoam head

I have bought some lovely vibrant sari yarn as an embellishment for my project, using it around the dress area. This is a bit fiddly but once I have needle felted blue inbetween it should look ok.




The head wear is really awkward, most things were too heavy and Geraldine kept toppling over backwards.

So....I bought some funky foam, couldn't get it in the colour that I wanted, had to buy pink!.but with a few ready made felt squares this won't be a problem.

She looks abit like she is doing a Tommy Cooper impression at the moment, but hopefully this will change the more I work on her, although I do wish that I had gone for navy felt, not to worry though as I want this to be bright and very colourful.

Needle felted styrofoam head

I have done a bit more to my  Nefertiti and covered her head for the time being because she was embarrassed by the state of the back view!

Her mouth is almost finished, I just add a bit of felt here and there as in certain light I can see where I need to put more colour.

I need to embellish her clothes and sort out her head gear, it's the head gear that is going to be the real challenge, so I will do that last, when I am happy with her face.

She is much happier now that her head is covered and her identity is starting to form!

Needle Felted Styrofoam

I am so addicted to needle felting and wet felting that I had to start up a huge project involving a styrofoam head.

I have felted styrofoam balls and egg shapes before and am also working on a foam ring that is almost finished, but I just can't put this head down!

I have covered it in light skin coloured felting wool and used black wool for the eyes, deep red for the mouth and will embellish the front dress area with blue/green/red and gold.

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She has been nick named "Geraldine" by friends, but as she progresses her name will be changed, perhaps abit more regal!

It is very easy and extremely theraputic, just pull off a small amount of wool and lay it on the foam and push the needle into the foam moving across the area until smooth.

She looks really freaky, but is slowly developing into a woolly beauty in a needle felted sort of way!

I am quite happy with her eyes, but they're not finished yet!

I need to get together some more supplies and I think she is going to become quite difficult on certain parts but I am looking forwards to the challenge!

I will put more pics up as I progress, which hopefully will be very soon! :)

Secret Swap!

I joined the Secret swap on Misi this month and my victim was Mo! lol
Click on the link to see some of Mo's lovely jewellery http://morniegjewellery.misi.co.uk/

I decorated a blank chipboard album with papers in different shades of brown, I also used

brads and stickers,diamante's, paper flowers and finished it off with ribbons.

I used a metallic dark brown ink pad to buff the edges for a sort of aged look, this worked really well, I used to finish off my ATC cards this way, it gives a really nice effect.

This is the first album I have done like this and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I have done two others a little while ago for family members, but not the same style as this, each page has a secret pocket so photo's or little notes etc.. can be tucked away.

I tied co-ordinating ribbons around the rings for a finishing touch.

I really like the pics on the back too, I think they finish the book nicely, I hope Mo likes it!

I also made a needle felted brooch in lovely aqua colors finished with glass pearls, but forgot to taked piccies in my rush to get everything packed up and posted on time!

AND NOW MY GIFT................wrapped in this lovely leafy tissue paper was.....

this stunning bag!

I have been given this gorgeous bag, made from mostly recycled fabric.

Lovely green velvet decorated with fabric leaves (I love leaves incase you are wondering!)

The lining is new fabric and it's gorgeous, really complements the bag.

I have already used my bag twice, it's so comfy on my shoulder and sits perfectly!

Thankyou!

I absolutely LOVE IT!!!

My secret swapper was Tracy of http://madaboutbags.misi.co.uk/

Click on the link to visit her shop, where you will find more lovely bags,bag supplies and craft supplies.

While you are on Misi take a look at all of the other lovely handmade items that are on sale, lots of pretties which would make great Christmas prezzies :)

Must rush off......I've got a forum party to attend! :)

Ghost Hunting and Paranormal activity

I recently went to the Station Hotel in Dudley with my daughter for a paranormal nights investigation.

We used dousers,noise box and ouija boards.
The dousers were funny things, we had to order them once comfortable in our hands to "show me my yes!" This is for a ghost hunter to know what area of a room a ghost is, mine kept swinging to the left, felt like a magnet pulling, then we had to order them to "show me my No!", they would swing in the opposite direction, some people couldn't get them to move at all, was all good fun.

The noise box didn't do anything, just sounded like an old radio trying to tune in.

The ouija boards were very interesting, we followed the rules and always said "Goodbye", I didn't feel scared at all.

After midnight we went into the cellar, it's very big and has a long corridor and lots of rooms leading off, at one stage my daughter got the fright of her life and dropped her phone on the floor, it was only a lady in our group walking back around the corner, it was so funny!

At about 1.30am we went into the big hall to experience table tilting.
This was very energetic, lots of running around in circles and up and down the hall, was very funny indeed.

We went back to the coach and finaly got home and to bed at 4.30 am.

The only wierd thing to us is that my phone's screen is broken and yet it was my daughters phone that was dropped, so I have a souviner of the evenings events anyway.

I enjoyed the whole experience, my daughter did to, and we both would do another one should the opportunity turn up.

In the photo's you can see "orbs", are they spirits or dust particals, I will leave that up to you!

Resin paper weight and jewellery

I posted my resin swap paperweight and jewellery off to Kate http://www.labourofloveonline.co.uk/ my swap partner.

I was pleased that the paperweight turned out ok as I had made it in case my main item didn't work, well it didn't so thankfully I had the paperweight to fall back on...phew! The only real problem with the paperweight is a small air bubble at the surface, I have covered it with a clear diamante to protect it, it doesn't look too bad either!

I thought I would do a seaside/beach theme as Kate had said that was one of her likes.

I did three layers starting with tiny beads, flat shells and pearls, the second layer had a larger shell and the third layer I coloured in a watery sea blue.

The jewellery was a lot easier, I cut a couple of circles of nice papers, painted over them with mod podge and when they were dry glued them into the base of the bottle top and topped with tiny accessories and then poured the resin into the bottle top.

I mounted a bail onto the back of the necklace, but drilled a hole into the keyring, I haven't done this before and was surprised at how easy it was.

I learnt a few things during this swap, so I have really enjoyed it, I just hope that Kate likes her things, especially as they are not quite the jewellery pieces that I had planned, sorry Kate! =)

Felidae Cat Swap

I have finished my cat swap makes, wooohooooooooooooooooo!
I decided to make a sock creature type cat thing! I spent all morning sewing, undoing sewing undoing, but have now finished.

The stuffing was quite difficult, lumpy bumpy and all that but I have managed to make it quite smooth. I used safety stuffing and safety eyes.

I don't want to show too much, but basicly it's just a feline type shapey thingy!, I hand sewed it because I'm not that good with my machine yet and this had really fiddely bits like ears and a tail!




I couldn't even get the safety eyes on straight, but it adds to the character. The sock was very soft and stretchy, so the feline type shapey thingy just got bigger and bigger, she wasn't meant to be so big, I was only making a little one, but I am pleased at her size and I think she is cute, hope my swapee likes her!

I won't show my other feline items that I am sending because I don't want my swapee to have her surprise ruined, so this is just a little taster.

I am really pleased that I have finished because I have never made anything like this before and was feeling a bit worried about how I would go about doing it, all I could find on the web was how to's on sock monkeys, so I just stuffed away at a sock and it really was quite easy in the end, the other sock was cut into ears and a very long tail that I ended up shortening.

I will show proper piccies later in April.

Bye the way...

I haven't copied anyone, just incase I get accused!

This is a brand new pair of socks from a well loved cheapy highstreet store, it's stuffed with safety filling and has plastic cats eyes (safety) and handcut, hand sewn ears, that are tatty-ish!

A cat is a cat, unmistakeable in shape and this one is my version, tatty whiskers n all!

In the mean time, ready for next weekend...

HAPPY EASTER everyone!