owl necklace

After yesterday's "slightly" bizarre post, I bring you back down to reality and prove that I have not lost my mind, nor got excessively drunk on Bailey's coffee.  Though there's still time for that.

My brother and his family came up to see us on the 28th.  I'd bought most of their presents from their wishlists, but wanted something extra for Anna, his girlfriend.  She loves owls so I started looking at owl jewellery, but quickly decided to order some components and make my own.

The owl is ceramic, he came in a pack of 5 and I intended to make earrings.  I asked my brother if Anna wears earrings.  He didn't know.  I soon found out she doesn't, so the other 4 beads remain in my stash.  I loved this little leafy connector, but it only came in antique gold.  That meant I had to order a load of antique gold findings to go with it!

I added in the lucite flowers as I know she likes blue and they seemed to fit so well, especially with the little pearls.

I came unstuck when adding these beaded sections to the connectors - I hadn't ordered any antique gold wire and this was Christmas eve.  Silver it is.  It's not that noticable to be honest, it shows up more in the photo.

When making jewellery, it takes me ages and lots of wasted chain to get the right length.  This time I only had to cut it 3 times!  I used this funky double chain, added the heart clasp and a little lucite flower to finish.

I'd better design some more owl jewellery with the other 4 beads... oh, and some ceramic bunnies might have snuck into my order...

Pond Friends

So, what do you get if you take one of these... (no, it's not a willy!)

Quick close up of the base...

and add one of these?

Well this, obviously:

And what would happen if you added this?  (it's a ladybird, I know it's hard to tell, and yes, it does look a bit ill)

One of these, clearly:

And if you added this strange creature?

You get something like the above, but with a dragonfly on top.  Yes, that's a dragonfly.  And the "willy" is a frog.  OBVIOUSLY!

Ah well, I'm pretty sure my nephew will enjoy chewing it, throwing it and bashing things with it.  Want to make your own or just see what it's supposed to look like?  Find the free pattern here.

I feel my work here is done.

Disco balls

Just before Christmas I went to yet another jewellery workshop with my wonderful mum at The Bead Shop Nottingham.  This time it was Shamballa style bracelets.

The basic technique is macrame using the square knot.  It's really simple once you get started and I whipped this up pretty fast.  I chose a selection of bead colours, including my favourite blue.

We used the square knot to make the simple closure too, you just pull on each end to tighten the bracelet.  We were supposed to knot the ends and glue them shut, but I brought mine home so I could add on a small bead before knotting.  Needless to say it hasn't happened yet!

These babies are expensive to make at £1.50 per bead, but I bought some different beads to use to make more, keeping the costs much more realistic and making them a bit more unique.  I will show you as and when I get them done.

100 Day Hustle results

The 100 Day Hustle - Link Up!

<a href="http://kelseysews.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Kelsey Sews" src="http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii620/kelseysews/036b2b16.jpg"/></a>

Remember I joined in with the 100 Day Hustle?  I did a really crap job of it!  Here's what I got done... or rather didn't get done...

1. Chair cushions for mum, not even started. nope, still not started!

2. Finish the 2 tea wallets I started before Mother's Day! Erm... oops!

3. Make a second quilt for Jacob - that'll be another one I haven't done

4. A new handbag for me. Much as I love the one I have, I'd like one with a top zip - Yep, no I haven't done this I really don't have time to get this done

4. Finish the crochet toy I'm making for Jacob - nearly there...

5. The bathroom curtain! oh, did I say I'd do that?

6. Items for the craft fair

• 8 Purses - done

• 20 pieces of Jewellery not sure if I had 20 but I had plenty

• 20 Flowers - done

• 8 Key fobs - done

• 10 crochet snowflakes done - 8 I think

• 10 felt Christmas decorations - done, another 8

• 30 candles - done - well, I did 25

• 10 pouches - nope, only 6

• 10 dummy tags and pouches - done - 7 tags and 4 pouches (which I included above!)

• 10 bibs - no
• 8 bear hats - I did 11 in total

• 10 tissue pouches - no
• 3 advent calendars -  done

• 8 sets of magnets- no
• 10 lavendar sachets- I made 6 and sold 10!

Hmmm, not the best of attempts!

Christmas presents

Hello ladies, Christmas seems to be retreating quickly into the past so I thought I'd better show you what Santa brought me, the crafty stuff anyway.

This gorgeous bundle wasn't a present, but rather a giveaway win than I collected from my mum's on Christmas day.

I won it from the lovely Monica of Mountain of the Dragon - I don't usually do advertising, but I'm hosting her button as she was wonderful to deal with, so kind and lovely.  Go and buy stuff from her.  Now!

The in-laws bought me some FQs of Summersville...

And my lovely parents bought me this seam tool.  I haven't had a chance to try it yet, wonder if ANYTHING could improve my seams?

I also got a pack of Gutterman threads,

A clay extruder,

and a set of jewellery hammers.

Not bizarre gifts at all!  Oh, there was also a book or two or nine to add to my collection, a voucher for a dressmaking course from my parents, a voucher for a silversmithing course from Mr CA and 2 mosaic kits!

I also had not one, but two parcels from my lovely and very generous friend Sandra.

I recognise this fabric and I want to tell you what it's called but I can't remember!  It's gorgeous though, and my favourite colours!

Parcel 2 contained this FAB zipper pouch, love the shape, love the fabric and check out that quilting!

Lined with what might or might not be a DS print. 

She also tucked in these little labels (no idea whose present I could put them on!) and the typewriter sticker came with the fabric.

Thanks Sandra, you're a star, but you know that!

So, looks like I'd better get busy next year...

one last Christmassy post

Happy Boxing Day ladies!  I celebrated with a caramel choux bun for breakfast... paragon of virtue and good health me. 

Mr CA is very hard to buy for, I'd bought his stuff from his Wish List, but wanted some little treats too so I needed a stocking to put them in.  All this was decided on Christmas Eve - last minute Wendy strikes again.

I drafted a quick pattern on some sheets of A4 stuck together...

And pieced together some squares from a Christmas charm pack.  Yes, that's right, I did piece some of them together upside down...

I cut the backing from red fabric, added a green strip for the cuff, fused some fusible fleece to it... and realised it was the wrong way round.  Rather than cut another backing, and use up more fleece, I cut those 6 squares off the front and sewed them, upside down, to the other side.

Ta dah.  Erm, yes... it's an odd shape and the cuff wasn't big enough to fold over so it's just a weird bit at the top. 

The piecing isn't too bad if I do say so myself, though here you can see some of those upside down squares.

The backing is a little wrinked...

And it looks even stranger when it's full of presents!  Oh those upside down Christmas trees are screaming at me...  Ah well, Mr CA didn't care, he just liked the sweeties inside.

I spent a happy few hours making it.  This is the view from my craft room window - oh Norbert, I do love you.

christmas cards

No prizes for guessing what this post's about!  It's Christmas Eve and I've finally finished the Christmas cards for my family... so I suppose they'll get them on Christmas Day...

Remember my reindeer?  I stitched another one.  I had to use my own threads as there wasn't enough in the kit, despite the fact you were supposed to be able to get three reindeer from it!

Here they are doing a Christmas jig together.

 

This little fella was stitched from another cover kit from Crossstitcher.  I messed up on the grey - well they did!  Where I've used grey, that should be light grey, but there wasn't any provided which is why I didn't notice until I was supposed to do highlights in dark grey...

 

I attached him to a piece of paper with brads and stuck it to a card blank. This is for Grandma CA.  She's Mr CA's grandma, I lost all my grandparents and Mr CA only has the one, I have adopted her as my own grandma.

One jiggy reindeer is for my parents - constructed the same was as the robin card.

The other is for my parents-in-law.

I used some of the beaded snowflakes I'd made (alas, the orders stopped coming in!) for cards for my brother and his family, and my sister-in-law and family.  The snowflake is suspended from the eyelet (stuck on the back with an easy-peel sticker) so they can put them on their trees afterwards.

 

The bottle caps were ready-made so I just glued them on.

This is definitely my last post before Christmas, so I wish you all a good one!