Creativity Challenge - Progress report 1

So far, so good.

We've all got off to a flying start and managed at least 30mins on the 1st and 2nd October. 

I have been making bracelets from my immense stock of Liberty bias tape. I think this one's my favourite this time.

It would make a good choker as well. All the others are pretty too (I don't think I've come across a Liberty print I don't like yet). So far, some have charms, others I am still deciding what looks best.

 

I have also been playing with my new bread machine - bought as a "moving to a new house" present to myself (I've had one before but we've been without since the last one broke about a year ago)! I used the 'dough' setting to do the time-consuming bit and then shaped the dough into rolls ready to be baked in the oven. 

These are a blend of 1/3 white and 2/3 wholemeal flours with a little bit of ground seed mix for added interest. Heather and I were waiting for them to bake so that we could eat them with our homemade tomato soup. So I forgot to take a photo before we ate the two middle ones!

They were very yummy though!

Heather has been busily varnishing, painting, cutting and sticking. She's nearly done and would prefer to show the finished article rather than stages! She expects to be finished today though....

Mum has been busy too. She did some Free Motion Quilting on the 1st and blogged about her efforts yesterday.

It's such fun to see everyone's progress!

Butterflies

I seem to be on a bit of a roll this week! I've been a little unwell this last fortnight (which has reduced any desire to go out into the heat!) so I have been restricted to indoor activities.

A little more experimentation later, I have created this pretty butterfly from Liberty fabrics and very thin flower-arranging-wire (if it has a posh name, I can't remember it!). 

 

This is not as small as the miniature doll I made earlier this week. In fact it is approximately the size and shape of the Purple Emperor butterfly at rest (7cm or 2 3/4in across the wings).

 

The wings are made in the same way as the flowers in this post from last year. The whole process was VERY fiddly but I'm quite pleased with the result.

I hope you like it! 

Have a great weekend!

Flowers

It's strange to think that, with autumn just around the corner, we are enjoying some of the best weather we have seen for months. 

The bees and butterflies are making the most of every sunny minute to gather nectar from the last of the late summer flowers. They must have really suffered this year with the constant rain, the high winds and the low temperatures. 

It's been a memorable summer nonetheless. I have enjoyed watching the Olympics and Paralympics far more than I expected and can only be proud that the British games were so successful, safe and enjoyable. The energy and dedication of the athletes was somehow infectious, and the enthusiasm of the immense crowds of supporters would lift anyone's spirits. You'd have to be pretty hard-hearted to not be touched by the spirit of the games. And now they're over, I have to admit to feeling a little flat.

This week, however, I've have had a little boost in the form of my new niece who was born on Tuesday. I am very much looking forward to meeting her and have many plans stored up for lovely things to make for her as she grows! I can't really show you what I have been making while watching the sports - that would spoil the surprise! 

So instead, I will show you some flowers I made after my visit to Waterperry Gardens. 

My route home from the gardens happens to take me past a Hobbycraft. It is VERY hard not to pop in and I invariably end up buying something! This time I had something in mind though for a project I've wanted to try for a while. 

So I bought some floral wire so that I could have a go at making some of these wire and fabric flowers. 

My first attempt, following Arlette's instructions, was (I have to admit) a complete disaster. They were far too fiddly (yes I know, this coming from someone who crochets miniature blankets for her teeny teddies!) so I decided I'd make the flower head a complete unit instead of making the petals separately.

All the petals are made from Liberty scraps.

Here is my first attempt: 

 

A little wonky as I hadn't really thought out how I would wrap the wire to hold each petal in place. Plus I'm not used to working with wire.

My second attempt was a tiny flower:

It's a bit hard to judge scale here but the shape is better I think.

And here's my third attempt:

This one came out very well and I really like the colours. I think I shall be making more - once I can think of something to do with them!

 I have also been meaning to have a go at Kanzashi flower making (see tutorial here) so I made my first attempt recently.

I had to add a 6th petal as I couldn't get 5 to work but again, I'm quite happy with it as a first attempt.

Flowers seem to be a bit of a "thing" for me recently, perhaps it's the lack of exposure to real ones this year. Or perhaps I'm just trying to cling onto the idea of summer for as long as possible!

Do you have a favourite flower pattern/embroidery/tutorial? Perhaps you'd like to share a link in the comments below.

30 Days of Creativity - Days 27 to 30

July is here and my month of creativity is over! Not that I will stop being creative, of course!

We have been tidying this week and, after all the paperwork sorting, have "created" a bin bag full of shredded paper and several carrier bags full of junk mail waiting for the next recycling collection. 

I was going to ask if anyone had any bright ideas for using up this pile of 'rubbish' but decided that I don't need another hobby just yet! 

Maybe we should just get a hamster...

Anyway, here's a round up for the last few days.

Day 27 - I made a mixed pair of Liberty fabric covered hairclips for a returning customer with the fabrics she chose...

...they seem to have gone down well.

Day 28 - On Thursday, I had another dip into the box of felt scraps and made some felt hairclips in a different style.

Day 29 - On Friday, I got a delivery of new bits and pieces including some mobile tops.

So I decided to make a few sketches of ideas for using them. 

Will have to get on with making a few of them now!

Day 30 - I decided it was time to do something with an ice-cream-tub-ful of candle leftovers that have been driving my other half nuts for months! I just can't bear to throw away the remains of candles, especially when it seems that more than half of the wax is left once the wick has burned through the middle.

So this week I finally bought some wicks ready to make new candles. 

I spent a happy few hours melting some of the candle pieces and pouring the wax into some empty candle holders. The resulting candles are not very beautiful (the inevitable result of mixing wax of different colours!) but I am quite happy with them.

Next time I will try and keep the colours seperate. I have a large bag of yellow wax and lots of blue still to use, so the resulting candles should be a little more attractive.

This has turned into quite a long post! I shall leave what I have learned from my week of creativity for another post.

30 Days of Creativity - days 9 & 10

A combined post today for the weekend's creativity. I've spent so long on the computer over the past week (writing blogposts and promoting CraftFest) that it seemed only fair to let my other half have a turn! So I had a good day crafting while watching the tennis from the French Open.

I have been making things ready to sell this weekend - a teddy bear for Tasmia Trinkets and Charms (but more on that when it's finished!), elephants and bracelets.

Saturday was bracelets day. Working with gorgeous Liberty bias tape; adding chains and charms. Part of the challenge is selecting the fabric to work with - they are all so pretty!

Here are the bracelets that I made...

... all of these will be available for sale, somewhere, at some point soon. Eeek! That was a bit vague wasn't it! :o)

On Sunday, I made some elephants...

... ready to become sets of three when I've made the other sizes.

I've also been finding "creative" promotion opportunities for my business. I have broken my target of 100 Facebook 'likes' and think I may finally be getting to grips with Twitter (up to 63 followers this morning).

So I think that may mean it's time for a giveaway - I'll have to see what I can find for an appropriate thank you!

30 Days of Creativity - Day 7

Just a quick post today. I am so busy with getting ready for CraftFest and with a custom order that has just come in. It leaves very little time for even small creative projects!

A little while ago, I ordered some of the plastic make-your-own buttons thinking that they would be nice covered with Liberty Fabric or a simple embroidery. As is often the way with me, they have sat forlornly in a box ever since. Yesterday, in search of a quick, simple project I thought I'd do a few practice buttons and see if it was worth having a proper go at. 

 

Here are the finished articles.

Couched embroidery cotton

Lazy-daisy stitch embroidery

Liberty fabric covered

Check out everyone else's work here.

More adventures in felt

The success of the felt bear has inspired another project. This time I have made a little felt doll.

I have no idea where the idea for this doll came from - I just decided I wanted to make one! She has a felt body stuffed with polyester stuffing. She is 14cm (4.5in) tall.

  Her hair is 1-ply acrylic boucle (bought from a miniatures site a very long time ago).

Her dress is Tana Lawn Liberty fabric with a pink satin ribbon.

Not bad for a prototype! With a few tweaks I hope to get it right....

Ah well, time to stop experimenting and start making some things to sell! The inspiration is lovely but sometimes I wish it wouldn't all turn up at once!