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 18 to 26!

Eek! Where has the last week gone!?!

This isn't going to sound like a very impressive list for the past 8 days. I have to admit to not being quite as creative as I would have liked this week. I've been a bit all over the place, to be honest, and am only just managing to get myself back on track. 

I've been pretty busy, don't get me wrong. Unfortunately, I don't think I can count the hours spent putting together an order from a craft wholesaler (catalogues are dangerous things...). Nor can I count the time spent on paperwork/budget reorganising/filing. 

I took a visit to Woodstock, on Thursday last week, with my sister. Woodstock is an historic town in Oxfordshire, probably most famous for Blenheim Palace. We didn't go into the palace itself, just had lunch and a wander around the town (between showers). There was a huge amount of very attractive iron-work on display on houses and other buildings.

 

 

I love the symmetry and grace that has been given to this robust material. On Friday, I had a go at drawing some of these swirling patterns. I am trying to draw with confidence: drawing the lines in one movement rather than in sketchy, short lines. I don't find this easy. Although it is much easier when drawing geometric patterns. 

I'd like to have a go at stitching some of these patterns soon.

Later on Friday, an order came in for 2 personalised elephants so that dictated the direction of my creativity for the weekend! I finished them on Sunday night, ready to photographed and shipped on Monday morning. They are to be well done gifts for finishing exams. 

There is one more photo, which shows the embroidered names, but I'll leave that one off until I know they have been received - just in case it spoils the surprise!

I think that's about it for this week - unless I suddenly remember something I have forgotten to show you. Only another four days to go so I think it's time for a final push towards the finish line!

30 Days of Creativity - Day 5

I couldn't get this on the computer yesterday, so will do two quick posts today to catch up!

Yesterday, as I was travelling and visiting, I didn't get a huge amount of time. I did manage some drawings though...

...some very simple drawings, playing with a new pack of sketching pencils.

See what everyone else has been up to here.