once you pop...

OOO CAKE POPS!!!! FUN-TASTIC!!!

For Poog's birthday we went the route of the "pop"...and super-fun it was too!!!

Poog loves orange (being ginger) and i was determined to make up some orange pops...however as we don't live in America where one can purchase "candy-melt" in all colours, i had to get creative with food colouring and white chocolate.

Seemed like a good idea until i got to the third drip of food colouring and the melted chocolate started to separate....then it hit me....

WHAT AM I DOING???? You can't add water-based liquid to melted chocolate!!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!

Well, much rapid strirring later, the chocolate sortof recovered....albeit becoming super-thick and sticky...hence the uneven texture of the orange cake balls!!!!

O well.....i'll remember that one for next time! And there will be a next time because you know what they say..."Once you pop......."

Salvaged timber put to good use!

I wanted to frame my favourite painting, gift of the artist herself but hate hate HATED the way that smooth shiny bevelled framed looked against the canvas.
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So because of this, the masterpiece lil'pill (my favourite artist) had made was hanging sadly frameless (but still fabulous) in my front lounge.
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Enter SuperD with some (very bad quality, thin and green(!!)) salvaged timber which he sawed hammered and glued into a frame for me to paint with deep dark wood paint.


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and guess what......I love it even more!!! (sorry the pic is squinty....i'm a child of my mother!)

Fuzzy Love

while we're on the subject....thought i'd post a mini craft which took all of 1 hour to make while i was watching tv at my mum's house.

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I had forgotten an important piece of craft that i was actually working on and wanted something quick and easy to occupy me while we watched columbo (could have been poirot...i dont remember, ooo i love those tv mysteries!!!!)

The Love Shack

It's great with SuperD being at home a lot these days, it means that he is getting all creative!!!

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This is a sign for our shed (yes,.... what's wrong with that??) that is named after "La Baracca" meaning "The Shack" which is one of our favourite bars in Milano.


Adding the little house and hearts cut-out design (all his own idea....i think my influence might be getting to him) made it extra fun!!

Fabulous Flooring Frame

So i needed a flat canvas framed.....one that lil'pill had so beautifully painted for me and i scribbled over with my favourite bible verses from isaiah 63.

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As ever, i didn't have any decent wood, so instead we (i say "we" but really i just let SuperD work away and gave him the thumbs up to screw it together at the end) used off-cuts of click flooring.

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This was actual a genius idea of SuperD's because the flat canvas fitted neatly into the groove in the click flooring, so that not much of the print had to be covered by the frame! Then he went ahead and added those hot red hearts which just look so fabulous, it's very likely that i was the one who suggested making them! lol

Nuptials au Naturale

We chose natural chic and harvested sand and shells from our local beach (and also ordered some bigger more exotic ones online!) and built little natural table centre-pieces

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Aqua glass beads were used to give the feeling of water running under the bridge of pebbles. These pebbles were soooo beautiful in colours of burgundy, taupe and silvery gray. I lifted tonnes of them from a beach in sligo...or at least SuperD did under instruction from me. I'm sure thats probably illegal, but they look soooo beautiful in my garden!!

Hot-cork heat-mat

Ok so i got the idea for this from poog's father-in-law who (like SuperD and myself) drinks a lot of wine and therefore needs to think of creative ways to dispose of the corks.

He had his made using decent quality wood and by someone who knew what they were doing .......but, true to form, i was too impatient to be bothered trying to get good wood, and didn't mind a bit "having a go" when i didn't know what i was doing.

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So this is my attempt at a wine cork heat mat.

The handle and the little heart cut-out are a bit off centre and not very symmetrical but i was using a £0.99 junior hacksaw and some off-cuts from my garden fence, so in view of that, i'm pretty happy with the way it turned out!!!!

Flowers on the threshold

All my neighbours have totally ugly internal decorating, from what i can see from wandering by their windows and noseying inside trying not look suspiciously like i'm "casing the joint"....(very little idea what that actually means)......BUT, they all have really cool doorstep stuff!!


Hanging baskets, little shaped bushes and rose trellis growing out of mini irish cottage pots.....ok that last one should really not be classed as cool doorstep stuff, but hey....it's definitely waaay more interesting than my boring front door........


......Soo i planted up a pot!!!







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Rasberry ripple alpine heather, pink and white cyclamen, mini white tipped ivy plants and white pansies. I love it, it's so totally cute!!!

Life of Jesus...with me daily!

Ok so I saw something similar to this in a Christian bookshop, liked the idea of it, but thought I could do a better job myself.

This is the finished result, and I love it!

Each bead represents stages in the life of Jesus. I love the fact that it actually means something to me, and it has already been a real encouragement!

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Click on the pic above to enlarge and read the meanings

Actually thought i was ordering single charms from eBay, but when they arrived there were 10 of each.....so i had no excuse not to make a couple more for the gorgeous poog and gill!

Changed some of the colours a little bit just to personalise them!

my first blog...

hmmmm...i think i'll use this blog to catalog my crafting adventures...

...even if it wasn't meant to be a blog all about the craft and fashion.....it would totally develop into it anyway, its definitely what i love love LOVE!! <3

i've been totally *inspired* by reading some of the fabulous blogs of other girls about their need for expressive fashion, new experiences and the perpetual creation of heart-felt art, and just generally spending their lives in explosive expression, and i've have felt the urge to get stuck in too. So, once i regain all the computer-internet-programming skills that i once had in what i refer to as the "myspace period" of my life....this space should get a whole lot more fun!

In the meantime, I'll do "fun" in the form of photos that i love...see below!