skating with the stars

That is a tv programme right?
I tend not to watch those kindof celebrity shows....because the people who i consider to be celebrities never show their faces...if Kid Rock was to take up ice-dancing...I'D WATCH THAT SHOW, and i know two other girls who'd be joining me on the sofa!

Anyway, back to the craft....looking for little acknowledgement pressies for work colleagues this year i decided to make a couple of the little felt ice-skates from the christmas collection that i designed. See the full sheet of patterns.
The other decorations from the sheet were made up and included in this post. They make great gift tags too, that can be hung on the tree once the present has been opened. I even made a little baby's 1st Christmas one this year!

cosy-cam

So is it just me or does anyone else have an uneasy feeling of being watched, when you are blogging or surfing craft blogs in your skimpy pjs late at night while munching on massive bags of nachos and chilli dip....and the webcam is just staring you full in the face....it's creepy right???

A connection to the voyeuristic world of the internet and a working camera pointed at you during your "personal time"... it really isn't particularly comforting to say..."the webcam programme isn't on, so just relax!". But iiiis it off?? Are you suuuure??

Enough of this! And enough of the scrap of ripped CD case that i drape over it when im feeling its little lens boring into me! Enter camera cosy!! This is how it works....it creeps up beside a webcam that it sees just hanging about innocently on the top of your screen, you know, inching along...bit by bit...

...and then POUNCES!! The creepy little peeping-cam is enveloped inside a cosy...won't that make interesting viewing for the hypothetical people spying on me during "personal-pj-time"
Haha! O the satisfaction there is in foiling fictional conspiracy plots! I'm on to you webcams-of-the-world!!

this little light of mine..

One other thing that i wanted to make for a birthday tea party i was having, was teacup candles. I hadn't made candles in a reeeeally long time so was sure that i had forgotten all the important stuff and would probably make a mess....turns out, wow, they are SUPER-easy!!!

Wax pellets are pretty expensive here, and i only managed to find a little bag of left-over pellets long-forgotten at the back of a cupboard (thanks mamma!) So i actually melted down chunks of wax from candles that were past it, or just plain ugly. You need to double boil wax (ie put in a metal bowl inside a pot with some water) I also has some stearin but couldn't remember how much to use so i just fired a teaspoon in and hoped for the best. Then just stir until it goes clear.See all the newspapers...i was convinced that i was going to make a mess....but i didn't even drip once...too easy!! I anchored the bottom of the wicks with some metal foil and bluetack and tied the top of each wick to a pen across the top of the cup to keep it straight.

Pour the wax in and leave to harden...you might want to keep a bit of wax to fill in the dip that will appear as the wax shrinks...i didn't bother...you won't notice when you've lit it!!
Snip the wick and light!
soooo kitch, i just had a little shudder of cuteness!!

Banana Buns!

So another thing that poog loves is banana...i remember she used to buy banana sweets, banana milk (ewww!), chocolate covered jelly bananas (double ewww!)

So i had to incorporate some banana snacks in there somewhere...was totally out of ideas having found no palatable banana recipes until i came across one on apparently jessie's cute cupcake and craft blog for banana caramel cupcakes. Thanks for the inspiration! Here's the result...

SuperD is loving them...i made several hundred (or thereabouts...) and he has decided that it is his breakfast food of choice from now on!!

On a related point...here's a pic of my beautiful new cake stand getting some traybake action at the party!! Thanks D!!

party-dressed poog!

So it was poog's birthday and we had a tea party at houseofspoon and i needed themed place-names. Poog is a lover of Disney princesses and orange so what i was going for was an orange Disney princess...logical right??

So i took a photo of poog wearing an orange ball-dress...er...i mean, stuck her head on a picture of an orange balldress and copied and pasted the edges of the dress over and over to make a big semicircle shape. Then i cut out round her head and torso and bent the edges of the dress round to join at the back!! Doesn't she look glamourous?!! I then stuck a little name on the front of each skirt so everyone knew where they were sitting!
She also has enviable stomach muscles to be able to hold that poker-straight, leaning-back position...i can feel the muscle-shudder from here!!! lol

slipper fiend!

It seems that i can't get enough of the slipper-making!!

Everyone is coming to houseofspoon for christmas dinner again this year so i can wear comfy slippers while rushing about pouring drinks, stirring bubbling pots of polenta and checking on the marinaded beef in the oven (we're having a traditional italian christmas dinner this year!) and and so obviously i needed a christmassy pair!! Pattern is as before, see the original post with link to the pattern. And again i used upholstery suede for the sole.
Although....now seeing the pictures i think they look a little boring...perhaps they need a little holly branch on the top or something?...hmmm

stocking-skates!

So i saw in a material advert that someone had made an ice-skate for a little girl's room and i thought how cute would that be done in christmas-style hanging over my fireplace?!

I made these life-size, so that if my feet get cold on some december evening spent munching and chatting by the fire, i can whip these down and put them on!! YAY!

Like the pom-pom buttons??!
I made the blades out of a double layer of white felt and double layer of interfacing on the inside.
I had to do a Miss Santa version....could've done with using a less shaggy fur...or maybe i'll just give these a haircut!!

holiday hangings

I thought i'd post a couple of pics of the quilted wall hangings that i was selling at the christmas craft fair. I was doing the workshops so couldn't (wo)man a stall, and so i just brought a couple of things and sold them from someone else's stall. This one is easier to read in person!!!
I used glittery machine-embroidery thread in the free-motion quilted bit in the middle. It was a bit of headache to work with, my machine kept stripping the thread until it snapped, but it looks really good in the final product...very festive!
I should've given a close-up of this one because the holly fabric is gorgeous!!! It was £1,000,000.00 per metre (or close to that anyway!) so i naturally i only bought half a metre...i'm using it sparingly!!
So my free-motion quilting is getting a little better, but you can still see that it goes off a bit (evidenced by the spikey shape of the line when i realise that i've sewn myself into a dead-end! oops!)

Must try harder!!!

Down at Drumboughil

Well i never was very good at geography...i think perhaps it should be up at Drumboughil...o well, not to worry! Poog and I were asked to take workshops at the latest craft fair and coffee morning. It was fun of festive fun!

We were making hand-sewn felt decorations and Poog was making jewelery...but there was a degree of overlap...as seen by this creative idea for a christmas stocking earring!! Mini Santa was hanging out on the corner of one of the tables with my felt teddy as an example of what easy things can be made with felt!
The quilting stall was busy all day and I sold 4 pieces - Yay!
My table was making a variety of felt hanging decorations, using these festive patterns, that I designed. Help yourself... they're addictive!

Christmas Chums!

So it's getting into Christmas craft territory especially since i was asked to do a Christmas Craft fair at the weekend...really put me in the mood!!

So when i saw this little cutie...it was excitment at first sight!!! He is sooo sweet and was super-easy to do. It's a free pattern from Lion Brand Yarn, called Amigurumi Reindeer. It had been a while since i'd been doing any crocheting and i loved it so much i decided to make him a little friend...

Hello Santa!! I didn't fancy any of the Santa patterns that i found online so I just made this one up. I'll maybe get round to writing down the pattern and if so, i'll post it here. I could have done with a more peachy face-colour, but you're working with what you've got...right??
My favourite bit is the little sack...i made it all slouchy expanding in the stitches on one side and fitted it neatly on the shoulder, when i realised that his little chubby arm wasn't going to reach it!! lol...o well!!
I probably need to explain the pic below as they both appear to be floating in the cloudy sky. Believe it or not it is an action shot of the moment that Santa jumped off Rudolph's back and is about to parachute to earth to check on the naughty and the nice before finalising and signing off "The List".
So which section do you come under???!!!