Sunday 23 January 2011

Fun with Paper

Recycled, scrap, magazines, newspapers ... Paper is so much fun.  I made these pretty little pendants from pages out of old magazines, added a bead, glued into a discarded lid top and popped on a little bail.  They turned out quite nice. I also had a real go at making my own paper beads (there is a wealth of information on how to on the internet ...apparently paper bead making goes back to Victorian times !).  I remember making these with my nana as a wee girl, kept my sister and I out of mischief for quite some time !

I used a combination of modpodge, glossy accents, and diamond glaze to seal variouis batches, and think they all turned out equally nice, with a good finish and shine on them.  I did read on my cyber travels, that mod podge can get sticky if it gets warm from your skin ... I will need to test one out.



There's lots of variations that can be done with these, decorative scissors for a nice 'edge',  glitters, ribbon wraps round the edges, and I'm sure I will come back to doing more of these soon.
I did these as an easy project for a local group, and I think everyone enjoyed making them and having a pendant to take home.







TraceyT

Thursday 13 January 2011

Beautiful Boxes

These boxes were so pretty, that I really did have to buy them.  £8.00 for the three ... such a bargain. The biggest one is about 12inches by 9.5inches so can store craft goodies in a pretty way.
 


Had a lovely morning crafting with some friends and we made these flower corsages (I am donating mine to my niece for Burns Day).   One of ds's nursery teacher very kindly gave us a box with tartan swatches, bits and bobs and some templates.  I have made flower corsages before with felts, ribbons, hand-knitted petals, but this one was put together using a technique I've not used before so it was lovely to learn something new today.  I can see me having another bash at these as I have lots of pretty fabrics lying about, and would maybe like to try them much smaller, maybe as a pendant.

Sunday 9 January 2011

Having some fun in the kitchen ...

I have decided to try at least once a month to bake (or make) something - particularly something the children can help with.  We made biscuit chocolate truffles at New Year which ds loved shaking in the bags to coat with the chocolate strands.

And this week I made Tablet ... not one for the kids though - boiling sugar and children do not go together.  Relatively easy(ish) to make, but hard work on the arms for all the stirring and mixing - but it seemed to work.  A little bit of tablet does go a long, long way - it is so sweet and very moreish.  There are many recipes online and all much of the same ...but I followed this one as it had pictures ... :0)





Next month I am going to try and bake these delicious Banana Muffins from the detailed recipe on Debbie's blog (Country Heart & Home) ... oooh and the decorated sugar cookies ... too delicious !


Tracey x

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year.  We did, the children had a ball and were of course thoroughly spoiled.

A couple of quick pics of them having fun ...



And onto some serious crafting, in whatever form that will take me in 2011, though I can guarantee it will involve copious amounts of wire !!

Tracey