thoughts on craftiness

I have been, as usual, busily crafting away. I find that i am not really good at crafting for myself, craftswapping, via the always wonderful www.craftster.org, is what keeps me focused. I make a lot of stuff, I spend a lot on postage, but its always fun!

So what is it that makes it harder to craft for me, than for other people. sometimes I think that its the imposition of rules and themes that a craft swap does, that makes it easier...mostly I think its having a deadline and someone that I am keen not to disappoint.

so how do I make it a priority not to disappoint me??

accordian fold book in altoid sized tin

EDIT: the uber-sexy BF is now the ex-sexy, however I like this piece of work so i am leaving it up...

I felt that the uber-sexy BF was overdue for more reasons that I am crazy about him, and I love altered books/collage etc. So I covered this tin and made a little accordian fold book to fit inside, the book was made from a strip of cardboard,embellised with images, rubber stamps, watercolours, ribbon and glitter...(Oh how I love glitter its like a disease with me!)

The little envelope stuck to the front has a little note in it for him.

i love working on a small canvas like this as it allows tiny pieces of work to be completed quickly and its a lot less intimidating than a large scale work. Each side of each 'page' of the book was decorated and the first 'page' is a half page and the ribbon to hold the book closed is glued onto the first page as part of the decoration.

piece of art for a change

This is a little piece that caused me no end of frustration. I patchworked the papers for the background, but didnt stretch the water colour paper first, so it buckled and bent in funny ways. I tried everything to straighten it but no joy, so i threw my hands in the air and let it go. The jigsaw pieces were punched out and mounted so they are proud of the base to cast a shadow. Its called Life and is inspired by other peoples work (the colour reproduction in the first image is probably the best)

Crafting to beat the january blues

According to some research published in American Mind magazine, complex manual tasks can alleviate depression and with all the credit crunch doom and gloom around we need as much depression alleviating stuff as possible. here is a summary of the article
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=depressingly-easy

I am ridiculously busy at work at the moment and so dont have the head space for anything complex, so mostly I have been playing with gluegun, glitter and braid (definitely a thing to cheer you up!)

So christmas decorations for 2009!

I know its ridiculously early to make christmas decorations, but I defy anyone not to be cheered up by glitter, beads, braid and random crafting. OK apart from the one where I used glittery lipgloss instead of glitter glue, but I reckon it will dry before next cristmas...right??

Baggy PJ's from fabulous skully fabric.

christmas stocking swap

These are some of the items I sent to my stocking swap partner, from the always wonderful http://www.craftster.com/

The idea of the swap was to make a stocking and to fill it with a mixture of crafted and bought items, As usual I over crafted, I made the stocking big and crammed it full. I am not sure I achieved what I wanted wit the stocking,The christmas tree is made of a fabric that is printed with pine trees, I also added appliqued decorations and parcels, and an inital on the back. Its about 20 inches long

There was a sock monkey and a felt tree decoration inside

Plus a vintage feel,glamorous apron, frilly and satiny, You can see the fabric in the background, some patchwork tablemats, a painted pixie t-shirt and a few other bits and pieces.

My partner said she is obssessed with the colour orange, so I tried to incorporate that as much as possible, without making it look like something that a buddhist monk would get!

travel bag

I needed a bag for overnight trips, I had a small remnant of this fabric, I adore fabric generally and pounce like a demon on anything that is unusual, I also enjoy the technical challenge of making the most out of a small piece.



This bag is fully lined, piped seams, zipper on top and a sturdy webbing handle, from webbing from the always fantastic Frankles trimmings in the east end of London.





I made the beaded tassle to add interest.

art shrine, siren song

This shrine a lot lighter, different shape as the space is somewhat less defined than the previous one, and quite different, it is a papier mache fish. I tried to creat a microcosm inside, it contains a shipwreck on the rocks, lured there by siren song, and of course treasure waiting to be discovered. I find that I cannot escape the themes of seduction and womenhood in anything that I do. (I am still waiting for the perfect tiny image or figure of a mermaid for this one.)

The bottom level is the bottom of the sea, with shells and treasure,

the next level up is the surface of the sea, shipwrecked boat and rocks and the ships bell tolling its doom.

the topmost section is bright and has sun bleached coral, (collected from beaches near the great barrier reef) representing air.

this is the whole thing in situ on a blue wall, I wanted it to blend more than standout of the wall.