Just a couple of photos of some little things I made for a swap. Am using photos taken by my partner as I forgot to take any! I have lightened the necklace photo to show the colours a bit better. I would have loved to orientate the big heart as a pendant but I got the impression pendants were not really her thing so I did it this way instead 


I know the key ring is only small and looks easy but it took me ages, it was the first time I have tried wirework and those spirals I found quite tricky (spirals as antennae and also wing tips)! I think this was try 3 but I am actually really pleased with it!

Christmas Jewelry

I am really getting into jewelry making lately. I have made quite a bit which I have not photographed yet - but for the moment this was my mums main Christmas Present (I bought / made her a selection of little bits) some jewelry for her to wear at Christmasses:

I will be putting some more jewelry on in the next few days.

Soaps and Candles

So - for a while now I have been wanting to get into soap / candle making. In early January I made a trip to HobbyCraft and they had a soap making kit and a candle making kit on sale - so I bought each of them. I then proceeded to stock up on some other items such as essential oils  - and scour our cupboards for things to include - this is what I ended up with:

Christmas soaps - soap base with Cinnamon and Orange essential oils and crushed / a couple of whole cloves

Christmas candles - same recipe as above but without whole cloves and only a spinkle of ground.

Lavender soap - soap base with dried lavender - if I were to do this again I would reduce the amount of lavender it contains - my thought for putting so much in was two fold - first it would be an exfoliater and secondly if you were having a bath how lovely to have lavender in your bath, but I think I went a bit OTT!





I bought some little trays from The Range - and made Christmas presents for aunts and mother.

This is what the final product looked like before it was covered in clingfilm and wrapped

 

I enjoyed doing this so much when I got home from Christmas I ordered some 'proper' supplies as oppose to a kit so there will be more soaps and candles to see soon! 

Cushions

For Christmas I made cushions for my mum, my mother in law, my grandma, my grandma in law and one of my aunts. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of any other than my mums and grandma's:

For my mum

For my aunt

Christmas Stocking Swap 2013

Well, I have a LOT of updating to do here! Some things I have not got photos of yet - but I will add what I do have!

The first post is going to be long - it is what I sent for the Craftster Christmas Stocking Swap 2013. I had a wonderful partner who is rather 'bohemian' and encouraged me to buy things from a charity shop and repurpose. I did that for most of my items - some of the things I sent were made from my stash.


She requested a 'sack' for her soul daughter (she has taken her in as she was having family trouble) who is French and loves things that are black / white and lacy! I made her sack out of a skirt and a table cloth I found in a charity shop

a close up of the embroidery

unfortunately I got the name wrong - goodness knows how - it should have been Helene - still, my partner says she was able to fix it easily!

The top is drawstring so it can be closed.

Also for her daughter I made a 'welcome to uni' kit as she hopes to go to university this year. This was the box:

it had some uni essentials in - notebooks, diary, pens, chocolate of course and a pen holder - this was a plain wooden owl when I found it in the charity shop - so I drilled a pen sized hole in it's head and painted it black / silvery white

I made each of her two boys a felt penquin to hang on the tree:

I also sent them some "reindeer food" a book each and a craft kit each.

She and her husband keep bees and make their own honey (they have 100 hives) so I made her husband a bee keyring:

This was originally a russian doll shaped keyring which I repurposed.

Then - I got to spoil my lovely partner! 

I made her an airdry clay snowman

a bent metal wind chime:

Some food pouches she had requested with charity shop fabric and a pair of my old jeans (she asked to have them lined with denim:

a needle felted wall hanging for her barn (she is a psychiatrist and has just opened her barn for group therapy etc)

The words are sewn with green seed beads and say "Jump for the moon, even if you miss you'll be among the stars"

A set of jewelery - necklace bracelet and earrings:

 

Some coasters for her Barn - made from overmelted hama beads (As I prefered the look of overmelted) with felt on the bottom:

 Some knitted bunting - accented with beads:

A long long string of beads got from charity shop necklaces as she said she liked hanging strings of beads around her trees / in her barn etc

And lastly for this post some air dry clay baubles for her trees.

There will be a spate of posts soon when I upload all I have been making in a current swap - I think I have gone a bit OTT! At the moment though i have a necklace I made for MYSELF (that is very rare for me!) in an evening - there are small faults with it (as I am still learning) but over all I am really pleased with it

The photos look like the three strands are tangled - as when I was taking the photos I thought they were unable to be untangled - however have just picked it up - and they are not tangled - so goodness knows what happened! There are over 700 of the little beads on there - hope to get better at that oneday! Photo of the clasp - as I struggle with doing clasps - but actually was really chuffed with this one. Due to a mistake and some needed alteration the necklace ended up too short to fit round my beck - so the three big jumprings on either side of the clasp are to solve that, all three strands are actually one length of wire - strung through the clasp and the bead by the clasp to give the look of three strands.

Forgive the background - I was also photographing some christmas ornaments I have received.

Make a bag swap

The latest swap I have been involved in was "make a purse [american name of bag] and fill it" I signed up hoping to be able to knit a bag - but putting both knitting and sewing (although VERY new at using machine) down to make it easier for the organiser to find me a partner - wouldn't you know it - I was matched with someone who did NOT want knitted - it had to be sewn, not only that but her favourite material was vintage (not my cup of tea at all) AND she wanted it to be a project bag which meant pockets, and lots of them!!

After spending a few days thinking ARGH how on earth am I going to do this and make her something she will like - I decided I just had to get on with it! I looked on the internet and found a McCalls pattern for a project bag with lots of pockets, ordered some fabric covered in pink flowers (anyone who KNOWS me knows how much that is just NOT my style - so I hope I chose good fabric!) and some polka dot (which was better - but still pink!) and lots of thread (I got through three whole spools!) Anyhow - about 10 hours of fabric cutting and 40 hours of sewing (also unpicking/resewing/ironing etc) later, lots of blood (from pricking my fingers), some sweat (through frustration) - and yes, even the odd tear - the pink project tote was FINALLY finished, and I have to say - for once - I am actually proud of something I have made! The recipient has not received it yet - so I am still very anxious as to whether she is going to like it - but I hope so, I really do!

Anyhow - without further ado, here are the pics :D

For every bit of fabric I cut - I had to cut either interfacing or fleece - some of it was iron on - then I ran out of iron on and could only get sew in - so most of the pieces have been sewn at least twice! There are 13 pockets all together - three on front and back, 1 on outside of sides 1 on inside of sides and then the gingham on the inside is 2 pockets on one side - and one big pocket on the other.

I also made a Doctor Who cross stitch to go on an iPad cover I had purchased for her - which was glued on and then painted over the glue with black Acrylic paint.

I knitted and lined a pouch for her to keep some crafting supplies in - she also likes the cute fabric like the lining,

Lastly I made her a fun little keyring from Hama beads :D

I have different projects to update on here - but this will do for tonight - hope you enjoy :D