Charity buys and blackberries

It's been a beautifully sunny day, and I've been a busy bunny, though managed a stroll into town and back, stopping by several blackberry bushes on the way to collect another tub of shiny sweet berries.

I swear the freezer's three quarters full of fruit. Earlier in the year I was freezing those homegrown strawberries that escaped being devoured within minutes of picking. After that, it was raspberries from the allotment, and now blackberries. They'll all get added to porridge or overnight oats during the autumn and winter months.

Naturally, being in town meant a quick rummage around the local charity shop, and I managed to get a very nice haul of goodies at a bargain price for £6.00 for the entire lot. A good as new Christy dusty pink handtowel. A stencil to add to my small stash of 'em.

A couple of board books that'll be squirreled away to use as the basis for art journals in the near future. Plus, some very shiny reels of what's labelled as 'Lurex fibre'.

No idea what I'd use them for, but who could resist such metallic prettiness? Finally, some hearts and alphabet dies.

One of the packs is the Sissix brand, and I've got a Sissix machine gathering dust somewhere which I'll dig out. Hopefully the A to Z letters will be compatible with that machine too. If not, I'm sure they'll be useful for creating patterns with the Gelli plate. I'd be tempted to go and find the Sissix machine now and have a play with my new dies, but I'm thoroughly engrossed in the Robert Galbraith thriller 'Career of Evil', which is creepy and downright sinister but an absolute page-turner.

Hope your Monday's been a good start to the week too.

Comments

How to make these decorative birds

I suggested yesterday that I'd run through how to make a fabric bird wall or window hanging (can't think of a snappier title for it than that!) so here goes. I'll start with the first decorative hanging I made. It's something you could make in any colour combination you want, and would look good hanging at a window with translucent beads that'd catch the light I used five birds for this, but you could make it longer if you prefer. (Incidentally, if you're wondering about what's hanging off the bottom on this, it's a metal Christmas decoration, shaped like a lantern. For some reason I thought it looked appropriate to leave it there, looped over the end.) WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO GATHER TOGETHER: Assorted scraps of fabric for the front of the birds - aim for a mix of colours and textures. Silk looks good, as does anything with embroidery or intricate patterns. You might aim for a hippy-ish boho look, or maybe you're more the minimal Scandi

Paper flowers, leaves, feathers ...

I had a few requests after posting this photo on Facebook, people asking if I could explain how I made these paper flowers. Your wish is my command, and here's the info. It's all very simple and you don't need any advanced drawing skills. So grab a stack of gell prints, a pair of scissors and off we go! The type of print that seems to work best is one where there's a fair amount of detail, rather than a block of solid plain colour. Prints where you've maybe channelled your inner Elizabeth St. Hilaire and 'layered layered layered' as she's always urging us to do. POPPIES If we start with simple poppy seed heads and stalks, they're cut freehand from paper that's mainly shades of orange and brown. I glued those on to a sheet of white copier paper, then cut them out, leaving a narrow border around each. Backing the gell print with the white paper adds that contrasting border, but also strengthens the piece, especially the thin stalks. I

Sari scraps, PVA, a couple of books and a necklace

I'm typing this as snow's falling, and has been steadily all day. It's not settling to any great extent, though I bet by tomorrow morning the paths will be slippery with ice. Which always makes me paranoid about falling over and at the very least looking undignified, but at worst breaking a bone or twisting an ankle. Oh well, it's ideal weather to stay inside and craft, isn't it? I finally got around to listing packs of sari scraps on Etsy this morning. I only made up six bundles as I've no clue whether they'll sell or if I've set a reasonable enough price point. Time will tell. This is a link to the listing, if you're interested. This vaguely pink fabric isn't from one of my Etsy packs. It's from a bit of experimenting I was doing yesterday. I'd seen a post on Instagram showing how a DIY version of batik could be done without using hot wax. The Instagrammer used PVA instead, and I wanted to try this out. The glue's su

rubykittyruby

Search This Blog