Crochet Flowers

I wanted to learn how to make crochet flowers.  I started with YouTube and whilst it got me started, my first two attempts were hilarious.  The first one looks nothing like a flower - in fact, it's square in shape.  The second one had more of a flower shape, but some pretty strange petals.  I thought about my grandmother, who was fantastic at crochet when she was alive and wished I had developed an interest 15-20 years ago when she perhaps could have shown me the art.  I still have some of her pieces in my linen cupboard and one in the studio (that I use to make impressions onto clay).  Anyway, I persevered on my own.  The third one wasn't too bad for a beginner and the 4th one even had a second layer of petals.  After that, I had my lovely friend (and design team member) Glenna show me how she makes hers (after she stopped laughing at my first two flowers).  Although she uses wool and a larger hook, the principle is the same and so after a couple of fairly OK flowers, I got the hang of it.  As you will see below, I'm well into the swing of it now and have made over 40 of them, hoping to have a good little stock of them to sell at Craft Out West in July.

 Once I had been making those for a few days, it was time to try something else.  First was the heart, but I haven't quite got the top middle of the heart right yet, so might have to practice a bit more on that.

 Then came the rose - which is relatively easy.  Just like making a large open flower, then rolling it up. Then onto leaves.  I haven't quite got the shape right yet, so might have to look for some sort of pattern, but loving the possibilities and ability to experiment to create new things.  No doubt one of my upcoming scrapbook layouts will feature some crochet embellishments.

My aunt Pat recently told me she has some of my grandmother's old crochet hooks.  I think I might see if I can borrow one of the hooks and try some real fine work.  How awesome will that be to be crocheting with the same hook my grandmother used to use years ago?  

New Stamp

I made this swirly tree stamp with my new Teresa Collins Stampmaker the first week in December, with the intention of making my own Christmas cards to send it.  It never happened.  There was just so much going on that a whole bunch of things never happened, but such is life sometimes.

Bling'd out with rhinestones.  Oh well, there's always this year right?

Finally Done!

Remember these photos from a recent post on post camp blues?  Well this is what started my desire to have a huge clean up and shift around at the same time as I put the new tables in.  So the first two photos are the before photos.

Then the during photo.  I started moving furniture and also started washing the floor with a blue paint wash to help hide the 'already covered in blotches of different colour' look, as well as remove the bare concrete look.   Didn't end up looking as good as I had hoped (or as good as the initial test patch 2-3 years ago), but it's growing on me and soon I wont even really see it anymore.

Then, out with the old high tables and in with the new (to me), lower tables.  These are a much better height for scrapbooking, certainly better for my kids' classes in particular and also provide a more designated and perhaps larger scrapping area per person.

On the front of the tables, the cards I did at Tania's class at last ScrapCamp.  What a fun filled class that was!

 And from a couple of different angles, the rest of the studio.

I'm really liking it!

All I have left to do is put a few more things back into the studio (still in the rumpus) and then clear my own desk/scrapping space - ah well, baby steps eh?

Vienna at the show

Whilst at the Ceramic and Craft show, we had one very well behaved little girl to keep us company.  She had loads of fun exploring under the tables and in the boxes and bags.

Emptying out my wallet (I did give it to her, so it was all cool - only wished I had caught a photo of her trying to get another wallet out of a handbag from the next stall along!!!)

Then she decided it was time for a little walk.

Then a bit of time for some nice cuddles with Carrie and with Mum.

Then chill out in one of Carrie's display boxes!

Play peek-a-boo under the table.

Laugh out loud (I'm not sure what the joke was here?)

And finally show off her new trick.  Standing and balancing all by her self.  Wendy said she had done this before for about 10 seconds, but on Sunday, she stood there for what must have been nearly half a minute?  She even managed to keep her balance whilst turning her head and looking up.  Wont be long now!!!

Thanks for making the day so much more fun Vienna and thanks to Glenna for taking all the pictures on the day.  Whilst I remembered the camera, was just too tired to remember to take the photos too, but Glenna spotted the camera and away she went - yay!

Ceramic & Craft Show

On Sunday 22, we went to the Ceramic and craft show in Takapuna.  I had a scrapbooking stand and Wendy and Glenna shared a stand for their goodies.  It went OK.  Not a lot of people through the door, but it seems harder and harder to drive people to these shows ans then once there, even harder to get them to spend money. I guess however that is the reality of things with the way most people's finances are these days.

As for the ceramics part of the show, I entered 3 pieces from the studio.  1 of my own and 2 of my junior students.  Both kids got a first, with Brooke's sun getting a 1st overall for her age group as well.  My piece got a 2nd place (I guess at some stage the student will surpass the teacher.... isn't that how the saying goes?).

Anyway, here are the pictures of the piece.  My black and blue glass bowl, Kyle's gorgeous copper bowl and Brooke's sun plaque (photos do not do these pieces justice).

Well done to all who participated in the show and received an award.

Cute Easter Treats

These cute Easter treats arrived at our house just before Easter, courtesy of Miss Wendy. The kids got Straight into theirs, but Mike said they were just too cute to eat. I ate mine when I got home from camp (and what a bonus to get another one at camp. lol), Mike's is still sitting here, but I'm sure he will get onto it soon. Thanks Miss Wendy - they were super yum, especially the homemade chocolate mints.

Forrest of Trees

Well not quite, but here are the Xmas Tree plates that my after school ceramic art class completed a couple of weeks ago. They also did Santa boots and a Santa and Rudolph ornament, but I didn't get a chance to photograph them before they took them home.

Everyone did an awesome job this term. I bet some of these will be filled with edible goodies before long.

Meet Blossom

My gorgeous new bear. I won this as part of a raffle prize at Craft Out West over the weekend. It was actually 2nd place, with the 1st prize being a huge grocery hamper. In my opinion, the winner lucked out, cause this 2nd place pamper pack was just lovely and the bear (made by Annetta Flaunty of Cedel Downs) is just totally gorgeous.

I even had offers from others there, who wanted to buy it off me, but hey, it's purple and pink and has a butterfly on one hand, so how could I ever sell her???

Here is the original Pamper Pack prize. Hard to see what's in there, but there is a selection of body gels and scrubs, aromatherapy candle, soaps and petals, potpourri, embroidered cushion, notebook and amethyst crystal angel. Thanks to Glenna for picking a winning number for me.

A little thanks

A set of 'thank you' cards I recently made for a friend, whose family member had just suffered a serious accident. Another mutual friend suggested a group of us make 10 cards each and forward on for the friend and her family to use, for those who had helped immediately after the accident and through the recovery period. What an awesome idea Paula!

Supplies used are plain brown card stock, Pebbles Inc papers, plain paper with typed word and staples. Cut card stock to A5, fold in half to create card. Print your desired word on white paper, leaving sufficient room to cut out a 9.5x2cm strip. Cut circle (roughly 4cm in diameter) out of same card stock that card is made from. Cut 2 rectangles of co-ordinating papers (roughly 8.5x6cms) and adhere to one side of the card, setting slightly apart. Staple circle to the end of the strip, ensuring that finished length does not exceed width of card. Staple other end of strip to match. Adhere strip of printed paper and circle over the gap between the two papers.

Simple and quick to make and they can be personalised with the initial of the receiver, a stamp, or sticker in the plain circle.

Omnitrix

I have always baked and iced the kids birthday cakes myself. We've had castles, fairies, Winnie The Pooh, Bob The Builder and loads of others, mostly with the aid of a shaped baking tin or some good cake book ideas. When asked what he wanted for a birthday cake this year, Jayden replied "Oh just a plain cake, with a picture of Ben 10 wearing his Omnitrix and the words Ben Ten Alien Force across it".....'just'.... Oh, OK. Not! I couldn't find a cake tin to help me with this one, and I certainly was not going to pay the outrages prices for s hop bought one, so looked up some pictures on the net. There was just no way. I suggested an Omnitrix with Jayden 8, instead of Ben 10 would be quite cool - yeah he went for it. So here's a picture of Jayden's birthday cake. To be honest it doesn't look too much like the real thing at all, but Jayden just loved it and that, after all, is what it's all about anyway.

Paintings for the newly wallpapered lounge

When we finished wallpapering the lounge/dining area, we went to put our beautiful pictures back up (they'd been down for 3 years, so I had missed them). We held them against the wall and.....YUK! they no longer went with the new neutral colours.

Went shopping for something new, but couldn't find anything that grabbed my fancy (well at a price I could afford), so instead grabbed some canvas's and decided to have a bit of a go at Camp Clean. I decided to take only items for painting, so that I would get in and do them, but must admit, at one point (after seeing Glenna all set up to Scrap), I seriously considered changing my plan and going and getting my scrapping gear. She talked me out of it.

So, 4 days, some new paint, 2 new brushes, some texture paste and silica sand later, here's what I managed to finish.

The edges are actually straight, not sure why they look warped? The piece of paua in the long skinny painting was found in the washing machine at camp - thanks campers! The swirl and spiral on the other canvas are made from hessian like string from the storage cupboard at camp and the beads from the Warehouse. All up, about $45 spent to create these two items.

Whilst painting the 2nd one at camp, Carol D said could see a reindeer in the swirly part of the rope, that's when I added the spiral, but I can still see the reindeer-probably always will -thanks Carol! (She reminded me I once did that to her with one of her paintings and yes she still she's the elephant now!)

The next painting is going to be on the bathroom walls, then Mike's man cave (or vice versa), then the rumpus. Slowly ridding the house of yellow! Yeah!!