revising this blog at last!

I haven't touched this  blog  for  so long. i have to relearn how to manage it, but I  look forward to  spending  much more time on it from now on - as  my crafty life  has really picked up again!

Its been a few weeks since I updated this blog and thats coz I have been working non stop on this buttercup cottage!

Dame Flora De Seedie lives here and is a Botanical Illustrator and her lounge is also her studio and office..

Upstairs is her bedsit..she is very good at making the most of the available space. behind the screen is the bathroom with a commode and in the back recess is her dressing space. The screen is movable between both of these!

She is ready for a new day at work sketching a specimen that has just been delivered..the finished work is ready to go to the printer -her new book is too be published in time for Xmas.

LOL I have had tremendous fun and satisfaction making this..it will never be finished as I can already see ideas forming for many other additions to this little house and garden!

After waiting for 10 years or more it is finally come to this stage!

June Project carriage base

The  old song is playing in my  mind "June is  busting out all over" (I  sing a LOT) love  singing,

and I  love this months project for June....and my  thanks go to  Jacquie Johnson of Victoria who has provided not only the project, but also the  photos and  information.

It is a great alternative to the  heavy  metal carriage  bases and  how easy is this  to gather the  component parts!

I  hope you  enjoy this months  project and  will go ahead and  make  one (or several!)

You Will Need.
4 Plastic Disposable Glasses
2 Lengths of Dowel about 4 inches long to fit the center of the base of the glasses.

1 steel Knitting needle about size 3 and half mm Cut two pieces about 3 and half inches long

Off-Cut of Ostrich Egg with hole in the middle to fit on the top of the base.

Directions

/ Drill two holes in each piece of dowel about 1 inch apart in the centre.

2/ Sand the dowel where you have drilled.

3/ Glue the knitting needles in to the dowel with araldite,Make sure you hold the axle straight until it sets.

4/Paint the axle white

5/Decorate the wheels before you glue them to the axles. I put gold braid just inside the wheel then Pearls and roses in the centres but you can use nice buttons or earings

6/ Glue wheels onto the Dowel making sure they sit nice and flat on the table till glue has set.

7/ Paint the off-cut of egg and braid and pearl it, , you can glue some thin lace under the edge if you like.

8/ Cut some cardboard and paint it white. I glue this under the egg cut-out so you don't see where the coach has been glued to the base when you have glued you finished coach to the mirror.

you can make smaller wheels by cutting the plastic wheels with curved scissors.

Cut some cardboard circles the size you want the wheels to be ,blue tac them to the middle of the wheels and mark around on the wheel then cut with the curve of the scissors facing out then cut .

Sand the edge with sand paper when finished.

Adjust the length the dowel for a small egg (the length will decide how wide the space is for egg to fit inside)

  You can also cover wheels with gold mesh material by cutting a hole in the centre and fitting and gluing around the centre and out to the edge, then glue on the  braid and pearls.

These are good for goose eggs and small prams.

****Thankyou so much Jaquie  ..I look  forward to making  some of these  for  Christmas egg projects now!

Dot

Get Kodak prints of this picture, and all your other favorites, at www.kodakgallery.com!

 

egg oval greeting card in CD case

This is the  project  for  May, and  can be used  for Mothers day (May 10th) but can also be used for any  other special occasion.

To make this, take the  insert out of a plastic  CD  case.

Measure and  cut craftcard to fit the  front and  back of the  case.

Take a  scrap oval of shell, and  use this as  a  template to mark an oval on the  front  card. Cut out oval from  card, slightly smaller than  the  shell oval

Cut the oval scrap down to  fit in the  case when it is closed (there is  a  lot of  measuring to fit in  this  project..remember to  measure twice and cut once!) in egging we can adjust to fit as needed to as well.

Decorate the  card  and  the  oval scrap -I found this gorgeous earring, and  it was just  asking to be  used in a  project like this.

Now glue the  decorated scrap of shell to the oval cutout of the card, from the back of the front card with the  oval facing  out. 

add cord and braid around  edges of  oval. Cut out a  suitable picture (I used  gift wrap) and  paste this to the outside of the  back  cover. I  used stickers to  decorate around the  edges of  the  card, a suitable  verse can be  printed on light paper  and  pasted on the  inside of the  back cover. scrapbooking  embellishments are  very  nice to use as  well.

This CD case  greeting card can be safely  mailed anywhere in a  CD mailer!

a nice  way to use those oval scraps of  shell, and to recycle those old CD cases.. cheers  Dot

I I have finally put the  egg basket project together! I  hope you find this lesson useful..

Its a  goose egg, I  marked a  handle and cut it  out, painted  the  edges  with  gold paint, and  worried for  ages over how to  decorate it ! I wanted a  basket  weave effect, so ! first tried  gold braid woven in situ- nope, that didnt  work-it was too fiddly..so I thought about beading..seed beads didnt  look so  good- tricuts were  better  but getting the  basket  weave was  still a  hassle..getting  deadline  desperation  now- soI had a chat to EggyAnnie  on her  Wednesday  night  chat-by then I  was  thinking about using cake  decorating techniques  with  glue- its  wonderful how brainstorming  with  Annie Pattie and  Alice  set the  braincells soaring- The lightbulb went on yesterday (Thursday) why not try  mastic (paste made with bicab soda Cornflour and  water)LOL this one of  my  favourite pastes for making  roses. So out with the saucepan and  ingrediants and in a  few  minutes I had  a lovely ball of  paste to play with!

I learned  a long time  ago how to roll out paste with an even thickness, using a tile, some  credit cards and a roller. so I  set it  up last night and started work! 

I rolled strips first and  glued  them around the  side edges and  across the handle. I then used a  tiny 6 mm wide piece of  plastic card to  mark out the  basket weave  design. I  continued to paste and  mark the  paste as  I  added  it around the  egg and left it overnight to  dry..

I then drybrushed gold paint over the design to  highlight the  weave.

I filled the  basket with some  gold tinsel and  then added some  real chocolate mini  eggs!

I will convert this  egg into a  picnic  basket  after  the  holidays and maybe  add a  stand-although it  sits  very well without one.

I  hope you have a  go  with this  paste- I was  delighted with the effect!

Recipe for the  paste~

1/4 cup of  cornflour , Bicarb soda and  water. put into a  saucepan and  heat- stirring  all  the  time until it  forms a ball. Remove  from the heat and cover with a  damp cloth until its  cool enough to handle. knead well until its  smooth and pliable. keep in an  airtight bag.

 This paste dries very quickly no need to  fire or bake. colour can  be added while  working  with it  (making  a figure or flower etc) or in this  case after it is  glued in position (PVA tacky glue is fine)I will  add progressive pics of the  egg now..cheers  Dot

The  two pieces of  shell were  joined  with  spakfilla, when  this  was dry, the  hat was  painted and  sealed  with a high  gloss  sealer.

 The  fine  gold braid was  glued in place along the  raw edge of the hat  brim.  The flower was  attached to the feather with tacky about 1 inch from the tip.

A rhinestone flower was  glued to the  centre of  the  flower. When the  glue was  dry the  feather was  cut just beneath the  flower. This was  attached  with tacky glue to the  the place at the left where  the brim joins the crown.

 A picot braid was glued along the  edge of  the  brim, and then also along top edge of the brim, and a  neat join was  made where the  brim  joined the  crown at the  opposite end from  the flower.

The remainder of the  feather  was  glued behind the  tip of the  feather where  the flower is attached.