Friday 6 January 2012

Year of Craft - the return...

No, dear reader, your eyes do not deceive you. It is I, Kats. And surprisingly, I am not doing this for a bet either. No, I am back to blog about ... stuff. In this case, crafty stuff.

I'm having another year of craft. I've got a few things that I want to try and some others that I want to revisit. I also want to get more jewellery made and sold, which means sorting out shops and websites and other various things.

But for now, I'm keeping this short and sweet and giving advance warning of more regular posting. Hopefully.

Saturday 1 October 2011

There's a new crafting magazine in town...

And it's really rather good.

From the lovely folks at the Crafter..oo forum, the new magazine contains a whole host of crafty goodness. Loads of projects - paper roses, wrapped bangles, felt fortune cookies, dorset buttons, and a huge amount of other interesting features.

I have even written a little something for it too.

So, go on, give it a go. Click on the button below to go straight there!

Crafteroo Magazine -Projects, Interviews, Giveaways and More!

Monday 4 July 2011

Button Swap - part the first

As mentioned in my previous post, I have been taking part in a craft swap, the theme of which is buttons. All organised by the lovely and fragrant Kitty Ballistic.

Where craft swaps are concerned, I normally get all fired up, then forget about it and then spend the last few days before deadline fleeing about like a headless chicken. Fortunately, this one was different. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and gave myself a bit of a challenge in adapting a chainmaille weave.

My partner was Vonnie of BlottedCopybook fame, who you may remember organised the first swap I ever took part in, the tea swap. She's received her goodies, so I won't be spoiling the surprise by showing you what I sent.

Firstly, the bits I made - a chainmaille bracelet and necklace.

From ButtonSwapJune11


From ButtonSwapJune11


I've had those 'pin-up' buttons for ages and hadn't the first idea what to do with them. I thought they'd be perfect candidates for incorporating into chainmaille, and, though it took a bit of doing (and about a month's supply of swears), I think they turned out pretty well. The bracelet is a slight variant of Helm Chain and the necklace is a Japanese hexagonal weave, all in anodized aluminium.

And now for the goodies and craft supplies.

Buttons!
From ButtonSwapJune11

From ButtonSwapJune11

From ButtonSwapJune11

Many, many buttons, with a bead or three thrown in for good measure, not to mention featuring the cutest buttons in the world. *squeal*
From ButtonSwapJune11


Ahem, yes. Back to matters in hand. I also included some sugar shapes (which did include buttons) a box of Chocolate Buttons from Hotel Chocolat.
From ButtonSwapJune11

From ButtonSwapJune11


The only thing I couldn't manage to fashion from buttons was the card, but it was near enough, featuring as it did some 'button'flies. *waits for groans from the audience*
From ButtonSwapJune11


So, there you have it, one craft swap successfully completed. Bring on the next one!

From ButtonSwapJune11

From ButtonSwapJune11


I have heard from Vonnie that my parcel has been delayed unavoidably, but I am being very patient, as I know it'll definitely be worth waiting for.

A big thanks to all the crafter..ooers involved and to Kitty for being such a fab organiser. It's been a blast!

Saturday 28 May 2011

Yes, yes, I know...

I've been very very very lax with my blog-updating. Incredibly so, in fact.

But, I am back (though this is just a teeny-tiny post) and will be trying to update things more regularly.

So, what have I been doing? Well, the chainmaille is still going great guns and it's still an absolute obsession. I recently had a problem with my hand and my first thought was not 'Oh no, how will I manage at work?' but a complete panic about not being able to do more chainmaille. I think my priorities are probably about right there!

I've been learning some more weaves, so I've got quite a few under my belt now. I've also signed up to do a craft swap, a button one, organised by the fab Kitty Ballistic. I am really looking forward to cracking on with that, and of course, it does mean a trip to a haberdashery department at some point. *tiny dance of joy*

Anyway, I will stop wittering for the time being and get on and do some creating. And taking some pictures, as they always help!

Monday 12 April 2010

How did it get to be April already?

I know. I am a rubbish blogger. Here we are, a third of the way through 2010 and not a word. Useless.

So what have I been doing with myself for the past few months? Well, a bit of this, a bit of that and a lot of the other. I have watched some incredibly bad films (as is my wont), made a load of stuff (pictures in a bit) and generally bimbled and bumbled (as is also my wont).

I've also been remortgaging my house, which is not something I would recommend to anyone. It is taking forever and has me often unable to sleep, as I'm really terrified that it's all going to go horribly wrong. But there you go, this is what happens when you have to deal with managing agents (never buy leasehold, kids) who are incompetent and greedy at the same time. Still, as my mother says, this is all character building. Which is good to know, I'm sure you'll agree.

So, pictures. Well, here goes.

Firstly, a couple of felty items. Created for a swap that went slightly awry (they were missing in action for some time, but arrived safe and sound in the end), meet Princess Buttercup and the Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride.







And now for some sparkly things and chainmaille goodness. I am still obsessed with the chainmaille and I don't think that's ever going to stop now.


That's the Full Persian weave there. Yes, I know it sounds like a style of intimate waxing and it makes me laugh now every time I say it, but it is a thing of beauty, if I do say so myself.




Two sets of mobius knot earrings - the hot pink ones are enamelled copper and the purple ones are aluminium.


Banded agate earrings, showing my woeful wire wrapping skills. Admittedly this was a first attempt, but I'd managed to use up around 10 headpins and a month's supply of swears. I suspect it's something I'm going to really have to practise.


Ahh, byzantine weave, how I love thee. This was made with teenytiny enamelled copper rings and I adored making it. I ended up having to make another straight away, as I showed it off to my mother and her first words were 'Where's mine, then?'


Saving my favourite till last here. I decided, on a whim, to buy a Swarovski Cosmic Ring, because, well, a) it is very sparkly, b) I love the name and c) it was there, calling to me. So, once I had it in my hot little hand, what to do with it? Aha, I thought, I'll make a chain. How difficult can it be? Given that this is a fairly simple 2 in 2 weave, I thought it would be a doddle. It kind of was, but I'd forgotten that tiny tiny rings mean tiny tiny links and that then means it takes ages to get a decent length of chain (especially seeing as this is for me, and I like long-ish chains). I love the finished result though, which is handy really. I am considering making some other chains, but I might wait a while first.

So there you are, some of what I've been up to for the past few months. There are more pictures to come, once I get myself even slightly organised, so hopefully I'll be bothering you with more stuff soon.

Sunday 25 October 2009

I won!

Yes, that's right. Your eyes do not deceive you. I have won something. Not the Euromillions, but something JUST as good. I'll get to just what it is in a moment, but first, here's how.

I became The Crafty Ninja's 100th fan on facebook and was awarded a free commission as a result. As I had my mama's birthday coming up, I asked if she could make me a card featuring painting-y type stuff, as mam does watercolour painting and is currently doing a course at the local college. Note the vagueness of my request. And now marvel at the result, which is brilliant. (Any deficiencies on the quality of the pictures are down to me and my rubbish cameraphone, as I was trying to get the card into the post quickly!)





And a close up of the easel...


Fantastic, isn't it?! Just the job.

I'd just like to say a great big thank you to the Crafty Ninja (and what a great name, by the way!) for a really wonderful card.

Monday 24 August 2009

Craft swaps ahoy!

Yes, I've been doing the craft swap thing again. This time on a subject close to my heart - B-movies. This was organised by the lovely Apryl of Meridian Ariel fame, who also has great love for these often overlooked bits of celluloid joy.

I was partnered with Lindsey from ethel and edna and thinking that I had plenty of time to sort things out, I left it for a couple of days, whilst I planned what to make. Of course, you know what's coming next... emergency jewellery making for my mum's wedding (which was announced, organised and then took place within the space of around two months), commissions for other stuff (another blog post there) and all kinds of nonsense at work.

I found myself completely swamped, but fortunately, fate was smiling on me in her own bizarre and quirky way, as Lindsey was also having similar problems.

Anyway, I eventually got everything done and sent out. In addition to the photos I'm going to share in a second, I also included some utterly gorgeous fabric, ribbons, buttons and lace, all of which I found on Dawanda. And then there were lollipops and Revels for the munchables part.
So here's what I made.



A witch themed bookmark and phone charm and a bangle with a bat charm. The bookmark and phone charm are both done with chainmaille.

And so, what did I get... well, I do feel incredibly spoiled in return, I got SO much. I apologise in advance for the quality of the photos, as I took them on my phone. Anyway, here goes:

Fantastic handmade doll


Amazing crochet amigurumi Godzilla head


Beautiful crochet flower brooch


A fantastic tea bag holder, which also contained a handmade felty tea bag!


What you can't see there, is the little packet of buttons, in all shades of green.

I also got some craft supplies, sparkly wool, a crochet hook and some lovely rainbowy felt.




As you can see from that last picture, there was also chocolate and gummy dinosaurs. And a box of tea as well. Lawks!



We may have been the last to get our parcels sent off, but in my case at least (and I hope Lindsey feels similarly!), it was definitely worth the wait. Thank you Lindsey for all my fantastic goodies, and thank you to Apryl for organising this one. And the next one I've signed up for (which I promise to send on time!