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.

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!

I like bad films and I cannot lie...

And this one is a corker. Komodo vs Cobra.

From the very start, it was clear how it was going to go, given the look of the really dreadful CGI. I mean, it's on a par with Shark In Venice, so I think you get the picture. Oh, and there goes another hapless victim, eaten whole by a gigantic Komodo Dragon. (I'm not entirely sure of the need for capitalisation there, but what the hell, it's the size of a house!)

Oh, it's already eaten one scientist and a platoon of the most shoddy special forces soldiers I've ever seen.

And the giant cobra has been snacking on another scientist and a camera man.

I would explain the plot, but I don't think there's that much of one. It started off, as these things often do, with scientists on a deserted island trying to develop genetically engineered plants to cure world hunger. A laudable aim, as I'm sure you'll agree. And after their initial success, in stroll the military and order them to use their research for more 'lethal' purposes. I'm not entirely sure about why the military is involved, but there you go. I would suggest that thinking too hard about the plot is probably not the best course of action.

I don't think I'll manage to last until the end of this one. Perhaps I'll come back to it another day. Or in another life.

Candle-tastic

I have to confess, I meant to blog this some time ago, but I got sidetracked with ... stuff. As one does. So, anyway...yes...candles.

I decided that, as this year is the year of trying all kinds of crafts (and revisiting some that have fallen by the wayside), that I'd try my hand at candle making. And with the tea swap to inspire me, off I went.

I tried out a couple of kits from House of Crafts, which included all the relevant materials and fairly comprehensive instructions.

And yes, I was sad enough to take photographs of wax melting. Action shots, I'll have you know.




Extreme close up there, with fantastic melty action. Ahem, yes, I'll calm down now.

So, once it had all melted, it was time to get pouring. Please note that I had learned from my previous experience with the lipbalms and had used my pyrex jug as the double boiler (well, it turned out as more of a bain marie, but we'll gloss over that for the time being) which made it so much easier to fill the moulds.

I wanted to put some coffee beans into a couple of the candles, so first tried just putting them in the bottom of one of the moulds and filling it up. Not the best idea in the world, as they all floated straight to the top.




Very arty, I'm sure, but I didn't want them to end up on the bottom of the candle. Oh well.

So, I decided that for the second attempt, I'd do things slightly differently and layer the coffee beans with the wax, so at least some of them would be suspended in the middle of the candle. And through the gift of time lapse photography (or just hanging around for a bit), this is how it worked out.






The last bit looks a bit messy, I know, but fortunately, it's on the bottom of the candle, so not visible unless you really want to look.

In addition to the special coffee candles, I made a few other 'normal' candles and this is how they all turned out.


Close up of the two coffee candles.




So there you have it. Candles, in one afternoon. Not bad for a first attempt, really. The only thing I would say is, keep a spare pan just for wax melting/double boiling. It's worth it, if only to stop you ruining all your decent pans.

What was that I was saying about mojo?

Hmm, famous last words.

Mind you, it's been quite busy recently, but in a good way. One weekend entirely spent out having fun (which is really the best way to spend a weekend) and lots of stuff going on at work.

I did spend this last weekend (including the bank holiday) making things, but due to annoying computer troubles at home, it was impossible to get any pictures uploaded. Still, never mind. I'll blog instead about my other current obsession: tea.

Yes, that's right, tea. Tea of all nations, in fact. I'll pretty much give anything a go (with the exception of Lapsang Souchong, which I tried once and instantly disliked).

This is the current collection of tea:



The second lot was purchased during a five day trip to Holland and Belgium. From that little lot, I've only tried the Maple Honeybush (brown box, middle front) and the Rooibos Orange Lemon Lime. Both of which are lovely.

Going back to the first group, the tiny tins at the front are part of a taster set from Leaf. It's a great way to try what they have on offer. And included in there was the best camomile infusion I've ever had. Camomile's a bit of an acquired taste and can be extremely hit and miss, but I'd recommend it to anyone to at least give it a go.

Same with Rooibos really. I will admit that the first time I tried Rooibos, I really didn't like it. In fact, I described it as the foul strainings from the devil's jockstrap. I can now admit that I was wrong. I may well have brewed it for too long, or it may just have been a bad batch. Now, however, I really do enjoy it. It's light and refreshing, with a slight woody tang (I know that sounds a bit odd - and possibly quite pretentious - but it's the only way I can describe it!) Anyway, it's well worth a go.

Finally, I'll just mention another fantastic tea webshop: Teapigs. They've got some cracking blends there (Summer Flowers is a particular favourite) as well as selling Popcorn Tea (which has toasted rice added to the leaves, to give it a very distinctive taste!) I can't recommend them enough, their service is spectacular. And they do 'taster packs' of most of their teas, in the most dinky little tins, which I'm probably going to use to store beads in, once they're finished.

Right, that's enough wittering from me for the time being, but I shall be updating you on my journey of tea discovery as I work my way through the huge stash I've got. Chin chin!

My mojo is back!

I've been a bit lax on the old craft front (and on the blogging front) of late, mainly because my get up and go got up and went. The year of craft came to a bit of a standstill, I think because I couldn't decide on exactly what I wanted to do. If that makes any sense. Plus being busier than a busy thing at work meant I was fit for nothing of an evening.

But, after a couple of well deserved holidays, I think it's safe to say that I'm back in the swing of things. And my latest creation is something I've been wanting to do for ages. A chainmaille ring. And one of my favourite weaves, Byzantine. Given that the rings (sterling silver) were so small, it was a wee bit fiddly, but thankfully it didn't have me throwing a tantrum (for a change!)

Without further ado, pictures!







Not too shabby, really. I'm keeping this one for myself, but I might well make some more to sell. Soon.

Overhaul!

I've decided that I've just got too many blogs on the go. And none of them are being updated as regularly as they should be, so my wittering blog (full of inanities) and my crafting blog (this one, slightly less full of crafty inanities) are going to be merged. God, I think I'm drunk with power. And on a Tuesday afternoon too.

Shocking.