Craft confessions

Well it's been a very, very long time since I wrote anything here on my blog, and so I thought I'd better add a note or too (also to make sure I still had an account/blog).
I have to confess that I have taken time out of the crafty goings on (too much time perhaps) and so here I am delving back into what I love best, making and baking and everything else. Not sure why I took so much time out but I now know I need to get back to it and do what I love doing. Unfortunately I am unable to pursue a career in being creative (for the moment...still an intention at some point) but I need and must keep my crafty side alive. So here goes....a commitment to recording all my makings and creations. I've been very busy for the last week or so, so at least I have some new bits to record on here. The hubby and I went foraging once or twice (guilty pleasure) and now have a stock pile of spiced blackberry chutney and damson jam. All ready for the now traditional Lundy Christmas goody hampers. I'm working on the goods to go in the hampers and will update shortly. So this is a hi and hello and I'm still here!! Thanks C XX

Create

DSC05738, a photo by milliemooshu2012 on Flickr.

Rainbow necklace.

After making the Chakra bracelets I had a few crystal beads left and wanted a nice colourful necklace. I came across these lovely wooden beads in my bead box and made this pretty necklace using silver beads as spacers to highlight the vibrant colours. It glimers in the light and goes with any outfit. A great addition to my jewellery box.

Make

DSC05731, a photo by milliemooshu2012 on Flickr.

Zip a dee do dah

I had a bag full of zips kindly given to me by my Gran. At first I wasn't sure what to do with them other than keep them for clothing and soft furnishings. I came across them again the other day and set to making these very cute brooches.

Its best to use a colourful zip with gold or silver teeth to add contrast. Cut the zip in half by cutting at the one end and removeing the zip. Take the one side and stitch the end with a few simple stitches to tidy up the end. Make intermitent folds in the zip and stitch in place. It may coil a bit but this will help to make the circle. Starting from the stitched end gather the zip with the teeth at the top/outside edge. As you gather stitch in place until you have a full circle. Sew a pretty button in the middle and add a brooch fastening at the back and hey presto ...you have a gorgeous brooch. I cant stop making them now and may even make a few in lots of colours to turn into a bib/collar necklace

Create

Create, a photo by milliemooshu2012 on Flickr.

Chakra Bracelet.

My Mum and her best friend had recently been on a crystal healing course and had learnt about the chakras and healing. I wont pretend to know anything about this but I did want to make them both a Chakra bracelet as a little gift. I found a few on the net but they were either way out of my price range or not to my liking. After a while I decided to make my own and luckily I came across these beautifully coloured crystal beads on sale at Hobbycraft. I chose the colours I wanted and made these simple yet striking bracelets using silver beads as spacers between the coloured beads. I used jewellery making thread and a lobster claw and jump ring at the ends for fastenings. I used crimps to secure the fastenings. A top tip I was told was to create a loop by feeding the thread through the crimp, then the claw/jump ring and then back through the crimp, leaving a good long end before crimping with crimp pliers. You can then make sure both threads go through the beads to make the bracelet more secure and strong.

Bake

Tropical Crumble, a photo by milliemooshu2012 on Flickr.

Tropical Crumble

What a lovely indulgent pud during these cold wintery nights. A taste of the Caribbean at home. A simple crumble but with yummy mango, pineapple and desiccated coconut. So delicious that I am suprised we have any left to photo.




Simply use ;

1x canpineapple chunks

1x can mango slices

Desiccated coconut

Plain flour

Butter

Oats

Caster sugar.

Preheat oven to 180

Drain the fruit from the cans and pour into a oven proof dish, mixing a little, then sprinkle desiccated coconut.

Fro the crumble mix 100g plain flour, 100g oats, 100g caster sugar and 100g butter, mix togther to make a crumble texture. Simply add some desiccated coconut and then mix. Add on top of the fruit mix.

Place in the oevn and cook for 20-30 mins until golden brown.

Enjoy on its own or try with some ice cream...yummy!!

Sew

DSC05742, a photo by milliemooshu2012 on Flickr.

Hearts Sampler 

I am very new to cross stitch...this being my first sampler. I came across a lovely pattern in the latest edition of Making magazine and decided to pick up my needle and threads and give it a go. Needless to say (sorry bad pun) its going to take me a lot longer than I anticipated as I rather stupidly brought the smallest stitch embroidery fabric so my stitches are tiny!!. Its quite theraputic though and stops me reaching for the chooclate in the evenings. So its a win, win situation as I hope to have both a beautiful sampler and a smaller waist by the end of it ;). I will post the outcome when I get there. Take a look at issue 17 of Making Magazine for details. The sampler is called Heart of hearts as featured in Sweet stitches from the heart by Anne Sohier-Fournel, Agnes -Delage- Calvet and Isabelle Leloup. Published by David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-307-58688-9

Create

DSC05662, a photo by milliemooshu2012 on Flickr.

Pretty peony birdcage light
We have a corner table in our hallway that needed a light and centre piece. Rather than purchasing a new light and lampshade I decorated a bird cage (meant for plants in the garden) and decorated it with cute dragonfly lights and silk peony flowers. It looks lovely when lit and everyone makes a comment as they come into our home. I didnt need to spend any money on a new item, I just simply had a look in cupboards as to what we alreay had. Fairy lights are a great way of decorating and adding mood lighting to any room. I have also wrapped some plain fairy lights around a plant in the lounge to add light in an other wise dark corner. It also means the lights are used all year round rather than just for Christmas.

Make

DSC05475, a photo by milliemooshu2012 on Flickr.

Seashell box.
I wanted to make a few Christmas gifts and came across a bag full of seashells that I had collected from our holiday to Poole and Bournemouth. I decided to make a special trinket box for my Mum, decorating a heart shaped card box with the shells. I made sure the shells were clean and used my trusty glue gun to affix to the box. This photo is the first stage as I then painted with pearly white paint and adorned with crystal gems. I forgot to take a photo pf the finished piece before I wrapped it up so I will have to go and visit my Mum to update you with the finished outcome. My Mum loved it as she lived in Bournemouth as a child so it will give her found memories when she uses it.

Make

DSC05655, a photo by milliemooshu2012 on Flickr.

Lovebird tea towels
I enjoyed printing tea towels so much that I got carried away and did a few more. I tried to make each one a little different by changing the repeat and colours. These tea towels are so cute, a lovely addition to the kitchen.

Make

DSC05537, a photo by milliemooshu2012 on Flickr.

Hand printed tea towels.
As part of my Christmas hamper I wanted to print some tea towels. I had a lovely screen printing kit for my birthday and thought it was time to have a good go. I found a lovely chicken stencil and set to printing these cute tea towels. I purchased the plain tea towels online at a good price so I didnt have to worry about cutting out lengths and sewiing. I had great fun printing. The screen printing set came from Speedball on Amazon. I can highly recommend it as a starting point for home printing.

Bake

DSC05675, a photo by milliemooshu2012 on Flickr.

It was my hubby's birthday on 28th December and he just loves football and Subbuteo even more so. I decided to bake him a cake and took inspiration from his hobby. I simply baked a tray bake cake and then decorated it to look like a football pitch using desicated coconut for the grass and then borrowing a few of his Subbuteo players. The tray bake is a esy and yummy recipe:
Ingredients
4 eggs beaten
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
2 cups caster sugar
2tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 cup water
125g marg/butter

Preheat the oven to 180
Grease and line a rectangular tray bake tin
Cream the marg/butter and sugar together until pale.
Then mix in the oil, milk, water and eggs until well mixed.
In a seperate bowl sift the flour, baking powder and add the salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mix, stirring well in between each addition.
Once mixed pour into the lined tin and make sure mixture is spread out evenly.
Place in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes.
Cool

For the topping make buuter icing and colour with green food colouring. Spread evenly over the cake. Add green food colouring to the coconut and sprinkle on the top of the cake.
I then used a pre mixed icing tube of blue icing to draw out the football pitch.

To make it a chocolate cake simply add 2 tbsp to the flour mixture.

Enjoy!!

Bake

DSC05653, a photo by milliemooshu2012 on Flickr.

Homemade Christmas Cake
This ihas to be my most favourite thing about Christmas. About six to eight weeks before Christmas I go to the shops and load my trolly with currants, cherries, nuts and flour and set to baking the many Christmas cakes for our family. Its become a tradition for my Mum and me to bake these delicious fruit cakes jam packed with fruits and generously topped up with brandy. We give them as gifts and everyone loves them. Its a great Christmas gift idea and one thats happily recieved. I would share the recipe but its a family secret. Try Delia Smith's recipe for a close match.

Make

DSC05667, a photo by milliemooshu2012 on Flickr.

Christmas Hampers
Every Christmas I make some little goodies to send to those nearest and dearest. All the items are handmade by myself. This year the hampers included homemade Sloe gin, homemade damson jam, tomato chutney, berry biscuits and a hand printed tea towel. It was great fun to make them and I almost wish I had made an extra one for me. Had great feedback and requests for more next Christmas!!

Make Bake Sew Create

Hello there, its been such a long time since I last blogged . I have been snowed under in making the Festive gifts and treats that were given to my family and friends that I havent had a chance to catch up and post any of my makes. Never fear though as my plan to it get very organised in the next few days and post the photos of my Christmas makes and ideas. Over the next few weeks I plan to update my blog far more often and even start the make, do and mend guide so we can all have a go at making the wonderful and sometimes a little weird treasures. x

Make

This is the never ending knitted scarf that is now to be a snood after the bright idea from my hubby. I may add that this is also my first attempt at knitting as you can tell from the single knitting stitch and no pearl stitch in sight. I have to admit I am pretty terrible at knitting but I love it and its great to do in the winter evenings to prevent boredom. Practice make perfect and hopefully I can introduce the pearl stitch into my next item....that's if I ever finish this one. The wool is a lovely merino wool from Rowan, luckily I have a wise Mum who suggested I start with chunky wool and needles, so glad she did as this is taking me ages. I will persist so I can wear my snood in the chilly months ahead. Now to pay a visit to Mum so she can help me make the ends meet!!

Create

 

A new addition to AW '11 silks collection. I decided to carry on using the jewel color theme for my next few scarves. The rich ruby roses against the dark slate grey backdrop really stand out and have such a great tonal effect. I used the amethyst as a contrast to the ruby red to bring a warm and opulent feel to the design.

Create

 

Autumnal scarf......
I have decided to become a bit more focused on my silk painting and try and take inspiration from current trends and predicted fashions for Spring /Summer 2012 etc. I have done a substantial amount of research into design, colour, texture and started a log book to keep record of all my findings. With the current A/W 2011 in mind I set out to paint a new design influenced by the jewel colours found everywhere in fashion this season. The rich amethyst and sapphire against the subtle coffee tones really enhances the design and I only needed to use minimal outline to add detail to the final outcome. It was so enjoyable to get back into the painting spirit and much needed after my very long summer break.

Sew

 I realised I haven't been blogging for a while which isn't good...sorry. I didn't seem to have much motivation so I decided to order some patterns from the net. They came super quick and now I am actually looking forward to making a few new items for the wardrobe. I have loads of fabric in my fabric basket so I need to have a good old rummage around. I have some fabric left over from my wedding dress I have decided I would love to make a pretty top to wear.....the wedding dress doesn't fit anymore (too big  :) ) so it will be nice to have something I can wear. My dress wasn't the traditional white/ivory but instead a lovely copper brown...one day I may be brave enough to share a photo with you...in the meantime I will take a photo of the fabric instead. Here goes, happy sewing.

Sew

A friend at work asked if I could possible help by sewing a tissue box cover for her downstairs toilet. They have redecorated the room with a nautical theme and luckily enough I had some fabric left over from my recent makes. Its basically a rectangle with both sides lined wit fabric and then fold over the fabric, sew on end closed and then at a popper at the other. I have then added two stitches at the centre to hold the two ends together and it also allows the tissues to come out from the centre. A cute item which I has now inspired me to make my own. It makes otherwise dull tissue boxes quite pretty.

Sew

We've recently changed our decor in the lounge/ dining room and I have been searching for place mats for a while but to no avail. I had left over fabric from my patchwork throw I made and decided to make my own place mats. I have used both the nautical fabric and also a red and cream stripe. In between the two layers I have used a woven table runner that I have cut into four to add protection against hot plates. They look great against the polka dot table cover and are washable too! All in all a productive Sunday afternoon.