Felting Frenzy!

This week I've been having some fun with knitting and felting. I've seen felted animals on etsy and thought I'd have a go at making a bird.
I didn't really know what I was doing and it didn't look too promising at first......

.......but it grew......
......and finally ended up looking something like a bird!


Here are the knitted flowers before the hot wash.......

..............and after
I've made these before and added beads, but this time I decided to do some needle-felting onto them (after the wash).All the flowers were made from the same ball of variegated Noro wool.


The bird was made from wool top bought from Wingham Wool.


And finally......
I treated myself to a second hand Cricut machine this week - and cut all these out this morning. What fun!!!!
My intention is to scrapbook the huge pile of photos we have........(when I get a spare minute or two).

Waxed Papers

You may have noticed I've had a rest from my PC for a couple of weeks! I'm going to be teaching a few classes at The Beetroot Tree Gallery so I've been practising and producing some examples.
I've been playing with waxed papers....great fun!!

This is my journal cover decorated with waxed papers and metal. I've just discovered the joys of cutting out shapes from the copper sheet using a paper punch.

To make the paper............first spray inks onto a piece kitchen towel and when dry, screw it up. Next step is to glue it onto a piece of A4 paper with a thin layer of PVA - keeping the creases . Then when the glue is dry you need a candle (or beeswax) plus an old oron (I used a quilting iron). Put the iron onto the wax and let it drip onto the paper, all the time smoothing it out with the iron. Don't let the wax get thick and cloudy (if it does, just keep ironing it away).
The paper ends up like thin leather.....it feels gorgeous........and of course you can stitch into it and use it for all sorts of things.

Here's the finished piece....click on it for a closer view.

And another example.

Maze Books

I will also be making maze books at the Beetroot so I've been producing a few examples of those as well. For instructions, watch the docrafts video here.
A 12 x 12" piece of scrapbooking paper is ideal (reversible is even better).....producing a 3 x 3" book.
The first book fastens with a ribbon, the second with a press stud (superglued on).

Before I go I just want to thank the lovely Shonna for giving me an award.

I recommend a visit to her blog....she paints the most delightful pictures; her latest one is very special.
Thank you Shonna!

I'm Back......

Can it really be only a week ago that I was lying on this beach........

...swimming in this pool

...catching this ferry to town
...admiring this view on the way

...eating this food (a shared platter!)
...and drinking cocktails by the harbour?

It seems like just a distant dream now!!! But I feel very fortunate to have been there and I had a wonderful time. Skiathos is a very small island with lots of lovely sandy beaches and a beautiful town........and possibly the shortest airport runway in the world! (Landing is quite exciting).

One of the nicest things about coming home was finding a parcel of treasures waiting for me from my lovely friend Lynn. She and I have been doing the Suzi Blu 'Goddess and Poet' workshop and Lynn did a fabulous painting which you can see here. I was thrilled to find that she'd printed it onto fabric and made a special book for me using wool felt (gorgeous!) I absolutely love this and will keep special things inside all the little pockets.

I recommend a visit to Lynn's blog...its delightful. And occasionally her dog Cooper writes a post (you should see what he has to endure, poor thing - read his latest blog).
Oh the joy of doing swaps with friends!! Its so exciting to open a parcel and find precious things like these. Thank you Lynn....not just for all this but for the wonderful help and support you've given me recently. I have some truly FABULOUS blogging friends!
I finished this mini canvas today (5" x 5")......I don't really like yellow and don't know why I used it; but it turned out kind of ok I suppose.



Now I need to do some blog-visiting.........