QUOTE

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way-things I had no words for." ~ Georgia O'Keeffe


Monday, December 21, 2009

Wishes for Christmas and New Year

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year


May the coming year be joyful

and fun filled

May all your clouds have a silver lining

May it be a prosperous one in everyway

May the angels watch over you always


Above all may the coming years be peaceful.


When I get back from my holidays I will have a give away for the New Year. I wanted to have one for Christmas but life became rather hectic so now I will have it in the New Year.

Je vous souhaite un Joyeux Noel et une Bonne

Anne

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Its cold brrrrrr....

Angry looking clouds in the morning


Then came the snow

Although we did not have a lot of it but enough to make it look pretty. However it has been bitterly cold for the past few days.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Night out

Last night we went out for a carol concert in the Royal Albert Hall. As always it was wonderful and we had a very enjoyable evening. My mobile phone was not upto taking photos in such a grand place! But just a couple of shots to show you that there were at least 3000 people in there. Angela Rippon the compere and she was brilliant.



Tagged



I have to thank Sylvie for giving me this award.  Thank you Sylvie you are too kind. As always I am not sure what I should write about me that will interest people so I shall skip that bit but I would like to give this award to many many people. Consider that you have all got this award from me. I appreiciate each and every one of you who visit my blog and for your constant support all through the past years. Thank you all but since I have to choose I shall take a lucky dip and name these people Serena, Ree, BumbleVee, Michelle, Sandy, Jennifer, Sue McFadden
PS. I know some of you don't like being tagged so don't worry you don't have to take the award and post it in your blog. This is just me saying thank you for your support.



Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Blog award

Ree very kindly gave this award to me. Ree I am honoured that you gave this award to me. Thank you so very much!


These are the rules I have to follow.
(1) Thank the person giving the awards

(2) Copy awards to your blog

(3) Place a link to their blog.

(4) Name 7 things people don't know about you.

(5) Nominate 7 bloggers

(6)Place a link to those bloggers

(7) Leave a comment on their blogs letting them know of their awards


Somehow when it comes to nominating blogs I have a great problem as I find all the blogs that I read creative, inspiring and interesting. So I shall break the rule and give this award to all the wonderful people who read my blog. Please take this award and display it in your blog proudly. Please do not feel shy do take it.

As for 7 things that people don't know about me well there you have me stumped again. I am not a very interesting person so I feel that what I tell won't be very interesting either so perhaps I should give this a miss.
But I have got to thank Ree once again for giving me this award you are too kind Ree to think that I deserve this award.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Christmas lights

Last two weekends I have been shopping like mad to get it all done and over with before I go away so I thought I would also take some photos of the lights in London.
I thought these decorations were rather nice in John Lewis . I took a picture of  it as I was coming down the escalator.


Then I tried taking the street lights and I sort of managed a little bit of it

before I hit a wall of traffic that wouldn't budge so I gave up lol!

Then I thought I need to make my blog look a little bit festive so I took a picture of my cute little church all lit up.

and the lights on the mantle piece. I think I could use this as a header don't you?


Friday, December 04, 2009

Something to share

Just thought I'd share this Christmas craft video with you.






Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Here is my Christmas Angel


Here is my Christmas Angel at last. When I started on her I was obsessed with her but then as always life got in the way so I got way behind with her but at least I finished her before Christmas. She is taking part in one of our online doll club challenges.



Sunday, November 29, 2009

Quick easy wing tutorial


Today I thought I would share a quick wing tutorial with you. I made my angel doll wings this way. I will put her picture up later as I have still got some finishing touches to put on her.

First draw a design  of a wing on a piece of paper. Here it is the dark lines which is the shape of my wings.


Next take your piece of wire and bend the wire to the shape of the wing by using the drawing as a guide and keeping the wire over it.


This is how it should look when you have bend the wire to shape.(I used wire that was coated with thread) These wires are normally used in stump embroidary, so you know which ones I mean. I use these because the glue sits on it easily.



Next I took a beautiful lace doily that I had. I used this because the threads were so delicate and thin on it. I then covered one side of the wire with glue and placed that side on the doily.


I hope you can see it better here.


Once the glue is dry take the wings and trim it all around to get the wing shape with the lace. Then I coated the whole wing with Paverpol. You can use PVA glue as well. Let it dry completely and this is how it should look.


Now take your wing and embellish it to your hearts content. I used lots of micro beads, metallic colours and glass beads.


Here is the finished wing.


Here is a close up. I wish I had used more clear glass beads as they reflect the light so prettily. Perhaps I will add some more to it. You can get glass beads if you are in the UK from Teddy Bear fillings supplier. They are slightly larger than the micro beads.

Friday, November 20, 2009

New DIP

This is a new DIP I am working on, actually there is another one behind her but she will have to wait. She is my Christmas angel. Sorry for the quality of the picture as it is rather late and I am tired have to sleep now as I have a long day ahead tomorrow. Thought I'd show her to you. I find it hard working with silk but silk is what I love working with.




Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Tiny finger turning tutorial.

Today when I was turning the fingers for my doll I thought that perhaps it would be nice to share the way I turn my tiny fingers with everyone. I know many doll makers have given this tutorial time and time again. Mine may not be a great one but I do hope it will help someone out there who has not seen a tutorial for turning tiny fingers. With this method I have turned tiniest of fingers and I thank my peers for teaching me so well. So here is how I do it.
First cut out the pattern for your hand and fingers

and then trace it onto the freezer paper. You will notice that I have chopped off the thumb. I attache the tumb seperately.

After ironing the freezer paper on to doubled fabric I sew all around the fingers carefully. I use number 1 setting in my machine to sew. I always take 2 to 3 stitches inbetween the fingers. It makes the cutting and turning of fingers easier. Then I cut all around the fingers carefully. I cut as close as possible making sure I don't snip the seams.

Then I take the  turning tube that will fit inside the finger and isert it in.
I use a tube that will fit very snugly into the finger. Not too loose but that which fits snugly like so.  After putting the tube into the finger I trim all around the finger again going even closer to the seam. I do this because it is much easier to see where the seam is when the tube is in the finger and you can go very very close to the seam. The seam will not come undone as I used number 1 setting for the stitches.

Now I take another tube or a thin rod in this case and insert it from the other end. I usually insert a couple of sizes smaller tube or rod to one inside the finger from the other end because it is easier to slide the fabric onto it. Now I hold the rod/tube steady with one hand without putting pressure on it  and with the other hand I then slide the fabric onto this rod/tube. It should slide quiet easily. If you find the fabric is bunching up just go back and start again. If you look at the picture below where the rod is inserted in you will see how close to the seam I have cut the fabric. If you do not go as close, the bulk of the fabric will not allow you to turn the finger. Golden rule, never push the fabric with the  rod/tube into the finger , always feed the fabric onto the rod/tube


Once all fingers are turned the hand should look like this.
With the heamostates then I turn the hand.
and walla! the fingers are turned!.

I then make a slit in the palm where the thumb should be after stuffing the hand and insert the stuffed thumb and sew it on or glue it on. I prefer to sew.

As you can see the fingers I turned are just between 3-4mm wide. You can turn even slimmer fingers the same way.

I hope this mini tutorial will be of some use to someone out there. Enjoy!

Want to win a beautiful bag?


Just a quick post to let you know that there is a draw for you all to win a cool bag in this site. I only just found it through another friend's website. So click on and enter http://tybidules.free.fr/wordpress/?p=158. The rules are all written in English too if you scroll down after the French version. Good luck.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Clutter

I have nothing much to show this Monday I am afraid only this clutter and chaos. Hopefully a doll will emerge from this!.






Friday, November 13, 2009

Don't laugh!!

OK don't laugh she looks as tough she has fluid rention problem with her swollen wrists and foot lol! I had to finish her quickly because I want to get on with something else. This was just an experiment and I went through a learning curve. Next time if I do a project like this I will use Merino wool. This wool I used was not Merino and was a bit rough to felt. But I learnt a few things doing this exercise. Another thing I will not make it so big as I found it a bit tedious to keep poking at such a big girl.



Monday, November 09, 2009

First frost!!

Today we had the first frost of winter at last. Normally we would have had frost from October onwards but this year the weather has been so mild. Even today it is fairly mild for November. The Clemetis in this part of the garden are still blooming and there are quite a few buds on the plant. But ofcourse after last nights frost it might wither away soon.



Sunday, November 08, 2009

Shaping up!

I know she is nowhere near even looking like a proper doll. But I am having so much fun with her. I also know that I really need to felt everything more. But I am impatient and want to get the project finished, so the felting is not enough on her. However since she is my first ever felted project I just wanted to try my hand out to see if I could do it. I am using all the bits of wool that I have collected over the years. A pity that I couldn't go to the knitting and stitching show this year to collect more treasures.Sorry Choc it was not a bone for you that I was making ha..ha..


Yesterday went for some shopping in London. In the past John Lewis would have lots and lots of beautiful remenants during this time of the year. But in recent years they have reduced their fabric section drastically which is so very sad. They also don't have that many remenants out for grabs. But yesterday amongst the very few fabrics I found this beautiful silk dupion. I just had to have it. The lovely colour does not show very well in this photo but the fabric is divine. I am really pleased that I found it first.


Saturday, November 07, 2009

Experimenting

I just thought of experimenting today. Actually I have got to blame Linda for it. Please go and visit her blog it is amazing. Well I got ichy fingers after seeing her wonderful creations. Now I don't think you can call mine wonderful. Looks like a potato isn't it lol.


Now it looks like a bone te...he.... I have to keep you guessing here.

Choc thinks I am making this for him and he tries to have a nibble at it......

Perhaps Isabelle you might have an idea of what I am trying to do. Can you remember that book in the background? I have to see now if it will look anything like the project in that book. A lot of it I am having to guess as my elimentry French knowledge is not very helpful with a lot of the instructions in that book. I am just making my own method up. Pardon the pun but I am wondering if I have bitten more than I can chew lol!!