Needlepoint firescreen

This is a firescreen containing a needlepoint I made - the firescreen was made by an old friend of my Dad's called Yorkie. Aren't the colours in the peacocks gorgeous?

Willow pattern cross stitch

This is a cross stitch I made and framed for my Mum, it's done in teeny-tiny stitches, and it's a copy of the traditional willow pattern often found on old crockery.

Mum's mosaic clock

This is a mosaic clock that I made for my Mum a few years ago.

T for me

I was flicking through one of those glossy fashion magazines and saw a stripey t-shirt with the Rocky Horror logo on and instantly wanted it. Horizontal stripes don't flatter my, ahem, curvy figure, so I painted my own t-shirt. I'm loving it!I just realised that the photo is the wrong way round, 'cos I took it in the mirror. DOH! But note the cunning positioning of the flash...

Rock Star

I made this bag charm for C. - she's such a rock chick!

Butterfly Bag

This is my current work in progress (now that I have disposed of the mountain of curtains). It's going to be a bag and it's for my friend C. She did most of the painting, I'm just finishing off the twiddly bits.Isn't the sparkly bronze paint gojus?

FloFoJen

This is a clipart-style drawing I did for Billingham Players' upcoming production of Glorious.
It's based on this photo of Florence Foster Jenkins.

Insomnia

Insomnia is terrible in many ways. As an on-and-off sufferer, I dread those loooooong nights desperately trying to grab a couple of hours kip. It does have a silver lining though, you get a lot done.

So last night was one of those nights. I tried ironing, I tried reading, I had a cup of hot milk, nothing worked. So I gave up and did some work on a little project I've had in my mind for a while - I created this logo for the theatre:


Any comments? What do you think? I've never designed a logo before, so anyone who knows anything about these things, please let me know if I've broken any rules, made any mistakes etc.

Bigger Movie

I'm getting more ambitious - this movie is over 8 minutes long. I'm not too happy with the canned laughter at the end, but it was after 3 in the morning and I needed my blankie.

It's made up of snippets from the dress rehearsal for Song Birds, plus a few free .wav file sound effects. Click here to have a look.

New idea

I've decided this blog is going to serve an additional purpose (well that's the nature of blogs, they can be anything you want, and they can change and grow). I'm going to keep track of the ideas I have as well as the projects I actually complete.

I've rearranged a few things in my flat and now I have a load of boxes and stuff in the corner of my living room. I want to hide the mess, so I've decided to make a screen. My friend Wavey has agreed to build some wooden frames for me, then I'll stretch some canvas over them and staple it at the back. I need to look at hinge options - I feel a trip to B&Q coming on.

I'm thinking at the moment that I'll try something similar to some wallpaper I saw recently. It has loads of black butterflies, dense at the bottom and getting fewer towards to top. I'll paint the canvas with magnolia first (boring I know, but that's the colour on the walls - I can always change it later) then use a butterfly stamp I have to put the black butterflies on. Then maybe varnish, maybe not.

Another video

I'm so into video at the moment! Here's another one called Stars In Her Eyes - I'm particularly proud of the sound effects - click here to watch it on YouTube.

More non-craft stuff

This isn't craftsy either, but I designed and built it, and I'm proud of it (except the colour scheme, which wasn't my choice).
This is the website for Billingham Players, the amateur dramatics society I'm a member of. Check out the diary - it's really another blog, and also the photo album - lots of photos of me in silly costumes!

Not Craft

Check this out! I'm so proud of it! Ok, it's not craftsy, but I still 'made' it...

I went to a rehearsal for Song Birds, the forthcoming Billingham Players production, and I took some photos and some video. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do anything with the video, but I downloaded Microsoft MovieMaker (which involved upgrading to XP service pack 2, a nightmare) and had a play around with it. I'm really pleased with the result. Here's a link, but if that doesn't work, just go to www.youtube.com and search for billingham players.

Helen, the woman who's singing in the first bit of the clip, has a fantastic voice, doesn't she?

Cut-off trousers

Now summer is here I can start wearing my favourite cut-off trousers again. I love these - they're so cool and fresh looking. I've had them for about 4 years now, and they're still going strong.

I was given them by my Mum, who didn't like them any more. She's a little bit shorter than me, so full length on her looks like not-quite-cut-off on me. I decided to cut them a little shorter and add some interest to the hem. I was really into crewel work at the time, and I thought about embroidering them (I had more time on my hands then). Luckily, I decided that was far too much work so I used fabric paints instead.

I drew the pattern, based on elements of several crewel work designs that I'd copied from the internet, using Paint Shop Pro, then printed it off. I thought about trying to transfer it somehow, but ended up tracing it through the trouser fabric as it's very loosly woven and a bit see-through.

I just used a black fabric pen for the outline, then filled in using fabric paint. You can't tell very easily from the photo, but the pink and turquoise paints are slightly irridescent.

I have to top up the paint every now and then, because it does fade eventually (especially if you wash at high temperatures, which in this case I do - after all they are white). But they're well worth that little bit of effort.

Bags, bags, bags

Check out these gojus bags!

I bought this one for 8 quid, but it was just plain black. I added the red paisley design using fabric paint specially made for use on dark fabrics.

The brown and blue clircles one used to be a cushion. All I did was sew across the two bottom corners, gather the two top corners and stuff the ends into the strap, which I made out of canvas and painted to match. AND, it comes with it's own pre-installed zip! Brilliant!

The sunflower bag is my current favourite. I made it using that plastic-coated stuff you can buy to make table cloths out of, so I hope it will wear well. I wanted something yellow, because that's this summer's colour, but I look awful in it. So, here it is on my bag! Coolio.

Here's a closeup of the little details I lurve soooooo mcuh.

Earrings and Pendant for C

My friend C. has a birthday coming up. I normally leave these things to the last minute, but this year I'm organised and I've made her a pendant and some matching earrings well in advance - woohoo for me!



I used 18 gauge silver-coloured wire and round-nosed pliers to make a spiral shape. Then I threaded turquoise and pale blue glass beads on some 34-gauge silver-coloured wire and wove it around the spiral. The trickiest part was making the earrings symetrical.

Bag for E.

I'm going to visit my friends C. and P. this weekend. They have a 2-year-old daughter, E., whose birthday I missed. I've made her this cute little bag. It's irridescent pink with a purple butterly which is picked out with shiny pink dots.

I used some leftover canvas and coloured it with the irridescent pink fabric paint (I used a sponge, which I found gives better coverage and uses less paint than a paintbrush). I then used a stamp, and purple fabric paint, for the butterfly. Then I finally embellished the outline with some shiny dimensional fabric paint.

Isn't it go-jus?

Amber Necklace

I was given a beautiful Amber and silver necklace by K. a couple of years ago. Although I liked it, I seldom wore it because it was just the wrong length for me. I finally got round to doing something with it a few months ago and I'm very pleased with the result.

I decided to go for gold wire, which I felt went well with the warm colour of the amber, and I created links, twisting the wire around round-nosed pliers. The links are of varying length, but they get longer towards the centre. I think the organic, irregular look goes perfectly with the asymmetrically-shaped amber pieces.

Leather Keyrings

My friends C and P celebrated their third wedding anniversary earlier this year. Now, according to the experts, that's the leather anniversary. Those of you who know me will appreciate the sorts of gifts I originally thought of.

These keyrings are much more sensible, and suitable, although the idea of trying to make a whip still appeals...

Acrylic on Canvas Clock

I was given a canvas and some acrylic paints by C. a while ago, and I've been playing around with different ideas ever since. This clock is one of the things to come out of that process.

Wavey's Birthday

It was my friend Wavey's 50th birthday recently, and he wasn't happy about it. I created this I demand a recount t-shirt, with the help of C, which I think expresses exactly how disgruntled he felt.