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.