Hearts and flowers

I loved the inspiration of this photo and the words 'small steps to happiness' as I started my next project - floral heart favours.  Hobbycraft had a sale so I snapped up as many as I could of these heart shaped little boxes.  Paper mache again - so having found how absorbent it is, I decided to paint them first with ordinary undercoat paint.  It was rather thick and streaked a bit - so I had to go over it with white acrylic to try and smooth the strokes out a bit.

My daughter suggested filling the boxes with flowers so I raided my flower stock and experimented....

So far so good - daughter approved (always a good thing)


I decided the lids would look great covered with some lovely lacy hessian that I got in Texas last year (my favourite place to visit - home of my oldest and best friend)    ......



Next - adding a hessian twine loop to hang the favours....
I used my Dad's bradawl to poke a hole in the top of the box, then, using a large darning needle, I threaded a length of twine through and knotted it on the inside, trimming off the ends....



A bit of twine round the box to add a rustic feel ....



(Top tip - use PVC glue to stick the twine to the box, let it dry - and then the bow is sooo much easier to tie and fix without the whole lot slipping off...)

I decided to go with faux silk pink rose buds glued into the base of the box.  I needed something to hold the little plastic stems - gluing them to the paper mache wouldn't work.  Enter upcycled pizza packaging - thin polystyrene foam, ideal for what I needed.  Six roses fitted beautifully - the centres looked a bit plasticky, so I added a single white pearl bead to each rose.

The idea is for the box to be presented closed - the recipient opens it and gets a lovely surprise ....

The lid can then be pushed onto the back of the box so the hanging favour has two lovely sides to show as it turns in the breeze....






Ta da!

Old but beautiful

About 10 years ago, my mother who was a feisty, independent old lady, became bed bound and we had to clear her flat in South Africa; rather than sell precious things, I shipped many over to the UK. One was her sewing machine that my father had maintained in perfect condition for over 50 years. As far as I know it still works as well as it ever did!  It has its own cabinet which has survived three international moves without mishap; over the years it has been sanded down and revarnished by Dad to smarten it up and it still looks great, if venerable!

Mum taught me to sew on this machine, I used it to make my first, (truly awful), blouse, and my wedding dress, with many dresses, blouses, curtains and other projects in between.  Mum continued to sew well into her late 80s.  I have my own Brother machine, bought as part of my trousseau when I was 22, and I still use it 40 years on - although it is in dire need of my dear old dad's ministrations.

Neither Karen (who has her own sewing machine) nor I can keep this old machine any longer and I will try to sell it.  I have an image of it standing in a large sewing room, with a swatch of gorgeous fabric under the pressure foot, looking like the sewing machine version of the dowager countess from Downton Abbey!

Something unique and different for Christmas

I made these two beauties from inspiration on Pinterest - love love love Pinterest!  So many great ideas and talented crafters who are generous to show and share their creations.

I used inexpensive wine glasses, silk autumn leaves, gold stars and gold beading - and tea light holders from Ikea.  Hot glue doesn't stick very well to glass, so PVC glue was the answer - with glitter glue to stick any problem spots and cover any glue that showed, although the PVC glue I use dries clear.

I've not listed these on Etsy - too close now to Christmas to make posting sensible, but we're at Riseley Lower School Christmas Fayre on the 5th December ...... For those folk in the UK, Riseley is a lovely village in North Bedfordshire.

Taking photos for Etsy or Facebook

Using a smartphone or my iPad for photos, to upload to our little shop, Dunn Crafting, on www.etsy.com is fine - the picture quality is not bad, but the biggest issue is positioning and lighting.  The low energy bulbs we all have to use these days give a yellowish tinge to any photo that doesn't really do the item justice.  I've photo-ed baby bunting in my bedroom which has large picture windows and lots of natural light - that's good but sitting on the floor trying to capture that perfect shot of bunting strung across my cupboard doors is less than ideal!  Too much wobble and cats interfering!

Enter the Lightcase!

This ingenious piece of kit is, very simply, a box made of translucent plastic with a hole in the top through which you can take photos with your smartphone.

The results are brilliant - in every sense of the word!  Have a look at the difference.....
Before

After, using the lightcase

The colours are brighter, sharper, more vibrant .....

Weather gremlins

Certain words and phrases, it seems to me, act as wake up calls for the weather gremlins - barbeque, long weekends when everyone goes camping, Glastonbury, school fetes and summer fayres....

....Even whispered, these can bring thunder, lightening and lashings of rain!

We decided we need to make ourselves known on a more face-to-face basis, rather than just relying on on-line sales, so opted for a stall at Moggerhanger Lower School's summer fayre.

Everything was set up, looked really pretty - and things had just started to get going, with some folk really taken with our things .... They promised to return after they had seen the other  stalls.... And then the rain came down.  In torrents.  Everyone went home.  So did we.  Best laid plans ..... Better luck next time!

Goody bags for weddings

The youngest daughter of a good friend of mine is getting married in a fortnight.  Among the myriad of arrangements attached to a DIY wedding is how to keep children, aged 1 - 9, entertained and, particularly, quiet in church.  Answer?  Pew bags.  Never heard of them?  Neither had I until my friend asked me to make some!  Simply, they are cloth bags, drawstring or with handles, filled with goodies to keep youngsters quiet and happy.  Pinterest has all sorts of pins - busy bags, quiet bags, activity bags, ISpy bags - all filled with ingenious ideas.  For a wedding, the beauty of these bags is that the children can take them away, and they can be used again and again to keep treasures and other cool stuff.  Brilliant idea!

 My friend supplied the material - her main choices were children's curtain material with a really cute animal design for the little ones, and a lovely lilac tree design for the older kids.  We didn't have quite enough so she got some extra material - good quality cotton with owls - not a match, but what does that matter?  Her daughter's wedding colours are lavender so even though the fabric colours didn't quite match, lavender ribbon gives the right touch to link it all together.

The bags are really quick and easy to make, with the seams overlocked to allow for fraying - the curtain material is linen.

Button letter

A good friend is approaching a significant birthday, so I decided to make her something.  I'd wanted to try doing a letter, and had seen some black and white buttons so that was the germ of the plan.   Colemans craft warehouse is the most fabulous place for anything crafty, obvously my first (and only!) port of call. At the branch I go to, they have regular workshops for all sorts of crafts; every time I go to shop or browse, there are always lots of busy ladies of all ages and, often, a number of   bored husbands patiently waiting..  I bought a large paper mâché P, a couple of packets of black and white buttons of various designs, some white poster paint - and a piece of pink and purple floral linen ribbon to cover the outer sides of the letter.

To start with, I decided to paint the letter, using the smallest paint brush I could find - not on purpose, it was just the only one immediately available! Poster paint is nice and thick, but paper mâché is very absorbent, and with my little paint brush, I had to do several coats before I started to get the matte white effect I was after.  Next time, I will use a bigger brush and, perhaps, get a little pot of enamel paint.

The linen ribbon was frayed along the edges, so I trimmed it a little and then applied PVA glue to the letter in three long lines, sticking down the ribbon as I went along.  PVA glue sticks well ... But .... It shows through fabric, so if you use it, be prepared for some creative covering up!

As you can see, as I worked, my black and white plan became pink, with black and white!  A sort of  pretty candy effect.

I found that these paper mâché letters are filled with something (sounds like sand) to weigh them down and help them

to stand.  With the weight of the buttons on the front, I wasn't sure that the letter would stand, so I added  a little ring (used for hooking the central wire cords for net curtains) that I screwed into the top through the ribbon, and then glued and surrounded with well glued buttons.  A deep burgundy ribbon, edged in gold, finished it off so my friend could hang the letter if it didn't balance (I put buttons on the bottom, so it probably won't!)

She was delghted with the end result -