Sunday, 30 March 2008

Sneaky Peeks...




A little teaser pic for Jacqui. My Vintage swap creation (which is being posted out tomorrow)

It's made from vintage 1950s fabric, some old liberty print fabric, vintage mother of pearl buttons (thank you - Vintage Violet!) and some other ingrediants. I hope you like it, Jacqui!!!!

Friday, 28 March 2008

Inspiration- a Challenge

What inspires you?

Music. Colour. Sound. A walk in the woods? The crashing of waves at sea. Beautiful blogs. Etsy creations. Old photos.

This week’s challenge is to find something that inspires you. Find something that inspires you, a tree, an orange, a single bead, a doll, a painting, or the view out of your bathroom window. Sketch it, photograph it, document it in some way and then craft something with that inspirational item in mind.

Happy Crafting Ladies,

Meri

Thursday, 27 March 2008

The Easter Swaps in all their Glory


I've been surfing this blog plus our own ones and I think that I've collected pictures of all our swaps to each other.

I've saved them here so I hope we can all see them.

I say that we were all very lucky.

Wednesday, 19 March 2008

A present from the delightful Gingermonkey and a ramble.

Thought I 'd show you one of the things that I've been up to in the last few months, here, modelled by my very own handsome ds (it's in the genes you know!) is the cuff that he nagged me to make, it took me longer to thread the beads onto the wool than it did to actually knit it but it was my first real go at knitting with beads and it was blissfully easy. It's a pattern from the ubiquitous Debbie Stoller, think it's the Stitch 'n' Bitch tome. Unfortunately he showed it to his mates and now they all want one!! They're Emo's you know!

As part of the Emo thing, he's had me rooting about in charity shops for suitable t- shirts (which is obviously a real hardship ;-), he really wanted a Slipknot t-shirt and I explained that you can't always find exactly what you want , it doesn't work like that. And would you believe it .... after a few weeks of dedicated charity rummaging, yes I found one, along with a couple of punk rock festival t-shirts and one with nirvana type doodlings on. You can crown me queen of the charity shop rummage if you want. While I was there I picked up the 2mm needles I needed for the cuff, I'm sure I have some but they're currently in hiding. Of course, he's picked up the charity shop habit now and can be found amongst the boxes of old LPs , searching for hidden treasure, when he's not mugging old ladies , of course.

On to this delightful chick, courtesy of the divine Gingermonkey, it was my swap in return for my knitted breast, sorry I meant cupcake. To avoid the hassle of prising it from the grubby mitts of my dd, I waited until she went to school to take this photo, it should be noted that she's also appropriated the lavender sachet that went with it (which I was going to scent my undie drawers with) and put it her wardrobe to make her clothes smell nice! I got my revenge by nicking one of the chocolate eggs that came with it.

Saturday, 15 March 2008

The Happy Book Challenge


OK, the challenge is ... are you brave enough to share some pics of your sketch books/source books?

I have blogged some pictures from my source books here - I collect pictures of images that inspire me. I'm inviting you to share some pics of your own so we can marvel at the creative process! Meridian has set the ball rolling here but would love to see some more pics.

If you can show a sketch and also the finished object, even better! It can be fascinating to see how these things change and evolve.

Here's a pic from one of my happy books to get you going ... !

Friday, 14 March 2008

Blog Spot!!

Just been blog hopping and came across THIS fabby post.

Just yummmmm

Swap from JeanGenie to Whizzz


The postie brought my Easter swap parcel from JeanGenie yesterday & here is what it contained :-


A cute lavender scented Egg containing smaller eggs

A lovely card (sorry forgot to include it in the photo)

A box of really scrummy Thorntons chocs (sadly now only the wrappers are left!)

The eggs are currently hanging in my conservatory near my beading table & smelling lovely. Thankyou JeanGenie :-)





Wednesday, 12 March 2008

I received my Easter swap from Fiona (Fubsy) yesterday, and what a lovely gift it was too.
I opened up my package to find a beautiful little egg cosy with the most pretty embellishments, including twinkly crystals, on the top. It's just too nice to use and so will sit in my cabinet on display.

Fiona also gave me a sweet little l'occitane soap and some Kernow (Cornish) choccy bunnies. If you look very carefully there is one missing already - now how did that happen ?

Thank-you Fiona !
I have been rushing around today and just finished a biscuit making session with Boo so I am going to sit down this afternoon with a cuppa and a choccy bunny.




Fiona asked me to blog my easter swap gift to her too. I'm sure most of you have seen this on my blog before but here it is again.

Tuesday, 11 March 2008

don't panic this is only a test

just trying to sort the blog out and tinker with it... i think i have sorted out the everyone posting under fubsy thing.... i think... and jsut tinkering with new title image but not got the colour right yet.... it should all be tip top tommorow.


meri

Monday, 10 March 2008

Easter swap from VintageViolet to JBR


I got this on Saturday, and really needed the boost it gave me! Megan made it for the nursery - my baby is due in 8 weeks - and so I love the personalised '2008' in the corner! The colours are so vivid, and the buttons so cute - even my son, normally too cool to show enthusiasm, was impressed!!! Thank you Megan, and for the little Easter basket - you are ace - here's a big kiss {Mwah!}
JBR
xxx

Sunday, 9 March 2008

Easter Swap to Ranting Housewife




A bit late posting this pic - sorry!!!!!

Here's my swap prezzie for the lovely ranting housewife (well, her little 'un). I made a lavender sachet too...but being my hugely useless self, I can't find the pic I took. Hmmmm. Best go and have a cup of tea and some cake to make myself feel better!!!

And finally ...


... at last I have pulled my finger out and become part of the MN arts and crafts blog! Hello everyone.

I know, it was AGES ago now, but Meridian challenged us to produce something recycled and blue. I had two denim pinafores and a denim skirt in a corner that dd2 had grown out of, and I had been wondering what to do with them for ages … here was the inspiration! I decided to make a patchwork bag, but when I cut out the squares I discovered I actually had enough for two bags (well, I did once dd2 presented me with a pair of jeans she had outgrown too!) I like the frayed look of denim so made the bags with the seams facing outwards. Before making the bag up I sewed round each square to ensure that it didn’t fray right back to the seams. Note I said "bag". I made dd1's bag first. Poor dd2 is still waiting (oops)

Ravelry swapsies

The parcels have arrived & finally have something I can blog!




This was the ”I’m just sending this box so my partner can have cardboard for their boots and I was guilted into putting stuff in it” swap - you have to be a Discworld fan to understand the humour in this. If you're not a fan go read some of Terry Pratchett's fantastic books & you soon will be.

I've blogged it in more detail on mine own blog & I hope to be adding more WIP pics of the Pratchgan there very soon too.

Saturday, 8 March 2008

GreebosWhiskers to Dior


Here is the lovely present from GW! I have posted more stuff about it on my blog. It it REALLY cute, so thanks to GW. The Creme Egg didn't last long I'm afraid...

Thursday, 6 March 2008

Whizz Swap Glimpse - postage delayed due to 2nd round of pox

Whizz...your, ahem, "treat" is ready however I have been prevented from getting to the PO due to 2nd round of chicken pox blighting our homestead...

It will get posted at weekend...

In the meantime, here's a little taster...can ya gis wot it is yit?

Wednesday, 5 March 2008

Vintage Violet got her Easter swap!

So for my Easter swap to Vintage Violet I made a cross stitch Easter bunny card and a little bag, sewed to close with blue ribbon...

...which held some chocolate eggs and lollipops.












Glad you liked them VV!
JBR
xxx

Tuesday, 4 March 2008

Easter swap for Vintage Violet finished!

Until she gets it in the post, here is just a sneak peek at the Easter themed things I made for Vintage Violet!


I chose Spring colours and spent ages faffing with little details... I could have spent ages longer but if I don't get this posted before the end of the week I will be late with it! Hope you like it Megan, I am such a novice compared to most of the folk on here!
xxx

Monday, 3 March 2008

Easter swap - received from Whizz...


this beautiful earring and bracelet set...aren't they lovely?

there was also a gorgeous keyring which the smallfry love so much thay have ferretted it away and won't tell me where, when I get it back (AND I WILL, you hear me kids?!) I will photo and post it...and some delicious mini creme eggs - you should try these, they are MUCH nicer than the big ones which have far too much goo in them for my liking...these mini ones are perfect goo to chocolate ratio

whizz...yours is in progress and will be posted as soon as is finished

THANKS AGAIN!

Finished My Swap!!

I have finally today finished my Easter Swap so it will be whizzing it's way to Miaou in the morning.

Here's a sneeky peek!!

Sunday, 2 March 2008

Here's my Self Indulgence

Today I hid myself away in the conservatory, put on my MP3 player with it's eclectic range of music and rifled through my beady stash. I have a couple of lovely focal lampwork beads made by Tania Grey so I decided today to stop just looking at them and to actually make something!

This focal is a whopper, a really heavy encased bead with swirly purples, green leaves and tiny pale purple & white flowers. I put it with lilac opaque, lime green and clear seed beads and it's just for ME!
(sorry if the colours appear wonky - I am having trouble with my PC monitor)