Another crafty Friday

Well as you can see I had my usual chaos around me and lucky I got in early (well I run it so I have to be early) so I could spread myself around ha ha.  I had lots of wee things that I wanted to do today so after being made a lovely cup of herbal tea from the cafe (thanks to John and Paul who run it) I started.  By starting what I mean is putting my stuff out, chatting to our other members, looking at their goodies, setting out the club goodies (for anyone to use) and ordering my lunch - then down to business!   First of all I made a few Christmas cards - I find it easier to make the cards first thing so we can all chat and look at what everyone else is doing.  Although I made 5 these are my favorite two - the first one is a simple pyramage one and I used some clear sparkle glitter on it and I like the colours on it.   The second one uses 2 toppers - one big one stuck down with double sided pads and one small one dangling from a wee bow using black thick thread - I don't know who i'll give this one to - think i'll give it to youngest daughter so I can have it here!

After the cards (and another tea) I decided to make some Christmas ornaments - the 1st one was an easy one made from paper - 7 shapes cut out and folded in 1/2 from top to bottom and then glued the 1/2's together to make the decoration.  I used garden twine for the hanging loop because I quite like the scruffy sort of look it has.   Here it is.......

Then I thought I would have a shot at trying a wee fairy - I wanted it to be really simple and easy to make (so I can do this with the children in the girls club).  I threaded my twine through a bead leaving enough to hang it from and tied a knot at the top.  I left the twine long enough to make wee legs and tied knots at the bottom of it and then used another piece of twine to make the arms with knots at the end.  I cut out 2 dresses from sticky backed felt and sandwiched everything between them.  For the wings I used parchment paper but instead of embossing I just settled with pricking - although I think when I make more of them I will use stickles or glitter gel pens for extra sparkle - after all what is a fairy without sparkle.  Not a very good picture but in all honesty not a very good fairy but ok for a first attempt.   here she is

Then onto my hat pins - well beady pins I call them.  I got some long pins (blunt) and glued a variety of beads onto them.  I like a bit of colour but I especially like pearls or cheap pearl look alikes ha ha - anyway finished them off and here they are all ready to be added to my posher cards for special people.

I had a large heart shaped bead and found a pin to go through it and attached it to a chain that I use for my bag charms - I think it makes a pretty nice keyring - hope you think so too!

And my final finishing off project today was my kusudama ball - to make it I had to make 60 origami type petals - they made 12 five petal flowers when glued together.   The ball was made in 2 halves with 6 flowers in each.  To make it nice and secure it had to be wet glue that held it all together and while it was drying I secured each petal and flower with paper clips so nothing moved!  When it was time to stick the 2 halves together I slipped the wool to hang it from (could be ribbon or twine) and left enough room to add some nice beads to dangle from the bottom!  It's easy to do but time consuming and fiddly - I had everything attached except the beads so that was my job and after it was finished the manager of the Centre liked it so much I gave it to him to hang in the front office - that's where I do my volunteer work so I can look at it every day.  Hope you like this as much as I do - it's the type of thing that I'm going to give my special friends at Christmas for good luck and good health.

Anyway - I think that is enough for today - you will be cross eyed with all the reading as this seems to be a long post.   I'm glad I've got everything in it though.........
until the next time.............