Christmas Money spent in The Bead Shop, Nottingham.

 After a very busy morning, we decided to go to Nottingham and .....obviously I needed to restock from our crafty business from the previous day...so a trip to the bead shop was necessary ....(yes, I can hear myself rationalising!)
Very friendly staff and lots of choice! There will be a return visit! :)
http://www.mailorder-beads.co.uk/#axzz2otAPfTbT

Quite excited by my felt beads kit - have made some beaded beads to mix with the felted ones.

Lots of tiny green/blue metallic sheen beads to start my beaded rope projects and blues, black and red to make bead soup so I can make a handle for my beaded bag.

More Post Christmas Crafty things!

 Team Crochet....Abbie helped us to hone our crochet skills with making 'Granny squares'.

 A collaboration of crochet pieces resulting in a rather pretty corsage .. this may pin onto my slouchy hat or my work bag.

(Button still to be stitched on).

A Post Christmas Crafty day!

Today I, along with two lovely friends planned an afternoon or craft activities whilst our husbands played shooty-fighty games on the x box and other board games.

I brought along the flowery earring tutorial and Friday Flowers (Thanks Becs!) which are  fairly simple projects. We only had time (and eyesight!) to do the flowery earrings but had some amazing results by just changing the type of bead (see photos).Needless to say, Abbie is now hooked on beading and now has the start of her 'stash'...a Matchmakers box with her spiral chenille stitch rope for her lovely pendant and the web address for Stitch 'n'craft...Another beader is born! :)

Andrea's creation.......we got there in the end, a true beader never gives up when the thread breaks! :)

Abbie's creation - a change of bead can make it into a completely different project. 

Another beader is born.........Abbie has has very first bead box......this is how it begins! :)

Intriguing wool!

Whilst shopping in town I found this wool that I have seen before but never really looked closely. It has a weaving aspect to it - so as a textile degree student was naturally curious. Ordinarily it is used for making scarves, but I have been thinking what else it could be used for - weaving book marks, hair bands, sewing together when stretched out into a fabric to crochet into or bead/couch other material onto.

Whilst thinking about this I have been knitting a scarf with it and can see lots of possibilties.

 Open weave.....ooh could weave lots of different things through....

Didn't take long to reach a reasonable length. Very quick to pick up for a beginner knitter, I suggest!

Pinch Beaded Beads!

Here's a little something I've been playing around with today- making beads with pinch beads.

After looking at and following various tutorials, I eventually found this you tube link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWJpjw_omKg

This has really easy to follow instructions and I found it brilliant on a video as you can pause and go back to tricky bits!

I'm going to try and make one now without the video !

My Etsy page - Inspirations in Jewellery

Just posting my Etsy site (for anyone that is following me, or bothered :) ) I will be adding more to this site as I get closer to Christmas.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/purpleinspiration?ref=si_shop

Thanks in advance for browsing!

Flowery Earrings

After struggling to bezel a chaton bead in the flower design  was using..I decided to go with a easier design until I was more comfortable with the materials.

I made a slight change the design, as I used freshwater pearls which are irregular in size so I needed to add a few more seed beads.

It's not perfect but I feel more confident to tackle more tricky patterns.

My Knitted Hoodie Challenge!

My knitting is coming along..need to do some more this evening. It's quite slow progress at the moment because there are so many stitches! Keep nagging me to get on with it!

Bead Fair Trip

This is my haul from the Hampshire Bead fair...have just recently got into working with the tiny beads...but it's challenging my brain- I felt that everything else I was doing - jewellery -wise was all too easy and not requiring my to learn anything new.

I really want to finish my chenille stitch bangle and try working with 2 holed seed beads.....very interested to see how they will look together.

Our new thrifty workspace...

This week has been busy making room for my new-to-me workspace for the craft/hobby room. The old table was very wobbly and not at all conducive to beading or holding a sewing machine...in the spirit of thrift we always try our local charity shops and BAZINGA...we found an ideal desk.


Now comes the job or rearranging storage to accommodate crafty items.It's good to sort out all of those bits and pieces in drawers every now and again, and I often find a new use for things!

Macrame Owls

 

Here are some Macramé owls that I have made- one with embroidery thread and one with string. I will try and post a photo tutorial later.

 

Learning Chenille stitch with seed beads.

 

A couple of weekends ago my  beady friend Becs taught me Chenille stitch....these are my practise pieces. The blue one has a slightly looser tension and weave - I think the beads are slightly bigger too. I really like the pink as it has an elastic feel. Getting to grips with the tensioning and tininess of the beads.......must be as I bought quite a lot of them at Stitch'n' craft. Well, if the beads are smaller, it means you can buy more.....doesn't it?

 

 

 

This link from Beading Daily has helped enormously too!

http://www.beadingdaily.com/blogs/inside_beadwork_magazine/archive/2013/08/29/stitch-pro-how-to-do-chenille-stitch.aspx

Watch this space for more seed bead creations!

My new knitting project!

 

I have decided to pick up my knitting needles and, instead of experimenting and free-styling, to actually follow a pattern and make my first ever jumper - a hoodie to be exact, for those Winter evenings........

 

So after an explore of the yarn shops in Salisbury and the internet.....worked out cheaper at Hobby craft, so off we went (we,  being myself and my lovely husband Matthew).

So ..this evening has been relaxing with a film and knitting......

Firstly I had to knit a tension square....and it was spot on! I really like this stitch - very neat and flat. 

 

Casting on 80 stitches for the back...oops!...started with wrong colour.........start again! Kept losing count too!

 

Ahhh, right colour ...right number of stitches.....now to change to a different colour yarn.

 Changed colour easily, now to learn Basketweave stitch- I just need to make sure I can count to 4 and make sure that I remember whether I'm knitting or purling! :)





I think that's it for tonight (Matthew has brought pudding and wine!).....next basket weave square tomorrow and then the rest of the back. Keep checking back to make sure it doesn't get left in my knitting basket!



Band Rehearsal

It was good to have band night at last! Pity it's on a Sunday and I can't indulge in the 'post band' treat of a glass of wine. Went well and met some lovely people...coped well with the music especially as clarinet is my 2nd instrument. All notes in right order and in right place ...all good!

Now, back to finishing off prep for next week. Another busy week of teaching small children;  (not as small as I would like)..but fairly small.

Off to warm up the laminator!

Planning and Preparing for a week of teaching....before crafting and music making!

Have the motivation to do all my planning today before my first band rehearsal at a new wind band tomorrow. I have to admit I did get my clarinet out this morning to check I still rememebered how to play it...I need to make more time in my work-life-balance for music....work, Guiding and more work seems to take up alot of my time an I think we teachers need to remind ourselves; yes, it is a vocation and a calling to teach, but we make better teachers with a good night's sleep, being well rested from a relaxing weekend and having a well rounded life with hobbies and time with family and friends.

Saying that, having been off sick for 2 days, I have an itching to go into school today to catch up on things, rather than face the pile on Monday morning. Swings and roundabouts. But tomorrow, I play!

Art Therapy Exercises

http://intuitivecreativity.typepad.com/expressiveartinspirations/100-art-therapy-exercises.html


Whilst studying I wrote my thesis on Art Therapy - so much has changed since my degree and I thought that I would update my knowledge.I always try and carry a sketch book but more often that not, take photos to document my inspirations now.

An art journal would be so beneficial for some children who are vunerable ...and maybe adults in times of anxiety. This website has lots of good links to exercises to explore.

Fire!

I may well melt some glass tomorrow.......

Crochet flowers for a poorly duvet day on the sofa.

 

My crochet hooks and my wool bag came out today as I was looking for something that was a simple 'no brain' craft to do that didn't give me a headache. What to do with my creations? Hair slides? adornment for shoes/bags? Great for using up scraps of wool !


Some quick instructions .....photos to come later in daylight!

Use any size hook or wool!

1. Make a slip stitch
2. Chain 5 stitches
3. Slip stitch into the first stich to make a loop
4. Chain 5 stitches
5. Slip stitch  into the loop - count 3 along.
6. Repeat instruction 2-5 until you get back to the beginning.
7. Remember to keep your work taut as you go.
8. Sew in the loose ends to keep them neat and sew onto your bags, jumpers, shoes, etc.

I might sew or glue a button in the middle and put on my bag. Maybe loads of different coloured flowers to make a picture and sewnn onto canvas.

Welcome to my updated crafty blog!

Me - in the day job!

Welcome to my new blog....having just got married to the wonderful Matthew, over 5 months ago, I have just got round to updating everything with my maiden name on.