BOXES , BAKING AND PAINT PROJECTS

I simply have to get Broadband, Dial Up is taking forever to load, , and to view other Blogs is so slow and frustrating!

But, I have been very busy, still crafting etc for The Rose Room's Christmas Day this Saturday.

The three boxes are all made from Vintage linens, that I cunningly sourced from Rachael's stash!

Raised eyebrows is the only reaction I got when I showed Rachael what I had made with her precious fabrics and laces -- but all for for a good cause was my justification

A covered heart box with recycled laces, vintage linen and silver Christmas trim.
I know -this one is `over the top!'

This one is pretty, the cluster of flowers on the lid is made from crochet pieces that I cut and armed with my hot glue gun, I ruffled and gathered them .

Indirectly this really has nothing to do with craft, but I had spent the afternoon in my garage painting, and when I went out to photograph the pieces later - I felt two pair of eyes following me, my inseparable Tabby cats. The flash has caught their eyes!

This is what I was painting for Rachael's shop -work in progress!

I have also made for The Rose Room's Christmas day these little Cointreau and Cardamon mini cakes -it took longer to fashion the embellishments etc than to make the actual cakes

Very easy to make, and they are baked in small, clean spaghetti tins which I use every year

Finally.... this is fabulous, I also up-lifted this from R's garage, tossed in a corner, covered in dust , some of the cane had unwound, so with hammer, tacks and a can of Royal Blue paint -YEHHHHHHH - more raised eyebrows!!, but doesn't it look wonderful?

CHRISTMAS CRAFTS

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!!

Yes I am, in amongst the chaos of moving, surrounded by boxes and general shambles and trying to get into the Christmas spirit, I have been steadily crafting for Rachael's Christmas Special Day at her The Rose Room this coming Saturday.

Having never made Tussy Mussies before, here are my first two efforts -`Totally over the top' I hear you say , and that is possibly true, but when I found all my Xmasy craft things, I

felt that this would be a great way to cull, and yet have something to show for it.

So armed with my Hot Glue Gun and very little stitching, I thought I would share my efforts with you

I had a lot of varying sizes and shapes of boxes. ( I love boxes), I started to cover and embellish them - they also look good on the inside -this one worked out so well !
These little numbers are Sooooooooooo cute, I removed all the tin foil off a roll and cut them into rounds, made bases, lids etc and stitched a small hinge

My green models, there is such fabulous selection of fabrics - what is a girl to do? but go purchase some more

I shouldn't have... but both the green boxes are made with new fabric -couldn't resist!!

The advantage of living close to my daughter, is that I am able to raid her torn , vintage linens, so next post will be a showing of the covered boxes made with vintage linens and laces that I have used

Wrought Iron Progress

Yeeeeeeeeeeh!!!!

Shannan from across the Tasman Sea at Paint Mine Pink has received my paper dress swaps

Check out her amazing Blog site and her awesome Etsy, she has the most beautiful things for sale, and of course all hand made!!!

As promised, an up-date on my foray into sanding, undercoating and painting and making the seat covers for old (JUNK) wrought iron, well, that is what I first thought, when Rachael instructed me of her requirements.

I am so glad I didn't throw out the `old painting clothes' from when we painted The Rose Room

Who would believe the finished result?????????????
The one is painted white, with a pretty blue patterned seat cover.

............... and the cream one with a green patterned seat cover

BUT WAIT, there's more, this is this afternoon's effort!!!!!!!!!!!!! secretly I have quite enjoyed restoring these, which is good, because in the garage there is more pieces (still no room for the car)

Rachael is going to hang her Halloween Tussy Mussies for The Rose Room's window display.

I am off to Christchurch tomorrow, to have some special time with an old School Friend, we started school together when we were five and have remained best friends ever since.

Be back on Thursday

BUSY -BUSY AND MORE

Well, it has been a week since Rachael's shop opened and I really have to wonder what I have done all week.

With Rachael at the shop, I have caught up on Housework -boring you might say, but I actually enjoy it.

On the craft scene we have been busy making out Paper Doll swaps, they seem to get bigger and better, but they are now all ready to post, one tends to get carried away with embellishments, and we now have Rachael's husband `Babes' taking an interest in what we are producing - he is now using the word `embellishment,:):) we think he likes the word.



This is a very bad photo of me, but I am making my own felt from Merino wool slivers, to be used for my Xmas swap project, time is marching on, but I have made four, only eight to go!!!!!

In amongst all of this activity I am house hunting, although the family don't seem to mind me living with them, I do feel I should be pro-active in searching for something suitable, a small apartment would be good, but I feel I need to have extra space for all of my craft and needlework, I have a little here with me, but somewhere in the depths of a storage container there are many boxes and bins of absolute essentials!

WINTER PROJECTS

This winter I had fun making these hats, so simple to knit, but the best part was you actually felted them in the washing machine after the hat was complete.
The first one I did for myself, and very nervously I ran the hot water into the machine with a pair of jeans (that is what the instructions said)
I kept lifting the lid in fear and trepidation to check progress, and to my astonishment the result was fantastic,.......... from a very large knitted hat.....................
.......... to this!! I felted an extra piece, and fashioned a flower to attach to the brim.
I was so pleased with my first effort, I made one for a very dear friend's birthday

This time I was lucky enough to find a silk rose, which complimented the lovely mauve/pink hues perfectly.

They are so, so warm and snug for our cold New Zealand winters, and I just love wearing mine.

Isn't blogging such a great medium for sharing ?

I have been busy as you can see - this is my very first posting, and I am keen to see if I can actually do this on my own as Rachael is still in bed asleep.

I am making these dolls for Rachael's shop, she has bins of lovely old vintage laces and doilies, and I have been allowed to fossick, but she watches me very closely to make sure that I don't take her `good pieces'

They have been fun to do, and of course the idea came from the swap dolls, and although I hate using glue, (I prefer to stitch), the end result has been spectacular -have thoroughly enjoyed making them.

If this is a sample of what my Retirement means -then I see fun times ahead.



Today is wet, and I am going north to a place called Orewa, this will be the first time that I have driven in Auckland traffic, am a little nervous, as Nelson where I previously lived has about two lanes only and very moderate traffic compared to Auckland.

I can only get lost, annoy other motorists as I creep along, the mobile is charged, something that I am hopeless at, and the big thing will be to remember to actually take it!! :):)