More Steampunk!

Started building another set of ornaments. Here is my polyclay punked up snowman!

He's not done yet, he needs some arms, a watch hand nose, and small screws for eyes.
He'll be a rocking addition to the tree this year.

Mosaic Madness

My next "I want to make" project involves a bowling ball. It also involves tile, adhesive and grout. I want a garden orb to look over my garden weeds.

Several friends and I gather monthly to craft. We work on all kinds of stuff. Kristen is our resident Mosaic guru with the best organized craft space I have personally walked into. I'll be picking her brain on this! Where my mosaics to date have been either stepping stones, or small rocks glued to frames, Kristen's designs are rockin!

So, another crafting cohort gave me a broken bowling ball.
(WTH - how do you break a bowling ball?)

Do you see it? I need to fill that gash, and then fill the finger holes. I'm conjuring up designs in my feeble little head and trying to put them on paper for this project.

My mosaic tiles will consist of glass, a few old loved dishes that chipped during their lifetime and polyclay tiles I will be making just for this project.

Here are some inspiration projects from others:

Pretty aren't they! I'll update this as work progresses!

More polyclay

Did I tell anyone how much I love this stuff? These are a few of the items I've made this year. I'm using them as a sample for a friend. She needs to try this stuff. Connie .... Are you looking at this?

Time for ornaments

Every year, I try to make some new, unusual ornaments. Last year I mixed glass balls, polyclay, old jewelry and gears for a set of six Steampunk Christmas baubles for the tree.

These turned out to be THE BEST EVER!

I'm making some more of these, and this year will include some pigment powders, and fancy crystals. I'm hoping for a more elegant look. (Truthfully, the one with the tree is my favorite and I will make a few more very similar to this, also)

What kind of ornaments are you making this year?

Pearls and Wire

I took the time to whip out another wire crochet necklace and earring set tonight. This is made with pink and white freshwater pearls, and 26 gauge wire. I love the pearls on this, and crafted it for Breast Cancer Awareness Month coming up in October.

I plan to make another set for the Joy to Life Foundation. Maybe they can include it in a charity auction to bring in more money for mammograms.

Wire Crochet Fun - Productive Sunday!

Its Sunday. I totally blew an hour on "selfish me Craft Time." So this My first wire crochet. I will make more. So many more!

I'm loving it. I'm hitting the craft store in an hour to get more supplies!

Threads of time

I'm making some adorable Festival bags. That's not a standard industry term. It's what I call these little beauties. Fully lined and with a pocket. I was still playing with strap material.

Here is a shot of the inside. I made the pocket big enough for an iPhone.

And so the first finished masterpiece using all scraps:

And here is a detail shot of the trim for the strap.

The specs on these are:
7 inches wide
10 inches tall
strap is 48 inches long
easily holds a wallet, sunglasses, phone and car keys

Do you love it? I do!

Sewing - Coasters

I made a quickie coaster out of scraps that would certainly look better in some kind of coordinating cotten weave. So lets get to it.

1. Determine how big you want your finished size coaster. I chose 4.5 inches. I cut my fabric in 5 inch squares.

After you have them pressed, you layer the pressed pieces onto the right side of the fabric with the raw edges facing out.

You want to weave them together, keeping the center of them tight.

Then pin if you need to. I chose the time saving method of winging it, and sew around the edge with 1/4 seam allowance. Trim the corners.

Then turn rightside out by pulling the base square through the little hole in the center I told you to keep tight. Use a corner tool or knitting needle to make the corner points sharp. As you can see, i didn't spend too much time on these corners.

Any there you go - a handy coaster. Now go make a set to give away to a friend!

~Renee~