Wreath finish

A finish on the wreath. The glass beads caught the light and have given a halo effect. If I took a photo in dimmer light the whole wreath became too dull

 Against a red wall and white wall. The white wall photo is taken side on so that you don't see my shadow

Everything is wired on except for the poppy heads - those I applied the hot glue gun to.A combination of beads clay flowers,crochet flowers and clay snow flakes.

I bought this basket yesterday for five dollars. The inside needs work and will be getting a makeover, inspired by this talented girl Kim at Sarah Lizzies and her basket makeover. Mine of course wont be as pretty because I will be sticking to stronger colours on the basket. See the big bead necklace and bangles in the front of the photo- op shopped today $8 the lot - will be pulling them apart, if I have the heart - to make clay hangers for Christmas.

Two new milk ware pieces - the bell is a avon perfume bottle and the goblet I think is Fenton ware as the glass is that lovely creamy colour and feel of Fenton ware (but I cant be sure) Doesnt matter I like it ! The embroidered doily purchased to make a purse with (yeh I dont have to do the embroidery for a change) The blue jug , Villeroy and Boch , I was going to buy but it has a chip at the pourer/spout so I went to put it back on the shelf ..and then the volunteer at the shop then said I could have it!

The tapestry also bought $4 to make a bag with. And I bought a whole lot of new zippers for next to nix (nothing)

Christmas in July Ornament Swap

I signed up for an ornament swap in June without to much thought to my other plans of going away and find myself a little pushed for time to make my gifts (which are already due). So with haste and speed I decided to make something that I knew I could finish in time and which still looks effective.

Clay ornaments are not a difficult things to make and after Christmas last year I purchased some snow flake icing cutters at a reduced price for this purpose. This is the first time I have used them and I do find the removal of the snowflake from the cutter a little fiddly despite it being a punch cutter.

I faffed around with a couple of backgrounds. I am currently waiting for the ornaments to dry before threading them up. I thought the smaller ones could be used as gift tags .
I was fiddling around with some older clay ornaments and trying to decorate them with bronze ink using a Sharpie pen...but did not get a good application of colour...waste of money. My Posca pen in gold gave a better application but not the colour I wanted, so I have ditched the idea of applying colour and will leave the ornaments plain.

I also thought I would make a bag to put the ornaments in and printed up my hummingbird in a bright orange (not really at all Christmassy but very cheery)

 Notice how carefully I have prepared my material,,,I went all out to iron the cotton before printing-not!

Thought I'd throw these in to the mix. I took these display photos at Adelaide Central Market- fabulous colour and I love the display

And lastly a photo of my sisters and I at my 50th Birthday dinner..PotatoHead Bali. Nice venue, pretentious and expensive for a mediocre meal..but lovely company!

Shell Wreath

I'm a natural born fossicker.

Whenever I'm at the beach I'll have my head down and rather than pace walk the beach to get exercise, I will stroll along looking directly in front of me for the unusual or colourful.

Our beach although usually barren of most shells occasionally offers up special treats that are washed ashore and wedge between rocks. the long conical shells are generally not expected to be found on the foreshore of Adelaide beaches but just once in a while they are there to be found.

The pink butterfly shells can be found at Port Elliot and the south coast beaches and are plentiful but break easily. The white small snail like shells are found on the York Peninsula.

So it has taken many walks to fill my jar with the bounty of the sea and only took moments to adhere to my wreath

My mother is also an avid collector of the sea and has upon her coffee table a platter of dried corals and shells, mainly collected from Queensland. They are beautifully presented on a handmade doily that my Oma (grandmother) made many years ago. Today they caught my eye as I looked at the lovely patterning of nature that I had to take photos and later on today proceeded to make my beach themed wreath.

Little Visitors

We had a little visitor this afternoon. The dog was going ape in the backyard and normally she is pretty quiet. I wandered outside to see this little fellow strolling past.
He wasn't very happy with Matildas barking and puffed himself up nice and fat and let out a few hisses. He toddled off to the road toot sweet, really didn't like our company. The warm weather must be bringing out the blue tongues and that means the snakes will be out and about as well. That 's the end of walking through the back nature reserve for a while, as snakes are particularly aggressive at the beginning of warm weather/ summer

Finishing off Christmas wreaths

Christmas Wreath No.2

Home today from work and resting on my bed. Every time I cough my temples throb and my sinuses are completely blocked despite taking medication to dry up the passages. I've started another wreath with materials on hand. I originally started with the star shaped pendant but chose to remove it as I hadn't incorporated enough of the colourings that are present in the pendant.

I made some yellow and white flowers last night - not an overly taxing job, really just rolling balls and squashing them to form petals. I'd slept most of the day and was wide awake looking for something not too energetic to do.

I have utilized old necklaces and have wired them with seed beads.. slow and tedious job

Wreath two of three under way. I thought that I would collect so more gum nuts to fill the gaps, maybe when I feel less heady.
Here is the T shirt without the tape

For more Christmas wreath ideas go and here and here and here

Christmas Wreath

Last weekend I spent some time twisting the vine that has gone wild in the back yard,or at least the strands that I could reach, into wreaths. Collections from my walks have dried and these gum nuts were laying idle, screaming out me to be used. I had some left over stars from last Christmas and some excess flower beads from the necklaces I have made. Put them all together with wire and a hot glue gun and you get a pleasing pop of colour on an otherwise ordinary wreath.

A little more cleaning up of the glue  and maybe a few more gum nuts on the right hand side, some ribbon for hanging and it will be finished.

One down and two more wreaths to go.

And...

This is a wall of a private house near the neighbourhood kindergarten that used to get graffiti all the time....but not anymore.

Wreath - same but different!

 Whilst having a messy table I figured I might as well continue my mess and make up a second wreath. This wreath has a slightly triangular shape and I was running out of seed pods and ribbon. I improvised by picking poppy seed heads out of the garden and using some old chandelier crystal and pearls to fill the  gaps.

 Not enough ribbon to make a tie, so some wire and pearls will suffice. Personally I think this is a waste of pearls but when you don't have a car to jump into you make do - far more environmentally friendly as well. I must admit to jumping into the car on occasion when I have to have a certain item for my craft making and I just can't wait

Better go clean up my mess before picking up my car from the mechanics - my brother, always handy to have a mechanic in the family.
For more wreath ideas go here and here and here