Christmas is coming (well kinda)

It is time once again for me to consider what will be this year's Christmas brooch. 

Decided to try something different this year... and this is the result... 

Felt reindeers =). Never did felt brooches before. 

I got the idea from this site with felt Christmas ornaments ideas. There was a picture of a cute little reindeer but the template didn't seem to match the photograph =(. So I did a bit of reading, researching, sketching, resizing, testing... 

These sites involving different stitches for felt and options for eyes (as well as this one on how to sew safe eyes) were of great help. 

Hope my reindeer herd grows big enough my Christmas! Hope my friends like them! 

Recent discovery of glue!

I recently read about how super duper awesome e6000 is as a craft glue so I did two projects to experiment with its sticky prowess. 

Dinosaur earrings! 

I love dinosaurs! Who doesn't! Got a pack of mini dinosaur buttons, snipped off the sticky out bit at the back and sanded down the stumps with sandpaper. Glued on silver ear stud posts and they seem to be holding well - although to be honest I don't dare to be too violent with the posts! 

Loving my new dinosaur earrings! Dinosaurs! Woohoo! 

Remember to drop me a line if you want a free postcard from Singapore! 

Another button brooch

Ms Eborall's pattern has swiftly become my "go to" brooch pattern!

Happy Administrative Professionals' week!

Happy Administrative Professionals' week!

I know it's silly but I make effort not to call it Secretaries' week so that like my office accounts lady and despatch uncle (who aren't technically secretaries) don't get left out. 

Made brooches for the 4 secretaries in me office! 

Don't think I've done this type of button work before. And I definitely haven't done beadwork like this is a long time. 

Made in 4 shades of Lizbeth thread with size 11 beads, I did some minor changes to Ms Eborall's pattern - I didn't do the little dangle and instead of the beaded centre I glued on a flat backed crystal :) 

I quite like them! I'm going to make another for a friend's unwell mother. 

Ms Eborall's beaded button brooch pattern has been generously shared here:  

http://www.janeeborall.freeservers.com/BroochFlat2013.pdf 

Permutations

A couple of the many reasons lego is awesome. 

More earrings!

Yarnplayer's Lacy Treasure :). The original design was for a pendant but I "shrank" it down to earrings with size 20 (instead of size 10) Lizbeth Denim Whisper.

I used size 11/0 frosted blue seed beads, 3mm crystals and small holographicy white leaves. 

Also started a WIP with size 80 anchor. I've had this ball for a while and the colour is starting to change. So I started an edging by Ann Orr. 

I wonder how much edging can be done with a full ball :). I intending to use the edgings with my sewing... When I figure out how to use it together. :) 

Giddy earrings and a butterfly

I am enjoying all my Lizbeth stash that I've been to "stingy" to use.

Yarnplayer's Giddy earrings in size 20 Berry Burst with red 11/0 beads and red/orange crystals. 

I just got my handy hands newsletter today and I used size 20 Cotton Candy to tat this butterfly by Kendra Goodnow that was in the newsletter. 

To do this butterfly I used my new pop-a-bobbin shuttle that I bought from Jane Eborall that was made by her sister, Sally, and Sally's huabnd.  

Comparing this and the aerlit it is clear that this is a much easier use than the aerlit. A slight tug and the thread comes off the bobbin. No painful thumbs here! 

A bit of sewing and a bit of tatting

Inspired by the ladies at the Tuesday crafting party I decided to try my hand at sewing a purse with a sew-on purse frame.

This was the end result (I didn't use my favourite fabric since this was "experimental").  

I wasn't quite pleased with the outcome. I don't know whether it's supposed to look "crinkly" - it looks okay when there's stuff inside I think. Anyone know if it's supposed to be crinkly? Please help this beginner sewer (oh dear that looks wrong... is it sewing person?)!

Do not be fooled by my apparent partial success... The partial success was based on several failed pieces and templates...

I would however like to give credit to these two webbies (here and here) which I used as references to do the templates and construct the purse.

Somehow their measurements didn't work well for me and I had to make several corrections before I could get a fabric pouch that fitted into the frame. 

I will probably get more frames (they were only $1.80 per piece) to fiddle more with the template.

I've also completed the Celtic Hexad pendant from Yarnplayer's Beaded Tatted Finery.

This was done in size 20 Milford with size 11/0 Toho beads and bicone crystals. I was quite pleased with my colour combination but somehow my completed project doesn't look as awesome as the photograph in the book. Am slightly disappointed with myself. =(

Finally significant effort was taking to drag my sleepy rear end out of bed this morning for an early morning jog - mid jog I couldn't help but feel grateful for having such a beautiful public park to jog in - I just had to snap a photograph to share.

My sister's flattery

I made a bunch of my favourite Christmas wreaths for my sister to give away at the office (I added a little bell to this year's "edition").

My sister always had a flair for drawing unlike me. Check out how she gave them away on simple "snazzied" post it notes. 

Getting ready for the Secret Santa

Yes!

Even though there's still time to sign up and the partners have not been announced yet I've already got my eye out for small things to put in my gift box! =) I've already accumulated a few things.

And of course, I promised to share a few ideas for Christmas tatting!

Christmas Wreath by Pam Palmers - in one of the 3 Tatting Treats.

This is my 'go to' Christmas patterns. It's quick and fun to do. I usually make tonnes for Christmas either in the form of brooches (as modelled by my more attractive sister) or earrings =)

Snowflakes

Snowflakes are always a good idea. My favourite flakes are all designed by Jon. I love her book of tatted snowflakes which I now understand is available in most online supply stores! And she has generously shared many patterns on her blog, including this beauty - Quantiesque - don't be daunted by the appearance of Celtic tatting! Give it a go!

Christmas trees

Christmas trees are a must on Christmas - one of my favourites was designed by fellow Singaporean, Ellen. She has generously shared the pattern on her blog as well.

This is my rendition (I added a star for good measure lol).

 There's still time to sign up! Check out the link on the left bar!

Something new for myself

Put together with parts from one or my favourite bead shops. All in all cost me about $6 bucks. And the best part? The beads are removable. I can swap them out, but new ones or theoretically tat my own charms to suit to mood! 

Hair fun!

Dipped into my button collections for some fun. DIY hair accessory fun on a lonely Friday night!

warning: minor craft content

Craft content first shall we? I decided I needed new earrings. I've always liked these glass flowery things =). So I did myself some earrings with some stars I bought a while back with my crystals...

My pool coach brought me prawning today... How it works is you pay $33 for 3 hours with a rod at the prawning pond (bait provided). You can do whatever you want with the prawns you catch (including eat them)... He was insistent that I try and catch a prawn. 2 hours later I caught this (it was my only prawn for the day but it was huuge). 

This being the first prawn I caught and not to mention it was really big I wanted to eat him (yes I know I'm horribly horrible). I'm not too big on cooking seafood so I insisted that we ask the nearby food vendor if he would cook it up for me. =). We only had 2 prawns... this one and a normal sized one - so he said he'd throw in somemore prawns and charge us $15. Why not! It beats having to figure out how to cook it myself!

I think you can see how much bigger it is than the 'normal' prawns...

 On a small styrofoam plate with a disposable chinese soup spoon for size comparison.

After I shelled it.

I was fun =) and the giant-ness of the prawn sure made for a memorable experience (much to the misery of my pool coach having 'lost' out to a girl LOL).

Bird Nest

I love Tip Junkie. For those who've never checked it out you should!

There are posts all the time with all kinds of cool ideas! Like ideas for fabric flowers (I love those), ideas for aprons (I had to make one), ideas for occasions like Valentine's Day, Christmas and to be more up to date Mothers' Day.

In the Mothers' Day post there was a tutorial for a Bird Nest Necklace. I had odd beads left over from spangling and re-spangling bobbins as well as some 20 gauge wire... so I gave it a go. =) I quite like how it turned out. =) plus those extra beads didn't go to waste!

Update update update

Happy Good Friday everyone!

So I had great plans of going out and about to spend the public holiday but my plans were drowned by a torrential downpour that hindered my plans.

So I had time to finish this up.

This is the ring pattern by Ms Jane Eborall. I did this in size 20 Milford with size 11/0 seed beads and a cats eye bead centre. I'm so going to show this off at training tomorrow. I love it.

I found it a little challenging due to its size. It was a little fiddly but the outcome was so worth it. =)

This photo is long overdue...

As a present to myself I custom order a pair of chainmaille earings from Jeff at his etsy shop. They are sooooo cool. I'm going to be showing them off together with my new ring tomorrow! =) Thanks so much Jeff!!!

Last but not least, my latest conquest in Bucks!

Atom and Belle(s)

Well these don't really count as part of my new challenge - whilst I completed them today (i.e. I finally got around to sewing in the ends) they were all tatted last year. 

All these lovelies are patterns from Ms Marilee Rockley's book, Up and Tat 'em. 

All of them were done in size 20 Milford thread. I'm afraid I don't think I've given them proper justice. 

I fell in love with the atom when I first saw them on Ms Rockley's blog and I finally did one! When I first saw the pattern I was definitely intimidated - 6 shuttles! Victorian sets? Oh my goodness! I finally mustered the courage (or perhaps was foolish enough) to give it a go! It was a bit tricky and I sure was stressed - never did these sets before. Perhaps I could have 'tightened' the chains a bit better. I will eventually give it another go! Perhaps this time in grey or silver! 

The other two pendants are also in the same book... lovely pendants called Belle. 

The book is awesome - something to consider if you don't already have it!