Busy Making Love...

We've been busy making Lovebirds, Love hearts, Love letters and Love lavender sachets at HCCC and SkillsLinc to give to our loved ones, family and friends this Valentines day.
As part of the free craft courses run in Lincoln, we have covered decoupage, and paper folding and weaving in the Valentine Craft Sessions - have a look at the gallery below to see all the learners makes. All given the same materials - but all such different results...

Next free craft courses are listed below on the blog -

come along and join us!

Free Craft Sessions!

Funded by Lincoln Council,

these courses are open to everyone aged 18 plus.

Small freindly groups,

No craft experience necessary - complete beginners welcome.

The next one is a three week course:

The Thrifty Home

at Hartsholme Community Centre, Lincoln.
March 13th, 20th and 27th 2012

from 12 noon - 3pm

and (subject to demand/further funding) at

Skills Linc, High Street, Lincoln

April 20th, 27th and May 4th 2012

from 10am - 1pm

Each week we will be looking at how we can

"create something from nothing"

often using recycled items.

We will be making jewellery, household items, cards and more

using a variety of crafting techniques!

Limited spaces - Tel: 01522 527752 to book your place.

Sessions are free of charge...
but we do ask for a small contribution to help with the cost of materials

(50p - £2 if you can manage it.)

Ruby Red Bride!

I've been commissioned to design a posy for a bride wearing ivory and burgandy...
here's what I've come up with so far...

Bride of The Blitz ... Vintage weddings

I've had a commission for a vintage bridal bouquet and whilst I was doing some research, I came across this marvellous photograph which I thought I'd share with you.

This young bride is stepping through the rubble after her parents house was bombed during the war... Windows blown through, having to lift her dress and pick her way through the debris,

yet not even that can dull the obvious joy she is feeling on her wedding day!

What a feisty lady!

Photo from the book "Vintage Weddings" by Marnie Fogg - (an excellent read!)

 

 Had two more commissions yesterday for two winter brides...

meeting with one today to discuss colour schemes etc

 Time to get making some more posies...

 If you want one, please visit my Folksy Shop "Blooming Lovely"

Or my Etsy shop Annie Harrison Designs

Hollow Love Letters!

I bought a load of these "words" made from recycled tin/aluminium. They are hollow, but the sentiments are rock solid!!!

I decoupaged the "love one" in scraps of paper cut from letters/post scripts etc (and Mr H will probably get one for Valentines day - as I want to keep one!
The "Dream" one I painted with Laura Ashley Delphinium Blue and then decoupaged in Cath Kidston Paper - and as always if you can't live without them or want one for a valentine gift they are available in my Folksy shop (just click the folksy link at the top of my blog to go there!).

Free Craft Sessions!

Funded by Lincoln Council,

these courses are open to everyone aged 18 plus.

The next one is:

Valentine Crafts

at Hartsholme Community Centre, Lincoln.
February 8th 2012

from 12 noon - 3pm

Come along and make a lovebird, or really cool mystery gift to give your Valentine -

(even if you are giving it to yourself!)

No craft experience necessary - complete beginners welcome.

Limited spaces -  Tel: 01522 527752 to book your place.

Sessions are free of charge...
but we do ask for a small contribution to help with the cost of materials (50p - £2)

"Go"..."Create!"

Feeling quite sad that next week is my last week with Hartsholme Community Contact Centre in Lincoln...   won't see them again for a while...until the jewellery making sessions in January  :-)

Janet, Pam, Andrea and Caz have shared cups of tea and stories with me over the last couple of weeks and I will miss peering over the rim my teacup, watching their delight at creating their own unique style.

Thought I'd share with you, the fab' Christmas table decorations they made today...

They took their usual  seats, (funny how people nearly always return to the same seat week after week), and  were faced with a mountain(!) of (recycled and new), baubles, ribbons, buttons, beads, foliage, embellshments(!), indulgences(!) etc...   

"Take a plate and have a play" I told them. 

I love the way this group just "dive in" to the  materials - they seem to love them (almost) as much as I do! And time goes soooooo fast! We have a cuppa, put the world to rights and create something beautiful too!!!

Anyway, I showed them an example of one I'd made earlier,(just like Val) and said "Go! Create!" and this is what they came up with... 

Janet

 Pam

 Andrea

Caz

The following session we made these lovely boxes from wallpaper scraps and trim, buttons etc...

... I got the wallpaper from my local Interior Design Shop - they gave me an old sample book.

Looking forward to hearing how the two above were received from Pam and Janet's family and freinds.

Festive Button Wreath Tutorial

You will need:         Felt/Fabric scraps,  beads, buttons, florist wire, ribbon

Cut your scraps of felt into small pieces (about 1.5cms/  ½”) with pinking shears

Twist the end of the wire into a small hoop to stop the beads etc falling off,  and  thread the wire through felt pieces, buttons and beads, leaving about  5cms/ 2½” of bare wire.

 Put the bare wire through the hoop, twist to fasten and  hook over

Add   a pretty bow and hang!

Reinvent, Revamp, Reuse, Recycle!!!!

How Oswald the owl doorstop evolved!

I am addicted... to my supermarkets new Butternut Squash and Honey Soup... delicious! I've eaten so much of it, I've become conscious of reusing all the plastic cartons that it comes in!!! Some have been used for craft storage - they stack really well and you can see whats inside without opening them.

But my favourite reuse for the soup carton has to be

Oswald - an Owl Doorstop... 

Here's how to make your own one...

You will need 

An empty soup carton, enough material to cover it and some felt scraps.

Buttons for eyes, sand or gravel to weight your dorrstop.

PVA glue and a brush to apply it. Super glue.

Scissors, marker pen, needle and thread.

Lay your fabric on a flat surface and use a marker pen to mark the top, bottom and one of the sides of the carton.

Slowly roll ithe carton along the fabric, marking top and bottom as you go and finish with the other side. You should end up with a slightly curved shape as in the picture below.

Draw around the lid of the carton twice and cut out all three pieces.

Turn the carton upside down. Lay one of the fabric circles on top. 

Cut into the circle using small slits, this will help the top to fit nice and snugly.

 Glue into place with pva glue and fold overlapping slits down and glue to sides of carton.

 Cover the sides of carton with PVA glue and glue on the main body piece of fabric. Turn up the right way and fill with sand/gravel/weighty substance. (I use play sand from my local DIY store).

Following the instructions for use, pipe some super glue into the rim of the lid, press on to the top of the carton and allow to dry.

Cover the lid with pva glue and stick on the other fabric circle.

Use a slip stitch in contrasting colour embroidery thread to fasten the bottom to the sides, to conceal the soup carton.

Turn upside down - CONGRATULATIONS! You have just created a nice solid body for your owl... now for the fun part, where your owls charachter starts to be revealed!

Play around with buttons, felt scraps etc to create an owl face that you are happy with.

I used buttons for eyes and felt for eyebrows, ears and beak. If you want to use the same shapes as I did then copy the template below.

I cut two large shapes and one small shape from black and tan coloured felt. I then folded the large pieces in half to form the eyebrows/ears.

Then stitch and/or glue the buttons and felt in place and...

you should end up with your own charachter!

(Hope he/she isn't quite as serious as Oswald!!!)

Unfortunately, Oswald is a little too serious for us and he is looking for a more studious home where he can share in intelligent conversation and debate... if you can't live without him, you can buy him from my Folksy shop... just follow this link

 http://www.folksy.com/items/2586837-Owl-Doorstop?shop=yes