Many ways to use a catfish

A little bit of doodling lead to the creation of the rather cute little catfish. 
Adjusting the size with the printer to the pattern I made some keyrings from leopard print felt (what else could I use for catfish?)  http://folksy.com/items/4217686-Keyring-CATFISH

 The keyrings were so sweet I thought the same pattern would look lovely as an applique on tote bags.


 

I have some lovely floral fabrics that I feel will work well.  The first bag I used a red cotton with yellow spots, and I have started a couple more with this vintage check fabric.

Part finished bags - hand stitched faces and the applique done in black by machine.  To highlight the design,

  The completed bags have cotton handles with sweet mini heart button detail. There is a useful back pocket with a button fastening.  And like the keyrings the catfish on the bags have a lucky fin which gives a 3D effect.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/127406057/tote-bag-applique-catfish-tote-bag? 

 

 Bright sunshine colours to banish the winter blues.

A NEW DIRECTION IN BAGS

For my niece's birthday I thought that I would make her one of those sack type bags.  They looked fairly simple to design and sew . . . . or so I thought to begin with.

Having drawn a pattern on a sheet of greaseproof paper I felt that it would it would be best to cut out the sides of the bag in two halves and sew them together. 

She is playing in a Roller Derby team so I decided to decorated the bag with embroidery - a roller skate and her Roller Derby name.




I enjoyed doing the embroidery and got the effect I wanted, eyelets for the bootlace were a little harder to get right and I had a little bit of trouble getting the lace through the fabric.

 The handle gave me the most trouble - because the lining of the bag continues all the way up them.  The zip I used may have been a little long.  It can stick at the ends where the bag curves.

Overall I am very happy with how the bag has turned out, the bits I struggled with really were just the teething problems you would expect with a first time design.  

I am looking forward to making one of these for myself as I like the style.

 

BAGS,FIMO HEARTS AND LADY GAGA (in praise of)

My first paper mache bag is now nearly finished.

I have now worked out a kind of production line for the bags so as one reaches the finishing stage I have one off the mould having the final layers put on and another one on the mould in the begin stages.  I am not sure how long the mould will last for a while I hope because I am having so much fun making these bags.  My only problem at the now is how to do the linings for the bags - I know I want some kind of fastening to make the contents a little more secure but I am undecided on the finish.  So I have a perfectly good bag that I am unable to decorate because I just cannot make up my mind,  I even have a lining cut out and pinned together.  I need to get this sorted because I am going out on Saturday night and could take a finished bag with me to show people.

The last time I did anything with paper mache was about twenty years ago when I made a Romanesque style breast plate for a fancy dress party I was going to.  I don't know why I have ignored it as a craft for so long, it is such a useful medium.

Inspired by THE GOOD MASTER by Kate Seredy I have made these little fimo hearts.  I loved the book as a child, often reading it.  There is one part of the story where Kate and her cousin get taken to a travelling fair and are looking at GINGERBREAD FAIRINGS - shapes made out of gingerbread, hearts with mirrors in them in this case.  I always thought how pretty and wanting to go further after my yummy gingerbread at Christmas I decided to make some fairings.  From there the idea of fimo hearts developed.



Today on my TWITTER feed there was a tweet and a link to LADY GAGA.  I have never heard any of her music and much in the spirit of cannot criticise Barbara Cartland without reading her I thought I ought to see why Lady Gaga is so popular.   I am so glad I did.
The first track I listened to was Marry the Night - liked that  
Born this Way - liked that.  Then I watched a couple of interviews - end result I am very glad to have found her. 

PAPER MACHE BAGS

I have spent the day switching between giving the kitchen a much needed deep clean and making Paper Mache Bags/Purses for my Etsy shop.  The house work isn't as bad as I thought it would be and making the bags is great fun.  It has worked quite well as a duel task -  Put on a layer of paper mache and go and do some cleaning while that layer drys.  Now I have one bag ready to put the lining into and one ready for the handles.

By the end of today should be able to decorate the first one.  I am really looking forward to doing this part, yesterday morning I knew how I wanted to decorate it and have been waiting to do it ever since.  The handles have worked out well.  I can see me being very pleased with the result.  There will be pictures.

This was a milestone week for me as I made my first sale on Etsy.  It has taken a long time.  I have just printed some tips on improving my Etsy shop - my bedtime reading tonight. 

One of a kind

I was asked for one of my photo bags for a Christmas present.  It was to show my cat - to start with to show him awake but then it was to show him asleep and instead of being landscape it needed to be in portrait format.

I thought about the design of this bag for quite a while.  The picture was the easy part.  A picture of young Bruce asleep and dreaming, that way we could have the best of both worlds.  It also gave me a chance to put lots of butterflies and dragonflies on the bag (for Bruce to be dreaming about - he likes to chase them).

The portrait format was harder because I didn't feel that it would give enough room in the bag to make it practical.  My solution was to make laminated panels for each end of the bag using THE JAYNE NETLEY MAYHEW COLLECTION from Joanna Sheen.  There are lots of big cat patterned backing papers on the cd roms that were perfect I chose a leopard print one.

Now the big issue was whether I had managed to over complicate the design and to be honest I didn't really want to start it in case things went badly .........I did a lot of the final construction on Boxing Day morning knowing that it had to be done so I could deliver it that afternoon.

Over sewing the panels together with a zigzag stitch turned out to be a bit easier than I had imagined and the black lace trim on the bag and braided into the handles gave it a nice finish.  

It could be truely one of a kind as I am not at all sure I want to make another one not even for myself.

let sleeping cats lay

 

The latest item to be placed on Etsy.

A 1967 Mercury Cougar original photo tote bag.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/86536523/original-classic-caroriginal-photo-tote

I have just noticed how well the car fits in with its background.  I really enjoy making these bags and have a couple more in the pipeline - the design is sorted just need to print them off and make them up.  I have a stunning one of HOTRODS outside a diner.

 As I love being driven in this beautiful car I kinda sorta don't want to sell it - I will just have to make a similar one for myself.



I have been looking at recipes again and think that I will have to have another "lunch" again soon.  So many delious looking cakes, biscuits, and savouries to try.  Too few mouths in my house to put all the food into.  I made SMUNCHKINS last night.  There would have been a photo but they need to be eaten while they are hot.  The camera was in the basement and we ate all the cakes. Next time I make them I will take pictures and write the recipe out.






 I have another bangle nearly finished and one just started.  I am quite liking the fact that these bottles will not go to waste.  I think they look so pretty and when finished so hard to remember what they started from.

I have just got a bag of logs in ready to spend an evening crafting in front of the fire.  Young Bruce will make me pull out a chair for him and the two of us will have a cozy relaxing evening together.

Bruce thinks we had the stove installed for him

I have a lot I want to get done this evening :- I have a few more Christmas cards to make to give to Wingham Wildlife park ( an idea that came to me in the summer and I am doing now) as we are going there tomorrow and I wanted to give them to them.
http://www.winghamwildlifepark.co.uk
The bracelets that are nearly done finished so they can be listed on Etsy.
Get the mirror I am making through the next stage.
Paint the inside of cigar box purse.  Make some Christmas cards for us to send.
Finish the recipe books for my neice and nephew.
And anything else I have time for.

PRINTING ON COTTON TAPE

Today I started to make the bag my niece said she would like for Christmas.  Her requests are:- a different colour to white because it would dirty ( she is right I have been using mine since the begining of August and even if you discount the teastains it is looking a bit grubby), A4 portrait not the landscape format that I have been using, and a picture of Bruce (my cat) - to start with she wanted him awake then changed her mind to asleep.

I am not convinced that she will find the portrait format as roomy as she thinks as a bag so I decided to make panels on the sides of the bag before putting the gusset in.  For the design both choices were possible - a sleeping cat dreaming of his waking moments.  Over the weekend I caught a snippet of the craft channel where they werer talking about inkjet tape.  A special cotton tape that you could put through an injet printer.  I tried doing this with the cotton tape that I had and even with my rather sulky printer it worked.  Now having used my JAYNE NETLEY MAYHEW COLLECTION CD-ROM I have several pieces of leopard print tape to edge the panels with. This opens up a whole world of possibilities to explore see link for Joanna Sheen stockist of the cd-rom. 


http://www.joannasheen.com/craft-supplies/joanna-sheen-cdrom-dvds/cdrom-jayne-netley-mayhew-collection-2-disk-set/
The bag design again I worked out using SERIF DIGITAL SCRAPBOOK.
http://www.daisytrail.com/scrapbook.html?uid=21043  one of my pages.

The other tip (from PINTREST) that I want to follow up is tranfering a photo or picture to wood or canvas or plastic.  I just need to get some acrilic gel medium.  Hopefully I can get this in hobbycraft tomorrow evening.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NjYbAAQ4vw  It looks easy and effective.  Watch this space for the results.  I got some of those 8x8 wooden mirrors from Ikea while we were there which would be perfect for this technique.

My sister showed me some the things she has been working on to add to my Etsy shop - really different to things I have been doing.http://www.etsy.com/people/dreamtimemakes

Christmas cake recipe

This is my first upcycled bangle.  Chunky bangles  are so popular at the moment I thought I would have a go at doing some.  It was great fun to make.  This is a soft drink bottle with wadding wrapped around it.  Then I chose a selection of ribbons and wound them round the padded ring.  Three flowers grouped together finish it.

It took a while to get the photos for my latest bag for my Etsy shop because of the drizzle that kept coming and going throughout the day.  In the end I was getting quite worried because the light was going.  Managed to get some in the end and here is a sample.                                   
                                                                http://www.etsy.com/people/dreamtimemakes







CLASSIC BEAUTY - a 1967 Mercury Cougar.  Car of the year 1969, it is a thing of beauty.  I have kept this bag fairly simple because the car speaks for itself.

This was another busy busy day.  I put my labeled the  mincemeat that I bottled yesterday and put it away.

I made a batch of mixed fruit jam - some for us and some for Christmas presents.  Picked some more of my 'Blenheim Orange' apples, these are quite late maturing so now they are about perfect.  I ment to pick them all but after picking roughly ten pounds I decided to leave the rest till next weekend while I work out what to do with them all.

They are already in the mincemeat and the mixed fruit jam.  Maybe some mint jelly and some more apple cheese.

Naked Christmas Cakes

The Christmas cakes just before the sherry is added and they are wrapped up for a few weeks.  I love using my Grandmothers recipe for the Christmas cake, it feels right to use one that has been past down through the family.

GRAN WESTONS RICH FRUIT CAKE
1 kilo of mixed dried fruit
250g  dark brown sugar
250g butter
4 eggs
250g plain (all purpose) flour
pinch of salt
teaspoon mixed spice

Beat butter and sugar together until soft and fluffy
Add 2 eggs and beat in well, then add the other 2 eggs and beat well
Seive flour, spice and salt together
Add flour and fruit to mix alternatly
Turn into a prepared 9" round tin
Bake for 3 hours at gas reg 1 - 140degrees celcius   - 280 degrees farenheit

Feeling ill but pulling through

Suffering from a killer cold at the moment. Yesterday was spent asleep, feeling a bit better today. Very annoying as there is so much I want to do.

by palameras

Feeling a little better so I have been reading Etsy hints and tips on selling.  Here's hoping I have learned something.   The big problem with Etsy is getting distracted by all the fantastic things that there are for sale there - so many talented people.

by MissKayes

This is an item listed by   palmeras           I think that it is truely beautiful .This bag is by MissKayes - I think her bags are works of art.
Both of these items are on Etsy

Its late afternoon  and I am feeling a bit better, I made some lemonade as it seems to ease a lot of my suffering.  Just drinking the first glass while it is still warm.