Pink and gold

Playing with air dry clay. I would definitely do this again, but I would use Rustoleum Craft Enamel (used here for the pink) for all colours next time: the black was meant to be chalky grey but was a sticky gloss black.

Shedding a little light

A very satisfying weekend of making.

I used leftover scraps from one of the Boy's upholstery projects - the lovely Sanderson dandelion clocks in 'slate' - and this easy peasy lampshade kit to make a drum shade for the spare room pendant. I did something similar for the front room but using a 1911 map of Lower Walthamstow - when it were nobbut fields (well, market gardens) round our street.

See just how easy here:

I defy you not to get addicted and remake every light in your place ...

Bring a little hygge to February !

Elephant grey

I'm back! Been a while, no?

Here's a nice remake I am pretty pleased with:

£20 charity shop seventies raffia chair, spray painted elephant grey (I heart spray paint) with a graphic print cushion, fabric from the lovely Ray Stitch on Essex Road (N1).

More to come...

Project Seaside Stripes

Lovely project for today, new covers and matching cushions for a pair of vintage deckchairs rescued by the Boy from our local junk shop.

Gorgeous stripy deckchair fabric from these lovely people, who included stripy sweeties in the package. And my goodness me, choosing colourways was difficult ... 

One false start where I thought I could staple the fabric to the frame using the Boy's seriously scary upholstery staple gun, but the trusty sewing machine was what I really needed.

Now we just need some more of this fantastic sunshine, and it'll be just like the seaside.

Blackpool Promenade, 1898 

Image uploaded to Flickr by trialsanderrors

Making a list and checking it twice

Waxing festive around the house.

Well, it's far too cold to go out, and puss has absolutely the right idea ...

Weekend Remake - Dining Chairs

Weekend remake - a pair of dining chairs bought for £5 and a metre and a half of teal tweed bought for 50p from an Essex car boot sale.

I am pretty pleased with myself ...

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Scented candles in vintage tea cups

One of my more successful homemade presents: scented candles made from vintage tea cups and saucers.

Take one candle making kit, lavender essence, a bunch of thrifted china (great fun to source) and some pretty wrappings and trimmings - and hey presto. The only tricky bit was getting the wicks dead-centre when pouring the warmed wax.

A bit of cellophane, a bit of ribbon - I even did little cards using hand-carved stamps and a "made by me" stamp drawn for me by the talented Sianuska ...

Such fun, and so quaint and pretty.

And they seemed to go down quite well. Well, better than buying people random stuff they don't need or want for the sake of it, I guess!

Right, what can I make next?I wonder ...

[http://www.thisbutterflymind.blogspot.com]

Art Journalling

Threatening skies over London today, so that rules out gardening and ushers in some cutting-and-sticking: this is last summer's art journal, which I didn't post at the time for some reason. Art journalling concept totally nicked from ByBlanca, who has lovely collages over at Cuttings on a Blog.

Now, where did I put those scissors?

Update: the new one ...

Ahh, that feels better!

[www.thisbutterflymind.blogspot.com]

I feel a project coming on!

Totally inspired by Jive Party last night at the sumptuously glamorous Rivoli Ballrooms, I feel a (fiendishly difficult) sewing project coming on. Forgive the wobbly photo, there was a lot of dancing going on!

Being tall, vintage frocks rarely fit so, filled with envy for the fab,flirty shapes twirling on the dance floor last night, I am inspired to make my own from this lovely original fifties/early sixties gown pattern. I picked it up at Camden Passage for home decor purposes, but hey it's complete, so why not have a stab at making it up?

Plus, this seems to be a year of weddings, so another perfect excuse (as if one were needed!) for a divine dress!

Step one: find my ultimate fabric, I'm thinking floral like these amazing retro-inspired prints from Beyond Fabrics

Step two: persuade Mother to pitch in with dress making skills and, ahem, "help"

I'll keep you posted!

[http://thisbutterflymind.blogspot.com]

Knitting delight

Last weekend, inspired by the ever-increasing bevy of knitting mammas among my friends - see Helen's lovely 'Hand-me-down Handicraft' piece on A Matriarchal Cornucopia  - and fired up by my failure to take to crochet, I decided to learn to knit.

Perhaps rashly, and not a little swayed by the helpfulness of the lady at Teasels Yarncrafts, I invested in some 7mm needles and a chunky yarn (ideally for hiding beginner's mistakes, apparently!) and set to work.

I'm doing ok - I tackled casting on and knit stitch via the wonderful videojug How To tutorials and, so far, my scarf is growing nicely.

I admit to a little bit of a wonky start where I gained stitches at an amazing / alarming rate, and a few holes where I hadn't quite got the tension thing nailed, but I am powering on and may do a little judicious embellishment with ribbons, buttons and the like, to hide the mistakes! Or I'll just claim the whole thing is an artisanale design ...(sorry, family joke!)

I am thoroughly enjoying myself - the rhythm and low-level concentration required is very relaxing.

It also seems quite zeitgeisty: having posted my inital efforts on Facebook, lots of friends came out of the woodwork to confess their own first steps into granny-dom. Some kind of credit crunch make-do-and-mend movement, or are we just turning into our mothers? (Not necessarily such a bad thing!)

Something out of nothing

With my current zeal for creativity, craft and mend-and-make-do, this weekend I tackled a project that has been languishing unloved in the basement for some time.

Take one battered and bruised metal card filing cabinet from the crazy junk shop round the corner, one sheet of coarse sandpaper, three cans of apple green enamel spray paint from the wonderful Fred Aldous online shop and ...

Hey presto! A chic little bits and bobs cabinet for my desk.

Very satisfying to have freed something new and cool from something old and rejected.

I think I may have spray-painted a big chunk of my lawn though!

Better than therapy?

To Make Lounge in Highbury last night for the bookbinding workshop: it was excellent fun. 10 or so crafters sitting around a wide wooden table stitching, folding and gluing for dear life. My effort was perhaps not the best hand-bound book in the world but, hey, as they say at the end of The Simpsons titles, "I made this".

I gained a new skill (not sure if I'll be able to replicate it!) and spent a pleasant evening in the company of like-minded people in a pretty and creative setting - highly recommended.

Interestingly, bookbinding class was 100% female but there was also a crochet class last night with guys in it - although they left halfway through to go to the pub and watch footy!

The word 'therapeutic' came up several times throughout the evening: if therapy was the cure-all salve of the late nineties and early noughties, is make-do-and-mend (crafting, growing your own and the like) the cure for the eco- and econo-stricken late noughties?

Just a thought!

In praise of making

Walking from Highbury to Angel to meet The Girl from the Island and her family for coffee on Saturday, I was rather taken by The Make Lounge on Barnsbury Road.

First thing to catch my eye was the quirky, fun logo – the word 'make' in typography formed of tiny red scissors, rulers, pencils, thimbles and other implements for craft.

Peering through the window, like a kid at a sweet shop or a dog at a butcher’s, I saw a host of contented people sitting at a long communal table, drinking champagne and making stuff.

How cool is that! Can’t wait to go!