Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone.

So, what does 2010 hold for the nest? Well, its pretty much a given that there will be less money around, so I have started as I mean to go on and have used some of my old stash (including a few things scavagened from the recycling bin!) to create something beautiful and for a change, useful.

In order to save a few extra pennies in 2010 I have made this pretty money box from an old whisky bottle box, I have tried to make it as pretty as possible so that I wont be tempted to cut it open and dip into the cash....lets see how long it takes.

I used some the Rangers crackle paint my parents bought me for christmas, a used paper serviette (the black flower), bit of old text left over from the altered book, some old netting, lots of torn papers and some scrabble tiles to spell out the word SAVINGS - just in case I forget what its there for! Then, I totally messed up-what I thought was a spray can of satin varnish was actually white paint!! So, the colours are a little more muted then they were meant to be-but hey, a happy mistake as I think it still looks quite cool....now all I need is to start feeding it!

Hope you all have a great new year, peaceful for those that wish it, and full of company for those party animals out there.

Love Li'l Pidge x

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Wow, Santa was very generous this year and I have lots of new crafting goodies to experiment with (boy, am I going to get in a mess!). I can finally publish some of the items I have made for people for their pressies (now that they have opened them). Here are just some of them....

This is an altered book I made for my mum which contained a necklace and ear rings that I made. I carved the book out to create a recessed area to hold the jewelry.

I also embroidered some serviettes for my sister-in-law as they have recently moved into a new home, I love the retro feel of the flamingo, she is a great baker, hence the cake, they have an aquariam, hence the fish and the love birds are because they were married last year...ahhhh...

This is a necklace I made for my Nan, all the way over in New Zealand, it's made from serpentine and is long enough so that she can slip it over her head, but also has a lobster clasp so that she can make it into a double shorter neckalce should she wish.


This is a bag I made for my mum with a removable brooch, its lined and has a magnetic clasp inside to keep it a bit more secure (I'm not too good at working out how to insert zips yet!) and is made the fabric (blue and butter cream spots) from the 2 skirts I have already made her (I have a few more in the nest that I need to crack on and make).

And finally, my multi-cultural snow people!! .......

Seasons Greetings.
Li'l Pidge x

Necklaces and cards anda bit of sloe gin

OOh, its snowing outside and I am tucked up in the nest bottling sloe gin and crafting for christmas. Does it get any better than this? (maybe it will when I sit down with a hot mince pie and a cuppa!).
The past week has seen 2 Birthdays in our family so I have been making lots of presents, the first one is a green and amber coloured glass necklace for my OHs Auntie and card

The next one is a glass and pearl necklace, a classic with a modern twist for my sister-in-laws 40th, along with a card-the candelabra lights up!! How cool is that?


Once these were made, it was a mammoth card making session.....boy the craft room looks like a bomb has exploded in a glitter and paper factory, but there is no point cleaning until they are all completed.....(that's my excuse!).Phew....no wonder I am shattered. Now, need to remember to make cards for the family, do you think I'll get away with shop bought? No, I don't think so either (and they cost so much more!!).

Best get back to the sloe gin........

Happy crafting Li'l Pidge xx

Cool Boots

After several weekends of awful weather I was finally able to get down to Exeter and pick up my hand made new leather boots......oooooo.....ahhhh........fondle........aren't they great? Shoes that actually fit me, which is a godsend as I have been wearing walking trainers most days as they are the only thing that fit.....very attractive!So now I am ready to go out and do some stomping!

The past couple of weeks have seen massive crafting sessions in the nest, but as they are mostly for birthday presents and christmas I'd best not post a picture yet!

I can at least show a pic of the card and gift I made for my friends birthday..
.
Homemade sloe gin, skull shot glasses and a shimmering unicorn card-yes you guessed it, their goth!

Happy Crafting

Li'l Pidge

Spit and polish

Wow, the south west has been BATTERED by storms, driving rain (flooded garage-good job everything is on breeze blocks in there!) and high winds. So, rather than craft we decided to have a good old sort out-the larder was stripped bare and cleaned, tidied and sorted within an inch of its OCD life! Then then floors mopped, window ledges cleaned, net curtains cleaned and the lounge damp dusted!!!!!!

Then watched Dr Who (ooh, its a good 'un, but not impressed about having to wait until Christmas for the next one!!) and now shattered, so off to bed!

Happy crafting all, hopefully I'll get some done later in the week

Lil Pidge

Where have the last two months gone

Blogland people-so sorry, I have no idea where the past 2 months have gone!! That means I am 2 months closer to being another year older, 2 months closer to Christmas (hands up all those crafters who have not started the Christmas cards this year-yep, both my hands are up) but 2 months closer to Spring!!

So, bit of a catch up-my lovely OH took me to Paris for our anniversary, a great few days away and SO many photo opportunities, here are just a few:

This was an amazing canal trip with a difference, you actually travel UNDER the city, under the Bastille and all the thousands of tourists pounding the streets above you.complete with its own version of the Mona Lisa!


Of course, no trip to Paris would be the same without visiting a few of the main sites, the louvre was stunning in the sun.

There is no denying it, Paris was expensive and there were queues of more than an hour+ at several of the sites, but with a bit of research (and luck) there are some great cheap (and even free) things to do:
This is inside Gallarie Lafayette, the centre of the store (basically the 2nd oldest department store in Paris) has the most amazing art nouvelle staircases and building, then look up....what an amazing roof (also, seek out the lifts, complete with all the orginal metal and woodwork, amazing). The reason you go there is to reach the roof terrace where you get the best free view of Paris-FREE!Then, the Sacre Couer-you can use your train pass to get the tram up the hill, or walk for free (we got the tram up and walked back down through the park, stopping off for a vin rouge (or two) on the way down, the view is great during the day, or at night.If you love art, then paris is for you, even the metal work is beautiful

If you fancy a bit of culture, but don't want to queue or pay a fortune, then head off to the Museum of Modern art, a great cafe (more vin rouge, cheaper than a cup of tea-so a bit of a no brainer) and the musuem is FREE


One thing, look out when walking around, yes there are lots of 'scams' for unwary tourists, but there are some amazing 'hidden' gems....just look at what we found attached to a wall of a house as we walked around......very odd....

Well, that is enough for now as I need to make supper, brococolli and cauliflower cheese I think (the veg box was filled with it!) then maybe time for a bit of crafting

Happy crafting

Li'l Pidge x

huurmph.....

Big sigh (then lots of coughing from breathing too hard). After a lovely week away I caught a cold on my first day back at work (gotta love these open plan workspaces) then went to the doctor yesterday as it wasnt getting any better, only to be told that I have bronchitis again! I am not impressed, actually that is a big understatement, but li'l pidge likes to only sing sweet birdsong so I wont say how annoyed I am!! I ache and feel so tired and my chest is so tight its hard to breath (as that starts off the coughing and the end result of that is not pleasant!!), so I cant even craft!

Boo! and its raining. Boo! and I am not a good patient!!

(big sigh)..back off to bed then with lots of tissues and throat pastiles.....

Li'l Pidge (sniff)

ATCs, homemade pickles and even a few cards

After a holiday in Devon (since when did a holiday in this country become a 'staycation' we always had holidays in this country as kids, we couldnt afford anything else, it was just known as a holiday, surely a 'staycation' is when you stay at home, in your home town or do day trips? ). Anyway, back home and I had a nice surpise, I forgot that the CB Forum ATC swap was due on the theme of 'No White', and I received 3 great ATC's from 2Belle, Cleene and Catherine Harper, thanks ladies they are lovely.

My return home saw lots of chilli's on my plants, so I have now pickled them! Lovely, sweet pickled chillis-blow your head off but great with cheese.

We had some good news when we were away, my brother-in-law and his wife completed on their first home! Congratulations to you both. To celebrate I made a selection of homemade goodies: Elderflower cordial, pickled chillis, pickled nasturtium, spicy rhubarb chutney and spiced sugar to welcome them to their new home.

I also managed to get some time card making, a leaving card for a Nightmare Before Christmas fan:

I also made a couple of girly cards and a shaker card.

I also finally took out a subscription to Craft Stamper magazine. I have been waiting until they had a subscription gift i liked-this time some goodies from Paper Artsy, a great company with a full angel policy-so I am off to buy some U-mount and get stamping with my new stamps-watch this space!

Happy Crafting

Li'l Pidge

Rhubarb...ooh, its spicy

Some of you may know we get our veggies delivered from an organic box scheme, so we need to be pretty inventive with our meals some weeks! The last 2 boxes had rhubarb included. Now, I love and grow this myself, so really dont need even more! But, my dad had a great recipe for a spicy rhubarb chutney. So, I decided to give it a go, but soon realised I had no cayenne pepper so as this is a hot spice decided dried whole chillies would be a good substitute-but how many? Well I can tell you -5 is possibly one too many!!!!but boy it's god with some sharp cheddar and oat cakes! Yum! The idea was to make lots and put it away to form the contents of Food Hampers for Christmas pressies, but there is NO way there is going to be any of this left after August, let alone December!

Now, nourished by the chutney I finally managed to make another skirt. This time from some wonderful Amy Butler fabric I bought a few weeks ago. The first skirt took 15 hours to make, but this only took about 6 hours (mainly as I had a bit more of a clue what to do-though zips are a pain) and I was so pleased I wore it out for my best buds, Julie, birthday Karaoke afternoon (OMG, what a scream!).

Amongst a few other bits and bobs, I also made Julie one of my gel collage art pendant necklaces, but decided to have a go at my first exploding box-I hope you like it.
In the words of Bob Marley "the sun is shining and the weather is sweet yeah" so I need to go and top up my Vit. D levels for a bit before hitting the cutting mat to make a leaving card for someone at work.

I have also found a great blog with blogcandy giveaway over at little pricess cards (link is on the righthanbd panel)-check it out, some great stuff.
Happy crafting

Li'l Pidge x