Craft show stash

I have been absent for a short while.  Work, holiday, blah, blah...life...you know how it goes.

If you follow me on instagram (kylacotterell) then you would have seen my capers and art abandonments etc over the past few weeks.  I am slowly uploading the photos and will update my blog soon.

At the weekend I went for a Coven outing to the Shepton Mallet craft show.  I was lucky enough to be given a couple of tickets from the organisers as they used my photo on their publicity (ooh, get me!!) and I contacted them and they were very obliging.

I was being smug as I only spent £1 on craft.  The fat quarter hidden in the middle of the photo.  I kept walking past the Dinky Screens stall.  A couple of young ladies from Bristol and this was their first show.  Having done some screen printing in the past I was really taken with their compact and contemporary set up.  I chatted to them, wandered off and ended up back at the stall on 3 separate occasions!

As we went to leave to return home I decided it was fate as I walked past them again....out came the cash....purchase made!!  I chose the 'Bristol' stencil collection.  I live near a steam railway and we have the balloons going over us regularly so it seemed really appropriate.

I am looking forward to playing with this.

My only new stash for several months (apart from a couple of magazines and a replacement watercolour paint)....but we do have the NEC only a few weeks away!

Happy crafting

Kyla

Ghibli daps

 Now, I know I am not the only one to fall into this trap.  

You see something on Pinterest and think "ooh, I could make that"

A few weeks go by and several hundred pins later you get round to making a start!

You finish and sit back to admire your work....its rubbish and looks NOTHING like the pin!

Well, on this occasion I was really pleased with the result!

I am a massive Studio Ghibli fan (Japanese Anime) and have seen lots of hand painted trainers on Pinterest recently so thought I would combine the two.

I bought some white daps (Bristol speak for plimsol!) from Lidl for £5 (bargain and surprising comfortable)

Then started sketching out the design in pencil to ensure I had the dimensions right.

  Then I filled the design in using a variety of paints I already had, a mixture of fabric paints and screen printing paints.

I outlined the designs in black and then allowed to dry overnight before setting them with a hot iron (not easy, it involved lots of padding with newspaper and quite a bit of swearing!).

I also gave them a couple of coats of protective spray (the sort for walking boots) and voila, one of a kind Ghibli daps!!

I love these and wish that I had bought more than one pair of shoes now!  If I see them on sale again I may be tempted to buy a black pair and see if I can decorate them too.

I love wearing these and my plan is to try to paint an umbrella next (if anyone has any tips on this then PLEASE get in touch as at the moment it's just a crazy idea!!).

Happy crafting

Kyla

Shopping in style

A few weeks ago (possibly more) I had this bag (uncoloured) on one of my WOYWW posts.

I finally finished it!  Ta da!

It wasn't difficult.  I bought this large heavy canvas shopping bag with the architect centre design in black outline on the front for only £1.50 in our local independent market.  I thought I would brighten it up a bit.  I considered stitching, but remembered I had some fabric pastels that I hadn't used much since they were given to me as a gift a couple of years ago, so thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

Sometimes, when you are having a bad day I find that whatever I try to make looks awful...its like my bad mood transfers into the finished article, not good.  So, having a small area to colour in bright fabric pastels seemed like a fool proof way of crafting on the odd occasion when the mojo takes a break!

I set it with an iron and now have a natty and stylish shopping bag.  All ready for my next outing.

Happy crafting

Kyla

 

WOYWW

Happy Whats on your Workdesk Wednesday again, I hope you are all doing well?

 My desk this week is actually at Coven (hence its so clean!!).

 

This week I am using my fabric pastels colouring in a fabric tote that I bought from our local market for a £1 - well, its such thick fabric that you cannot really go wrong for a quid!

Also on the desk is the book my fellow Coven member is using to make some stuffed animals for a pensioners residential group that she runs....and you can see the bunny rabbit peeking out of the top of the pot that she has already made!!  So cute.

"Man Bites Dog" cards this week are 'Devoted Cop Tells on Tycoon General'.....ooh!

So, how is your desk this week?  Clean and freaky or dirty and slutty?  Go on, do show...it's a legal snoop at desks across the globe thanks to the Queen of Desks Julia, all you need to join is pop over here

Happy Crafting

Kyla

 

You are my sunshine

 Hello peeps, so this is the show and tell of the final Christmas pressie that I made.

This is the present that I made for my Nan.  She is 89 (90 in a couple of months) and lives in New Zealand.  I had NO idea what I could get Nan for Christmas then I remembered I had painted a piece of fabric with a lovely sunny design but had no idea what to do with it.

So I decided to do some free machine embroidery-I got a bit carried away and ended up embroidering over most of it!

 I used a variety of stitches and then backed the piece with felt and machine stitched a border all the way round.

 

I did a bit of hand stitching too and then added a couple of rings on the back and some ribbon.  That way Nan can either hang it on the wall or use it as a place mat on her bedside table.

Now I just need to think what I can make for her birthday in March!!!

Happy crafting

Kyla

 

Oven Glove Joy

Hello peeps, another update on some of the Christmas pressies I made this year.

As well as Elderflower cordial, sloe gin and spiced sugar (which I LOVE) I also made some other pressies.  You have seen the jewelry I made, well this is a small gift I made my DH.

Back in the late 70's and 80's he (as was I, but I didn't know him back then) was a big fan of a band called Joy Division.  Probably their most famous album had a black and white cover:

Lots of bands over the years have cashed in on merchandise (cue Misfits and Kiss....kings of exploiting merchandise-you can even get a Kiss coffin!!) so another band called "Half Man Half Biscuit" brought out a song called "Joy Division Oven Gloves" about bands exploiting themselves (youtube it...its a great song!).

So I made him some!

I bought a black oven glove and painted a representation of the Joy Division album with white fabric paint!!! 

Making a gift for DH is hard, his gifts this year consisted of a LOT of vinyl records and a bass pedal tuner (he is REALLY into music and plays in a punk band) so I was chuffed when I thought of this one!

Happy Crafting

Kyla