Cushion Craze!

I have finally got round to finishing my grass cushions off, not finally in that it was a chore because they were great to make maybe a little too great because now i am having dreams about felting loads of different designs on to different material, more textured cushions, etc, etc, But where am i going to put them all? I love how the first grassy cushion turned out i decided to make a long one as well it is amazing what you can do with a little bit of roving and some leftover material & now i have my sewing machine up & running i can see a whole lot off cushions appearing all over my house! I know cushions is a bit off the mark from my usual felt jewellery but it is good to have a change now & again. The whole cushion idea came about due to my recent change in colour scheme for my living room which i might add is now green & will be green forever more unless i win the lottery & can pay someone else to do the decorating for me. Anyway i had been looking around the shops for green cushions but all the ones in my price range were all plain & i wanted something with a bit off texture & color to it, so that's when the idea came to me, i love felt have plenty old material lying about that i always say i'm going to do something with but never get round to it so why not add them together to come up with my own special textured colourful cushions at a fraction of the price. One of my friends has recently got Engaged so i thought i would make them a special cushion i know it is not the usual engagement present but they already have the usual kitchen appliances & enough towels to start their own Spa, plus i got to experiment with another idea so hopefully once i get it sewn up they will like it even if it just gets chucked in a corner somewhere i will be happy. Other than decorating, recovering from a bad back & chest infection i have been planning my next experiment i am starting to sound like a mad scientist but there is that much different things i want to try out. I am just waiting on some candle making supplies coming so hopefully by the next time i blog i will have attempted to make my first candle, fingers are itching to get back to the cushions so i will leave it their for the night, sleep tight!

"FUN"

I was checking up my last post their & had to have a wee giggle to myself about my title Calm (ha ha) got that wrong their anyway we have all been laid up for the last 2 weeks with a so called 24 hour bug, so the first week or so of the Easter holidays has not been the best but i did manage to get sun burnt believe it or not after deciding to pull myself to my front garden & fell asleep. I know not one of my clever moments which i might add are very few & far between at the moment but anyway it was good to see the sun. Now it is gone, of course every year it does disappear when the the Links Market in Kirkcaldy arrives everyone in Fife has to pull out their Winter woollies & pretend to enjoy getting our butts frozen as we drag the kids for a mile up the links to be completely skint by the time we reach the other end but at least you can see the kids enjoying themselves. I never managed to get hardly any photos off them because they never stood still long enough. I am totally turning in to an old grouch i just moaned all the time we were their about people bangin into us, i thought if we went down for it opening it would not be as busy but as usual i was wrong. I spent most the time holding on to them, i am surprised they have not got bruises i was so worried they were going to get lost or worse. I don't know if it because i am on my own with them & panicking that something bad is going to happen all the time or do i have some sort of obsessive problem? Hollie is starting to get to that age that she wants to try out the fast & far too high rides but i feel sick just watching them the fact that she wants to go on them just fills me with pure terror. I never used to be like this a few years ago you would have found me first in line to go on everything now i am a paranoid wreck at the thought of my babies growing up & going on these things. I think next year i will have to stay at home and just let them go with their Dad, i can sit at home worried sick wondering if they are going to make it home in one piece & they can to go & have "fun" as they call it.

After that huge moan i forgot to tell you about the photo at the top it is my finished project i have been working on & off for weeks, thanks to my wonderful kids giving me a glue gun for Mothers Day i finally managed to get the copper heart stuck down. Once i manage to work it properly without making so much mess i might be able to start making thins that don't have glue showing where it shouldn't be but until that day comes this is as best i have got hope you like it.

Now I am back!

Well what can I say I have been having a little bit of family trouble over the last few month & everything has been getting on top off me so now that I have been away with the kids to the beautiful coast I am feeling a little bit better & have decided to get catch up with everything again, hopefully this time I will keep more up to date with my blog ;) The last time I was on blogger Aileen Clark (there is a post about Aileen's fabulous work further down my blog) awarded me with a blog trophy for one of the best blogs she has been reading as I have not been blogging for a while now I have decided to pick it up & pass it on at a later date as right now I definitely don't deserve it!

Even though I have not been updating my blog I have still been busy not as much as usual & I have been neglecting my jewellery, now my little shop on Etsy has only one page which is a bit surprising but hopefully in the next few days that will all change, I have just listed a new felt memory wire bracelet & a new Rose Quartz memory wire bracelet, My addiction for felt is still strong but my old gemstone addiction is heading back through in to my jewellery again so I am going to be listing a few more gemstone creations to Etsy soon! Other than making more jewellery I have been recycling my baby niece's baby food jars & making them in to little candle holders now I have a big collection of candle holders that I don't know what to do with, Any ideas will be appreciated!

When I was on holiday I decided that now was the time to get rid of one off my tattoo's so I have been working on designing a cover up for it. The one that I need covered was one of those one you get when you are in love & very very silly! I am totally stuck been to loads of tattoo sites but never see anything that I really like so by chance if anyone knows anything about foot tattoo's please leave me a comment as I want to get it covered up A.S.A.P!

Fused Fabric Artist

As I have mentioned before I am now a felt addict & use a lot of my felt beads in my jewellery creations but today I am wanting to tell you about a very talented friend I have met through Flickr who also uses felt & other fibers to make the most gorgeous pieces of art work , Aileen Clarke came across my page one day & left me a wee note , which I am very glad she did as her beautiful work inspires me to try new techniques out & try to incorporate them in to my jewellery. Aileen is a very busy work at home Mum of Two kids who has worked hard to build up a successful cottage industry over the last couple of years, I am going to have to meet up with her for a coffee one day to discuss business tactics as with my two kids I never seem to have any time to myself to build up any sort of business at all, so Aileen if you are reading this do you have any tips for me ? :) The photo above is one of Aileen's creations called Aziba as you can see it is a beautiful mix of different colors & textures , this is just one of the many pieces she has created, Aileen also makes gorgeous cards with fused fiber motifs on them & Beautiful sea scape's which I must admit are my favorite as every time I see one it reminds me of my holidays by the sea when I was a child. If you go & have a look in Aileen's Etsy shop you will see she has a little soft spot for hearts, one of her best sellers is a gorgeous fused fiber heart decoration which looks amazing, At the moment in Aileen's Etsy shop she is also selling a beautiful fused fabric bird which has lots of beautiful detail on it . What else can I say about her work ? You are just going to have to go & visit her to see what you think for yourself , I am sure you will see something you like. http://www.aileenclarkecrafts.etsy.com/