Recycled

Jolene on September 28th, 2010

Paper fabric is fabric made with layers of paper and other bits and pieces, in this case glitter and threads, covered with a whole layer of tissue paper.  I used an old sewing pattern instead of plain tissue paper.  All of this is glued in sequence on top of a piece of muslin with watered [...]

Continue reading about paper fabric finches

Jolene on August 29th, 2010

We’ve been renovating our house since moving in almost four years ago.  Progress is slow but steady and lately we’ve (read Alasdair) been ripping out the old electrics in one room that will eventually be our living room.  The old wire is a lovely thick copper wire that we just couldn’t throw away.  So, I [...]

Continue reading about too soon for Christmas decorations?

Preparations are well under way for our first craft fair of 2010, which will take place in Hillhead Library in Glasgow’s West End this coming Saturday. In the true spirit of leaving everything until the last minute, we have a list as long as both our arms of work to complete before Saturday morning and, [...]

Continue reading about Glasgow West End Craft Fair – Saturday 10th July 2010

Jolene on June 26th, 2010

Back in April I entered a competition on the Craft Scotland website to win a copy of Papermaking and Bookbinding: Coastal Inspirations by Joanne B Kaar and was delighted to learn a few weeks ago that I was one of the lucky winners.  I was even more delighted when I received my book last week [...]

Continue reading about making paper while the sun shines

Jolene on June 6th, 2010

We always try to be very nice to the environment.  We use mostly natural or recycled materials for our craft and reuse packaging when mailing, we drive a very efficient car and constantly lecture the kids to switch the lights off, but never turned a thought to how damaging to the environment blogging might be. [...]

Continue reading about Carbon Neutral Blogging

Jolene on June 1st, 2010

Not to be outdone by his sister, the lad (aged nearly 7) decided to have a go at making his own soft toy.  He designed and sewed this chap (almost) all by himself.  I’m very proud of his ability to take his idea and turn it into something tangible.  We worked together on turning his [...]

Continue reading about Sewing with Kids: Dog

Jolene on May 30th, 2010

In spite of the fact that it should be summer and we are being teased with rays of sunshine trying to break the clouds, the small furry one decided to make a snowman today.  OK, so it’s a red snowman and it doesn’t actually resemble a snowman but she says it is a snowman so [...]

Continue reading about Sewing with Kids: Soft Snowman

Alasdair on May 13th, 2010

Following Jolene’s last post I couldn’t resist the post title, nor – I’m afraid – could I resist including a little musical flashback to my youth … I’ll leave that till the end though! As Jolene said in her post I have been making more bonnie birds and taking her through the process at the [...]

Continue reading about Bonnie Birds – answer to the master!

Jolene on May 11th, 2010

Alasdair has been guiding me through the process of making one of his Bonnie Birds…it’s not a process I will be repeating in the near future! First you have to make the armature, which is quick and easy enough.  Then comes the mache, which refuses to stick to the armature.  Alasdair’s most helpful advice was [...]

Continue reading about bonnie birds – taking lessons from the master

Alasdair on April 16th, 2010

Having made a few batches of previous bonnie birds and developed a decorative pattern that I think works for them – see previous posts here – I’ve been keen to develop alternative patterns, something as it turns out is easier said than done. Here are a few examples of what I’ve come up with thus [...]

Continue reading about Bonnie Birds – an alternative design