Konnections Christmas Craft Event

So hi everyone!  I've been away for a few days R&R down by the sea.  I had a very relaxing time.  Managed to visit some craft shops too...well it had to be done :-)

So back to making and blogging and trying to get my stock ready for an upcoming craft sale, The Konnections Christmas Craft Event taking place on Saturday November 9th starting at 5pm until 8pm at the K2 building at the Kerith Centre in Bracknell RG12 1EH.

Konnections is a cause very close to my heart.  It's a local organisation based at Kerith Community Church in Bracknell, Berkshire, UK.  Konnections provides respite care for disabled children, young people and their families.  The work they do is a life-line for so many children and families who would otherwise not get a break.  As well as offering respite Saturdays and days during school holidays, they also run a youth club which opperates for 11 to 16 year olds and then for 16 - 25 years.  They run a brilliant programme for siblings of disabled children called BandS (Brothers and Sisters) as well as a summer sailing project and a vital Mums support group.

Some of the work is funded by contracts with the local authority, but much of what is done relies on grants, donations and fund-raising, so if you can, come along on Saturday 11th November or find some other way to support the great work that goes on, such as making a donation through the Kerith website.

So in preparation for this important event... my sewing machine has been smoking hot, my crochet hooks are going at full pelt, my dipping pens are dizzy from dipping and I have been threading beaded necklaces and wiring earrings into the wee small hours.  I have to say I love every minute of it!

 

Still just over a week to go so lots more making to happen.  I have a great pattern for a really cute (and tasty) tree decoration to share with you in the next blog...see you soon.

Too Many Apples!

So It's that time of year again...there are apples everywhere.  Piles on the kitchen counter, windfalls all over the lawn, and still a whole load on the trees!

It's fair to say I have apples on my mind. I ended up drawing them in my art journal the other day.  I was thinking of the Keats poem about Autumn, Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness.... such inspiring words.  I ended up making this black ink drawing on a mottled water colour background, a Zentangle.  I then mounted the piece in my journal page after first preparing the page with pastels to match the watercolour. Finally I added some black zentangled leaves and finishing them with holographic embossing powder.

Of course thinking about apples and drawing them does not do anything to get rid of the glut sitting on the kitchen counter!  So how about some apple sauce muffins?  Really simple and so tasty.
Ingredients:
 3-4 apples depending on size
75 g raisins , 1/2 tsp cinnamon and ground cloves
15ml of honey or to taste
300g self-raising flour
150g firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
180 ml buttermilk or plain yogurt and milk mixed                                                                                125 ml vegetable oil
Method:

1  First make the apple sauce by peeling coring and chopping the apples and adding them to a saucepan with a little water.  Add the raisins and spice and cook until the apples have become completely soft.  Add the honey and taste to see that you are happy.  set aside to cool.
2  This will make about 9 generous muffins, so prepare 9 holes in a muffin pan either with paper cases or by greasing them with oil and dusting with flour.
3  Sift the remaining dry ingredients into a large bowl and then stir in the wet ingredients. Muffins do not like to be over agitated so combine by stirring not beating or whisking.
4  When the mixture is nearly combined add 150g of the apple sauce, and stir in so that the sauce is rippled through the mixture.
5 Divide the mixture up into the prepared pan and bake for about 20 mins in a moderately hot oven

So now there are three less apples to deal with, and if you make extra apple sauce it is a really tasty treat served warm with vanilla ice-cream. Yum!

Christmas Tree Follow-Up

So a couple of posts back, I attached a jpeg of a christmas tree I had drawn as a download.  I've been messing around with it trying different things... and came up with this triangular card design, just really simple.  I've printed the tree three times, and stuck one on each side.  The one that is front facing has been decorated with some sparkles, really simple but quite effective!

How are your Christmas cards going?   :-)

Lavender Harvest

I love the smell of lavender, and at the moment my conservatory smells beautiful as this years lavender harvest is laid out drying in there.  It lasted a long time in the garden this year, and I don't like to harvest it too early, because it is bee central!  At any time during the day you can see at least 4 different types of bees buzzing around doing their thing.

It just seems wrong depriving them of such easy pickings until the nectar finally runs dry.
So it wasn't until the third week in September that we finally got around to cutting; and now it is all nearly dry ready to be used in all all kinds of things.

I like to make simple paper sachets and fill them with my lavender and a bit of stuffing, and then hide them away in draws and cupboards, ready for the lovely scent to waft out every time a door is opened.

I choose a piece of paper I like, the smallest you can manage with really is 15cm x 15 cm ( 6"x 6").

Then mark up 4 small corners to cut out.  I have placed mine so I will have a rectangular sachet.

Cut out the corners you have just drawn and then score between the points of the corners. 

Fold along the scored lines.  You can now see the sachet taking shape.

Stick 3 sides of the sachet together leaving an opening to put the stuffing and lavender. 

Stick down the last flap and turn the sachet over.  Finish the front as you please; I have just used a simple label.

If lavender is not your thing then try some coarsely ground mixed spice to bring some winter warmth.

Autumn All Wrapped Up

So they say that the cold weather is coming by the end of the week...and I'm not a big fan of the cold.  I've been working on a new scarf design - well I think my grandma would have called it a muffler.  Its shorter than many of the scarves around and works by simply crossing at the neck.  It is made with a combination of crochet and knitting with the crochet providing extra thickness at each end to keep the wind out.

I've chosen to make this first one in shades of brown, to reflect the autumnal mood.  Choosing the right wool is always challenging, but when I make something, I want it to be both attractive and practical.  So I think it is important that for most things I use yarn that is easily washable.  Both of these yarns are machine washable at 30 degrees.

For those of you that enjoy crochet, the stitch I've used is called The Squares and can be created as follows:


The Squares

This pattern is worked over an even number of stitches
Row 1: 3 chain * ^ wool round hook (wrh), insert hook,  wrh, draw through a loop,  wrh, draw through 2 loops ^, repeat from ^ to ^ 3 times into the 2nd stitch,  wrh, draw through 4 loops, 1 chain, miss one stitch*.  Finish row with one treble.

Row 2: 1 chain, * 1 double into space, one double into motif *, 1 double in last chain.

Repeat from Row 1

The resulting panel produced in this pattern is thick, stable and warm!

Once I have sorted out some photos, this scarf will be joining the other makes in my Etsy Shop.
Happy crocheting!

Just Starting

After years of making things for pleasure, as presents or for friends, I have set out on the adventure of starting an Etsy shop, and at the same time I'm back to blogging.  I'm told it helps people find your Etsy shop by creating spaghetti links out there in the cyber-ether...
I have sold a variety of my products at craft fairs  over the last few months, but have yet to make any inroads on the internet.

So what I've found is that there is quite a bit to this Etsy business.  Making things is just the start.  You have of course, to set up your Etsy account, and start constructing your shop.  You have to get the things you've made up on the site, which means decent photos, and that is a whole other art. Finally you have to decide what you will charge and where you will ship.  That's really hard, when basically you have only ever given things away.  That's the basic set up, but then something a little more scary has to happen.  People have to find you, and like your work, and buy it... and you have to do things like blog to help get you shop further up the google search engine lists...I think!

For my first post I'm going to  share a page from my creative journal.  It's just ideas and a diary in one really.  I have been working on some christmas stuff recently and this page tells some of that story.

In some ways it's just arty doodles, but it helps me to keep ideas together.  I wanted to draw my own christmas tree to use on some of my paper craft products this year.  I printed three copies of it  to use on the page.   I ended up folding two, trimming them a little, and sticking them one on top of the other to give a 3D effect.

Any way I thought it might be fun to give away a download of my tree.  You can then print it and use it to make your own cards, tags etc. It is a JPEG file, so it should be easy to use with most software.

Well that seemed  such a simple idea! But then I realised that blogger does not really support  downloads very well.  So I've loaded the image up to a cloud, and linked the download button to it...and hope it works!  Lots of other blogs do it this way, so it should be fine...but let me know if you have any problems! The Download Button will take you to a Wikisend page, and the file should download from there. 

 I hope my crafting journey encourages you to make things too.  I'm sure it's in us all, just looking for different way to find expression!!