BARNEY

Meet 'Barney The Owl'.

This little addition will probably be the last one this week as I have so much stuff to catch up on. I have been so engrossed in making these little critters that my housework has been sat on the back burner - so tomorrow I will be catching up big style!

I bought this little bit of material (6in x 20in) the other day for 50p and I knew that i would at least make a little owl or two from it. The back of Barney is made from Dark Brown felt that I also bought the other day.





I attached the bits for his face then started sewing and attached one of his wings - then as I got to the other side I attached his other wing without really taking notice of the position (I'm a fool) and realised after i had turned him inside out, that it was higher than the other one. So as you can see one wing is sort of at an angle and the other is attached straight. I have now learnt my lesson for the day - PAY ATTENTION to the details! :*)




Some of the kids on the street now want me to make them some - but I have declined - well to be honest i am enjoying making them for myself! :) :)

Tonight whilst hubby was on the computer looking at House Insurance I made myself a little pincushion to pass away the boredom - I think it looks cute - but hubby thinks its strange!!??? I will remember to get a photo of it soon and stick it on here - you have to promise not to laugh though! :)

Before I get off for the night here is the little mouse that Caitlyn my eldest made. I think she did a brilliant job as it was her first attempt. I helped her a little but she managed to do about 95% of it.

She chose the colours herself - bright pink and bright orange and it is BRIGHT! I cut out the shapes for her and she did a small test piece first to make sure her stitching was ok. The tail was last minute or should I say forgotten! She had finished stitching then decided to add a tail so I attached it for her using the button. It kind of looks cute!

And here is a piccy of Caitlyn with her mouse - she is so proud of what she achieved.



So getting off now - so catch you all later.

MEET MANNI

Meet MANNI THE MANIC MOUSE!! LOL!

I had a little bit of fun making him last night :)



I found a really old pair of jeans that my large butt wouldn't fit in to any more and happily cut into them. Its great as i have loads of denim squares now that means I can make a little family of deranged looking mice!!



I used 2 different sizes and shades of red buttons for the eyes - to give him that 'strange' look. Then after I had finished sewing him I decided to add some teeth - (typical of me wait until the end and then decide to add something extra). I know they aren't the best looking teeth - but they give him charm.
I filled him with rice again as I had nothing else - but whilst I was out today I visited my LCS and bought some Habico Polyester Filling, so at least any new 'family members' will feel squishy and a lot lighter!



I am in the process of losing this one to my eldest Caitlyn as well.

Now Caitlyn also made one last night which for her first attempt was brilliant. I did have to help her a little bit - but she did great. So I will try and post a picture of hers tomorrow.

Going to get off as I have some ideas floating around in this head of mine of more 'things' to make :*)

Thanks for visiting!

MAVIS

Introducing 'MAVIS' The Mouse??



They are so addictive to make and this is actually the 3rd one that I made yesterday. The first mouse that I made (that daughter pinched) has now been given to a friend - so last night whilst it was quiet in the house I made this little lady.



She is smaller than Fred & Elsie (other mouse) - I cut the squares of felt to 9cm this time but I made the ears slightly bigger. The only thing is i wish I had set the eyes a little more to the tip of the nose - but I think she is still cute.

So hopefully today (if it stops raining) I am going to the market to try and get some bits of different material and some more felt. Then probably later I will raid my jeans draw and see what i can cut up :).

Please click here for some fabby pics of loads of chickens :). - Thanks for the link Fryne :)

INTRODUCING 'FRED'

This morning when I got up I was determined to make something other than a card.

I found a photo in my Crafts Beautiful September Edition (page 83) which showed some animals made from fabric leftovers. I thought I would give it a try. Now I don't sew (I can, but I'm lazy ;)) and I am really happy with the way 'he' turned out.

So here is the new addition to the family - 'FRED' named by my youngest.



I cut the fabric in to 2, 14cm squares and the the other bits from felt. The eyes weren't on the picture in the magazine but I added them as I think FRED needed them. I used rice to fill him as I didn't have any dried peas or lentils - and he sits perfectly :).



As I really enjoyed making FRED - you will probably get to meet a few more new additions soon.

WORDLE

Create a Wordle - a little bit of fun!

Wordle - lazy-trout

Sorry but I cant seem to save a decent size image for you to look at, so click on the link above and make one yourself :)

DON'T ALL FAINT AT ONCE

OMG - How long is it since I last posted????

I'm sorry for not being around but I've been a bit busy lately. I have been doing some more stuff for CocoCards - adverts & flyer's etc, but I thought I would have a little play tonight and get some of my card stuff out.

I wanted to come up with some new stuff - but I thought, play it safe and make a card for a family friend who is due a Baby Boy next month. And talking of babies I am going to be an auntie again (whoohoo) as my brother and his wife are expecting a baby boy in December, and also one of my oldest, long time friends and her partner are also due a baby in December, but up to now she doesn't know what she is having. So you may be seeing a few baby cards on here :*)

Back to the card! - You may remember I did this style of card a while ago - but this time I had a little play and made it accordion style. Its such a dinky card as it only measures 10cm high and 7.5cm wide.



I used a rubber on the end of a pencil to make the white dots, then I went over them with a sky blue colour. I made the little boat out of scraps and dabbed a bit of ink over it then used 3d foam pads to give it lift. I also used 2in circle punch to make the neck and leg holes, then used a scallop punch to make the 'lace' parts.



The inside poem was printed on my computer then cut out. It was a bit tricky to do but I got there in the end - have to say though I could have been a bit neater with my cutting. I don't know where the poem came from or who wrote it (sure I found it on the web ages ago) but I thought it was cute and it had 3 verses which fit perfectly with the pages of the card.

Hope you are all doing fine and I will hopefully, this weekend catch up with everyone's blogs.

YOU CAN ALL LOOK NOW

At what I have been upto recently.




Click here and you can see the new website. It went live at midnight last night.


Most of the designs on the site were created by my buddy Claire, who I worked with for quite a few years at our towns local paper.
My main thing for COCOCARDS was designing Mummy Cards. I also managed to do some birthday invites, christening, baby naming and also some birth announcements.

The main aim of COCOCARDS is creating Personalised Photo Cards.

Let me know what you think!

DCM - FRIDAY DARE

Cards with a certain a-Peel (off)

You can blame Keryn with her rather lovely cool colours dare last week (great cards all BTW!) for the inspiration for this week. I found that I needed to use a peel off and was quite pleased with the results and that got me thinking of a fiendish dare. At least it is for me (Lythan) who is often disparaging of the much maligned shiny sticker. But actually there are some really nice examples of the genre around now. And also people who can do all sorts of gorgeous things with peel off stickers that I would not have thought of. Are you one of them?
So go on, rummage around in your craft stash and Make a card with Peel Offs.

If you really truly honestly don't have any peel offs in the house (and remember I know where you live and will be checking personally) then and only then, are you allowed to use another type of sticker in its place. Go on, I dare you!

WILL THIS COUNT???? As I don't own any peel-offs!

Well I have to say I cheated with this one ;) This is one of the very first cards I made when I started making cards about 4 years ago. Its the only one that I kept, because I couldnt bare to part with it (sad I know)!





Sorry about the state of the photos but taken tonight - with really bad lighting.

YOOOOOO HOOOOOO

I'm back - well for tonight I am.

Just to let you all know I am fine (thanks for the emails) and been a little bit busy. I have missed making 'cards & stuff' that today I finally managed to make a couple of things for a friends birthday that is soon. I can only show sneeky peeks as she does visit my blog and i dont want to give it all away. :)

I just love these papers by K&Co and I also used my trusty Bind-It-All (again I hear you sigh!) LOL!

The first 2 pictures are of the Birthday Book. I used my new American Crafts Thickers kindly brought back from Singapore by my wonderful dad. They are fab!!!! And now I need more :)



I used my Studio G Alphabet Stamps (brilliant invention!) to do the months inside.



This is the Triangle Trifold Card that I made to match the book. I am sorry for the poor pictures but I cant show any more - lol!!!



Keep popping by - you never know when I will make something again :)

Thought I would share a link to show you what i have been up to cococards . The cards shown are by my good friend Claire (fabby designer) and when the site is up and running you can see what i have been upto. Please dont get too excited as my work is no where as good as Claires.

A VERY SHEEPISH HELLO

I'm still around - and managed to have a lookie on some peeps blogs tonight! You have all been so busy - it will take me hours just to catch up with you all.

Not been into crafting at the mo - still doing some design stuff though - which I will be able to tell you about soon. Nothing major (just wait to you see the work my friend has done - puts mine in the shade), but nice to be able to 'put' stuff together on the computer and not have to pull all my crafting stuff out and put it all away again at the end of the night.

I have been a little busy these past few days. We are laying a new path at the side of the house (finally). So the hardwork really started on Wednesday and Thursday as we shifted at least 4 tonne of tarmac, soil and rubble. Then today we had 2 tonne of hardcore delivered - and it was back breaking work having to move it all (ok i admit - hubby moved at least 3/4 of it) but still it was hard work. So hopefully tomorrow if the weather stays nice (fingers crossed) - we can start laying the paving slabs (60 of them).

So please bare with me - hopefully i will get my paper crafting head back on and finally make something soon.

Thanks for visiting - hugs to you all!

Donna x