Thursday 24 November 2011

Buttons Galore

I am fast becoming a huge button addict since discovering that I can actually make my own from polymer clay. I also did a little test to see if they were safe to wash and pleased to say that as long as they are washed on a cool (30o) wash then they are absolutely fine.

Here are the latest ones from my little crafty room




Here are some more button friends.

The very talented members of the Craft Pimp team have been know to make and use the odd button too.
Faith made these very pretty textured ones, I love the shape too.

Helen makes beautiful buttons out of glass,

Of course I couldn't leave Lesa out, she makes the most amazing wedding bouquets from buttons.

Mel makes wonderful cards and now these unique Christmas decorations using felt buttons.

Monday 14 November 2011

One of my most favourite places to shop on the internet is Emma Ralph's EJR Beads She sells all you could need as a polymer clay artist, she is so friendly and helpful too. I love getting parcels in the post from Emma, it's just like Christmas.


These are some of the amazing art beads she creates





She has a facebook page too
https://www.facebook.com/EJRBeads

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Lovely Treasuries

I made a couple of treasuries...
This one is full of spooky Halloween items, check them out, there are some awesome artists out there.


This one titled Autumn Leaves speaks for itself, gorgeous autumn inspired beauties.


And I've been featured and a few treasuries lately, by some very lovely people.
Thank you :o)

Beautiful seaside inspiration


More spookiness

Friday 19 August 2011

six weeks and what have I done...

Not much, but then again I have had fun with the family, babysitting Ruby, our granddaughter was special, we spent two whole days together and really got to know one another, she is a darling, and very clever but I would say that wouldn't I?

I have been updating photographs for the website and Etsy to try to make it more appealing and this week I added some new pendants using my texture sheets which I am pretty happy with especially 'Witches Brew' (on the left), I went a little mad with the inks but what a great result.

Here's a couple more using another texture sheet I made, these a re a bit more rustic, I used acrylic paint on these.

Oh and I've done 2 big fairs as well, Heckington and Revesby, great fun but very tiring and so I'm off on my hols, to Cornwall for the first time and we're really looking forward to it.




Wednesday 27 July 2011

Lucious cupcakes

My nearly sister-in-law, Amanda, (hurry up and make an honest woman of her Alan)is a very talented artist when it comes to cupcakes.
Her edible masterpieces are the best I've ever seen, I've tasted a few too and they are just as delicious as they look.
She makes BIG cupcakes like this pretty one.

I love these deep pink cakes


These vintage looking ones are beautiful, look at the detail, she's even added tiny buttons, I have a thing about buttons, I'm a bit of a collector.


and how cute are these little monsters?


Amanda lives in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. She has a website here and her facebook page is here

Sunday 17 July 2011

spotlight on Georgie Bristow

Georgie is a fabulous lampworker, that is, she makes amazing glass beads, she also uses tiny silver rings to create the most intricate chain maille jewellery, all from her home in Bristol.
Just take a look at her designs...






Go along to her Website to see more of her gorgeous designs
Why not check out her blog too

blog ring post for Lucinda Marchant

Lucinda Marchant aka Minerva Jewellery is a self taught jewellery designer. She likes to work with Silver, gold and gemstones, glass and polymer clay.
Lucinda makes wonderful silver jewellery incorporating gemstones and lampwork glass in her designs.
Her Stacker rings are beautiful as are all of her designs.

You can find her creations in her Etsy store
and her Folksy shop





Monday 4 July 2011

Spotlight on Jill of Kiln Fired Art

Another very talented member of the Craft Pimp Forum is Jill Egan aka Kiln Fired Art
Jill creates some wonderful things. Her main passion is working with clay to make pendants


and decorating other ceramic items like these Doodledoo mugs, She designed the decoration herself and then fires it onto the mug, Totally unique.

Jill makes some gorgeous dichrioc glass pendants too. Aren't these amazing?

An what about her marvelous slumped bottles, what a talking point one of these would be on your coffee table.


My particular favourites of Jill's creations are her totally fabulous bangles.


Check out these other places to find Jill's work
Her Etsy
Her flat bottles website
Her Dichrioc glass

Monday 27 June 2011

Doodle Buttons Gone Wrong

The lovely Jill of Kiln Fired Art sent me some of her amazing doodle decals as I had wondered whether they would work on polymer clay.
I decided to make some little star buttons as there was a 'Star' challenge coming up in the craft Pimp forum I belong to.
I rolled the clay and set to cutting out pieces of the decal sheet I thought would look good on the buttons, I was quite excited about how they would turn out.
The pieces took seconds to release from the backing in the warm water and I laid them onto the sheet of clay and dabbed them dry with a piece of kitchen roll.
after covering the clay with a layer of cling film I cut out the star shapes. I didn't have time to bake them right then so I left them over night. when I went back to them in the morning the top of the buttons looked all glossy, I touched one of them, it was all sticky, The decal had reacted with the polymer, I could have cried.

Well I thought, maybe they will be alright after baking, No, they were still sticky.
then i thought maybe if I cover them with 'Klear' that will seal the sticky in.
Yay! It worked. But i am not confident about them and I shall just have to put it down to a failed experiment and a lesson learned.
Here are the buttons baked and covered with Klear.

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Nicola of Smitten Kitten

Nicola is a talented multi crafter. She makes the most beautiful and unique pendants using clusters of colourful glass beads and pretty charms to design each one.


She uses pretty pearls to make the most feminine jewellery


I love these brooches.


and her 'Angry Birds' earring are so much fun



You can find Nicola's creations for sale on her website and Etsy
Please check out her very stylish Blog

Wednesday 1 June 2011

Glass artist Vicki Christian

Also known as "Beads for Breakfast", Vicki makes the most delicious beads, though I wouldn't recommend eating them ;)
Would you believe she has only been lamp working for 2 years!


 As you can see Vicki loves to make brightly coloured beads and she does it all from her kitchen.
I really like these blue ones.






You can find Vicki on Etsy and Facebook as well as her  website


Red, Red Wine Buttons

If there's one thing I love it's buttons! I love making them too.
I made these using Premo, I am really liking that clay. I used the same method as I did when I made the green daisy pendant but Used a gorgeous dark, wine red. then  added silver metal foil and orange and red inks, then to really go over the top I thought I'd put some glitter on there too. :)
I've just put them on Etsy but I think I'm going to have to make some more, they'd look great on my black cardi.



My pretty yoga mat bag

I have been wanting a yoga mat bag for ages, so when I saw some really pretty batik material in my local store I just had to buy it.
I surprised myself by going for the pink option, I am really not a pink type of girl.
I found a great pattern online here, really easy to follow instructions with good diagrams.

Here it is.

Saturday 28 May 2011

Blog Ring post for Lisa of Obliciousness


This is my first blog post for the Craft Pimp blog ring and it’s for Lisa of Oodles of Obliciousness.
Lisa is a talented crafter who tries her hand at many things.
She has a passion for cooking and baking, especially cupcakes, yummy and these Whiskey Mac ones look absolutely delicious Lisa. 






Lisa is a very talented seed beader , her creations with the tiniest beads are a works of art. Just take a look at this intricate cuff she made, and then gave away!  It must have taken her hours and hours to make. What a kind and generous gesture.

She is also a card maker, using some fabulous patterned papers.
















I have really enjoyed looking through Lisa’s blog, there are so many of her crafty ventures on there, like, polymer clay, sewing and jewellery making. I wonder what she’ll be trying next.
Why not follow Lisa’s blog  to see more of her lovely creations.




Monday 16 May 2011

foils, inks and watercolour

This week I got a delivery of Premo clay, I have never used it before (I'm a Fimo girl).
First impressions are that the colours are so vibrant, the clay feels very plasticy.
It blends really well and conditions very quickly.

I wanted to use the translucent so made a pendant with foils and inks and a layer of trans over the top.
WOW! it was so easy to get it really thin without tearing and I could immediately see the foils and inks under it before baking instead of a milky white film.

The finished result is the best trans I have achieved. very happy

 Here's a view of the backside too


Another batch of watercolour beads, this time with a purple base, no trans layer and no black layer. I like these.

Ha ha I just noticed the text that this picture was taken on (just beneath the beads) Delia Smith's Vegetarian cookbook. I might have to retake the picture before I try to sell them.