Here are the items for the Ren faire swap that I recently finished. First is this - at first I was going to turn it into a brooch but I ran out of pin backs so it became a necklace instead. I'm in love with this face mold and wanted to make a piece of jewelry with it so when I found my stash of the glass seed beads that were used on my beach fairy dress I went to town. I really like the way it came out - fairly simple but it still has that altered look that I adore so much.


This is why I ran out of pin backs. :) Pretty simple and rough, these are some faire favors that my partner can keep or pass out to friends.

I found this amazing fabric at Joann's and made one of my favorite faire garments - harem pants! Not just for belly dancers, I like to wear these under all of my gowns as bloomers of sorts. They're great when running from shop to shop in a thunderstorm - you can hike up your skirts as high as you need to and still be a bit modest. :) I hope she likes them. My partner does a lot of fighting and swordplay so I think they'll come in handy.


Next are some arm warmers. My partner has a condition that leaves her hands cold constantly so I whipped these up. The pattern is Trellis Mitts and they were made using Lion Brand Wool-Ease. The red was tough to photograph though. :(



Also in the package is a set of Butterick patterns that consist of hanging belt pouches, cool waist cinches and belts and some bracers. Also there's a silver spiral pendant that she can use for one of her many outfits and characters and 2 different styles of eyelets for lacings. You can never have too many eyelets!

I hope I can make it to the post office tomorrow to mail it finally!! It's got to make it all the way to the Netherlands! :-D

**Edited to add package info!!

Handspun and Handcrafts Swap

I just finished yet another swap. This one was fun and frustrating. Fun because the yarn I spun up was colorful and frustrating because it didn't really spin up the way I wanted it to. The first one I had done was 4oz. of 100%wool from Dancing Feet Roving by Tomboy Yarns. It was a fantastic colorway called Tangerine Spice.

It ended up spinning up to about 220 yards of thin-medium weight. I'd love a yarn gauge so I could have a better idea of the thickness. :-/


Next up was 4oz of wool called Blurberries. For some reason this one spun up weird - it was kind of fussy and I'm not really sure why since this is the 3rd roving I've bought from this company and the other two were a dream to spin. Who knows. Anyway, without further ado...Winter Blurberry Pie:




From my partner I received some lovely bits and bobs. Here they are... my hand crafted items from Dolly Mixx! First up are the yummy smelling goodness of handmade soaps. There's also a big vial of Mandarin, tea tree and lavender bath oil - some of my favorite scents!

Then for the large there's the handmade notebook. Love the colors, love the textures - so fun. I love the beads as well, gives it so much added dimension.

Jane Austen Swap

This is my second Jane Austen Swap... needless to say she's quite a favorite of mine. :) For this swap I decided to go big. The requirements were a large item and two smalls but since my partner had decided to make me a period gown I wanted to make my package to her reflect my thanks.

The first items are a simple pearl beaded necklace and bracelet. Nothing too fancy, as simplicity was a key theme in the Regency period. I decorated a small round box to put them in.


Next, one of the items that was requested was a journal. Yay! One of my favorite types of projects! This one was fun too because I got to find a Jane Austen quote. She's so sassy! I'm always surprised when people think of her as prim and proper. :) It's a bit mixed media (once again trying to branch out here). I used a print out of the silhouette that is supposedly Miss Austen herself, acrylic paint, gel medium, rub ons (thank you 7 Gypsies!), and a few bits and bobs.

Finally for package #1 is the large item - a shawl. It's my very first completed knitted shawl so I'm pretty proud of it. It's a lovely color and pretty cozy. It's large enough to keep your shoulders warm when worn as a shawl and small enough to wear as a neck kerchief for a more modern look.



So here it is, part one of two! Somehow the color red became an ongoing theme in this package, which I guess is appropriate since it is Valentine's Day weekend. :)



I have two other items to send out but I didn't want to hold up the whole package so I shipped this one off on it's merry way. Part two will come as soon as I've finished the final piece!

Labyrinth Swap

I haven't posted in a while with all the swap stuff I've been working on. I've been anxious to post some of my items too, but due to possible spoilers I have to be good and wait, at least until I've sent out my packages. :) I'm not sending this one out until tomorrow but I just can't wait any longer.

So first off, I've finally finished with the Labyrinth swap, and what a bunch of fun it was! It's probably been one of my favorite swaps so far. I received a really great package from Pupper. Here's the lot all together:

First there's a felted William ( I heart him - but unfortunately so do my kitties so he must stay hidden for now) and a fantastic miniature felt Jareth doll. Just look at those killer cheekbones! A Labyrinth inspired necklace and cool "bubble" earrings, both of which will go with a lot of my clothes.Here's an amazing Door Knocker jewelry box. The clay sculpting is fabulous- I could never even dream of trying to make one of the door knockers!

Then there's a gold necklace and dangle earring set which will be great for faire.

Finally here is a William the Worm "Ello" sign and a William mini calender. Can you tell he's one of my favorites? :D

There's also an owl candle (not for lighting- he's too awesome), but I somehow forgot to take a solo picture of him.


Now for my package to Pupper. For starters we have a couple of knitted items. First off is the requisite Owl item! :) I love owlies, especially the one in this film. Barn owls are so beautiful. Here are 2 cotton owl potholders, pre-blocked. For the eyes I used some glittery copper ribbon. When you're dealing with the Labyrinth, you always need a little glitter! :-D

The next item up is the William scarf I made. I used Wool-ease for some warmth and I think the color works well. It's a simple garter stitch scarf with fringe and has a great "squish" factor. I do wish however, that I had made it a little longer. I didn't have my second skein of yarn with me though and and I was getting anxious to finish it. There's really nothing wrong with the length but as a personal preference I wish it were longer.


This is the largest item. I wanted to try my hand at a mixed media painting. I've dabbled in it before but I wanted to try something on a larger scale. I really didn't want to go 20x24 but I started playing around with some ideas and it just kind of happened. :)

I started off with some stucco, acrylics and gel medium...

It eventually made its way to this, with the addition of printed images, glass bead texture medium, foam & rubber stamping, Stazon, and a LOT more acrylic paint and gel medium. :) I love the way the colors came out, although the pictures do it absolutely no justice.

I think my favorite bit is the goblins in the bottom left corner. The words surrounding the picture say "I wish the goblins would come and take you away...)" Other quotes include: "What's said is said" and "What a pity". We all swoon over Jareth but for this I really wanted to showcase his meaner side.


Next is something I had commissioned for my partner by my best friend and an amazing artist, Jeanne Hunt (jeannebaby on Craftster). She's been working on some watercolor paintings and I was absolutely blown away. I really wanted one for my partner so I asked if she could do a small 5x7 Ludo painting. It truly puts my work to shame, but here it is anyway. :D The color and detail are absolutely perfect and the fact that she painted them without even referring to a photo is rediculous. She's seriously amazing.



Finally we have my favorite piece for this swap. The Junk Box. My apologies for the drawn out description but I LOVED working on this piece. My partner loves the character of Agnes, the old woman who lives in the junkyard outside the gates of the Goblin City. I really wanted to make something to represent her so from my love of altering boxes I came up with a little treasure chest.

It started off as a cast off in the $.99 bargain bin at Gabriel Brother's (and you better believe I stocked up on these awesome little boxes!). From there it got covered in Barbie doll toys, buttons, and other odds and ends found around the house. Hey, it is after all a junkyard scene!

For some texture on the sides I went the way of toilet paper and egg shells. I know it may sound weird but it really gives some great effects! Finally a layer of gesso topped it all off and it was time to get down to the fun part!


I once again broke out the acrylics, gel medium and iridescent paints and went to town. I wanted it to have a dark and ugly feel about it so I went with grays, blacks, and greens. I didn't want it too ugly though so shimmery purple and golds helped with highlighting. I used 3 flat backed marbles to mimic Jareth's crystal bubbles and finished it off with some black glitter (not in the pics though :( )


I wanted to inside to really *pop* so I stayed with the purples and painted the inside. Finally I added a quote from Agnes and felt to the bottom.


Edited 2/8/10
Okay, okay. So I have to admit that for some reason, when looking at all of my swap items together it didn't feel like it was enough. I decided to make one final item right before I packaged everything up to ship off. Every goblin friend needs to feel like they fit in with the crowd, right? Of course right. So I made these:
This was my first attempt at horns and I think they came out pretty well. Granted they look a little more "devil" like and I really wanted to add some texture but I was on a time limit since I still had to make it to the post office by 5:00. You can't tell in the picture but they actually are a slight shimmery copper with a more matte, muddy color over top.



I really hope she likes everything! It was such a blast to work on this swap!!

Swap time!!

It had been so long since I'd done a swap that I couldn't help myself when I saw so many great topics posted on Craftster. I ended up signing up for 4 of them! They're spread out perfectly so I'll be able to complete them each on time. The themes I signed up for are the Labyrinth, Jane Austen (yes, again), the Princess Bride and a Handspun & Handcrafts swap.

The Labyrinth swap is almost complete. I can't post too many details since I don't want my partner to know what I've made her yet. This has been a really great swap for me so far and I hope my partner likes what I've made her as much as I've enjoyed making them. One of the items is sort of a new craft for me, though it's a variation of things I've done in the past. Just one more item and the package will be ready to send. I have already received the package from my swap partner but I wanted to get everything of mine done before I opened it. I should be all ready on Monday! I'm really excited to see what she's made for me!

I just got my partner for the Jane Austen swap last week and I'm soooooo very excited!! My partner has offered to make me a Regency dress! I was absolutely floored when I read her message! I have some ideas as to what to make for her in return but I'm waiting to hear about some of her preferences.

I received my Handspun and Handcraft swap partner today. This is going to be a quick, but fun swap. I get to make some lovely handspun yarn for my partner and they will craft something fabulous for me. I'm really excited about my partner - she seems really fun and her talents with polymer clay are just amazing. She has her hands in all sorts of crafty pies so I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

*clap, clap, clap* A Fairytale Creature Swap!

Clap is you believe in fairies!!

I made these for a fairy tale creature swap. I haven't ever really worked with clay before but I think these came out pretty well. The smaller of the two is my favorite. :)