*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. :)

Jackson

All I have to say is...
CUTE!!!

I don't care if it IS spring!

I wanted to make a pair of these.

Debbie Mumm yarn is yummy, but I'm not fond of this pattern at all. Considering maybe frogging it.

Ack!!!!

An Underpants Gnome!!!!

So here it is...the Shakespeare Swap. Ah, this one was a creative one for me. I used a lot of things that I haven't used in a while and even some new stuff.

Here is the whole package that I sent to my partner:














This is a close up of the Witches Brew jars that I made. Each of the jars are for a different item that was listed as the ingredients for the potion made by the witches in Macbeth. Adders Fork... Month Old Toad... Wing of Howlet... Wool of Bat... Tongue of Dog... Toe of Frog...













My partner likes purses and I found this amazing fabric so I knew I had to use it for this lovely pleated clutch pattern that I've been wanting to try out. The clock fabric is a nod to her favorite quote from Twelfth Night "The clock upbraids me with a waste of time". The fabric is 100% cotton, lined with a medium brown broadcloth and has a magnetic clasp closure.













Finally the monster of all projects..the Macbeth Book shrine. I took several of her favorite scenes from the play and tried incorporating them into the book somehow, using a ton of different techniques and supplies. Some of the scenes shown are Great Birnham Wood, Lady Macbeth after reading the letter from her husband in the beginning, the fight scene at the end between Macbeth and MacDuff, and of course the banquet scene with Banquo's ghost. Along the edges of the "pages" is the famous "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" quote and finally there's a nod to the doorkeeper with the large metal door handle on the front of the book.
































Here is the wonderful package that I received!!

First up is the Midsummer Night's Dream tote that I've been using since the day it arrived. It's made from a recycled, thrifted wool sweater. My partner over dyed it this beautiful dark green, then embroidered the trees, felted it and then beaded and embroidered some more. So cool and so fun! I've already gotten a ton of compliments on it!

















Here's puck along the side holding a bead flower.















The super soft lining fabric.



















How amazing is this - it's an Emma Thompson/Beatrice doll from Much Ado about Nothing!! Knit from head to toe - even her skivvies. And if that isn't impressive enough already she made her outfit. It's even removable so that I can dress her in other Emma Thompson roles!! I love it!

































Finally here's the Romeo and Juliet cuff. I wish you could see the details on this! It's scenes 2-5 from the play and it's just amazing! I wish I had a closeup of the wedding gown - gorgeous work, and such a clever idea. It's soooo comfy too. I've already worn it several times!






















*** all photos taken by my wonderful swap partner astormorray! ***

Jam trousers anyone?

I cannot believe that I will actually get to see this man live, on stage, in a month and a half. I will truly be in comedy heaven.

Had a dream the other night....

One of the witches from Macbeth was teaching me how to spin yarn. It was green. Weird.

Quite an undertaking for the Shakespeare swap!

So, I have been working on this project for the Shakespeare Swap. It's much more work than I anticipated! I can't say what it is but these are some of the techniques and items I have already used:
-sponge painting
-letter stamping
-embossing
-painting
-collaging
-felt
-fabric
-creating 3-D objects with paper
-gold leafing

Whew!! And I'm still not done.

Sewing and Quilt Expo

Today Jeanne and I went to the IX Center for the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo. It was 3 whole days of everything fabric and fiber art related. Four hours of this afternoon were spent walking the aisles, booth by booth, taking in all the fantastic fabrics, drool-worthy fibers and kick ass new gadgets. I found a few booths that I really loved. Oh, had I about $1000 to spend there today! Ugh. It would have been brilliant. I also wish we could have taken some of the classes that were available. Next year I think we're going to try and plan it better so that we can participate more in some of the activities. Towards the end of the day we walked through the the galleries, filled with some amazing artists and even got watch a fashion show while grabbing a snack before we left.

I will say, there was one particular booth that absolutely made my day. Jeanne and I were walking past and sitting in front were 3 spinning wheels and two looms. My interest was peaked. We went over and watched a felting demo and then found ourselves entranced by all of the beautiful handspun. The owner came over and started talking to us as we were checking out a lovely scarf that was on the larger loom. She described the weaving process and asked if I'd like to try my hand at it on the smaller loom. What the hell, why not right? It was a small lap loom and I only made a few passes but I was hooked. I want one. I've always been a bit interested in weaving but now I'd really like to learn more. Since the owner was so nice I asked her about the spinning wheels, having never seen someone actually use them in real life. She gave us a run down of it's parts and showed us how to spin. The ideas immediately flashed through my head. She gave me her business card and told me about some of the classes that her shop gives. I may have to take a couple! Spinning looked like so much fun and the more I've crocheted and got into knitting the more and more interested I've become in handspun yarns and fibers. It's really just the next logical step! ;-D





















Yay for the Sewing Expo for giving me just one more craft to dump my money into!! :D

The Golden Girls Swap!

I LOVED this swap. When I saw the original post about it I just knew that I had to join, and I'm so glad that I did! I had a fantastic partner who totally spoiled me and while working on the projects for her I really got into a craft that until know I had just dabbled in, but know really enjoy and want to learn more.

The main idea that I had was to make one item that showcased each girl and then one to incorporate them all. The magnet tin is for Rose. While magnets don't directly relate to her, I thought they were kind of lighthearted and frivolous - much like Rose. :) The tin was originally a Camel cigarette tin. I covered the top with a photo of all the girls and added a string of pearls and some antique buttons that I had laying around. The final touch was a layer of diamond glaze over the whole picture. Inside is a set of magnets with pictures of each of the Girls on them and some scenes from the show. The quote that I used is from one of the most popular episodes - where Dorothy and Rose are writing their song about Miami.



































Next up is Sophia. Since she is the famed cook in the house I decided to make an apron, with her infamous line "Picture it, Sicily... " on the front. I found this super cute fabric with the sheep on it to symbolize the farming village she grew up in.


























On to Dorothy. Being the intellectual of the group and a teacher I turned a mint tin into a book and made some bookmarks. One is a book thong and the other is a ribbon slide bookmark. Making these and playing with jewelery findings really got me in the mood to make some jewelery. These were one of my favorite swap items to make. I even made another of the ribbon slide ones for another friend of mine. :-D Oh! And the quote for Dorothy reads:
Dorothy "I have a date"
Blanche "with a man?"
Dorothy "No, Blanche, with a Venus fly trap"







































Finally we come to Blanche. Being so full of herself, and that fact that I wanted to play with my jewelery making stuff some more I decided a jewelery set might be fun for her. After all, she does always have to look her best! I had a 7 Gypsies glass top tin and turned that into the jewelery box. I used my wonderful Tim Holtz alcohol inks on the lid to keep that sheer look and under the lid added the quote to some white Bazzill. For the base I took a scrap of some pretty blue fabric that I had and put it over a circle of cardboard and added some fluff and voila! A nice puffy base. The jewelery itself is really simple - just some eye hooks, glass beads and pearls, but being the first bit of jewelery I've ever made I really love the way they came out. Simple but sweet.


























Last but not least there is the item for all the girls. Being that whenever they have a problem or have something to celebrate they head into the kitchen for some cheesecake I couldn't very well leave that out! I made a set of cheesecake recipe cards. There are 5 recipes in all. There's a little bit of everything - you have your classic New York style, the no-bake cheesecake and even some yummy fruit ones!
















All of the pictures were taken by my awesome swap partner jloveg. This is what I received in return - she went all out!!

-super cute Rub Ons that are absolutely perfect for some scrapbook pages
-two lovely little fabric flower pins. The blue and yellow one reminds me of some pattern paper that I have.
-a blue and silver butterfly pendant - very Dorothy indeed! I think I have a silver chain that will hold it perfectly!
-3 clever magnetic bookmarks with the most perfect quotes on them! I've never seen that type of bookmark before but they'll definitely come in handy on the road!
-cheesecake!!!! in the form of very yummy looking earrings, a necklace and a key fob. I love that the necklace and key fob are whole cheesecakes and the earrings are little slices - so cute!
-there's a nod to Rose with some sweet little sheep stitch markers. I don't have any stitch markers at all so these with definitely come in handy!! I can't wait to try them out! I'm going to have to make a cute little drawstring bag to hold them in my needle roll so i don't loose them.
-a Dorothy paper weight with the quote "How come whenever my ship comes in it's leaking?" A perfect Dorothy quote- love it!!
-last but not leastly two bags, both different styles- one paisley and one with big, lovely, pink flowers. Paisley is one of my favorite prints, and it's funny because the fabric used on the lining is the same fabric that I used a while back to make a Regency Era gown! The bag with the flowers will be PERFECT to carry crochet/knitting projects.

Thank you jlove g for making this such a great swap.