Monday 30 December 2013

Day 84 - Art Journalling calendar pages

So I've completed my month-by-month days they are all stacked and ready to be bound, now I am playing around with art journalling and the many techniques that come with it to create my monthly images. To begin with I splattered 12 background sheets with tea then added a few Pollock style drops of ink. Then began the slower task of sifting through all the images I gathered on Friday and arranging them in a suggestion of months. Here I have got January and October, tea'd inked and decoupaged, later I will add some more detail and texture, once all the months are at this stage...
Perhaps this will be done by Wednesday, but the likeliness is very slim, so long as I get a new Calendar before mid-January I'll be happy...

Saturday 28 December 2013

Day 83 - Calendar prep month by month

So today I've been drawing out spaces to write on for each day of the month. I made a template grid to keep things sort of aligned, and made another little template (in the shape of a scroll) for each of the days. I'm only up to October so far, so a few left for when I get home from work. I'm enjoying the process and can't wait to see the end result.
 

Friday 27 December 2013

Day 82 - preparations for Calendar making

This should keep me busy for some time, and it's not christmassy (until I get to December perhaps.) I had a lot of fun making my sisters wedding guest book in the style of an art journal, so I'm going to make myself an awesome calendar with some great images from my stock, steampunk accents and inky detail. It's going to be fun. But for now, I've just been cutting out good pictures all day, and etching letters...

Tuesday 24 December 2013

Day 81 - Christmas Yule log

Merry Christmas everybody! Here is the fruit of my Christmas eve labour, I'm pretty chuffed and there is still a bit of decorating to do tomorrow. If you want the recipe it is Paul Hollywood's and it is lovely...but intense. We adapted it a little with figs rather than berries.
The great thing about this recipe is, it has no flour, so mum can partake with little guilt.

Monday 23 December 2013

Day 80 - Hot spiced Apple Brandy

I've always liked the idea of mulled wine and cider more than the actual drink itself, I've even tried to make it myself, but I find the flavours a  bit acrid. So this year I decided to try something different, and well, this will be my Christmas drink of choice from now on. It was so yummy I failed to take a picture after it was ready.
This is a very simple recipe, you will need, Apple Juice, Brandy, a dash of Golden Syrup, an orange, star anise, cloves, fresh nutmeg and a cinnamon stick.
Pour your apple juice into a pan, I made enough for three good sized mugs. Add in your spices, I wet for 1 Star Anise, crushed, a grating of fresh nutmeg, about an inch of cinnamon stick (again crushed) and two segments of orange. I think it's a good idea to play with the spices to suit your taste, once the apple juice beginning to simmer add a few shots of brandy and a very small amount of golden syrup. Bring to the boil and then STRAIN! You don't want to be drinking mouthfuls of star anise so the straining is very important, but you will probably end up with some tiny particles of nutmeg and cinnamon.
So much better than mulled wine or cider, this drink simply tastes of Christmas!

Saturday 21 December 2013

Day 79 - DIY christmas jumper

If I had known how simple this was I would have made one for all my family. Oh well, next year. I spent days thinking about what I would do on my Christmas jumper, I didn't want anything to christmassy, or tacky, but I did want it to be cute. Even when I found the red jumper I wasn't sure what to do. It was only while tidying away some of my present making that I settled on a white beard. A little twist on the moustache jumpers I have been seeing (and coveting!) Simply made with white felt and a bit of stitching.

Friday 20 December 2013

Day 78 - DIY sock monsters

I'm still on the Christmas mission right now, getting everything ready to send home this weekend. I'm pretty excited about hosting, and even more excited to think I am pretty much finished with presents. Just the baking left to do now :)
These two buddies are for my nieces, I had promised them a Steampunk art doll each earlier in the year, but they are a not really toys so I'll wait till they grew a bit older. This is a squishy alternative, made to suit their personalities, the Princess and the Pirate.

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Day 77 - Tidy, organise Jewellery findings

 To begin with I just had bags and boxes, some of it was partly sorted but mostly it was just a tangle of chain, wire and cogs... I had originally intended to make some sort of jewellery of something for Christmas but decided instead to just sort it out!
Now everything is stashed away neatly, easy to find, even down to the tiny cogs and watch handles in an old pill box.

Monday 16 December 2013

Day 76 - DIY incense holder

This is a gift for my sister, hopefully she wont see this as she has no internet connection. I made it from a wooden salad fork, and soldered a basic design. It's pretty, simple and upcycled which is my kind of project.

Saturday 14 December 2013

Day 75 - Festive flapjack

This is the best flapjack, better than the last recipe. For a festive treat I added in figs and pecans and made a monster batch. The recipe is so simple, these weights can be halved for a smaller batch easily enough.
640g Oats
350g Butter
2 1/2 Heaped tbsp Peanut butter
340g golden syrup
200g Figs
250g Pecans
Melt the butter add syrup and stir until silky smooth, add peanut butter and stir in till melted. Weight up your other ingredients, I crush the nuts and chopped the figs (make sure to remove the stalk). Mix everything together until its evenly coated and put in a tin lined with greaseproof paper, don't worry too much about covering the whole pan as the butter will do the work. Use a piece of greaseproof paper to press the mixture into the tin evenly.
Bake for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees. Take it out before it looks ready, it will still be soft and kind of pale, most often the problem with flapjack is the dryness from overcooking! Leave it to cool and enjoy :)


Thursday 12 December 2013

Day 74 - Alternative to cards on a string

Today I made an alternative way to display Christmas cards, using pegs, cardboard and glitter glue. I also used some scrap strips of pleather for decoration. Hopefully this will stop the constant picking up cards game.

Wednesday 11 December 2013

Day 73 - DIY wrapping paper

Every year I think long and hard about wrapping, last year I went for the brown wrap with gold stampings and twirly strips of paper. This time I started off with some blank white sheets of paper and a load of ideas. I wanted something simple and effective, that could be easily repeated but didn't take forever. This design is ridiculously simple, I used gold and silver glitter glue to draw quick swirly trees at random, I then used a snowflake stamp with gold ink for some depth and a Merry Christmas train stamp to sit under the tree. The last step was using an eraser on the end of a pencil, dipped in blue ink and dotted around the tree 'branches' for the suggestion of baubles. Now I have wrapping paper, little tags made from the handmade paper I produced a few weeks back and a vague idea for presentation, but that will be another day. :)

Tuesday 10 December 2013

Day 72 - Home is where the Christmas Chaos is...

So this is where I see all of the things I have made over the last few days. The Man got excited and put hats on all the Game of Thrones people, which is pretty fun and the Cat is rediscovering his love for shiny Christmas trees...

 

Monday 9 December 2013

Day 71 - Snowflakes

I think the hardest part of snowflake making is folding the paper into sixths, I had fun making these, even the man stepped up to have a try. These will probably go in the window for decoration.
Annoyingly I think I might have RSI in my left thumb from a few weeks of sewing, cutting and whatever else I like to do. So things may be a little sporadic over the next few days while I rest my hand. It's pretty much my worst fear, losing movement or dexterity in my hands, just hope it gets better soon!

Sunday 8 December 2013

Day 70 - prototype elf slipper

I asked the internet how to make slippers, and this is what I found. It's a pretty incredible pattern, simple, easy and adaptable. So after creating my own pattern from newspaper I made this prototype slipper from felt to make sure the size and shape were right and make sure I understood the pattern. Thats enough for today, you will not see the end result until after Christmas, but lets just say it's going to be super hard for me to part with them unless I make another pair!

Friday 6 December 2013

Day 69 - DIY soap

This is another thing I've never tried before, it's actually pretty simple. I made two batches one almond and poppyseed the other lemon and poppyseed. Both have a mild exfoliating texture from the white poppyseed's which is pleasant. I already want to get more Shea butter soap base so I can try more things out, but I think that'll have to wait for now. Anyway, here is a link to the recipe and basic instructions if you fancy having a go.

Thursday 5 December 2013

Day 68 - DIY homemade wreath

I've had a lot of fun working on this the last few days, I started the base on Tuesday evening, made simply of lollipop sticks. I covered the base with plaited string to give it depth and something I could sew onto. Then I ruffled strips of green tule and wrapped it around the centre of my star focusing on one quarter to build it up more. I stitched it in place in a few places adding some gold bells as I went. I cut the leaves from some scrap pleather donated from Natalie :) (Thanks Nat) and stitched them on too. After that it was a matter of foraging for pine cones, tying bows and adding a few fimo candy canes found in my studio, oh and some more bells :)

I've never actually had a wreath before so this is my first and I totally love it. Can't wait to see what Taz makes with hers.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Day 67 - DIY wreath, part 1

I began the wreath creation by making a star base out of lollipop sticks. I used woodglue to stick it together and pegs to hold the sections together while they dried. Later I will collect some wintery foliage and other things to decorate my wreath. I think lollipops have so many uses, and have a lot of potential for unique decorations. It doesn't look like much at the moment but I have a plan in my brain. The man really wants me to make a mario star, but...no.

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Day 66 - Felt garland in Christmas colours

Using the offcuts of felt from the previous projects this week I made a number of felt circles and strung them together with beads for spacing. It's pretty cute I might make a few and put them in the windows...it's going to be pretty christmassy up in this house! :)

Monday 2 December 2013

Day 65 - Christmas Photo props

Photo props are great fun, I made some for a wedding earlier this year, they were pretty fun. These christmassy ones are pretty cute. I cut two shapes from felt and glued them together with fabric glue with a bamboo stick sandwiched in between. I'm not sure how sturdy these will be as the glue will take a few days to dry.

Sunday 1 December 2013

Day 64 - Jewellery making

A friend asked me to turn this pebble into a necklace, I used wire to create a simple cage and hook, and added a lovely hook and eye fastening. It's been a little while since I made any jewellery, I may have to make some pieces for Christmas this year but we'll see.
Look a that, blogging before work today, I promised it was time to start catching up with my days.

Saturday 30 November 2013

Day 63 - Christmas tree decoration, hearts

I've been stitching these for days, I actually cut them at the same time as the trees which is almost a week ago. It's been a busy week making presents, decorations, working and school but I think I've finally caught up with myself. Which means I have a bit of time to catch up on a few missed days recently...hopefully. Anyway, to go with my mini trees I've made these hearts too, they still need a ribbon for hanging but I'm waiting for it to arrive.

Friday 29 November 2013

Day 62 - DIY winter nails

The elves are working hard to sort out presents and decorations for Christmas, but I thought I'd take some time out and do something...less productive. I used a base coat of metallic blue, which is very pale and sparkly, I drew white snowdrops with a fine brush and waited for it to dry. The snowman is a series of dots using white, black and orange, very simple but actually quite effective. I'm sure there will be more festive nails but for now I'm happy with this (though it is only on one hand.)

Wednesday 27 November 2013

Day 61 - recipes, a trio of soup

As the cold weather continues to tighten its grip, soup asserts itself as my best friend and saviour. So this week me and the man have created three different soups which I'd like to share as they are wonderful.
First up:
Butternut Squash soup, 
Ingredients
4 onions
2 cloves of garlic
2 large carrots, peeled and cubed
1 squash, peeled, deseeded and cubed
salt, pepper, thyme and chilli,
1 pint chicken stock
1 pint chicken gravy
Small handful of Spaghetti (broken into small lengths.)

Begin by sweating the onion, garlic and chilli, when the onions begin to soften add the carrots and squash and prepare your liquids. After 10 minutes (or when the veg has begun to soften) add your herbs and seasoning and then add your stock. Bring to the boil then simmer for half an hour. Whizz in batches until your soup is nice and creamy, but always leave a few lumps as they are satisfying to eat. Add your small amount of pasta and simmer until cooked. The pasta isn't necessary but it adds a bit of weight and depth.

Slow roasted Red Pepper and tomato soup
Ingredients
2 red onions
5 cloves of garlic
1 carrot
1kg tomatoes (or just a lot!) I went for cherry tomatoes but you can use whichever.
500g peppers, halved and deseeded ( I used the dinky sweet peppers in a variety of reds, oranges and yellows.)
1 chilli, deseeded,
1 pint of stock (chicken or vegetable)
salt, pepper, basil, brown sugar, paprika
olive oil,
tomato puree

Place your peppers into a roasting tin, give them enough room to touch the pan, drizzle with olive oil, and add seasoning and herbs. In another tin do the same with your tomatoes, add your garlic cloes (still in the skin) to the tin and roast in the over at 200 for 25-30 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare your onions, chilli carrot and stock. Begin to soften the veg in a pan and prepare yourself for a bit of messy work.
Once your peppers and tomatoes are ready (the skin will be blistered and soft) transfer them to a mixing bowl and cover with cling-film for a few minutes. The steam will help loosen the skins a bit more as these are very bitter and need to be removed. The more the steam can do the less you have to.
With your onions and carrots softened begin the long task of skinning your roasted vegetables, it's ok to leave a little skin left on but you want to get rid of as much as possible. This takes a while and does get messy, but its worth it. Add your roasted veg to the pan, season with a bit of sugar, paprika, salt and pepper and add your herbs. Cover with stock and bring to the boil, simmer for half an hour and then whizz until smooth and creamy (again, some lumps may be desired.) I put a dollop of cream cheese into each serving which adds depth and reduces the tanginess.

Last up its The Man's Mushroom soup
Ingredients
600g Mushrooms (you can go fancy, but your average mushrooms have a nice flavour and don't cost a bomb)
2 cloves of garlic
1 red onion
1 pint chicken stock
salt, pepper, thyme, parsley
Olive oil

In a pan fry your sliced mushrooms in some olive oil, add onions and garlic, herbs and seasoning and let it cook down for a minute. Cook for about 20 minutes until the moisture begins to evaporate then add your stock and bring to the boil. Let simmer for half an hour, then whiz and season to taste. I came home from work to this and it was so rich and creamy, you can use fancy mushroom and dried porcini for more flavour but in my opinion this recipe is simplicity at its best.

So there are three really nice recipes for you to try your hand at and enjoy this winter. I always go large on soup making and store it in the freezer for lazy days.



Monday 25 November 2013

Day 60 - DIY Christmas tree decorations

I'm making a lot of these today, very simple tree with lace ribbon and button detail.

Saturday 23 November 2013

Day 59 - homely doodle

A lilttle Home is Where the Chaos is doodle today, I had no idea what I was going to do this morning, but I might even do more to it tomorrow.

Friday 22 November 2013

Day 58 - Quilled Christmas decorations

I had lots of strips of card leftover from card making last weekend, so I decided to make a quilled decoration for the top of the tree this year. I made shapes by coiling and folding the card, and stuck them together to build a shape I liked. then used glitter glue to make it shiny. I think I like quilling...

It's drying now, when it's done I'll add loops to the back to slip over the tree top and see if there are any places that need strengthening.

Thursday 21 November 2013

Day 57 - DIY baubles complete

I've had the same old red and gold baubles for the last two years, so it is definitely time to do something different. First I painted them all with white acrylic, I used a genius system of bamboo skewers and a polystyrene head to hang them all to dry, even so I got a few painty run aways leaving white smears wherever they went. For the detail I used a black and a red uniball pen, which worked much better than I had expected, so long as you leave it to dry and don't smudge it. I went with stars and snowflakes for my patterns, and did everything in sets, black and red isn't a traditional combination of colours, but once it is on the tree with everything around it I think they will be quite striking. For an extra christmassy touch I went over the detail with a gold glitter glue pen and added highlights, which when dry I will do again to make them even more glitzy.

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Day 56 - upcycled bauble

 The plan for today (and probably tomorrow) is to repaint my old baubles, so here is the beginnings of something...

Monday 18 November 2013

Day 55 - DIY budget book

It's always this time of month when I start counting coppers, I find it hard to keep track of my incomings and outgoings, so a budget book may help me keep on top of things. It has a little envelope inside for receipts so I can watch what I spend at the local shop, as I think that is where my budgeting fails. This is
just a regular exercise book covered in cool images and sticky back plastic, inside I have allocated a page per month with all my usual incomings and outgoings recorded and tallied, this way I can see what's left after bills, rent, food etc... I think the real trick is to include everything, and allow a little extra cash for the unexpected.

Sunday 17 November 2013

Day 54 - handmade Christmas cards

I've made a few of these now, I always like to have a few designs but I liked how simple and effective this design is so there are a few adaptations but essentially they are all the same. Today I added a cut out window, I played with the idea of pasting a picture on the inside, but decided I liked the bare cut out more. I am going to add a few finishing touches before I send them out, but that is for an element of surprise in case they read this blog.

Day 53 - Christmas Card prototype

I have always been particularly useless at cards, I remember writing them out to all my school friends and leaving them at home, only to find them and bin them in the new year. Hopefully this year will be better.
Anyway it's a pretty simple design with quilled pieces of card and a christmas stamp, I have more ideas to fill up the empty space so hopefully I'll be able to show you a finished design this evening.

Friday 15 November 2013

Day 52 - DIY handmade paper

I have always done handmade Christmas' and as I develop more skills I like to make my gifts more unique, so I've made paper to use for all my tags and labels this year. I made paper for my boat project last year, but it was thick and lumpy and mostly a grim colour. This time round I have improved and experimented with thin, coloured, scented paper!
First I tore lots of junk mail and scrap paper into tiny pieces and soaked it in water for a few minutes. Next I blended the mixture into a pulp, (this bit is much easier if you have a proper blender, not just a handheld as it likes to splatter...) I added a bit of yellow food colouring first, to take away the dull grey tone and then used purple acrylic ink to give it a sweet lavender colour, I also added a touch of glittery acrylic for a touch of sparkle. For the scent I used a pinch of ground nutmeg, cardamom and a touch of vanilla, (I would have used cinnamon too but I unbelievably don't have any!!) which has given it a subtle yuletide aroma.

Here is a general paper making tutorial as there are too many steps and I didn't have all the equipment so my way is a bit more of a winging it style.
For the texture I imprinted a pattern from lace into it using a rolling pin. It looks interesting, but I'm sure I'll regret this when it comes to writing on it.

Thursday 14 November 2013

Day 51 - the epic Christmas list Part 1a ii and b

I spent today cutting colourful flowers from felt and arranging them with buttons onto my embroidered names. I also began adding a drop shadow to the lettering using the colours from the flowers, one of these is almost complete it just needs a ribbon to hang it on a door or wall. The elves are coming to finish Part 1 of my Christmas list as we all sleep so onto the next Part...


Wednesday 13 November 2013

Day 50 - the epic Christmas list...Part 1a i

So as winter has arrived it's time to start totting up the family and friends and creating unique and personal gifts for them all. Today I began the truly epic mission of presents for all the children, all 8 of them between me and the Man. This is the first stage of many, embroidering names onto felt. It only took 3 episodes of the Big Bang, one episode of New Girl, a film, The Croods...make that two films! The Hangover 3, which is actually pretty entertaining... All in all not a bad day off, productive and relaxing, ready for school and work tomorrow.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Day 49 - DIY wrap around skirt.

Well, today has been a bit of a faff, I didn't make what I had set out too, which was just a more comfortable, interesting pair of trousers from an old pair of jeans. I have such bad luck with trousers even when I'm not making them...so to save my sanity I made an asymmetric wrap around skirt using the fabric from the jeans and some blue corduroy, I need to adjust the waist band as is not straight and I would also like to add some loops for the wrap around string to go through, but after all the sewing I've done today I'm happy to just sit in it. Cat seems to like it :)
 

Monday 11 November 2013

Day 48 - Getting on with some Hemming

For some reason I find hemming trousers so tedious and loathsome, but if this 365 isn't going to urge me to get on with it then I don't think anything will. So here is The Man in his now hemmed jeans just in time for a typically rainy winter. Mine will have to wait for another day...
Really it takes about five minutes a leg, so I don't know what my problem is, I've done a double row of stitching so it's stronger and will last a while.

Saturday 9 November 2013

Day 47 - DIY fur lined cuffs and collar

I am completely in love with the Cat jumper I made the other day, and as promised I cosied it up a bit more by adding some fur to the collar, cuffs and waist. Now it is totally snuggly and warm for winter. I used a sort of fluffy towelling rather than faux fur, as it is softer and doesn't have the same inclination to matt and washes well.

Friday 8 November 2013

Day 46 - DIY sewing box gift

Happy Birthday Taz! Today's post is my gift to my sister, a little sewing kit with a cute pair of shoes pin cushion and a makeup palette needle book. It even has a pocket on the lid for her scissors to slip into. I made a portable sewing kit for myself a few weeks ago which was tailored to my needs as this has been for Taz, I hope. It got a pretty good reception so I'm pleased about that.

Thursday 7 November 2013

Day 45 - music paper doodle

School today and work in a bit so here's something I made earlier. Sort of inspired by Bristol and bonfire night.

Wednesday 6 November 2013

Day 44 - DIY Cute cat jumper

So I am ready to embrace my status as crazy cat lady, though one is more than enough for me. I chose a plain jumper that has been bugging me for a while and tarted it up with a bit of thread. Tor decided he could help me start by sitting on it and posing, thanks kitty! That's it for today but I have some cosy ideas to finish it off.