Wednesday, 23 December 2009

Recycle Madness

My trusty faithful very old log basket finally gave up the ghost after many years of service. It was in a very sorry state but I didn't have the heart to just throw it away!


Instead I took some sharp secateurs to it and cut it up, essentially removing all the upright pieces in between the woven sections and ended up with this.....

The very top section had no upright pieces left in it so I was left with open hoops of woven wicker.

The base piece was scrubbed clean before having a padded foam top added to the rim to cover any jagged edges that were left. It makes a perfect bread basket or cheese platter!

The centre ring became a wreath to go over the fire. It's lovely and deep so looks good with lots of ivy and mistletoe around it. I've added some bows and clove studded clementines, just love the smell! The star in the middle came from a technique found on Debbie's blog ( see link on side bar of my blog), it was so easy to do and very effective.


The final open ended hoops had their ends rejoined and wired together. They were then wrapped in torn strips of green fabric to cover them and give them a bit more stability. Red ribbon was then wrapped round followed by ivy. They were then attached to the chair backs with more red ribbon bows.



My very decrepit old log basket has had a wonderful new lease of life!!

Monday, 7 December 2009

Angels

Had a fab weekend with a friend a couple of weeks ago and we started to make Angels for Christmas.

The tall angels are made out of card cones covered in papier mache with scrumpled up paper heads. The flat one is wire again covered in papier mache.



Our 'works in progress'!


Once the bodies were complete various pieces of paper, scrim and caulk were applied to create texture. Once dry the whole piece was painted and dry brushed with numerous layers of paints.
The hair was made with string that had been painted before being glued on and the wings are made from shaped wire that has been covered in scrim. These were then painted before being attached.



Last thing to attach was of course their halos'.


One angel is pale purple, one is gold and the other bronze. The purple one is for my sister!

Sunday, 6 December 2009

A4 quiltlets

Just a couple of little A4 size quilties that I've made......

This one is based on the Jurassic Coast of Great Britain....



And this one is inspired by time spent in Australia as a child......