Tag Archives: Heart

Advent Calendar – Day Four

Here we are on Day Four of the Advent Calendar and I’ve been ferreting around in the button box!  Well, the Mother-of-Pearl button box to be precise…

Motherof Pearl buttons for Advent Calendar Day 4

to reprise a little decoration I made a few Christmases ago.  I spotted the idea in an upmarket catalogue and decided it would be silly to buy it when I had so many buttons,  had a go at making it and was very happy with the result, and very smug because it hadn’t cost me anything!

The box is rather full, but I’m gradually working my through the small buttons…

Advent Calendar Day 4 mother of pearl buttons

I shall have to be inventive for the big ones!

It’s a very simple little button heart…

Advent Calendar Day 4 Mother of Pearl buttons

and apart from the buttons all you need is gold or silver wire and some jewellery pliers.

Select your buttons and lay them out in your desired order. Cut two lengths of wire, about 18″ in length, you just snip off the excess.  Twist the wires together a couple of inches from one end then thread the first button on to one of the wires then twist the two wires together for a few turns before threading the next button on a single wire again.

Advent Calendar Day 4 button heart detail

Continue like this until you have used all the buttons, then bend into the desired shape, bringing the two ends together at the top of the heart.  Then you can use the excess wire to twist a hanging loop, and snip off the ends.

Advent Calendar Day 4 Mother of Pearl button Heart

Finish with a length of pretty ribbon or cord…

Advent Calendar Day 4 Mother of Pearl Heart with ribbon

hang, stand back and admire!

Advent Calendar Day 4 heart decoration on tree

Of course you can use any buttons you happen to have in your workbox, coloured ones look pretty too…

coloured button heart

Have fun, I’ll be back tomorrow….x

Primroses and a Pink Pooch!

I’ve had a complete change of gear over the last week, making a prop for our village Pantomime.  We’re very fortunate not only to have a shiny new Eco-built hall but a lot of home grown talent so we have an original script, scenery painted by a professional artist and wonderfiul costumes designed by my friend Kit.  I’ve been involved over the years, and have made all sorts of weird and wonderful things… A Humpty Dumpty costume which reduced gradually all the way through the panto as he went on a diet, Daddy, Mummy and Baby bear suits,  an egg laying goose are just some of the bigger things. 

This time it’s Sleeping Beauty, with a Queen who wants everything to be pink including her dog, so the request was for a custom made glove puppet style dog for the page to carry.  Kit came round with the fur fabric which in the shop had looked to be a candyfloss pink; in the cold light of day it is scarily fluorescent!  The logistics of making chuntered round in my head for quite few days.  It’s a strange process, like hunting through a tangle of wool trying to find an end and then, Ping! a lightbulb moment, there’s the thread and everything starts to wind into a neat ball of resolution. 

Needle felting was the answer, and what I used to form the face of the puppet.  I then stitched the fur fabric on to make the rest of the head and the body and blended the wool and fur fabric together. And here he is…

He’s not quite completed yet, needing front paws and a wavy tail, but I’m pretty happy with the way he’s shaping up so far…

(Edited to add: I’m being asked what Higgins thinks about Pink Pooch; he  is desperate to tear it to shreds. Vigilance is necessary!)

Remember I mentioned  a knitting project which I was playing around with, the one which didn’t need a lapful of pets? I finally finished it, a little fairisle heart…

It’s sweet, but soooooooo time consuming.  I knitted up two squares (the back one is striped)  put them in with a load of washing, felted them and then stitched the pieces into a heart shape and stuffed it with wadding and lavender.  It’s just waiting for a ribbon hanging loop which will happen once the Pink Pooch is all sewn up.

It’s still really quite cold here, but I managed to fit in an afternoon of cheering up the courtyard area by my studio door.  A tray of primroses is always a treat…

and inside I’ve had hyacinths to fill the air with scent.  White…

…and blue.

I can’t believe it’s the last day of January…See you next month!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...