2 little cats for a happy little girl

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It was my niece's birthday over the weekend: she turned 9! Time flies, I cannot believe she is that big already (I will say that again for the next three months for my other niece's and nephews' birthdays...you have been warned!).

 

She came to me two weeks ago and aske me if she could have a picture holder with a cat as a present. I admit I laughed a lot as I am really bad at modelling/sculpting and I had never made a cat before. So I looked for excuses: "if you are a good girl and don't get punished next week, I'll make it for you" I said. She got punished the following day (haha) but was good for the rest of that week lol

 

So there I was, trying to make a cat. But then I thought one cat on its own would be boring and sad. I got crazy and decided to make two!!



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Of course, you can't have cats without wool lying around for them to play! 

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I put the cats and their toys on a piece of wood that I've painted and carved my niece's name on it (note for later, carve and paint afterwards! the smell is better)

 

I am very happy with how the carving turned out considering it is the first time I write and carve on wood. So just for you, here is a close up for a better look :-)

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Still need to work on this whole sculpting thing though: as you can see from the first picture and the one below, the cats look like they've had a bit too much catnip lol

 

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My niece was happy though! She also had a wonderful cake made by her mum, my sister. I suggest you to go and take a look at her Instagram to see it and check out the others she makes too. I'm warning you...you'll be hungry after that!

Some cuff bracelets

This week I have made some new bracelets.

 

I wanted to play with some colours I do not normally put together and litteraly had no specific plan in mind when I started working on them: I let my imagination go wild. Well...not too wild but still!



 

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For this first bracelet, I played with circles of different colours on a background which looks like scrap polymer clay.

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For the second bracelet, I used the canes I've made for my sister's birthday present a couple of months ago. Those canes inspired me for the background colours as well. Simple but it works :-)

They can both be found in my shop on A Little Market (just click on the icon on the right sidebar)

A table!

I don't know about you, but one thing I really like is spending some quality time with my family.

 

We all have busy lives but we try, whenever we can, to spend time all together and this usually involves food: Christmas, NYE, birthdays, barbecues....every occasion is a good excuse to sit around a table and have fun.

 

The last gathering in date was two weeks ago for our mum's birthday. We spent a few hours eating some delicious Caribbean food and laughing to tears.

 

We also usually cook/bring something each so that the work is not on one person on that day. I was in charge of the salad that time...for 18 people! Some lettuce, cucumbers, radishes and I was good to go.

The only thing was, it wasn't that successful compared to all the other food on the table and I ended up with this massive bowl salad in the end. I figured it would prevent me from having to prepare food for my lunch during the week :-)

 

On the Monday morning when I packed my lunch I stood there contemplating my good old lunch bag thinking "You've had your time, my dear. As much as I like you, I think it's time for you to retire!".

 

I knew the kind I wanted but still had problems on how to do it. Luckily, I found an excellent tutorial recommended on several blogs I looked at, and tadaaaaa!

 

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 I used some old fabric leftovers I had in my workshop (I can't even remember where they are from!).

Bag cover

I love having this cover on the top: it protects the food and other things I could put in there (usually a book).

Cord casing

It is my second time at making a bag with a cord like that and it came out pretty good!

Cord end cap detail

I absolutely love this bag! I will have to make another one but with different fabric; the kind you can wash if something spills inside the back.

 

If you want to make one of your own, you can find Pink Peguin's tutorial here.

 

Ikea hack...

Actually I can't really call this a hack, it's more of a copy cat of an Ikea item.

Back in January, I had to spend some time in bed following a surgery. Even though my lovely boyfriend was there to help me out, he had to leave during the day so dring the weeks leading to this, I "prepared" the place so that I could be as comfy as possible once on my own :-)
 

As the main place I would be was my beloved bed, I got it ready too. I had to think about a way to sit comfortably and have all necessary things nearby, you know, the essentials: laptop, tea, snacks, phone, books, etc.
 

And then I remembered one thing I saw a long, long time ago in Ikea! Once there was a bed with this console table above it and I thought: I WANT that! But I was just a student and did not have the money to buy it back then. The only problem is...now Ikea do not sell them anymore.
 

"It's OK", I thought. "I'll make it myself!". So to the DIY shop I went with the measurements I took for my bed and got what I needed to build one: some wood, some screws, some wheels and some paint.
 

And VOILA!
 

The whole project took me about 2 days to put together (it would have taken me one if I hadn't had to return to the shop to change the wheels).

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The straight wheels make it super easy to move it along the bed.

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Then I decided that plain black was a bit boring (yeah! ME finding black boring lol). I found a can of red chalkboard paint and added this nice touch on the top: not only it is a nice finish but I could also write on it when I wanted to. How cool is that?!

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No need to say that with this in my bedroom, the recovery was easier. It was so nice to have my breakfast in bed every morning (huge thanks to my love for that!)

What about you? Have you built anything lately? Big or small?

Crazy little thing called love

Roses Are Red

Violets Are Blue

And All These Cute Little Hearts

Are Just For You

...and this, ladies and gentlemen, is my first poem ever! Please, please stop clapping!

On this special day, here is a little necklace full of love.

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Enjoy the most romantic day of the year!

Happy Valentine's Day xoxo

Merry Christmas!

I would like to take a moment to wish you all a wonderful Christmas.

Make sure you have a great evening with your loved ones because it is not just about presents, it is about family and good times together.

As for me, I look forward to a night of fun, good food and most of all laughs with my family like each year. I wouldn't miss that for the world.

Hope you will have as much fun as me!

Challenge "Textures Haute Couture"

I do not usually do challenges that I see online because I am always way too impressed busy to take part in them.

One blog I follow on a weekly basis is Parole de Pâte which is a French blog dedicated to polymer clay.

Last September, they launched a challenge opened to everyone and all levels on the theme of "Haute Couture": we were given pictures of designers' clothes and had to design a piece of jewellery inspired by one of them.

At first, I thought it was too challenging for me, but as I was scrolling down the pictures, I saw one and thought: "that's it! that's the one!".

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I sat in my workshop and got started...now that the deadline has passed and the pictures posted on the blog, I can show my contribution to you my dear readers :-)

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I really like this pendant. What about you?
Oh! and you can go check out the wonderful pieces the others made here!

Happy Friday everyone!

What time is it?

Not everyone can plan their retirement with as much style and fun as Obama did. Whether you liked him or not as a President, you have to admit that this guy is cool!

For those of us who are not President of the United States and are about to retire, there are, fortunately, other ways to say goodbye and get ready for this next chapter in our lives.

Some people like a discreet exit, some will just have quiet farewell drinks with their colleagues, some will make crazy parties...at the end of the day, everyone does what they feel comfortable with.

And sometimes, you come across this person that makes this impression on you and you know you will never forget after all these years working together or sharing an office with. Depending on the relationship you've built, you may have shared more than that: life experiences, the joys, the pains...

So when the time comes for those special people to go, you want to do something special for them.

My sister had such a colleague and she wanted to do something special for her retirement: she came to me and asked me to think of something, keeping in mind that she did not want anything fimo related, that she liked the colour orange and that I had two weeks. Talking about a challenge!

As always, I turned to the internet for inspiration. I found a few ideas and submitted them to her, hoping she would go for the one I had my eyes on already: a retirement clock. And it was exactly what she chose.

Now that she has given it to her, I can show it to you
 

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A sleepless night

It is the end of the day: you're home, you've had dinner, watched a bit of TV or talked with your other half and then went to bed. The only problem is, you've been lying there for a while now and...you cannot sleep. You check the time over and over again, you can see that it is passing by and that the more it does, the less sleep you are gonna get. But you still can't sleep. "Why can't you sleep?" the little voice in your head starts saying. And so the thinking begins when you should be resting. You start thinking about the day you've had, the things you've done, the things you haven't done, the day to come, the things you'll have to do...and so on...

 

I know in those moments, I would like to just switch my brain off but it is never that easy. The more I try to, the more it decides to think and get superactive!

My brain is always active, always thinking. It gets worse if an important event occurs whether it is happy, sad, stressful... Some nights I do not sleep at all.

If you're like me, you will find something to do: you're already awake so why waste this time in bed anyway, huh?

The other night I ended up in my workshop, at my table. I've had watched the Great French Bake Off a couple of days earlier: the theme was "American cakes" which included them baking a cake designed around Halloween. One of the contestants made a brain cake. This image stayed in my mind since that episode. So I knew exactly what I would do.

It did not help me sleep but I had fun making these little brains.

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What about you? Do you sometimes stay awake and complete projects at night? What was the last one you made?

A Clutch Bag

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One of my friends got married back in April. She planned it for quite some time and also asked for some help when it came to the decorations. But that is another story that I will tell you about later.

Of course, when I started thinking about my outfit for the wedding, I thought that I could make my own dress and accessories. I know, I still have faith in me like that. But after a few projects, I came to the quick realisation that it would never happen. Therefore I went to the shop and found a cute little black and white dress. All I needed were the accessories. The only thing was that I got so caught up in the decorations for the wedding that I never found the time to do all the things I wanted to do. Time just flies when you work on top of crafting! And there I was, two weeks before the wedding with just...a dress. I was determined however to do one thing myself: my handbag. I also went for (what I thought was) the simplest option...a clutch bag. I bought some fabric: black leatherette (or faux leather) and some red satin. Made my own measurements for the clutch bag and got started



After two failed clutches, the third attempt was the right one, but I still have a lot of work to do in order to master the art of sewing a zipper on something.

I really love the effect on the leatherette like it is reptile skin:

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And it goes perfectly with the red lining too:

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This clutch had a lot of success and I can now add it to my list of finished projects :-)

I shall let you know about the wedding decorations at a later time so until then, take care!

Crafting is...dangerous

Maybe I am being a bit overly dramatic here, but hear me out and you will understand where I am going.

 

My fellow crafters, you know the deal: you work on a project, then you think of a way to add something to it. Or you see something that inspires you online and then start looking at how it is done and how it would fit in your current hobby. There are so many reasons which can lead to finding something new that it is almost impossible to stick to only one sort of craft. Well...at least for me.

 

I did explain in my previous post that I had learnt the basics of embroidery over night in order to add a nice personal touch to my best friend's baby towel.

 

The obvious thing to do with the leftover fabric was to practise of course. And as I had some thread at home from other projects I had worked on, I already had everything.  Browsing through the Internet for something fun to practise on, I found a picture of a character I knew from my childhood, Mafalda. She was the main character from an Argentinian comic strip. Me though, I got to "know" her once it got adapted for TV (if you don't know her, you can check out the opening credits here).

 

It reminded quite a few memories and one in particular: my older sister. She loved Mafalda and still do. As her birthday was coming a few weeks later, I decided to make this my next project and her birthday present.

 

This project made me realise that cross stitching takes a long time. A very, very long time. I thought I would never finish it on time. But a few weeks later, I did (the night before the birthday party lol). I framed it, wrapped it and boom! She smiled when she opened it so it was worth it. And this probably marks the beginning of other embroidery projects...

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Now if you'll excuse me, I have to spend time on YouTube watching opening credits from all of my childhood programmes. Thank you Mafalda!!

Babies!

Not mine. It is actually my friends who all seem to be having babies lately :-)

You know me, I like sewing, on top of jewellery making, knitting and many other things. And when it comes to making garments, I am a sucker for tiny things as they are a good way to practise, can be done faster and well...they are so cute!!!!

New design

Hi everyone,

In case you hadn't noticed, there have been some changes here.

I have been wanting to change my blog's look for a long time but never managed to find the time or the direction I wanted to take when it comes to its design.

I took the opportunity of a week off work to sit down and work on it. The main idea was that I definitely wanted something much clearer with lighter colours and a simple design: what is simpler than white, huh?!

Once the background was decided, all that was left was the content: it hasn't really changed. My hobbies are still the same but I changed the way the menu looks.

Blogger is great for blogging but it can be limited when you decide that you want a blog that looks a bit different than the others. After doing a little research on a lot of blogs and tutorials on how to change blogger, I've finally managed to get to what I wanted.

This research also helped me find out some very useful tools that I have been using for the last few weeks. One of them is PicMonkey.

This online editor allows you to edit your pictures as well as creating designs. It's no Photoshop, but for someone like me who is not really good with it, it is great! Plus, I've just noticed on their website that the application is now available so you can edit your pictures on the go! I need to try that.

I have used PicMonkey to make my header as well as my menu. I've also used it for my social media buttons (the big round yellow one on the right, yes)

Talking about round button, you will have noticed a green one just below: yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have finally taken the plunge and opened an online shop via A Little Market! I opened it a little while ago but couldn't get myself to put things on it. But now I have. Everything is still not there but I will add them as I go along. Please feel free to go take a look at my creations there :-)

Well, I hope you enjoy my blog's new design. Feel free to comment to let me know what you think: it is always good to get feedback.

Until next time!

Cupcake pendant

A new pendant this weekend: gold colour which gives it a classy look I think.

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And the coolest part is....it glows in the dark!!!! I love this!

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Hope you had a great weekend everyone.

Cuff bracelet

Last weekend I had decided to make a necklace but as usual, my mind switched to something else as soon as I sat at my table.

So here is a new slave bracelet: unusual colours for me, but they work out well together in the end :-)


 

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That's all for today.

This week's mani

wanted to use light colours this week...and a different one on each nails!

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Have a nice week everyone!

New rings

Hello everyone!

Hope you've had a great weekend.

I have made three little rings...still using my mosaic cane's leftovers (promise, it is gone now!).
I do love the fact that this cane was unique though, and that it is impossible to make it again.

These rings have a resin finish to them...of course :-)

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Have a good week everyone!