WOYWW - Everything again

It is all there!

What a mess again!

Well, truth is that I have been working up at the house rather than the studio at the bottom of the garden, so this is everything 'dumped' back on the workbench.  You see the house has the mod-cons of a wood burning stove, the studio by contrast has a noisy electric blow heater.

As you can see from all the pliers I have returned to the wirework jewellery.  I managed to fill my bracelet bar, by Friday morning.

But on the way I got a little distracted.  I started out making a bracelet but I had enough beads to just keep on going....

So a wirework bead necklace it is then!

Now those of you in the know, I have revealed all this because today is Wednesday.  For those of you not in the know, today is What's on your workbench Wednesday (WOYWW) over at stamping ground.  Pop over and take a look.

And finally, I know it is a long shot, but does anyone want to rent a house in Llanbrynmair? Or alternatively do 52 of you fancy a weeks holiday in Llanbrynmair?!!  Ah well, it was worth trying.

Handmade Monday - wirework bracelets

Last Wednesday I showed off the jasper stone and wirework bracelet I had made, but I didn't currently have anything else on the bracelet bar so this week I have been paying attention to that.

First I fixed up a few beads to make a glass bead braclet design I have made before.

Next I tried out similar beads with a greek key design.  The greek key, needs to be smaller and neater in my opinion, but as a first attempt I am quite happy.

Greek key wirework - I think the technique needs some perfecting!

And with a few other designs that I shall keep under wraps for now, I suddenly had a full bar for the Christmas fair that my wirework jewellery attended without me on Friday.  (I don't know how the fair went, as I have yet to collect my stall).

Do you know why I take part in Handmade Monday?  Of course I enjoy your company, but it isn't that, its that I need a little discipline in my chaotic life and having a Monday deadline helps me remember the day of the week. Give it up for Monday whoaoooooo. (Please see Cbeebies if you need help with the tune!)

Children in Need - life as a crafty Mum

I just thought you would like to know one of the many forms of insanity that afflicts crafting mums.

Friday was Children in Need Day. At my daughter's school the pupils were offered a choice of spots or fancy dress.

I knew her choice as soon as I read the note aloud.  6 times she has been allowed fancy dress, 5 times she has worn the princess dress and on 1 occasion I persuaded her to go as a pirate.

Now, a sane mother would think - great, all I have to do is wash the dress in time.

A crafting mum? Well they start thinking - she could go as anything she likes... she just has to choose.

Raggles the rabbit, and Rosie

So on Thursday she choose Rosie, from Everything's Rosie.  So there I was on Thursday night, in bed sewing a hairclip onto her wig.

I don't claim it to be a great costume, but 1 hours work and a 5 year old and her friends were convinced it was Rosie.

Rosie - appears to be a little worse for wear, at the end of the day!

As I'm sure you could have predicted, her brother was not impressed, when I didn't produce a Raggles costume.  However I managed to fob him off with a brown dressing gown with rabbit ears included!

But I have made a mental note that next fancy dress day she can go as a princess

WOYWW - 101 Dalmation Jasper Beads

This is a tidy desk - for me at least

Well there it is in all its glory, my lovely, tidy desk.  The weekly cycle of my desk can, I'm sure be guessed. Tidy, messier, messy, chaos, blitz and begin again. And just at the moment, the tidy stage appears to be falling on a Wednesday!

I shouldn't really be working on these jasper beads, but once I spotted them in my bead drawer they just kept shouting at me.

The trouble is, now that I have finished that bracelet, I need to make a few new designs to fill my bracelet bar, else it won't get an outing to any craft fairs, so I've put them in my gift shop just in case.

So there we have it, another week of Whats on your workbench Wednesday (WOYWW) and another week of me trying to stay in control of my life and my workbench!  Pop over to Julia's and see who else is under a mountain of beads and wire, or paper piles and stamps.

N.B. I wrote the post then realised they weren't dalmation jasper beads, but I can't for the life of me remember what they are, so the title can stay!!

Handmade Monday - core values

Well I could claim today is Monday, but in truth its Tuesday morning. That sentence just about sums up my last week, always just a little behind. 

However I have filed all outstanding paperwork, paid the two overdue bills I found amongst it, and I have made a mental note of the other financial issues that must be discussed in the household before the week is out!

Life is all about that really, its there to be enjoyed but don't forget to do the regular stuff too. 

I love bending and twisting the wire into new shapes for my wirework jewellery, but it is important not to forget the steady sellers too.

Rustic crucifix hung on cotton cord

I class my hammered crucifix as a steady seller.  Stocks were down to their minimum so I sat down this week and set about making a few for the approaching Christmas fairs.  Its not a chore, I enjoy making them, but my mind thinks that I would prefer to make something new!

To satisfy the adventurous side of my brain, I put one on a silver plated chain to see what it would look like.  It totally changes the rustic appearance of the cross but it works quite well.

Rustic crucifix hung on silver plated necklace

So I'm sure you have already done this, but if not, pop over to Wendy's place and take a look at everyone involved in this weeks Handmade Monday.

WOYWW - Very very little...

Fabric free zone, jewellery making to the fore!

Regular visitors will know that today (Wednesday) I take part in Whats on your workbench Wednesday, hosted by Julia at Stamping Ground .  What regular visitors also know is that my desk is always a mess.

Well, surprise! On Monday I cleared away my sewing machine and all its accessories (can fabric really be called an accessory? I think necessity is better term.), and found my workbench underneath.

a very empty bracelet bar

The reason for this sudden burst of tidiness, is that I need to get making more wirework jewellery.  I need to make up a few silver plated crucifixes.

Then I noticed my empty bracelet bar and began scheming about making a new dalmation jasper bracelet with a matching necklace.

Funny isn't it, sometimes I make a piece of hammered jewellery and it is a complete one off, sometimes I want to repeat it and then lots of times I just want to change a little bit here, and a little bit there.

Mango Pango, jewellery anvil, dalmation jasper

And finally, the eagle eyed of you, will have spotted Mango-Pango bear sat on the jewellery anvil.  I kept my promise and returned him to full fitness last night.  He seemed quite pleased until I tried to take him back to the children's room at which point he began shouting expletives at me.  Something about them not knowing how to treat a bear of his standing in the community.

Handmade Monday - Bear essentials

one job completed, one to go

Handmade Monday is a day to celebrate your weeks achievements (because there isn't a lot of achievements to celebrate in mine!).

I have not adjusted my mind to crossing the garden to the studio, since the clocks have changed.  After all, I now have to dress up warmly and take a torch.

So this week all I feel I have worth showing is my bargain purchase and my guilty find.

Mango-Pango bear is sat on a pair of curtains I bought for £3 in a charity shop.  They are too long for the window, no problem I thought still a bargain.  Of course when I got home, I realised I didn't have the right coloured thread.  It has taken me 1 month to travel the 19 miles to the nearest haberdashery to buy the thread.

Anyway, tonight I not only finished the hemming, but I also tidied my desk (look out on Wednesday for WOYWW to see if it has stayed that way).  And there, under all the usual mess I found Mango-Pango bear.  Mango-Pango was passed to me for a bit of TLC but I forgot all about him, but then, so I think have my children.

I solemnly promise that Mango-Pango will have two legs attached before I go to sleep tonight.

WOYWW - Tasting Day

It is getting worse!

Today is what's on your workbench Wednesday, and believe it or not, there is a workbench under there somewhere!

I removed my Polly Polkadot jewellery and bags from the RSPB craft fair on Monday, and I appear to have just dumped it in my corner.  Actually I'll have you know I have tidied it into that arrangement, I just don't know what to do with it next!

I really do need to make a decision about my storage problems, because I have a pair of curtains just out of sight that need hemming.

In my life away from this workbench I have been baking, (please read Mondays post if you need to be filled in, or have forgotten already), and today was tasting day.

I did consider photographing todays newspaper alongside, in case you don't trust me - but I don't buy newspapers!

So at 7.03 this evening I cut into the Tomato and Raisin Loaf...
First let me rename it: Tomato and Raisin Cake.
I think if you didn't know the name, you would say something like 'a pleasant, moist, light fruit cake' (I just double checked with OH, and he says 'more like a pleasant moist not too sweet tea loaf')

But I can't get over the issue that it has got Tomatos in it, surely that makes it savoury?

I think I felt the same when I first tried carrot cake, and courgette cake so maybe I just have to think about it for a few days.

I was wondering whether I should bake another, slice it up, seal it in poly bags and post it out to you all, that way it could mature in the post, and then you could tell me what you think. Any takers?!!