Saturday, 19 November 2016

Love Blocks - Made Over



Hey guys,

Its been a while again, I know! 
Its been a crazy busy year and as the kids get older, they get busier and life kind of gets away from me.
Today I wanted to share a little makeover that I did some time ago but of course never got around to blogging about.

These blocks were on sale at K-mart last year - I think they were $6. 
Of course I was going to paint them right?

I gently pried the letters off the blocks with a sharp knife. Painted the letters white and painted the blocks turquoise in a slight ombre effect.
Once all the paint was dry and after a quick sanding, I carefully glued the letters back onto the blocks!



Super easy! So pretty!



Of course they go with my decor, being white and turquoise, but any colour combination would be lovely.



When I tire of the blue, I think I'll paint the blocks white and the letters black again.




Take Care everyone, thanks for visiting.

xxx

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Sunday, 15 May 2016

The Bead Peeps Swap and Hop 2016 - Reveal

Hey Everyone,

Its the Bead Peeps Swap and Hop again!   
Our host is Linda from From the Bead Board. This year she is my partner too! Yay! How lucky am I?


Basically, we send beads, focals and clasps, etc to our partner, the challenge being that we have to create from the items sent to us. We can use some of our own components but we don't have to use all the items as long as we use the focal and clasp sent to us. 

Linda sent gorgeous treasures, some for my own stash and some to create for the blog hop. Look! Such a wonderful selection.



Now I get to show you what I created...This year it was all about the bracelets!

My first and favourite is called "In Full Bloom". In this piece I incorporated the beautiful clasp from Art Incendi along with copper connectors and jump rings to form a bracelet. I used bright, colourful flower beads from my stash to accent the clasp.

I love this piece so much!

I used part of the copper clasps and painted them with pink nail polish before adding the blue flowers for these earrings. They turned out quite cute right?
  
 I had this adjustable bracelet and wanted to try a bit of bead wrapping. These beads were so fun to work with and the colours accentuate the simple design.

Oh my goodness these Saturn beads just cried out to become earrings! They are so pretty and look just like Raindrops.

 The stunning focal is made by Karin Hruza from The Bead Fairy. I hope I did justice to the amazing colours in this focal. I wanted to keep the design as simple as possible. I just love it.

For my final piece, I used the purple hemp string along with the fire polished glass beads to create a multi layered bracelet, a style I've never tried before. I'm very happy with the way it turned out, its so sparkly and pretty!

So there you have it - I hope you enjoyed my creations this year. And Linda, I hope I did your selection justice.

This is what I sent to Linda so please pop across to see what she has made at From the Bead Board
 
To follow all the other blogs taking part in the Swap and Hop - head on over to Linda's blog for the full list. #BeadPeepsSwap

Take Care everyone, thanks for visiting.

xxx

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Sunday, 6 March 2016

Peony Pinata

Hey everyone,


Can you believe how fast this new year is racing by? Well this project is a bit late in getting written up, I made this pretty pinata for my friend's daughter a little while ago now...

I think I may like pinata making, it might be the getting my hands full of flour paste, I'm not sure. But I sure had a great time making it.

I found this pin of a Peony Pinata which was my inspiration.


What you will need:

A balloon
newspaper - torn or cut into strips
flour paste or wall paper paste
paint (optional)
coloured tissue paper
twine.

Method:

1. Make up the flour paste -
mix 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of water, and a tablespoon of salt. Stir until it starts to thicken.

2 . Blow the balloon up and cover in layers newspaper strips and flour paste (paper mache)

3. Dont forget to include the twine, this will hold the pinata up. Make sure you apply enough paper and paste over it so make it secure.

4. Once dry, paint as desired. Or not - its up to you , I just didn't want newspaper to show through.

5. Cut the petals out of the  tissue paper, see the pic no 2 above. I cute a half circle with a rectangle edge. Fold the rectangle part over. This is the bit you will glue to the pinata.

6. Working in a circle and starting from the bottom, glue the petals carefully on with craft glue. I went for an ombre type of look.

7. when you get to the top of the pinata, cut a small opening, this will be where you fill it with goodies. 



Oh my goodness, how cute did it turn out? I have to admit I was super surprised that it worked.




My friend's daughter and her friends had a great time smashing it open and a great time at the party. I hope you're inspired to try this at home. It really was so much fun to make.


Take care 



xxx

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Saturday, 20 February 2016

Han Solo Drawers

 Hey Everyone,

I'm so excited to show you this chest of drawers that I painted for my Star Wars mad 10 year old.

It started off as  plain white with some funky hardware which I like and decided to keep as is.

 
Initially Gabe wasn't sure what he wanted and was trying to decide between Han Solo or Darth Vader. Of course good won in the end and he decided Han was by far the favourite. So we found this image on Pinterest and traced it back to Strix.org.uk. Which is a stencil generator, we wasted a good few hours creating others, it's very fun.

I used a projector connected to a laptop to project the image onto the drawers. It was very easy to do.

 Using a pencil I quickly and lightly traced around the edges. 


 I used black acrylic paint to fill the image in. This is an awful night time photo, and possibly I should have painted during the day, but I just couldn't stop. I was having too much fun,

The next day I gave Han a second coat of paint. Isn't he gorgeous?

 

 Once the paint was dry, I carefully waxed and buffed the entire chest of drawers.

 I am so impressed with how this project turned out. It was easier than I expected and so much more fun than I thought it would be. 
My son just loves it in his Star Wars themed room.

It is budget friendly too. It only cost the price of black paint sample pot .
And in a few years when my tween no longer wants a giant Han Solo on his chest of drawers, its easily sanded off and repainted.Take care 
xxx

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Tuesday, 16 February 2016

Bead Peeps Swap 'n Hop - Getting to know you.

Hey Everyone,

Some of you may know that I'm doing the Bead Peeps Swap n Hop again this year. So cool right?
This time round I have the lovely Linda from "From the Bead Board" as my partner. She is also the event organiser....talk about pressure!
 

So...lets get to know a little about me and my jewelry making.
  

1. Why or how did you get started making jewelry

My mom and I found a bead shop not far from where we lived, when I was about 12. I made a pair of earrings that day and my mom was so impressed with them that I snuck back during the holidays to make another pair for her birthday. 
I was hooked! But the bead shop didn't last long and it was a good many years later before I found another shop. I was in my early 20s when I started creating again and I was making and selling my jewelry to all my work mates. 
My first love is creating simple, wearable jewelry and sharing the tutorials with everyone.
 
2 What style(s) of jewelry do you like to make?

 I love simple clean pieces and I would say my style is casual and classic. 
I do like to try different styles though, it's always fun and rewarding to see what I can create. I love working with charms, especially ones with inspirational words.
My inspiration and passion is the beach and ocean - It is reflected in most of my creations from the colours to the "flow" of the piece. 


3. What materials do you prefer to use (and which ones do you avoid)? 

I'm open to working with any materials and I love to "upcycle" pieces. I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of working with fabric in pieces. I like seeing how other designers add fabric to their pieces but in my creations, it never quite works.
I also struggle a little with copper, I'm not sure why though.
 

 4. Which techniques do you prefer (and are there any that you don't like)?

I like to simply string beads if I'm making an item with just beads. However I love to make my own dome pendants. There's just something in creating an image and viewing it under glass. I prefer a simple chain to offset the pendant.
 I am a huge fan of memory wire and creating bracelets.
 

 5. What colors do you use most, and which do you run screaming from?

 Turquoise, turquoise, turquoise....
I also love jades, blues, aquas and white

I'll pretty much work with any colour but I do get a bit stumped with pinks though!

 

Some other random trivia: 

I'm originally from Durban, South Africa but have lived in Auckland New Zealand for 13 years.
I have 3 amazing kids.
I'm trained as a Microbiologist but am currently a stay at home mum. 
I'm deathly afraid of spiders!
I love to joke and laugh.
My son and I have the same wicked, slightly warped sense of humour. 
I have 5 tattoos.
I love the beach.
 I also paint - a lot. I makeover furniture and paint signs.
I help others as much as I can.


Each piece has a story to tell....listen 

Take care 

xxx

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Tuesday, 9 February 2016

Chalkboard Hearts


Hi Everyone, 
Are you ready for Valentines day this year? 
No? Well today I have a quick Valentines gift you can whip up in an afternoon.

What you will need:

1. Wooden heart shapes ( I found mine in the kids section of our local craft store, Spotlight)
2. Wooden beads of various sizes (whatever you can find)
3. Chalkboard paint
4. Acrylic paint in your favourite colour/s
5. Rub on words or pictures (usually found in the Scrapbooking section of your craft store)
6. A coloured marker to edge the hearts (I used gold and silver)
7. Thread for hanging.
 
What to do:

1. Paint one side of each heart with chalkboard paint - you may need 2 coats.
2. Paint the other side of the heart a pretty colour.
3. Paint the wooden beads 
4. Prime the chalkboard with chalk then wipe off.
5. Apply a rub on word to the painted side. Or anything you'd like to embellish with actually.
6. Edge the heart with the marker pen
7. I made a little hole in the wooden heart using the sharp end of my nail scissors.
8. Thread the string through the heart, knot the string and thread the beads. knot again.


That was easy right?



 These are so cute hanging from a doorknob or as a tag on a back pack.


We gave a whole bunch of these as farewell gifts at Kindergarten and my little girl wrote her name on the chalkboard side for her teachers.
 
  
These were so fun to make that I got Sean to cut some larger hearts for my Christmas market, last year. Instead of using rub on's, I painted the words on instead.


For more Valentine's ideas, check out these easy, quick to make gifts...


xxx


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