Month: May 2017

A crafty kind of day

After a hectic week at work and beginning to feel like I was wading uphill through treacle again, Friday was just what the doctor ordered. In between shopping and washing I managed a good couple of hours in my craft room. Whilst it still doubles as a spare room and I haven’t got as much space as I’d really like, I do so love it in there, being surrounded by all my crafty things. The only problem with going in there is that I always get waylaid. I go in with a firm idea of what I’m going to do and then end up doing something else. On Friday, I went in with the intention of finishing a heart garland that I’ve started, all I need to do is sew the hearts on to ribbon but after ten minutes of looking at them and just not finding the enthusiasm, I made these cards instead…
Then I cut out some material to make another appliqué bag, I’ll post photos once it’s all attached and finished.
In the afternoon I met up with a friend back at Be-mal, the ceramic studio I told you about here. I do so love it in there. I stood in there, looking at all the different pottery items and wanting to decorate each and every one of them. I knew that would happen though so I had already had a think and made the decision to decorate another pot for my craft room for more pens to go in. After a lot of deliberation of colour and technique (I’ve got far too many creative ideas going round in this little head of mine), I finally decided on a bubble painting technique in pink and red with hearts in relief. First I had to stick on some little paper hearts, bubble paint over in the 2 colours, letting them dry in between, peel off the hearts and paint the inside of the pot. As always the colours look a lot paler than the finished result will be as the glazing and firing really lifts the colours and makes them stand out.
I was going to show you the ‘in process’ pictures and the finished pictures all at once but I just can’t wait so here are today’s pictures. I will post a pic of the finished, glazed pot when I collect it on weds…oooh I literally can’t wait!!
 
All in all it was a pretty good crafty day, which always makes for a happy me. 🙂
Karen x

Dotty about crafting!

Last week a friend introduced me to a  local newish ceramic studio:
and oh my I’m hooked. The shop is a beautiful little place, very clean, fairly minimalist and not really how I would have expected a studio to look. It was very tranquil with relaxation music on in the background and tastefully decorated with just some examples of decorated items and of course the bottles of paint, adding a splash of colour.
After a lot of umming and aahing (I was like a kid in a sweet shop!) I decided on decorating a pot to hold some of my pens in the craft room. Then I had the difficult decision of how to decorate it it and what colours to use. There are ideas for techniques both on instruction cards and also on predecorated pots around the shop. It was such a tricky decision but I finally decided on a simple technique for my first time. I painted the inside in a coral colour, the outside in a light turquoise and then added raised spots.
 
I could have decorated so many things as I had tons of ideas whirring around in my head but I limited myself to the one pot for the first time.
I had to leave the pot there to be glazed and fired in the kiln. It was so hard to leave it as I wanted to take it straight home and admire my handiwork but leave it I must. I was able to pick it up a few days later and I’m so pleased with how it turned out. 
I am so much looking forward to going back again very soon as there are so many things I want to make…the possibilities are endless!
Karen x

The halfway mark

It has been a long time coming but I have recently, finally, reached the half way mark in my granny stripe blanket! Woohoo!

Normally I struggle to think of a name for my blankets but this time I’ve actually got 3 names that I need to choose from:
The big one:
As I treated myself to the wool for the blanket on my 40th birthday last year and had aimed to have it finished by this years birthday (that time frame has however, since gone out of the window as my birthday is next week!) Also, it is going to be a pretty big blanket when finished.
Mood blanket:
As this blanket is going to be quite big and the rows long, I’ve found that I’ve really had to be in ‘the mood’ to work on it. Also, for quite a bit of time in February and March I just didn’t feel like working on a big project and needed quick crafting fixes, so this blanket was often put to the side. At the moment, I really am in ‘the mood’ to work on it and the rows seem to be flying off the hook.
Another reason for calling it the mood blanket is that I had absolutely no plan for how the blanket was going to look and the order of the colours. I literally just picked each colour a row at a time depending on what colour I felt like using at the time. I even ended up putting colours together that I normally wouldn’t and I absolutely love the overall effect.
Mojo blanket:
Now I’m getting my ‘mojo’ back I’m really enjoying working on it and the better I feel the more the blanket seems to grow. I also think that seeing those lovely colourful stripes could brighten up anyone’s day.
To celebrate reaching the halfway point, here are a few sneaky peaks.
  
I have my favourite sections and parts I don’t like quite so much but I just love the way it looks when laid out and looked at from a little distance. Each bit you look at is so different, some parts are pastel, one section reminds me of Easter eggs or sherbert and then a few rows further on the bright colours almost smack you in the face.
To begin with I regretted using the red and the dark green and had considered frogging it back but I’m actually glad that I didn’t. Whilst there are bits of the blanket that I like better than others, all the colours have their place and contribute to the overall effect.

Hopefully it won’t be too long until I can show you the finished product and decide on the name! Eek exciting!

Karen x

I Did It!

I’ve wanted to do the Paderborner Osterlauf (A local Easter weekend half marathon) for the last few years but always ended up going back to England to visit family over the Easter weekend. At the start of the year I decided that this was going to be the year and booked my place in the race. For the last few weeks and up until the race I was very worried about it and didn’t even know if I could do it because of recent anxiety problems. However, I’m very pleased to say that I did it! It wasn’t my best time but I’m so glad I got through it and actually partially enjoyed the experience. I’ve even gone and booked my next half marathon in 4 weeks time, when I’m hoping to shave a few minutes off my time. Bring it on!!
Karen x