Little Mouse Small Things ATC

Happy Saturday everyone! What fun crafty projects have you got lined up for this weekend? Or will you be heading out to enjoy the lovely crisp winter weather we have been having? (if indeed that is the weather you have been having) It has been snowing around here over the last few days. Ah, the snow. I love the snow. The quiet calm as it falls and the glorious light that is reflected off it is enchanting. I look forward to it every year.

The Mr. and I visited a nearby lake today to enjoy the snow. We sat on a bench and watched as it fell around us and slowly covered us in the most perfect snow flakes. Just look at these tiny falling stars.

The lovely Ali of veryberry handmade hosted another textile ATC swap this winter. The theme this time was 'small things'. It's a secret swap so no one knows who they will receive their ATC from. That makes it quite a lot of fun as you become a detective, trying to discover what your swap partner might like. Ali allows everyone to state if there is something that they love or hate in the sign-up form which is handy, especially as some of the swappers don't have an online presence. My partner did have an online presence and I can tell you that her work is Ahhmazing. Intimidating? Yup.

The email I received from Ali with my partners details said that she loves anything inspired by nature so I got my designing cap on and brainstormed a few ideas. Small things, inspired by nature - A line of tiny ants? A hummingbird? Close up of a flea?

In the end I settled on a little mouse hiding underneath some leaf litter on a forest floor. I used inktense pencils to 'paint' the background onto some soft calico and then used them again to draw some leaves and seeds onto white dress lining fabric. The inktense pencils took to the dress lining really well and looked a bit like a water colour. Very happy. Now all I had to do was make a mouse. I tried (and failed) to draw a mouse the same way as I did the leaves but it all blended in too much so I decided to embroider the mouse onto some calico. I used the same inktense pencils to sketch it out then filled it in with tiny stitches. I used five colours of thread for the body- dark, mid and light brown, grey and white. Black for the eye and two shades of pink for the hands, ears, nose and tail. I used the inktense pencils again to 'paint' between the stitches to add more definition.  The mouse was then appliqued onto the background with a very fine thread and a bed of moss made for him to sit on with lots of tiny french knots. The tail was stem stitched over the top of the 'moss', a few whiskers added and mousey was finished. I embroidered a few stems of grass around mousey to bring the background out then attempted to add the leaves. The dress lining was prone to fray so I used light interfacing to make it a bit stronger and stitched it on with the fine thread. The stitches are almost invisible which I was happy to see. The leaves are only stitched at the top so they can be lifted up to reveal the mouse.
                                     

This little mouse ATC took ages to make but I am so pleased with the way it turned out. I hope my swap partner likes it. It was hard to send this wee one away!

I received my happy ATC mail yesterday. It is a little ladybird on a beautifully stitched leaf floating on a river of stitches in a pretty diamond pattern. This ladybird ATC is seriously neat! The lady who made this has a steady hand and miles of patience! I love this ATC. Thank you for making it for me Amanda!

Do you ever join swaps?

Veryberryhandmade's ATC swap is a great one to join as the ATC is just a small size and easily manageable. Ali also has a rule not to send anything else with the ATC except maybe a little card or message so it's not an expensive swap to join.

I'm joining in with Jennifer's Winter Project Link Party over at Thistlebear. I'd recommend a click over there to check out what peeps have linked up as it's always fun and inspiring.

Speak to you soon and happy crafting!

                                                                                *B*



 

Little Painted Teapot

Well, my goal to write a blog post every week isn't turning out very well.

Things are quite slow here at the moment. I have lots of projects in the pipeline but little energy to do them. I do have something to show you today though. A few weeks ago a group of us ladies visited a pottery painting studio and had a go at decorating some ceramics. It was quite fun to sit and natter and do a bit of painting.

There were quite a few different ceramic pieces to choose from. Mugs and cups of different sizes, plates and bowls, decorations and ornaments. I wanted to make something practical that I could use. I didn't fancy making something to sit on a shelf and gather dust, so I chose to paint a teapot.

I love the shape of this teapot.

My plan, before seeing this, was to paint a mug in a grid with wildflowers filling each grid. That idea flew out the window when I found the teapot. 😊

As you can see, I stuck with the wildflowers. At least, I hope you can see I stuck with the wildflowers. It's a bit abstract. The purple thingies are lavender and the blue is cornflower. I don't know if you can see, but if you look carefully, there are little yellow dots too. They were going to be flowers but I decided to leave them floating. I made a mistake when painting the centre flowers. There were supposed to be 3 lavender heads, but I ran out of space. Too much nattering I think.

I've just realised while I'm typing this, that the lavender-cornflower-yellow flower combo mirrors a little patch in my mum's garden. It's a little spot I love to investigate in the summer. Each of the plants is visited by a different type of bee which are fascinating to watch. Bee-watching along with the heady scent of lavender makes for a very enjoyable and sleepy summers afternoon. Painting my mum's garden was totally Freudian though, I was thinking 'meadow' at the time.

My husband brought me some tea in bed one morning, bringing the tea in this funky teapot. (I married a sweetie) It was the first time we used it and I'm really glad I had the forethought to get up and take the tea into the living room because the pot dribbled the tea all over the tray, the coffee table (tea table?) and the floor! I'm so glad I didn't pour it in bed! So it turns out I have a lovely new teapot that is really unusable that will look pretty sitting on a shelf, gathering dust after all. Oh well. I love the colours so it will look nice on that shelf 😉

The pottery painting day was meant for the ladies and children but my husband decided he would stick around after seeing this:

This mug holds more tea than my teapot! He says he's going to put a cactus in it

Not a bad paint job, eh? He's a sweetie and a big kid!

                                                                  *B*

Simple Pleasures

There's something about the grey days of winter that makes colours seem so much more vivid. I suppose it's the same thing that makes chocolate taste so much better when you're really hungry (Have you noticed that?).

I decided to bring some colour and a bit of spring into the home with a potted hyacinth. I meant to do this at the start of winter but didn't get round to it until now. It sits, growing slowly on a colourful crochet doily. I can't wait to see the little flowers come out. Hyacinths smell so good when they bloom.

I love the burst of colour it's added to our living room already. The freshness of the green leaves and moss and the lavender coloured glass jar has cheered up it's shelf beautifully.

The sun was shining on the hyacinth this morning and, playing with the colours, made it look even prettier. I've tried to capture it in the photos but they don't do it justice.

My craving for colour today lead me to my sketchbooks. I used to paint and draw a lot but have got out of the habit. I cleared my desk to make space and got a few supplies out. Before I show you my colour play let me show you another simple pleasure.

This is my hedgehog. He is a clothes brush that I have owned since primary school. I love him. Of course a clothes brush doesn't need to have a face to be functional but does it make me smile? Yep. Every time.

I needed him today to brush my table down after sewing with some purple fluffy fabric. My table was covered in it! Here's what hedgey picked up. So much purple fluff.

When I paint I have a very free and expressive style. I love to see the interplay of colour. Here's what I did today. A quick sketch brought out with some brusho, which is a type of powdered paint/dye. My favourite way to use brusho is to wet the paper and sprinkle a tiny amount on and watch how the colours mingle with each other. The sketch is pretty bad but I love the colour.

Look at the effect it's made. It's little things like this that I love. 😊

My plan was to ink the sketch and then add a layer of colour over that, maybe in paint then pastel, but I love the colour and pattern in the brusho so much I don't want to take away from it. The problem with working in layers is having to be patient and wait for each layer to dry before adding the next one. I have another page waiting to dry so I can add the next layer. I love painting and really miss it. The drawing below, I did some time ago, has five layers but mostly dry layers so, no waiting around.

Another simple pleasure is looking through old sketchbooks.

This photo looks really cluttered because this sketchbook is made of lots of off cuts of paper

Another simple pleasure I indulged in today was a pot of delicious mango oolong tea. This one is made with roses and chrysanthemum. I love this little Japanese teapot and cup. It is impossible to feel any stress or anxiety at all when drinking a lovely tea freshly poured from this teapot.

I'm sorry the tea is out of focus, I was relying auto focus which is a bit rubbish

So they are the 5 simple pleasures I have indulged in today. I hope you have a nice weekend ahead filled with lots of simple pleasures too.  I have made some progress on a hand sewn rhino softie and I hope to have that to show you soon. Take care.

                                                                      *B*