totally unspooky post

Sorry, guys, but yesterday wasn't dedicated to crafting.
It was dedicated to a wee girl, because she turned 10 years old on Thursday, which did require some quality family time... in the Modern Family sense of things.

The Man's daughter Abi is now officially in her double figures... time flies. Meh.
And because she is, altogether, not your princessy kinda gal, we took her to the Royal Armouries to look at weapons, warriors and other dangerous stuff.

Want to join us on a little trip?

real live arrows with real pointy edges!

wait for it... WAIT for it...

ka- POW!!! She hit the target multiple times

aaah... japanese tranquility...

dude... TRANQUILITY, get me?

He's wearing authentic armour, no replica for this gentleman!

Chinese warriors look a lot friendlier than their Japanese counterparts.

This guy and his horse ARE replica, but still amazing.

How was this poor creature supposed to see where it was treading?

...daddy?

men at arms... tooth pick, anyone?

Mind you, those are life sized!

this, too, is life sized. The wee dude wearing this would have been about 5 or 6...

... whereas this big dude (original painting!) killed a couple of wives and

ROYALLY cheesed off the pope. So he went ahead and made

his own church. As you do.

yeah, too much education makes me aggro, too. Go kill 'em, kid.

I SAID KID!!! Meh...

See, again, I broadened your horizon. You can thank me later, that's okay.

We really had a great day, lots of laughs and so much food and sweets that it'll take weeks to detox. 

Best of all? Apart from paying 3 quid for 8 arrows on that really cool crossbow shooting range, the whole thing was free!

Yup- many museums in Britain are free. (less and less, mind you, but there is still a lot of cool stuff that won't charge a penny, which is pretty amazing.) So we were okay with spending 30 quid on food and drinks in a nice family pub afterwards, sitting in deep leather chairs, comparing the pictures we took. (one of Abi's gifts was my old- ish digital pocket camera with a new memory card, so she can take photos to use in her pretty sophisticated digital collages she has taken up creating recently)

So... no spooky deeds for now, I'm afraid, but I hope you enjoyed the little tour through our Royal Armouries. We sure did, one of the best days I have had in a long, long time!

Abi learns to use PicMonkey

I shall be back at work tomorrow, so my posts will be a bit less regular, but don't think for a minute the Great Glitzy CraftOff is done- there's a lot up my sleeve I shall have to share with you in the days to come whenever I get the time!

Have a great Sunday!

A bone dry post. No, really.

So... what was planned for yesterday was a fail.
I better make up for it!

My morning was spent spraying, spraying, and spraying some more. And I went through 4 glue sticks as well. Not bad for a job done before breakfast, right?

Let me show you what I was up to.

These two dudes and their identical twins were ruthlessly butchered for the sake of Hallowe'en:

Yeah, yeah, I know. I felt a bit guilty, too. But not for long.

They got re- assembled into this:

Chrome spray and a little battery- operated chain of spider fairy lights. Say it with me. Spider fairy lights.

I meant for it to be an outdoor wreath, but then I remembered the purple glitter spray I got for 99p the other day and inspiration viciously assaulted me.

Are you familiar with advent wreathes? Basically, they are wreathes made from evergreens, decorated with 4 candles. In the 4 weeks before Christmas, one candle gets lit every Sunday, and once all candles are used, Santa is on the doorstep!

As a kid, I LOVED those wreathes, and ever since I was old enough I was allowed to light the candles on Sundays. Aaaah... sweet memories.

Now, let me wreck this sweet mental image for you.

I took some hoarded kitchen towel rolls and toilet paper rolls and let hot glue run down from the top. (spooky wax effect!) All rolls got a nice coat of black spray paint and, once dry, a big helping of purple glitter spray afterwards.

The shorter rolls were treated to clear lacquer as a finishing touch, the larger ones left to look a bit dusty and tattered.

The rolls are stuffed with newspaper, and they will receive a flameless tealight each (sprayed black) when it's time to display the whole thing.

What do you think, did Skelli And Mr Mummy die in vain?

He looks happy enough- in fact he doesn't seem to give a rats' @rse (pun intended)!

So, there you go, I bet you have never seen a Hallowe'en Advent Wreath before. Don't say I don't broaden your minds!

For now, my, erm, candle rolls grace the mantelpiece, awaiting their flameless candles. And I must say that they look better than in the photos- the glitter really shines, and in what is now almost dusk around here, they seem almost real. Yeah, happy with that.

So, shopping list top two items: rechargeable batteries for the spideys and flameless candles. Way more important than washing up- liquid and eggs, don't you agree?

RATS!!!

No, seriously.
Rats.
I got nothing today!
I went and FINALLY got me that spray paint I wanted so bad and went merrily ahead, spraying what needed spraying.
Shelled out £6 quid, so the result looks awesome:

Thing is, though, that gawddang paint just Does. Not. Dry. on those critters. Like, not at all. I left it for 6  hours and still no joy. 

Mind you, they are sitting on a sheet of newspaper turned mirror in that photo- it's not the paint, I think it's the material the wee buggers are made of? Anyway, that's my excuse, and it's unfortunately true as well :(

If it's still like that tomorrow, I have a Plan B, but after literally watching paint dry (erm... NOT dry) today I was too discouraged to even start something else. 

Sorry, guys, I am a letdown. BUT: Plan B is pretty amazeballs, so hang in there. This time tomorrow you will have been provided with a very bone- dry post, promise!

What's so funny?

Dude, what's so funny?

Seriously, what are you grinning at?

Anything hilarious about costing 50p, having a bath in glitter and thus saving me a fortune on this

No. I thought so. 

My Hallowe'en mantel is starting to come together!

(don't you guys start laughing now, it's only the first few bits!)

Oh, okay, yeah. Whatever. It's alright, stop holding it in... fill your boots and let it all out >.<

All done? Why, thank you, guys! *sigh*

I know, it looks very thrown- together and half- hearted right now, but good things come to those who wait!

There's a lot more crafting lined up, and for the moment the devil, quite literally, is in the details. The book pages come from a book on murder mysteries in West Yorkshire and describe rather gruesome scenes that took place in and around my fair home town, and those little bottles contain critters that are not really visible in the pictures. 

You can already tell that the theme is black and white (I get to use a lot from the last craft- off AND will hopefully achieve something reminiscent of my hero Tim Burton in the end, what's not to love?), and a few bits of colour will turn up here and there eventually. 

Sorry for mucking about with the photos so much, I had way too much fun on PicMonkey again :D

See you later, guys- I am hopeful to do something shiny tomorrow, but that depends on wether I get to go and do some shopping or wait around for a second day for a plumber who, I swear, does not exist... or rides around on his black horse and can't find my house because his head is a freaking pumpkin...

A quick one (while he's away)

Ten candy corns if you got the reference!

The Mister was away most of the day, so after finishing my bling, I got bored. And since I was still in arachno- bracelet mode, I made a quick and easy little piece for my bff Abigail (who will be 10 years old this weekend- I still remember her starting school!) to get into the creepy- crawly spirit.

This won't need much of an explanation.

Bracelet blank, felt, spiders, invisible thread.

Sew spiders to felt, glue felt to blank.

Glue a little black lace around the edges and take crappy mobile phone pictures glamour shots on mantelpiece.

Look forward to sharing a common bracelet theme with your bff during the weeks leading up to Hallowe'en!

More glitz tomorrow (I hope to all the spirits of Samhain the rain will stop at some point, I desperately need to spray paint an item!!), see you then!

Arachno... philia?

Oh my.. guys, I am starting to think my arachnophobia is kind of easing off a little.

In regards to plastic spiders.

And jewelled spiders.

And felt spiders.

Real spiders? Erm... maybe this one.

But only because it looks like a jewel and is kind of cute when you don't remember that it's and eight- legged freak bound to crawl into your mouth when you sleep, live in your brain and feed off your memories. They totally do that.

Anyway, let's not digress and go down to glitzy business, shall we?

Sunny set the bar very, very high today. In fact, I think she'll be hard- pressed to outdo herself any time soon. you MUST go and see what she did to hack these:

Hand on heart, you will be stunned.

My project today has a lot more legs and less vitamins.

I was inspired by this ring:

(in fact, that's the hack Gail came up with- I prefer it over the original, so go and check out her mad skills!)

But unfortunately, large rings tend to irritate me after, like, 5 seconds. So, this beauty was not an option. But I still wanted spider bling, so I dug deep into my stash and found this stuff:

Plastic spider, glitter, model paint in fortress grey (when orc grey just isn't good enough... we all get those days sometimes, right?) and a bracelet blank I had somewhere in my jewellery box for no obvious reason.

Feeling flat? are your days dull and grey? Worry you not. Enter the glitter:

I would have taken pictures of me wearing it, but my hands are so covered in cat scratches (damn you, ticklish kitten!) that it looks like I wrestled some brambles and the brambles won. Ah, well. And since the flash on my camera is still broken, these pictures are the best I could come up with in terms of ambient lighting :D

It actually looks kinda cool and really sparkly, and unlike quite a few of my other creations, I dig this enough to wear this in public.

Best thing is- when Hallowe'en is over, I can take spidey off the bracelet very easily, because the bugger is tied to it with nigh invisible jewellery- making thread. Now- who's a clever girl??

The Great Glitzy Craft- Off is back!

Guys, it is official.

No way out. No escape. Don't bother screaming, nobody can hear you. It is only you, me and Sunny, who has put together a delightfully creepy inspiration post for what is going to be a new series of glitter, glam and shameless hacks of stuff we would never pay for as long as our glue guns are in working order.

So, what's going on?

You head over to Sunny and check out her inspiration post. You fall in love with stuff. You find a way to make it yourself (either copy it or come up with something inspired by the items, as closely or as loosely as you wish). You grab a button (either over at Sunny's or mine in the side bar) and put it somewhere in a post you proudly publish to show off your hack. And, obviously, you let us know about it so we can drool over your crafty endeavors. Sound good? Good.

Before you abandon me to window shop at Sunny's, here's a little something I whipped up in preparation for my week of glitzy crafting.

Sunny will agree that everything goes easier with the help of a nice beverage. And be that beverage alcoholic or not, I like to drink from wine glasses- I am just classy like that. What I don't like are water rings on my beloved coffee table, so coasters are essential. Unfortunately, my set of coasters looking like classic rock LP's is slowly, but surely succumbing to old age, so something needs to be done.

I've been drooling over these cute little guys forever, but never actually got around trying to make them myself. o be honest, I don't think I could pull them off quite as neatly. But last night (or was it in the early hours of this morning?) inspiration struck.

All you need is two circles of felt. Cut a silhouette into one of them, then blanket- stitch around the edges. Wedge the bottom of your glass between the two circles- KAZAMM! a coaster that stays with your glass. A match made in heaven.

Like these two.

Obviously, anything goes as far as color combos and silhouettes are concerned. I chose a spider because I hate spiders. Makes sense, right? For now, it's only this one, but I am planning on making a few more. My glasses require at least a bat and a ghost to accompany spidey here, don't you think?

Right then. Off you go to read Sunnys post and then- get crafting!

I'm looking forward to this, let's get creepy!

Oh CREEP!

Seen the date on my last post?

Yeah. Two months.

My absence has been long (again), and was down to three major factors. Time (the craft- off took place during a week I had off work), lack of things to share (Mum always says if you have nothing to say, shut the heck up!) and a PC that is ok for browsing, but cuts out so frequently that anything apart from that turns into a major chore. Poor old thingy, it sure served us well, but now it is no good for much more than run "Feed your hungry puppy" games for the lil' ones.

To be honest, guys, the craftiest thing I did since we last spoke was sticking some peacock feathers into my beloved all- purpose wreath and call it a day. Woot!

Not bad for 8 weeks of being quiet, right?

But, as you might have noticed, summer is gone. Slowly, but surely, the leaves are turning yellow and red. Days are getting shorter, night longer, and we leave the house to suddenly see our breath condense around our reddened noses. 

It's coming, guys. You can't run and you can't hide from

-insert very hollow, spooky muaaaaaaaaaaahahaha kind of laugh-

THE SEASON OF THE WITCH!

Admit, you like it, a bit of 80ies Metal never goes amiss.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Hallowe'en. Did you know it's my mostest favoritestest bestest loved holiday ever? Like... cherry on top and sprinkles, with chocolate sauce- favorite. In fact, I have declared it to be my personal Xmas. No Selection boxes for me, guys, it's skull candies and broomsticks all the way.There's something about Samhain, respect paid to the dead, goose pimples and creepy- crawlies that appeals to me on a level I haven't quite explored yet, and even though I wouldn't want to miss the smell of an xmas tree and beeswax candles for the world, I'm a creature of the night :)

This year, it's going to be extra- special. It's the first Hallowe'en n the new house (I discount last year- we'd only just moved in and I was still in a state of profound shock. The house looked like a bus- stop and no amount of ketchup- blood and bats could make me feel any better about it) and I intend to make it count. And in order to keep me on track, focused and motivated, I went to the creepiest, spookiest, darkest, most graveyardy place I could find... which didn't help. So I went to Florida instead and slapped our beloved, esteemed and admired Sunny from Life in Rehab around the pretty face with yet another gauntlet. Because I don't learn from past defeats. (I could say that's the German in me, but that's British humor and therefor utterly inappropriate!)

So- as of Monday, not only do I embark on yet another week of work- free bliss, but also on a creepy challenge. Get your craft knives, hot glue guns, felting needles and satin leaves. Dig up your ancestors, collect some spiders (erm... okay, maybe not. No, definitely not. NO!) and dunk your kids in a bucket of slime.

Most of all, get ready.

We are getting our spooks on, and you are invited.

The most scary day of all will be upon us soon, so join us in a mammoth effort of crafting, creeping and crawling starting Monday. We all know I will yet again be defeated in my effort to outshine the Queen of the Goop, but hell knows I'll give her a good run for the money.

What do you think, are you up for it? A week of skulls, bats, things that Cthulhu would be ashamed to call his relatives (that don't even go bump in the dark) and craft fails on an epic scale?

Please say yes because I will spend a full week throwing everything into this, which means my floors will stay unwashed, my windows remain unshined (is that a word?), my washing unhung (no. That's positively NOT a word) and my cats unfed. Okay, maybe apart from the last one. They'd eat me if I forgot to feed them. Or feed on the ridiculously large spiders that have recently taken residence in the hidden corners of this doomed abode, which might, after all, be a good thing.

I'm extremely grateful to Sunny for playing along- I wasn't kidding when I said I needed somebody to keep me on track and motivated, and she jumped at the mere MENTION of a little glove (gauntlet? Hell I never said that!) and promised to outglue me any time. I love that woman.

Ready for this?

See you Monday.

I just scared myself.