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??

You're nicked!

At least cuffed, so consider yourself nicked.
I spent a few hours yesterday and today whipping up a little something for a girl that has put a smile on my face many times. If you would be so kind, go and check out her magic.

She lives in my town/ city/ village (it depends on my mood what I call Leeds, today it's positively a village!) and is one of the most generous, helpful, JOYful people I have encountered online. And, boy, is she talented! She makes the most gorgeous little art clay critters you could ever hope for, and if you manage NOT to fall in love with her wee beasties, please let me know how you did it.
She made a wee mouse for my Mum before Xmas and kitted her out with black forest gateau- just because she can. At no extra cost, and it was her idea entirely- can you believe that?

Anyway, I owe this lassie big time (for more than just black forest gateau, because it turns out she is also a wonderful friend far, far beyond mere customer service!), and I thought I'd make something for her.
Take felt in various colours, embroidery thread and a whole lot of patience, and you get this "you're nicked... well, cuffed, anyway" bracelet.

It's posted, so all my doubts about it come too late, right?

It's a test run, I've never tried to make a felt cuff bracelet before.
I hope the recipient will not dwell on the shortcomings (like uneven stitches... oh man, I am blushing even thinking about the stitches!)... if anybody wants a tutorial to outdo me (easy!!), I'll be more than happy to let you know what I did. It's not hard, just very time- consuming.
Anyway, I count this as my RAK for yesterday as I spent more hours on this yesterday than I did today.
Hope I'll have something to show you tomorrow; I started something RAK- wise today, but that was as bad a fail as ever you'd see.

Love y'all, don't forget to be kind to random folks as they come along!




Oh, I nearly forgot- proof I delivered my spider- eyed surprise:

We went past the house today and I couldn't see any police cars OR the bug- eyes. I hope my dahlias- to- be were received kindly!

My (semi-) precious!

Guys, I am so chuffed with myself!
Yours truly has managed to create something!

Over time, I have assembled quite a lot of random rescue jewellery. I find myself particularly drawm to semi- precious gemstones of any kind, a lot more than glitter and bling. There is just something about them that appeals to me.

So, a few days ago I gathered my supplies and got to work. Okay, there might have been a little trip to the bead shop beforehand, to acquire some shamelessly overpriced bits and pieces, but in order not to re- open the wound this has left on The Man, I shall not elaborate on this too much. Lets just say, he suffered quietly and managed not to cry while I was comparing shades of green.

Here's what I came up with:

 The green one; strung on stretchy cord to allow for a bit of flexibility,with moss agate, crystals, unakite, glass and wooden beads plus tibetan silver accents around an off- center wooden focal. Doesn't it just scream Elvenpath?

The second lot features a little idea of mine, feel free to nick and adapt it. Say hello to the embroidery thread- covered washer! (loadsa wrapping, but so worth it!)

Tourmaline, amethyst, tibetan silver, glass, wood, lampwork and crystal on stretchy cord. What do you think of the washer? And c'mon, tell me that clasp is just stinkin' adorable. Lurve it!

The only things I bought new were the crystals and tibetan silver bits, everything else was pre- loved.

Go on, guys, get yourselves into charity shops, car boot sales and thrift stores. Give unwanted stuff a new life and wear it with pride!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Dismemberment!

Do I have your attention? :D

Sometimes, it's good to take things apart. Sometimes, it isn't.

An example for not- so- good taking apart of things is ripping the space bar off your laptop to figure out wether or not there is coffee under the keyboard. It is nigh impossible to get the bugger back into place and makes posting on your blog an adventure. Err.

A better idea is to go to the charity shop and buy an old necklace for just about next to nothing and then take it to pieces. Weird and wonderful pieces, like wooden beads with gorgeous crocheting around it and loads of little sparkling crystals. I lurve me some of that.

To get from necklace to this took about an hour... well worth it!

Then, if your hands are still your friends, it's an even better idea to reassemble all the bits and pieces into a little set of earrings and bracelet and display it proudly on your fantastic new £stretcher goblet for £2.

Totally wearable, and there's not another piece like it. I think I'll sport those babies at work today!

On a bit of a darker note, the kid I told you about yesterday totally messed up last night.
He ignored his 10 pm curfew and was picked up at half eleven by the police lurching around a neighbourhood miles away from ours with two other kids who ran off when the police materialized. They brought him home, and I managed not to explode. Still haven't exploded yet, and I hope not to at all. He is, for now, getting the silence treatment until we have made up our minds as to what to do. I don't want to give up on the lad, but at 14 he is old enough to know that whatever you do has consequences. The man and I will figure out together what these consequences are exactly, but they WILL sting.
For now he's stewing in his own juice, and that's quite alright. A lot better than being shouted at anyway.

Oh, the joy of being a...mum  carer  housemaid!