Four Little Elephants Sitting On A Wall

Meet the recent addition to my family. 

From left to right

Henry, Etta, Kit and Caboodle

The pattern for these cuties was designed by Jodie Charlton from RicRac and you can find her and her patterns here.

Not sure what destiny has in store for these guys yet but it sure will be sad to say goodbye.

H is for Handmade - A to Z Challenge

Today is about my involvement with handmade crafts.

I'm always short on words because I know anyone who may visit and take the time to read this doesn't have time for a lengthy post, therefore this will be short and sweet.

I've been making handmade items for years, since I was fourteen ~ make that many, many years I've been making handmade items! 

Handmade by me

I give all my work away, I've never sold anything. Too scared mostly and everything I do has been done before, so who would want to buy my stuff.  I love giving my stuff away and I would never give anything that I wasn't truly happy with.

 

Sewing is a breeze for me and not much of a challenge, so I find I'm moving more towards drawing and painting (Oil) and I know that the only way I'm going to improve is to practice and one day I hope my paintings will be as much a breeze for me as my sewing is now.

Like I said in my post yesterday, I am very grateful to have found so many clever internet people. I have paid for and mostly enjoyed hours of tutorials on painting and drawing and I've enjoyed sharing my efforts ~ however humble they may be.



Handpainted by me

 

So for today, my point is all things handmade make me happy, especially if I'm the maker.

 

Source: soimarriedacraftblogger.com via FaveCrafts on Pinterest

Red Nose Day Dolls

 

 

My friend Jodie from Ric Rac is a pattern maker of many things, in particular soft toys and even more particularly she makes very small things.  I have made two of her tiny teapot pin cushions, (as well as heaps of her other stuff) they make perfect gifts for friends, pins included.  I think I'll blog about that effort and give Jodie another shout out, another day.  There's a pattern here (pardon the pun) but I am repeating myself.

 

Well, it really is best to visit Jodie's blog to see all that she is doing for the Red Nose Day Doll project.  You won't believe the things she gets up to unless you take a peek yourself at Ric Rac, never a dull post, that's for sure.

 

I love the idea Jodie's gal friends have come up with, Emma Mitchell and Ros Badger and you can see and read all about their fundraising project here at Red Nose Day Dolls FB page.

 

Another lovely blog to read is the  Red Nose Day Dolls Blog, really cute and full of fun and happiness. 

 

Below is an amazing YouTube video you just have to watch and if you like it, why not click the 'Like' button there too.

 

 

 

How clever is this video?

Karen Boatwright must be one of the most patient souls on this planet. 

I love it so much and keep watching it over and over.

 

Cheers from me here

 

Scavenger Hunt ~ On My Shelf

Well, I've lost my dinky camera so I've had to resort to my iphone for the photo challenge today.  Maybe my camera is somewhere on one of these shelves.  Hopefully it will show up when it's good and ready, I know it's in the house somewhere.

My Bear and Book collection 

The shelf in the Loo

The only orderly shelf in my Craft Room

My softies resting on a shelf guarding one of my very amateur paintings

A messy corner shelf displaying creations by me, the 'Wanna Bee Artist'

Linking up to Deb's weekly photographic challenge at Ramblings of a Square Peg in a Round Hole

My Little Empathy Monster

This strange creature is a result of an on-line class I did with Tamara Laporte over at Willowing Love.  I'm enrolled in several of her classes and the Empathy Monster is part of her Art, Heart and Healing course which is free.  I gave little guy to a special friend and she named him Maximilian.  Max has lots of hugs to give and I'm sure he's happy in his new home.

Whilst sewing is not a new craft for me, drawing is and I love the challenges I face every time I pick up a pencil or paintbrush.  I just wish drawing and painting was as easy for me as pushing material through a sewing machine.

See what I mean ~ there's always room for improvement.  Whoever said that was very wise.

Easter Swap Surprise

Patrick from Cre8ors Touch invited fellow Hive artisans to choose a Vintage Easter card of their preference, replicate it into a 3-D form either 3 dimensional painting, sculpture, doll, dream scape, dia-rama.  The challenge was to translate the feeling of the card chosen into a 3 dimensional piece.  At the conclusion of the challenge participant names were swapped using the random.org number generator and then we shipped our creations off to new homes.

This is what I received:

This beautiful paper clay sculpture was designed and created by Gloriann who has an amazing blog and shop called Little Garden Crafts.  Her precious gift to me has pride and place in my family room, I just have to make sure when someone takes a look at my gorgeous bunnies they don't touch.  These bunnies have travelled all the way from New York to Australia without harm, so I intend that they will live a happy and carefree life without any mishaps.  

Gloriann's design was based on this Vintage Easter Card

This is what I made for the challenge:

My creation is made from felt and hand sewn.  Each bunny has moving arms and legs and the basket was made from felt and hand sewn into shape.  Each bunny has different characteristics ~ I designed a different pattern and shape to try and give each a unique pose in an endeavour to replicate the card more accurately.

My design was based on this Vintage Easter Card 

Sincere thanks to Patrick who hosted a fun Easter Swap Challenge for 2012.