Birthday Buttons

On this my birthday, I was chuffed to have the chance to share one of my favourite techniques with my mum and mum-in-law! All three of us made some Dorset buttons. Simple but attractive, with a nautical historic touch. All you need is a small plastic curtain ring, some fine wool or embroidery thread and a needle.

Dorset buttons have an interesting history but do not seem to be very well-known! Families in Shaftsbury and Blandford were recruited to hand-stitch the buttons which were originally made with rings carved from Dorset rams' horns. This was a thriving cottage industry until inevitably machines were invented to mass produce the plastic buttons we are familiar with today. Dorset buttons are now the artefacts of local fashion museums.

My husband's family being Dorset-people, I thought it would be fun to attempt to revive the Dorset button. What with the BBC's recent 'Great British Sewing Bee' competition inspiring the nation to dust off their sewing machines and get out their pins and needles, I'm hoping more and more hand-crafting folk will rekindle the art of Dorset button-making!

Cushions

With the guidance of my dear friend and quilting guru Kim, I managed to find a use for a random pack of reclaimed fabric squares that I discovered in Oxfam a long time ago.

She has definitely inspired me to dust off the sewing machine and experiment!

You can find her blog here and Etsy page (showcasing her gorgeous products including cute Mug-Hugs!) here 

Memento Creations no. 4

The first cake-topper of 2013 and my favourite polymer clay creation thus far!

Here they are in situ and the happy couple cutting into their lovely cake!

Happy Easter!

Peg Loom Weaving

I was given a lovely peg-loom a wee while back and have only recently had a go at some weaving.

After a bit of practice, I found myself enjoying the soothing motion of weaving and the satisfying colour combinations. I think the biggest appeals of this craft are its simplicity and tremendous scope for creative possibilities.

As a newbie to peg-loom weaving, I have yet to explore these possibilities but for now, I'm quite happy with my small woolen mat.

Vintage Rose

Even more papercraft! This was made with newspaper, a brown envelope and distress ink (with the help of a mug).

Distress carnation Birthday card ~ newspaper and ink

 

Inspired by layersofink.blogspot.co.uk

This carnation is made by snipping fine frills into a strip of blue card and newspaper and tightly coiling these with a slotted needle/quilling tool.
The aged effect was created using distress ink. The backing paper was spritzed with water to let some of the inks run.

Recycled fabric coasters ~ paper-piecing

I was lucky enough to find a second-hand copy of Jayne Emerson's book 'The Impatient Patchworker' in Hay-on-Wye last summer. My favourite idea in this book of quick and simple projects was the handsewn hexagon coaster - a good way of using up leftover bits of fabric that aren't much good for anything else.

I enjoyed recycling some old clothes (pictured, right) taking advantage of the lovely prints. It turns out that this is one of those 'addictive' craft techniques and you soon find yourself looking for more combinations of patterns and colours. The great thing about recycling scraps is that each piece is unique.

The coasters are pieced together by hand using paper templates and backed with felt. Here's one in progress and one in action....coasting??

Daisy Mother's Day card : mixed crochet and papercraft

Today I wondered what would happen if I tried to crochet something using a piece of card in place of the central chain - this is what happened when I tried it!

Here is the step-by-step guide.
You will need:
2mm crochet hook
Anchor pearl cotton
card in cream, yellow and green
Bostik Sticki-pen (repositionable and dries clear)

The base of the card is A5

1. Cut a disc of yellow card 2cm in diameter and mark 12 evenly spaced dots.

2. Push a needle through to create holes

3. With pen marks facing away from you, follow this crochet pattern (British abbreviations):

(Insert hook, pull loop through hole, ch2)
4. repeat 11 times.
5. Scr into each ch space - 12 times
6. Ch7 into every scr
7. (See photo) You should be left with 12 loops that will become the petals. It will look a bit messy, but keep going!
8. Scr 10 into each ch space. Cut end and pull behind work - glue in place on the back of the card centre.

9. Cut a thin strip of yellow card, less than 5mm in width.

Use the length of an A4 sheet. Roll this tightly, release the spiral a little, and glue end carefully in place to create the circle that fits into the centre of the daisy.
10. Glue in place. 

11. Now cut a thin strip of green card, using the width of the A4 page. Roll this tightly, then taking the outer-most layer, squeeze a point and release ths spiral slightly to create the leaf-shape.
12. Cut a rectangle the same width as the card base and snip grass blades into it. Glue the strip of blades in place.
13. Cut a thin stem and tiny branch for the leaf from green card. Glue all in place.

A make a day…keeps stress at bay

In my job in a mental health service, I am regularly struck by the number of service users discovering the therapeutic power of creativity.
During times of emotional crisis, we have the opportunity to define the essential and optimal components of our individualised self-care. I have noticed that for a great many people, this requires ring-fencing time for personally fulfilling activities, too numerous to name. But one key theme seems to stand out : creativity.
Mental health charities advise us not to neglect the things we enjoy and are good at, emphasising the value of creative interests. It is no surprise that research is highlighting the link between creativity and better health, with articles telling us that “a creative life is a healthy life”. (There is even a published study on the relationship between quilting and wellbeing!*)
The message is clear that in its many forms, creativity plays an important role in promoting wellbeing, whatever this means to each one of us.
For many of us, this is just ‘common sense’ as we find we are naturally drawn to areas of creativity that inspire and engage us, whether in the form of art, writing, photography, design, craft, music, sculpture, web-design, textiles, film…and thankfully, the list goes on. I think this is one of the incredible beauties of creativity, that it can be so unique to each person.
When an inspiring idea pops into your mind, when you feel the glow of satisfaction from completing a step of your project, the thrill of mastering a technique, isn’t there something fundamental yet indefinably transcendent going on?
I am increasingly convinced that this has something to do with being made in the image of God.
As people we are inherently and intuitively creative by our very nature. It’s in our wiring. It’s the way we are because it’s who He is.
As someone with a background in psychology, I tend to notice the iconic and resonant statements made by giants of the field about the human mind and its development.
Maybe the mysterious power of creativity is part of what Maslow meant when he first imagined the concept of ‘Self-actualisation’. Donald Hebb, a pioneering thinker in the subject on human memory, wrote “every normal human being is creative all the time...it is not something that occurs only in outstanding individuals".
Psychology and theology seem to agree that “to be human is to be creative”. Perhaps this is why I am drawn to creativity when I feel life squishing me. And perhaps its essential nature underpins its ability to restore us when, in whatever way or for whatever reason, we have drifted away from the core of who we really are.

*Burt and Atkinson (2011). http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/06/05/pubmed.fdr041.abstract?sid=73c94a33-ddd2-4569-8645-6bda4606ad03