The Craft FantasticThe long-awaited holiday is finally here, hurrah!
Thus, I have nothing to post about, absolutely nothing at all apart from a picture of our hotel:
The pool, hot tubs, tennis and basketball courts:
A little map of City Walk and imagining I’m walking round:
And planning my birthday Disney outfit!
Just a few pictures from our most recent craft fair. Not a lot of sales, but a couple of contacts!
“I saw this and thought of you!” was the joyful exclamation that greeted me when Cupcake Queen Noms came round for the craft fair yesterday (post to follow).
I love the fact that she only had to look at the cover of Here Be Monsters: The Ratbridge Chronicles to know that I would think this book was awesome.
And, it gets better. You only have to open the front cover and there, written on the inside flap of the dust jacket is “Skullduggery is afoot!” Any book with skullduggery afoot is ok by me.
It’s fully illustrated throughout and has a chapter entitled Pants Ahoy! Oh yes; and there’s an abundance of exclamation marks, too.
I can’t wait to read it!
Ok, so this isn’t reeeally 100% about crafts. As I may have mentioned, we’re going to Florida soon. I’m making a notebook to take; it’s a little one, handbag sized, with a pocket in the back to put theme park tickets etc. The cover will be decorated with cartoon figures representing everyone going.
My first thought was DISNEY, even though we’re only going for one day. Awesome. Job done. Plenty of Disney characters to choose from. But then, none of them really have my hair.
And I got to thinking.
Who does?
Cardcaptor Sakura!
Little manga versions of everyone would be awesome. Manga always inspires me to draw.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/mar/14/akira-yoshizawa-celebrated-google-doodle
I’ve knitted a couple of these, just as an experiment, making the pattern up… I quite like them! It’s like having a little cosy for your phone.
I’ll have them on sale at our next stall, which is Mother’s Day, so I’m hoping they’re a ‘mum’ thing…
Buttons are awesome. Just look how fun this pile looks.
They are sometimes misused because of this fact. Sticking buttons on something doesn’t automatically make it cute. That’s right. You heard me. Stop randomly sticking buttons on things!
Each to their own though, I guess, but these, for example, are delightful:
Check out absolutely small for these and also… chicken pants.
I have no idea what the point of this button book is, but I want to try and make one all the same:
Skipping past the main obvious ones, such as paper, pencils, pens and card, here are the ten items I find myself using most often, no matter what craft I’m doing.
1. Bone folder- My number one crafting tool. Mainly used for scoring and making sharp creases, but also handy for pressing things smooth when gluing etc. They’re about £4 upwards, and so worth getting.
2. Little stash of paperclips etc.- I didn’t know how much I needed these until I had them! They are indespensable.
3. Good scissors.
4. Craft knife.
5. Cutting mat.
6. Drawing board- I have two sizes, A4 for smaller things and sketching, and a big A3 one for larger, messier projects.
7. Bodkin/awl type thing- for prodding holes!
8. Good old PVA glue- for gluing!
9. Selection of needles- I use these for vairous crafts: sewing of course, but also in knitting and in notebook making.
10. Selection of erasers- not just good for rubbing out! Larger ones are great for using as a cushion under paper/card when you’re prodding holes through.
It’s really great to see publishers fighting against the rise of these new-fangled digital book things by bringing out beautiful new covers.
This lovely Penguin hardback edition of Flappers And Philosophers, a collection of short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a great example. Why would anyone not want this book on their shelf? I do, even though I already have most of these stories in other collections.
