Little Worlds

I woke up one morning to find these little beauties on the kitchen table. My house mate has placed small succulent plants in different kind of glass vases. Complete with rocks and little animals figurines too. Very effective I must say.

Fairies Down the Bottom of the Garden

When I was a little girl I used to make fairy soup. I would collect cuttings from Mum’s garden and mix them in a bucket with water to make fairy soup. Then I would leave it outside for the fairies. The poor things probably fell in the bucket and drowned!

My Mum is a fantastic gardener. When we moved to the current place my parents live at now around 14 years ago there was no garden at all. Fast forward to today and this is the paradise Mum has created.

 

Fashions on the Field

This year was the very first time I have been to the Races. I decided to get the girls together and we had a fun filled day at the Geelong Cup. I spent a long time thinking about my outfit as I wanted to enter (and win!) the Fashions on the Field (did not win :,-( ) and the Best Dressed (I’m in top 100, voting still in progress) competitions.

I decided I wanted a bright yellow dress as it is a colour not a lot of people wear. And I found this beauty in Dangerfield, by Princess Highway. A black envelope clutch and shiny black shoes complete the outfit. I wore black tights and a fitted black jacket as well as the weather was actually really bad that day!

Of course I made the jewellery (see older posts) and the fascinator myself. Ah, the fascinator, what a labour of love that one was! I wanted something different and settled on a little top hat. I was lucky to find a black one with white spots in Spotlight. I made some flowers from black ribbon and sewed them on the hat and glued a bunch of black and yellow feathers on. It took a while but was well worth the effort.

I wore my hair in a side bun. The bun was on the same side as my little top hat (the left). I took the hair from the right of my head and plated it along; brining it around to the left then tied all my hair in a side pony. Plating it helps keep the hair from escaping as I have a few layers. And it also looks good! To make the bun I separated the pony into five pieces and twisted them around the headband, securing with lots of bobby pins. This was the difficult part and did take a while. It is much harder than it sounds. When finished I sprayed a lot of hair spray (sorry ozone layer) then pined some pearl pins though the plate and the bun. I was rather pleased with the result. The pearls add a nice touch.

 

Letters and Love Notes

 And now onto necklaces. I found this lovely envelope charm and thought I just had to make a dangly necklace with it. This type is really simple. You need a few charms, a long length of chain (depending on how long you want the necklace to be), jump rings to attach the charms, head pins, bead caps and beads.
1. Attach a jump ring to each charm using two pairs of round or flat nose pliers to open and close ring. I have one of each.
2. Thread a bead cap, bead and another bead cap onto a head pin. Use wire cutters to cut off excess wire leaving enough to make loop, about 1-2cm. Make a loop using round nose pliers.
3. Thread all onto chain, and then join the ends of the chain using a jump ring. When it is long like this you do not need a clasp as it fits over the head.

I also made a smaller version of the necklace using a cute clock charm. This one has a toggle clasp. Attach to each end of the chain using jump rings. I like to attach a small bead charm to the clasp as well so it looks nice if you are wearing your hair up.

Black & Gold Part 2

Hi there,
A few posts ago was about the necklace I made to go with my yellow and black dress for the Races. Well today I made the bracelets and earrings (and changed the necklace slightly).

I believe a bead board is essential when jewellery making. It allows you to lay your design out so you have an idea what the finished product will look like. That way you can easily change the layout if you wish. I spend more time fiddling around with the beads than making the actual piece, I think!

To make bracelets like this is very simple. I use clear beading elastic by Ribtex from Spotlight.
1. Just lay out your design,
2. Thread onto the elastic (still on the spool so beads don't fall off the end. I find it easier this way),
3. Measure so it fits your wrist, add or remove beads as needed and cut the end. Then tie a few very tight knots.
4. There we go; a beautiful bracelet. I made three as I like layering the bracelets up. I love my bling!

Goodbye Winter...

Slowly winter is leaving. It was a very windy 25 degrees Celsius today. Back down to 14 degrees tomorrow. Typical! This dress here I am wearing is one of my favourite winter dresses. I decided to wear it today even though it was warm. Usually I have a long sleave red top under and black tights. I love skater style dresses. They fit well around the waist then the skirt flares out in a flattering style. And of course who can say no to red? I love red!

 

Patterns.

I love tweed and hounds tooth style fabric. This skirt is a new addition from this winter. It is blue and red and looks lovely teamed with black tights and a grey top. And of course ropes of red and blue crystals and pearls! The skirt is by Dangerfield.

And this lovely 1960’s style shift dress is from TEMT. I love this dress, and the coat! It was my Auntie’s coat when she was a Uni student in Melbourne. She gave it to me a couple of years ago as she remembered how much I loved it. It is so very warm…and pink!

Ring, Ring- Hello?

I saw this old red telephone box in an antique store in Killarney (Victoria). I just had to take a photo. The box is chock-a-block full of old goodies. 

“Darn it! The Bells are Coming Over!”

Here are the latest additions to my rather large cushion cover collection. I think I better stay away from fabric shops. My wonderful Mum sewed these up for me. I’m starting a new collection using fabric with vintage sewing patterns and ads. I love reading all the ads on the middle cushion. The title of this post (Darn it! The Bells are Coming Over!) is an ad about instant coffee. After the lady of the house prepared the coffee they had a wonderful time with the Bells!

 

Black & Gold

I am going to the Races this year- first time ever! My dress is sort of a ‘50s style yellow with a black flower and vine pattern (from Dangerfield). I made this necklace to go with it. Here is what to do:

1.       Grab a head pin and thread a selection of beads and spacers on. I love spaces as they add extra glamour to the piece.

2.       Using wire cutters snip of extra head pin, leaving enough to make a loop (about 1-1.5cm).

3.       Using round nose pliers make a loop.

4.       Thread onto chain and there we go! I also made a little crystal charm and threaded a key onto a jump ring. Use two pairs of pliers to open and close the jump ring.

·         This method of threading beads onto a head pin can also be used to make a lovely pair of matching earrings.