LOVE CAN TRANSFORM ANY OLD THING

I was having tea with my friend Maureen  last week and she was jubilant over the brilliant weather.
'I must be outdoors when there is sunshine' she said. Then looking at me with a wink in her eye, she added, 'and you I suppose don't mind staying indoors and doing some crafts?'

Absolutely true.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't want to go to the beach. It is between those hours when I am at the beach and at the computer and in the garden and everything else, that I do my crafts. I love to make full use of every hour and every minute.

So these are my summer projects so far:

1. TEA CUP FEEDER

Reminds me of Mary Poppins' Feed the Birds...Tuppence a bag.....

2.  WATERING CAN BLING

An old trinklet creates a faux spray of water.....

3. BLUE BICYCLE

Theresa gave me a cherished bicycle and I thought it could do with a new coat of paint.

4. A SEWER JOINT PLANTER

I got this sewer pipe joint from Wasted Junkyard on the way to Scariff. You just don't know what you can find there!!!

5. WHEELBARROW Planter

6. LOG HOUSES

My friend Catherine gave me some logs and even if I wasn't trained to be an architect, I decided to create some log houses to test out a recently acquired chop/mitre saw.

7. SIGN POSTS

What is a garden without signposts?

                                      A friend gave me some golf balls for the peas

                                                   
8. A CHAIR PLANTER

9. A TERRARIUM

This was quite a challenge as it was my first time creating a terrarium but I enjoyed it tremendously and have written an article about it.
(https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blogger.g?blogID=8690240085782286672#editor/target=post;postID=5195160046881279273;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=1;src=postname)

A bird's eye view of our garden

10. SWEATSHIRT PAINTING/DECOUPAGE

I won some fabric paints in a craft competition and never got around to using them, so I thought I'd try them on some sweatshirts. Truth be told, random strangers did stop me to ask me how it was done.

11. DECOUPAGED GLASS PLATES

And I made these for some good friends...............

Well, summer is still not over yet, so when the Muse strikes, I will craft again......

BUNNIES AND BONNETS

Every Easter we see shop fronts decorated with bunnies and eggs. Although not related to the actual meaning of Easter, who can resist the cute bunny and the delicious chocolate egg?

So I decided to make a soft toy bunny. As I have no paper pattern for the bunny I created my own resulting in an eighteen inch tall bunny complete with contrasting coloured ears and feet.

Every good bunny deserves a bonnet so I made the bonnet as well.

                              And here she is, Betsy Bunny adorning her new bonnet.

Still with bunnies on my mind, I also made a baby quilt for someone special. The

different layers of fabric are held together by hand sewn decorative stitches.

And now the all important eggs.....

These are decoupaged foam eggs.

Multi coloured foam eggs cascading out of a floating cup.

And this Easter I received 2 very special Finnish Easter chocolate eggs from a lovely friend. Most chocolate eggs are hollow but the Finnish  Mignon chocolate egg is solid full of almond hazelnut nougat chocolate goodness inside a real egg shell!

This Easter confectionery is made by the Fazer company, dating back from 1896, when Karl Fazer brought the recipe from Germany. Enduringly popular as parts of Finnish Easter celebrations with around two million eggs sold per year, Mignon eggs are handmade at the Fazer factory in Vantaa.

THE ART OF ORIGAMI

I had an origami demonstration with the Irish Countrywomen's Organisation (Castletroy) and the ladies folded paper butterflies and cranes.

Classical and Traditional Origami. Paper was first invented in China around 105 A.D., and was brought to Japan by monks in the sixth century. Handmade paper was a luxury item only available to a few, and paper folding in ancient Japan was strictly for ceremonial purposes, often religious in nature.

Stage 1: We started of with the butterfly which is the simplest to do.

I made a mobile out of origami butterflies.

Stage 2: We proceeded with the folding of cranes.

In Japan, the crane is a mystical creature and is believed to live for a thousand years. ... Traditionally, it was believed that if one folded 1000 origami cranes, one's wish would come true. It has also become a symbol of hope and healing during challenging times.

Thousand Origami Cranes (千羽鶴 Senbazuru) is a group of one thousand origamipaper cranes (折鶴 orizuru) held together by strings. An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by the gods.

Sadako was a little girl who lived in the time of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. After being diagnosed with leukemia from the radiation, Sadako's friend told her to fold origami paper cranes (orizuru) in hope of making a thousand of them. She was inspired to do so by the Japanese legend that one who created a thousand origami cranes would be granted a wish. Her wish was simply to live.

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum states that she did complete the 1,000 cranes and continued past that when her wish did not come true. There is a statue of Sadako holding a crane in Hiroshima Peace Park, and every year on Obon day, people leave cranes at the statue in memory of the departed spirits of their ancestors.

GIFTS FOR GIVING

I always say that I have only 18 waking hours daily and if I am not doing something that I am passionate about, I am just wasting my precious time. Crafting - yes! That's something I always like to do. Making things for yourself is a joy but making things for people you care for is leaving a legacy. There's no shortage of good friends who surround me, so there'll never be a shortage of things that I can make for them for special occasions or for no occasion at all. You don't need a special day to say that someone means something to you.

I made this for Bino and Melrose's first born, Malcom. He's such a little dear and such a bundle of joy. I am sure his parents will bring him up to walk in the ways of the Lord.

Then one of my lovely friends from the International Women's Organisation had to relocate to the Philippines leaving behind a lot of treasured memories. Lin Yan has been such a lovely friend - a great cook, a fantastic outdoor person - hikes, mountain climbing and all. May this little Mr Prickles bring you joy.

Then last Sunday was Mother's Day in Ireland (31 March) and I had just got acquainted with Jane from China via a mutual friend. I invited her to enjoy the occasion in Abundant Life Christian Church after which we went for lunch at Aroi, Asian Street Food since our children are away from us. Gave her a handmade item to add flavour to the occasion.

Look what's inside!

Earlier this month, Audrey decided to give her apartment a new look. So this is an oil painting that I did for her living room.

This Thursday, my lovely friend Susan has invited me for lunch. Just some potpourri sachets to  enhance the atmosphere!

Talking about fragrance, here are some lavender diffusers that I made earlier for my home.

Sometime last month too, I held a book folding workshop with some ladies from the International Women's Organisation. 

So for the host, who graciously allowed us to use her home, I made a piggy planter out of a bleach bottle for her.

In January too, we went to Mexico, Sonya's Christmas gift to us. We had an amazing time checking out Chichen Itza since I love ancient civilisations, Mayan not withstanding.

We met up with our Mexican friends Fernando and Margarita over tortilla, refried beans, tacos, burritos, quesadillas etc.etc

We carried with us Irish sweets and I made this oven hot pot holder for Margarita.

And decided to start a new scrapbook travelogue with our trip to Mexico as my first entry.

Later this month, Killaloe charity/missions will be sending some clothes to African children. So I made a dress for a little girl, complete with a cross stitched bear.

And finally other little things to surround someone's day with love.....