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......

Decoupaged Glass Plates with ICA ladies

We had our first ICA Castletroup guild meeting for 2018 and it was a privilege to show the ladies how to make a decoupaged glass plate.

There were 15 of us and we had fun putting the pieces together. Because of time constraints, I had prepared most of the materials earlier. (weave paper, serviettes, modpotch)

The ladies were very good and handled their plates with care. The results were stunning and everyone brought home a piece of art! These plates should be hand washed.

Although everyone used the same fairy cake image, the possibilities are endless : flowers, christmas scenes, sweets etc.

Where did I get this idea for the plate? Well, when we were gallivanting one day, we ambled into a gift shop and browsed around. What caught my attention were some pretty decoupaged glass plates. I had a look at one of them and decided I must make one at home. And so I did and because I have a teacher's heart, I thought it would be lovely to share this skill with my friends as well....................

Egg-citing Easter 2016

Today is Easter and it is the most important event in my Christian life because without Easter, there is no Christianity. When Pastor Kevin asked me for suggestions to make Easter tokens, I thought decoupage eggs would be an interesting idea.

Since I was away in Malaysia for the early part of the year, I decided to get most of the supplies from home as they are much cheaper. Kevin got some lovely volunteers and together we made 70 decoupage eggs.

And so we completed the eggs, put them into organza bags with a note inside each of the bags and gave them to all the families who attended Easter service at Abundant Life Christian Church Limerick.

Year end crafts and Bye bye 2015

This will be the final post for 2015 before the ships blare their horns to usher in 2016. As the year draws to an end, I think I will put up all the pictures of the crafts that I've done for November and December. My favourites are mosaic-art and willowcraft and of course Christmassy stuff.

A. Mosaic and collage

1. Collage on Slate: mixed media - bits and bobs of old jewellery and paper napkins

2. Glass and tile on wood

3. Mandala Art: Tile, sculpture paste and paper napkin on MDF.

B. Willowcraft

Shopping basket:  Following instructions from a very good book .........

I completed this shopping basket on my own...........

C. Christmassy stuff

1. Fish bowl with candle : Sculpture paste for frost

 

2. Candle with trimmings

3. Hand painted snow men on wood and bottles

4. Table centrepiece

5. Cards

3D cards - the robin card won 3rd prize at the ICA Limerick federation meeting 

12 days of Christmas Cards

and a whole host of other cards....

So, I've come to the end of my last post for 2015. I already have lots of crafts planned out for next year which begins tomorrow. 

2016 HERE I COME!!