Kirstie's Home Made

valk_scot

gailey wrote: »

Needlefelting confused me had no idea how it worked.

Needlefelting? It works if you use a natural fibre like wool, alpaca, angora etc, and not superwash. Most natural fibres like wool have little scales on the surface. A felting needle has tiny barbs on the end and it pushes the top fibres down into the bottom layer where they hook into and tangle up onto one another. This tangling actually felts the two layers together into one.

You don't need the gizmo, you can buy needles individually for fine control, though five or more in a holder makes it faster over a larger area. You can also use an embelishing machine (many hundreds of £££s!!) which has a similar gadger instead of a needle. You can use a cheap car sponge for the underneath pad instead of a brush. You can use charity shop yarn insted of buying it in the shops but it has to be a pure wool or animal fibre, and not superwash. The base layer ditto though you can use old wool sweaters from the charity shop and wash them with a pair of jeans or tennis balls at 60'C. A cushion cover is a less daunting prospect than a bolero btw, and more likely to be used.

ETA: Hobbycraft or The Works or big store haberdasherers sell bells. Or Ebay, of course. Or save the ones off your Lindt chocolate Santas!

rosieben

I agree valk, I love using recycled stuff in my crafts, I have 2 old leather handbags that I kept to use for altered art, thinking they would make good book covers

I've bought hand made books in the past, they were expensive but I enjoyed journalling with something special; I'm afraid books from the 99p shop wouldn't do the job, although they're ok for everyday lists etc obviously. I'd like to bind my own books but its finding time

PixieDust

gailey wrote: »

she makes me feel inadequate. She doesn't You allow yourself to feel inadequate; she's just doing what she's paid for. But I know what you mean

I liked the snowdomes and wondered

what kind of glue did she use? - Hot Glue Gun glue. You could also use any glue that isn't water soluble

did she screw or glue lid on? Both. She squeezed glue on the threads and then, a lot quicker than it seemed on the edited prog, she screwed the lid to the jar before the glue set to make the seal stronger

does the lid have to be painted with enamel paint?|No, she did that purely for cosmetic reasons. If you use a jam jar, you don't really want H@rtleys showing, so she showed a way to disguise the lid. I think I'd probably use a circle of material or felt on the bottom and a strip of ribbon stuck round the sides with double sided tape........but those are the materials I have to hand iyswim?

Needlefelting confused me had no idea how it worked. A single needlefelting needle has tiny barbs on it - like a straight, miniature fishing hook. Natural wool is rather like our hair under a microscope, it has scales. Ever seen someone with proper dreadlocks? Their hair has, in effect, been felted. The little gizmo she used was just lots of felting needles working at the same time, so the effect was created more quickly. The easiest way to have a go is to buy a cheap set of felting needles, a square of acrylic felt from a craft shop, and a pack of unspun wool (Fleabay sell all of this stuff ) It's fun

The garland looks failrly simple tempted to try that but where do I buy bells? If you look in cheapy shops like the 99pence store or P0und!and they usually sell a "decoration" which is just a string of bells......if you dismantle it you will end up with loads of 'em! Or Fleabay, again. Though you don't actually need bells to make a garland like that - let's face it, they're not going to make a noise when they're in situ...so use any small decs you may already have, or small pine cones, tassels of ribbon - anything

The fimo thing gave me an idea.
wanted to do fingerprint silver jewellry for hubbys birthday
so tags on a keyring
decided to try doing it with fimo tags on keyring That sounds fab

God im going to sound live raving hippy here (If you are then I am too )but embrace the spirit of xmas make some homemade stuff, decorate house festive on the cheap, enjoy yourself! Amen to that!

My bits are in bold. I know it's obvious, but it won't let me post without writing something down here. I could sing, I suppose? Hem hem. On the firrrrrst day of Chrrriiiisstttmaaaassssss my true love gave to meeeee......a programme with Kiiiirrrsstttyyyyyy........

rosieben

mad woman!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

gailey_2

Many thanks to pixie dust great post

she was so fast on the programme bit too fast for me.

going to do fimo keyring with kids fingerprints on

having 3kids including baby has meant not had time to indulge in crafting great shame as I enjoy it and only 2weeks before xmas and not organised at all:( headless turkey springs to mind.

I see the lovley things
I see the lovley house

feel a bit crap!

wrinkled_english_rose

I spent a very enjoyable pm with my eldest DGD (19) making paper mache moneyboxes (a al sealed pot challenge) for the family. Now that is something I would love see Kirsty do. She would have to tie her hair back and take off that gorgeous ring we got glue everywhere!!!!
I wish I could justify buying her books.
WER

Callie22

gailey wrote: »

Many thanks to pixie dust great post

she was so fast on the programme bit too fast for me.

going to do fimo keyring with kids fingerprints on

having 3kids including baby has meant not had time to indulge in crafting great shame as I enjoy it and only 2weeks before xmas and not organised at all:( headless turkey springs to mind.

I see the lovley things
I see the lovley house

feel a bit crap!

Don't feel crap - I'm sure if Channel 4 were paying you'd have a lovely house too

Diflower

I was going to suggest the 99p shop for 'things' with bells on too:)

Also, ours has packs of I think 6 card(? maybe thin foam) Christmas stockings, complete with bits and pieces to decorate, and something to hang them on to make a garland.
As they are, great for kids to do, but you could also use what's there as a cheap base to make your own. There were other packs, for making cards etc, with several packs of sequins included, and tiny bells too.

MandM90

I think this is a great cheap crafty thing; either use an old jumper or get a cheap one from the charity shop. You could add peoples names or personalise with buttons or even sparkly bits:

http://www.imperfecthomemaking.com/2011/12/christmas-stockings-made-from-sweaters.html?spref=fb

Justamum

MandM90 wrote: »

I think this is a great cheap crafty thing; either use an old jumper or get a cheap one from the charity shop. You could add peoples names or personalise with buttons or even sparkly bits:

http://www.imperfecthomemaking.com/2011/12/christmas-stockings-made-from-sweaters.html?spref=fb

They really are lovely aren't they? When we were children our stockings were my dad's old cricket socks! It's amazing what the old man in the red suit could cram in there though :rotfl: