knot and knit

My latest obsession = finger knitting.
Just in time to make summery bracelets.

Bumped a couple of weeks ago in a store into a Zpagetti ball.
And one thing leading to another I ended up at Vanessa's tutorial for finger jersey knitted bracelets. Watch her video at the bottom.
Reg found this tutorial on finger knitting and being the slow learner that I am, I had to get helped by this one in French.
The technique/result varies slightly provided you loop back above all your fingers or swirve back between fingers.

(four finger version)

Still have to try :

- head pieces with longer ties.
- mixing differents fabrics.
- not ending up not chocking my fingers with far too tight a noose :-)
- trying it with tricotin knitted wool/threads
- cutting fabric from an old t-shirt

And also lately

Garlands to celebrate a baby girl.
Histor paint swatches and Martha Stewart butcher thread and embellished heart puncher.

Step T(h)ree

'Ambiencing' the house. Getting you in the mood. Decking the halls. Whatever you want to call it. Dressing up your house. Be bold, be bright, be generous, be merry.
Now, don't go putting the flashy reindeers and their far too bright red neck ribbons because I said so. Don't inflate those ugly and costly Santas. My point is (though I am not the best lesson giver) to stick to one material, one theme or one predominant colour.
In my case, you've seen on the Xmas tree : white, silver and pink. not very original, I agree, but I like it!

My first soft tree...and the whole story behind it (in case you have some time to kill) :
the first time I ever read a 'blog' was by accident.
While browsing the internet couple of years ago, I bumped into Two straight lines if I remember well. It was her version of the famous soft trees, following Stephanie's pattern from little birds's blog. Voilà, there I stept into the amazing and at times abyssal of craft blogs....
Few months later, a fabric store was closing (story far to common) not far from my place. I got several yards of beige felt and hadn't tried the soft tree pattern yet. Now it's done! Circle completed!

thanks you ladies (why not dreaming they'll read this one day)!

Step One, The Advent wreath

Grödby candles on sale for 1.99$ at IKEA....
Metallic painted pebbles brought back form SoCal.
Various bulbs from past years among which the fake brushed metal one from OBI (French equiv. of Home Depot).
Cactus decal on the wall from Gali Art.

ps : pourquoi ça pixellise tellement ces photos?? si vous avez un tip, je suis preneuse...


PPS : another Advent wreath I simply adore.

Let them know it's Christmas time....

A little bit of recycling....while preparing the 09 trend.
from Bea's world famous 08 Xmas collection... in case you missed it. note : you = approx. the whole mankind minus a handful of persons who received a gift from me...

metallic flowers from punched champagne bottle collars. -easy peasy.

one year already!

Some inspiration from last year*...while packing for few days out of town.

Pour les Frenchies qui ne peuvent participer au concours Michaels, pas d'excuses pour ce concours de déco de Noël...Marie Claire Maison!


*polka dot heart made by/gift from Réré

Handmade Holiday Contest

Yes, it is a little early to talk bulbs and garlands but come on, admit it : you are already started thinking about this year's theme, gifts, recipes or decor, too.
I have and am positive Réré has as well.
So, for those of you who are in the US and feel like sharing with everyone your jawdropping 'creation of the season', Martha Stewart and Michaels have handmade holiday ornaments contest.
Register here.
These little yarn wreathes are Tami B. of Marysville, Ohio's submission. my favorite so far, and my 5 snowmen vote.

There is still room for cute things (if you ask me).
By the way, do you remember Danielle Thompson garlands? That's how we got to know her and year after year, season after season, we still love them....
My epiphany happened yesterday (right after visiting Anthropologie) at the next door Goodwill. Can't say too much yet, but only show you the cute bulbs that were waiting for me...

Tis (almost) the season to be merry....
(why should I be the only one enjoying this song looping in my head?)

Floating dots

Hey, we'll make it brief :

lovely flat paper (from Little Léon)

or in volume (by PukaPuka)?

Floating dots are calling me.
So it will be either in a mobile or a curtain, in paper or mixed material, hues or not...Am still pondering.

piouf~

No no, I'm not trying to sound that this little bird on sale this summer at Adolfo Dominguez.
Am only sighing after trying to take pictures (without luck) of the earring swinging on my ear...hmm Ubung macht den Meister, I guess. I will have to practice and show you many more...
It goes without saying the matching bracelet is home made, with Martha Stewarts Craft pastel ribbon and black glass beads from an old Bijenkorf bracelet.
Nice combination of a light pastel colour and a very classical black, don't you think?

coolest aunty

If anyone has ever wondered why it takes nine months for babies to arrive I can easily explain it: it usually takes me more than eight months to find the right paper (you'll recognize the Martha Stewart touch) and right thread (paper ribbon from Dille&Kamille) for my last paper banner... green, pink and gold this time. very Ladurée.

PS: no, no we're not gone fishing. Reg is just super busy crafting and I'm enjoying sometime back home. YES, meaning the full team is catching up on the same continent, in the same town at the same time!!!

Strawberries and Teapot

My oh my! Béa introduced me to this blog a couple of days ago. I wasn't quite sure to start with, the whole family thing put me off a little bit (sorry), but as I trust Béa's judgement I gave it a go anyway. Well, how amazing. Everything about this blog is lovely. I like it all. My favourite's got to be the Bell Jars. What is there not to like I ask you? Toadstools and fawns, all at once. Fab. The other thing I really like are the pictures and of course the use of colours. So cheers, Béa.

Mind you, I say 'Cheers' but I now do feel rather embarassed to show my crappy little things. Oh well, nevermind. The strawberries are another Béa inspired project (courtesy of Martha S.). They have a broach pin at the back but I'll probably use them on a bag and the little teapot thingy is just hanging from the kitchen door. I also made a bunch of oatmeal and raisins buiscuits. They look pretty ugly, so not worth a picture, but taste yummy!

FORK

Yes, can't wait to announce the winner!
To make the wait shorter, here are few pictures:

Right next to POP, comes....FORK.
(sounds like IKEA names...)

Now that the corks are finally on the wall, it was high time to hang these old forks...
a left over piece of wood, a simple coat of 'lei' one of my beloved Flexa paint, a little sanding, a little nailing....tadaa...

I saw this once as kitchen towels holder. If I knew how to knit or chochet I would probably do some of these, but since I haven't reached even the beginner level yet, I may for now use it as display or picture holder with some rope and vintage wood clothepins maybe.

unless Rere, you feel like unleashing your wild needles for me......(ok, you don't see it but I am soo smiling....)

Bis bald!
Bea

POP!

With the help of (few) thirsty friends. Those corks were desperate to pop back in the kitchen after their loud finale.

Cheers!
Tchin Tchin!



(Yes you could argue if you have a good memory that this was inspired by MCI, 51st issue on page 105)

Here it is

Here it is.

I thouroughly enjoyed making this little thing. Cheers, Marie Claire Idées!

I rarely do the exact same thing as in the magazine, I usually use it as inspiration, but this time there was no way around it. It had to be done.
The chandelier was 1euro from a car boot sale and the tea cups 3.80 euro from Emmaus. The most expensive item was the paint but I'll get lots of use out of it. All in all, a bargain.

take care

Reg

united colors

I know, rodeo time is just over. You'll tell me I may have been unconsciously looking for something western when I recently flipped through the pages of the latest ELLE US version and saw this Benetton ad:

Not very western I know. Goldrush meets Baroque rather. More like those menlike striped shirts you see everywhere in the US this spring except for...the ropes.
Now I'm obsessed with these fabric ropes/braids.
Last time, while searching at Goodwill for some cups -you know the story-, I found two shirts begging me to get them. One for me, one for crafting.
Once combined with two other fading fabrics I already had, voilà:

This is still at a very early stage: too short to be a belt, I haven't thought about how to turn it into some kind of necklace (that wouldn't look like I've left a rope hanging round my neck), key chain or even door knob embellishment.
But I got so thrilled with the result I couldn't wait!!!
The rest on the picture is just an attempt at making it look like a casual nature morte. Only the ones you see on other blogs like Yvonne's seem much better.
Well, 'la critique est aisée mais l'art est difficile'. I'm just a beginner blogger.
The scorepad is for bridge I think but I use it as a notepad. Isn't the colour too cute?


Am off to more braiding.
Cheers!
Béa