My Magpie Shadow Box ......

I decided to do myself an altered shadow box . It`s going to hang in my crafting room , as i am getting one at last ! We have to clear and decorate the room , but i`m so excited about getting it ready ! ;o) I`m gathering things for it , even though it`s not done , but i like to be organised ;o)

Here`s how i did it ......

This is the box , bought from a charity shop , looking a bit sorry for itself ! It did have fake shells and dried flowers in , but i forgot to take a before photo of that !

I painted it in an acrylic colour pink , that i mixed myself , with a first piece of paper in the middle box . .....

Stuck some pink lace at one side of the box .....





Hand sewed a little pillow and added a lace bottom ........

Stuck some vintage buttons on , ready to sit on top of the lace decorated side of the box ........

Glued a small bird playing card in the middle box .......

A pink feather and a piece from an old necklace , that looks like an egg , finishes that side off .....

The same paper on the bottom with a piece of pink ribbon ......






Pinned a brooch onto a piece of handsewn indian paper which is glued down ...... With a fabric scrap tied together with a ribbon remnant ......

All three boxes finished ......

I then filled the gaps in the frame with filler , sanded it down a little , and gave it a coat of off white acrylic paint ... .



The finished shadow box !! .......

I gave it the name Magpie shadow box - to represent most things that i love collecting , vintage lace , fabric , buttons , jewellery and bird themed items .

All Rosey .......

A velvet padded ribbon work decorated heart .... I did smell it , to see if there was lavender put in , but i couldn`t smell anything ! ;o)

Again , alot of detail in this ribbon sewing ! I`ve seen books at my local library on this , but i think this craft is not that popular , as the books were old editions . ........Unless someone out there can let me know otherwise ;o) ....

Sheets of rose wrapping paper , for background works .....

Long Necklace ... Using Vintage Buttons

Sorry the photo`s not that good , but i tried ! ;o) It`s a long necklace i made for myself , using vintage flower style buttons and various beads .

A couple more close up ones of the buttons . I got these buttons in with others in a bag , and didn`t really see them , until i opened it up because they were so dark . But i love them ! There were also some gorgeous mother of pearl ones in as well !

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside ....

We decide to go out for a run in our car today , and ended up at the coastle resort of Scarborough . I love going to the seaside , fresh air , icecream .... and a seagull ! This is a little chap , who we were told would dive bomb you while you were eating your food ! We were sat out on the sun terrace of a cafe , while on the look out for him , this is how close he got for me to take a photo ! He didn`t get any food by the way ! ;o)

The fun fair .

The steep walk up to the castle

The lovely view from the top with the bay.

It turned out really nice and sunny while we were there , and i also managed to make a few buys as well .

In case anyone was wondering where the title came from ..... it`s from an old english music hall song , 1907 , so i found out ! But i remember singing it as a child . Sorry there`s no music with it but it goes like this ...

oh I do like to be beside the seaside ,

I do like to be beside the sea !

I do like to stroll upon the prom prom prom ,

Where the brass bands play tiddley -om pom pom !

There are other verses , but i thought i`d spare you those ones ;o) But i got this tune in my head on the way home , and still have - like you do sometimes ;o)

Free ........ Well Nearly !

These pair of oven gloves came "free" with a magazine that i usually buy .

They`re a Laura Ashley design , and i love too much to use them !

So they`ll be hung up and out of reach of my partners hands , as he won`t understand that they are too pretty to use !

Remember This Cute Couple ? ...

These are playing cards , a reproduction from the late 1980`s . I didn`t still think they were still going , as i remember these two when i was young ! I saw them when they were out for Valentines day. They were very popular in their time , like Holly Hobbie was , remember them as well ? !

Some Makes for my Craft Sale

Here`s just a few of many things i`ve got for my craft sale this weekend . It`s not a big event , just a local one near where i live . So i don`t think I`m taking too many handmade items , as it`s not a craft fair as such , i`ll need to find one of those especially selling all handmade items , but i`ve not come across one yet !

Also trying to get rid of a horrendous amount of other crafty bits , like card making , papers , stickers , embroidery threads , as i can`t store them anymore , so i`m hoping someone will take them and use them !
It`s a shame for them just to sit here not being used !





A felt notebook cover , and a marabou feather beaded brooch

Handcut tags

Beaded tassle

A felt flower brooch

A fabric covered box and another covered notebook . And if you`ve read my obssesion for notebooks , i won`t be too disappointed if i don`t sell these ! ;o)

Fabric - Beaded Tiara

This is a gorgeous "old" fabric - beaded tiara i found the other day.



I saw it in a charity shop window , along with other related wedding items . I didn`t buy it straight away , and wished i had done ! However when i called back on my lunch break , it was still there - and i had to get it !



I`ll be dismantling it , to use the fabric flowers in a project i `m doing , and the beaded part for a future Tiara , of which i`ve not done before . So i `m hoping it`ll turn out well !







A more of a side view of it .

I hope you like it Renee !
Maybe we can do a future tiara swap ?
What do you think ?

Magpie bird collage spread

Here`s my Magpie collage at last !



It`s been ready a couple of days now , but with doing other things , like yesterday getting goodies ready to sell at a local tabletop sale for next weekend , i thought i`d better get it on !


The tree is wet torn out of handmade paper , and the lace rosette has a button that looks like a cut piece of branch
















It just shows that they scavenge bits for a nest , like bright shiny objects .









I usually see these birds on my way to work , and count them ! And i did see in Australia loads in flocks , which were too many to count ! Those were more white than ours .


I`ve always been fascinated by these birds , and the variation of sayings of a rhyme that we have . This is the version i typed out and printed onto paper . It`s a bit like superstitions , like a black cat going across your path of walking , and going under a ladder , or breaking a mirror - 7 years bad luck !



I do have more to post , but at the moment i`m struggling with a migraine . I woke up with it and the painkillers are wearing off now ! So i apologise to my friend Renee on here , if i don`t email you today !

Obsession For Notebooks !

These are just a small selection of notebooks i have . I can`t resist buying brightly coloured ones , or anyone that takes my eye really !

The union jack one is from way back , ... infact 1979 ! My sister and i got one before we went on holiday , to write in it like a diary . i`ve torn the pages out at some point , and wished i hadn`t , but couldn`t bear to throw the book away !

The flower pad is a refillable one you can reuse .It`s made of plastic , and probably again from the late 1970`s again .

I thought this would do for the Artsymama challenge , on what did we collected as a child . Mine was various notebooks . I always used to have one with me ALWAYS .

I have way too many of them , and probably won`t use them all , i know , sometimes i think it`s a shame to use them , but that`s just me !

The only other thing i collected was Snoopy stuff , and i still do to this day !

New for Old....

Here`s my latest purchase ... a new mini sewing machine - yesterday !

My other old Singer one , doesn`t seem to want to work any more for me !

It`s a light weight , i can pick it up easily with one hand ! As i want to do more sewing projects , as i have aload of ideas i want to try out . Like an artwork piece on a canvas , which i hope to sell !

I am planning on an Etsy shop soon , i just have to organise and make some things for it . So i`m quite sure how long that will be.

Also a big "hello" to my new friend Renee ! Thanks for getting in touch , and i`m sure we`ll become good friends ;o)

I`m off to tryout my new buy !