Ursela didn't want to be a vampire, she didn't want to be or do anything but read her beloved books. But then she learned the most marvelous magical thing...well the most magical things if you are an immortal wallflower...Vampires dont need to sleep...EVER. Ursela could spend her immortal afterlife roaming bookshops and late night cafes, reading book after book and nibbling on the shoppers and coffee drinkers. She never missed the sun for she never saw it to begin with.
Ursela was sewn for my frien Marina's birthday on Tuesday. Harrison helped me to pick out the fabrics and vintage buttons to use, and he helped stuff Ursela with toy filling. I think she is one of my favourite dolls and I may have to make another similar in style as I love how her mouth turned out with a wide grin and little fangs. So if you love her too, drop me a comment and I will see what I can do to make another little vampire doll.
a little bit of inspirational crafting... or that's what I thought I was doing anyway. Tis a little decorative pumpkin/pincushion made from some orange fabric and a vintage doily. Oh and a little piece of a stick Harrison gave me. I wasn't sure I liked it at first, but I think its growing on me now. In fact I might have a go at making one or two more once I have been to the shop to get some more toy filling. I'm posting this photo today because today feels very much like a crisp autumn day and not so much late August, so what better to blog on an Autumnal feeling day than an Autumn inspired fabric pumpkin.
Things I recieved from Kirsty in the Bookish Craft swap
Appologies in advance for my stupendously bad photography, but H did help me and the past few weeks have been non stop! I recieved some lovely purple fabric (that might become a doll), a green and blacks espresso chocolate bar (which is now gone), a beautiful framed photograph of a page of Kirsty's favourite Poppy Z. Brite book (which I will hang up when I paint the bedroom...eventually), a teastained copy of a Scottish poem, red buttons, and two books!
I have flipped through it and found quotes from some of my favourite vampire movies and books so I'm sure it will make a facinating read.
things I sent Kirsty
A werewolfy book (Ivy Cole and the Moon by Gina Farago which looks to be collectable or something, as its showing up at a rediculous price on Amazon very odd) and a trashy witchy book by Cheynne McCray.... I made a bookmark with soem lillalotta book tape, black and red fabrics, a little needle book made from Cath Kidston fabric, a collage art doodle of a flapper girl on vintage book page, an onyx bracelet, and some fabric and buttons.
I really enjoyed this swap and can't wait to think up an idea or two for the next one...possibly a quirky film inspired swap as I was chatting on twitter the other day with the amazingly talented Monica of Happy Zombieabout the amazing films Amelie and Waitress and other such quirky flicks. We daydreamed of doing a swap with a little gnome to pass along in a chain along with crafty goodies and to post a photo/postcard back to the original gnome maker. Monica thought I should design and sew a little gnome... which sent me loopy as I'm not sure my crafting is anywhere remotely near her level but she is fantastically awesome so I may listen to her and give it a go. Two weeks till school starts again and I will be able to think and craft without a certain helpful little boy being HELPFUL. hmmm I'll keep thinking about it and do some doodles in my journal/notebook.
raindrops filled with words. Each Cloud a book, every storm a library
a little card I made for the Bookish craft swap, with vintage book paper and typed on the little typewriter. The words are just something that popped into my head. I will blog about the swap later (it was awesome), but right now I'm going to work on crafting something new as today H is at Holiday Club and I have the house to myself so I feel the need to create something.
email from A few weeks ago I recieved an email from CSN Promo Team enquiring if I would like to review one of their shops or do a giveaway on my blog for a voucher for anything from Ceiling Lights to Cookware. I looked at the CSN sites...mostly the cookware because more than anything else I like to potter about in the kitchen, and I emailed them back saying I would like to do a review and a giveaway for my readers.They sent me a voucher code and I toddled off to the cookware site to find something to make my little baker's heart happy. I looked through everything twice before ordering a KitchenCraft Cake Biscuit/Icing set. The website was easy enough to navigate and order from. My order was to be 5 working days to ship but it arrived in three. I tore into the parcel and oggled the new icing gun with glee.
I baked cupcakes and mixed a great vat of icing which I split into two portions adding fresh raspberries to one, and chocolate to the other. The icing gun took a bit of practice to get the icing looking nice but it was great fun to play with and I shall be baking some cookies with it in the near future. I may use the site again in the future (I quite fancy one of those creme brulee torches), as the service was good and they emailed you updates at each stage of your order being processed.
Now for the good part...
the promo team said I could giveaway a voucher for £30 for the CSN sites to one of my blog readers. I used the to order my icing gun set from by you can use the £30 voucher code at any CSN site.
Have a look at what they have to offer and leave me a comment of what you would spend the £30 on, leave me your email and I will have the voucher code emailed to you!
good luck... a name will be drawn at random on Monday the 23 of August.
I hope everyone is happily finishing off their bookish craft swap parcels and happily sending the off to their new homes. I will be sending mine off a little later...its finished I just need the chance to wrap it and run up to the post office without a lot of whinging from a certain 6 1/2 year old.
I started a flickr group for the swap so please pop your photos in the pool and leave a link to your blog there too!
I know a few of you are running late with the swap that's OK as long as your partner knows... summer is a busy time filled with obnoxious needy children taking up all that precious crafty time. I hope you all had fun with the swap and enjoy your goodies and books!
I'm working on things honest i have abandoned my blog and crafting, but this 6 week summer holiday with out a holiday is tough stuff, Matt is so busy working and H is busy being crabby and waking at stupid o' clock every damn morning. Today I have been busy tidying the house sugarsoaping the walls, touching up paint and arguing over the darkness of the shade of grey (something called Smoulder) that I want to paint a wall in our bedroom and Matt thinks is way too dark. But its my craft room and my choice unless he wants to give up the office to me. And I don't think that will happen anytime soon.
The doll above is named Iris, I'm working on her story and I won't put her in my shop till she has a story to go with her. She is made from a vintage embroidered linen tea towel that I found at a charity shop that was badly stained and torn but I managed to rescue some of the embroidery. I have enough tea towel fabric saved to make another doll or possibly two. I really like how Iris turned out I think she is a bit of a dreamer.
Right I best go make dinner, chicken enchiladas (left over from last night but the sauce always tastes better the next day) and settle down for the night and watch a bit more of V the mini series... the original one, we haven't seen the new one yet.
I will be posting a few recipes in the next day/week/whenever and having a giveaway too!
Beautiful (or as close to beautiful as I can get because I'm clumsy and a disaster when it comes to perfection) delicious vanilla cupcakes with raspberry cream cheese icing....
....and then I turned my back for 30 seconds to sort out something and that's when Starbuck the cat (named after the original Battlestar Galatica Starbuck, Scully's nickname on the X-files, and the coffee of course because well you should know why) heaved his lardy ass up on the counter and ate the icing off of two pretty pink cakes.
Tangy sweet fresh raspberry icing made with real raspberries, the few that H didn't pinch that is.
*sigh*
thank goodness Matt rescued the rest and we have a tray of scones that Frizbe brought over this afternoon too.
So a few days ago the floppy haired werewolf postie (he totally is a werewolf and is friends with the Carpet Flogging Vampire, its a lovely town I live in) posted this mystery parcel through the door. I opened up the first layer of of parcel paper to find the green ribbon wrapped present with 'blog me' , 'pass on the random act of kindness' and the lovely note in the above photo ' Meridian Ariel, keep on following your instincts and your passion. Loving your work, The Cupid Concept'.
Inside the parcel (which I carefully unwrapped and in no way whatsoever tore into like a wild thing, totally did not at all do that. Honest. *shifty look*) were dark chocolate covered coffee beans, mini sparklers, and a little match box absolutely stuffed with vintage buttons and beads.
I don't know who sent the parcel, where it was from, nobody who I have asked will admit that it is them but then again admitting you are the mystery gift giver takes away some of the fun. The concept seems to be ”follow your passions and share them”. A ‘random act of kindness’ sent to me because I'm following my passions. Is that what I am doing? with my blogging my crafting and baking? Stepping back from the everyday to follow my passion for the things I make and do?
My friend Claire of Things We Make was sent a mystery gift too. Though she swears she didn't send me mine. I think it's a very sweet concept and will be contacting the blog to see if I can share the random act of kindness and keep things going. We all need a bit of mystery and happiness in our lives.
'OOOh a monster giveaway! Love it! First off congratulations on 500 posts! And thank you for sharing all your creativeness with us. I have enjoyed following your blog.'
Congrats Jill !!! I will email you soon! -------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you everyone who left a comment on my blog for the giveaway and for all my posts. More giveaways soon I promise!
Oona cant believe her eye! And me either, I have been a little stunned all morning. Oona is one of my favourite creations so far and its nice to know that somebody else likes her too! You can read Oona's story on my blog if you scroll down a bit or visit her etsy listing. Oona comes with a story card typed on a vintage typewriter too if you want to buy her!
I would also like to say I'm abysmal at that whole screen capture/prnt Scrn thing and resizing it.
ALSO tonight I will be drawing a name for Millicient the Vampiress doll so please sign up for the giveaway while you can!
Amarantha is a tiny little library demon. Books unwanted and unloved have a way of finding themselves in her possession. Sad lonely little books thank have no library, no bedside cabinet, no shelf to call home. Books that weep their sorrows in tears of black ink.
Amarantha dresses in gowns of newspaper and lace, with shining buttons of onyx black and heart’s blood red. She drinks only their bitter ink tears and takes their sorrows away. Amarantha dreams only in black and white. Midnight black and lace white dreams and nightmares of words and stories and book upon book. Reading you will always find her reading and singing to her books.
She loves her books, her charges and hugs them and dusts them to keep them tidy and clean on the black painted shelves in her bespelled library. She will lend you her books, but the price is high, she will keep your soul on hold. And if you are cruel and steal her books and never bring them back, then all the shame on you my friend for you may find yourself a sorrowing book on a black painted shelf in the library of a tiny demoness.
She needs a home that loves books as much as she, and you may find that once she is there that you have books on your shelf that were never there before. And when you go out shopping books will hop in your cart, and you will never leave a bookshop without a sad little book or two. Flea markets, garage sales and boot sales will be the place where you cannot resist the call of the poor little books and their inky tears and cries. For once Amarantha the tiny demoness lives in your home you’re under her spell too.
Amarantha stands about 7 in tall. she is made from cotton, vintage buttons, vintage doily, and yarn. She was stained up with a mixture of coffee, vanilla and cinnamon. She is a primitive style doll and meant for grown up kids, as small children may work her buttons apart. Amarantha comes with pretty card with her story typed on it with a vintage typewriter. She will be wrapped in vintage dress pattern paper.
Thank you for having a look at Amarantha and reading her story. Please convo me with any questions you may have.
A few months ago Megan (Vintage Violet) of maximum RABBIT designs sent me a lovely parcel for my birthday, in the parcel was a little kit she had devised to make a button stamp. I kept the little kit in my desk waiting for the perfect project to use it on. Today I found that project in a plain little tea towel I bought from Ikea a few weeks back.
Vintage Violet make a button stamp kit
So after I finishes all my housework for the day I sat down to craft, putting together the stamps made from vintage spools and decorating them with some torn strips of vintage book pages. I love how the stamps turned out and they were really fun to stamp with. I have told Megan she needs to sell the kits in her etsy shop... you would buy them wouldn't you? So please put some button kits in your shop Megan!!!!
button tea towel
I stamped the tea towel with fabric inks, I only have red and espresso (OK its black but it sounds better as espresso doesn't it? I didn't name it that) coloured inks but I need to order more as I have a stack of tea towels to stamp through!
and a close up
p.s. don't forget to leave a comment on the doll giveaway post, I will draw a name on Friday!!!
A few posts back was my 500th blog post! I'm quite amazed that I have managed to keep up with blogging for 3 years, but to have done 500 posts.. wow... I know I'm not the most prolific blogger or crafter but blogging has become an important part of my life.
I never kept a diary, I tried, I got give several for birthdays but I never had the knack for the daily scribblings. I always carry a journal with me and write ideas, notes, and doodles but nothing like a diary. I don't vent very often on my blog because I like to think of it mostly as my happy place, that things are positive and creative here (I do have a drabble/writing blog that encompasses my darker thoughts).
I know I haven't got the largest reader base but I treasure the comments from those of you who do come to visit my blog and leave your thoughts with me. I know I have been a little obsessed with making these little monsters lately, it has made me feel so creative to make them and write funny little stories for them, so I hope you don't mind if I giveaway a little monster for my 500th blogpost giveaway, and a few others bits and bobs too.
Meet Milicent the Vampiress
I'm working on Milicent the vampiress story and will send a copy of her story to the winner. All you need to do is leave me a comment with your email address so I can contact you. The winner will be chosen by me with the help of Mr Random Number Generator next Friday the 23.
I will also choose a second winner from the last few doll posts on Friday to win one of my book page doodles and perhaps a bracelet from my jewellery stash.
Meet Dexter the imp.A small and lonely little creature, prone to mischief, bouts of melancholia, procrastination, and is addicted to bad sci-fi movies. Dexter will tell anyone that he used to be a well renowned actor appearing as one of the goblins in Labyrinth. I don’t believe a word of it, imps are notorious liars, and after all he is an imp and not a goblin.
When I said they used puppets in the Labyrinth he didn’t take to kindly to me and ran off in a huff. Later I found that all my bookmarks were removed from my books, the cutlery was in the wrong place in the cutlery drawer (I really hate that), and all the labels peeled off the cans. It probably wasn’t my wisest move calling him a liar to his face.
Dexter is wickedly good at procrastination and can be paid off in chocolate coins and Haribo sweets to leave you alone to get on with things... but if you let him he willshow you the best websites for losing time and video games to steal your day. He has a way of generating messes that make you forget about the job you were meant to be doing. He has a knack for finding the trashiest shows on TV that somehow magically seem to be on when you walk past the room and you just sit down for a minute, three hours later you are still sitting there. But like I said he is easily bribed, and quite easily distracted by shiny things.
Dexter is tolerably good at revenge as well, if he doesn’t getdistracted by cakes and TV, you can send him off to annoy those driven people that always get things done and never ever procrastinate. Is that a good thing? Probably not but everyone should procrastinate a bit. If you ever feel the need to sit down with a bowl of popcorn and watch a terrible movie on Syfy, then Dexter is your man...er imp, though the movie quotes can get on your nerves.
Over the last few days I have been attempting to narrow down the emails that seem to have magically clogged up my inbox. OK maybe not magically after all. Within the clutter of my inbox was an email from CSN Promo Team enquiring if I would like to review one of their shops or do a giveaway on my blog for a voucher for anything from Ceiling Lights to Cookware. I looked at the CSN sites...mostly the cookware because more than anything else I like to potter about in the kitchen, and I emailed them back saying I would like to do a review and a giveaway for my readers.
I think most of the time I get emails from Amazon telling me all about items on sale, books that I do NEED, shoes that I have never looked at, and the magic of the Kindle (Which I haven't the money to buy but would love to review a kindle for my blog if they sent me one to review *hint hint*). So thank you CSN for emailing me and giving me the opportunity to review some cookery items and your site and allowing me to give my readers a treat to.
So please keep commenting and check back for the giveaway... it wont be the only giveaway on my little blog in the next few days.
Coat the bottom of a large pan (one that has a lid) with a few tablespoons vegetable oil.
Add 1/2 cup popcorn kernels.
Cover pan.
Turn stovetop burner to medium or medium-high heat.
Let kernels cook, shaking occasionally to prevent burning.
When the popping slows to 3 to 5 seconds between pops, remove pan from burner.
Allow to cool a minute or two.
Pour popcorn into a bowl.
pinkish red popcorn
For the Vanilla Syrup
Mix milk and sugar in a sauce pan and on medium heat bring to a boil.
Careful not to let it burn and do not scrape the sides of the pan or the sugar will crystallize.
Add vanilla extract (or any other flavouring) and your choice of food colouring (we used blue and red as I got vetoed on the black food colouring *sulk* I have two bottles of the crap to use up) and mix well.
Place the popcorn in a large bowl then pour the hot liquid over it and coat as evenly as you can, you can put as much or as little syrup over the popcorn as you like.
Spread baking paper to dry. You can place the baking paper onto baking trays and place in a low oven (200°F or 100°Cfor 10-15 minutes to help dry out (harden) the popcorn.
vaguely teal-ish blue popcorn
cook’s notes: the recipe has been lurking in my big blue folder of random recipes that hides behind the bowls in the cupboard, I have no idea where I wrote it down from but my guess is that there will be hundreds of diffrent versions on the interwebs to play with. It was fun to make though I don’t think I used half the syrup that the recipe makes, so next time I think I will halve the amount of syrup and see how that goes. H picked the colours red and blue, though I was rather low on blue food colouring so it came out a rather nice shade of teal, and the red is more a very dark pink than a true red. It tasted lovely with the vanilla, and H and his little friend J thought it was great fun to help make, and more fun to eat of course.
today's post was brought to you by the letter P
P for popcorn
p for popcorn on my carped
and p for being p'd off at blogger messing about while I try to blog this.
Hmmm. I think I'd maybe treat myslef to a new pie dish, or just get a pretty cake stand!
congrats Claire... I will email you and CSN to send you the £30 voucher!