A new year, a new diet (why did I eat so much over Christmas?) and of course… a new melting project! I am rather taken with melting things in the oven to create something unique – and when I saw bags of plastic soldiers in Poundland there was only one place for them to end up! They melted easily and after a good coating of gold spray I was happy with the finished bowl. If you fancy giving this a go here are a few tips…
It’s rather sad, post-Christmas, to have left behind all the festive creations – but I found happiness as always in the form of driftwood! The candle holder pictured here was made by gluing driftwood pieces around a coffee jar (I never chuck them away now, they are so useful!), then adding broken pieces of china for decoration. It really does look great in the evening with the light flickering through. If you’re not close to a beach head over to EBay for some bargain bundles of driftwood for sale. And if you haven’t got any smashed china to hand this too can be purchased from Ebay (is there ANYTHING that can’t be bought on this site?!). In terms of glue – Hobbycraft’s PVA ‘Fabric Glue’ is way ahead of the rest.
Sewing isn’t my favourite occupation but I was glad I put in the time and effort with these wedge satin sandals. I thought they would benefit from a splash of colour, and after a trip to the bead shop in Kingston I found just the embellishments I was looking for. The crucial bit was sewing the second sandal well enough to match the spacing of the first – but I got there in the end. Roll on summer!
We have always been more Twitter people, but over the festive period we were determined to master the art of Facebook (one has to move with the times after all!). I am glad to say that Crafty Beggars TV is now up and very much running on Facebook so do check in with us there. We are under Crafty Beggars Presenters and our ‘Page’ is Crafty Beggars TV. Or just click on the FB logo on our homepage here! We put up lots of ‘makes’ and news on Facebook and enjoy sharing some amazing works of art that we find along the way!
This is our guinea pig who is a rescue from The Mayhew Animal Home in north London. We have had many guinea pigs from The Mayhew over the years and they are a fabulous charity if you are looking for a rescue pet. Barnaby was found in a park in a shoe box… someone took him to The Mayhew and they called me to see if I would like to give him a new home! He lives in the kitchen as guinea pigs are pack animals and shouldn’t, ideally, live on their own. In our kitchen however he gets lots of company and we always leave the TV on for him when we go out! To find out more about The Mayhew visit them at www.themayhew.org
Just before Christmas I had a wonderful evening at The Mayhew’s ‘Tinsel & Tails’ event (I read out a poem and drank lots of lovely fizz!). My animal loving pal – TV presenter Anneka Svenska – was also enjoying the evening! It was great to catch up with her and we are doing some filming together this winter/spring – promoting animals that need rescuing, and championing the cause for animals that don’t want to be eaten!