Market Time

After a great Eastbourne Market in Days Bay a last month, I’m very excited to tell you all that I’m off to the market again this weekend. 

This Saturday I’ll be at Paekākāriki’s wonderful market for the first time. It runs from 10-2 in St Peter's Village Hall. I hope to see you there.

Puzzle flowers

 Once upon a time (very recently) this rather nice puzzle was absentmindedly left half done in the sun. The predictable fading left its picture rather unsatisfactory, but the pieces themselves are still well made. I have rolls of magnetic tape stashed away and thought ‘fridge magnets’! 

I always have bits of my marbled paper floating about, and enjoy finding new uses for my quilled daisies. Put all that together, coat in polymer and get a little piece of art to brighten a fridge/magnetised wall. Or anything you use magnets for, I guess. I’ve made quite a few of them.

I've also got my hands on a currently unsatisfactory wooden puzzle, which is turning into some even cooler fridge magnets. They still need finishing, so no photos yet. They will all be viewable (and for sale) at the Eastbourne Market in Days Bay's Williams Park this Sunday. Come along, it should be a great day.

Daisies Galore

It has been days of daisies round here -  three days, to be precise. Every six months or so I notice my stock of quilled daisies getting low, and devote all of my craft time for a few days to mass daisy production. Here is what one hundred new made daisies looks like.

Next post I’ll show you some of the things I use them for.

Milly-Molly-Mandy Cake

Once again it is the time of year I get to get to play with icing. This year niece-the-elder got to choose the cake, and asked for a Milly-Molly-Mandy themed one. She was having a book party and dressing as her favourite character – you can guess who. She asked for stripes, a book, and a layer cake. I’m pleased I managed to incorporate all those elements.

The stripes I made using a baking paper technique I learnt from the handy internet. Thanks very much Natalie of Sweetness and Bite for such a clear tutorial, I was wondering just how on earth to do Milly-Molly-Mandy stripes and stumbling over her really clear and easy instructions was fantastic. Also getting to tell the kids making their cake required a protractor and compass made my day.

The cakes themselves are fruit. The base one is a gluten and egg free almond and lemon cake, the middle and top are raspberry, in part because I wanted the pink and white stripe effect to be inside as well as out. 

The next week was niece-the-younger’s birthday. I was a little tired of baking, so cheated – the cup cakes are store bought, but iced by me.

Paper Art Class

Marbling on recycled handmade paper, by last year's Paper Art Class

I’m teaching another children’s paper class this term through Days Bay Play.

Handemade marbled notebooks, made by me

This one is a basic introduction to marbling, recycled paper making and flower pressing, for children 5 and up. I’m really looking forward to seeing some new faces, and if anyone wants to come back from last year you are very welcome – we will be covering some of the same stuff, but there’s always room for a bit of fun experimentation, or more practice!

Pressed flower card on hand made recycled paper, by me.

The finished work should include handmade paper cards and bookmarks with pressed flowers, and handmade marbled notebooks. We tend to do a fair bit of origami too.

Origami is always fun

 If you’re looking for something a bit different/for slightly older kids, there are also sewing classes going on at Days Bay Play this term for 8-12 year olds – they look pretty fantastic. I’m also intending to do a paper class next term for older kids.

Dancing Dresses

I’ve been playing with Silhouettes this January. I came across this lovely glittery spiral paper in my stash, and immediately thought of Klimt. In a not entirely logical mental leap I then reached ‘silhouettes of dresses’. So I made some. 

They’re cards, because everyone could do with getting a pretty sparkly not-really-Klimt-like card once in a while. I’ve only photographed around half of them here, because the rest are still sitting on my table, all cut out and waiting for glue.