Made Marian: Oozing Crafty Goodness

I book marked these two little projects a while back with the intention of using up some of my pretty paper stash, but they both involved Mod Podge which I had never seen in craft shops here.   I asked in my local craft shop if they could recommend anything that might do the same job, they mentioned that one of their suppliers had it and they could order it for me.  Once I got my hands on it, I dug out the links for the paper projects and got to work.

Covered Jar Lids

Covered bulldog clips

I’m just back from a fantastic weekend break in Clare which completely changed the way I think about perfume, but before we get to that, I need to tell you about our shopping trip to Ennis.  Despite living about half an hour away from the town I had never actually been to Ennis before so I was more than pleasantly surprised to find a large town full of boutiques, restaurants and independently owned bookshops.  I brought home four new books, a vintage sewing book, a vintage diet book, a biography of John B. Keane and a novel by Joseph O’Connor all for €17.  I also stopped into Crazy Crafts and stocked up on pretty papers, a new stamper and ink pad and some ribbon.  We also manager to fit in lunch in The Town Hall which I would highly recommend.

Then it was onto Lisdoonvarna to stay at the Wild Honey Inn. At €45 for B&B per person it was fantastic value for money.  It was spotlessly clean, lovely and bright and very toasty.   We had dinner in the bar and lunch the next day, both were excellent and it’s clear that the chef and owner Aidan McGrath has taken great care to create an attractive menu using local produce cooked simply but beautifully.

So, to get back to the point of this post I have to tell you about the Burren Perfumery.  It’s a bit of a trek to get to it but it’s so worth it, as soon as you step out of the car you can get this gorgeous scent wafting through the air.  Inside the shop the staff will talk you through each of the perfumes and anything else you are interested in.  The perfumes are a million miles away from the commercial perfumes you buy in department stores, they smell like real things, for example fennel, mint, lavender, flowers and herbs.  Most of which comes from their own herb garden. The perfumes don’t contain any parabens or any other ingredients that might be bad for your skin.  My personal favourite is their botanicals range which consists of Spring, Summer and Autumn inspired scents, these are very reasobably priced at €35 for 100ml, I bought the Spring scent in keeping with the season that’s (almost) in it.  They also sell a range of handmade soaps, scented candles, creams and balms.  You can read all about it on their website but trust me, you wont be completely converted until you go there.

I made these cushion covers to try to cut down my stash of yarn.  There is loads of new yarn that I have “the want” for so to make room for it, I’m trying to use up some of what I have.  I bought some plain cream cheapo fabric from Hickeys for the back and I repurposed the zips and insides from the Primark cushions that were there.  Well, let me rephrase that, my Mother used the fabric and zips and my crochet fronts to make the cushions, all I did was crochet granny squares

Here are the results.

Here’s a picture of my new mug, ordered from here.  It looks lovely beside my Orla Kiely mug.

Also, here’s where the magic happens, as in, that’s the table beside where I sit on the couch.  Most of my day to day craft supplies are in those boxes. The lamp is from Ikea.

I have actually been crafting all week but the light is so bad in the evenings that there’s no hope of getting a decent photo until the weekend.

I know that some people are cynical about Valentines Day and my other half has the noble opinion that you should tell the person in your life you love them every day, not just once a year. I know he has a point but I love any excuse to add a few decorative touches to our living space.  And of course there are hundreds of ideas for Valentines day crafts.  I didn’t exactly out-do myself this year it has to be said but these little felt hearts were so simple that if I had the time, I would have made hundreds and dotted them all over the apartment.

I simply cut out a heart shape in pink felt, then cut out a smaller heart shape in pink gingham (I used my new pinking shears so I didn’t have to sew them) and fastened them together by sewing in a heart shaped button.  They are accompanied on my mini Valentines display by a Love Bug Winnie the Pooh and the cards we exchange on Sunday (that is if my other half isn’t too “noble”) will go here too.  By the way, my Love Bug beanie was a gift from my Mother in Law to be, not my other half

The cards we exchange on Sunday will be our eighth set of cards.  Here are the others that I have received…..all hand made I might add. Each one pretty much documents what I was interested in every February for the past seven years. From left to right; an anti-hallmark theme, Paul Smith, my first blog, Sex and the City, The West Wing, The Sopranos and last year the theme was craft.  Each one has the same general lay out and says “The Insert Interest here Valentines Card for Maz”.  I love this idea but I have been assured that the mould has been broken and that my eighth card will be different…..watch this space.

My between jobs, belated Christmas Holiday is at an end.  Tomorrow I start my new job which, thankfully is no longer in Shannon, Co. Clare.  It seems that it has been a nightmare this last week trying to get out there because of the state of the roads.  I’ve been on holiday or, unemployed, I suppose for 10 days and I have to confess that they have been 10 blissful days of lazing around the house watching TV and movies, reading books, catching up on blog reading and crafting.

Ugly Betty has been my TV of choice.

Embroidery has been my craft of choice.  I used a pattern from this book to make these embroidered cakes which I plan to use on birthday cards.

Christmas is well and truly over at this stage but here are a few photos from a Made Marian Christmas.

I made this mulled wine to take with us when going visiting on Christmas Eve, I used a screw top bottle of wine and poured the yummy Christmassy-ness back into the bottle. To spruce it up (pun intended) I made a new label for the bottle out of some Christmas Fabric and decorated the top of the bottle with a piece of our Christmas Tree and a some festive ribbon.

These are vintage baubles, from the Christmas Trees of my childhood.

The old and the new, the pink one is also vintage, however the one on the right is made by Waterford Crystal.

To infinity and beyond, Buzz Lightyear comes from this American ceramics company.  He was sent over last Christmas, along with Tweetie Bird and a Snowman Band as an engagement gift from a family friend.

Candles lighting up our “Bar”.

If you don’t have the time to make cards this Christmas (like me), a good way to get crafty but save time is to make your gift tags.  I picked up a mixed pack of festive card making supplies at the knitting and stitching show so I used those to make lots and lots of gift tags.  Here’s a small selection……..

I don’t often praise Supermarkets but these foam Christmas Tree shapes were a real find in my local Tesco.  I can’t remember how much I paid for them but it was about the €2 or €3 mark for 16.

So, here’s what I did with them……

And here’s what I used to do it……

A box of buttons

A hole punch and some Christmas ribbon

And a pack of glue dots

Here’s what you do…

Stick your button onto the glue dot and lift it off carefully to ensure that the dot is on the button.

Then attach the button to the card

Keep going till you like the look of your tree

Then punch a hole in the top

Put some nice ribbon through the hole

Ta da!

Browsing through The Guardian’s Life and Style section is one of my favourite things to do at the weekend, they always have great articles about fashion, food and crafts.  I logged on this morning and found exactly the inspiration I was looking for in these hand made Christmas cards.  I’m particularly fond of the one on the bottom row with the tree made completely out of buttons.  It’s a new spin on my usual trick of using the buttons as decorations.  I’ll definitely be trying this out today.

Update:

I tried out the button card…..

I started by drawing out a light guideline for the triangle and then sticking the buttons down within my guidelines.

Then I stamped on the greeting and drew on the star, easy peasy.  Here’s the finished product…