A Handmade Christmas.....

It's always a challenge buying presents for my family at Christmas because they are all so different and they never know what they want! So, this year I decided to put my thinking cap on and using the skills I have, make the presents. Here are my crafty ventures...

For my sister and brother in law...

I made a pair of birds from a pair of socks, a coat toggle and then I knitted legs and scarves! I also embroidered little hearts onto the wings to just add a final detail.

They're both keen gardeners so I bought some terracotta pots and some blackboard paint. I made a couple of stencils and then painted the shapes onto the pots and to finish off the present I bought some chalk and decorated the box. The idea is that you plant something and write its name on the front of the pot! Nifty!

Oh and a couple of lavender bags for my sisters drawers!

For my Granny...

I made a set of 3 heart shaped lavender bags for her drawers and wardrobe and tied them together with a piece of ribbon.

And for my Mum...

A red knitted scarf

And a handmade bag with edible goodies in it for when she's had a hard day at work.

I'm pretty chuffed with the finished products and I think they went down pretty well too!

Jen's Birthday...Christmas Eve Eve!

Well the festive season continues and today is Christmas Eve Eve only 2 days to go until the man in red comes and I don't mean the postman! Although I suppose technically santa does deliver! Anyway, it's Jen's Birthday in a couple of weeks and I wanted to do something for her birthday early on so I thought what's better than a mini party. The usual suspects were there, cocktail sausages, mini sandwiches, little slices of pizza, cheesy poofs and of course that childhood favourite...a cheese and pineapple hedgehog! These treats aside I've always wanted to make a novelty cake and seeing as Jen loves cats I saw this as a challenge...

I made two round chocolate cakes and cute them into a body shape and a head shape. Then with the leftover pieces I cut out four legs, a tail and a couple of ears and "glued" them into place with icing! Next, I used plain and chocolate buttercream to cover his body in stripes. Then it was time to decorate! I used milk and white chocolate buttons on the body and then for the face I used chocolate buttons for the eyes and I cut liquorice into thin slices for whiskers. Finally for the nose and the toes on the paws I cut malteasers into halves and stuck them on with a little bit of buttercream. And hey prendo the cat cake was finished. I have to say I'm pretty chuffed with the outcome not bad for my first novelty cake. Jen always goes above and beyond for people so this was my way (although small!) of saying thank you. Much love Jenbobs.

"Walking in a winter wonderland..."

I came out this morning to find these on my drive! They were so cute I had to take a photograph. That's one thing I love about snow is seeing which visitors have been in your garden especially the little foot prints that birds leave behind.

Summative Project...

Ahhhh...I breathe out a long sigh of relief. The first term is done and dusted and so is our last project before Christmas whoop whoop! For this brief we had to produce a piece which summarised what we had learnt during the first semester of Year 2. I didn't want to do another leaflet or booklet so I decided to design a set of little postcards with imagery on one side and text about what I'd learnt on the other. They would then be presented in a container with the title, "Project Survival." Here's the end result.....

Ginger Beard...

I'm not the best when it comes to computers. I'm the kind of person who will ask why the computer screen is black as someone leans over and presses the on button...ah. But this term at uni my skills have really improved and that's got a lot to do with my peers helping me along the way. I don't know how they put up with me to be honest! The cursing, puzzled looks or regular head in my hands when Photoshop decides to do what IT wants to do! My friend Gary is (putting it mildly) a SAINT. He puts up with my incessant questions, I guess he's like the paperclip on Microsoft word when I need help! And I wanted to do something to say thanks for all his support so for Christmas I made him his very own felt cube in his favourite colours and with his name appliqued on. For the past few months he's been growing a beard and moustache combo and unlike most guys where their facial hair starts growing back as soon as they put their razor down, it was a bit more of a challenge! So I made a little ginger moustache and goatee but stuck velcro onto the back so that he can stick them on or detach them from the cube for times when he has facial hair! Many thanks my dear!

Secret Santa...

I live in a house with 6 other art students all of whom are bonkers. But I couldn't have asked for a nicer bunch really they're awesome! We decided to do a secret santa this Christmas, you know the one where you put everyone's name in a hat and draw someone out who you buy a Christmas present for. However, as the name suggests it's a secret! I drew out my housemate Elly and I knew straight away what I was going to give her! I decided to make a sock elephant because yes true to her name she loves elephants. During the summer I did a knitting class and so I decided to put my skills to good use and make him a little accessory too...a little red scarf which finished off the toy nicely.....

My very own website...

As part of our course we had to design and write our own websites using the program Dreamweaver. When I was told this you can imagine my initial reaction was breaking out into a minor cold sweat and then the word HOW! But with some awesome tutition and a bit of magic 2 months later I've done it! I have made my own website and uploaded it to the internet! It's only the first version and I'm sure it will need a lot of editing but it's a start at least! Have a looky...

www.clairewoodillustration.co.uk