Ooh, That's Sublime!

Jenny Hart’s website, Sublime Stitching is having a contest called the Combo Contest. The object is to combine three of her patterns in an interesting way and produce an embroidered piece.

I have always liked Jenny’s designs and have both of her books, but have not had an opportunity to use them. This was the perfect time! Now, my embroidered piece may not be the most innovative, but it will be the springboard for something much bigger.

I chose to use the patterns Country Cool, Pinups by Gil Elvgrin and the book Embroidered Effects. I chose a cowgirl, a sailor pinup and the feather girl from the book (which I have wanted to stitch for a long time). I put them together on a 20" by 20" square with the quote ‘Well-behaved women rarely make history’. Each woman represents an aspect of myself.

The sailor pinup represents my love of nature and water and that I have been working on the sea for almost 4 years.

The feather girl represents my showgirl side, the entertainment industry that I work in and love, and the extrovert in me.

Finally, the cowgirl represents my hardworking side and my confidence.

I have decided to use this piece as the central square of an embroidered quilt that I plan to make. I need to create 20 more 10” by 10” squares all around the theme ‘Feminist Statement’. I want it to show the women and words that have influenced me throughout my life… so keep an eye out for the squares as I make them!

Share the Handmade Love Wednesdays - Buttons

This week's Share the Handmade Love is about buttons. My button box now holds four generations of buttons. I have my Great Grandmother Parrish's buttons, my Nanny Donn's buttons, some of my mum's buttons and some of my own. I have a HUGE box full to overflowing! On that note here are some items made from buttons - enjoy!

Top to bottom, left to right:

Seaglass junk bracelet by Deezie

Blue Handmade Beaded Necklace by TheRetroRainbow

Ever After Button Bracelet by magpieandbutton

Circle Cell Ameoba Hand Embroidered Quilt Square Applique by KBKExtras

Upcycled Button Ring by jennifermagnesi

Secret Garden Button Necklace by SmallButtonBigHeart

PS... Salvaged Mutiny is now listed at the Home Based Jewelers Showcase here

When It Rains, It Pours and Sun Bleached Beauty Necklace

Nothing seems to be going right lately. As I have said previously, I’m currently not on my cruise ship as I came home for my Grandmother’s funeral. It all went very well, thank you for asking! However, I’m now stuck at home because of the volcanic ash cloud crisis. “But Joanne, the ash cloud has gone away!” I hear you all cry. Yes, I know, but at the beginning of the week my employer decided it would be safer to keep me at home for two more weeks to save me getting stuck somewhere. This decision and new flight bookings were all made before BA pushed the first flight through! Ah well, more time for crafting I say! And to top it all off, my other Grandmother is now in hospital with a suspected heart attack…. When it rains it pours apparently! To cheer me, and you, up here’s some new crafting…

When I picked up this piece of shell in St. Kitts, battered smooth by the power of the ocean, I knew it had to be made into a necklace. I wire wrapped the top with white coated wire, then chose beads that reflected it’s colouring. I chose a pallet that made me think of wood or bones bleached in the sun on a hot dry beach. I used frosted white glass beads found in New York and pale wooden beads from Miami Florida. I strung the whole thing on pale hemp to give it that washed ashore feel.

I think the neutral colours and simplicity of this piece will work well with many outfits. It is currently available for sale in my store here.

Deep Blue Sea Necklace and Happy Birthday Dad!

I got a little bit of time to myself this weekend, so I overhauled my site and added new items to my Etsy store. Leave a comment to let me know what you think of both!

See my website here

See my store here

And now for some new craftiness...
I found this chunk of shell in Aruba and it reminded me of a pelvis bone ;-) I liked the bleached quality of its colours, but also liked the negative space created by the central column. Rather than combining it with just pale beads I opted to use it as a base to showcase brighter colours… like the blue of the sea where I found it.

The shell is wire-wrapped with blue coated wire. It is accompanied by wooden beads from Miami, Florida and glass beads from New York and Germany. The harmonising sea grass coloured hemp and blue green beads bring the power of the ocean to this piece.

This necklace is currently available in my store here

And finally, it's my Dad's birthday today. So everyone say Happy Birthday to Mr. Donn!!

Share the Handmade Love Wednesdays - Mermaids

With my grandmother gone, my family and I are clearing out her house. I’ve found a lot of my own stuff there, and lots of bits and pieces that my grandmother kept, that she really didn’t need.

Each member of my family has picked out pieces that they want to keep for sentimental reasons and the rest we are selling, giving to charity or throwing away…. But some of the stuff that could be thrown away I have rescued to create with. Once we have finished I plan to sit down and make a necklace in tribute to my grandmother. I had this idea pop into my head soon after I arrived home and I have been finding the perfect materials to make it with all over my Nan’s house…. It’s almost as if she is finding them for me and leaving them in my path!

The necklace is going to have a mermaid come seaweed theme, so in preparation and for inspiration, I had a wander around Etsy to see who else had used this theme. Here are three of my favourites:

Sargasso Sea Choker by Skywatcher1121

This choker combines trinkets and fabric, and idea I have been toying with for my own designs.

The Mermaid Queen in Purple Charm Bracelet by Poetsummer

Yet more trinkets, I like the idea of lots of little bits on the necklace, just like Ariel’s collection.

Nautical Statement Necklace by Bionicunicorn

This piece uses several strands of varying length and construction to make up the necklace. Another idea I am toying with myself.

So keep your eyes peeled for my own creation, appearing here soon and go check out the stores of these creative peeps!

A Very Happy Unbirthday?

While being home for my Grandmother’s funeral, I’m also home for my birthday…. Which I almost forgot! It wasn’t until my nephew, who is two, ran into the kitchen this morning and sang happy birthday to me that I really remembered…. Ah well!

On the bright side, I got to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D while I’m here! I’ve heard mixed reviews about it but I loved it! I think Tim Burton might have read The Looking Glass Wars books as it really reminded me of them. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are fabulous as always and the costumes were AMAZING!! I’ve found a few images of my favourites to show you…

Costume Designs

Colleen Atwood, one of my favourite designers, often works with Tim Burton and I was very glad to hear that she worked on this film with her. Here are a few of her designs – The Red Queen, Alice and The White Queen

The Red Queen – Helena Bonham Carter

I was unsure how I felt about Carter playing the Red Queen, but she is excellent. Her costume is very much influenced by Queen Elizabeth I and is very intricate.

The Mad Hatter – Johnny Depp

This version of the Alice story was not quite what I expected. I think I was expecting the ‘usual’ story, just a bit darker, but I liked the direction Burton took. A lot of this is due to Depp’s Mad Hatter who is an integral part of the story and brings a lot of heart (no pun intended) to the table.

Alice – Mia Wasikowska

Alice’s costumes are probably the most exciting! They change so often because of her increasing and decreasing size that there were plenty to look at. My favourite however, was not her stereotypical blue outfit, but her red ‘Um’ dress worn in the Red Court. It is truly beautiful and if I had time I would probably try to find a way to make myself one!

My other favourite Alice costume is worn at the end of the movie and is hardly seen. I saw photos of it around Halloween as someone was trying to make it for themselves… however, is the movie you hardly see it! She wears a beautiful skirt made fro wide ric-rac that must have taken someone huge amounts of time to make…. But you never get to see it! It is hidden under her coat the whole time! I feel for this costumer and want to show the skirt here – it is gorgeous!

In conclusion – GO SEE THIS MOVIE!! You should try to see I in 3D as well, it was worth wearing the silly glasses.

Mary Jane Donn - My Grandmother

I am at home for about three weeks right now. On Saturday night I got an urgen text from my mother telling me to call home and when I did I discovered that my grandmother had passed away.

I am very close to all of my family. We all live very close together in the same town. For a short while my brother and myself even lived with my Nan and Granddad while my mum went to university to get her degree.

My Nan taught me many things. She taught me how to grow flowers and tend a garden. She gave me my love of animals and nature by taking me to every zoo and farm we could visit. She introduced me to peanut butter. She taught me how to look after my hair, which I always get comments on.

Along with my mother, she has always been an example of a strong woman who always did what she wanted. She raised a functional and happy family and had a loving husband.

Though I didn’t get to see her before she passed, I know she was proud of me and happy that I was doing what I loved.

To my Nan, Mary Jane Donn – your memory will live on.

Yuletide Greetings to One and All!!

Yuletide Greetings readers!

Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, a day where we give each other gifts to raise each others spirits in the dark as we look forward to the coming spring!

I thought I’d give you a little update on the Yuletide festivities going on around me right now…

This is the first time I have spent the holidays on the ship; it’s also the firsttime I have spent the holidays away from my family, ever, so this is a very new experience for me. I have heard all about what happens over the holidays on the ship, but never experienced it, and it is an experience!! We are almost at full capacity of guests for the Christmas cruise, which means we have over 2800 guests, 700 of which are children. It is a little hard to see families enjoying the holidays together when we are so far away from ours, but my cast is my family right now and we are having a good time.

I am spending most of my time making and adjusting costumes for the Christmas show we are going to have on Christmas day. We are also going out to villages in Roatan and giving presents to under privileged children tomorrow.

The most fun aspect of Christmas here, however, is Secret Santa! We are giving out five small presents from the 20^th to the 24^th, then we all get together and give one big gift to our Secret Santa person on Christmas day… so far I have been given fruit Tootsies rolls, strawberry Mentos and a Starbucks frappuccino – well done Secret Santa!!

More Christmasy things to follow!!

Have a Happy Holidays!

Bowiegirl1982

Yule Is Coming!!

I don’t think I’ve mentioned before, but I’m Pagan. So I don’t celebrate Christmas, I celebrate Yule. I do participate in the season with family and friends though, and event though every year I try to convince my Mum that she should

give me my presents on the 21^st December (which is when Yule falls), she doesn’t let me!

As it is said, Santa Claus is Pagan too! So here is my first Yule craft – stockings! I made one for me and one for my friend for on the ship. Now I just have to find stuff to go in them!

On a side note, I am thinking about moving this blog to my own website, when I can get it up and running... so if you read this, keep an eye out for the moved notice...

Bowiegirl1982

A Crafty Christmas!

As I said before, this Christmas everyone is getting a crafty gift. For my best friend’s mum and aunt I have made jewellery. These are my first pieces intended for other people so I was a little scared when I began. It was also the first time I had used crimp beads and beading wire.
I don’t have any clasps with me on the ship so I decided to use a large bead and make a loop from smaller beads to close it. I then used a beading board to arrange my pattern – very handy! I made the cream version first and liked it so much I made the blue version. I hope they like them as much as I do!!

Don’t worry, my family members are also getting crafty gifts – I’m making them photos books ;-)

Bowiegirl1982

A Family Affair

This year for Christmas I have been making people presents. My first completed project is a sampler for my best friend’s family. I have incorporated symbols and colours that remind me of them. They are from Texas and Mexican; I have used the Lone Star, red, white and blue for America and the State of Texas. I added a Mexican Day Of The Dead skull to represent their heritage and a Cross to show their faith which is very important to them. In the centre I have put a heart to symbolise their love for one another and for me – they have always made me feel very welcome.

I’m really proud of this piece, I really like the way it finally came out. I can’t wait to find out what they think of it!