Baby Pepper

This is the end of the peppers for now, I promise, but I can't leave you without you seeing the little buck toothed baby pepper.

Now it will be safe to log in to my blog without danger of peppers... for a while.

Laughing Peppers

Now I've discovered the delightful faces hidden in the middle of peppers... I shall never again slice them from one side to the other, but always cut them in half to see if there is a face inside first!

These two were delighted and its virtually impossible to see them without smiling .

= )

Tiny Handbags

Let's start with the finished picture instead of the usual blurb...

These little bags are so cute, perfect for Barbie-type dolls or just for the fun of the making. I made them to put mini books in but had no use for them after that, so gave them away to small people (children not diminutive adults- although I wouldn't have discriminated if they had asked for one!!).

Here's the 'how to' and its really simple

Just get a piece of ribbon that is quite wide (about an inch/ 2cms) and cut off a bit that is 2 or 2 and a half times as big as you want the bag to be. 

If you cut it twice the size then, when you sew it up the sides, it will just be an open bag. If you cut it two and a half times then it will have a little flap to close over the opening (see the two types at the top of the page). Some ribbons fray so you might have to just turn the raw edges over and running stitch a little line across to keep them tidy or, if you are making the open bag, stitch the side and bottom (keeping the fold on one side rather than the bottom) and then your open top has a bound edge already.

If the bottom of the bag is the fold and you sew up both sides. The handle can either just been the left over cotton, a piece of wool or thread added to match or you can thread beads on and then sew it across like I did in the picture. They are quick, simple cute and sometimes quite useless fun!

Painting the Kitchen

Our kitchen has been in situ for at least the last 28 years. We have been in the house for just over the 20 years and the people before us put the kitchen in when they moved in so I'm adding them about 8 years (long enough to kill the hob and for the seal around the oven to die ready for us to move in).

So it was about time to freshen it up. from this...

and this...

to this...

and this...

a beautiful duck egg blue.

We were unlikely to ever mend the two broken drawers (and have stuffed the spaces underneath so full there's no room to put a drawer back now), so I have bought some fabric of the same sort of colour to make a little curtain to cover the hole.

The door knobs are the cheapest B&Q can supply but the overall effect is new and bright and it makes me happy!

Hooray for paint!
Have a lovely swirly pic of the paint as I was mixing it together before painting...

Cross Pepper

Here is a pepper that was not very happy to be cut in half!!

LSCC - The Reveal!

Look out for this man!

He will be on a stand today and tomorrow at the LSCC in London Excel with a variety of super hero puppet bodies that can be attached to your head so that you can instantly become : Judge Dredd, Wonder Woman, Hellboy, Elekra or Invincible!

Like this

They are rather like the little bodies Dick and Dom used to use when they did their show, using their own heads, puppet bodies and a black background to hide the rest of them... but Superheroes!

So the making of was yesterday, and here are the finished bodies for today...

There are sticks on the arms to make them more pose able but they are drawn out in the final piece.

This is just one of the many things going on at the tablet drawing stand with Paul Clarke/ Kercal so you can either check it out in person if you are in London, or check it out on his media sites.

https://twitter.com/Kercal?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/kercal

https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/

https://www.youtube.com/user/apaulio

LSCC secrets - what's coming?

Husband (Paul Clarke/ Kercal) will be at the LSCC this weekend with lots of his students from Guildford College and other really great people who always help him out at these events.

What's he doing this time I hear you ask?

Well, I'm not allowed to show the full and final results yet but I am allowed to show you some of the making stages. The final product will be there tomorrow for use and photo opportunity and I'll be posting the finished items here on Saturday.

So... superheroes of course!

The design sketches

 

 





So: Elektra, Invincible, Hellboy, Wonder Woman and Judge Dredd (the paper is slightly wrinkled as I used watercolour pencils).

Designs were simplified from photos on the internet so that they could be made in felt.


Interested?

Owl Post Valentine

My daughter's boyfriend is a Harry Potter fan so she bought him various bits of Potter and Ravenclaw merchandise for Valentine's Day and then did the most wonderful thing with them.

She wrapped them in brown paper and tied them up with string, then fixed cardboard-backed owls to the parcels!!!

We pinned them to some fabric so you could see the effect...
It's like Owl Post being delivered at Hogworts! Genius!

I wish I'd thought of it... mind you it would have to be skulls delivered by flying Marmite jars to be relevant to my Valentine!

Marmite Valentine

Husband took advantage of our joint love of Marmite products and the offer the company had of Valentine's messaging and gave me these...

Like initials carved in a tree... but more environmentally friendly and much more tasty.

Just in case you are a fellow Marmite addict, other Marmite exploits on this blog include

http://socklet-world.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/marmite-daisy-chain.html

http://socklet-world.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/marmarati-gathering.html

http://socklet-world.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/marmite-cake.html

http://socklet-world.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/marmite-wedding-ebony-and-ivory.html

http://socklet-world.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/marmite-and-jack-sparrow.html

http://socklet-world.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/mexican-day-of-deadin-marmite.html

http://socklet-world.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/more-marmite-morsels_16.html

I'm perfectly sane... honestly. I can't even eat the stuff any more but it is my muse = )

Eating Frogs

No not real ones... let me put your mind at rest over that before we even start.

If you were around for yesterday's post, you'll have seen the pics of the frogs I have made over the years for my husband, and I said that today that I'd show you what I did with them for Valentines Day.

If you upload photos to https://boomf.com/ they put them onto marshmallows for you! And before you ask... no I'm not sponsored by them (or anyone else for that matter) I just loved the idea.

I don't know what they are usually packaged in but, as it was Valentine's Day, these ones were in the obligatory red.

And labelled with the appropriate care message.

Beautifully boxed and including a matching picture so that, even when you have eaten them, you remember... or thriftily make it into a Valentine's  card like I did.

They provide messages you can choose from if you don't want all pictures, and they are for all occasions and none.

Of course it does cost money but then most things do. It is free to go and browse on the page though  = )

A Gallery of Frogs

My husband loves the frogs I make him, mostly because he can fill their mouths with styluses (styli???) when he goes to do events and shows.

So here are a collection of the ones I have made him to date... and following posts will show you what I did with them.

Made from a very weird leather skirt I bought in a charity shop.

Made from weird crocodile print fabric over printed with snakeskin texture that I bought from a charity shop.

Made from a very stretchy second-hand top.

Made from some pale green linen fabric from goodness-knows-where.

Made from cheap felt pack, bought in a branch of the Works on holiday to fill a felt-making fetish and celebrate 21 years of marriage (flippin heck!!).

Did you see the adverts on TV for Boomf products over the weeks leading up to Valentines Day? If you did then you may be ahead of the game in guessing my next post!

Valentine Spud

To everyone out there who loves people or potatoes, I give you,,,

The Valentine Spud!

Happy Valentine's Day.

And if you like vegetable posts, try 
http://socklet-world.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/gangland-carrot-and-master-brocolli.html

Evil Spud!

Have you ever looked in a bag of potatoes and found an evil spud?

Well here is the one I found in mine...

I'm sure it's up to no good.

To begin with, it looked so much like the book cover of A Clockwork Orange that I nearly made it a bowler hat before I photographed it, but then the blackness spread into more of a mask.

More Star Wars at Legoland

Here are the rest of the pics of Star Wars in Lego

A little Luke goes up and down inside the AT AT on Hoth's ice planet.

Ewok village...rather fancied going there.

The furry creatures look a little odd when smoothed by Lego, but they have not yet made a furry brick!

And there you go... a quick tour of the Star Wars exhibition in Legoland. There are, of course, models from the middle (later/ earlier/ first/ second) three films but I didn't take pics of them as they are not my intergalactic bag.

Star Wars Lego at Legoland

It's been a while since we had a bit of Lego so let's combine it with the ever-present Star Wars and indulge ourselves.

You will be able to deduce my age and loyalties from the fact that the photos I chose to take only cover the original three films.

These are full sized models in Lego.

 It can take quite a while for conditions to be right for the perfect photo as so many people want to be photographed with them or photograph a friend or family member with them.

I love the Millenium Falcon... well I would, wouldn't I? Its the Star Wars version of the Tardis!

Some are full size figure models and others are smaller spaceships or landscapes  like this one of Tatooine.

The Cantina lights up and plays the tune we all love.

There will be more! Yay!