Kelly Casanova Weaving Lessons

Kelly

Woven poncho finished

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So, the poncho is finished! The hand dyed combined with baby pink yarn worked perfectly.

The yarn is all 8ply, which gives a lovely, light, yet warm feel to the garment.

At this point my little model decided that Mum had really taken enough photographs already.

We escalated into silliness.

And you know you’re pretty much done when it gets to this point!

Anyway, I’m super happy with how the poncho came out, it was a big experiment for me as I made the design from scratch. Now the question is whether to make more for the Etsy shop, what do you think?

Weaving WIP

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The cooler weather and wet, gloomy days are doing wonders for my weaving enthusiasm! The loom just looks so bare when it’s undressed, so I’m getting organised with two new projects I’ve had in mind for ages.


First up is a little draped poncho thing for my youngest daughter. I’m not exactly sure how this will pan out yet, but I’ve dyed some brighter than intended wool yarn for the warp and am going to tone it down with some “baby pink” for the weft. 

I’m just a wee bit excited about these new projects and hope that if they turn out well I can do some for my lately neglected Etsy shop as well. Stay tuned!

Super Marshmallow Banana Apple Fluff cake!

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My 9 year old daughter decided it was high time for her to write a new cake recipe. She has made her Apple choc cake so many times and wanted something a bit different. This is what she came up with – the Super Marshmallow Banana Apple Fluff Cake!

1 cup SR flour
120 grams butter, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup whole milk
2 eggs, whisked
2 tablespoons rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons desiccated coconut
1 tablespoon honey
1 banana, mashed
1 apple, chopped into smallish pieces
5 marshmallows, chopped in half
slivered almonds for topping

Preheat oven to 170 (C). Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add milk and eggs and whisk in. Combine melted butter and honey, whisk in. Add the mashed banana, apple and marshmallows and stir with a wooden spoon. Pour the cake batter into a lined and greased cake tin, scatter slivered almonds over the top. Bake for 40 – 50 minutes, checking the centre with a skewer for doneness.

Please let us know if you try this recipe, my daughter loves to receive feedback. Also, please post your questions and let us know if we’ve missed anything important!

Break the rules photography

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Photography is so much more artistic than I ever knew before. Once you have a reasonable amount of the technical knowledge, the rest is up to you. This is what I really love about photography – the artistic freedom coupled with technical skill. It’s so exciting and challenging!


What I wasn’t prepared for when delving into the art of photography is all the so called “rules” one must follow in order to achieve “good” photos. The rule of the thirds, posing rules, lighting rules. I have found something much more useful than rules. Experience. Passion. Experiments. 
Some will look at one of my landscapes and say “but you haven’t used the rule of thirds” or “your horizon line isn’t precise” and “it’s over/under exposed”. 

When I look at a photo I’m led by the feeling it gives me. Do I love the image? Was capturing the image a positive experience? Was it fun?
If I can say a definite YES to these questions, then my motto is:

Go ahead and break the rules!

Are they doing enough?

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It’s usually on days when I’m feeling discouraged that I get that panicky feeling about the children and their education. Are they learning? Are they doing enough? Am I doing enough with them? I know that they’re happy at home and that homeschooling is a perfect fit for us, but I do find myself gripped with doubt at times.


This morning I was feeling a bit this way. I decided to write a list for each child and write down what they did within a certain time frame. I started around 9am and finished around 1pm.


5 year old daughter:
*Spelling and writing
* Helped to make bread, figured out weighing flour on her own for the first time.
* Read books.
*Kinetic sand (hours later, she is still playing with it, making all sorts of “treats” for her “shop” and other imaginative games.

7 year old daughter:
* Online maths program, learning money.
* Worked on editing her latest stop motion on the computer.
* Read books on her own.
*Played with kinetic sand with her sister.

9 year old daughter:
*Worked on a puzzle of the world with her brother.
* Free drawing and colouring in.
* Animal feeding.
* Reading on her own.
*Online maths program – graphs and area measurement.
* Knitting practice.
*Joining in the kinetic sand game.

14 year old son:
*Working on a puzzle of the world with his sister.
* Helping his sisters with maths and other study tasks.
* Spanish program.
*Online maths program – decimals
* Film and media studies.
* Bible study.

In addition to these lists are all the other tasks that they do every day like meal preparation, cleaning their rooms and keeping the house tidy, prayer, outdoor play and exercise and so many other things that are a regular part of daily life for us.

Hmm, I think they’re doing pretty well! Maybe next time you’re feeling inadequate, you could try writing down what the children are doing and you will realise that it’s more than enough!

Simple photography backdrop

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Our garden is a great location for photography portraits, but, having just arrived at Autumn, it’s a little dry and not looking it’s best. Being a natural light photographer, I wanted to head outside but I was also wanting something a little different for a portrait session with my littlest sweetie pie and her fluffy friend.
I grabbed my favourite bed sheet, pegged it on the clothes line and we were in business! If it’s a breezy day you will have the challenge of the sheet moving (which you can see in the right corner here) in which case you could possibly weight it down with something at the bottom. I kind of like the feeling that the blowing sheet gives to this photo though.


Next, your editing program can be used to achieve a variety of looks still using the same backdrop and different poses.


A plain sheet would also work well if you were looking for a plain backdrop with natural light, but I think the pretty floral one suits my little sweetie just fine, don’t you?

African Red Butterfly

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I love the feeling of finishing a long term project – something challenging that has required a lot of time and care. I bought this Red African Butterfly kit from Trish Burr last year but other projects took over.

I made the commitment to finish and completed it last night. Phew! The technique used is thread painting and involved one piece embroidery floss at a time with a very fine needle. 
I’m pretty pleased with how it came out, though I can obviously use a lot more practice with thread painting as it’s far from perfect.

Now, what to do with it? I’d like to put it in a nice frame, I spent too long working on it to put it to practical use. 

Have you seen Trish Burr’s designs? There are a lot of beautiful pieces to choose from and the instructions are detailed. I would love to do more of her designs in the future.

Everyday Life Photo Challenge

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I’ve entered the I Heart Faces photo challenge for the first time. The theme is “Everyday Life”. Our every day life involves a lot of reading and this scene of a child lying on the floor, engrossed in a book is a very common one. If you’re interested in entering the challenge or just viewing all the wonderful entries, follow this link.

The Red Riding Hood project

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I’ve had this project in mind for a while now. I got the cape made (if you want to make your own, I found the instructions here very helpful. For free hand drawing the hood, I used one of my daughter’s hoodies and roughly traced the outline. Make it big!) got the rest of the costume together, then just had to wait for a suitable day to travel to the location.

The weather conditions weren’t the best but I managed to get a lot of shots I could use.


My little model was a trooper but did wear out fairly quickly (actually she just wanted to play and explore the forest, fair enough I guess!)

At least one of these photos will be used in the final 6 that I need for a portfolio building assignment. 
I feel that I’ve found my photography niche, now I just need to keep building my skills and hopefully getting some exposure (pun not intended!)

In case you’re wondering what my next creative photography project might be, don’t worry, I’ve been planning it for weeks and will start on the costume very soon šŸ™‚