Kelly

In my studio today…

Doesn’t that sound posh – “In my studio?” Maybe one day I’ll be lucky enough to really have a studio but for now lets just pretend!

Some cheery little doll’s faces for a custom order. Don’t they look comical without hair?

Some more colour experimentation with fabric painting. I went for soft hues with these. The blue one is on homespun.

I painted cotton lawn with soft pinks, yellows and reds for this soft and muted one.

I’m contemplating introducing hand dyed and painted fabrics, ribbons and threads to my Etsy shop.

Any thoughts?

Chocolate pudding recipe

by Kelly Leave a Comment

When the weather is biting cold you really need to tuck into a piping hot serving of this. Recipe here.

Chocolate pudding recipe

by Kelly Leave a Comment

It is so cold here at the moment I felt it would be almost criminal not to bake a nice hot pudding for dessert tonight.

My Grandmother gave me this recipe and it has been very well used.

1 cup self raising flour 1 teaspoon vanilla essence or extract

2 tablespoons cocoa 3/4 cup brown sugar

30 grams melted butter 1/4 cup cocoa (extra)

1/2 teaspoon of salt 1 & 3/4 cups of hot water

1/2 cup of milk

3/4 cup sugar

Sift flour, salt and cocoa. Add sugar. Stir in milk, vanilla and melted butter, mix or beat together until smooth. Spread into a casserole dish.

Sprinkle brown sugar and extra cocoa on top of mixture. Pour hot water on gently.

Bake at 180 degrees (C) for 45 – 55 minutes.

Serve with cream, icecream or both!

This one flew under my Superman radar for some reason (pun intended) and I never saw it. Now I wish I hadn’t! With our 10 year old son being into all things superhero we thought we’d give it a shot, and besides, it was free from the library.

Wow, was this movie a stinker! There was hardly a division between the geeky Clark Kent and the “supposed” superhero Superman, and as for “Nuclear Man”, he was a total non event.

As our son rather aptly stated after watching – “That was like one of my silly superhero stories from years ago”.

I’ll admit I got a chuckle out of the female character’s pencil skirts, puffy blouses and boofy hair.

So tell me, what’s your most pathetic movie ever?

Daughter’s first dyed silk

by Kelly 3 Comments

We used the Liquid Radiance colours again to dye this habutai silk scarf but a different technique this time. I wanted to make G’s first dyeing experience easy and not too messy!

We dampened the silk and randomly scrunched. We stuffed it into a jar and squirted in turquoise, pink and yellow. We left this in the jar for 2 days, agitating here and there. Then we hung it on the line (unfortunately it rained so some of the colour ran a little) and heat set once dry.

She is quite happy with it and hasn’t put it down yet!

Colour me happy!

by Kelly 3 Comments

I’ve been playing with my new colours from Genesis Creations (their customer service is excellent) and I must say they’re pretty cool. The Liquid Radiance colours perform like a dye but are not a dye and are completely non toxic. You don’t need all the chemicals as fixatives either, they’re heat fixed. I used some habutai silk scraps to experiment and the results are pretty impressive. The above piece was achieved with the assistance of epsom salts.

This one was streaked with 4 different colours, then scrunched to allow some bleeding.

And this one is 3 colours applied in spirals then sprinkled with raw sugar.
I have lots of other techniques to try, these colours are a lot of fun!

Happy weekend to you all 🙂

Face painting fun

by Kelly 1 Comment

Kids love face painting and a new face can provide hours of entertainment and imaginary games. I use Derivan face and body paint.

There are heaps of internet resources including video tutorials on Youtube that are really helpful.

G wanted to be a two faced baddy.

M always requests a rabbit face.

And of course the boy wants to be a scary freak. I think it worked!

My tip is to use a good quality non toxic face paint and to practice as often as the children let you.

Lotsa leggings!

by Kelly 3 Comments

I’ve made many pairs of leggings for my girls this winter and I think they would be quite happy to live in them permanently. They look great on their own, with a skirt or with a dress. And they keep those little legs toasty warm.

Did I mention that leggings are super easy to make? I’ve used the same Burda pattern over and over.

I bought this beautiful spotty soft cord from Craft Mamas to make pants for G (that’s a little pocket on the leg there, it’s hard to see). I was a little disappointed when she proclaimed that they are “horrible!”

Apparently this is because they’re not leggings!

Ah well, lucky she has two little sisters who can grow into them.

Another embroidery?!!!

by Kelly 7 Comments

I can’t seem to help myself, I’m now working on 5 separate embroideries and all I want to do is sit with my hoop and needle. This is my first attempt at ribbon embroidery and I think it is a gorgeous craft, so fine and dainty. I picked this Helen Dafter kit up from the Craft Fair. I’m only part way through but it’s already so pretty! For my next project I want to try dyeing my own silk ribbon.

In other news, we awoke after a particularly blustery evening to find out Hills Hoist had snapped and collapsed. I wasn’t too impressed when I realised how much new clotheslines cost (who would have thought some pieces of metal and plastic made and assembled in China would be so expensive?) but clever and thrifty husband has rigged up a temporary solution (kids, you don’t mind those lines tied to your trampoline do you?)

Little A has taken her first unassisted steps and is quickly mastering the step – step – step – stumble – fall – giggle. I love this age – so much is new and wonderful.

Giveaway winner

by Kelly 2 Comments

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

Congratulations  Karen! I know you will make good use of the gift voucher, being a fan of Euro patterns and CM fabric.

Thanks for entering everyone, better luck next time.