The Copper Topped Lavender Mob

I promised, last week, to share with you some Textile Art, made by yours truly. [grins]  – So,  Ladles and Jellyspoons,  may I introduce  …  The Copper Topped Lavender Mob.

Three enchanted mushrooms mounted on a piece of aged, half round, wood which was cut and sanded smooth for me by Mr.Cobs.

The wood was treated and sealed, and then finished in a way that I love – it has a soft sheen to it and it’s as smooth as a baby’s you know what!    It has a beautiful softness and warmth about it, and picks out the various shades of natures gift.

The mushrooms began life as part wire armature, with a selection of fabrics which go through a process of:  washing,  – dying,  – staining,  –  then a lot of sewing,  followed by colouring with a type of fabric paint,  and finally, finished with whatever I felt the mushrooms needed in order to bring them to life.  Everything is sewn by hand – even the gills (on the underside) are all hand pleated and stitched into place.   Likewise the frills on the mushroom stalks are sewn and stitched in place by hand.

It’s not a quick craft, but it’s certainly one I’ve fallen deeply in love with.

The end result from all the work and an abundance of patience,  is something magical, normally seen only in The Land of the Fae.

Although they look quite solid – they actually aren’t.  They do have a gentle stiffness to them – after all, I needed them to hold their shape and be the piece of artwork I wanted them to be.  But when you touch them, they have a ‘give’ or a slight ‘bounce’ – just like the regular mushrooms you buy from the supermarket or greengrocer have.

The green stuff clambering over the wooden base …  isn’t moss…  well no actually, it is, but it’s not real moss.  But the stones and stone chippings …. well they are real.  As are the trail of teeny tiny oak tree leaves.  Yes, they really are real.  How did you harvest oak leaves so small? [I hear you ask] ….  Well, what else would you expect from the Land of Fae?   Tiny fairies,   tiny trees,  teeny tiny oak leaves.  Naturally!

The ‘Copper Tops’ aren’t real copper (of course), the fabulous colour comes from them being blessed by the Sun.  These mushrooms grow in the woodland areas of The Land of Fae, and like nothing more than stretching their necks right up, in order to catch some of the sun rays, ~  from which they get their coppery sun tan! 

Oh, and of course … as artists of the world do …  the Copper Topped Lavender Mob are signed on the underside of the base ….

…. and the Union Jack nestled in the base is there to show they are UK mushrooms, produced in the United Kingdom by a UK artist!

These photographs don’t truly show the incredibleness of this little gang of three,  the pictures don’t share their magic;  nor their extraordinary twinkles which happen when the light catches various parts of them;  neither do the photos share the unbelievable glow they have!  I roped Mr.Cobs in to see if he could capture their amazing magical glow which my camera couldn’t….

photograph by Mr. Cobs

Mr.C took the Lavender Mob outside and perched them on the bird bath, hoping that the natural light would enable photos to show exactly how lovely they are.  Sadly it didn’t work.  It would seem that only the naked eye can see these majestic little creatures in all their glory.

I had the most amazing, enjoyable pleasure making these wondersome creations and they encouraged and motivated me to continue my journey with Textile Art.

But … the next magical makes are to be shared another time, for I’ve kept you here more than long enough.

The Copper Topped Lavender Mob have already gone to their forever home.  Daughter No.2 saw them and fell in love with them, so they now live with her, and her husband, and my magical grandson, Little Cobs.  And it’s the strangest thing.  but I feel bereft.  It’s kind of like having a child leave home.  I miss their presence. 

But … now it’s time to go.  

Hmmm ,,,  – hang on –  …  there’s something I’m forgetting  … [thinks] … oh crumbs!  It’s the JOKES….

These are the Jokes Folks!

What do you call a parade of rabbits hopping backwards?

A receding hare-line!

~~~ ❤ ~~~

What rhymes with Orange?

No it doesn’t.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

Why can’t you hear a pterodactyl dinosaur go to the toilet?

Because the ‘p’ is silent.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

I’ll be back with some more Textile Art in the next blog post – only next time it will be something a little different.  Thank you so much for coming and sharing a coffee moment with me.  Have a beautiful Monday, and a truly blessed week.  

Much love and and a bunch of squidges ~ 

 

 

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Broom Pole Bird Houses.

Stood in the kitchen, a few weeks ago, I saw a movement outside the kitchen window.  Mr.Cobs was out there and up to something.  Hmmm.  [thinks to self:]  I thought I just saw him . . .   or did I?  Was that a . . . ?  Did I see him just . . .?

When he came into the house I asked him:

“Did you, by any chance, just throw a long bit of wood into the bin?” 

“Yes” came the reply, “the broom pole (handle) has broken, so I was throwing it away.  Why?”  “

“Nooooooo!” I said (wide-eyed).  “Oh, please don’t throw it away.  Can you get it back out again?”. 

“Well yes, course I can,  but why?  What the heck do you want it for?”. 

“Well, …  I don’t actually know right at this moment ….  but I will know.  At some point.  There’s something inside my brain cell which is trying to send me a message.  I know I can use that broken broom pole.  Please save it for me?  In the shed perhaps?  Can you?  Pleeeease??“  (I said in my sweetest voice).

So, bless his beautiful heart, he went and rescued the broken broom pole (for folks outside the UK – we here in the United Kingdom tend to refer to the handle of a broom as a broom pole), and put it in his shed.  Last week I finally received the message from HQ (aka: my one remaining brain cell), and the message was ….  Make Bird Houses!

I showed Mr.C a drawing and gave him a rough measurement, with the instructions:  “They don’t have to be perfect, in fact not perfect would be perfect  – but can you just cut 3 bits off the broom pole to *this* size, and once they’re cut, if you can give them to me I’ll draw where I want them cut again so that it will make the slope for the roof. Thank Yooooou!”  [said in a singy songy way with a sweet, smiling face].  And, God bless his wonderful heart, he cut the wood bits for me, gave them to me and . . .  I could tell by the look on his face that he thought (not for the first time) that I was bonkers.

However …  he now loves what I did with those three bits of chopped up broom pole.

Let me share them with you, one by one…

Broom Pole Bird Houses.  Showing you the wood stained miniature bird house, with the Red Hot Pokers growing at the base.  This bird house measures just 8.8cm – or 3.5inches.  It’s just stopped raining – and you can see the puddles of rain on the stepping-stones at the base, and rain drops on the roof of the bird house.

Each bird house stands on a ‘slice’ of dried wood, which I then decorated to give it that ‘garden’ feel.

Broom Pole Bird Houses.  A side view of the little Blue stained Bird House.  This Bird House stands 9.8cm tall (or 3.85″ inches).  It has Ivy growing up around the pole which the Bird House stands on, and the Ivy then winds its way around the black tiled roof.

Each slice of wood, which the bird houses stand on, is of a slightly different size, so that there was nothing matching about any of them, other than they were tiny bird houses, a little wonky perhaps,  but all of them were stood in a charmed, magical garden,  … somewhere.

Broom Pole Bird Houses.  A slightly angled view of all three bird houses so that you can see some of the details of the ‘ground’ on which they stand.

As I look at each of the bird houses I try to decide which one is my favourite, and I’m finding it quite difficult.  Mr.Cobs, however, says his favourite is the wood stained one, with the Red Hot Pokers growing around the base.  Right at this moment, I think my favourite is the Copper Roofed bird house – simply because I love that copper roof.

Broom Pole Bird Houses.  The Copper Roof Bird House – stands 12.2cm tall.  (which is just  4.80″inches).   This bird house stands right at the edge of a small pond in which three golden coloured fish swim happily.

The Copper Roof Bird House has its own Box Tree in the shape of a ball, stood in a teeny tiny (but real) terracotta pot.  There’s a waterfall – which aerates the water for the fish, and a rock sited within the pond which is for any passing frog to sit on and spend a little time there.  The pond is surrounded by slate stones.

I REALLY enjoyed making these delight filled little Bird Houses.  They were so much fun and yet again …. they’re in my favourite size to work with …  LITTLE!  Hope you like them too!

So … that’s the crafty bit over and done with so now it’s time for coffee . . . 

…  and  …  time for me to make you smile:

These are the jokes folks:

❤

Surely every car is a people carrier?

❤

What’s the difference between a hippo and a Zippo?   One is really heavy, the other is a little lighter.

❤

When Clowns divorce – is there a custardy battle?

❤

I usually meet my daughter at 12:59,  because I like that one-to-one time.

❤

My cat is recovering from a massive stroke. (think about it for a moment …. the penny will drop!)

❤

I have a friend whose name is Fin.  Which means it’s very hard for her to end emails without sounding pretentious. 

❤

Smilin’  now?   😀

Well that’s me done and dusted.  But what about you?  What have you been getting up to this week?  Had a birthday?  Planning a trip?  Started Christmas shopping?  Crafted something?  Feeling poorly?  Cooked something new and exciting?  Or … has someone been really lovely and/or displayed some kind of kindness towards you?

Do share with me,  and tell me what’s going on in your corner of the world.

In the meantime …  I send you my love and very best wishes.  I hope that life is treating you kindly, and that you know that everyone here cares about you very much.  

Have a truly blessed rest of your day.  Much love from me  ~

 

The Wand of Dooom ~ by Little Cobs aged 7 (almost)

Little Cobs, my scrumptious Grandson (aged nearly 7 – as he’s fond of reminding me), has never, up till now, been that ‘into’ crafting.  It was such a heart-sore to me but it was something that every now and again I’d have a play around with, at the dining room table, to see if I could spark him up and get him going.  That was until last week when I asked him if he wanted to do a little painting or something …  he positively JUMPED at it!  So, acting upon his instructions I got various colours of paint, and bits of card, and he went off to his bedroom, (here in Cobweb Towers) coming back with an armful of Dinosaurs.  “Lets do Dinosaur footprints!”  he said excitedly.  So … we did.  We painted (with a cut sponge) the dinosaurs feet and made them ‘walk’ across the bits of card!

Not wanting to end this sudden change of craftiness, I said …. “Oooo, I know … let’s paint a proper painting.  On a canvas – just like an artist does!”  He was all for this … so another trip to the craft room, and I returned to the table with a small canvas – about 6″x 4″ (roughly) … and we painted birds – …. well, actually he painted different coloured splodged finger prints, and I said I would do some magic and turn them into anything he wanted – except dinosaurs (because we’d already done those) … birds was chosen – along with a special request from him of …  “A SLUG!” – which we named Cecil.  We left the painting to dry, I added some details to the back (name, date etc) and then sealed the acrylics lightly so that he could take it home and impress mummy and daddy.  (They were by the way (impressed).

So this week I thought I’d try to get him to do something else crafty …. and … we made his very own Wand!

 

 

I’ve seen wands on Pinterest made for children, using a hot glue gun.  Personally – I don’t think the making of anything using a Hot Glue Gun is child friendly.  But that’s just me and my over-protective Grammyness!.

Most of you know that Little Cobs has Cerebral Palsy – which,  along with other problems, can affect his hand/eye co-ordination a little, and sometimes he can be a bit shaky – hence the reason I wanted to get the main hot glue stuff out of the way.  BUT … I knew we would still have to use the glue gun for fixing adornments. 

He  chose three different coloured jewels, a red one, a blue one and a black one, all which had one side covered in aurora borealis and made the jewel flash all sorts of colours as you moved them.

I explained that Grammy would have to fix these jewels to the wand using some very special glue and a hot glue gun.  I told him that this was very dangerous stuff and only for grown ups to do – so although he could tell me where he wanted his jewels to be, I would have to glue them.

Bless his heart, he was so good about it.  He sat patiently, watching – and playing with all the jewels in the pots – (he even went and got his little matchbox digger/earth mover and made a building site on the table while waiting).

Then came the painting bit – and after that …. best of all ….  we added shine and glimmer, which gave it “the MAGIC!” (apparently) – at least that’s what Little Cobs said, and he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to magic. (apparently).  🙂

I gave him a little make up sponge and showed him how to gently add the glimmer and shine to the wand, in the places he wanted it to be.  He had an absolute ball of a time with it.  So much so that I had beautiful gold fingernails where he’d sponged me with it too.

 

The glimmer and shine (the MAGIC) comes from one of my favourite products in my craft room.  Pinflair Buff It.  Available HERE. (scroll down just a little to find where the Buff It products are listed).  I use the original Buff-it rather than the liquid Buff-it.  I’ve never tried the liquid so can’t comment on it.  As you can see in the above photo … the buff it will ‘go’ just about anywhere.  On the wood and on the glue, beads, jewels and on Grammys too!   Then after a gentle polish with a soft tissue, the wand was finished and ready to wave, with a swish and a flick!  (Harry Potter fans will ‘get’ that).

And that’s all there was to it!

I thought a great name for this wand would be:  The Three Eyed Dragon Wand (because the jewels look like three dragon eyes peeping out) …  but Little Cobs felt that he could come up with something far better … so while I went and washed my gold fingernails, young Cobs turned his Grandad into a Frog and when I got back into the living room Little Cobs proclaimed that this (waving his wand about with abandon) was  …  “THE WAND  OF  DOOOM!”  –  you have to say it in a deeper voice than normal and prolong that ‘Dooom’, so that it gives the listener a feeling of impending … dooom.  LOL.  When I said it as The Wand of Doom, I was corrected and made to say it several times until I got it right.

Some people are so bossy!  😀

We did actually make something else too ...  but I’ll leave that for another day.

Well ….  Happy Monday!  The start of another week.  Another one!  Coo, aren’t we lucky that we get given these weeks, and we don’t even ask for them or add them to our shopping lists!  We get them free too – which is my very most favourite price!

 Thank you so much for coming and having a coffee with me.  May today be a really great day for you.  Remember … you’re in charge of your mood, so pick a good one! 

Sending love and squidges,  from me, here in my corner, to you, there in yours ~

 

 

 

Live your Dreams ~ Mixed Media Tag Art

I don’t venture this far into Mixed Media normally but I needed to break away from the madness of Christmas Card Making (yes, it has begun).  There’s nothing like getting almost all your crafty stash out on your desk in order to choose bits and bobs to team together so you can make a bit of Mixed Art,  to stop you from becoming stir crazy when trying to produce many greetings cards which are all different, but on the same ‘theme’.

I began with a plain tag.  The tag itself is quite a large-sized plain Kraft tag, from a book of Tags made by Craftwork Cards – which I bought quite some time ago, and am just coming to the end of the book.

To begin with I applied Gesso all over the tag, followed by; crackle medium;  paint;  some gauze;  and once dry, I added a variety of doodads, trinkets, baubles, etc, in wood, metal, plastic and added a variety of sizes, shapes, and colours of pearls and glass beads.

I then used Brusho’s Crystal Powders  (which I’ve talked about before on the blog here so won’t bore you to death banging on about how brilliant they are) to add colour and give the tag added depth.

The ‘Live Your Dreams’ message looks like a printed bit of paper in the photos, but in fact it’s actually an acrylic cabochon,  which has a ‘diamond cut’ effect.  I managed to take a close up with the flash on and I think you can see it a little better here….

…. all those white diamond lines are the ‘cuts’ of the cabochon.

I know the finished tag looks like it would be really thick and very weighty,  .. but it’s actually not.  Take a look …

I don’t often wander into Mixed Media Art,  simply because I have no idea what to do with the art after it’s all finished!   Although I love to play and make it …  it doesn’t really ‘suit’ my wee cottage . . .  so I have no idea what I’m going to do with whatever I’ve made,  and …  there are only so many bits of stuff that I can pass onto family before they begin to groan at the words:  “I’ve made this thing … and I wondered  . . .”.

So …  I have another bit of artwork to add to the box labelled:  ‘Pop it in here for Now’.

 

Anyhoo  . . .  HAPPY MONDAY!  Thank you so much for coming for a visit.  🤗  Monday hugs to you. ….  and …  a joke: What do you call a tick that lives on the moon?  A lunatic.  Think about it …  think some more …  THERE Y’ GO!  (I heard the penny drop from here!!)

I hope you have a truly great start to your week.  May the rain (if you get any) be soft on your skin.  May the sun warm up your world in such a way that it makes your mood bright.  And may you find plenty of places to discover joy, love, kindness and gentle words.

Be nice to each other.  It makes the world a far happier place to live in.

 

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