from tin can to penholder

pen holder

behold a little pen holder, my brain possibly may have ran away at the time of its creation the other day, but I think it's turned out rather nice and functional too. Its a small coffee tin (Waitrose espresso) covered with a vintage dictionary page that I sewed three fabric tear shapes onto, and stamped the words "...three tears like bitter jewels..." I'm not entirely sure why but that's what popped into my brain when I dragged my stamps out, so that is what I stamped. Its glued to the can with some multipurpose glue

pen, scissors, knitting needle,and random twig holder might be more appropriate name

Ahem..... anyway it works

10 books Meme

Name ten books that have stuck with you, and have helped to shape your world.Don't take too long to think about it , simply list the first Ten books that you can think of in ten minutes or less. Books you have read that will always stick with you. tag 10 friends if you wish to share the meme. This meme was on facebook but I thought I would share it here because it was an interesting exercise.

and here goes in no particular order


1. The Stand by Stephen King - my dad gave me this book to read when I was around 12 and it was fantastic, it is by far my favourite King novel, it is very complex with a wide assortment of characters, good vs. evil, plague, apocalypse, the end of civilization…

2. Where the Sidewalk Ends, and A Light in the Attic by Shell Silverstien- My dad got me these for two consecutive Christmas when I was a kid and I sat all day reading the poems and was thoroughly enchanted.

3. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder- my great aunt got me the set of books when I was too small to read them, they sat in my room for years until I was old enough to read them, and realized that they were the real stories of what happened to Laura and not just the tv show which I adored. I spent whole summers playing in the fields pretending I was Laura living on the prairie with just the dogs and cats as my companions.

4. A Thousand Words for Stranger- Julie E. Czerneda- the author is a biologist and as such creates a vivid world of aliens, star ships, and worlds beyond ours. I have read this at least 3 times and I fall in love with it every time I read it.

5. Illusion by Paula Volsky- it’s the French revolution with magic, I have read this twice and it broke my heart and mended it both times, the book is so vividly written that I fell into it and couldn't put it down. I think the book is at my parents’ house in a box somewhere I must dig it out next time we visit if I can remember to.

6. Merry Gentry and Anita Blake novels by Laurel K Hamilton- I’m lumping them together even though they are 2 series with at least 20 books between them. Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, whatever flavour you want to call them, I love the worlds Hamilton has created, especially that of the dark fairies.

7. Enslaved by Virginia Henley historical romance/time travel/destiny….in late high school and college I had a thing for reading historical romance.. And sci fi/fantasy romance.. There wasn’t so big a “Paranormal/Urban” romance section back then, Henley packs a heavy punch with some of the historical details in her novels. (I was such a history geek at the time.. though where all that knowledge has gone I'll never know)

8. Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen .. I didn’t read it in high school, I got lumbered with All Quite on the Western Front and Jane Eyre, both I loathed and skimmed through the cliffs notes to write papers and pass the tests for. Pride and Prejudice was on my list for years, I loved the BBC mini series but never got around to reading the book until a few years ago, and I loved it almost as much as the mini series and I probably never would have loved it in high school.

9. The princess bride by William Goldman ..what can I say but …My name is Inigo Montoya you killed my father prepare to die!

10. The Secret of the Unicorn Queen series by various authors.. Its a series written for tweens or young adults.. My parents bought them for me for my birthday and I was hooked read them over and over again, except for the last book I got mad at it because the girl choose to go home to boring Earth instead of staying in the world of magic and her own unicorn.. I wrote an alternative ending (my first fan fic I suppose) the book got stolen when I was sick and left it in my desk at school but I still have the rest of the series in a box at my parents house.

I'm not saying these books are classics or that they are the best books ever, but they are a part of me because I love them, and reading has helped to shape me into being the person that I am. No matter how scatterbrained that may be.

the 50's B Movie Swap (what I sent)

vampire kit needle book

My partner for the 50's B Movie Craft Swap was Juanita who is utterly fabulous and I was in a terrible tizzy over what to make her for the swap. I was full of ideas and inspiration, and the swap was my idea in the first place so I wanted to make something that was fantastic. OK maybe not fantastic but something that Juanita would be happy to own and not hide away in a dark corner with only a 5 legged spider, a dead fly, and a dustbunny for company.

inside the needle book

Ok I probably made up that last bit about the dustbunny. I doodled in my sketchbook, and decided to make a needle book with a vampire theme, I sat down and figured out what I wanted to do and then I made the needle book, its a bit wonky (mostly the stamped words are too far to the left to be perfect) but I loved the wonky black lines and the gingham drop of blood. I really wanted to keep it for myself, and I may just have to make another one for my etsy shop (do you think you might be interested in that dear readers?) The next thing I made was a painted page of a B-Movie Scream Queen, the illustration turned out better than I dreamed it would.

B- Movie Scream Queen

And because I'm a dunce I forgot to photograph the the third thing I sent, a little felt alien head pin that I stuck on a headband/alice band. That little alien was a complete bugger to get made as I had never really used felt before and it is rather small, but the hairband was simple to make, its really just a piece of ribbon sewn together with a hair tie. I may have to make another one or at least a little tutorial, but I'm all out of ribbon at the moment.

everything I sent Juanita
(I forgot to take pictures so snagged this from her blog)

I'll show you what Juanita sent me tomorrow as the pictures I took don't do it justice, but if you can't wait you can have a snoop on the flickr group for the swap.

Vintage Doily Warmbag

vintage doily warm bag

Today I made this and uploaded it to my etsy shop, I think that has got to be a first, I'm never that organized. I think it looks great, anyway and maybe if it sells I can buy a new note book or journal, because a girl can never have too many notebooks, or pens!

needlebook for Vintage Violet

needle book for Vintage Violet

I made this little needle book yesterday while H watched X-Men Evolution. I was really inspired to get this done as Megan was mooning over the fabric on her blog the other day. I left a comment on her blog saying I make her something with the fabric in exchange for some of her hoard of vintage buttons. She agreed to the swap even after my dire warnings of my wonky sewing abilities.

The button is a vintage red button from a previous order from Megan's haberdashery shop (go on you know you want to visit), so knew the button would be perfect for the needle book. I love the wonky lines of the black thread on the needle book, I think it looks fab, and I really like creating needle books, its been fun and is a small item to craft that leaves me inspired and not frustrated. I have a few ideas for a few more when I receive the fabulous Alice Wonderful fabric tape I ordered from Lilla lotta, and the cute fabric I ordered from Matatabi.


I wish I had ordered more from each shop but I promised M I would be careful with my ordering and not spend more than what I sell in my etsy shop. So in that case I will be adding a few more items to my etsy shop very soon!