Number 1 of 50 projects in 2010: bird house

I decorated this bird house to use as my "jar" for the the Jar of Whimsies swap on Craftster. I decorated it by hand, hunted high and low for tiny treasures to put in, packaged it up with love... only for it to get lost in the post somewhere between here and Pennsylvania *sobs*.
I'm so disappointed that my partner never received it, I found so many cool little bits and pieces in charity shops that I'm obviously never going to find again - things like vintage postcards that were written and sent decades ago, tiny little photo frames, a tiny ceramic bird, a little wooden owl... all lost and alone somewhere unknown in the postal system. Both packages for this swap got lost, so we're sending replacements. I'm sure I'll still be able to fill the replacement container I'm sending with lots of nice things, but it won't be quite the same and my heart's not completely in it any more. Oh well, such is life. I knew I was risking it not getting there when I posted it by surface mail, but because the house is made from thick wood it made the package unbelievably heavy so posting it by air mail (the more reliable option) would've at least doubled the postage making it cost over £20 to post!

Anyway, that's enough of that. Back to the craft.

I originally thought about painting the design on with acrylic paint, but my painting skills aren't that great yet so my design would've lacked the detail I wanted it to have. In the end I opted for good ol' coloured pencils. This meant I could put in the shading and details needed to stop the tree and grass looking like a brown squiggly mess and a monotone green blob.
It was pretty hard drawing on the wood as I couldn't get completely smooth lines because of the ridges of the wood grain. That wasn't a problem for the tree and grass, but it made it a lot more difficult to do the swallows, especially their tails.
I was really pleased with how this turned out as I've never done a project like it before. I'm really tempted to make another one for myself, it would look lovely hanging in the apple tree in the garden in autumn. I think next time I might try sanding the surface slightly before drawing to see if I can make my lines more smooth.

1 project down, 49 to go!

Next project: tree of life necklace.

50 craft projects in 2010

I've been inspired by other crafters on websites like Craftster to try and complete 50 projects this year. I know, it seems a little crazy starting nearly half way through the year, but I've got a nice long summer break coming up so I'll have plenty of free time for crafting. Plus I'm going to count projects I've already done this year, so it's not a whole new 50 projects from now on. I've only got 29 projects down so far but I'm sure it won't be difficult to come up with more amazing things I want to make.

I'm going to number the projects as I complete them (number 1 is the first project I finished, number 2 the second and so on), and the unfinished/not yet started projects further down the list will just be in a random order and each one will be moved further up the list and re-numbered once it's completed.

On to the list:

Completed projects:
1. Bird house
2. Tree of life pendant

In progress:
3. Daisy chain beaded bracelet
4. Crochet arm warmers

Still to come:
5. Beaded butterfly
6. Jane Austen bracelet
7. Wave bracelet
8. Sophia holdall
9. Beaded poppy
10. Altered jigsaw
11. Photo cube
12. Sock pig
13. Fused plastic sandwich wrap
14. Button necklace
15. Button earrings
16. Knitting needle roll
17. Salt scrub
18. Face mask
19. Bird embroideries to decorate my room
20. Curling ribbon coasters
21. Jewellery holder
22. Knitted Sackboy
23. Recipe book
24. Wool dryer balls
25. Temari
26. Pin cushion thread catcher
27. Decorated tissue box covers – one for home room and one for uni room
28. Turtle pincushion
29. Apron to wear while crafting

Watch this space for info and photos on the finished items!

I’d love to hear from other people who have set themselves the same or similar task this year, it would be great to see how people get on and the variety of things they create.

Oh my poor neglected blog.

I got out of the habit of posting, again. I keep thinking of things to post though, so I'm going to try my best to stick at it this time.

So, what have I been up to for the last month?















Digging for buried treasure and seeing what's out at sea on the beach at Westward Ho!, 10th April




















Visiting Jane Austen's House, 12th April







I also spent far too much time and money at the Big Bead Show at Sandown Park (but it's to make pretty things so I think I should be excused!) - my first project with my new goodies is underway, so more on this later when it's finished!

I went go-karting with Chris and family and was spectacularly terrible at it - I managed to spin off the track on my first lap! Chris and I saw Diversity from Britain's Got Talent that evening. They were pretty good, dancing isn't really my thing but they pulled off some pretty impressive moves.

Chris and I saw Derren Brown the week after. It was amazing, I would love to know how on Earth he comes up with his stuff because the amount of little details that only fall into place at the end are incredible. I know it's all just tricks, but I still cannot imagine how he does it all.

I finished off my Easter holiday with a trip to Longleat with Chris.






























































Holding a Royal Python (who's 18 years old but for some reason just didn't grow to the size she should've) and a tarantula - Chris was too scared to hold either of them but I jumped at the chance!










Now I'm back in Cornwall, procrastinating studying hard for exams. I've done one already, but have three more to go. After that though I am free until October, I can't wait!