crafts to indulge with!

In prep for an opportunity to teach some courses with a local craft school, I've whipped up some little treats to prove that you don't have to go to high street shops and spend lots of money to indulge yourself.

PLUS, I think these little things are just plain nicer and better than what you can buy at poshy high street shops.

For less then thirty quid you can buy all the stuff to make these delights... it may seem like a lot to spend, but a little goes a long way and the recipes I've worked out, make quite big batches!

Here i've whipped a few cupcake bathbombs (scented with lavender), some body butter massage melts made with cocoa butter and coconut oil, and some orange scented tea cup candles... a whip through town and a trip to a charity shop is all you need to make these beauties.

I shaped the body butter melts to look like chocolates... to tie the look of everything together.


Plus as a varation in preparation for Christmas, I've made a few more scented with orange, ginger, cranberry and other nice spices to make Christmas Pudding bath bombs... although perhaps its just a little too early to be consumed enough by the Christmas spirit to bathe in the scent of a cheeky little pudding.

beatlemania...

These days everywhere you turn around the Beatles are back... for a group that broke up many many years ago, they seem to be doing a lot of business in 2009!

I've been playing with my layered portraits a bit more, and decided to try layering paper on canvas... who better to be a test project than the fab four themselves?


This little gift idea was inspired by catching site of the Beatles Rock Band game in the window of a shop the other day... I figured it would be a fun challenge to see if I could preserve such inconic faces in paper craft!

Beatles portraits and other famous faces are for sale in my Dawanda shop!

don't forget furry friends!

Furry friends are worth of crafting too!

here is a portait based on a snapshot of what is definitely my most favourite dog in the world.


I did this portrait in heavy card, to give a stronger/bolder look than the lighter/feathery papers I usually use... seems like the possibilities are endless!

illustrator hater

With all the amazing tools and techniques now available in photo and illustration software packages, everyone can transform their photos into digital art within a few short clicks. In some ways these editing suites have opened up art and design in amazing new ways, but the luddite in me acknowledges that these programs now instantly and effortlessly perform artistic process which craftspeople have been doing for years and years.

There is something amazing about taking a process once done by the skill of a good eye and a steady hand, and turning into a effect which takes milliseconds, but there is also something kind of sad about it.

As such, I'm always trying to find ways to mix new fashioned and old fashioned art and craft techniques... which is what brought me to making fabric and paper portraits.

With facebook, flickr, and other sites which let you publish photos online, we all have access to the photos of our closest (and sometimes not so close) friends and family. I love all the ways that you can digital transform these photos, and then quickly print them - but I've been looking for a way to take the ditigized moments and turn them back into something which is textured and tactile.

Thus enter portraits like these;



After first editing images and printing them, I can then turn a posterised image into a set of layered fabrics or paper... the possibilities are really endless, depending on what materials they use - and its a beautiful way to preserve your favourite digtal images in a way which does not require access to a computer or the internet.

here are some of the gifts I have made for friends, family, and customers...