Week 27 Creative Challenge : Itty Bitty Book Binding

Hello! Here's what I made last week for my  Weekly 2023 Creative Challenge.

As previously mentioned, I've become a wee bit obsessed with miniatures lately, so I've added to that new collection by creating some tiny books.

The one I like the best was this "The Secret Garden" book, which was bound using the same historic technique, called "Coptic Binding", that is used to make a regularly sized book, so it has separate pages that can be turned.

The Secret Garden was my favourite book as a child and I recently revisited it, by listening to the e-book. I still love it. It was first published in 1911 and has been rereleased with many different covers over the century plus of its existence, but I chose the one illustrated by Tasha Tudor, which was released in 1962.

That is somewhat beside the point, since the image of this book cover and the others I made, were degraded so much when shrunk down to an inch and a half, that they look blurry. The cover started out looking very crisp and clear on my monitor, but lost that due to what is known as "the problem of pixilation", when shrunk down so much. So, please don't think it's your eyes failing or my lack of camera focus when you look at these images! I tried a few different ways to make them print up more clearly on my home printer but failed. My mister, Nick, suggested I convert them to a different kind of file before printing, so I'll try that next time.

I used pages from an old paperback that I found by the curb, so the print size is out of scale, but it does the job. Next time, I might try scanning some print and shrinking it down, but I expect I'll run into the same issue with a degraded image due to shrinkage. (Haha, yes, George Costanza did just come to mind!)

Week 26 Creative Challenge : A Freshwater Pearl Bracelet and Matching Earrings

Hello and happy Sunday! Here's my Weekly 2023 Creative Challenge update.

I went through my jewellery-making things and picked out a strand of freshwater pearls, dyed in a rich colourway of indigo/purple/turquoise/gold, called "Peacock". I got these at Michael's a while ago, during one of their bead sales, so I'm not sure if they're still available, but I think these are relatively common. If you can't find these specific ones, though, no worries, the techniques for making bracelets and earrings in this post are the same, no matter what kind of beads you have. (I realize that the pearls look like they're plain black in these instruction photos, but the light wasn't right to capture their lovely colouring and lustre.)

Week 25 Creative Challenge : Miniature Cabinet Restoration

Hi! I hope you're doing well. Here's my weekly post about what I made last week for the Creative Challenge I'm doing for 2023.

I've mentioned recently that I love seeing what all the miniature enthusiasts are doing on Instagram. The little dioramas these talented creators set up are so very charming. I can't help but be inspired to try my hand at the world of tiny things. I began a couple of week ago by making a small Hudson's Bay Blanket.

And, this past week, I redid a plain wooden cabinet that I found in the children's crafting section of Dollarama. It came with 3 small pots of acrylic paint in primary colours and a little plastic paint brush, so, kids were meant to paint it.

Week 24 Creative Challenge : Two Crocheted Doilies

Hello, hello! I hope this post finds you well.

So, the 24th week of 2023 has just passed and I'm here to show you what I made for my Creative Challenge. This week I got my much-loved crochet hook moving and made a couple of doilies, following one new-to-me free pattern that I had bookmarked to try, and a variation of one I’d made before.

These are the 12th and 13th doilies I've made so far this year. I've previously mentioned that, although I've been crocheting since I was 7, I only made my first doily last year. That opened the doily-making flood gates and I'm hooked, pardon the pun. I find it fun and interesting to see the pattern develop as you work your rounds. For most of them, every round (or row) is different than the ones before, keeping you on your toes. Doily making is not really one of those things you can do while watching tv, but I find I can listen to an ebook, while I work.

I really like these two new ones.

Week 23 Creative Challenge : Making a Miniature Hudson’s Bay Blanket

Hello! Here's what I made for my Creative Challenge last week. I don't have a dollhouse but have really been enjoying the miniatures scene on Instagram. There are people who are very serious about collecting little tiny things!

What I do have is ceramic figurines, a Calico Critter and the fabric mouse seen in the photo below, (which was created by Sri Lankan artist Barbara Sansoni), who can all make use of a little blanket that's just their size. So, that's what I made.