Where's the sunshine?

After a couple of days of warm spring sunshine, I decided it was time to make something that's been rattling round in my brain for a while.  Mr Owls and I like to sit outside in the garden whenever the sun is shining, only returning indoors when it gets a bit chilly.  However, after replacing our clay chiminea (after a pet related incident with a lead and an excited dog) with a metal one, the temptation to stay out into the evening with a cosy fire warming our toes is pretty strong!

A bit of ambient lighting in the garden never goes amiss, and I love fairy lights, candles and all things bright to make the outside space seem warm and welcoming.  So - I made these.

They were really quick to make, too!  I got the artwork from a book I bought at an art materials sale at my college:  "Floral Patterns" from The Pepin Press (Agile Rabbit Editions) which has a CD-ROM so you can download the patterns to use on your own projects.

If you want to have a go, here's what you need for each one:

A clean glass jar (I used a coffee jar with the label soaked off - try to peel it off in one piece, to use as a template)

An A4 sheet of tracing paper (for the dahlia jar) or an A4 sheet of printable acetate (for the paisley jar)

Some heat-resistant double sided sticky tape

Scissors or a craft knife, ruler and cutting mat (to save ruining your work surface)

A small church candle or a tealight candle

An inkjet printer

Your chosen design (download one of your favourite photos, or use some free downloadable images - scrapbook sites have some lovely ones)

Measure your peeled-off label - mine was about 675mm long by 74mm high.   This is the size of your wrap-around image.  If you can't get the label off in one piece, don't worry, just wrap a piece of newspaper around your jar, mark the ends, top and bottom of where you want the paper to wrap, and make your template that way.

Get your chosen image on screen, and using software like GIMP or Photoshop, crop and resize your image to fit your label measurements.

Print your image.  I've found that while the acetate paper behaves itself beautifully, the tracing paper likes to curl up as it comes out of my printer, and the ink is still wet in places.  So, carefully take the printed tracing paper out of the printer and lay it flat somewhere to finish drying.

When your printed image is dry, lay it out on your cutting mat and trim it.  Nearly there now!

Place a strip of double-sided tape down one side of your clean, dry glass jar.  You might notice a faint seam in the glass from the manufacturing process - that's a good guideline to keep your tape vertical.  Peel off the backing from the tape, and position one edge of your printed image on the tape.  Now just wrap the tracing paper/acetate slowly around the jar, until the edges meet over the tape.  Press down with your finger.

That's it - you're done!  Put your candle in the jar, light it, stand back and admire your handiwork.  As you can see from the photos, the tracing paper gives a lovely soft glow when your candle is lit; the acetate is more like stained glass.  The jars do get very warm, so best keep them out of the way of small children.

I find it quite difficult to get tealights lit once they are inside their holders, so I make a little holder by cutting a length of firm but bendy wire (sorry, I have no idea about gauge or thickness, trial and error for me!), wrapping one end around a narrow jar or bottle - I used a can of body spray! - to make a circle for the tealight to sit on.  Put the wire inside your jar, and bend the end over the top of the jar so you don't inadvertently stab yourself with the sharp end.  Now you can lower your tealight or candle into the jar without burning yourself, and lift it out easily to replace it when it burns out.

You might have some old drinking glasses that have gone a bit frosty in the dishwasher - you could recycle them by using them for this project, rather than just throwing them away.

I'm also working on a way to cut empty wine bottles to use instead of coffee or jam jars - that's still a work in progress at the moment!

I'd love to see your pictures if you decide to have a go at this project - it's very satisfying, and they do look gorgeous lit up in the garden.

Here's one I made earlier ..........

..... and I liked it, so I made another!

I found a great tutorial here: http://www.lisas-craft-blog.com/2012/01/tutorial-wire-wrapped-birds-nest.html showing me what I needed to create these lovely 'eggs in a nest' pendants (I made another for myself afterwards!).  These were supposed to be 'practice' but I was so pleased with my initial efforts, I decided to put them on silver chains.  Mr Owls liked them so much, he suggested one for his mother, who will be celebrating her birthday next week.  He chose the one on the left for her, and I will be giving the grey pearl and silver one to my Mum for her birthday today.  Happy birthday, Mum!

It's been a while ....

... since I've posted anything here.  To be honest, I've been rather busy with college work, exams, etc., so anything creative has been put to one side for a while.  Plus the weather has been a bit dire, so any opportunities for taking photos to share with you have been limited, to say the least!

Anyway.  I have begun to have a go at some of those fascinating ideas that you see from time to time, and promise yourself you will try - as soon as you have time!  Once I've arranged them artfully and photographed them, I will show you what I've been doing lately.

To keep things ticking over, I have relisted this piece of photo art in my Folksy shop, LittleOwls.  This floral print always cheers me up, it's so bright and sunny.  I also have access to an A3 printer now, so I'm itching to see how this looks as a piece of wall art.  I'm sure Mr Owls would be happy to produce a suitable frame, once I've decided what style I'd like ..................

Solar Flares

Has anyone been lucky enough to see any Northern Lights yet?  It's been a bit cloudy in the evenings here, so any charged ion particles (I love Professor Brian Cox) have been hidden from view.

However, the solar activity has spread to my work-table!  I was asked to make some Sunburst Earrings for my sister-in-law after she saw the green and purple ones on Folksy.  She wanted red ones, and guess who didn't have enough red seed beads?  So.  Where could I find red seed beads before sis-in-law went home to Scotland?  My local pound shop came up trumps once again.  A multi-strand beaded bracelet had three strands of red seed beads mixed in with some larger plastic discs - saved!  Duly purchased, cut up and re-threaded.  I hope she likes them!

Sunshine Sunbursts

A beautiful sunny day in Little Owls land today - and I wanted to celebrate!  These earrings are based on a traditional mandala shape, which apparently is frequently used in Buddhist and Hindu religions.  They have spiritual significance in establishing a sacred space.

I've been asked to make a pair of these for my sister-in-law in red with silver fittings - I've sourced the beads from a local charity shop.  I wish I could buy time at the charity shop, too, though.  As soon as I get them finished I'll post a photo so you can see how they turned out.

Have a lovely day.

It's been a funny old day!

First thing today I was faffing.   Yep, just sitting here thinking about all the things I wanted to get done; well, I've done some of them!  Not all, I hasten to add, but some.  The college project has been started, my parcel has been posted, and I have taken pics of the two scarves that have been sitting on the dining room table, waiting for a dry day so I can get all arty-farty with them.  Ready for my close-up, Mr de Mille!

I can feel another of these coming on, so maybe the moss green chunky will have to wait a while ....... a satisfied Little Owl this evening.

Not enough hours .....

..... in a day to get through everything I want to do!  I sold my blue-trimmed traditional-style baby shawl yesterday, so there are only two left in my Folksy shop; a mint green trimmed and a pale yellow trim.  So it's off to the post office shortly with a parcel.

Thankfully the weather is lovely this morning; sunny, breezy and mild so the walk will be good.

I had planned to start a major college project today, so I guess that will have to be rescheduled - and I have been asked by a family member to make her a pair of beaded earrings, which I have yet to start. And I have two big skeins of gorgeous mossy green chunky wool that are calling to me - no idea what they want to be, but I'm dying to get started, whatever it is!  There are two crochet scarves waiting to be photographed and listed on Folksy, and I found a super-easy pattern on www.knittingpatterncentral.com for a long-sleeved shrug that would be perfect over a sleeveless tunic I have been planning to make from a vintage 1960s pattern ... and yesterday I found a large bag of multi-coloured glass pebbles that I have a few ideas for as well!

Note to self - stop faffing and get on with it!