by Carla Louise | May 28, 2013 | Adventures, At Home, carlalouise, Crafting, Work Happy |
Bluebell outside the award winning fish and chip shop in my village, on one of the few sunny evenings we’ve had.
Dad giving my shed a coat of creosote – it looks so much better now!
Because no trip anywhere is complete without a Ducking Fabulous duck, and a really cheesy grin from yours truly…
Living the self-employed dream with Annastasia, the other half of Ink Drops – tea in Hyde Park after a trade show in the morning and a meeting in Green Park, accompanied by cupcakes
Peeling leather off shoes is surprisingly enjoyable – these ones were finally knackered and unsuitable for continued wear (they did pretty well, they were a 21st birthday present from an ex). I’m now in the process of taking off the straps and reworking the heels with words cut from Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights trilogy. (a copy that would otherwise have been pulped, and was already beyond repair. This way, it continues to live…).
It would appear you really can take the girl out of the library, but not the library out of the girl…
by Carla Louise | May 28, 2013 | Photography |
Bluebell outside the award winning fish and chip shop in my village, on one of the few sunny evenings we’ve had.
Dad giving my shed a coat of creosote – it looks so much better now!
Because no trip anywhere is complete without a Ducking Fabulous duck, and a really cheesy grin from yours truly…
Living the self-employed dream with Annastasia, the other half of Ink Drops – tea in Hyde Park after a trade show in the morning and a meeting in Green Park, accompanied by cupcakes
Peeling leather off shoes is surprisingly enjoyable – these ones were finally knackered and unsuitable for continued wear (they did pretty well, they were a 21st birthday present from an ex). I’m now in the process of taking off the straps and reworking the heels with words cut from Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights trilogy. (a copy that would otherwise have been pulped, and was already beyond repair. This way, it continues to live…).
It would appear you really can take the girl out of the library, but not the library out of the girl…
by Carla Louise | Jan 15, 2013 | Creating, Food & Baking, Life Magic, Projects & Challenges |
January 6th saw the very first of our annual craft swaps (though I’m not sure we can wait a whole year for the next one) – organised by Mimi, the idea was that all nine of us would make enough of whatever we chose for each participant to go home with one. It ended up in January by accident, but we think we’ll keep it there as it’s so lovely to have something to look forward to after Christmas!
The edible things were long gone before I had a chance to photograph them, teehee – wonderful alcohol-infused vegan chocs from Annastasia at Midorigreen, and yummy chocolate fridge cake from Helen. The button magnets (genius!!) from Mimi also escaped my photo shoot as they’re adorning my filing cabinet/noticeboard in the studio!
My contribution? Kilner jars decoupaged with pin up ladies (Elvgren paintings, as he’s my favourite pin up artist) and filled with cutters, a tiny pot of ginger, my favourite gingerbread recipe and glitter. Of course 🙂
It was a wonderful afternoon, full of tea and giggles and happiness, and we all went home sparkling with the joy of friendship and sharing things we’d made… a rare achievement for a grey day in January, I don’t usually sparkle much straight after Christmas!
I loved seeing how everyone interpreted “make something” differently – we had no duplicates, and I was amazed all over again at the talent within this group of women I’m so proud to be part of!
I can’t for the life of me find the PDF of the gingerbread recipe – will put it up if I locate it!
by Carla Louise | Jul 22, 2012 | Creating |
Very quick post before I dash off to enjoy more of this sunshine while it lasts!
Yesterday I had a catching up sort of a day before Emily arrived and we went on a looooong bike ride to Wivenhoe. It was lovely… a little hairy in places (my cycling on the road is really not that hot!) but great fun, lovely to chat and good exercise too. (Hmm, bikes, cars, rollerskates… I’m clearly a wheels kind of a girl!) Here’s Emily, then me, posing with our empty glasses in the pub we found on the way (gigglesnort – I’m sure the other patrons thought we were nuts)
Me with Bluebell on the way home… there was a sunset, but apparently my camera didn’t like it:
Then today, I found myself in my studio with a huge box of beads and a pair of shoes I rarely wear. They now look like this and might well be my new favourites…
Today I have also discovered that Lush do makeup (squee!), my little camera has decided to work again (double squee!) and that I’m capable of empting my entire craft room to find one piece of fabric… oops!
Have a fabulous rest of the weekend! xx
by Carla Louise | Jul 22, 2012 | Creating |
Very quick post before I dash off to enjoy more of this sunshine while it lasts!
Yesterday I had a catching up sort of a day before Emily arrived and we went on a looooong bike ride to Wivenhoe. It was lovely… a little hairy in places (my cycling on the road is really not that hot!) but great fun, lovely to chat and good exercise too. (Hmm, bikes, cars, rollerskates… I’m clearly a wheels kind of a girl!) Here’s Emily, then me, posing with our empty glasses in the pub we found on the way (gigglesnort – I’m sure the other patrons thought we were nuts)
Me with Bluebell on the way home… there was a sunset, but apparently my camera didn’t like it:
Then today, I found myself in my studio with a huge box of beads and a pair of shoes I rarely wear. They now look like this and might well be my new favourites…
Today I have also discovered that Lush do makeup (squee!), my little camera has decided to work again (double squee!) and that I’m capable of empting my entire craft room to find one piece of fabric… oops!
Have a fabulous rest of the weekend! xx
by Carla Louise | Mar 4, 2012 | Creating |
Something I’ve been meaning to try for ages, but had somehow not got around to, these were the best of my first batch of bottlecap pendants – but there will be more,I really enjoyed making them. And have been looting bottlecaps to upcycle from all over the place.
Card and buttons or charms seem to work well, as long as there is sufficient medium to cover them – it does shrink as it dries, which I’d not anticipated. My current favourite (a silver tree on a sparkly green background) is most definitely a second quality-wise, but has taught me a lot for the next batch.
Printed photos, however, on normal paper, do not work. I tried to make one with a photograph of Rusty McLusty, and on inspecting it this morning, the colours have run quite drastically. I will be investigating and testing better paper/ink/printing methods – watch this space!
by Carla Louise | Dec 21, 2011 | Creating |
I made these back in March, but realised when I was trying to show a friend that they don’t feature on this blog – I think I posted them on my old Blogspot version.
They just sort of happened, on a coldish evening with nothing much to do, I decided I’d have a shot at making one of my favourite pairs of shoes wearable again (the heels were so scratched and dented I couldn’t wear them to work any more).
Two of the great loves of my life - shoes and books 🙂
Because they just happened, rather than being planned, I forgot to take a ‘before’ picture. But in the months I’ve been wearing them I’ve had such a good response that I’ve started prepping two more pairs for customising, and will be adding a shoe-customising workshop to my plans for 2012 😀
by Carla Louise | Oct 15, 2011 | Creating |
Or cocktail shoes as Apryl calls them!
These started off as work shoes. But I brought them home the other day and realised they are no longer smart enough for work…
(click for bigger pics – they’re still ok shoes, but they’re scuffed a lot on the heel)
I’ve seen several pairs of sparkly shoes recently, properly glittery ones, and I want some like you wouldn’t believe. But I also have a vast amount of shoes, and no money. So I nipped out and bought some fine glitter glue… and here is the result:
This photo doesn’t really pick up the immense sparkle, but I am SO PLEASED! It took three coats and three days (to make sure it dried properly between coats) and I’ll touch up and set with spray varnish tomorrow. And probably not wear them in the rain, hehe! For once a project worked exactly as I’d seen it in my head, with the silvery sparkle on the main part, and the aqua blue sparkle on the heels. I have many plans for my other tired shoes…
Bluebell outside the award winning fish and chip shop in my village, on one of the few sunny evenings we’ve had.
