decoration

In the 99pShop, in the garden section, I spotted some tin lizards all brightly painted in vibrant colours. I liked the size and shape of the decorative reptiles, but the colours were too bright for what I wanted. I thought it would be worth buying the cut and pressed tin lizards, they would be easy to repaint. I already had some pots of Hammerite paint and decided red would be a good colour for where I wanted to put them. First I lightly rubbed down the gecko with sandpaper, to give adhesion to the paint.

Over the last couple of days I've been getting familiar with my new sewing machine, especially the embroidery stitches, a novelty to me!

In our garden we have a Scots Pine tree, a few weeks ago I picked up all the large (15cm/6ins) pine cones that had dropped on the ground. Now I'm making the cones into Christmas decorations, very easy and very cheap. First of all, with my handy Dremel, I drilled a hole in the top of the cone, to pass wire through for hanging. Using ordinary household emulsion I painted the cone white. While the paint was still wet I sprinkled white glitter on the cone, just to give it that touch of sparkle. When the cones were dry I added ribbon bows to finnish them off.

For this Easter decoration I took the basic Scandinavian woven heart basket pattern and instead of using traditional red and white felt I used felt cleaning cloths, in pastel shades. I decorated the baskets with flowers, made from the same felt, and placed a piece of tissue inside to nestle small eggs in.

I love this Christmas decoration, felt skates, such a clever idea that looks simple to make. The use of a paperclip for the blade is inspired. If you want to make this decoration there is a very clear photographic tutorial at Not Quite Vintage 

These traditional woven heart baskets look very festive hanging on a tree either empty or filled with sweets. I have made mine in red and white felt but they can be constructed from paper. There is a choice of two templates to download, one is for 4 x 4 square heart and the other is for 3 x 3 square heart, you choose.  Down load the templates. Glue them on to card, cereal packet card or similar. When dried, carefully cut them out. Cut out the channels between the strips to 5 mm (1/4 inch) approx.

This fairy I designed is based on an old fashioned clothes peg and a pom pom. First paint your peg like the photos below. I used acrylic paints, indelible pens, metallic marker pen (for laces on the ballet pumps) and glitter. Allow the peg to dry. Now make a pom pom following the instructions here Follow the tutorial to the point were the two cardboard rings are covered with wool. Take your peg and insert it into the centre of the wool covered circle.

I found a really nice soft tree pattern on Little birds she has kindly made a pattern to download. For inspiration go here and see the variety and variation that can be achieved with this simple pattern. I had to add face and legs to some of mine!