there's a crab leg somewhere . .

have finished my last piece of drfit wood art, no more fish and hearts.  instead I am back to sewing cards, bags and bunting for wednesday village green craft fayres.

Have recently been asked how to put these together. . . . . well it really is quite simple. 

Firstly cut out your shape onto MDF board.  Drill two holes( or just the one)  in the back for hanging later.

Then cut a peice of fabric that will cover the back ( the last job).  I like to use denim.

Collect as many shells, drift wood etc as you can.  Sea glass is really lovely to use but difficult to find big pieces. Also with the shells try to collect various sizes as you quite often need a tiny one to cover up the mdf board.  

Next I leave the shells etc in bleach and water for about 24 hours.  This gets rid of any unwanted bacteriea that is probably lurking. 

Then put your pattern together.  Start one layer at a time and glue with a strong glue.  I use a PVA as I like the white effect that happens if you use too much.  Also I tend to have the shells on top of each other ( see fish ) as this can look like scales. 

After the first layer has dried add another and after that as many layers as you like. 

When finished you can either cover the whole fish / heart / beach hut etc in a varnish or leave natural.  I like both and it depends on the peice as to what I do. 

When the piece is dry, using a hot gun glue a course rope / jute string around the edge to hide the MDF board and to give it a rustic look.

Lastly glue the fabric to the back of the shape.

When dry put the wires in and hang from a left over piece of drift wood for the final beachy effect.  I guess you could put the wire in earlier but I don't want it to dry in place so I wait for all glue to be dry.  Both ways work.

I would love to see what creations you come up with.  Please feel free to post them and let me know how you get on.

Thank you for looking

more shells

I recently said I am becoming obsessed with shells.  Two more hearts to join the collection.  Next plan is to use little pieces of drift wood to make a heart, beach hut or fish.  Watch this space.  There will be more shells and wood.

Frogs and Hearts

Have been working a little this week, doing my usual book keeping and setting a school quiz for our parents association.  Hope the questions are not too hard and fish and chips up to their usual standard.

Anyway, sneakily popped into the backroom yesterday, put the ironing in the corner and made my first yo-yo.  Used a pretty, stripey, velvety cord which I think is too thick.  However finished it off with a button and attached the whole thing to a stuffed heart.  Quite cute I think, so then I made a few others to go on my summer craft stall.  Also quick whipped up a frog, I am short of frogs for my stall this year and could do with a few more.  Must try to make the effort to make some boyish ones though.  I stuffed this one with wheat and lavender.  It smells lovely and I am considering the eyes now.  Each frog has its own personality and people seem to like them.  Comments range from OOOOO to I had one just like that when I was little. 

I had one when I was little !

Also bought some great fabrics yesterday for some pirate bunting.  A few mums have mentioned this idea and must get going making some for the stall.  Oooooooo I am so looking forward to dressing up in a silly costume for our Wednesday 1785 day, Craft Fairs.  I look an idiot, but then so does everyone else on the village green I guess. 

If anyone is interested in the frog pattern I shall try and scan and publish.

All comments welcomed . . .