New tutorial download for wildlife brooches

A quick update on another new downloadable tutorial. This time the 'step-by-step how to' show you how to make wildlife brooches using six original templates designed by me. It was inspired by some little polymer clay brooches I had as a child. They were so cute - a hedgehog, a rabbit and a sheep - and I wore them religiously. These brooches, although made of paper, are long lasting thanks to a coat or two of varnish and simple to construct.

The animals that are included are a fox, a seal, a bear, whale, a bird and a hen and were designed by me specifically for this tutorial. Each one is roughly 1.5 inches (4 cm) at its widest point.

There are 12 pages of instructions, 26 full colour photos and hints and tips on decorating them. However you can also use them for other kinds of jewellery (imagine some really cute little earrings) or for scrapbooking, card making and other paper crafts

I love these little guys. In my opinion they are just as cute as the polymer clay brooches I had as a child.

Teneriffe at Christmas

Gina-B Silkworks has some new kits out for making Teneriffe lace including one with Christmas designs. They are really cute. You can make Teneriffe medallions with Christmas trees, bows, candles or reindeer. Due to work issues, I didn't get to make as many samples as I had hoped for this month's show but I did get this little box finished with the Christmas tree motifs on the medallion. You do need to buy some of the looms that Gina has as well as the Christmas kit but one loom and some festive designs can make a whole host of imaginative gifts and cards.

Another way of using Teneriffe lace is to add it to a canvas. This piece was made by layering lots of textures like tissue paper and cheese cloth onto a small art canvas, adding some Teneriffe medallions (including some of my early attempts that did not look all that great) and painting over it all with cream acrylic paint. I then added some pink and blue highlights among the textures and some gilding wax lightly over the very top. A few jewels, pearls and jewellery findings along with a short quote finished it off. Something a bit more modern using a traditional craft.