CRAFT FORUM........

[mirry]

Piglet , in the new year ,id be very interested in trying the salt dough,
havent a clue how to make it, but I have seen some for sale in a craft shop and it was costly.

Mag, how about making sweets for xmas ? Ive made fudge today for the first time ever, its sitting in the fridge and is nearly hard enough to cut. I want to cut it into small cubes and wrap up and hang on the tree.

I want to get nice sweet papers , like lakeland do. But cheaper, any ideas what I can use ?

If it cuts well I will post the recipe here, also have other to try out , so will let you know how they tun out.

Going to check out the other site now, thanks.

mirryx

[mirry]

Bel, what sort of scarf are you knitting ?

Over here the fluffy wool has been going down a storm, and if you knit with 2 balls of wool at the same time, ie : a fluffy ball with a chunky wool , the resluts are lovely.

As for the wooden needles , they are less common here, we usually use metal one because they slide against each other smoothly.

Take care



mirryx

[strawberrie]

mirry, dont buy salt dough! theres loads of recipes on the internet, heres one: 1 cup fine salt, 1 cup flour, half cup water, mix together, knead! that's it! it's shocking that shops can get away with selling something so simple for a profit!

in preparation for a big xmas decoration session i got the play dough out for the kids today and told them to get creative. We ended up with lots of squares (pretty acceptable), a very realistic whichity grub (ok i admit it, that was mine), and worst of all a rather sad looking willy![:I] (i swear it's impossible to give an 8 year old boy dough without them making a willy). So i have decided to give the salt dough a miss this year. I am not having a willy hanging from my xmas tree, no matter how glittery it is!

let us know how the fudge goes. maybe you could just tie nice ribbon round it, and not wrap it in paper. or what about doing some stamps on plain tissue paper? Brown parcel paper is also nice for xmas presents although i dont know if it would be too stiff for small things like fudge. Last year i got the kids to decorate a roll of it with metallic paints and stamps. We are very lucky we have a really big holly bush outside our house so i can cut bits off that and use it to decorate 'natural' looking parcels.

Talking of knitting, has anyone ever knitted jewellery? I've seen some very pretty bracelets knitted with thin wire, with beads put on some of the stitches - seems like it would be quite easy to do, and even I would have the patience to knit something as small as a bracelet. Anyone got any tips? How do you make your jewellery mirry?

mag

[Piglet]

Aww Mag go on have a glittery willy on your tree (there's a sentence you can't say very often)!!!

Mirry - fudge, I adore fudge - please post the recipe [Yeah!]

Piglet xx

"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?" said Piglet.
"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.

[mirry]

Lol, Ok just went to the fridge to check out my fudge,

it set in the middle of the dish but around the edges its a little runny :(

Now this could be because it said use condenced milk, so my husband got me carnation Light :(

Just tasted it and OMG its delicious.

I will try it with full fat carnation this week and see how it goes,

heres the recipe I tried.....

900 g sugar
200 g condenced milk
200 g water
60 g Butter
15 ml golden syrup
5 ml vanilla essence

Boil all ingrediants together on a low heat for 1 hour.
Add vanilla
Remove from heat and using a electric whisk, whisk for 7 mins.
Pour into a greased and lined tray with baking paper.
Leave to set.

mirryx

[mirry]

meg, thanks for the salt dough recipe feel a little excitement about it ,lol.
Now once we make the dough, we then make it into shapes/models ?

Then what about paintiing it ?

Like the ideas, may try it sooner

mirryx

[mirry]

Meg, as for making jewellery.....
how long have you got ? lol.

Ive seen the knitted bracelet kits in my local wool shop, so you may find them online?
I make my jewellery using more traditional methods, simple stringing, and bead weaving.

Bead stringing is less fiddly, I am happy to do online lessons here if you buy the bits needed ? Any one fancy this ?

Got to go now , but will continue

mirryx

[Piglet]

Mirry - fudge sounds yummy. When the kids break up we will have a fudge day, thanks for the recipe hun!

With the salt dough, once it's baked for a zillion hours and ready for painting then I suggest acrylic paints. I always varnished mine most careful front and back then you get a good seal - it's any moisture getting in that causes them to perish. I actually bought a little tin of varnish made by 'International' that you get from BQ in the very glossiest finish - almost the shine of enamel. I don't know whether I would prefer a more matte varnish these days - I suppose it depends on the project.

Also you lot, what about a little artwork for the house on canvas. I do paint here and there, cos I can never find the sort of pictures that I want, at a price I can afford. Even if you don't class yourself as a artist as such, modern art is very achievable isn't it.

You can get cheap ready made canvases from Superbuys and then paint lots of stripes or spots or swirls. I love homes with 'real' paintings it looks so homey!!

Piglet xx

"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?" said Piglet.
"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.

[mirry]

thanks Piglet, Ive just seen acrlics paint in the £1 shop..8 tubes for a £1

My mum does the canvas painting, shes quite talented that way, she does the modern stuff and the country cottage thing, I dont thinnk Ive got the skills for it [xx(] wish I did tho , cos they are selling for quite a bit on ebay.

just been to somersfield with my friend and picked up proper condenced milk, and also little sweet papers from the £1 shop.
I got some red netting from the material shop and some lovely silver ribbon to tie it with.
so off to make fudge, will post back to let you know if it works.

mirryx

[strawberrie]

mirry, i wouldnt bother with the new condensed milk if the light stuff tasted ok, that way you can eat twice as much!

for doing paintings, if you have a digital photo/picture you like, you can adjust the brightness, contrast and stuff so the image is very simple, then print it out and stick it onto the back paper of some sticky back plastic, then cut it out and you have a stencil you can stick directly onto your canvas. I've done this on ceramic tiles, and it works out really nice, although the cutting out can take a long time and is quite fiddly.

i might come back to you mirry for some beading advice, im going to have a go at wire knitting first. I felt the urge to have a practice with some wool last night, but i dont have any knitting needles, still chopsticks worked pretty well!

keep on with the ideas, trouble is i spend all my time thinking of stuff and reading this thread, and im not spending enough time actually making presents :(

mag