Another sneak peek

Another sneak peek today ;-) It's a Christmas present for a friend.  I think you'll be surprised when you find out just what that bit is :-)
I went to the doll group on Sunday where we started to make a pincushion.  It's going to have 2 little 'babies' round the side.  The pattern is from a book by Kumiko Sudo - Omiyage : Handmade Gifts from Fabric in the Japanese Tradition.  I'm not sure about the fabric I've chosen now, but when the little babies are done in complementary fabric it should look fine.  It's made using half a polystyrene ball covered with fabric, but we put a layer of felt under the fabric.  The base is just a piece of card covered with fabric.

Sneaky peek revealed and film review!

I can now reveal the 'sneaky peek'; shown 1st Dec; in full, as it has arrived safely.  Tada! it's a mermaid,

which I made for the wonderfully talented and very amusing Donna aka Doings of Doone


I've also been busy making a Unicorn for a very poorly friend, the Unicorn had been promised for quite some time so I'm glad I finally got it done.
The mermaid is completely my own work - need to work on heads though as I think she has 'Hammy Hamster' cheeks - whereas the Unicorn is a pattern by Laurilee Taylor at The Magic Doll.

I went to see 'The Tourist' (Johnny Depp + Angelina Jolie) with a friend yesterday.  It's rubbish so if you're thinking of going, save your money; even if you love Johhny Depp!  It's supposed to be a romantic thriller but it's not thrilling and in parts tries for humour but it's not funny either.  It takes an awfully long time to get going and sooooo boring to begin with and even when it does get going there's not enough action or enough anything really.  Didn't care for Angelina Jolie in her role at all, if you like to look at dolls then she's fine, she just pouts and poses.
Edited to include: My friend who is a huge Johnny Depp fan didn't enjoy it either and we heard a few negative comments about how boring it was as we were leaving.

365 Journal

A bit late with December's pages but they're ready at last.  They have had the colour added for a few days but only put the little journalling squares on yesterday.  I wasn't too happy with November's pages after the first few days of starting but it was easier to carry on than try to take off all those little bits of paper to paint over them again.  I was going to post yesterday but the pic for the Nov pages was too blurred and I couldn't be bothered trying again as it was late on and rather dull so decided to have another go today.  For the Dec pages I've used blue, but you can tell that can't you LOL I've added a bit of white and some silver accents with transfer foil.  I started using a blue pen for the text but it ran out!  I coloured the paper for the daily squares with Brusho using the shaving foam technique - basically spray shaving foam onto a surface (I used and old chopping thing; well it doen't seem right to call it a choppping board when it's glass :-/) drop your colours onto it lay the paper on top and press it all over then lift off, set aside to dry.  You may find when it's dry you'll need to brush off some bits of dried foam.

The snow is finally starting to clear a bit here, still lots around though.  I finally dug my car out a few days ago and parked it on the road so I could use it if I wanted to, though have to admit I haven't been anywhere only to post some cards but that was only a few yards.  Did a bit of shopping today and mooched round the White Rose shopping centre just to get out but didn't manage to buy any prezzies.  I was a bit peckish so bought just a cheese toastie from Subway, I didn't want to spoil my appetite for later.  I say I bought it, but very nearly got it for free.  After ordering I suddenly remembered I had no cash, did a quick check and had about 84p but the toastie was 89p.  I had to aplogise and said I'll just go to the cash machine.  The guy serving said there's one just over there - a few yards away - but unfortunately there was no cash!  In the meantime the guy had obviously spoken to his superior 'cos when I got back to say I'd have to go to another machine, the 2nd guy said it's ok and proceeded to give it to me, I said I've got 80 odd pence and was getting it out, he said again it's ok, but I dug out all the change I had and handed it over :-/
I just have to say, I'm chuffed to little mint balls that Ann Widdicombe has finally been kicked off Strictly Come Dancing Yay!!!!

Snow, sun and blue skies

We've got a good covering of snow here in West Yorkshire and it's still coming down.  However we also have sun and blue skies today ;-)  Thought I'd share a few pics.  If you're wondering what the contraption in the back garden is it's the kids' trampoline with the netting hanging off, probably stay like that till the weather gets warmer as I'll need to try to stitch the elasticy bits back on, have already done this but you know how rough kids can be, they use the netting as walls, not just as a safety feature :-/  Ooh it looks like lots more snow today as the blue sky has just disappeared while I've been typing, the sky is all white now, well off-white!

Thought I'd show a sneak peek at something I've made as a surprise for someone; don't know when it'll get posted 'cos I'm not inclined to dig the car out and clear the pavement to get onto the road.  Though DD is mobile and she needs to go to the post office sometime so I can get her to post it.  Can you tell what it is yet?