Crafting Star Wars Style

With boys, it's always great to find crafty, quiet projects to do with them, that align with their interests.
It's no secret that in our house, sci-fi books and movies are almost part of our everyday.
So when a friend sent me a link to this craft book, I just had to have it..

And when I showed Jude - he just couldn't wait to get it open and pick out our first project to make.

And what was the one thing he just had to make as soon as possible?
The General Grievous finger puppet, of course!

 

Next project : The Washcloth Wampa (who is pretty cute) or the AT AT Herb Garden (I think our garden needs a little Star Wars touch ;-))

xxx

Curious Bazaar - Clearance Sale!

Shop here!

xxx

Market Day

 

 Emu Plains Market, Balnarring

Creative Space : Printing & Making

With two markets within two weeks looming, it's been pretty busy here at Polkadot Lane.

I've had to hold back on new drawings and designs, and actually get printing and making.

Although I did sneak in one new cushion design...

Linking up with the lovely clever makers over here.


xxxx

Loving Jamie

Image Source

I've always been a big fan of Jamie Oliver.

His meals look amazing, he puts his time and effort into some great causes and his enthusiasm for cooking is contagious, but I rarely cooked from his books because of the time factor.

Then I saw his show '15 minute meals' and I was hooked!

Spiced Chicken, Bacon, Asparagus & Spinach Lentils - Pg 52

Ok, so for some, the meals might take more than 15 minutes to prepare and the time doesn't include getting the ingredients out, and getting the tools/pans/utensils out but it does include the food prep and cooking, and I figure, even if it takes me 30 minutes to prepare a 3 dish, healthy, nutritious meal, I'm still doing alright.

Golden Chicken with Braised Greens & Potato Gratin - Pg 48

And the cool thing is, a couple of my close, awesome girlfriends also bought this cookbook, as did my mum, so we have all been sharing what we've been making, our reviews of the dishes (did it work? did everyone like it? and most importantly for me, did the kids eat it?) and even pics (love Instagram for this!).

Ricotta Fritters with a Tomato Sauce & Zucchini Salad - Pg 232

And fortunately for me, my kids love Jamie Oliver too, so generally if I tell them it's a Jamie Oliver recipe they will eat it (even lentils!), and usually, even love it...

Greek Chicken, Herby Veg Couscous & Tzatziki - Pg 38

Do you have a favourite cookbook you could recommend? Are you a fan of Jamie too? ;-)

(BTW - not a sponsored or paid review - I just love this book!)

Creative Space : This Little Fox

This week...

I've been playing around with my fox screen print design...I've printed her solo, with vines and now I've upsized her to make into a cushion (or two!).

And as of this morning, I now have a market to make for...

Yep, Polkadot Lane, along with the other makers from Curious Bazaar will be having a big double stall at the next Emu Plains Market on the Mornington Peninsula on Saturday 19th January - I can't wait!
And it's just over a week away, so I've got to get busy...really busy...

Lots of creative people linking up here or via Instagram (#mycreativespace) - come say 'hi'!

xx

Blue to Silver Vines

One of my new screenprint designs is my Orla Kiely inspired 'Vine'.

Once I'd handcut it all out, and hubby had bought me some gorgeous silver metallic ink, I thought it would be fun to play with an ombre effect....

And it was! - Fun, that is...

And after the printing, comes the making - a tote bag for Polkadot Lane...

This bag is now available in the shop.

Thanks for visiting!

xxx

Sketchy Sunday : Beginnings

Joining in with the lovely girls at Artsy Ants and their new weekly link up.

This week I have taken the theme, not so much as a base for my sketches, but more in the sense that I'm only just beginning to enjoy my drawing and sketching and designing again.

So, as you may see, my drawings are all over the place in theme but are all going to be used for screen prints, in the near future (I hope!)...

Maybe you've been drawing this last week? I would love to see what you have been up to!

xxx
(Images from my Instagram pics...love Instagram!)

Trying Something New - Stamp Carving!

I have had stamp carving on my 'want-to-try' list for over a year. I even had the supplies & tools sitting in my craft cupboard waiting for me.

I'm not sure why it took me so long to give it a go, because once I started, I actually found it very enjoyable and almost therapeutic with the slow etching away of rubber, and the emerging of my shape.

Materials : Ezy Carve Printing Blocks and a basic carving tool set which I bought from here.

Ok, so this is how I did it....

After drawing on my design in pencil, I gently started carving away the rubber, starting from the bottom, and working my way around...

And I kept slowly etching away until I got the depth and detail I was after.

Quick tip - Be very careful with the face of the stamp (the part used for printing) as I had a couple of nail dents in mine, which I'm happy to fix up after stamping, but am hoping to avoid next time!

Once it was all finished, I inked it up for a trial run...

And ta da! It worked....mostly....

I have another couple of stamping blocks in my stash, so I'm hoping to give it another go soon.

What about you? Have you had any adventures with carving?

Till next time
xx

A belated link up with these talented people...

P.S - I've been drawing, designing and screen printing up a storm this past week....will share soon!