Doll clothes

1. New jumper, 2. New outfit, 3. Look out... it's a pineapple!, 4. Long socks, 5. Yellow nursery rhymes, 6. Red skirt, 7. Another dress from a hat, 8. Pretty in Pink
Recently I've been making quite a few dolls' clothes.

Rubber stamped nails

When I came across this article on Craftzine, my initial reaction was, "Wow, you can use ordinary rubber stamps on your nails!", before realising that it was about the Konad nail stamping system that consists of plates that are used with nail polish. But the rubber stamp idea stuck in my head, and I decided to see if ordinary rubber stamps and stamping ink would work. And they did!

This is how I did it - and a few tips:
1. Cover nails with base colour and allow to dry completely.
2. Stamp the design on using a rocking motion across the nail. I used a small stamp and Stazon permanent ink. But I experimented with pigment inks later and they also worked.
3. Allow to dry completely.
4. Remove any stray ink with a cotton bud and nail polish remover.
5. Quickly and gently apply top coat. Don't go over any area more than once or it will smudge.

I also found this video by someone else who has had the same bright idea!

For my first attempt I used a small square cherry blossom stamp over Jermyn Street by Nails Inc. I was inspired to use this by the colour used in the Craftzine article. For my second experiment I used a larger cherry blossom stamp (and added details with an embossing tool dipped in gold Winsor & Newton ink) over Sexy Lady by China Glaze. This is my first bottle of China Glaze, but I have For Audrey and Kinetic Candy on their way!

Now I have the huge variety of stamps in my collection to try out! I'm pleased to have found a way to use some of the craft supplies that don't get used very often.

Christmas cards

These were this year's Christmas cards.

Christmas wrapping

I can't believe that my Christmas presents were all bought and wrapped before the start of December!

Petite Blythes

Some lip carving on my newest petite Blythes.

Dress and jumper

The dress was a design from my own imagination, I just made up the pattern as I went along. The jumper was from a tutorial online, and was made from a child's sock.

Charity shop finds

A Meakin Studio jug and a little dish with lucky cats on it that I found on last week's trip to the charity shops.

A new dress for Audrey

I made this dress from the empire dress pattern.

A Blythe-sized poppy

I'd just got my own poppy yesterday, so decided to make one for my mini-me Zoe! It's made of red and black card and a pin.

This is a Scottish poppy - it's got 4 petals and no leaf. It wasn't until last year that I realised the Scottish and English poppies are different (I always assumed the newsreaders got special ones with a leaf because they are on TV!).

The photograph is of my great-great uncle George Albert Victor Roberts who died at the Somme.

Reopening of the National Museum of Scotland

The reopening of the museum, something I'd been excitedly waiting for, was very well attended. There were performances by taiko drummers, a walking dinosaur, and fireworks. I went back a few weeks later, and it was still very busy. I'm hoping to go back again soon, and explore some more.