Edinburgh at Christmas time

Some photos taken over the last few weekends.

Charity shopping

I had one of my best ever charity shopping weeks last week. Everything in the first picture was found in one shop in Edinburgh on Saturday. I was pleased to find a straw doll, because I saw some recently in Glasgow and regretted not buying them. The rabbit is by a company called Bellini, and has space to store cotton balls inside.

The Momiji doll was one of three in the shop, but I bought this one because it's one I've liked for ages, and it came with its original tin (which has cherry blossoms and Mount Fuji and a birdie on it). Her name is Sakura and she is designed by Joanna Zhou. The Momiji had a message written on the secret little piece of paper inside it, and I wonder whether the recipient ever read it? It says "I'll miss you CLTP Vxxx"


The rest was all found in a charity shop at the end of my street, which I didn't realise still existed because it only opens when I'm at work! When someone told me about it I was down there like a shot in my lunch break, and found all this in the space of about 5 minutes!
The pictures were just 25p each, and when she added up the total she just wanted to charge me £2, which meant I was pretty much getting the fabric for nothing. I did give more than £2 though, because I thought that was way too little. It was only later I found the original sticker on the fabric - £7.95 from Ikea!
The picture on the left is by an artist called Strev, and the others are by Soulet.

Kokeshi with beret

I bought this lovely vintage kokeshi from ebay, and it arrived this week. It's quite small, so the package was able to fit through my letterbox! I love how it has been painted, with parts looking like inlaid wood and mother of pearl. I was hoping to buy another one from the same seller in similar colours, but I got outbid by a long way on that one! It finally went for over £21 whereas this one was just over £7.

Dancing Dolls

Dancing Dolls
Originally uploaded by emusing-emma

Another animation.

Birdie pals

Birdie pals

I'm experimenting with stop-motion animation - it's a lot of fun!

My first ebay purchase

I signed up for ebay a few weeks ago and this was the first thing I was successful at buying - it's a vintage Japanese milk glass cockatiel. Looks like it's going to be good friends with Piu Piu!

Spotty knot bag

I've been wanting to make one of these reversible Japanese knot bags for ages, and finally got round to it. It's very easy to make, and there is a tutorial by Show Your Workings. I used beige spotty fabric from an old pillowcase I got at a car boot sale, and green spotty fabric from a lovely little fabric shop I found near the Meadows in Edinburgh.

Kirigami

I've been experimenting with kirigami - the Japanese art of paper folding and cutting. It's similar to making paper snowflakes. My favourites so far are the five-petalled flowers - it's amazing that it's possible to fold paper in such a way as to produce five petals.

Fat geisha pincushion

This was a quick and easy project. I'd made the geisha face a few years ago as an experiment in using moulds with polymer clay, but didn't really have a use for it. Then I realised that I could make it into a pincushion. It didn't take me long to cut a circle of fabric, gather the edge and stuff it. I glued the geisha face on the top with hot glue.

Munny accessories

My glow in the dark Munny came with a TV as a free accessory, so I decided to decorate it to match. It also came with a hat with big bunny ears, which will take a lot more time to paint! I have also decorated the name tags for both of the Munnys. And I bought a new mini Munny yesterday, but haven't decided how to decorate it yet!