Happy Birthday gifts!

The sock monkeys and puffins bring happy birthday wishes to Miss B!










The number one child is 21 today. Impossible. I am so very young myself...
Here are a couple of gifts I made for her. Once is a beach bag/shopping tote made from Erin Micheals' Malibu Monkeys fabric. The other is a puffin doorstop, made from a pattern in Sew Sunny Homestyle by Tone Finnager. I made a little fabric beak for him, since the book had instructions to paint the beak on. Instead, I combined some yellow fabric with some orange, stuffed it lightly and then sewed on the little "mask" to the existing beak. Fiddly yes, but well worth it for the overall effect.
In order to make the little tin pail heavy enough to stop a door, I filled it with stepping stone cement and decorated the top with decorative glass stones. (Three cheers for 40 per cent off Michael's coupons!)
Why puffins?
Miss Bee celebrated her 8th birthday in Newfoundland while we were visiting our beloved family there. We went on a whale tour and saw not only whales, but hundreds of puffins -- her favourites -- and since then, she has been amassing an impressive collection of these sea going clowns. In real life, they are hilarious to watch, especially when they are taking off from the water. They sort of run along the surface until they get airborne.
This is the first puffin I have made for her, but she has other handmade treasures in her puffin collection. My uncle made her a wonderful set of bookends and a coin bank.
She had a great birthday, and I had a wonderful time creating these presents for her.
Hope everyone's day is going well!

Under construction!

The Beade Faeries, the jewellery artists' collective that allows me to sell some of my creative ventures, has launched a web page that is currently under construction. In the coming weeks, we will go live and you admire -- and shop -- from our impressive body of work.
Here is the link:
http://beadefaeries.webs.com/

Ready for the ball

Ah June! Time for all kinds of lovely events -- including the Grade 12 prom.
Here is a necklace I made for my son to give to his girlfriend. Apparently, it is lame to give a corsage.
So, after a recent trip to Queen St.'s bead stores, I found all I needed to create this set-- and now it is all ready for the ball.
It features mauve fresh water pearls, sterling silver plated wire, and a real Swarovski starfish. I had a great time making it -- now let's hope they have a wonderful time at the party this coming weekend.
I am also working on a couple of secret projects for a special birthday. More on that later.