Headdress Sneek Peek

I made a couple of headdresses last night.  To be honest I'm not sure if they're finished yet, but I took some pictures anyway.  I might add some jewellery, I might not - I'll see how I feel when I sit down with them again on Sunday evening....

Note to self, never plan........

So, this week was the week where I was (for the first time in three years) going to have a little free time.  My youngest was due to start his nursery place on Tuesday and I had a schedule worked out as to how I was going to spend that precious two and a half hours each day...draft some blog posts, do a little on-line networking via various fora, tweak this, photograph that......

Nope. Never plan.  Not for the first week of a change of routine anyway.

On Monday night my seven year old daughter came out of school looking decidedly pale, and crying that she didn't feel well.  We got home, she walked upstairs and then said, "I'm going to be sick."  And she was.  From the top of the stairs.

Once that was cleaned up and the two of them bathed and sorted for bed I got on with writing a blog post and chatting about it on Facebook.  Then my PC monitor died.  Properly couldn't be coaxed back into working died.

So the next day I took the PC to a PC mender to check the problem that I couldn't fix and juggled the difficulty of taking the littlest one to nursery and picking him up whilst having my daughter at home ill (I cannot thank my friend and neighbour M enough!).

Thankfully everyone is now well, the little one is enjoying nursery (although he cries every afternoon mid-session as he is wondering where I am) and today the PC was returned home along with a new monitor (which was the problem and I'm grateful that it wasn't a more difficult and expensive problem).

Frighteningly, as a stay at home works from home single parent I realised just how dependent I am on the interaction with the world I have via my PC.  I don't have a *smart phone* or a back-up lap-top or a tablet PC.  I probably need to get out more ;-)

Back to it!

So, the day approaches when my youngest child goes to nursery.  Today he braved his pre-school inoculations and although the concept of going to nursery is still a little hazy for him I'm hopeful that he'll enjoy himself - and that I'll get to use the time wisely!  In all I'll get two and half hours each day to create, craft, blog, promote, practice dance and prepare my classes so I think I need to set myself some kind of schedule in order to make the most of it.

He's ready for nursery - here's a picture of him with his depiction of "Small, Medium, Big".

And until I get some more items made and pictures done and posted I'll leave you with a link to a very crafty Blog, 1st Unique Gifts

Holiday Season

First of all, I'd like to wish you all a belated Happy Christmas, and hope that whatever you did and whoever you did it with left you feeling happy, relaxed and content (even if it was a millisecond).

So, what have I been up to?  It's that time of year here in the UK when everything grinds down for Christmas.  Now.  I will confess that I haven't been sooo busy with making things, but here are a few pics of a headdress I'm making.

Here are some bits and bobs on the floor and you can already see there's an idea at work there...










First of all I used a base I had made a couple of weeks ago and yes, I did forget to take pics of what I did so I'll try and remedy that at some point, I promise.  But it's easy, when I show you what I do you'll say, "Yeah?  I could have worked that out!"  


So, purple velvet base, and the first thing I'm going to do is sew on some chains.  I used my trusty wire-cutters to snip through the different lengths of chain I had, and then they were all sewn onto the base, four chains on either side.  Symmetry.  (I fight very hard against symmetry so I might mention it again).

The, before you know it I've added feathers and a recycled belt buckle, and some flowers and then what's not yet seen are a brooch and some vintage chandelier drops..... If my camera battery will charge up in time then I'l add a pic of those added before I go....

I love making headdresses. I've made headresses for all manner of dancers (and divas) and will continue to do so.

So once the New Year is over with and every settles back into it's normal routine, I shall continue to create pretty things, and hopefully have more time to develop my creativity.

I hope for a happy, harmonious and heavenly year for us all in 2012. xxx

Blackwillow Blog Resurrection

Some months ago I decided (somewhat hastily it turns out) to leave this Blog and concentrate more on another one I run as I just didn't seem to have the time and energy to maintain two..... but, we're all allowed to change our minds aren't we?

Why have I changed my mind? Well, what's the point of having a space with my name on it and no activity.  It just seems daft.  So my task this week is to think about how I'm going to use my time when my littlest one starts his nursery place in January 2012.  Most of my creativity is channelled into the evenings (not easy having been a full-time mum all day) but at the same time I have to practice and prepare for my belly dance classes, work on dances I am preparing AND do all of my promotional work.

In January though, I shall get two hours a day to do one or more of the above things uninterrupted.  What bliss!

In the meantime, I'd like to show you a picture of a choker I made recently - I've got plans for more and I'll keep you posted.

I've got another two like this in production, although they may have to wait as tonight I shall be helping out at a school Christmas Fayre and I'm unlikely to get in early enough to get either of them finished.

Last Minute Hioliday

Got a few suggestions for this now, thanks to those that helped! xx