well here is Mine and my friend katy's epic entry into the mega button challenge. much blood sweat and tears went into this beauty. all the hot glue in the world to! Katy's fingers lost all sense of touch from so much exposure to hot glue! As soon as i saw this challenge i knew it was meant for her, she has the biggest button collection i have EVER seen! i must say it did make a big dint in her collection thats for sure!
 now, on to the pictures!






and with the left over buttons...


I think this may be the first time i have entered a craft challenge properly
yay for buttons!
- Christi and Katy

I have no idea why i decided to start crocheting in the middle of the hottest Australian summer since 1908.- jeez right now i am sitting in my home sweating like a baked ham and thinking of jumping fully clothed into the shower!

here are my very first crochet projects completed in 42 degree heat (thats a whopping 107degrees farenheit people! i could bake a cake in this heat!) well enough complaining and onto the projects!


 soft 100%wool yarn, with beautiful wood buttons that will develope a nice patina with use





beautiful red 100% wool with carved and dyed shell buttons~ so pretty

both are free formed crochet, i just made it up as i went along, tried out new stitches, and had a blast
hope you like!

here are my two newest masks i have made

they are both made from vegetable tanned leather, and are hand dyed and coloured by me.
the first one is this awesome pacman mask that i made inspired by my boyfriends obsession for Pacman and retro games in general.


and the second one was inspired from a mixture of holiday spirit, and pagan undertones.
the holly king is the darker half of the masculine yearly cycle, he rules over the darker half of the year (autumn winter) and eventually gives up his throne to the green man and so on the cycle of the year. it is an adults mask and is hand molded by me



i hope you like them, i sure enjoy making them!

hello!
i have not posted a project up for a very long time, but now i have two images of my latest obsession to show you!



made from 1.8mm thick vegetable tanned leather, free hand molded, coloured with acrylic paint, and sealed with a special leather varnish. comments and crit welcome!

i made up some red wrist warmers for mum since its getting cold and wintery here. i also made my sister a pair as it was her birthday the same weekend


 i embroidered the names of her kids up the sleeve-y bit, starting with the oldest, me, (Christi) and working down to the youngest. each set features cute buttons on the side and a thumb hole
she liked them i think...

ETA this was the first time i have used a sewing machine too! yay!

after seeing all the inspiring piece of resin work on this board, i had to go out and try it myself! i ordered a bangle mold from ebay (resinobsession) and purchased some nice embedding and casting resin from Bunnings, and set to work! and here is the end results...

this one was inspired by my home town of Bendigo, it is famous for gold mining, so i included gold glitter and some gum nuts and gum leaves!



this next one is my feminist/ empowering bracelet. it has vellum paper embedded with words such as fantastic, wonderful, beautiful.. etc printed on it.


this next one is my favourite, it has a bit of old black lace, some embroidery thread, some beads, charms and a little bead shaped like a pair of scissors. its crafty!


the next two were inspired by craftster (in particularly ammasmamma) and has paprika in the browny looking one, and the next one was one i made after easter using alllll those easter egg wrappers all folded into teeny squares! it was a good excuse to eat more chocolate!



this last photo is two that i have experimented with and are not yet finished up.. one has an experimentation with red food dye (don't try that.. it doesn't work, and its messssy for days) and the other has buttons in it!


i have been having so so so much fun with it all! i have yet to try pendants but i am looking forward to it!
so thanks to crafster for the inspiration and the motivation! (and to ammasmamma for her inspiring peices!)

p.s sorry about my makeshift attempt at creating a studio type setting....a piece of paper on a knife box was the best i could come up with, haha

There is so much i want to say about my home town. but all i can really put into words is how much i love it. it is entirely unique in every way, from its historic background, to its multiculturalism, to its fresh and ever changing arts and music scene. Even though i have only been living here for six years myself, i would call it my home town.

i have travelled to many countries in the world, even living a year in china. and all i ever wanted when i was away was to return home. i go to university here now, and get involved with the cultural aspect of Bendigo a lot.
originally i made this collage as a sort of preliminary map for a small art quilt, and even collected the fabric for it. however, i had never used a sewing machine before and when i started making it, i actually broke the machine. (from my own misuse of it.) so here is my tribute to my wonderful town, in collage form. one day to be a quilt!

bendigo has an old gothic cathedral, trams, a chinese precinct and is known for the gold rush. i forgot to include its title as the city in the forest, because it is still surrounded by natural Australian 'bush'! also the chinese says 'wo ai' (i love) Bendigo!

i really enjoyed making this collage, and hopefully one day in the future can post up a pic of my finished quilt

it is my friends birthday on wednesday, she is turning a good old 24 (hehe) but, like me has a love for the quirky and the odd. once, a long time ago she asked me to make her a gothic doll, like a rag doll. well finally i got around to making it for her, and because i wont actually see her on her birthday, i decided to give it to her early.

anyway, onto the pictures yes?

i couldnt make boots.. so i laced her legs
here you can see her multi coloured hair, done with embroidery cotton, and her embroidered eyes.

finally, a close up of her face, and bird necklace.

the dress was made from a tutorial posted by ghillie in the poppet along thread, but i modified it to lace up in the back. i hand stitched the whole thing

i hope you like her, my friend loved her and we got into a big discussion about if it was actually possible to dye our hair like that! hehe

well, while i was in china i made a set of three ATCs two i gave to my closest friends before i left, and i only have one left. its number 2 in the set of three. I used many different medias in my set including chinese silk, newspaper clippings, card board and a chinese knot. a symbol of good luck.
i titled the set "zhong guo wen hua" which basically translates as chinese culture.
im sorry there is only one picture. i should have got a shot of the set  .. but here it is!


tell me what you think? this is my first ATC i have ever made, im quite proud!
its alittle warped from all the glue, so sorry about the blurry ness in some parts.

this is my fourth post today >_> i feel like i'm spamming the board!
anyway, last one for today. i made a 'meh' shirt for my sister as its her birthday soon. and shes that kinda girl 
i dont know where i got the idea from, but if it was from here thank you very much crafster! without you my life would be empty.
onto the shirt!

done on a charcoal grey shirt from Rivers! (oh how i love Rivers) using freezer paper. i love how it makes such crisp clean lines!