So  the last few weeks my Fibro has really been getting me down :( must be the change in the weather I guess, it's meant I've missed the last two sessions of the quilt class that I attend and  so my creativity has taken a bit of a nosedive.

Well, that's just no good.  I started this blog in an attempt to raise me out of the doldrums and boost my creativeness.  Today then I'm posting details of an altered tin I made as part of a swap (my first ever!) organised by the lovely Louise (aka Zuzu)  http://zuzuspetalsstuff.blogspot.com/

The tin itself was an old peppermint tine I found in a bric-a-brac-y shop in Horncastle (known as the antiques capital of the Wolds and often used on Bargain Hunt) and bought for 50p :)

 

My first step was to cover the outside of the tin in aluminium adhesive tape and then colour it with Ranger's Alcohol Inks- I used Butterscotch and Bottle; I then used two different sheets of a steampunk themed scrapbook paper and trimmed them down to cover the lid of the tin inside and out and the bottom of the tin on the inside too.  Once the glue had set, I stuck in a little quote card (I'd picked up a box of mini gratitude cards from a local budget store that was selling 3 for £1!) and a few old watch cogs.  In the bottom corner I glued in two little bottles, the taller one filled with small strands of copper foil and the smaller one with little seed beads.  A little bit of the glue (pva) ran from under the bottles but it discoloured to a sort of rusty look so I left it like that :)

 

Onto the lid.  I stuck in place two ornate filigree pieces and a quote stick across the middle 'Where there's a will there's a way' from the end of the quote stick on a double strand of embroidery thread I hung a small key and a heart.

 

The tin I received back was an old Oxo tin, it was cube shaped which made it different from a lot of the altered tins you see on Pinterest, I was really pleased to receive it :)

 

Zuzu also has a Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zuzus-Petals-Altered-Art-n-Stuff/250932564937553?id=250932564937553&sk=info which has a showcase of all the tins from the swap, and she will hopefully be hosting many more swaps in the New Year and beyond.

 

Now then, that's cheered me up :)



So, I've decided to start a blog (!) eek.  Not going to be a 100% sure what I'm doing but I wanted somewhere other than Facebook to be able to post my crafty makes ~ whether they be bad or good ~ although hopefully more good than bad :)

A little bit about me first ~ I guess that's probably the best place to start!  I'm 43, have two teenage children (17 & 15) and a wonderful man who looks after me!  I've had quite a few incarnations in my life, I started of doing clerical work and spent 10 years at a bank, before moving on to work for Social Services (Mental Health).  I took a year out of working when my marriage broke down as the children were only little but as the elder child started school I returned to Mental Health work ~ this time for the NHS.  Eventually I braved higher education and trained as a nurse ~ I loved it! Thought I had finally found my 'niche' After 18 months working on an acute admissions ward I moved to work at a GP surgery I decided that was where I would stay.  Unfortunately life had other ideas (as it often does) and 2 years down the line I became ill; I was in immense pain, initially in my back but this pain gradually spread to the rest of my body and I was wracked with exhaustion too.  I had several episodes off work and each time I tried to return it got harder and harder; after around 6 months of this and many tests and scans I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.  It felt like a really long journey up until this point, however many many Fibromyalgia sufferers can wait 10 years or more for a diagnosis.  Looking back through my medical history with my GP running through all the ins and outs of my ailments across the years revealed I'd probably had this since my mid-teens but had been able to cope with it up until now.  To cut a long story short I had to leave my dream job behind and as yet have been unable to return to the world of work.  I won't dwell on this episode more here but in my bio (when I've written it!) I'll include some more information about Fibro and how it can affect its' sufferers ~ Fibromites as some of us call ourselves.

The posts will probably be few and far between ~ especially to begin with ~ due in part to my health issues but also because of the newness of all of this ~ but hopefully I'll get into the swing of things eventually!

I'll add a couple of photo's now so you can see where I'm starting from ......

 

These are some photos of a little shrine I made for my Aunt's 60th birthday.  It's actually an altered clock housing.  I sanded it down and then using a PVA glue I covered it in black crepe paper inside and out.  I created the front flap (door) using a piece of card which I also covered in the crepe paper and also backed the open housing with the same.  I used a small amount of a metallic silver paint over the crepe paper ~ this was courtesy of Colourcraft ~ in order to highlight the texture ~ now I would possibly use a little gilding wax instead. The back sheet and the family blessing on the door where from a magazine free gift.  The three bottles are Tim Holtz ones each filled with different colours of glitter (or fairie dust!) and then glued into place in the corner.  The middle photo also shows a 'dangly' in the top left hand corner of the shrine.  This is a wire wrapped coin from the year my Aunt was born.  I added a piece of raw amethyst in the corner opposite the bottles to try and balance it out and a couple of butterflies as she likes those.  Then I added a Zutter book closure to hold the door shut.  I was really pleased with this as it was my first attempt at altering something and straying a bit from the usual ~ what do you think?

 

 

 

 

I really like playing with textiles too but most of my completed projects have been this year ~ as my confidence has grown ~ and will be for Christmas pressies so no photos of those just yet!!

 

 

So that is my first post ~ I hope you've been able to follow it ~ if so thanks for sticking with it until the end!!