Hyperbolic Crochet Coral

 

 

 

 

These are some of the wonderful things you'll see if you visit the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef at Trinity Science Gallery.

The show is great on a number of fronts - it's beautiful, you can feel that you are scubadiving, and looking at the corals. It's inspiring from the craft point of view, and from the use of different wools, and recycled materials to make a coral reef.
From a science and ecology point of view, it makes you think about how we could be destroying a beautiful organism. And then there's the whole hyperbolic space thing, and thinking about different surfaces.

I'm wondering how I can incorporate this into my summer camp - there has to be a way..or several...

Bunting

This is what the bunting looks like - I made my own bias binding to string it all together - a first for me - I'm really happy with how it turned out. It will be in use tomorrow at the Belvedere self sufficiency show. Drop by my booth to admire it, and enter my competition.

Boy Belt giveaway

Great tutorial and Boy Belt giveaway here.


I'm inspired to get one of those snap setter kits - can see a myriad of uses...

Crafts for Boys

Here's one dear to my heart - things you can make for Boys!



Here's a blog which will be featuring lots of projects for the month of Feb - all about boys!

Felted slippers

 

So here is the result of a full felting day - one pair of beautiful slippers. Read Nicola's blog for a description of the day, and for more photos. I ended up making a piece of felt large enough to make slippers out of, and later that day, sewed the slippers up, and with Nicola's help, felted them more.

They are warm, comfy, durable, and extremely cute. I'm delighted! You gotta love the little red elf tails coming out of the fronts of them - the kitten has not spotted them yet, but there will be fun when she does!

See more photos at Nicola's Flickr stream, and working at getting some uploaded to mine.

Felting Workshop

You may remember that I headed down to Carlow in October to teach a cosmetics workshop at Nicola's studio.

Now she is returning the favour, and coming here at the end of January to teach a beginners felting workshop.

It's taking place on Sunday January 31st, at Educate Together NS. Cost is 75 euro per participant, and includes all materials. The day starts at 10:00am, and goes till around 4:30pm. Everyone will go home with at least one beautiful completed project ready to frame or stitch into a bag or book cover plus possibly some samples or felt flowers as well!


You can see some photos of previous workshops. Or check out her blog.


If you're interested in the course, please email me at annambrowne@gmail.com or call/text 087 2222562

Macaroons and origami boxes

 

 

 

We made macaroons using this recipe. Adapted from The Sweet Life in Paris (Broadway) by David Lebovitz. The prune and chocolate filling won everyone over.

The boxes we made also - they are a simple origami box - great for packaging all kinds of goodies. We made black and white ones for the truffles, I'm gutted that I forgot to take a photo - they looked wonderful!

Christmas decorations

 

 

 

 

Here's a sample of our christmas decorations - made from recycled CDs, and clothes pegs. Ingenious, eh?

Make 'n' Bake 2009

 

A lovely day spent crafting, baking and mixing at Educate together on Saturday. We started with truffle making, moved on to christmas decorations, made chocolate macaroons and granola - all before lunch!

After lunch, we made bath bombs, and got back on the crafty vibe with packaging, gift tags and cards for the goods made earlier. Sadly no photos of the truffles, and not because they ended up in our tummies! The class were amazingly restrained, though the same can't be said in relation to the macaroons. :-)

More photos to follow...

Christmas Crafting - make your own gifts

Gertrude Tlou of Umbrella Studios (gertrudetlou@eircom.net) and Anna Browne (087 2222562 or annambrowne@gmail.com) offer you the chance to enter the world of hand made gifts, and realise your dreams of a better Christmas. They will teach you to make a selection of goodies which will delight, amuse and please your nearest and dearest. Choose from a selection of Bath bombs, bath bags, Heat pillows, Neck gaiters, christmas decorations, granola, chocolate macaroons, truffles, Cookie mix in a jar, and go home with recipes and instructions for all of these, and the confidence to make them at home yourself. In addition you'll learn to make gift wraps, gift cards, and cute Origami gift boxes, using recycled materials.


Remember last Christmas? Fighting traffic, stuck in shopping center parking lots? Fighting with the other harried shopper over the last Bath set at the chemist on Christmas eve? Wracking your brains trying to remember who you forgot? Snarling at the family when it's supposed to be such a happy time of year? And then realising you forgot someone very important in the stress of it all? And knowing deep down that you have missed the spirit of Christmas....

This year can be so much different. Imagine a serene day spent learning new crafts, with interesting new people - picking up tips and tricks for creating personalised homemade gifts, and wrapping them in your own individual style?

Imagine spending the last few days leading up to Christmas, relaxed and basking in the knowledge that you have already made all your gifts. Or enjoying the last minute party you have been invited to, knowing you have a unique gift for the hosts in your stockpile. Imagine the appreciation you'll see on the recipients faces, when they see that you have taken the time to make something especially for them? And, best of all, imagine not being in fear of your January credit card bill!


'Make and Bake your Christmas Presents' will be held at Mullingar Educate Together NS on November 7th (leaving you lots of time to put your skills into practice before the holidays), running from 10:00am to 5:00pm. Cost is €75 euro, and all materials will be provided.