New book ..

We were shopping in Barnstaple and as I like browsing around book shops we popped into Waterstones. I spotted a book called The Oversight by Charlie Fletcher, I was tempted but a bit unsure so a couple of days later I had a quick look on Amazon and read some favourable reviews and downloaded it to my kindle. I am so glad I did as its a very good book, in some ways it reminded me of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern which I loved.

Each chapter tells the story from the viewpoint of one of the main characters which is very similar to The Night Circus.  Its also set in Victorian London, has magic and a circus of sorts, the difference is the darker side to this book. It featured some interesting magical type beings, like and Alp and the Slaugh, they are like the old tales of the fair folk who are dark and mysterious and lead you away. The main characters are interesting especially the smith and the cook, the younger main characters to me seemed younger in age than they were.  

I was sad to finish reading it but at least it's part of a trilogy, so in the meantime until the second book is out I will be counting down the days for the release of Stephanie Hudson's next Afterlife Saga book "The Pentagram Child" which will be out in December. 

Until next time

Vic xx

New Fairy Dolls

Last week I started three dolls, all of them Fairies, and yesterday I finally finished them. Two are from a pattern by Faewyck Studios, they are small and you can display them on a wooden stick / skewer.
I used some peach and green fabric for the bodies and I used a beautiful jade green and orange shot taffeta for the dresses. The pattern instructions were clear and concise and I even made some organza and wire wings. Here are photos of Cinnamon and Fern, they will soon be available in my Etsy shop over the next few days.

The other Fairy doll I made was from my own pattern, and it went reasonably well even though I ended up having to make a second head as the first one wasn't right. I used some of my favourite blue organza, chiffon and taffeta for her. Dressing her was fun as I gave her a really full petticoat / underskirt and an even fuller skirt. I had an offcut of the chiffon so I wrapped it around the body and waist and it formed a decorative bodice and, which you can see on the photo below.

I also wanted to give her some shoes so I used my fabric pens to give the fairy some really fun lace up ankle boots.

I had also been planning from the start to give her some feather wings I had bought last year. 

I really love her and very pleased in how she has turned out and she's in my Etsy shop. I think I'm going to make another one for my christmas tree this year. 

Vic xx

A sort of Throwback Thursday

Todays post is a sort of throwback as I wanted to post about a doll I made last year. It was this doll The Lady of the Sea a mermaid doll, with seaweed all over her including fish and seahorse charms. 

At the time I loved her and she was different and nearly as I wanted her but recently she just really didn't fit in with my other dolls. So I removed the organza and the beaded seaweed and star fish but left her hair and jewellery. I had some iridescent aqua green metallic fabric which I used as a dress for her. Then I covered the dress with and overskirt of a gorgeous blue organza, and gave her a metallic belt and added the seed bead seaweed as fringing. I also added some beads to the top of the bodice and added one of the star fish to the front. 

Next I added another starfish to the skirt of the dress and added some blue hot fix crystals, I als redid her hair as it still didn't look quite right so I took it down to give her a side braid and added a couple of star fish to the back of her head. 

Now she's all finished and I really like her and I changed er name slightly she is now known as Lady Sea and has been listed in my Etsy Shop.

Vic x

 

Craft Fayre and Strictly.

I usually blog about Strictly on Mondays but I think I will stop and to be honest I really didn't watch many of the dances this week. This was due to the fact I was busy getting ready for the craft fayre and busy ironing my tablecloth for the stall. But I will say it was sad to see who was in the dance off.

So yesterday I was in Devon for a craft fayre, it was the annual St Marks PTA fayre at Welcombe. I was very busy last week getting some decorations painted for the fayre and trying to find a small tree to put them on. I took mainly my elves a few dolls and some jewellery, It was fun and I sold one of my dolls which was really nice and also means I need to make another one.

Also last week I was busy with posting Elves to new forever homes as well as a painting a few for commissions. The commissions were for the Snowmen Elves I ran out of the tall alves and then the large elves as they were all painted up and sent to new homes. I did make sure there was one snowman elf spare and he's now in the Etsy shop.

Vic x

Throwback Thursday

Today I've had my jewellery stash out to make some charms and I thought I would find a photo of  a necklace I made a few years ago.

I enjoyed making this necklace and the bit I liked the most was the vampire fangs. I used some recycled copper and cut them out and then I used my files to add the gaps between the teeth. 

Vic x

Strictly Monday Week 6

What a Spooktacular weekend on Strictly, it was horrify and scary and no thats not Craig or Bruno. Sadly Claudia Winkleman was unable to present the show with Tess Daly as one of her children was ill. So Zoe Ball stepped in, she was great fun and worked well with Tess. The costumes, make up and hair were excellent and I think so much better than last year, they deserve an award. The stand out costumes and makeup were Steve and Ola they were unrecognisable, Frankie looked amazing, Pixie's hair was wow and Caroline and Pasha looked great too. 

Now the dancing bit: Steve unfortunately didn't do so well this week he forgot a few steps as he was worrying about some lifts which was a shame as it would've been a good charleston.  Simon's Passo was okay as was also Jake's Passo. Mark did a brilliant Jive and being in the dance off a couple of weeks ago has really fired him up. Scott also did his best dance this week I really enjoyed it as it was a Adams Family theme and it worked really well.

The Girls well Judy went back to being a bit stiff which was a shame though the Dog-ography was funny. Sunetra danced okay as did Pixie though her hair was just huge. Alison I was disappointed with  this week, I wonder if she's hit her peak. Caroline and Pasha danced a fabulous Samba disco zombie style and it was great fun. The best of the night was Frankie who danced an amazing Tango and she got a well deserved 10, she's certainly a potential finalist.

The two couples who ended up in the dance off on Sunday were:

Scott Mills and Joanne Clifton 

Alison Hammond and Aljaž Skorjanec

Both couples danced well again and I really thought Scott danced even better but in the end the judges saved Alison.

It's getting down to mainly the good dancers now, well apart from Judy, so its going to be interesting seeing how they all step up.

Vic x