crafts

While searching in our garden shed for something (mosaic nippers to be precise), for a friend, I found some mosaic pieces. I have to brace myself for this task, the shed is full of garden furniture and old toys, you get the picture a general dumping ground. Well right at the back, along with the nippers, I found mosaic pieces I had totally forgotten about. My friend Susie and I use to teach mosaic and so needed to have examples to show students. Finding the pieces made me want to dabble in mosaic again, but as they say be careful what you wish for!

After studying the Hertfordshire's Open Studios brochure a couple of friends and I decided to have a trip out to see the studios of Adele Pearce (Village Arts) and Hazel Godfrey (Willow). A few factors came into play on this decision, firstly I like mosaic and willow, secondly never visited Kings Walden before, but the real lure was a studio in the garden of a pub, bonus!

We have been perusing this years Herts Open Studios brochure, deciding which artists we would like to see. There is certainly a lot of diverse creativity on offer during this annual three week showcase. I find it interesting talking to the artists about their work, If you haven't tried it give ago.

It was Larks in the Parks yesterday and the theme was 'Seaside'. My friends and I had a stall at the event and the weather was just perfect! I like these community events because they are social and local, a chance to chat and meet old friends

I bought a pack of polystyrene eggs (£1) to decorate for Easter. I used a wooden skewer, stuck through the egg, to make decorating and drying easier but I actually liked the idea of an 'egg on a stick'. To decorate the eggs I used tissue paper and paper napkins, stuck on and coated with a 1:1 ratio PVA and water solution. Once the eggs had dried I removed the skewer and added curled parcel ribbon, holding it in place by pushing the skewer back into the egg. I think the egg picks would be perfect in the garden as markers for an Easter egg hunt or just grouped in a vase.

With my lanterns being featured in St Albans Quarterley it has prompted me to re visit this idea for Mother's Day, this would be a companion to go with the tea lights in jar gift idea. You will find the basic lantern tutorial here. In the photographs you will see I have used a mixture of glasses and jars for the lanterns. Some of the jars, the round ribbed ones, once contained scented candles.

If you are in St Albans this Saturday, and you have the time, pop into the Jubilee Centre, on Catherine Street, they are holding a Craft Fair. The Fair has been organised to raise funds for their elderly clients so they can have a free Christmas dinner. I will be having a stall, come and say hello. You might even find a few unique Christmas gifts.

I entered the Morsbags competition arranged by the Knitting and Stitching show organisers twistedthread . I was really pleased to hear, last week, I had won the humour category. I entered three designs but I'm not sure which one was the winner, my personal favourite is the one I made from selvedge strips sewn together. The theme of the competition was 'Sew Salvage and Save', I embroidered 'Sew Selvedge and Save!' see what I did there?

Just want to flag up that it's Herts Open Studios 2010, it starts tomorrow Saturday 11 September and runs until Sunday 3 October. This is a wonderful opportunity to visit local artists, often in their own studios, to meet and chat with them. Browse around and talk about their work and maybe even buy some original artwork. To find out more about the artists taking part and the times they will be open take a look at the website Herts Open Studios 2010