Getting Creative in the Craft Room

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I’ve been busy making light catchers for the first wonderful customers who wandered into my shop and decided to start their Christmas shopping right there and then.  Thank you all so very much!

They are all finished now and on their way to new homes around the world, and as my friend Bruce says ready to ‘catch the light’ wherever they land.

Here is a bit of a glimpse of some of them

Bianca's pizap

I was issued a challenge – to create something using oranges and shades of green for a beloved mother

Lisa pizap

and hot on the heels of that, another using fiery oranges, amber and blue

Cynthia pizap

Aren’t these brights just wonderful!

Then I returned to a softer palette and made one for a friend – it should be with her by now ……..

K pizap

And another one for a swap – this one destined to hang in a limery ………… which is a lime version of an orangerie.

Jan pizap

I’ve made some that can’t be shown just yet and I have one more to make – for a Christmas Giveaway.  Stay tuned.

Somewhere in the middle of this playing with beads and sparkly things, Siddy had his hair cut.

Later that day he saw there was some cheese being eaten ……  Siddy is very fond of cheese!

Siddy&Cheese gif

Siddy had some cheese.

Orlando was not allowed cheese and was therefore not amused

S&Cheese &O

And the garden makeover is continuing slowly ………. So slowly there is nothing to show you yet – except chaos……….. Soon you know order has to emerge, right?

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

102 thoughts on “Getting Creative in the Craft Room”

  1. If I were there, I would probably sneak some cheese to Orlando. I’m the biggest softie that way. Your light-catchers are stunning, and oh my goodness you have been making so many. Sounds like they are getting scooped up as fast as you can make them! Such a compliment to your creations. I have to say that the one with the blues and aquas and eyeglasses made me instantly think of Boomdee. I hope she has one. 😉

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    • I think you’d only give O cheese once, then when you have to clean up the mess you won’t again 🙂 Don’t ask how I know this. You are quite right – that one went to Boomdee, well spotted. I am so happy with how everyone has responded to my light catchers – I’ve sold all but two in the shop and had several commissions for Christmas gifts. And repeat customers too, which is always a good sign isn’t it. I love making them so I’m as happy as can be!

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  2. So lovely! Sounds like you are very busy crafting while I continue to be busy in other directions -and a room full of crafty items waiting for ‘someone’ to get busy. Sigh. I wish I could focus but am inspired with all of your lovely creations. Perhaps I just need to look at your blog daily for inspiration!

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  3. What wonderful gifts of love you’ve crafted, Pauline! I get so much pleasure delving into the photos and searching for all the trinkets buried within the beautiful beads 🙂 And then to top off the post with Orlando’s attitude toward Siddy’s shenanigans – just made me laugh out loud. Thanks for the fun I’ve had “visiting” today!

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  4. I just showed my Mom your Siddy and Orlando photos, Pauline. She had forgotten in July when I shared photos with her. Today she turned 87 and we have had a quiet morning, I gave her a clever funny battery operated dog which dances a bit and wiggles it’s head which has Jingle Bells music. She named it “Chrissy.” She misses her dog, but since her accident 10 or so weeks sgo, Nicki is going to stay with brother and sister in law’s big dogs, Hamlet, golden retriever and Fiona, their Newfoundland. Nicki can “boss” the other dog Mom had to give to them, a dachshund and beagle mix, too yappy and active to stay in first years here with mom at senior living apt. Take care and thanks for sharing your cute pets with us today. 🙂
    Hope uou are well and enjoying a sunny day, Pauline.♡

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    • Good Morning Robin! I’m sitting at my kitchen table with the sun flooding in enjoying my first coffee of the day and catching up on a number of blog posts. Siddy wants a game of ‘fetch’ already, but we have to get up and going as it is Monday and there are things to do. Orlando has just gone into the garden to sweep up the debris with his tail 🙂 [He will bring it inside for me to clean out later]

      Despite your mom forgetting seeing the boys in the past I hope she enjoyed seeing them this time. I sometimes think if I live to be 87 I won’t remember my own name let alone those of the odd passer-by!! Though it is sad to think she had to give up her own pup. I am making arrangements to take Siddy visiting at a local elder care place that we pass on our daily walk. So many of the residents are lined up at the big windows now waiting to see him – it is very cute and so touching!

      Have a wonderful week Robin! ❤

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  7. Oh I just love Orlando’s look of annoyance…and sweet Siddy so happy to have his cheese! We had a lab/collie mix who loved popcorn, go figure! You’ve been busy Pauline, beautiful light catchers one and all, and so great to have all those orders. And good to hear the garden is coming along too…your post has made me smile, thank you for that 🙂

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  8. Just love them, Pauline! The orange and green was especially striking. And the eyeglasses made me smile. For some reason, however, yellow will always be my very favorite!! Thanks for the ongoing smile! 🙂

    P.S. – I’m with Siddy on the cheese!

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  9. Most people have issues with sweets-well mine is cheese! I love the stuff, so he reminds me of me! Your catchers are beautiful + what a great way to keep away from popping cheese in your mouth-lol-I need to keep my hands busy to keep my hands off of cheese-
    I ride my bike a lot so that helps, but if you took away my cheese -I might bite you! lol
    I have not been posting much for I have been riding more this summer. I can burn 1000 calories riding my bike for a few hours. That is a lot of cheese I can eat!

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  10. My light catcher has come….I am ecstatic! My cat, Lulu is very interested in it…she’s helping me decide where to hang it…maybe hoping it will be in the window, above the cushion where she naps. Is there a best place to hang the light catcher? How near or far from windows?

    It’s gorgeous, Pauline, and I am very moved that you take the time to charm it with your special thoughts and wishes. I hope my request for blue and orange didn’t vex…blue is my favorite and orange (red + yellow) complements it with the two other Primaries. It’s the sky and the sun, to me….and of course the gypsies 🙂 . I can’t thank you enough, for your art…and your heart…..so I’ll say it again in French: MERÇI BEAUCOUP!

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    • Cats love light catchers Cynthia – even though cats and light catchers are not a good mix! 🙂 Orlando used to bat at them and hook them when he was a younger chap – some did not survive his attentions!!

      If you hang directly in front of a window you get less rainbows than if you can hang further into the room. Hanging from the ceiling sometimes works for some people. Anywhere the sun hits for some part of the day works – and you know that changes from season to season. I had one hooked from the light shade in my kitchen for a while and it rewarded me for my troubles with a room full of beautiful lights every morning for 9 months. The height of summer I missed as the rainbows had been and gone by the time I got up.

      I love your light catcher and want to say thank you for allowing me to make this one – you are moving me into a whole new direction!! And I loved musing on the colours and you whilst making it – there are depths and layers to the meanings of colour and why they speak to a person – yours are exquisite and SO reveal a gypsy soul!! I am so happy you are happy with it!! xo

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  12. These are all beautiful Pauline. It shows that they were all made by someone who has a big heart. How lucky are those who will be receiving these as Christmas presents. They will surely treasure it.

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  13. I played “I spy with my little eye” and found a p air of glasses, a snail, books, bell, key and an owl this time. Lovely charms and crystals all creating beauty forever. This is a lifetime gift or purchase!! 🙂 Take care and sit outside for a while in warm weather, I hope. It was 36 degrees this am! BRRR!

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  14. I love what uou chose for each individual order, Pauline. I see a star, a pretty little fairy, butterfly, a gem like tear drop with a paint swirl and lucious bright colors which go wonderfully together, Pauline.
    Your sweet ♡ Siddy needed his eyes to be able to see through his bangs, good choice of an activity, a break from creativity. 🙂
    Your equally sweet Orlando patient and maybe jealous of cheese treats (my mouth was watering for them, too!) Does have that, “I am not amused” look on his face. Dies he get a fishy treat, perhaps a kitty cookie? 🙂
    Off to bed, belatedly but so glad I came over for a visit. I will have sweet jeweled and bedazzled light catcher dreams, Pauline.

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    • Orlando does get his own treats Robin, of course he does 🙂 But, being a cat, he wants what the dog wants too – cheese is not good for either of them, but especially poor Mr O who has a very bad reaction to it………… Thank you for visiting Robin and leaving your lovely messages xoxo

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  15. Hello beautiful Pauline et all. Those are fabulous and stunning ! Not unlike yourself. Wherever do you find all the beautiful things. Little books, bells, Buda, butterflies, and that’s just the ‘B’s. I guess mine is still in transit, but I hope at least in your hemisphere by now.

    I loved your GIF of Siddy-licious, LOL ! So much fun, I could not resist those puppy eyes. I like the one where his eye’s are totally looking sideways at the goodies. OMGosh, I could eat him up he’s so cute. Then !!!, I also saw your shorter hair, ever so briefly. Just wee bit of a flash sneak peak to tease us. HA!

    Orlando is looking as handsome as ever. “Paleeze mama….just a nibble?” hehehe, that look 😀 I’m in the middle of a craft palozaa of epic proportions, but this was the loveliest little break ever ❤ ❤ Love sent with a blown kiss ❤ It might just feel like a little tickle by the time it arrives, but was major when it left…..xo K

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    • Hi honey!! No sign yet, but still another 4 – 6 weeks away I guess ….. though I do lose track of time very easily these days! The hair lives mostly under hats until it has grown out a bit more – I really don’t suit short hair and I never learn!! But I want to be whatever the real colour is so have to endure this part of the process – every day gets easier! I know you are working hard and making absolutely stunning displays and tutorials and all the rest. Just getting better and better isn’t it! Aren’t we so fortunate to be able to spend time doing what we love?

      Siddy’s eyes and eyelashes are indeed a talking point. He communicates quite successfully with a series of meaningful glances. Though he is still training us to understand him immediately – sometimes he has to work quite hard to get the message through because I’m not paying proper attention. He demonstrates patience and perseverance at these times 🙂

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  16. Pauline, you make art and fun all at the same time. Look at all the joy you’re sharing around the world. I’ve been enlarging photos so I can see some of the charms. I’m gobsmacked at the clever charms you find, and smiling inwardly guessing the recipient of some of these light-catchers.

    Some of my favorites: the spectacles, the snail!!!, and the spelling out of words. I’ll never forget the joy you spread around the table at Laurie’s earlier this year. You make magic wherever you go.

    I’m so excited to see my own special order when it arrives and I know two more friends that will be smiling thanks to you.

    As for your soft, sweet companions, they’re always a delight. Siddy is showing impeccable manners waiting for his offering. I used to medicate one of my cats with a small ball of cheddar cheese. He would gobble it up thanks to the pungent smell, never realizing what was inside. I love cheese…not sure it loves me. Its one of life’s dietary dilemmas.

    Such a nice post to start my time at the computer today. xox

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  18. As the quintessential magpie that I am, I can’t think of anything that I would rather be entangled with at the moment than glorious glass beads and shiny things. You lucky girl! I love how the raw materials turn into carefully considered artworks to hand in windows the world over and bring instant delight at gloriously coloured sunbeams and perchance, slow delicate memories landing like butterflies and delighting someone to their bones. What a wonderful way to pass the time. Creating future memory makers. Can’t wait to see the garden. I am afraid from mine. We got home yesterday to find Earl prowling around in the shrubs. Fearing a snake, we went hunting and Earl started patrolling the fenceline. Turns out he must have chased a rat who has taken up residence underneath my strawberry wicked water bed boat! The cheeky bugger had chewed a nice ratty (FAT ratty at that!) sized hole in the base of Sanctuary to allow him ease of entry after he has stuffed himself to the back gills with chook food and wended his gluttonous way back to the safety of Sanctuary where the feral cats can’t get him. Earl is aware of his presence now. Earl just headed out with determination at 4.17am. “Best of luck with your new “safe” passage Mr Rat!” ;). The tangled web we unleash when we start to garden and attempt to tame nature…

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    • Ah, you say the nicest things!! ❤

      Good old Earl!! I hope he catches him and at the very least gives him the thoroughly good shaking he deserves. Rats are really difficult to persuade to leave a cosy home too – especially one that provides easy pickings! Or maybe a feral cat might make its way accidentally into sanctuary and being hungry and feral might do what cats do best 🙂 Can you tell I am not a lover of rats?

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  19. The light catchers are beautiful. I love the expression on Orlando’s face. He clearly is at his toleration limit and knows this is all beneath him. Siddy is so cute. I can see how it would be hard to resist that little face when he wants something.

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  21. Those are so pretty. I finally located the tab on your page, lol. I love the way you customize the light catchers for the owner. I also adore your artwork…wonderful things to brighten the days of the recipients 🙂

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  22. You’ve been so busy! The danglers are all fab–the ones with the deep colors are a nice new direction, I think! I just have this image of you, sitting in your studio, with beads and charms dripping from your fingers and a huge smile on your face. Give the “kids” a pat and a squeeze from me!

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    • Me too Gallivanta, I would not have created such a mix without being urged to it and really am loving it. Heavens knows what might show up in the shop after this!! I believe dogs and cheese might be universal – I would never have given him cheese had not a dog walker, who was being molested by Siddy at the time, not shown me his pocket full of cheese cubes ready for rewarding good behaviour. It’s been downhill ever since!

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  26. Pauline, these danglies are beautiful – the details of tiny things make them so personal. I agree with the previous comment that you could branch into jewellery. How long does it take you to make one and where do you source all those bitty bits – they are truly astonishing!

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    • I am often asked these questions Jenny – perhaps I should write a post about it. Thank you Jenny! I find out as much as I can about the recipient and then let my intuition hold sway as I create for a particular person. It is an interesting process! Jewellery interests me less for some reason – no idea why! It takes 6 – 8 hours to make a three strander and I spend hours sourcing what I want. Mostly on-line I have to admit. Sometimes I’m not that happy with what I get, other times it is better than I thought. It’s still a process! I buy beads from all kinds of places and sometimes I have beads in the stash for ages before they turn out to be exactly what is required for a certain piece. I guess there isn’t a recipe – it’s all done on impulse, instinct and gut reaction 🙂 My prices are constructed to allow me to keep the stash going – adding more beads and findings and crystals in, so I can keep making. As long as it does that and folk keep liking ’em, I’ll keep making ’em 🙂 Thanks for asking – hope I’ve answered you adequately.

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  28. I so want a dangler to bring good energy into this home. I just need to decide what it needs. I’m waiting for it to tell me. I want a deep spiritual intensity here. The numbers of the house add up to spiritual growth. That’s where I’m going in this place. I don’t talk much about it but it’s who I am. I’ve been a bit distracted but getting my focus back. Yours are all so beautiful it will be hard to decide. You are so talented and I know your essence is in each one. I’ll pick one soon. Siddy will have lots of competition for that cheese. It’s everyone’s weakness. They are just too adorable, the both of them. Chin scratches for them both. I miss having a fuzzy friend. Maybe later.

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      • Not to worry about payment. I am always provided for. As a world class manifestor, I let the universe take care of the big stuff. I just keep things moving. Yes, I do deserve good things as do you as well. We will talk more about it after the holidays when things slow down for both of us. Now it’s time for me to think of others. :)) Giant hugs.

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  29. Pauline, they are all gorgeous. Today I hung Mom’s in the bedroom (as that was where the sun was at the moment) and was surprised by little comet rainbows all over the walls and the bed! It was just gorgeous! I’m sure she’s going to love it. I’ll pop the pictures of the rainbows into email!

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    • Fabulous Lisa – this is the best time of year for rainbows when the sun is lower in the sky. The good news is it happens twice a year for a period of time 🙂 I’m glad you are getting to enjoy it too xoxo

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  30. We seem to be pacing each other, I just published a post and then yours popped up in my email. You bright and shinies are wonderful, such great mixes of colours, and all the little additions…what a creative and talented woman you are. I love Orlando’s ‘not impressed’ face 🙂

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  32. The color combinations on the lights catchers are beautiful, Pauline. I love the emerald green.
    Oh my gosh! The Siddy photos were so cute! I love cheese too! Hugs to you, Siddy and Orlando. ❤

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  33. The new light catcher colour combinations look great – they are so striking!

    I had to laugh at the picture of Orlando’s face when he couldn’t have any cheese, I know that unimpressed cat look well! x

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  37. Oh, it was so nice to visit here, with my light catcher; I can hardly wait ’til it arrives…. You really have been busy…and they’re all beautiful…. Love, love love those gypsy colors!

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