Vintage Ice Skates - Saturday 24th November

Good Morning blog friends,

Thank you for all your lovely comments yesterday! And welcome to my new follower Anne - we found each other through Wilma and through both of us having the same posting problem - I hope you are sorted as well Anne, love your blog!

 Today I have a 'make' for you! 

For the new Emergency Crafters challenge, the design team was given the remit to make anything - and that is the theme of the new challenge, so if you have anything you've made.... from a card to some knitting, a page layout to a sewn item, why not hop over and enter...there's a super prize up for grabs.

You know I like grungy, steampunk and vintage...well I don't think ice skates can pass for steampunk, but I loved the pattern from these grungy, vintage, almost 'primitive' ice skates when I got it a few years ago from a US primitive/country pattern site called Country Whims.  I do love making this type of project and when we get the decoration box down from the attic, I will photograph and share the snowmen I've made. After I bought this pattern I'm sorry to say that I promptly put it in my pattern box and never got round to making it until now!

The boots are made from cotton batting and after sewing them, I distressed them with some tea dye and Vintage Photo distress inks, to make them even more vintage and old looking. The laces are made from cotton, which I also inked to get really dark. The blades,which I'm sorry you can't see well in the picture, are made from rusty wire and after stuffing the boots to half way with some old material scraps, I added quite large rusty bells and filled the tops of the boots with angel hair vine twigs.

To finish off I included a muslin bag (which should be filled with candy!): the bag is decorated with a red felt spellbinders poinsettia and a little sentiment tag.

No papercraft today, but something different and I hope you like it!

My friend Trish and I had a lovely day in Bath yesterday, the sun shone and the Christmas Craft market was bustling and full of delightful gifts.I just 'window shopped' this time, I am due back there in a few weeks, so may get some goodies! My dear blog friend Oksana asked for some photos so here are a few of the market and also the River Avon, which in part had risen above the banks and closed the footpaths. In the photo I have taken there is usually a weir, but that is hidden beneath the water.

Bath Christmas Market

Swollen River Avon flowing under Pultney Bridge

Aren't these markets lovely? Bath's is the biggest one close to us, but I also love going to the Cirencester one...Oksana mentioned Manchester - do you have any near to you? I've been to one in Birmingham and that was huge!

Thanks for stopping by!

Carole X