:: inspiration ::

This is a sneaky peak at what I'm working on at the moment. It's a little project involving all of my loves, jewellery, embroidery, collage and now movie making. Things are still in the early stages but I'll keep you posted on how things come along.

I have had a lovey week, spending time with family and friends, planting and nurturing little seedlings in my garden and eating wonderful fresh food in the garden. I have been working on some new jewellery for my Etsy shop as well.

Maybe it is the sunshine or the smell of summer in the air, but I am being drawn to simple designs, shapes and colour combinations. I think of Indian summers looking at this necklace, the rich heat of the red semi precious Carnelian.

I have hit a wall with my bed time reading lately, do you have any recomendations? I like a bit of everything, so let me know what is gripping you at the moment. Have a lovely week x

:: day of diy :: button necklace tutorial

Thanks to all you voters out there who cast your votes, it was great to see so much interest!
So here, after much snipping and tweeking is my firts ever video tutorial. Please let me know what you think, any tips, suggestions ect.....

:: my life ::

Indie Film by thelightfantastic

Thank you youtube

Having spent hours and hours, days in fact trying to work out what I was doing wrong, I now know how to make, edit and upload video!

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone here in blog land, on twitter and in the Etsy forums who offered advice. It was such a comfort to know that I was not alone in having technical difficulties.

Turns out my films were .MOV files because I was filming on my digital camera, there for I had to convert them to .avi files to be able to edit them in my software, or any as it turns out! Having tralled the web I was directed to a very helpful video on youtube, showing me step by step how to convert my files.

So with my new found knowledge and a couple of hours tomorrow I'm going to set to work.

What digital/ technical problems have been phasing you recently?

:: my life ::

Retro 8mm Movie Camera by Cuba Gallery

I have been have trouble, demoralizing trouble. I have written, planned and filmed 4 video tutorials. But once I have transfered them onto my computer they won't open in the any of the movie editing packages I have.

I have tried changing the settings on my camera, downloading "codec", compressing and converting them, and still nothing. I am sooo disappointed, I had plans for a whole series on me and my work. But at the moment everything has come to a halt.

Maybe I have to take this as a sign for the moment that the world isn't ready for my film making, and I should go back to the drawing board, and read up more about the technical things. Who was it that said it would be easy?

While I struggle with my movies here's a little one I think you'll enjoy.

:: day of diy :: paper garland tutorial

For todays ::day of diy:: I'm going to show you a little tutorial on how I made my Mum a paper garland for Mother's Day. My Mum has a cubby hole kind of room for her study that gets the sun all day. A couple of weeks ago she gutted it out, painted the walls and put in a lovely oaty coloured woven carpet. So I thought something jolly and bright for the room would be a great idea.

Materials you'll need:

::scissors

::ribbon or tafita (as long as you want your garland to be)

::different types of paper (I used 7 pieces of coloured paper A6 size for the 7 large triangles and 5 book pages for the 9 smaller triangles.) Again, you can use as many as you like depending on how long you would like your garland to be.

::buttons, sequins, little scarps of fabric. (You can use any embellishments you like, I worked with what I had handy.)

::a threaded sewing machine

::printing stamps and ink or a pen to write a message (optional)

:: PVA glue

1. Start off by cutting out your flag shapes. I went for large and small triangles. I had some lovely soft pastel coloured paper so I decided to use them for the big ones. I decided to use recycled book pages for the small ones because it gives the garland a bit of depth and the text gives the paper some texture.
2. Once you have all your triangles cut out, lay them out on your working surface. I then started to cut small triangle shapes from my fabric scrap bag and laying them onto the book page triangles. I decided these ones would be the ones I woule embellish, and keep the large pastel ones to stamp on.

3. Now pva glue the fabric squares to the book page triangles, the smaller of your 2 sizes of triangle.

4. Then start to add your little decorative bits and pieces. I put a small dollop of pva glue on this piece of fabric and added a soft pink button and a collection of purple seed beads. The glue dries and holds them in place very well.
5. Now get out your ribbon or raffia and cut the length you are looking for. I went for 3 metres. Set your sewing machine to a zig zag stitch. This will grip the ribbon/ raffia and the paper the best.
6. I started to sew just at the first triangle I wanted on my garland and then carried on right till I reached my last flag. I roughly measured the gaps in between each flag, mine were approx 10cm gaps. This is also down to you, depending on how many flags you have and how long you want your garland to be.

7. Now to the fun bit! Lay out your stamps and get stamping. I went for little daily-do's, have faith, dance, dig in the garden, sit in the sunshine, doodle your dinner.....

You can stamp or write any thing you like. It could be a long love letter, someone's name, lyrics from a song.

I'd love to see your versions of this so please let me know if, sorry when you get round to making yours!

xxx

:: work in progress ::

Gold Pearl Necklace

Layered Chain Necklace

I am keeping things simple and sweet with my new collections. Letting the materials, colour combinations and textures speak for them selves. I love how the layered chain necklace sits perfectly sometimes, but as you move around the layers begin to twist like rope.

I am working on ::my story:: a way for me to send a little note with each piece of my jewellery, so that I can share the inspiration, and meaning behind each jewel. And have it in a way that the new owner can keep it too.

Both necklaces available in my Etsy shop Laura Baillie Designs