One more for our gang

 I know you are probably all  fed up with me by now , rambling on about crocheting , but I had to share the latest friend to join or gang in the craft room. This is Petal and she is a little flowerling .

She obviously didn't want to be left out , so she bought her little cup and saucer tray with her just in case we were having cake with our tea LOL

I have to say I am quite enjoying these few days of crocheting and these little loves are such fun to do , I just have to make sure that my Grand-daughter doesn't run off with them (she has tried already !!!!)

Happy makings Bev xx

A friend for Rosalie

Hello lovely blog friends, I hope you've all had a good day.

Well as promised after being so impressed with this new style of crochet that I have discovered, I just couldn't rest until I had made a friend for Rosalie, and here she is . I would like you all to meet Teacup Twinkle.

She will be joining myself and Rosalie in the craft room to watch over us (and our tea) and make sure that we don't get up to too much mischief

happy makings  Bev xx

Say hello to a new friend

I think I have been in some kind of time warp as I have only just discovered amigurumi crochet !!!! So now armed with this knowledge out came the crochet hook and we began. I gathered up some yarn that had been in my craft room almost forgotten about (its been that long since I had done any knitting etc)
Anyways I was completely surprised at how quickly and easily adaptable this style of crochet is , so a couple of hours later , after a bit of sewing together and a few finishing touches ............................Meet ROSALIE with the pink hair.

She stands approx 13" tall and is dressed in her tutu.

I'm sure she and I will have lots of fun together and we will become the best of buddies.

I'm off to make her a friend now 

Happy makings

Bev xx

Nifty & Thrifty paper beads

Hello blog chums , today I thought I'd try something different .
 I have been inspired after watching some tutorials on paper bead making ,something I'd never really thought about before . Well as ever I had to give it a whirl and get it out of my system , and guess what it's great . A cheap and cheerful addition to my crafty stash.

I cut the paper strips from an old desk pad (any paper, magazine etc can be used to do this), then used my quilling tool to roll the paper round really tightly starting at the wider edge and securing the last 1/3of the strip with  a glue stick and the bead is made.
At this point if you have used coloured paper you're done. If you are using them for jewellery they will need to been sealed , but I wanted to use them for other things, so I gave them a quick dip in mod podge and rubbed them over with some mineral eyeshadow & glitter  to colour them (paint and inks can also be used )

the finished beads coloured up

I used them to edge a cameo picture glued to a piece of card .

 Let me know what you think
Happy makings Bev xx

Taking the plunge!!!

Hi Blog chums ,

well I 've gone and done it now and theres no going back !!! After a lot of persuading from family and friends I have finally made my first video and posted it to You Tube , showing off some more of my origami boxes , I hope you're not getting to bored with them yet.
We shall see what happens , obviously I'm a novice at this but you have give these things a go don't you , in for a penny and all that .So if anyone fancies having a look here's the link
 www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zKOVPQtSQ8

Please dont laugh too much I was very nervous, at least you can't see my face LOL xx

Bye for now & happy makings

Bev xx

Box o'pansies

Hello lovely blog friends , how does the saying go " never count your chickens" just when I thought spring was around the corner , here we are covered in snow !!!! and it didn't stop all day .
Well being ever the optimist I wasn't about to let a bit of snow put me off my latest project, yes you've guessed it another origami box . A couple of weeks ago whilst out craft shopping I found the most beautiful purple coloured card stock , I had to have it  - this time I made a larger box than usual, I made some paper pansies (I have to cut them by hand as I don't own a die cutter), and here we are the finished project.I think this one is destined for my Mum for Mothers Day , I shall fill it with smellies, soaps and few treats for her. Happy Makings Bev xx

the box lid

the inside of the box.

a close up of the paper pansies, just cut from glitter card stock and tinted with some acrylic paint, and the leaves made from everyday copy paper

A taste of spring

Its been a few days since my last blog, so I thought I would pop in tonight . I have been very happy that you lovely folks have been stopping by and visiting me as this has been my first proper week at blogging since joining again. I have been in my craft room as usual, and after reading so many pages it seems we are all taken with the fact that a few days of sun makes us think of warmer days to come. With this in mind and of course my obsession with the origami boxes I have designed a little springtime box - complete with a little window planter full of daffodils.

I would like to give this away as a Thank You for taking the time to come and see me so if anyone would like to have a chance of winning  it, drop an email and link to your blog and I will pick a winner at random next Friday

Happy makings   Bev xx

Grand Tea Swap

Good evening fellow bloggers , just a quick post and a Thank You to Lucy in the sky for organising the Grand tea swap , I am really looking forward to it Its not to late to join in so pop over to Lucy's blog for details

http://inthesky1.blogspot.co.uk/

Somebody save me ..............Part 2

After a couple of coats of antique white homemade chalk paint , the table is ready for the fun part - lets pretty it up . I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it , but without an o/head projector or any decals , I had to improvise..... I printed my image onto iron on transfer paper and hoped for the best!!!!! Ok it was a bit hit and miss (my iron doesn't get hot enough really)but the effect was what I wanted - grainy, faded and very vintage I was quite pleased after everything was done.

A few little twiddly bits around the outer edges and a nice coat of varnish - the coffee table from hell now able to sit back in the living room and be admired (I hope), and you've probably guessed already , the daughter who was throwing it out , has asked if she can have it back!!!!! Whats a Mum to do ??? Happy makings Bev xx

Somebody save me ..........part 1

My daughter recently moved house and lurking in the corner was this lovely pine coffee table that the previous owners had left behind . I asked her what she was going to do with it " throw it out " she said. Now you can imagine the look on the husbands face when I asked him to put it in the car, as I must admit it was quite a sorry sight to behold at this point ( one to many dinners from the children squished on it , yuck). Well everything needs a little love now & then , so after a good washing down and some industrial strength elbow grease supplied by yours truly the table was ready for its makeover

( I apologise for the picture , in my hast to get started I almost forgot to take one, oops)

Sweetly scented neighbours

Towards the end of the last summer I finally plucked up the courage to go and knock on the door of one of my neighbours whom I don't really know that well. It wasn't just a random visit , I did have a purpose, you see her front garden is lined on all sides by the loveliest lavender bushes (something I just cant seem to grow!!!), so armed with cap in hand , or should I say empty paper bag I finally asked her if I could cut some of the lavender heads for myself , she was only to obliging telling me that her son would just throw them into the recycling bin when it was time for them to be pruned back and that I could help myself whenever I wanted. I placed the cut lavender heads in my craft room to dry out, now and then knocking the bag when I was frantically looking for something which gave off the most beautiful scent. Well today I decided to use these beautiful flowers , so I sat down at my sewing machine , lap full of linen , a few printed images and scraps of ribbon & lace ..... and here we are

the sweetest smelling hearts to hang around the house ( I did pop one over to my neighbour as a thank you for letting me have the flowers ) Happy makings Bev xx

papercrafting for fun

As I previously mentioned I have been playing around with this origami box design , this is the latest one I have made. I wanted a nostalgic feel to it , so I started by using a chocolatey brown heavyweight paper to make the bottom of the box ( a single sheet of 12 x 12 paper) double sided paper works best for these boxes as the sides are folded back on themselves, but its personal choice , you can decorate them as you wish.I then made the top of the box from very thick card and decorated it with a vintage image and then embellished it. The lid has a small box attached to the inside of it so fits snuggly on top of the main box . These can then be filled to give as gifts. Happy makings

Bev xx

change of name

Hi all , this year I decided to spend some time and really try and get into the blogging world , so I have changed my blog name from MAvisMAdeit - to the Shabbied Up Granny. I hope to show you some of my more recent work and hope you enjoy seeing it as much as I like to make it . Crafting is my passion and at the moment papercrafting is top of my lists . I recently came across a tutorial on how to make an origami star box. I made a few for gifts at Christmas and everyone seemed to like them.I have recently adapted the box and will share a picture with you shortly