Have you ever seen this before?

In between all the painting I'm doing, I needed to do something fairly easy and relaxing stuff.  I've been thinking of doing this for a long time but did never do anything about it. Now was the right time so I jumped to it.
Actually I once saw this done 30 years ago. A friend of mine was going to be married and her twin brother made the couple a piece like this of the two of them. Since then I have been thinking of trying it myself.

I think this idea can be used in several different ways, I am going to make our son a special gift for his birthday towards the end of the month. I'll use a photo of him from his babydays and one from the kindergarden.  That could be nice I think.
Anyone who remember these two faces I made a year ago? They will be my testing objects.

What I did was this : I cut the two faces into equal pieces, width 4 cms. and hight 24 cms. and glued them onto a sturdy sheet. It's important to notice that their eyes are at the same hight. Glue down and let dry. Fold your work like an accordion ( I did this with my papercutter, after I had changed the cutting tool with one that doesn't cut and before I glued the pieces onto the sheet.) and fasten to a new sturdy sheet. Be accurate,  Each of my pieces are 4 cms wide, so I felt it suited to glue every downpointing foldtip 6 cms apart.  Many of you don't operate using cms. Use your own unit of measurement but make a test (copy your photos) first to be sure of getting a good result. Was this understandable? Feel free to ask.

Below you see how it should look, seeing it from the top.

  If you see the result right in front, it looks like this.

If we move to the left, this is what happens.

 Go to the right and the other face will show. Yay, it works....how cool is that! It's so fun to pass it and see it change from one image to another. This would be the perfect artpiece in a long hallway.

This was something I made just to test the idea. Imagine you knew the persons, and if they both were looking a bit towards the middle of the work. That would give the impression that they were looking at each other. I think perhaps black and white photos would be even better if people are the motives.
What do you think? Siblings, Me and Handyman, Sweethearts, your pets or perhaps a couple of artpieces that would mix perfectly together.
 The opportuneties are endless, and I would love to see what you create if you try it.

It's difficult to photograph a piece like this one. You know, there's only one angle that shows the perfect image and you'll need a bit space to move on, to see it. To see it in person is quite another thing. It was fun to make it and it's easy if one are accurate from the start.

There you are, go ahead and try making your own piece.

Last post in 2011.

Last days of 2011.

I just want to thank you all for any kind of connection we've had in 2011. It has been a great year for me, and I had quite a production the last weeks before Christmas. Below you see most of the pot coasters I made. I think two or three are missing here.



I also made some knittingneedle and hook holders, and they became a mistery for some of those who recieved one. I didn't include written words on how to use them and my Mum and Moster didn't understand what it was. We have had some good laughs about that later on.


They are made of very fine leather, soft as glove-leather. Originally ment to use on buttons. Inside I lined them with fabric and the knitted plaits.


I added a tapestry needle and a measure for knittingneedles. I wonder what the two of them thought it to be. I'll have to ask them some time.
Below you can see how it looks when in use. A friend of mine saw them before Christmas and she immediately said " what luxury". That was because of the softness of the leather.



I've had a nice Christmas and handyman and I are going to celebrate the new year alone. Because we want it that way. Sandra has been here for some days now but will return home tomorrow. She got her own laptop for Christmas and, I expect the question on how to make her own blog will turn up sooner or later.
Since this is my last post this year I want to wish you all a Happy new year!
Take care when using the fireworks!!

Small things to give away.

I had a little spare time yesterday.

The whole thing started with the squared one. I wanted to try if I could knit this design. Yes I could, but it was too slow to make for Christmas besides a lot of people in my family do knit themselves. Not that many crocheting though. So I chose to crochet instead and it's much faster too. These are not potholders but hot pot coasters. You know to protect the bench or table from hot pots.
I've chosen to make them colourful just to brighten any grey day. I'm planning to give one to each family in my family,as a small gift. Perhaps that will inspire the girls to start crocheting. That would be fun.


Today I'm going to polish all the doorhandles. Every door in our house have brass handles, old real brass. There are quite a few to do so that will be my job today. Tomorrow will be the day for the silvervare. Oh, the forks are difficult to polish.
The roast has to be put into sour too if I'm going to get it ready for Christmas. Baking will be done later on. Coming week will be all about cleaning/washing.
And this year my mom is coming home for Christmas so I'll have to pay her a visit or two too.
Because of my mom we are all going to celebrate Christmas together this year and that mean that we will be more than 30 persons at Christmaseve. Amongst them are 11 great grandchildren.

I'm off to polish, have a nice weekend.

With all my heart.

Hello everyone.

Today I'm going to show you what I've been doing lately. My Moster is turning 75 years today so I'm going to pay her a visit later on. Anyone who knows what a Moster is? Well, it's the same as an Aunt but at the same time it tells that this Aunt is the sister of my mother. Not many people uses this word any more but I learnt it as a child and for me she has no other name. Her real name is Elise but for me and my siblings she is Moster. Elderly people always react when they hear us calling her Moster, I think it brings back many good memories for them. At least that's what I've heard said.

I've been making hearts lately. For the last 3 years I've been baking gingerbread hearts, for Christmas, to hang as decoration in some of our windows. But, I actually don't like to bake and it's so irritating to throw them away when Christmas is over so this year I'm going to sew them.



The two upper ones are front and back, so they looks the same. The left one is half done and the lower one is for my Moster. I'm going to hang it on a gift for her today. At the back of that heart I've "written" Moster 75. She has access to my blog but she doesn't read any English so I hope I'm safe. These are also nice to give as small handmade gifts.

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My giveaway.

Not that many that took part so it is easy for me to pick the winner. I wrote the names on paper patches and threw them in my blue bowle.



Then I picked one out and the lucky winner is:

Gratulerer Anne Lise, boken er din!

My art studying friend was the lucky winner.
I want to thank everyone that took part and hope for you to have better luck in another occation.
Now I'm off to prepare the gift for Moster.
Have a nice day and take care!

A small handmade gift.

What to give to people that have all they need?

I'm always looking for things to make that can be given as small gifts. Now I will share with you some ideas I've found and that is not too complicated to make.
I assume that people all over the world know what to find behind a door with a heart on it.Today I'll show you some hearts that I've made for that purpose. Originally the idea came from a Norwegian craft magazine many years ago.


This is how it looks when done.



I started to draw my heart onto the felt which has glue on one side and then ironed it to the background fabric. I was planning to use velvet but couldn't find that in my piles. (uha)



Cut it out and turn the edges at the back and fasten them. Use an invisible thread. I used the red one just to show you how to.



Now it's time to mark the outlines of what's going to be ones embroidery. As you see I prefer to use a well used bar of soap. (anyone else that still uses bars?) The more they are used the thinner the edges and then they are easy to draw with. The reason I use soap instead of regulare tailor chalk is that the soap don't leave any marks while the chalk does.
I do BTW use to smoothen some of my threads before handsewing and then iron them before use. That prevent the thread from twisting. You can see the marks on my bar. Not the embroidery threads though.



And then the fun begins. Use what colours and stitches you want. On this I used two needles, one for the embroidery thread and one to fasten that thread.




This is how it looked at the back. I don't mind at all how it looks there because I'm going to cover it up.



Time for the shapeform again. Draw, cut and fasten to the heart. Last thing to do is to make the small loope. And then you have made yourself a small or bigger looheart.



The red heart is made slightly different. I didn't use the stiff felt in it. Just some acrylics and then I zig-zaged it together. I dont feel that it's finished, looks a bit dull to me but I'll see.



Well that's how we can make a handmade gift and be able to adjust the colours to the recievers taste. ENJOY!