Christmas in the making

A couple of years ago I decided to make all my presents for Christmas instead of buying things. These are two that I made. For my neice I made her a fancy princess bed canopy. I built a stand that has a folding joint in the middle so it can be packed away and moved around more easily. That also meant they could use it in rentals coz they didn't have to attach it to the ceiling. I used pink, purple and pale pink satin to make a circus tent top and sewed on plastic crystal stars. I painted a fancy wooden knob I bought from a hardware store for the very top. I bought some bamboo stakes that I heated, bent and tied to make a semicircle for a nice rounded front.

I think the main hanging part was made from an old curtain I bought at an opshop and I decorated it with pink flower sequins. And the background, which covers the stand, is a cotton princess print material I used as my theme.
For my nephew I wrote a story called "CLUNK: Fixer of Broken Things" about a robot who thought he wasn't good at anything. Of course, through the book he discovers that he's good at fixing broken things. The pictures are pretty roughly illustrated as I was running out of time before Christmas. I've come to learn that most projects I undertake take longer than expected.
I then made him a costume to wear so he could dress up as Clunk, the main character. He was a little bit hesitant to put it on at first. In fact, his younger brother had to try it on before he got enough courage together to put the box over his head. But once he did that he really liked it. I'm making some presents this year too. Well, actually one is a birthday present but I won't post them until they've been given.

water for the capsicum

When I was in the USA last year, I took a class in watercolour painting just for fun. This was a project I did from a live capsicum (or bell peppers as they are called over there). Watercolour is tricky to use. It has a little more wildness than acrylic paint--not so easy to control. There's definitely technique to it. My attempt isn't too bad. It's fun to try something different. This class was my first experience with real watercolour painting. That is, other than the cheap tray of hard circles of watercolour paint I played around with when I was a kid. Have to try it again some day.

SuhRa's scarf

I also like to crochet. I crocheted this from the wool I had for my friend, SuhRa, last year. It's just basic triple stitch. I made it short with a hole toward one end so you poke the opposite end through it to "tie" it around your neck. I also crocheted a couple of flowers, as you can see, to decorate it.