Happy New Year!

Fireworks were shot from 22 city rooftops to herald in the new year in Melbourne.

As you can see from this news photo there were crowds of people everywhere . . . and we were nowhere to be seen. Hubby and I spent the evening with friends at the Victorian Jazz Club, Clayton RSL, where we enjoyed a lovely three course meal and more than a couple of glasses of wine, while listening and dancing to Shimona and the Cats Pyjamas.
It was a fabulous night! :)

-oOo-

Now to what's been happening in the studio.

Buttons the tailor received his custom clothes for Christmas, courtesy of Gugu Moda, and I made him the white apron with a little pocket to store his scissors in. He wanted to show you the sign which will be mounted on the outside wall of his shop. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

I also completed crocheting the little clown's hat. As you can see, these two have become friends.

And the shop furniture is finished. I gave each of the  pieces a base coat, then a coat of crimson red, and a coat of beige, before rubbing it back with sandpaper to give it a worn look.

I then added a final coat of matt sealer and it was all done and dusted!

I also ruled lines on the table top to make it appear like it was made from planks, rather than being a solid piece of wood.

I think it looks like old furniture that has been painted several times before,

so hopefully it appears to everyone else, like it's been knocked about through years of hard work.

I have had little motivation to do much else, but I did manage to book and pay for our airplane tickets for our London/Paris trip later in the year. Now it's time to catch up on some blog reading. :)

Sidetracked by a Circus

Although I've still been working on the Tailor's shop in between all our Christmas preparations, I found myself a little stumped (forgive the pun) when it came to the interior walls of the tree, so I had finally reached a standstill. But as luck would have it, I did, after some searching, find just the right lining, but had to place an order and wait for the parcel to arrive after the holidays.

Not being one to simply sit and wait around twiddling my thumbs, thoughts crept into my head . . . one in particular stuck there. At first it was simply an idea, then I found a picture on the internet suitable for me to put the idea into practise. I downloaded it, cut it into three sections using photo editing and printed it out on A4 paper. Using a glue stick, I mounted each sheet on foam board and made matching paper hinges (using photo editing once again) to put it all together.

Of course a Circus isn't complete without a clown or trapeze artist, so I made new costumes for my PukiFees, Tika (tan) and Rin (white), which also created a gender change. 😏 Though I still need to finish Rin's hat and Tika still has his/her wolf fangs, but they are not really out of place in a Circus are they? After all they used to have bearded ladies and others with human oddities.

Speaking of oddities . . . these  body parts arrived yesterday, I intend on painting them and using the tiny mannequin in the Tailor's shop and the larger one in my Fleur and Mason boutique when I finally get round to putting it all together.

Looking at these photos now, I see I probably need new ink for my printer. So what's new about that? I always need something. Well that's about it for today, so once again . . .  HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

Have Yourself a Very Merry Christmas

Here's a quick photo of our Christmas tree decorations this year, it's a mixture of cream hand tied bows, flock and ceramic teddy bears, a few tartan drums, vintage decoupage and red balls. I like to have a different look/colour each year, last year we had a burgundy and gold theme.

And look who arrived today, just in time to sit under the tree . . .

. . . my sweet little JUDE! Except he probably won't be called Jude, it's not quite the right name for an elf TAILOR!

Yes, he's going to be quite at home in the Tailor Shop, just you wait and see!

It's becoming even busier here now, so I shan't be around as much as I normally am, not until after the new year.

However, I will attempt to catch up on all your blogs this afternoon.

Have a wonderful time with your respective families, stay safe and try not to eat too much or overdo the alcohol! :)