Monday 29 April 2013

...the crafting spoonie reports in!

Good evening peeps, I hope everyone is OK?
I thought I'd bring you up to speed on the crafting side, followed by a quickie on my health... so if you're a Spoonie or a Fibromite, with no interest in crafting, you can skip to the end... & visa versa if you're a crafter LOL

Since I last wrote, I've finished a major project that I started last year... my Scarlet woman masquerade mask.

The mask was almost finished & just needed ties attached but I was unhappy with the finish on the back.  I realised that if I wanted to put the mask on my Etsy shop (link on the right) I also needed to create or find some kind of container for it.
So... I made some elasticated loops & attached them to the mask. These would allow the wearer to adjust the ribbons for ease.


Here you can see the loop with the ribbon attached. the next thing I did was to recover the back of the mask. As this had originally been an experimental piece I hadn't really worried about the back before. I found some burgundy lining fabric & used that, it looks a lot better now.

... it's something I really need to work on when I do the next mask, to get the back looking as polished as the front.




Now that the mask was finished I turned my attention to the packaging. I found an old box that was the right size, just a bit to deep... an easy solution was to make a new lid & cover both to match.




 hmmm, I thought long & hard over the decoration of the box, & at the end of the day, as always, I had to use what I already had in the house. It's a right pain living on benefits & not having any money for luxuries LOL

In the pics above you can see the papier macheing with red tissue paper and the leftovers of the mask's ribbon. I then cut some burgundy tissue hearts in different sizes & applied them & then dotted some gold heart gems around for a bit of glam.
I'm very pleased with the finished box.



I have another mask, one that also needs ties & a box... so that is being attended to as we speak.
I wanted to make my other ongoing project in time for this weekend... oops, that's gone now so I've missed the dead line by a mile LOL ~ it was for a crafting competition with the only stipulation that the theme was 'book'.

My idea was to make a treasure box out of a book, it's going to have a secret compartment & the cover is (hopefully) going to be an Ab-Fab mix of shabby chic & a pirate's chest... well that's the general idea.
Here's the book, with the pages cut out. It's all ready to have the pages stuck together, the spaces to be lined & the cover decorated.


That's the end of the crafting news... here's the update on the health & home side.

I received a letter from the DLA during the week, they're arranging for a medical examiner to come & visit ~ at least I know it's being dealt with, although I don't hold out much hope of getting anywhere with the financial support... but you never know & like they say ~ it's not over until the fat lady sings !

I managed to get down to see my GP on Tuesday, my brother was off work & I actually managed to co-ordinate everything so that the appointment fitted in with him & mum arriving & giving me a lift... wonders will ever cease LOL

To my immense relief he was very understanding, well he seemed to be! he's put me back on morphine ~ only to be used at times when the pain is too much, what a relief to have it as a back up again! ...and he's referred me back to my consultant to investigate the Chronic Fatigue & the Sleep Paralysis, my appointment is on 22 nd May.
So, all in all the visit was a success & worthwhile me making the effort. As always, I couldn't have done it without my family & I'm so grateful for their support.

I also had my last physio session this week, I've now been signed of. As Mary said, there's nothing else she can do because the most pain is from the fibro & she was only sent to me to deal with me post-op, for my hip. I shall miss having her visit but I can report that I did everything she asked me to do & she was very pleased with me (smug grin ! LOL)

Today I ran out of spoons... deep sigh... after managing to get upstairs, find some fabric & other bits for my crafting... AND have a bath...I then tried to make my bed with clean sheets & duvet... I persisted & although I probably broke a few records for the longest-bed-making-session-in-know-history, I did it BUT I lived to regret being so damn stubborn!

The end result was too much pain, no crafting & ending up in bed, horizontal, with 2 of the cats. I really should have learnt to pace myself by now ~ to end on a nice note, here's some pics of my Montie, one of our 5 cats...  he's my faithful companion... he really is a mummy's boy, bless him x




That's all folks... until next time x


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