Mermaid Bear Necklace & Some Mermaid D.I.Y.

When I saw this teddybear mermaid necklace pop up in the Moon Bunny etsy shop, I couldn't resist treating myself. It's a teddybear... and a mermaid. And it has little golden shell nip-covers. How ridiculously, hilariously cute is that!?

It's incredibly well-made as well, with so much attention to detail.

I also made myself a few gold-coloured mermaid accessories recently:

I got this seashell mirror compact on ebay for a couple of quid and glued some swarovskis and plastic shells to it (I got the shells is a mermaid jewellery kit for kids and painted them gold).

A papercraft seahorse I got from Millers and turned into an earring...

... And here's a sparkley stud earring that I made from a gemstone sticker from Paperchase glued onto a piece of clear PVC which I then glued onto an earring back. Cheap as chips!

D.I.Y. Gudetama Tote Bag

Ok, I'm a little bit in love with the Sanrio character Gudetama right now. He's a lazy, adorable egg yolk with a butt so how could anyone not love him? Unfortunately, with Sanrio being a Japanese company, the shipping on Gudetama is quite dear and, although I did treat myself to a bundle of collectible gashapons (bottom picture), I couldn't really justify buying a Gudetama bag which is what I really wanted.

Instead I decided to use fabric paint and make a D.I.Y. one for myself as a treat! (It's only for personal use, don't worry). 

The finished Gudetama tote bag. I used Pebeo paints, but you could use Dylon fabric paints too, I'm sure.

Taking my Gudetama bag out for a matcha latte like a proper obnoxious Japan-obsessed Westerner! Yee-haw! *speaks random words of pigeon-Japanese and nibbles a pocky stick*

And how cute are these Gudetama gashapons I got?? Now I have a bag to clip them to as well.

Kitchen Labels

I decided to add a little gothic touch to our kitchen by designing some halloween inspired labels for jars. Since it was just a personal project, I didn't bother drawing anything; I just downloaded some fonts for the lettering. The frames and the pictures are fonts too.

I printed the labels onto sticker paper, which I realised was totally unnecessary when I had to tape them on with sellotape anyway, but that's how ya learn. I also kind of like the aged, crackled look the sellotape gives actually...

Deadly Decaf and Spiders' Webs (chai teabags). In hindsight, the chai tea should have been "Graveyard Dust" or something like that, but then again, maybe coffee granules seem more like graveyard dust than teabags...

Liquorice Tea is one of my favourites. It's also a strange greeny-yellow liquid with an extremely sweet aftertaste. Definitely sounds fitting as some kind of poisonous concoction or magical potion to me.

Full strength, regular coffee is, of course, just "Poison". I adore coffee, even instant coffee like this, but I couldn't resist the dramatic title.

What's In The Box?

I've been desperate to share this Christmas present I got from my sister and brother-in-law, but I wanted to get some proper photos first.

Unwrapping this hand-made box covered in bats, I couldn't figure out what could possibly be inside. All I knew was the fact that my sister and I had decided to give hand-made gifts this year and that she had been looking at my pinterest for inspiration.

Inside the box was a tissue seemingly stained with blood. Eek!

And inside the tissue was this amazing present. My sister has a lot of skill when it comes to jewellery-making and her husband is a dentist. Together they made me a human jaw necklace and apparently it was all my brother-in-law's idea which is really cool.

It's molded from a real person's jaw too (the work experience girl's apparently, haha) and then painted black. I can't tell you how much I just love this piece of jewellery. What do you guys think?

Stamp Your Own Wrapping Paper

To save a bit of cash this year (if not time), I decided to buy some cheap brown parcel paper and some black tissue paper to make my own hand-stamped Christmas wrapping paper. I used a small knife to sculpt heart shapes out of erasers and bought some cheap ink pads in gold and red.

You need to use a very fine knife. The shavings will get everywhere so do the carving over a piece of scrap paper.

The tissue paper was good for wrapping the more delicate presents before wrapping them again in the brown paper. Again, I did the stamping over a large piece of scrap paper so that the ink didn't seep through to the table as the tissue paper is very thin.

I also found an old office stamp with letters so I could make the words 'Merry Christmas' for the little gift tags.

The stamps don't last very long since the erasers can be quite crumbly (I'm going to have to try some linoleum or rubber for a longer lasting stamp), but for a one-off project that's all you need really. They're also really versatile since you can make anything. Here's a little skull stamp I couldn't resist making.

Making An Eyeball Flower Brooch

I picked up some very cheap flower brooches from h&m the other day and decided to give them a bit of the old diy treatment. This is by no means a tutorial, since the method is incredibly self-explanatory, but I think it's nice to document these things anyway to show that you can make things like this instead of paying lots of money for them.

I cut some of the stamens out of the flower first for room, then glued around the edge of the eyeball (which was bought as a set of 12 from ebay) before positioning it onto the flower and holding it while the glue dried.

Not the trickiest thing in the world I've ever made although I might add some red diamontes around the edge to fancy it up a bit. I know it makes me look a bit like a clown, but I love it anyway! And, besides, what's more gothic than a clown? Clown's are terrifying!

Making a Spiked Black Metal Lamp

For a long time now, I've been very inspired by the idea of a black lamp with metal spikes. 

My 'home decor' board on pinterest has, for a while, been home to both this image of a piece by artist Rebecca Johnson from Bughouse and this piece by Andrea Maestri. Unfortunately though, lamps like this are pieces of art rather than house products so, as a result, are either not for sale or waaaay out of my price range. 

For that reason, I had a go at making a spiky lamp myself, diy-style. Hopefully it's different enough from any existing pieces so as not to be copying them (I've not seen any others with a plain black shade and spikes on a matte black base yet. Besides, I'm not selling it - it's just for me!).

The finished lamp

I used an old yellow second-hand lamp. First I scrubbed it to death with some sandpaper (very important), wrapped masking tape over the bulb and cord and then painted it outside with a matte black spray-paint. I ordered the spikes online from a shop on ebay. I think they're meant for decorating mobile phones, haha.

Then I set up a ridiculous contraption to keep the lamp horizontal while I glues the spikes on, abandoned that when it didn't work and drove myself half mad trying to hold it like a club and stick them on without the glue slipping off before it dried. Yay.

I guess it worked though: here's the finished cactusy looking lamp. There are a few faults and you can see some of the scuff marks where I sanded it, but I think it came out ok.

And here it is with the light plugged in and switched. The shade's a bit thin and cheap so I'll probably get a better one to replace it, but it'll do for now.

Pvc Collars

Although I'm loving the collars necklaces that in the shops these days, I haven't managed to find exactly what I want in a collar. That's why I decided to make some myself!

It took a few attempts to get the right thickness and size, but, in the end, I think I worked out a way of making them that works well so I'm making up some more. I might sell them online if people are interested, although right now I'm making them with the view to selling a bunch of things at upcoming craft fairs. These black and pink ones are made of pvc, hand-sewn with a chain and metal fastenings.

You can see me wearing my own little black one here.

Bone Brooches For Sale on Etsy

My little felt bone-shaped brooches are now on sale in my online shop! You can have a look at them here. What do you think?

They are approximately 7.5cm in length and each bone brooch is handmade so they might vary in stitching very slightly. The packaging colour is random, but if you have a particular preference for the pink or the purple just let me know!

Everything Reduced In My Store And More On Sale In La La Land

To celebrate my little star brooches now on sale in the La La Land website, I've reduced prices on all the brooches in my etsy store. I have gothic pvc hearts, little jam tarts and giant-sized twee vintage fabric hearts too. Check 'em out here.

My etsy store.

Sometimes I wish I could spend all my time making little brooches. It's so relaxing to just sit and sew away. That doesn't seem likely though as it looks like I'm going to be getting a lot of work to do very soon. I don't want to say much until it gets underway properly, but it could be something really awesome. I'll keep you guys posted, but, for now, all I'll say is that it's very different from these little brooches here and involves the other side of what I do. Very exciting!

My felt stat brooches available to buy from the La La Land website.

Our Gothic & Ghoulish Wedding Invitations

If you're getting married and one of you is a graphic designer, the task of making the wedding invitations tends to fall on you. That's ok with me though! I was full of ideas immediately. From the start, I wanted to make something personal to us that highlighted our complimentary differences in a nice way. People are always commenting on the differences in our appearance so I thought I'd use our two hands together: his big, swarthy Australian hand and my pale, little goth hand.

The reason they're severed and in a box is because, well, I thought it was kind of funny and cute... in a strange way. It's like a pop up surprise: the outside of the card is like the outside of the box then you open it up and get a fright and maybe a giggle.

Here are the invitations:

Along with the invitation card and the rsvp card, I also slipped in a postcard-sized print of a little caricature I drew of Tim and me. I purposely drew the dress and jewellery differently from what I'll be wearing on the day because I want Tim to get a surprise. And, yes, he is is that much taller than me!

Facebook Page New Brooches Up On Etsy

First of all, I made a Facebook page for my little brooches and accessories. You can look at it, like it or share it here! I've had a facebook page for the work I do under the title Xenocblood Art for a while now which you can see here and I've found it to be a really great way to promote my own work and discover other people's work as well.

Other than that, I put three new heart brooches up on sale in my etsy shop today: a small pink pvc one and two larger vintage style ones. Follow the links for more info.

Pink pvc heart-shaped brooch with pink lace trim. 

This little brooch is 7cm x 7cm.

Large Pink Pudding Vintage Style Heart Brooch. 

This one is 10.5cm wide x 9.5cm high, has a pink lace trim, pink bow and shows two children eating some pudding with a red cherry on top.

Large Vintage-Style Heart Brooch With Red Flower

Made of lovely blue Kath Kidson fabric with a white lace trim. It has a red flower detail with pearl beads.