Some of my first projects...

So, since I haven't finished anything new yet (I actually started on something else today, and I have 2 more projects in mind that I would like to finish within 2 weeks, so yes, I do tend to go a bit crazy sometimes) I've decided to show you 2 of my earlier crafty projects (I asked a friend of mine if I could take some pictures of some of the presents I've made for her before, so I could show them to you wonderful people).

As you all probably know, people tend to feel better around their own kind, and since I have a bit of a quirky (and possibly crazy) side I tend to attract similar people. One of these is a friend I met about 9 (almost 10) years ago when I started college. Now the quirky thing about her is that she loves snails and this obsession, which had been growing since she was a child, actually took on regal proportions when she decided to call herself 'King of Snales' (yes, you've read it correctly, 'King' not 'Queen' or 'Princess', because according to her a king is more powerful). So, what could a girl possibly buy or create for a woman who absolutely looooovvveeesss snails... Yes indeed, we support the snail-craze and provide her with even more subjects...

As you might guess, we loyal 'servants' watch the content of local stores all year long in the hopes of finding the perfect snail for our 'king'. However, since our beloved 'king' has already received quite a vast collection of snails it is becoming more and more difficult to find new ones. So, what is a girl to do? She decides to create a one-of-a-kind, snaily gift. I believe the first one I created is the one below.

For this little projects I bought a polystyrene block in the shape of a snail (this block was my initial inspiration for this project). Afterwards I looked for sequins in beautiful colours, but unfortunately, I could only find these silver and green sequins (we have to make do with what we find). Lastly I bought me a lot of pins so I could put the sequins onto the polystyrene shape. Now I must say it took me quite a few days, painful fingers and one bloody fingernail to get this done, but she did love her present, so I suppose in the end it's all worth it.

Now, the second gift I made for her, was a housewarming gift. I decided to make her a personalised guest towel. As it turned out the towel never made it to the appropriate area (they decided to paint the toilet area a very hot pink, making the towel completely inappropriate for such a lively room) and is instead currently on display with the many other snail items she has collected and received over the years. So, here are some pictures (I'm afraid I didn't get to photograph the whole, since it's really covered with other items and difficult to extract from the case).

As you can see, I decided to buy a simple silver-grey guest towel and then add some cross stitch applications in order to personalise it (in this case I created a crown in the middle and surrounded it by 4 snails (2 on each side). I did this on a small canvas band that was afterwards sewn onto the towel). Since purple is her favorite colour, I naturally decided to use different hues of purple in order to create the snails. In the end I thought it turned out beautifully, and our beloved 'king' loved the towel as well.

So you see that you don't need to look too far in order to create something lovely and personalised. Just think of the person you're creating for and what (s)he loves, I'm sure you'll come up with something that will bring a sparkle to his or her eyes... Now, as always, thanks for reading, and I hope to see you again soon...

Lots of love,
Crazy Crafter xxx