Hallowe'en Trick or Treat blog hop

Welcome to the next letter of the blog hop for Hallowe'en organised by Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching.  At time of posting I don't know what order I am in the hop so if you arrived here at random and want to join in, use the link on the right hand side to Serendipitous Stitching, start at the beginning and I will see you back here in a bit.

Now the rules for the hopping stops are simple, we share a picture for the theme and pop in the letter to be added to the others collected on the hop.

I had to do a bit of thinking on this one, the only thing I had a picture of fully in theme I shared last year (all hallows eve on 31.10.2013) from my try at pumpkin carving.  Then I remembered an item I made for my brother who is a sound and light engineer.  For a little while his business cards (which were orange, a very hallowe'een colour of late) bore the legend "sound wizard".

So I made this for him and I think the wizard (on 18 count and originally intended as a book mark) looks suitably scary in his purple (another hallowe'en colour ) robes.  The musical notes on my version were stars on the original design. I had no picture of the finished item, got in touch with my brother all digital due to distance and asked did he still have and if so could he take a picture.  A happy yes to both (it lives on the wall of his home studio) and here he is, Sound Wizard.

Sound Wizard

I can almost hear you asking where's the letter and the link to the next step.  Well you have kindly hopped into my blog world and here is the reward.

and now you have it added to your word, just hop on this link to keep your journey going. 

    

http://minnie-allxxs.blogspot.co.uk/

Jo's 500 Followers Blog Hop - Becca

 500 thats a big number and the land mark number of followers Jo who can't think of a clever nickname from Serendipitous Stitching has reached.  To mark the occasion those of us who were able to do so are taking part in an impromptu blog hop.  The theme is very King and I, "getting to know you", or rather getting to know one of our fellow blog-ing Jo followers.

So I have newly met (via the magic of the blogverse) Becca of Finding Flapjack

http://findingflapjack.blogspot.co.uk/

So let me introduce you to her, Becca lives in the UK in the bit of the country that falls between the South and Scotland.  I have a similarly North Easterly direction, although a bit more North and East. Becca is an intrepid explorer with the courage to talk about her journeys of discovery in her blog. Now these explorations are not in the main geographical but the rather more scary explorations of self, who we are, who we want to be and the steps to get from one to the other.  Oh and the occasional leap of faith with mini sewing machines.

Becca has a strong positive faith and is open and brave enough to share it. She kindly provides the option of meeting all of her on her home page or just the bits we might be comfortable with on the faith page or the craft page of her blog.  (I am impressed enough with the pages part as my technical bits of blog posting are somewhat slim) OK back to the introduction, Becca and I have a few things in common in addition to the part of the world we live in.  Mothers who make good flapjack, a liking for Dr Who although I am not sure either of us is a Whovian, a strong faith, and an eclectic taste in crafts although we do not share all of those crafts.

Crochet is amongst Becca's talents it is most certainly not one of mine nor is cooking, which the cakes you can view but sadly not taste at Finding Flapjacks indicate is one of Becca's.

We both like classical music although I restrict myself to listening to it, Becca plays violin.  Within our coinciding tastes falls nicely a delight in the lyrical beauty of Isaiah's symbolism and the musical interpretation of many of those words in Handel's The Messiah. 

As part of the 500 hop we are asked to choose a picture of a piece of our own work we feel (having met) our new acquaintance (and future friend?) would like.  I have shared this particular image before on my post entitled Christmas Card Inspirations 12 December 2013 so I won't go into the whys and wherefores of it again however I hope Becca will like my Christmas embroidery which incorporates Isaiah 9:6 into a multi national nativity.

So hop yourself over to Finding Flapjacks  and sample for yourself either your normal faire, be it faith or craft or perhaps the whole smorgasbord of self Becca offers.

And if you did not get here from Serendipitous Stitching hop over there too, meet Jo and the rest of the 500.

Oh and in case you were wondering, this is where my introduction was made  blog hop.

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Dragon Mirror (woodwork)

This involves a dragon design you have seen before (if before you have visited with me) in the posts titled, anyone with ability 13.01.2014 and dragon egg 17.04.2014.

The item in question was made at the same time as my Celtic knot dragon box on my post of 19.01.2014 and was made from the same source wood, scraps of skirting board.

The idea foe this was born from my dislike of throwing stuff away and wanting to do something with the round mirror from a used up plastic compact (not the refillable kind) which I had managed to knock loose when I dropped it.  (I note that when I did not want to detach the mirror one little drop and off it popped, attempts to purposely remove mirrors from their plastic housing have subsequently been less effective.)

Dragon mirror

The first bit was to cut the circle for the mirror to drop into.  Smaller at the front and the full size at the back.  Then to carve the dragon.  Chisels to take away the thickness around the tail then onto the grinders for the rest.

The beads which finish the item off are haematite, a by product of the mining industry this semi precious stone is a favourite of mine.  It is heavy and can be magnetised as it has a high iron content.

The beads are glued on.  

The pink on black flowers you can see in the mirror are the case for my phone with its super dooper digital camera.

Oh and it is about 7 cm wide by 12 cm high.