This month's scraphappy demonstrates how I fixed a ring and some earrings for a customer. She came across me at an event, ordered some regular shinies from me and then brought me some really dramatic jewellery her mother had commissioned from a jeweller back in the 1990s whilst living on the continent. The jewellery appeared to be made from sterling with geometric elongated emerald cut black spinels tension set through the metal.

Another jewellery reworking this month. I'm always surprised by how people manage to find me - I don't do any advertising, other than a big banner if I'm at an event, and stuffing business cards into every order, but a surprising number of people seem to find me from an internet search. It's not much of an advertisement! This reworking was one of those.

I've a non jewellery related scraphappy this month As I've mentioned before I take my shinies to a few yarn festivals, and during these I get to see so many exciting fibre projects. I'd never particularly fancied felting myself (I get to manage all my angst through hammering rather than stabbing and I'm not at all artistic, so there's no way I'd be able to paint with fibre!) but it suddenly came to me last year that…

....To work with someone else's jewellery! As you may know, I attend a few fairs, and particularly love the fibre/yarny ones. At Great British Fibre Festival* last weekend, I had the joy of being opposite Carrie of Blacklands Alpaca. Her family produce all the fleece and resulting yarn from their own herd, and every time I see her, I buy a ball and a small amount to my stash.

ALT: Release the Hounds!

In which I repurpose an earring Jewellery is all about sentiment, isn't it?! I never wear gold. In fact, I've only ever worn gold reluctantly, and when someone's given it to me. And that means I've half a dozen pairs of studs that I've not worn since I was a teenager, almost 40 years ago. Of course, I've not been able to scrap them, because I remember who gave them to me, and what it meant, so like Smaug, I hoard them in my emergency gold pot, in case something needs a repair and I can reuse the metal there.

In which I make a wedding ring wearable again As we age, our joints and sizes change. This often means that items such as rings no longer fit, or get jammed onto a finger, necessitating drastic removal in the event of an emergency*. In March I was contacted by someone who was looking to do something with her father's wedding ring.

I wore my floral circle skirt out to lunch with my kids a couple of weeks ago. My oldest’s girlfriend really liked my skirt, especially the fabric. When I got home I looked at the fabric I had left…

I read about Ann Wood’s 100 Day Stitch Book Challenge on One Small Stitch today. I decided it is what I need to start my stitch journal. I gathered my eco printed scraps, as well as color coordinat…

I haven’t much to show for Scraphappy or Year of Projects this month. I sewed these napkins from linen scraps. Not exciting to look at, but I like having them to use. I didn’t mitre the corners lik…

Yesterday, I dyed some scraps of natural muslin fabric with black walnuts. I read that cellulose fibers are much harder to dye, so I mordanted with alum and soda ash. The result is something about …

Gearing up to sew my cargo pants, I watched an old episode of Great British Sewing Bee. Then I went down a rabbit hole of back episodes — as you do — and remembered my thrift store wool fabric from…

I am growing out my hair, and I have need of some hair accessories. Hair accoutrements, if you will. I thought, “Perfect! A use for my apparel scraps!” I started simply with black linen scraps left…

We have had a busy week! Craft-wise I sewed some ScrapHappy hair accessories. I finished sewing my Last Drive In blanket, and altered a thrift store find. We added a rain barrel and gutter to the g…

I have been saying I would turn these peanut bags into planter bags, and I finally did it! I sewed two together at the sides. I wanted to sew a round bottom, but didn’t have enough bags for that. I…

I was looking up inexpensive ways to make my own seed starting pots, and found this idea to reuse plastic food clamshells as germinating boxes. What a great idea! The lid keeps them warm and moist.…

I finished sewing the Liston Smock from an old, cotton duvet cover. The bodice fit is great! I’ll enjoy wearing it in warm weather. I didn’t realize I would have a cross front (and back) and center…

I'm in the midst of a commission to incorporate some cremation ashes into a ring. I'd hoped to share the actual completed ring in a regular post, but I'm waiting on my gem supplier to send me a specific stone that has meaning for my customer; so I'm showing what I made with the clay dust that's left over from the original ring piece, which can be classed as reuse of waste.

A brief #ScrapHappy this month - I'm busy making shinies for The Great British Fibre Festival at Coldharbour Mill at the beginning of June. Lots of pieces are off at Edinburgh Assay so I'm now making more of the smaller items that it wouldn't be affordable to add the cost of hallmarking to. It's incredibly important to me that all my shinies are as smooth as butter at their edges (no one wants a scratchy piece of jewellery or a snaggy stitch-marker) and that means heaps of filing and sanding before polishing / burnishing…