Making embellishments out of rubbish

Are you getting your free food? The hedgerows round here are full of big juicy blackberries at the moment. I've had my eye on some for a few days, across the road on the village green, but they were a bit too high to reach. Not to worry, last night I took my step ladder over there and picked a big bowl of them. This is a mixing bowl, almost a pan full. All boiled up now and strained. I'm going to use the juice to add to drinks, rice pudding, porridge, and cereals. Would go nice in a fruit smoothie as well. I made some ground rice pudding and added some juice, made it a lovely shade of pink. 

Hows this for swaps. I gave my friend a big courgette and he gave me a large portion of rhubarb and blackberry crumble, and half a pot of cream. Very nice, I like this swapping lark.

I've been adding to the picture again. The big grey flower now has a red border round it, and I have made some flowers out of aluminium drinks cans and an empty tomato puree tube. Did you know you can cut the top and bottom off the tubes and open them up, they are gold inside.

If you want to make some, here's how you do it. First draw your shapes onto tracing paper, or greaseproof paper. I have three different sizes here. Then cut the top and bottom off a can or tube with large scissors,and cut the side open so you have a flat piece. Use a pencil to transfer your flower shape to the tin, and cut round it with a pair of nail scissors. 

For a piece of artwork I made before, I used them coloured side up. For this one I want the metallic sides up.

Lay one on top of the other. When you have the petals in the position you want them grip tightly between thumb and finger of left hand. Then puncture some holes in the centre so you can pass a needle and cotton  through them. You can finish off with a button on the top, but I have some flat beads which have holes across the width rather than top to bottom. After stitching them onto the fabric, I have added some small black beads to keep the petals flat.

Cutting up aluminium cans is not suitable for young children, older children should be supervised. The edges can be very sharp, easy to end up with cut fingers if you are not careful. Anybody else fancy making some metallic flowers? You can use them to embellish all kinds of craftwork. You could puncture holes all around the outer edge and sew them onto fabric or card with a running stitch or blanket stitch. I'll leave you to play around with it while I carry on with the picture. Thanks for stopping by.
Toodle pip.