Midlife Rebel

As I found some lovely origami paper in a shop during a recent holiday in Portugal, I decided to try my hand at some origami for the Rebel Badge Club's Craft badge. I used online tutorials to create hearts, boxes, boats, butterflies, a crane, a swan and a turtle by folding paper. I also made a house and a rabbit. The craft was enjoyable to do and a pleasant way to unwind after work in the evening. Some of the more complex origami models didn't work out so well with the paper I used as it was too thick and bulky to fold neatly. The best thing to do with those attempts was to throw them straight in the bin. My favourites to make were the hearts and the boxes. I now have quite a collection of paper hearts and boxes in my possession for which I hope to find a purpose for in the future.

This little bunny took a long time to come to life. I made him for the Rebel Badge Club's Craft badge using a needle felting kit. I had never tried needle felting previously to this. Although I appreciate the technique of needle felting and think it is very clever how you can form shape through the act of stabbing soft wool with a special needle, this was not an enjoyable process for me. The process was too time consuming and repetitive. I did stab myself a few times too which was a bit painful. In my opinion, this particular kit may have been better suited to someone with needle felting experience already. Overall I am pleased with my needle felted bunny but sadly I won't be making him another bunny friend.

If you are in the Rebel Badge Club, you will know about the Rebel Cup and understand why I have taken a silly photo of some courgettes! This act of random silliness earns me a bonus point for Team Rosa, the patrol I am part of. For those of you who want to know more about the Rebel Cup, details can be found on the Rebel Blog on the Rebel Badge Store website!

Here is another one for the Rebel Badge Club's Craft badge. This collage took quite some time to evolve. A sugar skull isn't normally my kind of thing but I'm actually really pleased how this collage turned out. So pleased in fact that I even bought a frame for it. The collage was created from a book called Extraordinary Things to Cut Out and Collage. I spent many hours cutting out images from the book and playing around with different ideas. I tried a few concepts for my collage including a scene in a goldfish bowl and creating a sea goddess but they weren't working very well. Luckily the sugar skull idea came together so I'm glad I managed to create something I was happy with in the end.

As part of the Craft badge for Rebel Badge Club, I completed this Miffy cross stitch kit by Cotton Clara recently. This was the first time I have tried cross stitch. I found the pattern easy to follow and it was enjoyable to do. I was surprised how time consuming it was though especially with it being a simple design. I think I would do another cross stitch in the future but I have other projects lined up first.

A few months ago I mentioned in my blog that I attended a calligraphy workshop. This workshop was the start of my Craft badge journey. At the time I did not know how hard calligraphy was to master using a nib pen and ink. The workshop was held at Lytham Hall by Mellor & Rose. Beverley and Lucy Mellor taught the basics of modern calligraphy which included how to hold the pen correctly and a series of worksheets were provided for practice. I found holding the pen so unnatural as I don't normally hold my pen in such a way. My practice strokes were terribly shaky at the workshop and they still are even after months of practice! I have better control over the ink now though and leave less splodges on the page. Although I am finding learning calligraphy a tough challenge I am determined to improve.  In my determination to master calligraphy to some degree, I have signed up to a six month subscription to The Calligraphy Box. The monthly box contains materials and a two hour video less...