house of spoon

camping gym - babyroom13

2012-02-11T21:38:00.004Z

So i thought i'd upgrade the playmat into a full scale baby gym. Sorry about the weird pictures, the light is bad these days so im forced to go outside to the dull patio. The poles are pipe insulation bought from B&Q hardware with a fine wooden dowel pushed up inside to give them some springy stiffness. I didn't have any brown fabric so i made the sleeves from normal white and orange stripey cotton and then dyed them brown. They're secured at the four corners with little buttons so i can pack it flat if need be. The palm leaves are wired to keep their shape and have a handle on the top to allow me to lift and move the gym easily. And then i just tied on the plushie campers i made earlier (1, 2, 3, 4) to give him something to look at.
This is a poor attempt at a baby-eye view of the underside. I think i might hang a little mirror with bells in the centre just to add a bit more interest to the centre point.

vehicle vests

2012-02-11T21:28:00.003Z

So in the interests of getting cleaner lines for the little vehicle shapes this time i used freezer paper stencils. I cut them out neatly with a craft knife so i could uses both the negative and positive stencil.
This is just to try and make the little vests a little more "masculine" because i suspect that all my colourful outfits are verging on girlyness...so i'm just trying not to give him an identity crisis too early in life you know??

easy earflaps

2012-02-11T21:22:00.002Z

So i wanted to make a little hat with earflaps to keep the bambino's head warm when he finally arrives. This is a free pattern that i found on ravelry, but can be found directly on the designer's blog. The hat is super-quick to make, as it uses a couple of strands of wool at a time and is all worked in treble crochet so you can make it in one sitting pretty easily.
I think i'm going to have to make one in a larger size for me, i really like it!!

stamped sleepsuits

2012-02-11T21:16:00.002Z

So the plain tie-dyed sleepsuits were a little boring weren't they?? I thought i'd have a go at lino stamping on them. It's a little bit difficult to get the stamps to look very neat because the fabric is jersey and so each time the fabric "gives" a little, making it a little bit scruffier than stamping on linen or cotton poplin.
Anyway, I made a bunch of little vehicle lino carved stamps in the usual way and stamped up the little suits with fabric paint before curing them with a hot iron.
I'm quite pleased with how they turned out!

bright coloured burp cloths

2012-01-31T19:39:00.002Z

So apparently another invaluable thing to have is these long towel things to lay under the baby's head while feeding and lay over your shoulder when trying to get the wind up....i've seen babies in action and a muslin doesn't really cut it...you definitely get some lovely soak-through onto the shoulder of whatever you're wearing. So in the interests of remaining baby-bodily-fluid-stain-free, i decided to rustle up some heavy duty absorbers.

I found these bright microfibre dishcloths in a discount shop and simply cut them in two pieces down the centre, rounded the corners and bias bound with a contrasting colour.

Easy peasy!

day-glo onsies

2012-01-31T19:34:00.002Z

So I made more of the dyed onsies, this time with short sleeves and socks to match! lol! I love how the thread doesn't take the colour so it stays white...it kindof looks like a little trim. I couldn't decide how to decorate these vests, but then decided that, because they are already so bright...it would perhaps be over-kill to add any more detail!
Me?...over-accessorising?? surely not!!! lol!

camping playmat - babyroom12

2012-01-31T19:24:00.003Z

Did i mention before that i'm fed up doing free-motion quilting with my temperamental sewing machine?? Well now i really am...groan...please no more!! So i wanted a play mat that i could bring around with me to put the baby on so that he doesn't throw up on other people's carpets or sofas etc.

Again i appliqued on the little camping shapes and then free-motion quilted all the background. This time i used the larger version of the camping stencils that i had made for the wall-motifs. This was for pure laziness really...i thought if i used the bigger ones then i wouldn't need to use so many...lol!

I used quite a few layers of quilt batting in this one so that it'll be nice and spongy to lie on.

I think i may make this into a baby-gym for the first few months.... if i have time.

ciao bambino!

2012-01-31T19:18:00.002Z

So while i was dying the muslins I also did a bunch of onsies and baby sleepsuits of various sizes. This is really for the same reason....lots of pastel blue available in the shops but not so many bright colours. Actually my blue looks very pale in this pic but it is actually quite bright...the light here was awful. The purple one was dyed in half the water which seems to give a more patchy tie-dye effect. Lastly, i added little freezer paper stencils on the front to personalise them a bit!

mountains of muslins

2012-01-31T18:58:00.007Z

So apparently muslins are pretty useful when you have a baby, they're just like very absorbent, soft cloths and have millions of uses, so i had to get myself some. However, then i discovered that they are mostly plain white (yeah i know!...the flesh rebels!) or you can pay double the price for some anaemic pastel baby blue or pink ones....LAME! So i bought some of the cheap white ones and got busy dying them with my "freecycle-find" coldwater dyes.

I had never dyed any thing before so i was a bit vague about the quantities of water to powder to soda ash etc....but they turned out ok! I did learn however that trying to use less water (see the olive green ones) doesn't give such a homogeneous colour...but hey, every day's a school day. It was only really at the end that i thought of making patterns...for the orange one below i pulled lots of little bunches of the material up and put little hair elastic bands around, so they were shielded from the dye....looks quite cool i thought!

I tried it wish the sky-blue ones as well, but it's less obvious in the photo. The other blue ones were knotted and tied in strange bundles so the colour is quite patchy in a sortof vague pattern.

I also thought these little mini towels could come in useful as well, for wiping up messes and since they were 20p each from ikea, i thought i couldn't go wrong. They were a very nasty off-cream colour before they were mercilessly plunged into the dye bucket....and now...ahhh! much better!

dip-dyed baby clothes

2012-01-31T18:57:00.003Z

There's really not much point in spending a lot of money or time on baby clothes for the first couple of months since they grow so fast and all the work would be wasted. Instead i bought some white sleepsuits in different sizes and dyed them up. The less water i used, the more patchy and tie-dyed the effect was (see the purple one) I can't decide though whether i want to add more detail to these...they look pretty boring...im thinking perhaps of making lino stamps or something to liven them up a little...hmmm.

flower garden change mat

2012-01-31T18:45:00.005Z

So to accompany my nappy change bag, I need of course a travel change mat on which to plonk the baby when making the changes. Rather than buy expensive waterproof PUL i decided to try it out with this waterproof PVC table cover fabric. It was 1/10th of the price and was much more colourful than the PUL on offer.

Another plus is that it is backed with a soft spongey fabric. I added two layers of wadding as well just to make it nice and extra cushioned, and then backed it with this shiny-backed orange cotton that i found on sale.

And so you just need to fold it in 4 and slip it into the appropriate pocket in the change bag and I'm good to go!

nappy bag - babyroom11

2012-01-18T21:49:00.009Z

So something else i definitely needed was a nappy change bag to carry about all the baby kit with me when i visit with mamma or friends or whatever. I decided to make a big one as i never know how much rubbish i might need to cart around with me!

I free-motion quilted the bag to an underlining to give it extra stiffness so it will sit upright even when empty. And of course i had to add the camping motif to tie it in to the rest of the baby's stuff!! lol

I lined the bag with this cute flowery Laura Ashley fabric i found in my stash and made a little stiff separator insert thing to split the bag into two inner pockets. I also added a clear PVC pocket on the front to carry around a little notebook to note down time of changes and feeds etc.

The back of the bag has a big flat pocket the full length of the bag..can you see it, half way up the back panel?....i'm making a little change mat to be folded up and slipped in here.

The flap is nice and long and closes with velcro.

I decided to do a bit of free-hand embroidery on the inside of the flap just to add something special to personalise the bag.

It was great fun..i think i need to do a bit more of that kind of craft - i really enjoy rough embroidery.

camping mobile - babyroom10

2012-01-18T21:44:00.006Z

So i wanted a cot mobile to match the whole camping theme and they are so expensive! I wanted to get just the stand and the musical box bit but it was even more expensive to buy them on their own, if you can believe it?! So i bought a cheap second-hand mobile off ebay for 99p. The plastic was all dis-coloured with age and the hanging bit was tired looking.

I threw out the hanging bit and got my lovely daddy to prime and spray paint the stand and the musical box with left-over pearlescent motorbike paint, which turned out to be the perfect shade of red to match in with the theme!! Brilliant!! You don't need to worry about the baby-safeness of the paint because as soon as the baby is able to move independently you are supposed to remove the mobile anyway - so he should never really come in contact with it.

So then i just sewed a reinforced circle and hung it from rainbow ribbons caught in a wee red felt heart at the top loop. It was pretty difficult to get them all about the same tension so that the mobile would hang straight....i sortof managed it.

I had sewed little pieces of the rainbow ribbon hanging from the reinforced circle, with little camping charms sewn on white felt, each mirroring the appliques on the cot quilt and bumpers etc.

It's really becoming a bit of a camping explosion in this room....i might have to stop accessorising sometime soon!!!

dummy clips!

2012-01-18T21:38:00.003Z

So a very important thing to get organised is the method of quietening the baby, for when he finally arrives...you know, when i've important crafting to do and need peace and quiet? So dummies are a must but the clips that you can buy to keep them from falling on the ground are pretty boring and with huge big plastic clips.

I bought a couple of braces clips in the craft shop and mounted some patterned grosgrain ribbon with little pieces of velcro (for easy removal for cleaning - very necessary of course!!)

easy peasy!

camping cot quilt - babyroom9

2011-12-31T09:53:00.004Z

So i made a mini quilt for the cot to match the larger one i made before. Boy, am i getting bored of sewing these shapes!! lol!

This one will sit in the cot beside the other one on the bed...the camping room is coming together so well!!
Free-motion quilting, you are the bane of my life....i never want to see you again!!!

vw camper II - babyroom 8

2011-12-31T09:52:00.011Z

So i made two vw campers, as i'm going to have 4 places to hang toys from on the baby gym. This one is made in the same way as the camper before, see the pattern here.

Again, i added a bit of stitching to the front grill to distinguish the front from back.
A different numberplate and he's ready to go.

mini caravan - babyroom7

2011-12-31T09:52:00.010Z

This is the 3rd of the camping softies patterns, the mini caravan.

Made in the same way as before, see motorhome post. This time you only need one wheel axle, but there is the tow bar to sew up.
I cut the towbar out of felt and just sewed it together right-side-out, as i didn't fancy tacking and turning such an awkward shape.
And then, it's just attached at the front to give the little caravan something to lean on!
And of course you can add some details to cute-sy it up a bit!

vw camper - babyroom6

2011-12-31T09:50:00.007Z

So this is the 2nd of the little camping softies patterns, download them here if you like! This is the little vw camper. Made in exactly the same way as the motorhome. Cut your templates, cut material to tack around the templates, sew on windows etc, then tack, then sew all together.

Again, leave a gap for turning, as below, then snip all tacking stitches, remove card templates and turn and stuff.

I added some stitching to the front grill of this camper, as the back and front are pretty similar!!
Attach the wheel axles in the same way as before.

I added the number plates and this time, put white lights on the front and red on the back to distinguish front from back.

rapunzel's hexen haus

2011-12-27T13:39:00.007Z

So again this year we were making the hexen haus. They have to be different every year and so this time we decided on rapunzel's tower. I apologise for the photos, it really wasn't an environment conducive to good photos, so we just tried to highlight the details so you can make them out!!

Lil'pill was responsible for the tree in full bloom.
poog was responsible for decorating the back gable wall around the stained glass starry windows (melted glacier fruits).

I was responsible for breaking the gingerbread every couple of minutes and having minor melt-downs every time i decided that i decided it didn't look very neat this year. Thanks to lil'pill for talking me down off the ledge a couple of times!! Can you see rapunzel's marzipan plait hanging from the balcony?? That was also responsible for a number of my break-downs...it kept snapping and falling down...seriously i was totally losing it!!

And then we put up a little fence, not likely to keep many valiant princes away, but maybe when they see the face of the evil witch standing at the side they'll keep their distance....or perhaps they'll just notice the crazy sagging of the precarious balcony on which rapunzel is balancing and decide that the tower isn't structurally sound enough to enter!!

That's either a very old building and is the balcony wall is settling into the ground, or rapunzel has been doing too much snacking during her long wait to be rescued...You can see the light through the star stained glass window in this one below.

Well it mightn't look so neat as usual but it disappeared in double-quick time regardless!!
Yay Christmas!

classic christmas cake

2011-12-27T13:38:00.001Z

Well even with all the baby crafting i still managed to get a little bit of time to make my Christmas cake! Yay...look at that super-smooth icing, o i'm so proud!! And the two pieces cut off are going straight onto a plate for my breakfast!

I ♥ christmas!!

mini motorhome - babyroom5

2011-12-27T13:32:00.011Z

So I intend to make a baby gym, no, not with mini dumbbells and pull up bars...it's what they call a baby gym, but really the baby just lies on a mat and looks at things that are dangling above him....yup, sounds like my ideal gym if i'm being honest.

Anyway, I'll need little camping related toys to hang from the bars to keep his attention, when i'm sticking him on the mat and rushing off for my daily craft fix. I designed 3 different softies in the shapes of the applique pieces that i've used for the quilts and assorted nursery stuff.

You can download the pattern for the motorhome, caravan and the vw camper if you feel like making them yourself.

They are made by paper-piecing in the same way that mamma matryoshka is, so check her out if you don't know what i mean. Except this time, i used thin card instead of paper just to give it a bit more stability when sewing together. So you need to cut out all your pieces in card, tack material around the card templates (attach your windows etc before tacking!) and then sew them all together round the edges, right sides facing in.

It should look something like this...you'll need to snip into corners etc to get the tacking step to go smoothly. Leave a hole for turning of course! I've left open the front bumper, as you can see below. Then you'll need to snip all the tacking stitches, and remove the card templates. Then turn and stuff firmly.

Do the same with the little wheel axles..they'll look something like this when inside out.

And there you go! Attach the wheel axles to the motorhome body by stitching round the wheels.

When sewing together, try and get the edges of the windscreen etc nicely lined up, so it looks more like one piece.
It's actually surprisingly stable on the firmly stuffed wheel axles.
I added a little numberplate and lights at the front and back as well just to add detail.
And off he goes..

christmas name baubles

2011-12-25T09:54:00.003Z

So i didn't photograph these properly before laying them out on mamma's table so try and ignore the stuff behind! This year we needed quick and easy place-names for Christmas dinner - so i just wrote the names in silver marker on little mini Christmas baubles and hung them from off-cuts of branches into the wine glasses.

The work of about 3 minutes! Phew! now back to baby crafting!!

Giant Christmas Card II

2011-12-18T21:06:00.004Z

So i was asked to do the church's communal christmas card again this year, after having made the gold and black one for last year. This year, not having a lot of time, i decided to go with a very simplistic design on mirrored silver card.

I cut out all the little pieces from black card with a craft knife and glued them on - easy peasy!

Again it's hard to see the size of the card without a bit of perspective so i've stuck my boot into this picture so you can see the sheer size of the card. Lots of space for all the people to sign their names and greetings!

superD's stocking

2011-12-18T20:56:00.002Z

So when SuperD first came here to live and i discovered that he didn't have a christmas stocking - i knew i had a job!

I made it nice and fat so i can fit loads of pressies inside!

Yay Christmas!!

blanket bag - babyroom4

2011-11-30T22:15:00.001Z

ok so this is the 4th camping themed craft that we've got for that lucky baby (lol!) it's a blanket bag to hold a couple of rolled up extra blankets for those colder nights in the nursery.

It just ties on to the cot bars in the same way as the cot bumpers and hangs nicely blocking the gap between the head and foot bumpers.

I used the same appliques and free-motion quilted the background as before (believe me, this is getting old now...i'm getting fed up with sewing these shapes!) It's hanging a little wrinkled here, because i still have to get some matching blankets to go inside.

The front panel was split after quilting and bias binding finished the open edges. See the blanket inside? Easy-peasy!

Although working out the geometry of the pattern was less easy because i didn't want any rough edges showing inside and i wanted to reinforce the base with interfacing which would be invisible....but i got there in the end!

camping frieze - babyroom3

2011-11-30T22:12:00.003Z

so this is the 3rd camping-themed craft we've got in the baby's room - a frieze of happy campers! (Again, apologies for the horrendous photo quality, i really waited as long as i could for a bright day and to no avail...the winter days are so dull here that photos are always a disaster!!)

I scanned and enlarged the applique templates on the computer and cut out templates from acetate sheets.

These were then masking-taped to the walls and i got all the family round to help fill in the stencils by sponging on paint from little tester sized pots.

The little hippy vans, washing lines and the tents were bringing out the creativity in us!

We layered up the stencils so that we got nice clean lines.

Then when everything was dry, i outlined each piece with black permanent marker.

We were all choosing which camper we would choose to go on holiday in...

i think this one might be mine...it's heading straight to the beach after all!

I thought a frieze would be good because when i want to change the theme, it won't be hard to paint out just this bit.

That particularly shadowy van is actually a beautiful shade of cherry red! Stupid dim winter days!!

This one has got to be for mamma - it's her camper and it's also headed to the beach (before hitting the supermarket no doubt!)

It's seems they're all meeting at the same place...but really, where else is there to go on holiday??

Well that's the full circuit of the room i think...anyone dizzy?

camping baby cot bumpers - babyroom2

2011-11-30T22:08:00.002Z

So this is the 2nd camping themed item i've made for the baby's room - cot bumpers!

These are just to stop the bambino getting a draft, because i bought a very simple open-barred cot. They're also going to stop him getting his hand stuck between the bars or sliding his little chubby legs out through the bottom.

I apologise (as usual) for the appalling photo quality but the light these winter days is so poor that it's really hard to get detailed shots of anything in daylight.

I used the same applique pieces as i did for the camping quilt and free-motion quilted the background in the same way too.

This is at the base of the cot...

...which appears to show the washing on fire...oh dear, all the towels will smell smoky, not true campers these people, they should've known that!!

The bumpers are just tied on with little gingham ties in red and green, so they can be whipped off and stuck in the washing machine in the event of any baby-bodily-fluid explosions!!

...i shudder at the thought. Hopefully the baby will have a healthy respect for craft-effort and will keep such explosions inside his nappy (i can but dream...)

gerome the gnome

2011-11-30T21:12:00.002Z

Well, lil'pill might not be powering through the books i gave her, but for good reason...she's been working on the craft project! I gave her a plaster gnome to paint - isn't he fantastic??!!

This is the same gnome shape that i painted up myself in this post - although i made mine a hot lady gnome-ette....wouldn't they make a great couple? lol!

i'm loving the texturing of the flowing beard and the little snowflakes on his hat.

Good one pill! I'm proud of you!....can i adopt him? He'd look amazing at houseofspoon!!

get well book bag

2011-11-30T21:11:00.003Z

so poor lil'pill had to go to hospital for a big scary operation and is going to be sitting round the house for about 8 weeks after (!!!) so i pulled together a first aid kit of two good books (if it was me we were talking about, i'd be needing 15+ books for that length of time - but this is pill (not-particularly-fond-of-reading-when-she-could-just-watch-the-film-in-a-couple-of-hours, and i'd be astounded if she manages to finish one of them!!) and a craft project, and a bunch of sugary snacks.

I was going to bring them to the hospital for her so needed a bag. I rustled up a quick tote bag made from curtain lining (at £1.60 per metre it's usually my fabric of choice!!!) and cut a freezer paper stencil with the motif i wanted. Stamp on the red fabric paint, cure with an iron and fill with the goodies!! Done!

...after all that effort she's bound to give reading the books a go, right?....right??

easy earring tidy

2011-11-30T20:02:00.002Z

so apparently the way i store my long dangly earrings (in a big knotted ball in the back of my drawer) was irritating SuperD's tidy sensibilities. So he jumped to the rescue with a cool invention that displays and protects the more delicate ones from being tangled and snapped in the drawer-runners...isn't he fabulous??

I love living with a crafty "neat-person" they are so useful!!

baby reindeer

2011-11-30T19:43:00.000Z

So i wanted to make poog's baby a little handmade toy for his first Christmas and i just thought that the crochet reindeer would be a good bet, since his little chubby hands can grab onto the antlers.

The pattern is the same as the one in this post. I just added a little felt scarf with the baby's name on it for a bit of personalisation - which will have to be removed before giving it to him in case it gets sucked!!

camping quilt - babyroom 1

2011-11-21T18:26:00.012Z

So i've decided on a theme for the baby's room that reflects what he'll just have to get used to when he's finally born - CAMPING!!!

I've an enormous list of camping themed crafts that i'm working away on for his bedroom, but the first thing was a single-bed sized quilt (for when he's a little older...or when i get overcome with exhaustion while walking the floors with him late at night when he won't sleep and so there's somewhere i can crash!)I'm pretty rubbish at photographing quilts so i've just taken loads of little parts of it which hopefully gives the general idea!
All the little motifs were hand-drawn and then cut out of fabric and fused onto the plain material (it's cheap-skate curtain lining...but shh...don't tell!!) And then i free-motion quilted the pieces on and added all the details.
My free motion quilting really is awful but i'm going to brazenly blame my sewing machine, as it is not supposed to be used to do free-motion, and therefore sortof loses the plot every now and again and starts snapping the thread or looping massive quantities of thread in big knots.....yeah that's a lot of fun to deal with, believe me.
I then just ran more free-motion all over the whole quilt just to add a bit of texture.
It is a great project to get rid of some of those random scraps of bright fabrics that i just couldn't bear to throw away!!
Cutting out the little pieces like the bunting and the bikinis was a bit of a challenge!!
It is inspired by the campsite that we used to go to as kids in France which was just like a big gypsy camp with campers, motorhomes, caravans and tents just pitched anywhere that you found a patch of sunshine and a short-cut to the beach.
I'm going to use the same little motifs for lots of stuff in his bedroom just to give a real explosion of colour. Nothing worse than a bland baby-room!!
Hopefully you can look past the dodgy photos and dodgy stitching to see the fun that i'm going to have with this theme!!! Roll on the other projects!!

magic card box

2011-11-21T18:14:00.004Z

So the box itself isn't magic...but the cards that Joster plays are called Magic the Gathering. He has 1000s of the cards and little boxes and cases for them all, but in the latest "expansion", as i believe it is called, there were some special edition large cards that didn't fit his little boxes. So i sensed a project and volunteered to come up with something to store them in.
I made the case all in one piece and then slipped in reinforcing bits of cardboard to fit each little section. Seams kept the pieces from moving around and then the whole box is folded up into shape and hand-stitched into place. Makes it sturday and means there are no rough edges to be seen anywhere.
I put flat magnets under the fabric so that it snaps closed...you can't see them in this picture...you'll just have to trust me that they're there!! And look, the cards fit perfectly...job done!

brrr it's chilli!!

2011-11-21T17:58:00.004Z

Well it's well through November by now and I'm behind on blogging - so what's new?! I'm neck-deep in very time-consuming crafts for the baby's room so i'll have to post a few quick and easysies this month to balance out.

I don't usually post stuff like this, since i just painted it and didn't form it or bake it or anything but like i said - i'm busy this month!!
SuperD collects the chillis that i grow in the greenhouse and stores them in the sun to dry out, so i thought i'd make him a little chilli storage bowl...everyone needs one of those right??

Pumpkin fun - mark 2

2011-10-31T21:12:00.002Z

I apologise for all 10 monthly posts in one go, but i've been out of the country and this is the first opportunity i've got for posting this month!!

Putrid pumpkin brownies

2011-10-31T21:11:00.004Z

...made with fresh pumpkin i promise!! No putrid ingredients here!! I needed to use up all the pumpkin flesh that i'd carved out and this is a really yummy way of doing it - it tastes a little like carrot cake, but more moist - i recommend!!

Pumpkin brownies

300g SR flour
300g brown sugar
3tsp mixed spice
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
500g grated pumpkin flesh
175g sultanas
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
200g butter (melted)
zest of 1 orange and 1tbsp orange juice

Icing
200g soft cheese
85g butter (softened)
100g icing sugar
zest of 1 orange and 1tsp orange juice

1. Beat eggs into melted butter 2. Stir in zest and juice 3. Pour into bowl with all all dry ingredients 4. Stir in pumpkin 5. Bake in a lined brownie tin for 30 mins at 180 oC 6. Beat together all icing ingredients and spread on cooled brownies
Enjoy!

Pumpkin fun - mark 1

2011-10-31T21:10:00.002Z

So for my Halloween party this year i got 2 large pumpkins for carving. The first one i'm not really sure where i was going with the features - it was going to be cat-like, then I gave her eyelashes....and um...well it's not exactly very scary is it?? I'm going to have to go classic scary face with the second one.

dire decoration pics!

2011-10-31T21:09:00.001Z

I totally forgot to take photos of the little hanging decorations that i made for the halloween party (taking pictures of crafts is my least favourite part - i can never be bothered setting up the pics properly) so basically i don't have any decent pics of the many bats, pumpkins, black cats and other creepy things that i cut out and painted black and gold and strung everywhere around the house.

I strung up little garlands of orange and black pompoms as well just to tie in the halloween-y colours.
You can just about see them in this pic - sorry it's so hopeless, but you get the idea!!

spiced skeletons

2011-10-31T21:08:00.003Z

Rather than buy more cookie cutters in scary halloween shapes i decided to make my own scary version of the standard gingerbread man. The icing was a little difficult to use, i think i made it too stiff for fear of it dripping off - so i really had to sacrifice all the fine details i had hoped to add! Oh well...you get the idea i hope!
Recipe is easy peasy...

Mixed spice biscuits
250g plain flour
125g butter
125g brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp mixed spice pinch of salt

1. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy
2. Beat in egg slowly
3. Sift in flour, salt and spice
4. Mix well and roll out dough
5. Cut out shapes and bake for 15 mins at 190 oC

not-so-scary napkins

2011-10-31T21:07:00.006Z

I couldn't buy orange or black napkins anywhere for my halloween party! So i resorted to buying boring cream and stamping them up with a not-so-scary bat motif. I also stamped up the serviettes for round the cutlery etc.In the end I actually like them better than just plain ones - yay!

scary sweets

2011-10-31T21:06:00.005Z

So yeah i had some egg whites left over from some other baking and wanted to make meringues for the halloween party. I used the same recipe as the meringue mushrooms but this time tried to make them halloween-y. Did i succeed???

Umm...don't answer that - they're supposed to be ghosts.

I was pleasantly surprised when many of the guests actually recognised that!! lol!!

baby cuddle cushion

2011-10-31T21:05:00.004Z

So poog's little baby is hungry pretty much all of the time and she was spending so much time feeding him that she wanted me to spice up her cushion for supporting the baby. She picked this gorgeous farm fabric and it was the matter of 10 mins to rustle up a cushion cover to house the big squishy support cushion - plus point is...now i have the pattern, i don't need to buy one, just make another cover and stuff it up nice and tight.

rainbow rasta baby

2011-10-31T21:04:00.001Z

So i made another version of the Baby Sophisticate cardigan, this time for my baby. I'll admit that i bought the wool before i found out that it's a boy....but he can still wear rainbows right??
It's perhaps not the most masculine of cardigan colours but he'll just have to embrace his flamboyant side and wear it, now that i've bothered to make it.
I did have some beautiful orange heart-shaped buttons but i vetoed those in favour of the slightly less girly rainbow round buttons. I can't help loving this cardigan, so it will definitely be worn!
Ah the lure of rainbows...i just can't resist!

rainbow rattle

2011-10-31T21:03:00.000Z

So i made a quick and easy little baby toy for poog's baby - at first it was going to be a wrist rattle, you know, attached to his wrist on a little bracelet, but he is always hitting himself in the face with his hands and i was afraid he would poke himself in the eye if i tied something to his wrist.
So instead i just made a little ring handle for the little pudgy hand to grip onto. There isn't a pattern as such, i just crocheted a sphere, stuffed it and inserted a bell, and then crocheted a tube, which i then sewed round to the base of the sphere....easy peasy!

twinkle twinkle little star

2011-09-30T21:20:00.002+01:00

So yeah, the reason that i decided to take a month off from blogging is because superD and i are expecting a bambino/bambina ourselves. And i've been far too tired to be bothered pushing myself to do enough crafts - i've been taking lots of naps instead, and i'm still exhausted all the time. This baby so far is seriously sapping my craft mojo - hopefully not a sign of things to come!!

Anyway i thought i could just about manage something simple to craft while sitting watching italian films after my dinner each night, so i decided on a little baby hat...and even that took me about 3 weeks to finish!! nightmare!!
It was a little dull without the added gold star - one thing this baby will be is accessorised!!! The hat was a simple increasing circle, done in rows rather than in the round, and then i folded up the last 3 rows of double crochet just to make a nice fat brim. I'm working on a quilt now but going by how long this hat took it could be a while yet... so maybe next month!

newton's cradle

2011-09-29T21:58:00.003+01:00

Another one of the quick and easy earring projects that we made at poog's house. I love this hoop and how simple it is. The balls are just free moving and it makes a nice clicking when you move which reminds me of the 80's executive toy Newton's Cradle - you know with the balls hung on the wires and the almost perpetual motion?
At least i think it was called Newton's cradle...i just know that i loved playing with it!

retro brown kaftan

2011-09-29T21:57:00.006+01:00

So in one of the summer Burdastyle magazines they had a white kaftan. Made from two giant semi-circles of fabric, and slits cut and hemmed (front piece to back piece) to make sleeves and the rest just caught round the waist, leaving a nice pleated gathered skirt. I made it in this heavily patterned cotton. It looks kindof vintage-y because it's such an old fashioned print.
It risks to look a little frumpy so i always have to wear it with high sandals and nice earrings so that it is "intentionally" old-fashioned looking and not just frump-tastic, which was superD's initial reaction when he saw it!!
O well - can't please them all!

baby tux

2011-09-29T21:56:00.011+01:00

So at the evening dinner of the wedding, Poog's date the dishy Daniel decided to up the stakes by putting on his secret weapon lucky outfit - the tux bib.

Well Danny's dad managed to make it to the dinner thus relieving Danny of his mum-sitting duties, rather than get offended at being jilted for his equally dashingly-dressed father, baby Danny settled down quite contentedly to have another nap.
All's well that ends well!

boardroom baby

2011-09-29T21:56:00.009+01:00

So poog's 2 week old baby boy, Daniel, was taking her to a recent family wedding, you see her husband couldn't make it for the service so she needed a date. Well she planned to wear red so we had to arrange a little matching accessory for Danny to look suave and debonaire at his first formal function.

I decided on a red "power-tie" bib to make him feel confident and masterful as he accepted the admiration of the adoring millions.

He seemed to enjoy wearing it and spent the day flipping the tie up and down in the cutest way ever. I think i'm going to ask him to accompany me to my next formal function!

girl with the pearl earring

2011-09-29T21:56:00.006+01:00

So a quiet day at poog's house ended by us making up some simple earrings. I love this one with the little hematite star and pearl. Thanks poog!!

yikes it's the 80s

2011-09-29T21:38:00.006+01:00

I came across this t-shirt the other day and just had to laugh. I made it for superD to wear to an 80s night here in my local town, and had never posted it because it was so rare looking - but hey, i'm looking to get back to doing a little bit of freezer paper stenciling so i thought i really should post it to remind myself. You see this blog is really like a little craft diary for me and when i glance back over it, it always reminds me of things that i still want to do.

Pretty obvious steps - draw out stencil on freezer paper and cut out with a craft knife. Iron onto the t-shirt and stipple on the paint (in this case - white, neon pink and neon green)
Rip off stencil, cover with a cloth and iron on hot to set the paint. I didn't have any particularly fabulous pics of the t-shirt in action...this one's a little blurry - but you get the idea? And since lil'pil looks like she has some kindof weird birthmark across her face, or is wearing Hollywood Montrose sunglasses (any Mannequin fans??), i thought i'd post this one to make it clear what she really looked like. That's me in the fabulous aztec jumpsuit...I wish i could wear my hair like that every day. Crimping ROCKS!!!

cover that chair!

2011-09-29T21:19:00.004+01:00

So a friend of mine got a couple of dining chairs at a furniture sale and wanted covers made from some cotton that she bought on a holiday to Sri Lanka.
The fabric is very lightweight so is not ideal for upholstery but is such a beautiful colour that she couldn't resist. I'd never made chair covers before so i ended up sortof draping them rather than making any patterns.
The fabric was then stapled up under to secure. Can't wait to see them in her house!

crochet converse cuties

2011-09-29T20:25:00.000+01:00

So poog has had her gorgeous bambino and it's a boy - so i'm really glad that i went for blue sneakers! (I was pretty sure it was going to be a boy, even though i had no reason to). These are really cute little crochet converse sneakers made from the free pattern on ravelry.
They are very simple to make but a bit awkward as my stitches are pretty tight and there's a lot of crocheting into the loop-behind-the-back-loop which really does stress your fingers!
My favourite part was lacing them up.
And just to show how tiny they really are, here's one with a bit of perspective. Now just imagine with a chubby little leg sticking out of it!! CUTE!

faux fireplace

2011-09-28T20:21:00.000+01:00

I'm back - a little on the late side i know...explanations to follow later!

So i used to have this horrible big glass and silver tv stand in the corner of my sun room. Well it wasn't that horrible but it certainly wasn't my style and didn't match the room decor. It was also huge and took up loads of space blocking the view outside. So basically, it had to go. I put it on the freecycle website and someone came by and adopted it for their new modern apartment (where no doubt it felt much more comfortable and at home). But what to put in its place?? I needed somewhere to put my tv and speakers...superD to the rescue!!
He made me a beautiful rustic (faux) fireplace over my radiator - i can see the little christmas stockings hanging from it already!!!! lol!! We looked at wood in a local DIY superstore and for warped micro-thin planking it was going to be about £200+ and even then it wouldn't be solid wood - just boxed pieces. But then my dad suggested we have a look for solid wood railway sleepers in a builders yard and they turned out so cheap that we bought 3 huge ones - they even gave us more discount! Yay bargains!!
SuperD, ever a slave to the detail, put a little edging strip round the mantel so that it wasn't so plain and rustic looking. O and the mantel piece? - garden decking. Solid wood on the cheap.
I absolutely love it and it's opened up that corner of the room so much more. However, i haven't quite got used to it being here yet...i thought i'd finish the post with the view of the fireplace that i got just seconds before i stood up from getting something out of my handbag that was sitting nearby and cracked my head HARD on the corner of the mantel - OUCH!!
I don't think the boxed planking option would've hurt so much - so i guess there's something to be said for it!! lol!

ruby "button" slippers

2011-07-31T08:05:00.003+01:00

So for Poog's impending bambino/a, i made a cute little pair of strappy slippers at her request. The pattern was extremely easy to follow and is available as a free ravelry download here. If only shoes were so quick and easy to make in larger sizes.....
Well for reasons related to the theme of this post i'm going to be taking a little blog-holiday for the month of August. Due to various health-related issues I won't have any opportunity for crafting or posting this coming month so i'm allowing myself the luxury of a month off. It also allows me to redress the balance of 10 posts per month since I posted 20 posts in March 2009 and the uneven numbers have been annoying me ever since (yeah i know i'm a little weird and obviously have nothing more important to be annoyed about!! - but i hate uneven numbers!!)

So i'll see you in September! xxx

july jumpsuit

2011-07-31T08:04:00.004+01:00

So i saw this really cool variegated (is that the word i want??) material that had lots of different patterns in the one fabric - i thought it would be great for a simple summer dress, but then i saw this pattern for a little jumpsuit in the July Burdastyle and decided i'd have a go at that.

image: Burdastyle 07/2011

So this is the final result.

It was great having all the different patterns, it gave it a lot more detail with no work.
The little shorts are edged in self-fabric binding and it has two deep pockets too.
It's a rainy day today so i didn't fancy modelling it, so you'll have to make do with it on Sam, who is a little different on the measurements front to me...hence it pulls a little strangely round the bust...that mannequin has got to be at least 40-42" inch chest!!!
And she's got no bum whatsoever!!! I did say we were pretty different!!!

raspberry madeleines

2011-07-31T08:01:00.003+01:00

So i needed another set of pjs for my holidays. It was just a matter of deciding what went with Buttercup Sorbetto....Raspberry Madeleines of course!

These are made again with the free Colette patterns the Sorbetto top and the Madeleine mini bloomers. piece of useless trivia: the flowery fabric for the bloomers came all the way from Sri Lanka thanks to fabulous Amanda - it's perfect for pjs, it is so light and breathable!

in-thread-ible!

2011-07-31T08:00:00.009+01:00

So superD had promised me a super-useful birthday pressie and finally got the time to make it for me, just a couple of months late! He made me a thread tidy for all the piles of spools of thread that litter my sewing room!! Never again will i be delayed hunting through all my sewing boxes looking for that particular colour...
It has classic superD touches in the swirly design! lol!
And all the edges are scalloped on the little shelf.
The shelf at the bottom is the perfect size for me to line up my bias binding and ribbon rolls.
And here's a particularly blurry picture of it in action! Sorry there wasn't much natural light happening this morning.
I started by themeing the colours, but i gave up after a while - i'm never going to keep them in order - who am i kidding???
ooooh it looks so great i absolutely love it!!! Thanks D!! Ti amo un casino!!

Tattoo bikini top

2011-07-18T19:51:00.000+01:00

So this bikini top pattern was in Burdastyle June 2011, it was supposed to be inspired by Brigitte Bardot, which i don't really get, but i liked it enough to have a go anyway.
It's gathered so you don't need to use stretch material which i thought was a cute idea. I didn't make the bottoms because to me they looked a little like giant nappy-pants if you know what i mean.
And since i used a light fabric i lined it with a red cotton shirting for a bit of body. Can't wait to try this one out!!

Not quite venus

2011-07-18T19:49:00.000+01:00

So i decided to make one of those duct tape bust things - to see if i could drape patterns on it. Didn't quite work out as planned. I forgot to wear supportive underwear up top and therefore when superD was winding the tape - my chest was kindof squashed flat as a pancake - not a great start! I also am not overly happy with the bunchy abdomen area - do i really look like that?? But, it gets worse...

check her out from the side!!...what is that bunch on the lower back??? Do i have a roll of fat there or something?? (frantically grasping and poking behind me...) This was the worse idea in my crafting history - i think this little slice of self-realisation is going straight into the attic so i don't have to see her flat chest and back fat anymore!!!
YIKES!!!

Buttercup sorbetto

2011-07-15T19:41:00.000+01:00

So i also made a little pj set for going on holiday. It needed to be light and airy and not too revealing - because i'll be prancing around the campsite in them. Both patterns are free to download from Colette Patterns, the cute Madeleine Bloomers and the Sorbetto Top. Both are extremely simple to sew up and nice and quick!!

Happy Mother's Top

2011-07-10T12:28:00.000+01:00

So for mother's day this year i gave my mum some different fabrics to make a top and a wraparound skirt - well that was quite a while ago...mother's day here is 3rd of April and well she hadn't had the time to make the top - can't understand these people who prioritise things above craft??!! So anyway, just so it would be finished in time for her holiday (on which we will be joining her tomorrow (*squeal of delight*) i decided to sew the top myself.
It's a super simple wrapover from one of the 2010 Burdastyle magazines (too lazy to go upstairs and check which one) and it's super-easy.
I can't wait to see it in action on the lakeside this week!!

line of lino flamingos

2011-07-09T12:25:00.004+01:00

One of my colleagues told me a hilarious story about flamingos recently - well the story wasn't particularly funny it was more that the person was telling it, assuring me that it was the truth and i am perfectly convinced that it was wholly a figment of their over-active imagination...less said about that the better! Anyway, it put them in my mind and i was thinking they would make a cool band around the bottom of a pink 50s style skirt. So i carved up a stamp from the 5mm SOFT lino.
As always, it was a dream to carve and fun to stamp. When i finally get round to making something from it, i'll wear the skirt in honour of tall-tale-tellers everywhere!

Barbie's Dreamhouse

2011-07-09T12:03:00.003+01:00

So poog got 2 chickens a while ago and bought them the cutest little dream-hutch to live in. She decided to call one Hen-rietta and one BBQ (a big of dark humour there i think) and then it occurred to her how well the names worked together "Hen(rietta) & Barbie(Q).

It didn't really take much imagination then to decide what to call the hutch - it had to be the Dreamhouse, in memory of the many (many) days we spend playing Barbies (& Sindys) with our very own dreamhouse - it had an art deco elevator and everything!!!! *sigh*
SuperD made them a sign for their little hutch's front door. While watching him cut out the little pieces of metal from a tin can i was very confused!! I think the final result is adorable!! And i know the chickens loved it too.

at the hop!

2011-06-30T18:21:00.000+01:00

So i wanted to have a go at making a circle skirt in 50s style, but i didn't want to pay for such a simple pattern so I drafted one myself. The skirt is a 3/4 circle with a wide waistband - and that's it.
It was unbelievable simple to do. I just baby-hemmed the hemline rather than add any braiding for stiffness because the material is an upholstery weight cotton from ikea and is rigid enough without anything added.
At the side i sewed a lapped zipper for neatness and added a big button for extra 50s appeal. I call this my "at the hop" skirt....poog and gil will know what i mean!!

metal markers

2011-06-30T18:17:00.001+01:00

So the cardboard markers i made before for my windowsill chillis aren't going to cut it in the greenhouse. The atmosphere is too humid and the glue would melt in the heat. So i was stuck for a while for an easy way to label all the greenhouse plants. But then i though of something...
I was emptying one of my store cupbaords in work when i came across a pile of floppy disks. We don't even have floppy drives in the office anymore so i was piling them into the bin when i caught sight of the little metal guard piece and thought i could recycle them. We have a metal punch set that i bought SuperD last christmas and the disk guards were the perfect thickness of metal to punch in.
The edges were a bit sharp and rather than be bothered to file them all down i just stuck them onto blue acetate pieces and glued them to kebab sticks. These are all my varieties of chilli pepper...i'm growing 7 types this year!Yay - confusion is banished from the greenhouse - "Now get growing!!"

Autumn Acorn Shorts

2011-06-21T18:42:00.008+01:00

So i made another version of my no zip sailor style shorts for summer...or autumn given the theme of the material.

This is the second pair of shorts that i’ve made using the Sailor Shorts pattern which is downloadable free on Burdastyle along with full instructions (587 people have downloaded it already - cool huh? Update - now at 856 people!!). The fabric is the same cream curtain lining at £1.50 per metre with stamp embellishment made with a simple hand-carved lino stamp and brown fabric paint.

I knew i wanted to try another shaped pocket that matched the fabric – and when i had made the oak leaf print fabric – an acorn was an obvious choice! I made a little mini felt oak leaf to sew on for extra cuteness.

See, it opens like this...
Do you like the gorgeous buttons?? They are vintage wood-effect resin from the stash of my German grandma!! ♥ Pure delight!! ♥

lino leaves

2011-06-21T17:54:00.001+01:00

So i'm trying to make some stamps that i can use to embellish material that i can then use in dressmaking - which i'm hoping is going to save me a little money! I love leaf print fabric, particularly oak leaves - they're my favourite leaves, i think.
You'll notice that the vein in the centre of the leaf is missing in the stamp - D'oh!! I cut it out by mistake so now have to do that bit separately - annoying!!!
Now, what to make...

can't touch this!!

2011-06-18T20:59:00.004+01:00

so i had this african material that i brought back from Zambia when i went there about 9 years ago. In a Burda magazine from 2010 (i think) there is an African style photoshoot and one of the patterns was a pair of loose cropped trousers done in African linen-type fabric. Because i didn't have enough fabric to make anything big I was thinking - "these would be perfect!!!

However...i didn't realise the crotch would be quite so...."MC hammer".
It's maybe more obvious in this second picture...see the crotch-ballooning that is going on???!! Hmm..yeah i'm not too sure about these. No doubt they will be cool and airy but really...how hot is it going to get in ireland this year (answer: not even nearly hot...more like "rather mild")
I was considering that maybe noone would notice, when poog called round, took one look at me and said - "hammer-time!! de-de-de-de...dede..dede...can't touch this!"

sigh...

anchors away

2011-06-17T20:59:00.000+01:00

Staying on the sailor theme, i cut a little anchor stamp, this time using 3mm lino block...the process, to summarise - was awful. I'll only cut the black SOFT 5mm stuff in the future as it's a lot more fun and you can actually be a lot more accurate because you're not leaning so hard using all your strength to make the incision. I tried warming the lino which helped for about 30 seconds until it cooled down again.
I loaded the stamp a little too full of paint when doing the test stamp as you can see by the uneven colour in the "blocked" areas.
Not sure what i'll use this one for but for now i'm just going to admire my carving and nurse my strained hand and wrist back to health...thin grey lino - NEVER AGAIN!!

i love you sailor!

2011-06-09T20:46:00.005+01:00

So i made these no zip sailor style shorts for summer. I drafted this pattern, loosely based on a really comfortable pair of shorts i bought about a million years ago. I posted the pattern for free on the Burdastyle website along with very long-winded instructions and lots of pictures of how to make them!!

The fabric i used is actually cream curtain lining at £1.50 per metre (cheaper than the muslins!) and then i stamped on the fabric with one of my hand-carved lino stamps and red fabric paint. I’ve got fed up paying over the odds for simple patterned fabric, and so i’m trying to embellish my own and save some money!! (to be spent on more craft supplies of course!)

The luscious lips pocket just occurred to me because of the “i love you” stamp that i used on the fabric. It was so easy that i’ve now decided i must try loads of different shapes..maybe theme it in with the fabric stamp or whatever.

The project was featured on the front page of the Burdastyle website and within 2 days 192 people had downloaded the pattern!! YAY!!!

cherry "easy as" pie!

2011-06-09T20:40:00.005+01:00

So i made these cute little earrings in all of 5 mins using the legendary bead stash of Gingerbelle Jewellery, the proprietress of which buys the most fabulous beads on the planet and then never blogs the stuff she makes!!!
Anyway they're cute, quick and so easy it's not even possible!
I ♥ craft!!

Draping guess

2011-06-05T20:46:00.006+01:00

So everyone seems to be doing the cool draping stuff from the japanese books and i thought i'd have a go....although not having the book, i had to kindof make it up based on a couple of those i saw on Burdastyle.

This one is based on Dress #2 from the Drape Drape 2 book. I've seen quite a few people have made it but Burdastyle member Jorth helpfully held it out flat in her blog pics of the finished dress so i could work out how it was made! So, thanks for that!
I'm loving the big pocket that results and can't help walking about with my hand in it.
It looks seriously weird when you cut out the pattern - this big poke out the side! I got this fabric on sale and so used it even though it is only 1-way stretch jersey. It means that it feels a little odd because the grain is a bit off.
I wear it with my freecycle find cowl which i think goes well!

freecycle find!

2011-06-05T20:24:00.003+01:00

So the first i heard of the website freecycle was when my brother-in-law emailed me to say:

(him) -"hey there's someone on the internet giving away a big box of hand-dyed cotton and silk pieces, woven silk yarn and a tin of vintage buttons for free to a good home...you want me to get it for you?"

(me)-"umm..(shaking my head in disbelief)...are you serious??? GET ME THAT BOX!!!"

Yep it was for real, on the website people give away stuff for free, you just have to go pick it up! I swung by the girl's house on the way home from work and picked up a treasure trove of hand dyed amazingness....apparently she was a professional fabric artist that was doing some spring cleaning. Some of the prices were still on the pieces...and they were expensive!! Wow, i couldn't believe that i'd just got the whole lot for nothing! Crazy!

So anyway - at the bottom of the box i found a skein of silk yarn, made from recycled indian saris. I made a simple cowl that i know i'll get a lot of wear out of! (81 stitches on 15mm needles, knit1, pearl1, then knit all the pearls and pearl all the knits. UK - moss stitch and US - seed stitch) In these pics it looks a little like something i picked up on the beach - i think it maybe does look a lot better in real life! lol!
All the little fluffy ends are so smooth and silky...i love it!

invite in a bottle

2011-05-31T10:46:00.000+01:00

So the last weddingy post i'm going to do is just squeaking in on the last day of May (ahem - cheating notwithstanding) The invites were the first glimpse the guests were going to see of the wedding-theme. I made up little glass bottles (about 5" high - bought online) adding some sand in the bottom from Brown's Bay, the beach near my house, and some little shells - one simple white "cockleshell" from The Cove (a different beach down the street from me...in ireland there's almost always a beach down the street!!) and a tropical shell bought off the internet.

The name tag was just written on rough recycled card and tied on with string.
So that the invite could be accessed easily without sand-spillage i put a drawing pin through the ribbon and into the base of the cork. Easy as that.
It was definitely more fun to have the guests have to open and unroll their invite rather than just open the envelope. We sent some of the bottles to SuperD's family in Italy...must have been quite strange to open a package and find a message in a bottle!
And i had some bottles left over, so we used them in the table-centre beach-rock-garden things and also on the cake. I printed out little bible verses and opened them up inside.
Cute!

something crafted, something blue

2011-05-31T10:20:00.000+01:00

I had made cool beach-rock-garden things for the table-centres for my wedding and had done out instructions for the hotel so that they would make them up just right - but i've lost the photos! This was in the days before any thought of a craft blog so i didn't keep them unfortunately. They had little "water-pools" of blue glass nuggets and everything! Oh well...i'll show something a little more simple but still wedding themed.....

So with all the chunky jewellery that we were wearing on the day, i wanted something simple for my earrings. It had to match in with the seaside theme with shells and pearls and with a touch of blue.
These took all of 5 minutes but they were just right on the day.

stones from the sea

2011-05-27T22:50:00.000+01:00

Since the theme at our wedding was to be the seaside, I choose some very scruffy natural looking pebbles from the beach near to our house on which to write the names for the guests' placecards. I glued little shells and mini dried starfish on them just to add something fun.
The groom was the only one with a black pebble and these two still sit on the windowsill in our kitchen - a memory of a beautiful day.

string your own stones

2011-05-26T22:48:00.005+01:00

Since the colours i chose for my bridesmaids weren't really a standard combination it was proving difficult to get jewellery to match...so we made our own. We bought a bunch of mixed stones in the colour palette i wanted and set to work stringing them all quasi-randomly together. This allowed us to add a couple of little marine-themed charms and mini shells etc so as to tie in with the sea-theme.
I had the very welcome assistance of poog from Gingerbelle Jewellery who did a fabulous job advising me and helping to make the necklaces. It just added a lot to the fun of the day that we were able to be so involved in making the pieces.
click on the pic to enlarge!

ridiculously large rings!

2011-05-26T22:47:00.004+01:00

Another aspect of the fun jewellery for my wedding was to be enormous dress rings that would match the colours of the girls' dresses.

You can just about make them out in this picture - click on the pic to enlarge - i really should've taken proper ones but didn't think of it at the time. The dark blue ring was made of lots of pieces of flat coral-shell all strung onto a base, so they were free to move about. The aqua blue was wired in the shape of a flower with little pearls in the centre and the sea-foam green was wired like a 4 leaf clover, again with the pearls at the centre...all were just wired to a simple base made by shaping silver wire.
easy-peasy!

flower power of 3

2011-05-26T22:43:00.002+01:00

Since i had so many wedding themed posts, i thought i'd just go ahead and make this marriage-themed-may. So i decided to add a couple of retro crafts from my wedding...that occurred before i began the craft blog and so i didn't take great photos of the stuff, so bear with me!

I begin with a cheat post, i had wanted to make this craft, but couldn't get the quality of flowers that my florist could, so i told her what i wanted and she made these little corsages for my bridesmaids. The idea was to be low-key and carefree, so i didn't want to have them wandering around having to hold a bunch of flowers.
I was so delighted by how they turned out - i thought they were a lot of fun and not so serious as a reserved posy would have been.

it's jennifer!

2011-05-19T19:23:00.010+01:00

And last but not least...the adult bridesmaid, Jennifer. She had chosen a 2 piece outfit with a fitted bodice top and a dramatic fish-tail skirt. Again made with the crepe backed satin. (yes it needs ironed too - sorry!)
I also made a shawl/stole thing out of the organza that the girls had on their dresses. I simply cut out a shape i liked, with long pointed ends, and then baby-hemmed the whole thing.
Jennifer wanted a loop to thread the shawl though so that it wouldn't slide down on the day. I attached one to the bottom of the strap.
Rather than make something permanent I made two loops of thread that would hold the loop in place.
And rather than sewing on snaps or poppers (which i hate doing) i embedded two super-strong mini magnets inside the loop. They had a really strong closure and yet there was no scratchy snap or stitches on the outside.
I did the same label with the free motion quilting but this time used a silver embroidery thread.
And here she is!
I just had to add a link to this gorgeous picture taking by the official photographer as it showed everyone together...hope i don't get into trouble for posting his photo!!
And just to finish, i couldn't miss but to add a picture of the groom...complete with kilt! Don't they all look gorgeous!

it's natasha!

2011-05-19T19:20:00.005+01:00

And then there was Natasha..same style as Aimee's simple bodice with the A-line skirt, but this time out of a very drapey satin. I didn't add any organza to this one so it looked a little more grown-up.
The fabric was so heavy that the bow was drooping constantly so i added two little stitches to keep the bow at the right height.
They were invisible when the bow was tied...the colour in these pics is weird...not totally sure why..?!
Again i put the little label in down near the hem, and she only noticed it at the end of the day!
And here she is! Looking gorgeous of course...it really was such an easy job i had!!

it's aimee!

2011-05-19T19:17:00.006+01:00

And then there was the flower-girl's big sister....Aimee wore a similar style but with a "big-girl" skirt that was just A-line to the ground. (sorry about the pic...as usual i haven't ironed it before photographing!!)
This one had the same organza layer but no gathering...and the big bow of course!
I put a little label in each of the dresses to remind of the special day.
And here she is in all her finery...and with a mini fur coat too....sooo cute!!

it's jodie!

2011-05-19T19:12:00.003+01:00

So i'm delighted that i can finally post the bridesmaid dresses that i've been working on!!

Firstly is the little flowergirl with the simple bodice in muave-crepe-backed-pearl-satin with a ballet-style puffy organza skirt. The flower and ribbons were added to tone in the rest of the wedding colours.
I loved the cute little low back and the big puffy bow!!
And here she is herself - ADORABLE!!

light as a lino feather

2011-04-29T22:54:00.001+01:00

So this is probably the most detailed lino stamp that i did while away at easter (in the camper - it was heaven! full of beaches, lakes, waterfalls, icecream, chocolate and sunshine!)
I'd like to put black feathers all over some teal fabric i have for a 50s style dress i have in mind. I need to take a raised bit off the stamp though..you can see the little smudgy bit on the fabric at the bottom.
This lino is a 4mm block and, not being the SOFT stuff, it was pretty difficult to cut cleanly. If it cooled down at all it started to tear the lino and not cut it, which was a bit of a nightmare. Luckily it was a lovely day and we were all sitting outside in the sun which was warming the block and making it a lot easier. However, every time the sun went behind a cloud, almost immediately the block cooled down and i had to use the great tip from Jezze's blog where she recommends sitting on it for a while to warm it up!
I got there in the end, the SOFT stuff is a lot easier...but perhaps not as durable?? We'll have to see how they last.

wine charms

2011-04-29T22:52:00.001+01:00

So with all the lovely wine i've been making coming to fruition, i've started to get down to serving it. This poses a small issue in that i have used old wine bottles which we have diligently emptied and enjoyed (and then washed and sterilised of course) to bottle my homemade varieties, and so the wine label doesn't correspond to what is inside and very often there is nowhere to write clearly on the bottle what fruit was used...i have made a variety of types including blackberry, plum, grape, apple etc. I could stick a big label on them...but that kindof ruins the look in my opinion. So i made bottle charms!
These are little charms made from salt-dough using a cool rolling pin that my mamma has, that is supposed to be used for patterning shortbread. I'll have to make a lot more, now that i know that they work out ok.
I just stuck on the ribbon very messily with hot glue...nobody will see them back will they??!
Great...now to try them out properly, i'll have to hold a dinner party! yay!

plant labels

2011-04-29T22:50:00.000+01:00

we're having a competition in work to see who can grow the most and biggest chillis this season. We've all chosen different varieties and currently they're all relaxing in my greenhouse until they're mature enough to make the trip into work with me.
A super-simple paper craft to make little name badges for each of the contenders...this one's mine "Come on hungarian hot wax!!! Mamma's hungry!"
One of the varieties is razamatazz and it produces purple chillis! cool huh?
The winner (or should that be loser?) has to make food for the rest of us using their chillis...i can hardly wait! yummy!

Pamela's posit-it holder

2011-04-29T22:16:00.000+01:00

Another craft that Pamela suggested was this quick but effective little book cover. Using lots of cool paper pieces and cutters from her stash i threw together this little springy-themed card. See her little quilling flower, she cuts slits in a quilling strip and then rolls it up before splaying at the little petal pieces - good idea isn't it?
And it's put to good use holding the crucial memory aid that is the block of post-its (Post-its are stuck all over my life - seriously, they're everywhere!)
Thanks Pamela!

cheers to chocolatiering

2011-04-28T22:32:00.010+01:00

So superD let me buy a cool little gadget that should come in useful particularly at this time of year! An easter egg machine!!! All you do is melt the chocolate, and pour some into each side of a little mould...then snap the mould shut and place it in this weird contraption.
Then see the little handle?....wind that for 3 minutes while the mould is being twisted through full 360 degrees in all directions (in all planes for the engineers among us)...or you could do that by hand...but for sure it's not quite so magical as winding the neon plastic handle of the ratchet machine of chocolatey wonderment.
Then put in the fridge for 3 hrs, turning each half hour. Then take out of the fridge and leave for 1 minute before popping open your mould.
Look - isn't it cool? I also did a couple of chocolate mini-bears with the left over chocolate. Then pop it right out...fun! I gave up the turning-every-30-minutes after the first time so actually this egg is very thin chocolate on one side and totally solid on the other!!! lol
Then get decorating! I got lots of cool little shapes with the kit, like hearts, flowers and butterflies...
...but my favourite has got to be the big bear on the right....cute!!!

little lino birds

2011-04-28T22:20:00.008+01:00

So i brought the lino with me on holiday at easter so there are a few more stamps that i managed to do. This one i thought would be nice stamped round a band at the hemline of a big skirt, which i might just have to have a go at. Again, my printing skills could be better!
These are so quick to do, they're a very satisfying craft i have to say.
I used the same SOFT lino block for this one, and just tried to cut as deep as i could so that none of the grooves would pick up the paint. It's so easy to cut the soft stuff, and those big deep gouges are the stuff of stress-relieving dreams!

easter egg basket

2011-04-28T22:15:00.005+01:00

Easter crafts of course are on the go at present (or they were last week if i had managed to photograph them in time). This is a really easy paper craft taught to me by the fabulous Pamela who makes lots of great creations: cards, quilts and paintings to name but a few.

Take a square of card (5.5"x5.5"), clip the corners and score fold lines as shown in the pic below. Make 4 cuts to reach the edges of the centre square as shown. Cut yourself a nice long handle piece.
Then fold in the corners like this...and secure with a staple when you're happy with the shape, catching the edges of your handle.
See? Like that. Feel free to decorate as you go!
Then quickly fill with Lindt mini eggs and run like the wind to hide them in your sewing room to give much needed sustenance during those long crafting marathons!

i love you in lino!

2011-04-28T22:05:00.004+01:00

So i did say that i wanted to have a go at lino printing on fabric. For the first stamp i chose something easy to cut. You can see that i'm not that great at the printing bit...one stamp fades out at the top and one has a big line through it where i was stamping over a groove in my table!...o well, live and learn!
I'll be printing up some fabric with red paint using this stamp and will be making a pair of shorts for the summer...i just have to decide on the perfect shorts pattern to use.
The lino i used here is a 5mm SOFT lino block and i used the standard carving tools that are available for purchase online. I found the instructions on this cool printing blog really useful for getting started. I did one thing differently though and used dressmaker's carbon paper in white to transfer the design - it was super quick and easy!
o yeah and credit goes to superD who stopped me from cutting out the WRONG WAY ROUND (the text must go backwards to make it stamp properly in order) ... that gets me every time! - will.i.ever.learn????!!!

tangerine tartaned toosh

2011-04-17T09:01:00.005+01:00

So to go with my new top I decided to make another version of the Jenny skirt, this time in an uber-70s orange tartan pattern wool blend. I love this skirt pattern, the skirts are soo comfy.
True to form i was already getting grumpy with the photo-taking stuff (i'm rubbish at posing for these photos) so i've cut off my grumpy face in this photo as i'm telling SuperD to "stop adjusting the zoom and lighting and take the photo already!!!!"
Instead of the simple slit at the back as per the pattern, i added a back vent using this tutorial, and this one. I also made it quite high as you can see below, which gives a brilliant range of movement for getting in and out of cars....no more "riiiiiiip"!!!, which is always a good thing.

One amazing thing that i've noticed is that this material has some magical properties...it's like one of those magic-eye pictures where the objects seem vastly enlarged....yep all this to say that this fabric and pattern combine to bestow on the lucky wearer the largest butt on earth...use with caution!!!

dunja goes dark

2011-04-17T08:40:00.004+01:00

o dear...with bridesmaid dress sewing taking up my every spare moment, all other crafts are suffering!! However i took a break to try something different. You know the dunja top that i made in neon yellow?....well turns out i wasn't getting as much wear out of it as i hoped...i mean, who knew acid yellow didn't go with everything??!!

So i made another version - pattern found here on the trusty Burdastyle website - this time in back cotton shirting.
I kept the ruffles but made them much smaller (6" circular with 1.5" height) and dropped the neckline at the front and back.
I used buttons instead of poppers (snaps) because quite frankly i hate poppers! I hate sewing them on through the stupid little metal holes, i hate the little sharp metal edges (i hate the plastic ones even more - totally useless!), i hate the way if you use too much thread they won't "pop", i hate the way you have to stick you nail into them to open them (gives me the chills)....but most of all i hate the way that when you put any strain on them they "unpop" loudly as if you've just split a seam!!!....so anyway, rant over...i used buttons!! ( i ♥ buttons!)
O great this photo looks like the neck is wonky...in reality it's symmetrical, i just checked.
I've a feeling i'll be wearing this one a LOOOOOOOOT more!!!

Blue skies coming

2011-03-31T11:08:00.006+01:00

So in the March 2011 issue of Burdastyle magazine there are a pair of simple shorts that i thought i'd have a go at. Tried them first in this lovely bright blue medium-weight cotton. Sorry i should have ironed them before taking these photos!!!
They're a little on the snug side - i'll probably make the next pair a little bit more roomy!!
A problem with the tightness of these shorts with the slit pockets is that they tend to gape open like little wings - most annoying!
So i put little button holes in the outer pocket and buttons on the inside, so they can be held neatly in place. The little buttons also helped to tie in the big white waistband button which i used - i didn't have any other suitable colour! Two lines of white stitching round the hem of the legs, were done with a twin needle so that they are perfectly parallel.
And that's it - super-simple and super-quick...now all i need is the weather to wear them. And maybe a few jogging sessions to tone up my legs a little....and a bucket of bronzer and i'm ready for summer!! lol!

rubber bubble

2011-03-31T10:57:00.003+01:00

Another useful stamp i thought i could use was the speech bubble! I also made a little hi! stamp so that the little matryoshkas could speak and show how friendly they are. And not only the matryoshkas...the mushroom also had something to say...
The main use i find for the stamps is in personalising napkins for dinner parties etc...so easy!

needle-bug

2011-03-31T10:37:00.003+01:00

I don't know about everyone else, but switching sewing machine needles for different materials etc always gets on my nerves...i always get them mixed up (im not a put-it-back-in-the-right-box kindof person) and then i'm in the half-light squinting and trying to read the tiny numbers etched on the side, and then i need to get out the book to tell me which size goes with which material...bla bla bla...basically - it's a pain.

So i decided to make a quilted needlebug hanger to keep the needles in order. I made little spots for the different sizes of needle and separate ones for the jersey needles / leather needles and twin needles etc.
The little spots were made using the method of the padded magnet covers, and then just sewn on to the body of the ladybug. I embroidered the sizes underneath to keep myself right! No more confusion...let's hope!

bake for japan

2011-03-31T10:17:00.003+01:00

Poog had a benefit morning for aid for Japan and we all brought buns and craft to sell (and buy of course!) I made simple fairy cakes using my mum's recipe:

4oz self-raising flour
4oz sugar
4oz butter
2 eggs

- 15-20 mins at 180C
- decorate with rolled ready icing mixing with colour as required

Over £200 was made and duly dispatched, along with our prayers, to aid the relief effort.

mix and match matryoshka

2011-03-31T10:07:00.002+01:00

So having made a rubber matryoshka in one colour out of the plastic erasers, I had said that i wanted to bring a bit of colour to the stamp. I made one with a "hollow" tummy and carved a mini flower to fit inside, and then carved another in two parts allowing me to mix up the colours of the top and bottom. Quick, easy and great fun!
I'm hoping to get into lino printing next so that i can make larger stamps and customise some material...i've a pair of shorts in mind that would work well with a mad fabric.

baby garden cardy

2011-03-30T20:16:00.000+01:00

So i knitted another of the Baby Sophisticate cardigans - they're so quick and easy! I decided this time to make a girlier version in case "tot", poog's future bambino turns out to be a bambina if you get what i'm saying. And while i'm against blue being reserved for boy babies and pink being reserved for girls (although...pink on a little boy baby, maybe is a bit weird...) it seems that the practice is so widespread that you'll have to constantly be correcting people-

-"o what a lovely little boy, he'll be so handsome - he's going to look just like your husband "
-..."umm actually, i hope SHE doesn't!"

I made the cardy with short sleeves this time as i thought it might be cute to see little fat baby-arms sticking out, and it would look so cute with a wee green and yellow stripey onsie!
ps sorry about the dodgy colour balance, the sun just came out with a vengeance as i started taking pics...typical!