We're seeing a special little baby this week and i'm doing a handmade gift (of course!)...
A sweet little picture mixing machine and hand stitching. This will be sewn onto the front of a scrapbook. There are so many moment and memories to preserve, babies grow so fast! I hope the mum and dad can keep track of some of those moments in this book.
Nothing. No pretty pictures of crafty works in progress. No photos to inspire or delight. Nothing.
The past week has been spent doing the most mundane of chores... cleaning out. Every room in this house has been gone through and sorted. Piles of bits'n'pieces in every room. A whole bunch of stuff has been given to charity, some made it to eBay and an astonishing amount was just thrown in the rubbish. The purge has been good. It feels good, lighter somehow. It's amazing how much stuff just accumulates, especially when kids are around!
I did find this in my cleanout though, buried under layers.
I'd been learning embroidery stitches on a piece of raw linen. Unfortunately I can't remember what i had actually intended to use the stitches on...
Sewn yesterday: one of the many ideas scrawled in one of many notebooks.
I like the pink and orange combo going on. So many tiny leaves made it intricate to sew but i'm really loving the effect.
I'm time-poor and i insist on something sewn and lovely on my parcels, so these are excellent...
I tend to gather endless bits of ribbon, ric-rac, lace, binding, material, gift wrap, etc from just about everywhere. And i love when the op-shop ladies bundle up little bags full for $1! Perfect to have on hand for a little crafting. When i need some tags to go out with my parcels i sew up a batch of standard shipping tags with said pretty off-cuts. A bit of colour across the bottom leaves just enough space to write a quick 'thank you' or whatever.
Just goes to show that you should never throw out any of those pretty scraps!
My new iPod cozy.
Like the Beethoven button? Couldn't resist.
I finally got around to a wee bit of crafting... felted an old wool jumper and used the end of one sleeve. Completely perfect because it already had a nice ribbed cuff to use as the top. And just about the perfect size, although i took the seam in a bit to make it a snug fit.
And then i got to the earphones. Yep. Much to my husband's amusement, I wrapped them (saw this on Pinterest). No more tangling! Works an absolute treat. Think i might get the kids to do theirs too, because seriously, if i have to untangle those things one more time...
Fresh from the sewing machine are a new batch of bookmarks! I'm actually quite chuffed with them for a couple of reasons, not the least of which are...
1. More and more i'm using repurposed papers, these are made from my growing collection of vintage wallpapers.
2. I love books. Love them. I have too many yet still buy more. Even as the digital world runs me down and beats me into submission, a reader will never mean quite the same thing to me as a book in my hands.
3. I don't know about you guys, but there is never a bookmark close by when i need one.
4. They're pretty.
There are four bookish type sayings:
"A good book must be savoured... morsel by morsel, page by page."
"Books... glorious books."
"A good book is good company." and
"Life's too short to persist with a bad book."
I'm hereby declaring next week book week here on the blog, in which i'll be giving away a couple of sets of said bookmarks! I'll be photographing these lovelies and getting them into the shops over the next couple of days. Enjoy the weekend guys.
As you know, i'm not one to waste pretty paper, esepcially cute or quirky pretty paper. So when i came across some old Frankie magazine pullout calendars on my shelves that i'd put aside aaaages ago, i wanted to put them to a good use... so more notebooks for me!
Remember this one i did a while ago? These are more of the same, just some cheapo school exercise books, spray glue and a wee bit of stitching around the edges...
Clearly much cuter. Looking forward to using them all myself! Although i think the kids have their beady little eyes on them...
The Frankie goodness will last me a little longer :)
And i also attacked some old frames i'd picked up at the op shop a while ago. Nice bright colours and some free art from the Feed Your Soul project. My littlest Moonlet chose what pictures she liked and we'll put them up in her room.
Still two more frames to fill, although i might steal that little yellow one. I have a thing for yellow at the moment.
Do head over to kootoyoo to see what's happening in other creative spaces.
From the recycling yard i picked up an old drawer for $1. I thought i'd paint it and it might be good to use in my market display with all those compartments. It looked pretty awful and my beloved husband gave me one of those looks... but i never got around to getting it ready for the markets so it has been put to a different use.
A lick of white paint does wonders. And for one dollar i do believe that was a bargain. One does love to see one's pretty coloured cottons in nicely sorted piles :) And i'm taking a photo of my workspace today, because it sure ain't going to look like this tomorrow. I have lots of sewing to get through so i'm enjoying the clear surface while i can.
For more creative spaces head over to kootoyoo.
Have you seen that paint that can paint on crockery? I couldn't resist buying some to try... turns out it was harder than i thought and i'm really impatient. I was going for the old stencilly type writing which actually ended up uneven, blobby and not at all how i'd pictured in my head. But does anything ever end up like we think it will?!?
Was fun. And it justified a trip to the op shop to find some bits and pieces to paint on. I invested a massive $1 in this teacup and saucer.
Beats a plastic business card holder hands down anyway.
Last birthday i received some pressies wrapped in a sweet floral paper. I loved the colours so squirrelled it away in the cupboard just because i'm loathe to waste pretty paper and thought i'd use for something someday. So, what to do with it?
Fristly, it looked a bit too crisp for my liking, so i wet it, scrunched it all up, flattened it out and let it dry. Vintage-esque, aged look achieved! I picked up a few cheap school notebooks at the supermarket and cut the wrapping paper to the same size as the covers with an inch or so allowance all round. Sprayed said wrapping paper liberally with glue and gently rolled the writing notebook along the paper so as not to get any air bubbles between them. Excess paper folded inside the book on each side. A little bit of scrap brown paper added to the corners and a border sewn around the front three sides on my trusty old Bernina.
Yes. I'm quite happy with that.
