Monday 31 January 2011

Vinyl Clock

I love this clock, think I'll be making more in the future if I can find homes for them that is lol. This was a birthday present for a friend and I thought her place needed something new and a little quirky just like her so I made her a vinyl record clock to sit/hang from the mantlepiece.
Bonus points to anyone who can guess the band and the single that this record is for!

Gotta love what a couple of minutes in an oven does to a vinyl, maybe a bowl will be my next vinyl experiment or perhaps a bag...

I'm linking this up to the lovely parties listed on the right hand column.

This is also my entry for this weeks Crafty Creations challenge 'Let's Heat It Up!', I did have to heat the vinyl record to make it maelable enought to shape so I think that covers heat it up lol!

Sunday 30 January 2011

Champagne Birthdays!

Another card order for Mum all made, finished and well actually now received as it's taken me so long to remember to blog them. Two of her friends were having 'big birthdays' and she wanted to give them some unusual cards and as always i took up the challenge and ignored the original design idea she gave me.. sorry mum but they never wuite work out how you see them in your head.. but I kept the theme similar using champagne bottles rather than the glasses idea she had.
One friend was 50 so I used lots of gold and glitter...
The other was 40 so I stuck to silvers instead..
My favourite thing about this order was using my Sizzix Bigshot that Dan (darling OH) got me for christmas.. he had no idea what he was buying me just went into Hobbycraft with the name on a bit of paper lol.. but now he understands a little more as everything is being made embossed now!

Monday 24 January 2011

Anthro Power Of 3 Knockoff Tutorial

Just in case you missed this post over at Kitty Cats & Airplanes earlier this week I've posted it here too for a second chance viewing ;)

Here we have yet another piece of Anthropologie jewellery that I've been lusting for, 'Power Of 3', but immensely disliked the £38 price tag that came attached to it. So I decided to raid my stash again and make my own take on the piece.. If you want to give it a try to then you'll need:
  • 21 beads ( 7 each of 3 different colours)
  • 2m of a coordinating colour ribbon (i used 2 different colours 1m of each)
  • 1m of tulle fabric
  • Handful of jumprings
  • Necklace clasp
  • Scissors
  • Pliers
  • Needle (not pictured)
  • Coordinating colour thread (not pictured)
  • Fraystop (not pictured - optional)
  1. Firstly cut the lenght of fabric in half. Don't worry if the edges are raggy like mine, they can always be trimmed and fraystopped later. (I just fancied a bit of a raw look to it) 2. Feed one length of fabric through a jumpring and tie a knot. Repeat for the other piece of fabric.

3. Attach several jumprings to one of the jumpring/fabric knots and a necklace clasp to the other.
Now for the main piece of the necklace

4. Fold the ribbon in half and cut it to make 1m lengths.

5. Fold the ribbon lengths in half again and tie them together, forming a loop.

6. Decide which colour of your beads will be each bead type on the original necklace so you can follow the pattern.

7.Thread the first bead onto a ribbon length, use a needle to thread the ribbon through the bead if need be, then tie a knot after the bead. 8. Thread the second bead onto the same ribbon as the first bead, don't tie a knot yet.

9. Thread the third bead onto the other ribbon length.

10. Take both lengths of ribbon and tie a knot below the second bead.
11. Repeat the beading process, using the original as a template for the order to thread the beads on, till you've used all 21 beads.
12. Leave a couple of cms of ribbon after the final set of beads then tie a double knot to form a loop to end the bead section of the necklace. Trim the ribbon down.
Now to attach the 2 necklace sections together.. well at first I tried putting the fabric through the ribbon loop and making a knot.. This looked awful as the picture below shows, but maybe some of you could make it a beautiful knot if you wanted to.. so I tried a tidier method..

13. Take a fabric section and feed the loose fabric through the ribbon loop about 3cm or so.

14. Fold it back on itself and sew it together. (I used quite heavy stitches on the parts that won't be seen when I'm wearing it, the beads are quite heavy so I wanted the stitches to hold).

15. Repeat for the other end of the necklace.
16. Trim and fraystop the fabric edges if you need/want to.

And that's it all done..here's how mine turned out when it was all finished.

17. Put it on and show your OH, make them take a picture of you wearing it and then have to explain why he's taken a picture of you for no reason and that yes you did actually make the lovely piece of jewellery hanging round your neck...


Or is step 17 just what happens in my house everytime I make something new?

Sunday 23 January 2011

It's A Bird Thing

Here's my entry to this week's Crafty Creations challenge, it's a cushion that I decided was a little dull and needed something to brighten it up a bit. The theme this week is 'It's a bird thing', so I chose a cute bird design to have as an applique on the cushion.


I hand draw the bird and heart shapes, cut them out and handstitched them all on as sadly I still don't have my sewing machine :(


The fabric is from the bundle of scraps mum got me in her lcoal fabric shop, I love it just wish there was a bigger piece as I've used it all on this project, but it was worth it. What I really love is that the fabric is dotty, as it has little gold sequins on it that you can't see from a distance so here's a close up on a bird.

Looks great sitting pretty on our bed :)

Friday 21 January 2011

V-Day Frame

I've never bothered with Valentines decorations before but after seeing so many lovely pieces out there in blogland I thought I should give it a try too.

Can't claim credit for the twig heart, mum bought us that to join the wall fo hearts we have in our dining room. But the framed piece is my first bit of V day decor for the house using subway art as the background and pom poms to make the heart, both of which i totally dig at the moment..

I've used:
  • Subway art from Krista's blog
  • 7x5 dark wood frame (good ol' hobbycraft sale)
  • Corrugated card (to mount the subway art on)
  • Pink felt
  • Pink t-shirt scraps (for the pom poms and little hearts)
  • Good ol' trusty glue gun

So now both these lovelies are sitting up on our mantel making it look fab!

Thursday 20 January 2011

Kitty Cats & Airplanes

Hey everybody, come have a look at Amie's blog to see what I've done for my guest post tutorial today...

Here's a little sneak peek to tempt you in to go over and have a look

Wednesday 19 January 2011

what do u do when a pair of jeans die.. part 2


So I had a brainwave how to use another denim scrap from the dead pair of jeans... a pom pom ring to complete the set I made last week :)
Working on the suggestions for the next project on what to do with the leftover denim..
Over the weekend I'll be posting a tutorial for the bracelet as a few people have asked, so come back and have a look then!

Monday 17 January 2011

What do u do when a pair of jeans die?

What do you do when a pair of jeans die? Well most people would throw them away but not me.. is it that I hoard? won't let things go? or do I have a greater plan for them in their 'next life'?
Well in this case it was a rather nice pair of jeans that I had many ideas of what I could upcycle them into now that they had the rather inconveniently placed tear in the fabric. I took great pleasure in taking a pair of sharp scissors to a leg of the jeans and shredding it into more usable pieces.
So from the one leg of the jeans I made a large pom pom brooch, pom pom necklace and denim wrapped pom pom bangle too :)
Now what to do with the other leftover leg, any ideas?

I'm linking this to some of the lovely parties on the right and also to Little Miss Momma's Pom Pom Party

Friday 14 January 2011

welcome sign tutorial

So we've been in our new place for a month now, the xmas decorations are down and I think it's looking a little empty without them so I'm off on another making tangent to fill the voids the decorations left... So for our inner front door I'm making a Welcome sign.

If you want to make on you'll need:
  • Scrapbook paper
  • Wooden/ papier mache word sign
  • Craft wire
  • Mod podge
  • White paint
  • Pliers
  • Craft knife
  • Sponge/ brush
  • Embellishments (not pictured)
  • Sandpaper (not pictured)

1. Cover the forward facing side of your word in mod podge and stick it to the back of your scrapbook paper.

2. Leave to dry and then trim the excess paper down.

3. Using the craft knife very carefully cut round the letters to remove the excess paper so you can see the word fully.

4. Paint the edges of the word with the white paint. Don't worry if it drips over the paper a little bit (I found it gave it character and looked good when I sanded it later). Leave to dry.








5.Once the paint has dried cover the whole thing with a good layer of mod podge and leave to dry.

6. Take a piece of sandpaper and rough the egdes around the word to give it a worn look.

7. Take the wire and the pliers, leave 3 inches at each end of the wire straight, wrap the wire round the nose of the pliers to form the desired number of loops. (I did 6 either side). Repeat for the other end of the wire.

8. Loop one end of the wire through the loop of the 'e' and twist to finish it. Repeat this with the other end using the arm of the 'w'.





9. Your word should now hang beautifully from a hook but if like me you think it looks a little naked then embellish it with ribbons, buttons or whatever takes your fancy!










I'm linking this to the lovely parties listed on the right hand side and also to this weeks Crafty Creations Challenge

Friday 7 January 2011

Polly Want A Crafter

Hi bloggers! Guess where my blog has been featured today....

Click the button to come check it out and to have a look at the other lovelies that people have been sharing too!
Here's the direct link to my project too
I'm rather excited by this as it's the first time I've been featured on someone else's blog :)