The 'You'll Never Guess What It Started Out As!' Scarf

Pinterest Project #3 was t-shirt infinity scarves and I love how quick and easy these are! So quick and easy (and cheap!) in fact, that I've made 3 and planning a 4th!

 

I started out with a XXL men's t-shirt from Primark (£2.50 - total bargain!) and cut off the hem them cut from armpit to armpit.

 

 

Pull and stretch the body so the cut ends curl in a little then that's the scarf essentially finished. These can be fancified as much as you like.

 

For one scarf I added tassels that I made from some yarn. These are also simple to make; wrap some yarn around a scrap of card, tie at one end and cut the other...

 

 

 

Then wrap more yarn around the top and tie tightly.

 



 

I simply sewed these onto the scarf in a line.

 

 

 

For another scarf I took an even simpler route. I used small bits cut from the hem and tied them around the seams to pinch the scarf in on both sides. I sewed these into place and covered the fabric with a big button.

 



 

 

For the final scarf I got carried away. I cut several small strips and tied them together at the seams.

 

 

 

I made little flowers from the leftover t-shirt fabric with pearl beads on to cover the ties and add a little something special and it's done!

 

 

I hope the recipients like them!

Christmas Crayon Art

Following on from my crayon art project several months ago I decided to make a Christmas version to give my otherwise bland hallway a little bit of festive flair.

Just like last time, this project was cheap and easy. I simply got a cheap canvas from The Works, two 24- packs of crayons (one pack wasn't quite enough) and cracked on with it; removing the paper from the crayons and chopping them into 3 small pieces, sketching out a rough (turns out it was very rough, but it isn't one of my projects if it isn't a little wonky!) Christmas tree and stuck the crayons around the shape.

Once the glue had dried (I left it overnight) I simply used my heat gun to melt the crayons and turned the canvas as I went so the drips would all fan outward.

Despite the wonkiness I really like this and I think it's nice how it's festive touch without being too in-your-face Christmassy!

Watercolour Me Happy

Pinterest Project #2 was to make my own take on State Art.

 

This was so easy it took me about 30 minutes to make all 3, and I'm a terrible artist so if I can do it, anyone can!

 

I got some canvas paper and watercolours then printed out basic map outlines of 3 places important to me, mainland Britain, the Dominican Rebublic, where we got married and Florida, where we honeymooned.

 

I copied the rough map outlines onto the paper, got a punched heart (so that when it was removed it would leave a clean white heart) to cover the cities where we live , wed, and honeymooned then filled in with the watercolour paints, finishing off with a little paint splattering to make it look like the messy nature of the painting was on purpose... unfortunately it made a bit of a mess of the carpet- hope hubby doesn't notice! Oops! Worth it though!

 

 

 

 

Now I just have to decide where to put them. We need to move to a bigger place, a little 2-bed flat just doesn't have enough space for all of my projects!

 

H is for...

I was in Hobbycraft a while ago and saw some unpainted paper mache letters for the bargainous price of £1.99. I decided that even if I screwed it up it wouldn't matter and I'd have fun trying. Thankfully I don't think I did screw it up and it sits pride of place in my living room!

 

 

I used a matching paper set called 'Sweet Pea' from Craftwork Cards, it ties in with our decor perfectly and it's just really pretty without being too girly.

 

Each 'leg' of the H is decorated with a different pattern and embellishment. There's a flower and 'ribbon' detail (which is actually card that I curled up a little).

 

 

Here are some punched hearts that I layered for a pretty, fluttery look..

 

 

Some layered punched flowers.

 

 

Another flower and 'Card Candi'.

 

 

The whole thing is wrapped around with a diamante chain.

 

 

Some of the flowers were made by punching out hearts and overlapping them in a circle to create petals.

 

 

The others were made with 3 different sized flower punches. My mother-in-law had a huge craft punch clear out so I got a little carried away!

 

 

To make the whole thing a little more durable it got a couple of coats of Mod Podge which is my new favourite thing!

 

And here it is in situ!

 

 

 

And to explain just why I'm decorating H's (my Mum was seriously confused, I don't think she's quite accepted that I've changed my name!)... here's a hint as to what my surname is! This is another recent project and I love it so much I think I've decided what all of our friends are getting for Christmas!

 

 

Luxury Cards on a Budget

I'm a bit of a hoarder. Well, a massive hoarder if I'm honest, I've got boxes and bags and drawers full of things I can't bear to throw away. My husband hates it!

 

Whilst having a little of a clear out a few months ago (well, moving junk from one box to another) I found a load of broken costume jewellery, bag charms and keyrings that I'd kept because they were too pretty to throw away but I never wore or used and I finally realised what I could do with it all, rip it apart and stick the bits on cards of course!

 

This card has a little 'Je t'aime' heart charm from a necklace, and a Thomas Sabo perfume sample ribbon- I never throw ribbons out!

 

 

This is a broken earring set on a fabric sample from Next! 

 

  

This was a necklace...

 

 

As was this...

 

 

A phone charm...



 

 

Another phone charm...

 

 

And finally a bag charm...

 

 

I love making cards that look luxurious but cost nothing since it's all stuff that was destined for the bin (and in some cases freebies from shops!). Now I have a new issue, I don't want to give the cards away as they're too pretty!



Crayon Art

I have discovered Pinterest. I never really got it before but now I do and I have no idea how it took me so long! I now have a list as long as my arm of craft projects to undertake so this weekend was the perfect time to undetake Project #1- melted crayon art!

I am no artist, and to be honest most of my arty endeavours do look like the work of a child, but it keeps me amused and I figure that one day the arty thing may well just click. This was super easy though, even for me! I was pretty cheap too thanks to a 24-pack of crayons only costing £1.24 in Wilkos and the canvas only costing £1.99 in The Works. Ah, I do love my cheap shops!

So, on with the details. I discovered too late that 24 crayons are not enough to reach from one end of the canvas to the other so had the delightfully tedious job of removing the paper from each crayon, sharpening the blunt end and cutting it in half. Glued them all on with a liberal (read accidental 'Argh it's gushing out the bottle and I can't stop it!!!!') application of PVA and left it overnight to dry. I cut out a mask of the figure holding the umbrella and gently stuck it on so it could be removed, sadly it was a little too gently stuck and some wax got behind it! I had planned on drawing the figure directly onto the canvas but because of the mess I was left with I drew it on some canvas effect paper I had and glued it on afterwards.

I used my heat gun to melt the crayons with the canvas sitting upright, carefully moving it around so no one area was getting too hot. Wax went flying in odd directions so it is a good idea to put newspaper down!

I love how the wax has formed drips, it adds to the rain affect!





I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sold on the person, think I need to go over it again with more crayon or maybe something more substantial like oil pastels (I'll have to buy some first) so this is still kind of unfinished, but I really like it in theory so wanted to share!

Not-quite-a-wheat-wheat-bag

So when I made my Kindle covers I had plenty more jumper left over to play with so I decided to make some wheat bags out of the arms; they were super easy, just chop the arm off, sew one end closed and attach some ribbons to the open end so that it fastens and creates a little pouch for a separate wheat bag to slide in.

I decided to make the separate wheat bag as it would then be replaceable should anything go wrong and I didn't really like the idea of throwing the cashmere in the microwave over and over again. It was just made from some white sheeting, stuffed then sewn closed.

I didn't really know what exactly I needed for the filling, 'wheat' seemed a little amiguous so I had a little Google and found that normal rice does the same job (and doesn't go manky like pearl barley does after a while) so my not-quite-a-wheat-wheat bag is actually stuffed with white rice and a crushed up cinnamon stick for a nice smell (I hate lavender!).



Pop the inside bag in the microwave for 2-3 minutes, pop it in the cashmere pocket and snuggle! I made 2 as Christmas presents and I wish I had a 3-arm jumper so I could have made another one for myself! 

Winter Wedding Wonders Part 2

I decided that I wanted to make a card and gift to match my brother's wedding colour scheme, I had the card and loads of leftover snowflakes after all!

The snowflakes and hearts are cut using my Sizzix. 

The matt in the frame is to fit a 5x7 photo so the super shiny-ness of the gold card will be toned down majorly once the photo is covering it.

I'm looking forward to going round and seeing this with a photo of the gorgeous bride and groom to complete it!

Winter Wedding Wonders Part 1

My Big Brother got married on Thursday 1st December, I can't quite believe that after 4 years of being engaged he actually said, 'I do', and it was just wonderful; I may have had a little weep.

The wedding was all gold, ivory and snowflakes, I helped made the invitations back in August, and cut out so many snowflakes I thought that winter had come already, in fact when it started to try to snow yesterday I got flashbacks!

The invitations are little petal-fold wallets with 3 cards inside.

Apparently the guests all loved them and couldn't believe that they were home-made which I always think is a good thing to hear! 

Melting Music

I've been wanting to make record bowls for ages and with Christmas looming I decided that they'd make fun presents so actually got my hands on some old records and went for it!

The beauty of these is that they don't have to be perfect, and each bowl is different. They're also embarrassingly easy to make, just pop the oven on a low heat, get a glass bowl, place the record on top with the label in the centre and leave to melt, it only takes about 10 minutes, and it can be moulded slightly when you take it out if you want to make it more 'wibbly'. If you don't like how it sets, stick it back in the oven and have another play.



I love how these turned out, and I also love that they're another no-spend Christmas present to give out! Of course, I proudly showed The Husband and the first thing he said was, 'There's a hole in the bottom'... 'Well they're for trinkets not cereal!' Tch.

Cosy Kindles!

Whoah... I can't believe how long it's been since my last post! Ooops! I blame my broken camera, where's the fun in showing off what I've been making if I can't post photos?! Luckily I seem to have acquired my Mum's camera for a short period so I've been snap happy!

One of my goals for this year was to make at least half of my Christmas presents and I'm pleased to say that I'm well on my way to achieving that, although it may not work out as quite half, it's still plenty!

So my first present is a cosy Kindle pouch for my Mum... and another for me! I haven't actually got a Kindle yet but I've asked for one for Christmas so I thought I'd be prepared!

They have been made out of an old cashmere jumper that's been lying around for a couple of years waiting to be used for something since The Husband stuck it on a hot wash so it shrunk and went a bit felty, which has been great for cutting and sewing!

I'm absolutely not a seamstress and I'm generally pretty scared of sewing machines so I had help from my Mother-in-Law who helped me make little envelope style pouches with some white sheeting as a lining to give it some structure, I did actually do all of the sewing myself which is very obvious when they're inspected as it's all a little wobbly, I just like to think that it shows they've been made with love if not technique!

I got the idea of making little flowers from watching this video, she does waffle on a bit but I got the gist after a couple of minutes so made it up as I went! 

This one is made using the neck of the jumper so it's really thick and gone quite wiggly, which I really like, I like how the ribbing on the flower matches the ribbing on the pouch (which is from the bottom of the jumper!)

This one is just a scrap of leftover fabric which had been cut with pinking shears which has given it a 'ruffled' edge and a little sparkly jewel I had lying around has been sewn in the middle to hide the mess I made when I tried to sew it all nice and tightly together!



 

And to top it off I've even sewn on little snaps to keep them securely closed!

I'm quite impressed with my little Kindle covers, now all I need is a Kindle to go in mine! Hope my Mum likes hers!



Wedding Scrapbook

I've finally pulled my finger out and started work on my wedding scrapbook, my poor printer doesn't know what's hit it!

This isn't what I'd call a 'real' scrapbook; there's no journalling and few titles, I'm just letting the photos tell the story... I like to say that it's a photo album with embellishments.

This is an ongoing project, I've still got about two thirds of the day left to do but here are a few of my finished pages so far.

I should explain that we got married in the Dominican Republic so I've gone quite OTT with the bright colours in the album!

The Boys before the ceremony:

My parents and me in the hotel room just before we left, the only 2 photos from the room where I'm actually squeezing out a bit of a smile! I was a bit stressed and overwhelmed at this point and the photographer was the last person I wanted to see! I'm not photogenic at the best of times!

 

Here we are saying our vows, the registrar read The Art of Marriage in Spanish and the wedding co-ordinator translated. The page has the Spanish version and the English is on the little pull-out bit. I started to blub the minute I saw my Rich and luckily the best man was prepared with tissues. I did manage to break the scary blubbling bride moment by saying 'Si!' in answer to the 'Do you...' questions!

And here we are signing the register, I managed to pull myself together by this point!

And that's it for now, more to follow!