The local news sparkles!

Craftiness totally doesn't have to be restricted to things like sewing, painting, and making useful objects. This is what I'm telling myself as I type this blog post hehe. It is an expression of you!

I love all things pink. You can't be sad when you're wearing pink, and when you add glitter that's extra happy right there. I also love manicures, and there are so many neat tutorials out there these days for DIY incredible nails and none of them work when I try them.

So imagine my surprise and delight when I found one that worked... Newsprint nails!

Being me I haven't gone with the conventional version, mine have a bit more happy on them.

To begin you'll need the following supplies



Your local newspaper, a plain colour polish, a clear glitter polish, small dish, and rubbing alcohol.
Find a page in the paper with a good block of writing, and cut it into ten pieces just bigger than your nails. Set those aside, and paint your nails with the plain colour you chose. You can base coat as well, I normally would but I'm running on empty.

Once that is good and dry you're going to pour your rubbing alcohol into your dish, deep enough that you can dip your whole fingernails in. One at a time dip your nails, then press the newsprint against them,  holding for a few seconds, it really doesn't take long. Repeat this step til all your nails are newsworthy, then apply your glitter polish as a top coat to seal it in. Voila!

 

 

You have gorgeous, pink, glittery, interesting fingernails. The writing does come out backward but that is a small price to pay for such cuteness.

 

Happy days!

Putting childhood crafts to good use!

This is one of my favourite crafty activities! Do you remember cutting out paper snowflakes as a child? My kids love making them even though they've never seen actual snow. We're not going to hang these snowflakes up though, we're going to use them to decorate a shirt.

First you need to fold your paper and cut out your snowflake. There are heaps of tutorials around the place on the best ways to do this, just hit google and once you get the folding right, design away!

Once you've cut your snowflake you want a second piece of paper so you can trace the outline and cut the shape out, leaving you with your stencil.

 

 

I've used an A4 size paper here and a size 00 onesie which makes for a fairly large picture. Now for things you shall need!

 



I've slipped a book inside the onesie so I've got a nice flat surface, and also not pictured is a glue stick. Just the regular school use type, before you place the stencil on the onesie, run the glue along the back of it, it won't glue it there forever, but it will make sure it sits nice and flat. The fabulous bottle of pink is spray on fabric paint. You can buy these at Spotlight (and I assume other crafty type places) for around twelve dollars and they last for ages!

 

 

Give your stencil a generous spray. A smarter person would have put an old towel on the bench and perhaps covered the sleeves. Clearly I was unsupervised at this point. Thankfully the paint wiped off the bench much easier than the mess I thought I'd created. Live and learn!

 

 

 

Managed to disguise my woops by spraying both sleeves and I really like how it looks. Everything happens for a reason! I took my stencil off five minutes or so after I'd sprayed and then left the onesie to dry overnight. Since then it has been worn and washed several times and is still nice and bright.

 

 

 

The little Spudling thinks it is pretty awesome too!

 

Snowflakes are just a really fun and basic way to make a stencil. The best part about them is that the kids can make their own and with a little bit of help from mum or dad they get a shirt they decorated themselves. I've used GIMP to make this next stencil for Pixie's top.

 

 

 

This was done using the same bottle of fabric spray paint (it really does last a LONG time) and a black fabric marker.

 

Don't limit yourself to just clothing items though. Check out my latest piece de resistance....

 

 

 

 

 

Mad photography skills aside, having an autobot cast has cheered wee Bug up this afternoon. Making your own paper stencils is super easy, and heaps of fun.

 

Happy days!









The Glad Game

This week has not been a very crafty one for me. The plague, also known as a cold, was bestowed upon me and I've spent a good portion of the week in the company of tissues, lemons, and honey. I'm clearly very good company, as the germs have stayed with me and everyone else in the house is thankfully fine.

I did manage to design, order and pick up my first ever business cards! Definitely the highlight of the week. I'm feeling a lot more organised now they are here. I designed them using the free graphics program GIMP.

I spent some time this afternoon attaching pairs of handmade earrings to some of the cards and they all look amazing!

I used my fancy new glue gun for the first time today too. No more dollar store slow heating for me! There was a small disagreement during which I came off second best (small amount of burn cream and sympathy was required) but we've sorted out our differences, and I now know where not to put my finger.

Am counting down a week tomorrow (Saturday, February 21st) til the markets and getting very excited indeed.

Which brings me to unleash my inner Pollyanna. The Glad Game!

I am glad that I was sick this week, and not next week.

I am glad that Officeworks prints out business cards in store with next day pick up.

I am glad that GIMP is free.

Most of all I am glad you all read my blog.

Happy days!

Uncharted Territory

Most of you probably know by now that I'll soon have a stall at my very first markets. What most of you probably don't know, is what has been madly going on behind the scenes to make sure I'm ready!

When I first started to think of what I should sell I had fanciful ideas of clips, and earrings, and headbands, and skirts, and dresses, and rompers, and bloomers. After all these are all things I make for my own children and as gifts for those I love.

 

 

I  managed to knock out this little ruffled cuteness for a baby shower last weekend!



Then I reminded myself I am just one person and my kids don't have a pause button. For future markets there will be time for me to add all sorts of things, but mostly I just want to fill my table with bright colours, and hairclips are my favourite thing to make my girls.

So I have been madly working away at making enough sets of hairclips to fill an entire folding table. Each night when my darlings are asleep I can be found cutting out circles, folding delicate petals, and hand sewing til my thumb is a funky shade of ouch.

 

 

An unexpected addition to my stall is earrings! My first order of covered button kits arrived only to be a fraction too small for my flowers. Never one to be beaten, I quickly ordered the next size up, along with a bag of earring backs. Having never made earrings before I figured some research into the best kind of glue was in order.

 

 

 

The best part about this is I now have three pretty new pairs of earrings myself! I wore each pair all day, and in the shower, and slept in them overnight to make sure the glue was going to do the job well. Having decided which glue to use I set about assembling all the little buttons I'd covered into earrings.

 

 

 

There's one bag, pre-assembly. I do love me some covered buttons! My glue sure does work a treat too, it took me half an hour to unstick myself from the tube once I'd finished.

 

 

The markets are on Saturday, February 21st from 3pm - 7pm at Deception Bay North State School for anyone who wants to come along and high five me! 

 

Happy Days!





A groovy new dress baby!

The last week of the holidays saw the kids and I venture out in search of adventure and treasure. We found ourselves at an awesome local thrift store. The kids made a beeline for the toys and I found a whole corner dedicated to patterns and material. They must have known I was coming!

A fair bit of it was either too tiny or too awful or just didn't feel nice to touch. Then I stumbled across this beauty!

 

 

 

Such a great retro look, it reminds me of a 70's pattern you'd find on a cushion in a room full of shag carpet. Groovy baby! Even better, this was a decent amount of material. Enough for a dress and for the bargain price of $2!!

 

My material measured 56" by 32". I folded it right sides together matching up the short edges and straight stitched all the way down with a 1/4" seam.

 

Next I made a 1/2" casing along the top edge of the top, leaving a gap to feed my elastic through. I didn't measure the elastic, just wrapped it around where it would sit on me and snipped it off where it felt firm but not tight. My favourite way to thread elastic is to attach a safety pin at one end, pin the other end to my material so I don't accidentally pull it through, and then overlap the two ends, and zig zag across them. Once that is through, close the gap in the casing.

 

Now comes my favourite step. Shirring! For this you need elastic thread, which you can find in the elastic (not thread) section of Spotlight.  Wind this onto your bobbin and set your top thread to the longest straight stitch. I use the edge of my presser foot as a guide so my rows are all the same distance apart. Sew one row at a time. I like to backstitch at the beginning and end of each row and also tie the two ends of elastic together. Make sure as you sew subsequent rows that you're keeping your material smooth as any wrinkles will gather and stay tight, and you want this to stretch!

 

I have 19 rows of shirring on this dress. My inner self is screaming for an even 20 but it really isn't needed. I can't promise I won't sneak back to the machine though! Basically you just want enough rows of shirring to cover all the way down to underneath your boobs.

 

I didn't bother with hemming this one, being a lovely jersey knit it won't fray and my cut edge is nice and tidy.

 

And now the moment you've all been waiting for......

 

 

 

Funky and fabulous. Happy days!

 

 

 



Tutorial: Necktie Necklace

I've seen some really funky neckties turned into necklaces floating around lately so I had a go at making my own. The kids and I went hunting for the perfect tie, which we found at good old Vinnies for just 50c.

To make this necklace you'll need the tie, a tape measure, pins, and a needle and thread.

This tie was 58 inches long and after measuring around my neck I decided I wanted the finished necklace to be around 34 inches. I left 6 inches untouched at the wide end of the tie, however I do think that perhaps 4 would have looked more balanced now that I've stared at it for a while.

 



 

After pinning there, I originally placed pins every 2 inches for roughly 24 inches, then decided that was too close and removed half, leaving me with 4 inches between each pin.

 

I then folded my second pin over to the first and secured it with three small stitches which I then tied off.

 

 

 

 

 













 The next fold I brought the pin to line up with the back of the first fold. Pictures really do help my explanations!

 

 

 

When stitching this fold into place, make sure to catch the underneath of the previous fold otherwise you'll end up with lots of folds hanging loosely on the back side.

 

 

 

Continue to fold and stitch like this until you've reached the end of where you pinned. I used three or four small stitches and tied them off after each fold so as  not to have long floats of thread trailing along the back.

 

When you get to the last fold, turn your tie over and stitch down the back of that fold but make sure your needle only goes through the back layer of the tie, you don't want to see random poky stitches on the front.

 

 

 

Then drape your necklace on yourself and pin the ends when you have decided that you like the way it is hanging. I stitched around the point of the thin end, again just putting the stitches through the back layer of material to keep it neat and tidy.

 

 

 

And there you have your fabulous new necklace! I've decided to leave mine plain as I love the polka dots as they are, but I think a more solid tie would look fantastic with a vintage button or some pretty beads. It adds a great focal point on a plain top, and took less than half an hour to make.

 

Happy days!

 











 

Old jeans? Bag them up!

I was filling a bag of clothes I don't wear any more when I came across my old favourite jeans. I love donating to thrift stores but even more than that I love upcycling!

Enter the most fabulous FREE bag pattern recently released by Swoon Sewing Patterns for Pellon. The Laney Hobo Bag .

All of my favourite patterns come with really clear instructions and lots of photos to help along the way and this one doesn't disappoint.

As well as my old jeans, I cut up a pair of 3/4 cargo pants (instant pockets!) and less than 1/2 a yard of coordinating material. This pattern calls for interfacing which I already had, however from memory I paid around $8 at Spotlight and I didn't use all of it, and I didn't use it on the denim.

Forging ahead!

 

 

The side panels of the bag fit perfectly on the legs of the jeans, good thing I am not any shorter! After some rummaging through the fabric stash and some fussy cutting on the side of the cargo pants I had all my pieces ready to go.

 

 

Three hours later I was rocking my fantastic new bag. I had everything I needed on hand, however even if I had needed to purchase coordinating fabric and interfacing my bag would have been under the $15 mark and that's a bargain for something so cute AND practical!

 

 

Oh and wait for the best part...... did I mention the bag is reversible!

 

 

Yep! Two bags in one. I love how this turned out, and it is a great feeling giving new life to old clothes. Happy days!

The Izzy Top and my first ever blog!

Today's crafty adventure was an upcycle of a pillowcase thrifted for just one dollar! 

 

 

It came as a set of two so make sure you check back to see what becomes of the other.  For this upcycle I used a great FREE pattern from Climbing the Willow called The Izzy Top . It has a huge range of sizes from 18 months up to 12 years.

There wasn't quite enough material in the pillowcase to get an entire top, however I was lucky enough to dig up some navy and cream from my ever growing remnants pile to finish off the bodice.

The instructions that come with The Izzy Top are really thorough. Lots of pictures to walk you through step by step, super beginner friendly which is great for me!

I  made the size 3 today for my Pixie. She put it on as soon as it came off the machine and as you can see is a wee bit pleased with her new pretties.

 

 

Super cute and comes together really fast. Will definitely be making more of these!