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!