2012- a craft odyssey

Happy New Year! I hope the start of 2012 has been good for you so far.

I started my 2012 craft  list last night and it looks like I'm going to be pretty busy. Still, what could be better than a crafty hibernation period until the sun comes out! Feeling really excited to start some new projects, like my friends wedding invitations, a patchwork quilt project and starting an Adobe Illustrator course, but before I start on them, here is a round up of my Christmas makes.

COASTERS

 Yep. More appliquéd coasters! But they're such fun to make.

PEGS

I have been meaning to do some fabric covered pegs for yonks and I'm so pleased I did. I'm really chuffed with how they turned out and it is such a great way to use scraps of fabric. AND they were easy to do! All you need are some plain old wooden pegs, some card, fabric scraps and lots of glue.

Fabric Covered Pegs Instructions:
1. I measured the front of my peg and cut out a bit of card just a teeny bit smaller.
2. Then cut the fabric scrap so that will wrap around the cardboard- I had about 5mm extra round the edge.
3. Cover the bit of card with glue- I just used PVA but if I had any spray mount I would have used that- stick the fabric to it, wait for it to dry.
4. I trimmed the corners from the fabric so that it would wrap around the card neatly and lie flat and then glued the edges and waited for them to dry.
5. The last step is to glue the fabric covered card to the peg. Again I used PVA for this. Simples.

FABRIC COVERED NOTEBOOKS

I also made some more of  fabric covered notebooks to go with the pegs using the same method as I did here.

SPICE JARS 
I am really pleased with how these spice jars turned out- not complicated to make at all but I think they look quite classy. I painted the lids with some emulsion paint I had in the cupboard (yep- teal tension again), drew a designy-thing in black permanent pen around the edge and then painted a layer of PVA over it to give it some shine and protection. The labels are just ripped from brown paper and stuck on with PVA. Very much looking forward to eating some of the dishes Slim will make using them...

BUNTING
Slim's niece isn't quite old enough for super fun toys yet so I thought I would make her a keepsake for her first Christmas. Hopefully this celebratory Eleanor bunting will be something she will keep for years to come. And to make it extra special I have used material from her mum's maternity dress and her grandma's sewing box.

CUSHIONS
This last make was for my friend's birthday and it just wouldn't be a blog post from if it didn't feature at least one cushion. This one that has a pretty good story to go with it though. My dear friend Mazz's mum was given the fabric by her uncle who was in Malawi on a GCHQ mission in the 70's. Then when she moved house she found it and very, VERY kindly donated it to me knowing how much I would love the colours and patterns. It is truly stunning fabric and I have lots of other ideas planned for it.

I really love making things have that an interesting story, heritage, history or link  to them so if you have anything that you would like to turn into a keepsake or memento get in touch and I would love to work with you on it.

So that's Christmas all wrapped up for another and the countdown to spring can begin. Yippee x

It's been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time.

Yes, it has! I am not in the habit of quoting The Zep but as I started to type this blog, 'Rock and Roll' came on the radio and it felt more than just a coincidence.

Just wanted to check in really to remind myself that I had a craft blog and shop that needs some attention...but I have good excuses! I have been crafting up a Christmas-storm of late- not for sale in the Folksy/Etsy shops- but for my nearest and dearest. As there are still 6 DAYS to go until the magical unwrapping day I can't share my makes just yet but here are some pieces I recently made which inspired the Christmas gifts.

I started working on this piece of appliqué on my first visit to the stitch n bitch club at work (think I might have set the bar a bit high now) and I used some of the techniques I learnt on the Make Lounge course. The background fabric is a piece of 60s kimono fabric and I used a dark blue felt for the bird. Once completed I turned it into a Happy New House card for our new Brighton Neighbours.They're still in Brighton so I guess they liked it!

Sticking to the kimono theme, I used another piece to make a coaster for my new lunch buddy. Cat is more than a little obsessed with purple so this fabric was just too perfect not to make her something from.

Last year I  managed to design and sell Christmas cards to raise money for Huntingdon's Disease. I was hoping to do the same this year but somehow I just ran out of time. Better make sure I am a bit more organised next year! Just to share with you here are the 5 designs I sold last year:

I hope you have managed to have some fun with the run up to Christmas- it just seems so easy to get caught up in the mayhem and forget that it's supposed to be fun! I look forward to sharing my Christmas makes with you next year. Till then a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! x

All that glitters

Those who were at my birthday BBQ when unicorn burgers were on the menu will know how exciting I find glitter. So when I found these great glitter textures for Photoshop it was a splendid day indeed. Thank you regular jane!

This card was made for my Cousin. The incredible 'Pugcocks' are made my Emily Valentine Bullock. I thoroughly recommend checking her work out. It is amazing.

Mazz's birthday card also featured glitter quite heavily as you can see. The Russian skull dolls embroidery was also made for her (I can let you into that secret now) and I framed it as part of her pressie.

I have also been putting my new found coaster making skills into practice. I made this for my friend Val's birthday. I do not in any way consider my obsession with the camping curtains unhealthy.  

And now that I have been invited to join a stitch'n'bitch club at work I plan to start some more appliqué and embroidery projects soon. Coasters could be in everyone's stockings this year... xx

The Applique of my Eye

Way back in May my good friend in Aus-land sent me a voucher for The Make Lounge. I ummed and ahhed for ages over which of their fabulous courses to take and eventually picked Machine Embroidery & Applique. I'm so glad I did.

Here are my 3 final pieces that I took home after the evening course. And I have to say I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. The course was set out perfectly- small class size, lots of sewing machines and ironing boards, well paced activities with room for taking your own angle on the tasks and, most importantly, the most glorious selection of fabrics to play with. 

I am so chuffed with my tea cup and I can't believe how perfectly it fits the embroidery hoop I've had stashed away. This has gone straight up on the craft room wall. The cut out technique used here is definitely one I will use again. Here's a close up:

As soon as we sat down I spotted this city scape fabric so I knew I had to use it in some way. 

On the course they suggest that the applique samples could be made into coasters so I have used this fabric to make one for my new office. Just need to finish stitching up the sides and it will be ready to show off at work!

I am not 100% sure what I am going to do with the final piece but I think I might frame it. I really like the way it looks like russian dolls and I even managed to give the middle one a little machine embroidered crown.

What an amazing birthday gift- thank you so much Helen B! I am now so glad I have kept hold of all those little scraps of fabric- I think the heat n bond will be coming out this weekend...

Speaking of Helens and applique- I was able to give my cousin her birthday cushion when she came to visit last weekend and I am pleased to say she liked it.

The background fabric is a lovely, soft herringbone patterned flannel I got on etsy and the flower applique has been cut from Slim's families old camping curtains. Upcycling, recycling and reusing does make me happy.

Front detail

Back

Close up detail on back

I don't know if you can see it on the pictures but the flowers have been outlined in gold thread. It was certainly a labour of love and it's a good thing there were so many episodes of The Sopranos left to watch but I'm really glad I persevered because the detail really makes it special (so says me..) 

That about wraps up my craftiness this week but I have been planning my next set of cushions which have been commissioned by my mum. She has picked some of my favourite fabrics and so I know I will enjoy coming up with some ideas for them. 

Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful sunshine in the UK x

Cushion Addiction

My name is Laura and I am addicted to making cushions.

Not that the recipients seem to mind too much! I had some amazing maternity dresses donated by Slim's sister-in-law and I used one of them to make a striking pair of cushions for my friend's wedding present.

Not sure they got they were cushion covers but they look happy to have some new hats...

For my crafty partner in crime's Birthday I needed an extra special present. Lady K has a little love affair with squirrels so when I found a T-shirt with a squirrel riding a motor bike on the front I knew she had to have it.

It wasn't a great shaped shirt so the trusty scissors came out. I got a little applique happy with the rest of the design but I am really pleased with the results. So much so I was a little reluctant to hand it over last night.

In other news- CraftyBirdCollective raised £20 for the HD awareness week- so thank you to our buyers!

I am off on holibobs for 2 weeks- YIPPEEE- more craftyness to come in July xx

Pin Board Wizard!

Wowsers what a wizard weekend! I hope everyone enjoyed the sunshine. We paid tribute to the sun god by having the first BBQ of 2011. I hope he will be pleased with our sacrifice of giggly pig sausages and marinated ribs- yum yum yum.

It was perfect weather for doing some painting. I discovered a sad looking table in the basement of out flat and decided that what it needed most was a lick of teal tension (doesn't everything?). So while man work was being done on the van (read into that stuff I wasn't so interested in), I amused myself by playing rescue operations with abandoned furniture. I don't have a before shot but I think you will agree the after shot shows it to be a very worthwhile project!

It also provides a handy space shows off the amazing geological map of Britain which was last years birthday present to Slim and that I have only just got framed (like Guinness says...)

I have also been busy making birthday presents and commissions. As the title of the blog suggests- I have been making pin boards. What larks Pip!

Last year I picked up some cheap canvases from the awesome Harry Tuffins Store in Knighton and they have been sitting in a cupboard waiting for inspiration. After making the little flower pins I thought it would be a nice idea to make a fabric covered pin board to go with them and these canvases were the perfect size. So I ordered some cork sheeting and it arrived just in time for Friday night crafting. None of you will be surprised at which fabric I used for one of the boards...

So spring-y and fun. Love it. I used some silicone adhesive I had lying around to stick the cork sheet to the canvas. I then made sure the fabric was well iron and pulled it tightly over the frame. It is secured using PVA glue around the back of the frame and on the corners. The flowers are stuck to drawing pins just using superglue. And there you go- a super quick, beautiful and useful gift.

It also proved to be the perfect use for an old top my friend ask me to commission something out of. The fabric is so lovely I have been too scared to cut it up but I think you will agree it looks pretty good.

She certainly seemed happy when I gave it to her in the pub on Saturday (but that could have also been the wine). I was able to use one of my business cards as a gift tag and I am really pleased with how they look.

I was also asked by another friend to make something new out of loved but no longer worn clothes. I had won some heat'n'bond on ebay for upcycling appliqué fun so thought this would be a good opportunity to have a little experiment.

Laura's Mini Appliqué Tutorial
So here is my starting point. Slim's mum had donated some haberdashery bits which included some old net curtains. I also had a skirt, a dress and a few tops to work with from my friend.

After cutting, ironing and salvaging I had my fabric ready to work with.

check out the glittery buttons!

The next step was to cut out some fabric and heat'n'bond and iron them together.

I decided to go with a crafty bird design (of course!) so I drew my shapes onto tracing paper and then traced them onto the back of the heat'n'bond. Remember to make sure you trace the design back to front!

So here are my cut out birds. Next I arranged them on the bit of fabric and ironed them on to secure them in place.

Now comes the fiddly bit! I was determined to to this bit using my sewing machine. I don't have a fancy setting for doing satin edges so all I did was a regular running stitch around the outline of my shape. It may fray in time but I don't think it will ruin the effect and it won't be washed in a washing machine so I think it will be ok.

not too shabby if I do say so myself

For the beaks and eyes I hand stitched in different colour threads.

And it's nearly done! All I had to do now was cut the fabric to make the back of the cushion. TA DA!

At this point I got a little carried away and went appliqué crazy. Here are some other little bits I messed around with before I tuckered myself out and had to have a lie down...

I am pretty pleased with the bunting

Oh Amy Butler fabric- how I love thee.

Final cushion

And that's about it for now folks! I really enjoyed appliqué  and have lots of little bits of lovely fabric I would hate to waste so am thinking up some new ways to use it- maybe some framed pictures? Stay tuned!

xx.