Wednesday 27 February 2013

Post Inspiration


After agreeing to participate in Miss Beatrix's PostCircle, I got to looking around for ideas and inspiration to make whatever I send look beautiful. This is a few ideas from Etsy that caught my eye - I love all the recycled decorative envelopes, especially those comic book ones <3

 The vintage typewriter is probably a bit over the top (and certainly beyond my budget!), but I have always wanted one - I can dream!



Small notecards - mini notec...
$6

30 Alice in Wonderland Notec...
$27

Set of 5 Highly Professional...
$12

Dollhouse Postcard Set - 10 ...
$18

Snow White Writing Set, Enve...
$15

Avengers Comic Envelopes / R...
$6.5

Deer Gold Plated Wax Seal St...
$20

Argyle Hearts Mailbox With M...
$12

Letter Writing Set Stationar...
$22

1920s Corona 4 Typewriter La...
$625

Botanical .. Estate .. UNuse...
$6.75

Easter Bunnies - 3 Assorted ...
$13.5

Washi Tape Set: Postal Air M...
$8

Handmade Hello Card and Enve...
$5.89

Vintage Music Sheet Stationa...
$12.5

Vintage Alphabet Stamp Set -...
$9.8



Vintage Tea Set



This is part of an exciting new acquisition - a beautiful vintage teaset, given to me by my nan. It's the first time I've had any nice cups and saucers that matched, all my others are odd mismatched ones (although all beautiful in their own way). They are lovely bright spring colours, and I'm looking forward to afternoon tea in my teacups and a slice of cake on my matching tea plates!


Wednesday 20 February 2013

Crafty Creatives Box 8

CCBox8

Yesterday was Crafty Creatives arrival day! I'd almost given up waiting when it arrived at half four in the afternoon to much excitement! Hopefully by today everyone's has arrived, so I shouldn't be spoiling the surprise, but just in case you're still waiting, don't peek (like I did...)!





Spots and Stripes themed!

The box contents: 

*  The CC kit - Polymer clay and jewellery supplies with instructions to make a spotty heart necklace. I've never used polymer clay before, so this all new to me! I'll be giving it a go soon.

*  A very bright art card designed by Paul Heard.

*  20 stripey resin beads and a spotty glass bead.

*  Round nosed pliers and jewellery making supplies - again, I've never done anything like this so not sure what to do with them. The previous box also had a few jewellery making items - maybe the next one will move away from that a bit?

*  Stripey red and white string, reminds me of the seaside. Perhaps could be combined with CC's previous nautical themed box, which I sadly missed out on.

*  Stripey and spotty paper straws - not sure yet what I could use these for?

*  Green and white PVC fabric, and blue stripey cotton fat quarter (Again seaside-y).

*  Stripey tissue paper in purple, great for wrapping little gifts.

*  Pack of sticky foam dots, useful for sticking things in scrapbooks.

*  24 spotty cupcake cases. These will definitely be used, and very soon!

*  And the best last.. Cute purple spotty washi tape! I've developed a bit of an obsession with washi tape recently <3


This is my second box, and while I think the previous box (woodland themed) was more suited to me, I think it's because I'm just not sure what to do with a few of the things. Hopefully the Crafty Creatives blog will give me a few more ideas soon! 

Monday 18 February 2013

Learning to Crochet



Sometime last year I watched a YouTube tutorial on crocheting a hat. What I ended up with was a very miss-shapen bright green beret too large for my head, and that was the end of my hat-making dreams. Recently, I've been inspired to give crochet another try by some friends who are currently working on granny square blankets, creating beautiful little patterned squares on thier lunch breaks at work everyday. So far, I have a little pile of squares which are all the same sort of pattern, after following this YouTube video. I'm not sure yet how to get different patterns and designs of squares, so I'll have to do a little more research and practice, but I'm happy with my progress so far!


Friday 8 February 2013

DIY Fox Box



With Valentine's day coming up, I've been looking around for DIY ideas to come up with something a bit more personal this year. I've already been inspired by thegluegungirl's simple tutorial to make my own card, and stumbled upon a really cute little gift box idea here. The instructions used a favour box and then added the extra card cut-outs to make it look like a fox. However, I have no idea where I'd get boxes like that, and, after a bit of searching, I found lots of similar versions of this 'fox box' people had made themselves, so I thought I'd have a go.

I used:
2 A4 sheets of orange card
White and black felt
2 small magnets (left over from here)

With an A4 piece of card, I used a basic template to make a gift bag shape, like this:


I then used another piece of card to make a flap over the top, and cut out a tail and ears from the card too. I used white and black felt for the face and tail parts instead of card, to make it look a bit more 'furry'. Finally, I added two little magnets under the flap and on the box, to keep it closed. This was the result:


I LOVE it! Although I've bought the boyfriend a 'proper' present, I think he'll appreciate more that I made him something, especially if I fill the box with his favourite sweet treats :)

DIY Button Fridge Magnets



Super simple!

All you need is:
A few large bright buttons (these cost pence each)
Some small magnets (on eBay for about £1 for 20)

Glue magnets on buttons for a cheery way to hold all your notes on the fridge :)

Monday 4 February 2013

Mollie Makes Magazine Review



In the past, I have avoided craft magazines. They tend to be quite expensive, and I've always thought, why buy a magazine with not much in it when for just twice that cost I could get a brilliant craft book packed full of stuff? At the moment there is a fairly long list of books I want, so I'd much rather wait and save to get some of those than spend £5/6ish on a magazine.

That said, the other day I DID purchase Mollie Makes. It was an impulse buy - I saw the cute felt foxes and racoons on the front, flicked through and saw DIY shoe clips and granny square blankets, all things I want to have a go at, and was sold.




As well as the makes mentioned, the magazine also comes with a small kit each month. This issue included a kit for a fabric wallet. 


The idea of the kit was to make up a travel card style wallet, with two plastic pockets. It came with printed and plain fabric, plastic pockets and ribbon to edge them with, and card inserts to make it more sturdy. 

Pros:
* The instructions were fairly simple to follow.
* I completed the wallet in less than 30 minutes, so a pretty easy and fast make.

Cons:
* The kit is not very generous - there is little room for error, as the pieces of fabric provided were only slightly larger, and the ribbon was the exact amount needed. This meant that, when i was just a couple of millimetres out on measuring the ribbon, it was left short for another piece.
* The instructions state machine sew, although my machine really didn't seem to like sewing over the pieces of plastic. I'm not sure if this is just my machine though. In the end, I resorted to gluing the pockets on!

This is what I ended up with, which doesn't look half so good as the one featured in the magazine!


Excuse the creased fabric :/
                                             

 While I still think I'm justified in thinking that craft magazines are expensive for what you get, (after all, I could have found tutorials for all those things I was interested in online for free if I'd looked, and the kit isn't really worth buying the magazine for by itself), it was a nice surprise in that this one was full of interesting articles and interviews as well as the makes featured. There was also plenty of inspiration to be got from the products, makers and shops featured in their monthly craft picks.

All in all, while I won't be buying this every month, I would pick it up again should something especially interesting catch my eye on the cover, as it did this time. I'd give it a 3/5.

I'll have a go at the 'forest felties' soon and post those too.