Where have I been?! May and June

I haven't written a blog post for such a long time, the last few weeks have just been so busy. I've been working a lot for the extra money towards my University course in September, and I was also helping my boyfriend prepare for a 3 month trip to Germany - and 6 weeks after that, visiting him there.

Here's a quick look at what I've been up to..

* Saying goodbye - and hello - to my boyfriend. I made him this cross stitch plane card before he left to wish him luck, which took me about a MILLION years even though it's tiny! He left me these envelopes with messages and little gifts with different dates on to open when he had left. He's the best.

* Catching up with PostCircle. I'm SO behind with this, with everything that has been going on I've not been the best or fastest correspondent. A few scribbles have now been composed, so if you're waiting for a reply from me, it will be on the way soon, I promise!

* Painting birds. Lots and lots of birds. I haven't painted anything for years, but had an idea of putting a few different bird-themed pictures on the wall, and wanted to contribute one of my own. None are yet good enough for the wall, but it's fun trying.

* Receiving an extra beautiful gift. When I visited Lukas in Germany, he gave me this extra little surprise gift, picked because 'I know you like writing stuff'. Love it. 

* Making bunting. Whenever I'm feeling down, making bunting is the cure. I also received some from PostCircle buddies, so the house is becoming rather bunting-filled, which can NEVER be a bad thing. The idea for this heart bunting came from this blog.

That's it! I've got a few plans of DIYs for the house, in particular creating a nicer and more practical workspace, so I'll try to post updates on that a little more regularly! 

Craft Inspiration - Paper Doilies

This week, I saw some super cute lace envelopes made from paper doilies, so, with PostCircle in mind, I headed out to buy some to see if I could recreate my own. I wasn't sure if you could even buy these anymore, but there they were, bargain cheap for only 40p for a pack full of all shapes and sizes. Then I got to thinking - there must be lots of things you can do with these, right?! A quick search later and these are just a little of what I found:

 Put them on the wall. This might look nice with different colours and shapes too. Doily Wall Art Tutorial link.

 Use them to decorate gifts, parcels and tags. Found here.

 

Use them as stencils, for decorating things. I really like the notebooks! Doily Stencilling Tutorial link.

Make your own cupcake wraps - I've seen these to buy in a lot of places, but this is a much cheaper alternative, and super simple! Cupcake Wrap tutorial link.

  

Doily light string. This is so pretty and would be great decoration for a party. As would..

 

.. this garland! One of these is going straight up over my bookshelf ;) Found here.

 

These cones would be lovely filled with sweet treats for gifts or wedding favours. Doily Cone tutorial link.

 

Or, just go for the traditional method of using them as table decorations :) Found here.

And finally.. The envelopes which first inspired me..

 

 

Doily Envelope tutorial link.

My version:

I'd imagine if they were to be sent in the post, they would need some kind of paper lining, or they might not survive the trip! That would be a fairly easy addition though. 

What do you think of these ideas? 

This week..

..I've not had the time to do all the things I wanted. I've got a list of projects I want to do, I just need a few weeks off to do them all! I also just got a little promotion, so will be working a bit more. I think I'll be sticking to smaller projects for a while rather than larger ones, although the Great British Sewing Bee on BBC2 has made me want to have another try at making clothes!

 

I did buy a few cute flower stamps and some letters, which has resulted in many things around the house getting stamped... Just because. My boyfriend also seemed to enjoy stamping everything. I'm not sure how he is going to explain the butterflies stamped all over his revision notes though, if his friends should ask.

   

I attempted to make a card for the first time ever. After seeing so many beautiful efforts for PostCircle, I thought I'd have a go at creating something myself to send to those in my group. It isn't a brilliant effort, so I hope the person who receives this in the post isn't too disappointed! I'm really enjoying PostCircle so far, it is lovely to get to know people with shared interests, and beautiful post arriving always makes me happy. Although I haven't yet written to everyone in my group, so I really need to crack on with it! 

I've also made a couple of bookmarks, as I get frustrated that I'm always losing my page in books because there is never anything to hand to mark the page.

 

I made these cute little bow tie markers with some large paperclips, and some scraps of fabric. One large piece for the bow part, sewn down one side, turned inside out, ironed, and then the ends sewn up. Same again for the small part, which I then wrapped around large piece to make a bow, and around the clip to secure it. Really simple! The one on the left is the better of the two, as it is more of a sturdy fabric. Also, it reminds me of Dr Who's bow tie ;)

Crafty Creatives Box 10

Crafty Creatives box 10 has arrived!

This months theme - BLUE


Here's what was inside:

* A simple yet lovely art card designed by Catherine Moody.

* The CC Kit - My favourite kit so far, this is to make a felt bluebird mobile to hang up. I'm starting this RIGHT NOW and will show off as soon as I've finished :)

* A sort of second kit in the form of Jumping Clay and instructions to make a little keychain. My boyfriend picked it up and said, 'Can I make this?' What?!

* Several cute little felt balls in different shades of blue - all the way from Nepal!

* My other favourite item in the box - 2 beautiful bluebird pendants. I don't know what to use them for, but they have to be seen.

* A selection of goodies from Stix2 including glitter and seed beads.

* A miniature canvas with 3 large tubes of acrylic paints in different shades of blue.

* Some tiny glass beads from Musha Makes

* A fat quarter of beautiful blue floral print cotton. One word - BUNTING!

This is my 4th CC box, and my favourite so far. Absolutely everything in it will be used and it was the perfect Spring themed box. I can't wait to get stuck in!

Baking: Strawberry Swiss Roll

I decided to make this after seeing a recipe for a raspberry swiss roll on the BBC Food website, but increased the quantities and changed a couple of things to work with what I had - besides, you can't go wrong with strawberries and cream!

Ingredients:

5 Free-range Eggs
125g Caster Sugar
125g Self-raising Flour
Strawberry Jam - enough to spread over the sponge
300g Double Cream
4-5 Strawberries - and a couple more to decorate
Icing Sugar - a sprinkling to decorate

I whisked the eggs and the sugar, then folded in the flour. I poured the mixture into a large flat tin (although I forgot to grease it, as I discovered later - whoops!) I then baked it in the oven for 10 minutes.

Work in progress... surely this isn't going to work?!

For the filling, I whipped up some double cream - I'd forgotten how long this takes to do by hand, but if you do a tiny bit, then keep adding a tiny bit more cream each time it gets thicker, it is a much easier task! I spread on the strawberry jam first, then added the cream on top, and then tiny pieces of strawberries for some extra sweetness. In hindsight, I think it would have been easier to spread the jam on the cream instead of the other way around - putting the cream on top of the jam was messy and it didn't spread neatly, and I ended up with jammy cream as oppsed to two separate layers, as can be seen in the messy finished article! Another thing I learnt - don't be too generous with the filling, as otherwise it squidges out as the sponge is rolled... less is more! As long as it is rolled when still a bit warm and very carefully, the sponge shouldn't crack.

The finished product!

 Having just cut into it for a slice, it looks a bit neater on the inside, and I can confirm it's pretty tasty too ;)

Unfinished projects part 2

A very short tour of my miniature antiques shop:

..Unfortunately the dust is a bit more authentic than was intended originally! I bought this one room dolls house shop about 5 years ago, papered and painted it, and began turning it into an old fashioned style sweet shop, full of shelves and jars of colourful goods. I quickly changed my mind and decided it would better suit being an antiques shop, and had much more fun choosing items to put in it. When I left home for university, this stayed behind, and I never seemed to have time to finish it off. Recently I've been admiring a brilliant miniature version of the Bronte parsonage, and thought about recreating my own (when I can afford it!) Of course, I really should finish what I started before I attempt something else. So I am planning to add some lighting, re-wallpaper the inside and do something with the floor (perhaps carpet), and add a lot more furniture, to give it that overflowing effect of all good antiques shops! I may also re-paper the outside and try to give it a more weathered effect on the brickwork and perhaps add some moss, and, of course, add a name. 

Unfinished projects and new motivation!

While trying to bring some organisation to my numerous storage boxes of 'crafty stuff', I realised just how many unfinished and unused items were there. Some projects were started never to be finished, other items I'd purchased with a specific idea in mind of what to do with them, others just bought on a whim and put away till an idea came to mind.

In an attempt to be more motivated, finish projects, and use all the odds and ends I have around, I've started to make a list of things to try to make use of. Those shown here are just the beginning - I can't believe I've amassed so many things that have just been forgotten about!

Hundreds of coloured pearly beads. These were bought with the intention of becoming something like the beautiful beaded necklaces made by Miss Imogen Smith, which I have long admired on her blog. I'd like to do something with these soon, not just because they are so lovely to not be used, but also to stop them spilling all over the place every time I open my button jar!

 

These colourful painted pegs I got from the craft store for about 50p after Christmas. I was intending to use them to make some kind of memo board for the kitchen. I also had some vague ideas that I'd cover them in pretty washi tape, as shown on Claireabellemakes's blog recently.

 

Both of these fabrics were bought with no idea at all in mind what to use them for, but purely because I love the prints. The boat print I used a little of to make fabric covered buttons, as the print was small enough to work for those. Perhaps the rest would make a nice summery book bag? The elephant print I very nearly bought in 2 other colours as well as red, just because I thought it was super cute. I didn't know what to use it for at the time, and have since thought I could use it to cover a notebook (as on the Crafty Creative's blog) - alas, more unfinished projects.

 

These fabrics were both destined to become skirts. The one on the right actually did become a skirt (an unfinished one, at least..), although I'm still left with quite a lot that I don't know what to do with.

I've never made jewellery before, but I definitely need to learn. Trips to the bead shop usually result in buying pretty charms, so I've got quite a few more bits and pieces around. Those shown are just from the last few Crafty Creatives boxes -While I love the boxes arriving every month, I so rarely get around to doing much with them, with the last 3 just stacked in a corner at the moment. I'd like to use these charms for something so I can feel like I'm getting my money's worth from the boxes!

So, there we have it, a few of the first things I need to get around to finishing. I wish there were more hours in the day - I haven't done much crafting over the last few weeks because of working so much, and my sewing machine hasn't come out for months. I'm going to try to stick to the Creatives Unite principle - set aside a couple of hours each week just for that purpose. Hopefully I will achieve something!