Fabric Owl

As I mentioned on my last post, I popped to my local fabric shop on Saturday. Its an amazing little shop, not teeny tiny but the sort of shop where you are always in someones way, its always busy in there despite being tucked out of the way.

Among all the wool, accessories, pretty trims and reams and reams of gorgeous fabrics were baskets of fat quarters sorted by colour. I picked up some bluey/green shades to go with some I had already and some interfacing and rushed home to make::

Ta-da!


:

I cut this on my cameo using a pattern that is available to buy in the Silhouette Store and is this file: owl_fabric_pattern_C02782_1 2/04/2011

I was a bit disappointed how the cameo cut the fabric if im honest, it was more of a deep score line than a cut, but at least I had the lines to follow with my scissors. Also it makes me laugh that the blog tutorial here suggests that its so super easy to make that it is the sort of project you could make whilst making the kids tea for example. Now I don't know about you, but by the time I have my iron board, sewing machine and cameo and laptop out as well as all the fabric and paraphanalia there is not an awful lot of room left in my kitchen for food prep, and thats coupled with the fact that its labour intensive and takes about 2 hrs of pretty full on work. Nope I think I will concentrate on this task alone thanks!

Still it was relatively easy for a novice like me and I am pretty pleased with the results (the owl has a light blue polka dot back so it contrasts nicely)

Self Portrait

I rarely scrap pictures of myself, mainly because I rarely take a photo I like - or I should say others rarely take a picture of me that I like. I am quite good at the old dangle the iphone above at a wierd angle and hope for the best - thats how I got this shot of me on Jason birthday, just before we left for breakfast at our favourite breakfast place.

Seeing as I for once do not look like a moon faced troll in it, I thought I would scrap it, no real rhyme or reason or story behind it, I just enjoyed adding bits and pieces for the pure creative relaxation of making something!

I used My Little Shoebox and Echo Park new releases on this one.

My fabric obsession continues to grow, over wine with a friend of mine on Friday night she mentioned the fabric shop in our little town, the fabric shop I used to frequent for wool and crochet supplies that for some reason I had forgotten about! Guess where I went on Saturday? More fabric posts will follow - you have been warned.

This Boy

Thanks to Paypal being awkward and me being a bit of a wally, I had some money to spend that could only be spent via Paypal. So I treated myself to some new papers, ive not had new papers in eons!

I got my happy post yesterday and loved my choices. Top of my 'most loved' list are the Miss Caroline papers from MME and especially the wooden board ones that are included in the line.



Having just finished a layout for Twisted Sketches (my last ever one and I am pleased about that, I'm not scrapping so much at the moment and when I do its always for a commission or for TS so it will be nice to scrap the way I want to, on my own theme, with my own choices) I sat down and this layout literally fall out of my hands, the double edged postage frame was cut with my cameo and I think it really pops off the STUNNING boarded paper. The other paper range on the layout is Echo Parks This and That - Charming, the two lines go really well together with their mustards and teals.

Im hoping to have some more scrappy time today, but if my fabric arrives I will be abandoning it in favour of owl making.

Have a happy weekend folks x

Making Fabric Bunting

I've made paper bunting of course, any crafter worth their salt must have attempted that by now surely? But fabric bunting, involving sewing and seams and turning inside out oh no! Thats not for me is it? Yes I own a sewing machine, but its purely for paper crafting and messing about with.



At the weekend we put our blind up, we have wooden horizontal slatted blinds which are nice, do the job and match the new sofa but I wanted a bit of colour introducing so I set about looking for something, curtains are out as the sofa is up against the window and so they would catch. I then decided on a red roller blind but I wanted to keep the wooden ones too as they are great for privacy and I swear we have the nosiest people around here who just stare in as they walk past and I HATE that! I worried that 2 blinds would look stupid, but you know what? It really doesn't. I roll the roller up in the day, so there is just a sliver of red showing and use the wooden ones for privacy and then I roll down the roller in the night and its all cosy and lovely.

The I decided I wanted to fancy it up a bit and so I hit on the idea of bunting as an alternatice to a pelmet if you will and a lot less fussy.



I got on ebay and ordered my fabrics and bias binding, 4 fat quarters not a bundle, I chose these all individually to suit my room. Get me on the fat quarters I so had to google what that was!!! That red and white chick with trees fabric is ace and really suits the scandinavian style dressings of my room



As the fabrics arrived in dribs and drabs I set about making my pennants, I used this tutorial here that is very easy to follow for even the least sewy of people (and believe me I fit in that catogory!)

My first couple of pennants were a little wonky but I soon hit my stride and it was surprisingly easy, in fact the hardest thing of all was cutting out the triangles as my scissors were not as sharp as they could have been, all the technically bits were a doddle!

Once I had my 9 pennants made I had to sew them onto the bias binding, I was dreading this bit and was sure I would mess it up, but it was the easiest bit of the whole process, I breezed through it.

Ta da! The finished article that will hang in a staight line along the top of the window, just overhanging the red roller blind. I am really pleased with it and it looks like a professional job almost. I did have to fight the temptation of making more and more and more and I will have to stop a bugeoning fabric obsession I am sure but really its so simple so give it a go if you fancy!

I've just ordered some interfacing and more fabric so I can make Jessica an owl cushion that can be made on the cameo - watch this space!!!

Cameo Cardiness

Sometimes when I am getting the crafty feelings but am feeling particularily lazy, I will sit on my laptop in my (new super douber) lounge and design a card on my cameo. These 2 cards were born that way!



The bottom layer is embossed with my homemade embossing folder 'chicken wire' which was cut with the cameo and you can read about how I made it here.

Then just a plain old layer of Kraft topped with a print and cut of graph paper cut with a notepad edge.

Next a banner and a 4 layer flower cut with co-ordinating patterened paper (these were made with MME - I love their paper!)




Top the flower with a button and some bakers twine. I actually do not thread the button with the twine, I make the bow and then stick it on, its easier for me somehow and I don't struggle so much with the bow this way!



So if you have a craft cutter, why not try designing a project in comfort and then go and cut it out. Crafting with as little time off the sofa as possible!!!

(Photos are naff today as daylight has been poor these last couple of days.)

Family Life 2011

Thats half term done then, don't get me wrong, I love the company of the kids and the lie ins but I just cannot get the house in order whilst they are home, there is just too much of everything!

I've just finished a thorough house tidy and clean and its so nice to go from room to room and everything be as I left it.

We had quite a quiet weekend, out on Friday and then in all weekend apart from a bit of pottering. Yesterday I even had the urge to get off the sofa and scrap - so I did. Now this layout caused me so much grief, custom sized photos with an uncooperative editing program and a reluctant printer, lets just say what should have been a relaxing hour or two actually wound me up so much that I ended up head butting a cushion in frustration, yes I have anger/patience issues but not so much that I cannot find a nice soft furnishing to take it out on.

However I like this layout very much indeed, in fact its one of my all time favourites already! I planned out all the rectangle sizes on my 12x12 mat in the Silhouette Studio software and then cut them out and transfered on to a white background. Most of the papers are MME. Then I added my custom aforementioned pain in the arse photos, and then the kraft titles and hearts. Lots of machine stitching of the paper panels and the hearts. Voila!

Out with the old

My teams turn over at Twisted Sketches this week and the twist is 'old' I decided to scrap these pics of our recent redecoration. The photos aren't brilliant but they are ok in this layout. The power tools were drawn with the cameo and then cut out and coloured.








Pop on over to see the sketch and join in.

Its been a quiet half term for me, ive been poorly again with yet another cold virus so have spent much of the time on the sofa drowning under the weight of tissues and vicks, but I am feeling on the mend today so have managed to get a bit done which is a relief, I fine being poorly so bloody boring!

Valentine

I could not resist this card file when I saw it in the silhouette store, a bit of a cheat really using such a simple design that someone else thought of but it just makes me chuckle!

Our new room is perfect for valentines day with its red accents!

Starting on the finishing touches

Another busy weekend, but this time making some finishing touches to the living room, its so nice to see it all coming together!



We took a trip to ikea to have a nosey around and ended up buying this tv unit, now I know we got a bargain on our flooring but lets just say the cabinet is more expensive than the flooring, ikea is not always as cheap as you may think! On a side note imagine our frustration last night, we spent a fair amount of time building the cabinet and after a busy weekend we were pooped, so at last it is built, all other jobs are done and so we put our tv on the cabinet and the HDMI cable broke and so we could not even watch the blummin thing!



The cushions are my Christmas ones, but until I find a suitable replacement they are here to stay!



Can't get a living room pic without the pooch getting in the frame at some point! He is struggling so much to jump up on these sofas what with the new flooring and everthing!




And finally 2 pieces of simple wall art that I knocked up on the old cameo, took 5 mins max! I love them and they suit the room perfectly (they look a little small in the pics but they actually fill the space perfectly!)

Oooo I've had a day of it!

Last night we had to move the old sofas out of the living room as we were having our new ones delivered today. I was very worried about the forcast snow stopping our delivery and spent a far amount of time worrying about this and getting all anxious



Oh how silly I was, there were far more thing to be worried about than snow! Turns out the snow was only a little splattering and at 9am I got the call that the sofas would be with me within an hour! Happy dance, I was very excited.

That ended quite quickly when it became apparent that the sofas would not fit in through the living room door. Very stressed at this point. "You'll have to take the window out to get them in" says helpful delivery driver. Ummm what? I can't begin to tell you the ridiculousness of saying something like that to me.



One bit would go in, the smaller bit of the corner unit. Joe rang me from school to say he was headachey, so I picked him up and he got that little bit of sofa and I was relegated to the cushions again!




Bruno is a chilled dog and was completely unfazed with the chaos that was reigning all over the house and was quite happy to curl up on the cushion pile!



Jason was able to move his last lesson of the day and so he came home to assess the situation. After much googling from me, we decided that it was possible to remove the living room window ourselfs and so we did, it took 5 mins! Then we lobbed in the other bit of the corner. Marcus, Jasons brother came round to help with the bigger sofa and to help put the window back in - again a fairly easy and quick job all in all.



And so there you have it, if you had told me at 10am that I would have both sofas in the house and still have a living room window intact by 4.30pm I would not have believed you! I am so incredibly relieved to have it done and so easily!

Now I can concentrate on finishing touches, buying rugs and accessories and curtains etc!

Thank heavens for Monday!

What a busy weekend we have had, I am glad that everyone is off at work/school and I can relax a bit. Jason had a lovely birthday weekend, we had a lovely breakfast at a place called 'Scoffs' in Bath, its a cafe thats on 3 storeys and overlooks a very pretty park and we go there now and then, the breakfasts there are a bit special.

Then on to the pub with friends, it was a lovely afternoon that we finished off by having the kids dropped off to the pub and then going for a family dinner.

On Friday Jessica had a party to go to and I forgot about it til the last minute and realised I had to knock a card up - cameo to the rescue!

Im afraid I photographed it as it was getting dark so its not the best image in the world. Everything apart from the loopy border was cut on the Cameo, the woodgrain paper, and the pocket were all patterns that I printed on the cameo too!

I also got the Cameo to draw the outline of the above, and then I coloured it in with promarkers.

Weekend plans

Morning

Well the UK is on high alert for snowfall this weekend, typical hysteria once again like we don't ever have it here even though we've had heavy snow for 3 years on the trot now.

I am going shopping, bit of snow will not stop me, that and the fact that its Jasons birthday tomorrow and I have nothing for him yet - eeek!

Tonight we are off to a birthday party - not his! I am not really looking forward to it, I still don't fancy drinking, so it will be dull and cold in the little skittle alley on the side of the pub carpark. Tomorrow we are having lunchtime drinks with friends.

So back to my layouts from The Scrapbook Magazine and making your own stamps

Here is one I made by cutting funky foam in to heart shapes and using those as stamps (v easy and effective!

And this I made by making flowers out of tear drop ink pads - simply use the teardrop shape as a petal!

Hope you all have lovely weekends!

Making your own Stamps

Back in the October half term break The Scrapbook Magazine gave me a commission to do a 5 page article on stamping on your layouts, I like a bit of stamping and have definately got into it more in the last year so I though "hell yeah, I can do that!" then I read further into the commission and realised I had to make and construct my own 'alternative' stamps to use. Hmmmm still it was a challenge and so I got to it.

I'll show you 3 today and the other 2 tomorrow or so

First up this layout, which I made using foam squares, I made them into a checkerboard pattern, peeled off the backing and applied the ink to the sticky square (which worked really well) I then used the stamp for the border and the lettering in this layout:

Second I coiled some string onto a gluesticked clear stamping block, then I applied the ink and used it to make a background on my layout of Joseph in his Air Cadets uniform

And finally for today, I bought a cheap white eraser and traced a butterfly shape onto it, I then carved the shape out of the block and used it to stamp a flutter of butterflies all over my layout here:

Thats all folks!

Wooo get me!

Well look at me, blogging! I know!

Ive not been bothered with it all lately, no desire to craft so I have only crafted when I have been obligated to do so and therefore there is nothing to show - you know how it is!

January has been a mixed month, busy as in, decorating - last weekend we put oak laminate in our living room, a quick decision to get it in before the new sofas arrive, and I am so glad we did, the room looks so fresh and clean with it down and combined with the new walls, and it really wasn't too much hassle at all. January has also been quiet in the social sense, we have only gone out once, and shock horror I stuck to diet coke, this is for no other reason than we wanted to decorate the living room, something had to give and that something was the money we normally spend in pubs, I've really not missed it either!

You may remember towards the end of November I mentioned dieting again, and I have slowly been plugging away and this time with some success, I have lost 9lbs so far, not bad when you consider my bodys natural resistance to weight loss and the fact that we had Christmas in the middle of all that! I'm hoping by the spring I will be if not slender then somewhere approaching it.

We've also had a dreadful time with Jessica and school, lots of crying and distress, she takes a while to settle in to new places and it was tough going for a while there. I went in to talk to her tutor and with a few measures put in place she seems to be getting there, she has not cried in about 2 weeks now.

So I was mentioning I only scrap when obligated? Heres one now for you. Ive been in the midst of a pain in the arse assignment thats caused me no end of teeth nashing and angst so for this weeks Twisted Sketch I had to do a quicky, just to get it done and sent, still it fits the brief!



I should be back in the next day or few as I have some layouts from the current issue of The Scrapbook Magazine to share!