Tuesday 25 June 2013

My mini Post Man set

This year will be our first time celebrating both our boys B-days, which are exactly 1 week apart.
It's not for another few months however I have started a little present for Frankie and I have another one in mind.
 
I was casually browsing the internet, looking at blogs, forums and anything else which caught my eye, when I came across a tutorial on Cut out and Keep (I feel VERY bad about this but I cannot find the link to it!). Basically you have one piece of fabric and one piece of felt. You cut both to the same size and you bondaweb them together. Before I joined then however I embroidered the address details on the front and made a little stamp from some scrap fabric I had lying around.
 
Then I bonded the felt and the fabric together, that way all my messy stitching on the underside of the felt was covered!
Next came the tricky part, which was sewing It into an envelope shape. I did this by hand and basically folded the bottom corner up, which became the bottom of the envelope, and then folded in the sides to create the proper shape. I also made a little hole in the top flap so I could close it with a button.
 
Each one took about 2 and a half hours, which is including hand stitching in the little addresses.
I felt like the set wasn't quite complete so I also made a little post card.
 
I started with a little felt jigsaw picture, figured this way it would be like a real little post card. I bonded all of the pieces on and did a little embroidery for some detail. I also embroidered a piece of fabric with the back side of the post card. That way when you turn it over it's also just like a real one! Holiday details and all!
The next step was to make a parcel. This was not as hard as I though it was going to be however I didn't take many good pictures during the process (due to my intense concentration) so I only have completed pics, however this set is no where near complete so I'll try and make a step my step for each piece in the next few months.
Anyway, this is how my parcel turned out,
 
 
I just made two identical half boxes. I severely underestimated how much I would have to reduce the bottom of the box by and had to reduce it after it was put together by sewing the corners. Now its a bit of a funny shape. Lesson learned!
 
The last piece I made for this was the post bag. This I was nervous about, as I have NEVER attempted anything like it. but it was amazingly easy. and it was all made of rectangles. This may sound a bit sad but I'm actually planning on making one for myself. Which I will also post a step by step but here's a quick run down.
 
I got two pieces of fabric and bonded together. I cut 3 rectangles of the same size for the front, back and flap. I then cut two sides and a bottom to give it a bit of room inside. The I cut two rectangles for the little tabs which are attached to the flap at the front and two little straps to fix the tabs in place which hold it shut. Hey presto!
 
Also it's tartan. Which I love.
 
The set is nowhere near complete. I'm planning on another envelope, in which I will make Frankie a little b-day card, two letters, which will go in the already made envelopes, and a little red post box.
I was waiting to get an embroidery for for my sewing machine to do the letters (as I thought it would take too long by hand) so once I figure out how to attach that then I'm good to go! Also the bag needs a strap which I think an old fabric belt would be perfect for. My eyes are peeled for one.
 
I apologise for the crappy pictures. Smart phones are no substitute for an ACTUAL camera. Once I find ours then hopefully all these things will be easier to see. Better start improving so no one can see all my mistakes!

Monday 24 June 2013

A busy little bee!!!

Fathers Day.
Another holiday which I have, up to this year, failed to turn crafty!
So this year, I got organised. People should fear this. I could do terrible thing should I ever get REALLY organised.

Anyhoo...
I decided to make two things I've never made before. A nice box card and some Jamma bottoms.
Went a wee drive into town with my mum and picked a green and purple paisley pattern for Ben. He does appreciate a nice paisley.

I went into to my crafty cave (AKA. the front room) and whipped them up in about 2 and half hours. A bloody miracle.

 
To be fair about 20 minutes of that was spent with me wearing them, staring in amazement at the fact I had made my first EVER piece of clothing! Couldn't wait for fathers day so Ben got them that very night.

Poor Ben. Always the guinea pig.
Though I have to say he did look pretty impressed. So much so he requested matching ones for the boys!

What a proud mother I am! I got the instructions (which were amazingly easy to follow) from Prudent Baby http://prudentbaby.com/2010/06/baby-kid/how-to-sew-pants-2/ what would I do without all these talented crafters.

And then comes the card.
I had seen this card http://extremecards.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/mothers-day-magic-explosion-box.html and couldn't get it out of my head. So I had a little go at it.



I just used some cardstock I had in the house. Decided to make the outside a nice monotone and the inside...

 
A nice pop of colour!
Ben was pretty chuffed with that too.
Heres to the next holiday crafting!!

Wednesday 5 June 2013

Are we having a summer?!..

Living in Scotland has its positive and negative points.
I'm not going to lie, I generally struggle coming up with the positive side of things. However...it's hot today. I say hot,it's hot for us! it's 8am and it's 10°c.
Thats pretty impressive for a country that hasn't had an actual summer in about 3 years. Ben actually got sunburn yesterday! (Ben is my soon to be husband, just incase i forgot to mention). Yesterday was most definately "taps aff" weather. Translated this means tops off, bit of a scottish saying refering to the fact that when i gets a bit hot some men start removing their tops or t-shirts.


Hence the saying "taps aff" whenever it's sunny!!

Everyday's a school day!!

I have literally been writing this post all day.
This maybe where I'm failing with this blog.
Have been doing bits and pieces, which I'm going to try and post soon.










Have recently taken on my biggest project yet! The internet has some amazing DIY play kitchens. My boys (Frankie and Daniel) have one at their grans house and Frankie plays with it all the time, Daniel's still a bit small. Have really wanted to get them one but they are so expensive! So I have been inspired to create rather than buy.



I bought this 1970's telephone table for £18. I'm having some big plans for this. And I hope they can be just a little bit as amazing as the ones on the net.










I LOVE this one from a Beautiful Mess. http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2012/12/diy-kitchenette.html
I will NEVER look at a bedside table the same way again.

This one is so ridiculously good it makes me feel slightly unwell when I think about attempting my own http://mirandawalker.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/play-kitchen-diy.html

It just goes to show there are some AMAZINGLY talented people out there in the big wide world. And now my eyes are open I don't want to miss a single thing they do!!