Woopsy doodles...

Well now.
I swear I've been up to all sorts, craftyness ahoy!
It's been Bens mums b-day, Bens made soaps, all by himself! I made her the box bag for it, got the instructions from the following:
http://prudentbaby.com/2010/05/prudent-home/organization/man-gift-toiletry-bag-with-oil-cloth-goodness-2/
This is the second time i've used this and it always turns out amazing. So much so they usually dont believe i've made it! I also made two pairs of baby converse slippers for Bens uncles soon to be born twins!
Then it was Bens stepdads b-day. I crocheted him a pair of big boy converse style slippers from Mollie Makes. OMG. It took AGES!!!!!! Talk about taking a long bloody time. However they turned out pretty good i'd say.
Now its the turn of my babies, still slowly working o  the kitchen but I made a whale for Daniel from here:
http://valaanvillapaita.blogspot.co.uk/p/hi-there-i-finally-managed-to-translate.html?m=1
This I have to say is one of my favourite all time projects. It turned out amazing, I had all the stuff to make it in the house so no shoppi g or pennies required, and even my dad was impressed. Not an easy task.
I also made Danoel a fabric book, however the final put together was not well put together and it will be redone shortly. Now it's Frankies turn! A fishing set has been thought out and is now being executed. I'm updating on my phone hence no pictures! (Sort it out blogger) but I will be back!!!!! Pictures and all!
Peace!

The August Break: 2, circles

I decided to take up the Susannah Conway challenge for August. Taking a different photo each day of something to try and improve my photo taking (lack of) skills. As you can see from the picture, i may need longer than a month. That is my very same-ish collection of nailpolishes, a bottle of kids Calpol (disgusting stuff) and my bedside table lamp. Very dull. However that is not the point of the exercise.
Hoping to have a bit to share on tbe wedding prep this week. LOVING our invitations but they are far from finished. Also I have been going charity shop MENTAL. Everyone in the shops near us is starting to recognise me and the boys. We're looking for plates, bowls, etc, for the wedding dinner. The place we're getting married charges £5 per head. Not a lot but this way it will be more personal AND we'll have something to keep!

What's Happenin'

So, the last few weeks have been confusing ones. I realise I haven't mentioned this before however I am actually in the process of planning mine and Bens wedding. We got engaged 3 years ago (whilst I was pregnant with Frankie) on a beach in France. At night. Most romantic thing ever. Well it would have been had I not dragged Ben from 8 restaurants before we found the right one due to the fact they all sold shark fin soup. What can I say, I like sharks.

Anyhoo, so far I have bought 2 dresses. And I have also returned them.

The first one I found in Coast. It's much nicer on than in the pictures I think, no offence to the girl in the picture, but I didn't think the sideways pose helped.

 

So I loved this dress, however I bought it about 10 weeks after having Daniel, very very bad idea, because a mere 8 weeks later I had dropped a dress (and cup) size, and the bloody thing didn't fit anymore. When I decided it needed to be returned I decided to buy another dress I had seen which I thought would be pretty from Orla Kiely.

 

And it was.

The dress was lovely.

But, I couldn't shake the fact that so many people had asked if I was going to make my own. Having never made any clothes except the jammas for Ben and the boys, (as well as a pair for my dad ,which were too small and a pair for Bens step dad),  I thought that might be taking on too much.

 

So I have taken the plunge. I have returned my store bought dresses and have started researching making my own. I've bought a pattern, and have found some fabric I really like.

I also thought it would be good to try and make something to practice. I attempted the Miss Marlo Dress from Pip Lincolns book Sew La Tea Do. What a flippin' disaster.

I can't even get the dress over my head.

I have no idea what I've done wrong, probably something very, very daft but the thing does not fit. That's it's new name, The Thing.
 

So then I decided to attempt the High Waisted Sash Skirt from This Big Oak Tree, http://www.thisbigoaktree.com/2012/04/high-waisted-sash-skirt-tutorial.html,

and it's also too small!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so confused. I measured and checked and measured again. So now I have cut up two perfectly beautiful metres of Liberty print to make two pieces of clothing which will never see the dull glow of day. Dull glow since I'm pretty sure that's our summer over now. It's been raining for 6 days.

A lot more practicing will be done before I decide to ruin some expensive wedding dress material so watch this space.
Also I am going to make our invitations, this I am really hoping will be the focus of my next post, all going well!!



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!

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!!

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!!

The return of the blogger...

I now have a schedule. Which I am weirdly sticking too (except the exercising part, that seems to be suffering some sort of start up issues).
My little list is starting with February.
I have:
Mums b-day;
Valentines day (which we don't really do much for); and finally,
Our anniversary!

But before I get into that I have to post the rest of the pictures from last year! Not the most exciting however I want to try and keep note of my meagre contribution to the world in the form of craft.

This is one of the little toadstools I made for the boys rug. Saw a rug covered in these little things and the price was a bit more than was willing to pay for something that would have toast, milk and malteasers trampled into it.
So, in true modern style, I went to Ikea! I know so many people who say, "I hate Ikea", "it all looks the same", "this is whats wrong with the world...", etc. However, I like it!
I know it all looks the same and everyone complains about it but I dont care! The way I look at the shop is that it provides a base. A base for people who can't build furniture but want to have something they've 'made'. Everything in this shop can be customised. You can paint it, wallpaper it, cover it in fabric and fill it with all of the things you want people to see.
Rant over, back to the point.
I bought the green rug from Ikea (1/6th of the price at £10!), then I used scraps of material to make the little toadstools!

Then came my sisters birthday!

I had seen this cake in Making magazine and again on Pip Lincolnes blog and decided it was a cake for me! It was actually quite nice! I used a cake recipe from the Innocent cookbook which hasn't failed me yet.
Best of all my sister loved it so I'd say that was a winner.

Next up, halloween!
I love halloween. I love the costumes, I love the candy apples, I love the faint smell of fireworks (only 5 days before Guy Fawkes night) and I love autumn.
When I had my first son, a few weeks after halloween, one of the things I was looking forward too was making his halloween outfits.
Last year in a joint effort, with my mum, we made this...

To be fair I actually only made the hat, but I was massively pregnant at the time.
I'm sure you'll agree its very cute.

Then came santa...
I have been "knitting" a stocking for my eldest for the last 2 years. In march last year he pulled half of my attempt off the needles. Time for attempt number 2. Which is still sitting in a drawer.
Knitting is not my forte.

Sewing however, is a bit more up my street, meaning its much quicker and I'm not very patient.

Thats my 2012 re-capped.
Not too bad. but not too good either.
This year will be better...i'm sure.

Bring on the new year...whilst having a look at the old one.

As I promised myself I have actually come back on the post! I said this year I'm actually going to make the effort to make things and I'm also going to make the effort to document them in the hope it'll encourage me to improve. So here goes...

I though it would be best to go over what I did last year as I wasn't completely inactive. I started the year with knitting! (I'm a very impatient person and my knitting skills do not make for speedy progress)

I got this knitting pattern on the net from Tiny Owl Knits and each little hexagon is lovely as you can use lots of different colours and then put them all together. Also each one is stuffed with toy stuffing which makes each one like a little pillow! To bad that the ones in the picture are the only ones I've done since last January! Moving swiftly on...

Valentines day.

I made this card by stitching an old t-shirt. Bad idea. As soon as I took the fabric out of the embroidery hoop my lovely tight neat stitches became distorted and wonky. Lesson learned for this year.
Then in March it was my cousins little boys birthday. I decided to attempt something from one of Pip Lincolns books.

Looking at this picture you'd never be able to tell if the bag is supposed to be a dog or a monkey. Unfortunately regardless of which one it is supposed to be it's a pretty poor attempt. I did add a little pocket into the bag at the bag (with a zip and everything!), but I think the only thing the bag is being used for at the moment is to cushion the toys being thrown into the bottom of the toy basket.

Not too bad I suppose for the first 3 onths of last year but I'm hoping to improve on that this year!

I will come back over the next few days and post the other things I attempted (or started) last year and I will hopefully have an update on my new projects for this year too.

So as my papa used to say, cheerie bye! Until next time...

As always, I was right...which is not always a good thing.

In my last post (which was also my only post so far) I said I always started something I considered to be a good idea but that I never finished it. I hadn't anticipated this blog would be another example of that. Since my last post I actually have finished one or two things I started, like this tree for my eldest sons wall

also the rug for.his room which I made toadstools for, christmas stockings for my boys,and...ah yes,a little baby. My youngest son, not hard as i only have two so it's es and ys. I have a plan for the new year, which I am going to detail,if only for the reason it might shame me into doing it,however i'm trying to write this post on my phone and i'm getting a little upset at the stupidity of the working of it so I shall update tomorrow on the computer. happy new year, let it be a crafty one!