Catch-up

As previously mentioned I'm quite behind in my blogging. Here are a few more things that I've purchased/made/done over the last month.

I bought coathangers. Lots of them. All of my fabric is now hanging in the wardrobe in my Craft Room (which still needs a name). It makes my life SO MUCH EASIER. Before it was all stacked in drawers. Inspiration comes more freely these days, cause I can see!!!!





It was Nanna's birthday earlier in the month. So I made her some cushions for her bed. She LOVES THEM.



Mum gave me all her old laces that have been in her sewing cupboard since we were wee ones. I'll use them on something one day I'm sure!







I whipped up a pincushion. My mini apple one just wasn't cutting it anymore. I needed a big soft one. It's a bit wobbly, but functions perfectly.





Tonight I finished a skirt off.. for me! First time I've made myself something.... cause let's be honest, this body ain't easy to fit. But I had fun, and it's not toooo bad. The fabric is hell cute - and was only $4.50 from a Thrift Shop.. and best of all, it was a Quilt Cover. Ahh, the things you find when you dig :)





And lastly, the other day I had a big ole pile of fabrics and things on my table. I thought it looked cool, so I took a pic.

More FANTASTIC giveaway opportunities for Quilters!!

Hi folks. Once again, Canton Village Quilt Works has an awesome competition in progress. Be sure to enter here if you are interested in winning Barbara Cline's "Star Struck Quilts" book.

She is amazing! (geez I wish I had the skills to do this....)



Jackie, of Canton Village Quilt Works is also adding in a bonus second prize of a $20 gift voucher to her online shop.

Don't miss out ladies. You gotta be in it to win it... :o)

What i've been up to lately...

To be honest I haven't had time to do anything much lately in my Craft Room. She, she being my Craft Room, has been cold, empty and lonely for quite some time. Don't you love over-scheduling?? :)

I have a few projects to show you from earlier in the month that I haven't had time to blog about yet.

Firstly, Lil Blue Boo recently had an Ugly Knit Upcycle competition. I didn't have much time to come up with something super fantastic, but did manage to whip up a skirt out of an old tank/singlet my sister gave me. It never did fit my properly and I hated the crocheting up the top (I like crocheting as a general rule, but this one just didn't fry my burger).

So it went from this...

...to this!!

(closeup of the fabric rosettes at the bottom of the skirt)


It is nothing fantastic but it was fun to make. I don't expect to win, the competition is far too stiff... geez I hate clever people :P

Also, I saw this fantastic idea whilst blog surfing a looooong time ago. I printed out the picture and put it into my "idea's folder" thinking one day I might take a stab at it. Well about two weeks ago I was quenching my Op Shop thirst/obsession and found a giant bin FULL of doily's. I sorted through the entire box, and bought every single one I liked, in all different shapes and sizes. There was all the bedding and such next to where I was looking through the box, and a lady was sorting through it, and she turned to me and said "so you like your doily's do you?" I laughed and explained what their purpose was. I don't think she believed me cause she gave me a funny look.

Anywhoooo.. I made it!! I took a different approach on how to attach them all together - I sewed them on the machine. I wanted it to be long lasting and sturdy. I love it. My husband thinks otherwise. What do you think??


I like it and it's a keeper. If you want one let me know, I've still got plenty of doily's!! (especially considering I bought MORE today hehe)

Well that's all I have time for now folks.. I'm only about 4 blog posts behind. Maybe I'll catch up in my 'free time'.

Fantastic Giveaway for all you clever Quilters...

Hello my crafting buddies. Today during my daily blog surf/stalk I came across a neat competition!! Jackie from Canton Village Quilt Works has a AccuQuilt GO! Cutter up for grabs! Simply stop by her blog, and make sure you enter four times so you are in with a good chance! Good luck to you all!!

Sprucing up

Last week I was wondering around Target and found some onesies on sale for $3 each. Now I have over 10 friends/family currently pregnant, so I have started stocking up on baby goodies in preparation for the onslaught of baby showers and births. I grabbed 6 onesies (and upon reflection should have got MORE). 2 pink, 2 blue and 2 white. I also found a fantastic stripey onesie in the clearance section because the stitching had come undone in the armpit area. I brought my 7 onesies home, and promptly repaired the hole in the stripey suit. Then I had the sewing bug... and wanted to sew some more! I soon had the idea of sprucing up the onesies! Now so far I've only done one of the pink suits and one of the blue, but I have plans for the other 4 suits. Here is what I did...





and...



They're not perfect, and there are things I will do differently when I spruce up the other pink & blue suits, but I still like them, and am happy with them. They were fun to make, and hopefully the bodies that fill them will be just as cute :)

Flower Headband

Recently my good friend had a baby girl. I decided to make a little something as a gift for bubby on her blessing day - a lace flower headband. Doesn't it look schnookums on her?

Op Shop Finds!!!

I frequent the Op Shops on a regular basis. I'm in them at least once a month. Did you know that they have a fabric section? Do you know how happy this makes me? There are advantages & disadvantages to doing this. Advantage = you have one of a kind fabric, cause it's mostly old weird stuff that smells like mothballs, which brings me to my Disadvantage = it smells like mothballs and you have to wash it TWENTY times before the smell leaves. I really do need to google a more effective way of being rid of that odour. The other disadvantage is you only have half a metre of this wonderful fabric and you want to use it in the best way possible, knowing you will never be able to find it again!

But I can deal with this disadvantages cause I love a bargain. And I love my work being unique in it's appearance.

I might also add that I have a fabric store up the road. When you walk in, you have three BEAUTIFUL bins full off offcut's for a discounted price. I quite frequent these bins as much as the Op Shops - and find just as much goodness for around the same price.

Here are some of my finds this month and my ideas of what I'd like to make out of them!!


These two yellow baby blankets were $2. I was SO pleased. I'm going to get myself a fabric shaver, so I can clean up the fabric a little, and I am looking at making some matching babies cushions or soft toys... not totally decided yet. Either way it is going to be super cute!


Pastel stripey flannelette single top sheet - this baby was $4. It is brand new, it hasn't even been washed. It has that new soft fluff on it! I am thrilled about this one. I'm thinking more baby cushions and toys. My sister also wants some of it so she can make some stuff out of it. Maybe even some spit rags?


Zebra print silk - $4, White & Black Sateen, $4 each. I couldn't pass this one by. I love love love animal print but am a big sook and can't bring myself to wear it.. so I'm gonna MAKE something with it for someone else! Hoping to make two matching cushions out of these beautiful fabrics. Sateen is quickly becoming one of my more favourite fabrics.. its so lovely!


The stripey fabric I found at the fabric store for a few dollars. The paisley strech fabric was an awesome find at the Op Shop. There is about 3 metres of it, and it was only $5. I actually have already made something out of these vibrant fabrics. A little skirt for my niece. It looks SCHNOOKUMS on her... I really must get a photo of her in it.

(sorry it's a bit blurry)


Another great find in the bargain bin at the fabric store. Few bucks I think, and I've already used it to make a Rosette Hair Accessory!

(the colours aren't showing up great cause I took the photo on my phone)


Both a few dollars from the Op Shop.. I'm thinking a fun cushion or little girls skirt. The stripey fabric could also be a heaps cute tie for a little boy!


These were again a few dollars each. The tartan looks like a school uniform fabric from my area... but I thought ahh why not, I'll just have to make it look so fantastic that no one will notice haha!! Maybe some more cushions again? Or some hair accessories.

And last but not least...

I bought some ties. They were only $1 each from the Op Shop. Funny thing is I bought 6 ties in total. 3 were really nice and 3 were a little more daggy. My husband decided the 3 really nice ones needed to live in his closet... so they are no longer in my possession. The 3 daggy ones are the ones you see photographed above!! I saw on this blog many many months ago now some hair accessories made from ties.. so I thought I'd give it a go.. at $1 a piece I'm not going to be losing out on much if they don't work out!


So there we have it. I have PLENTY to work on! And plenty more blog posts to write to show you what I've bought and made.....

Flower Hair Accessories for Sale.

I seem to be do doing a whole lot of making, and not much selling lately. I thought it was about time I showed off some of my goods and found new homes for them. Let me know if you're interested!





Blue & Shimmery White Ruffled Flower Clip
Item: #1
Available: x1
Cost: $4











Black Swirly Ruffled Flower Clip
Item: #2
Available: x1
Cost: $4









Blue & Green Spotty Ruffled Flower Clip
Item: #3
Available: x1
Cost: $3












Purple Ruffled Flower Clip
Item: #4
Available: x1
Cost: $4











White Lace Ruffled Flower Clip
Item: #5
Available: x1
Cost: $5











White & Silver Ruffled Flower Clip
Item: #6
Available: x1
Cost: $4












Black & White Spotty Ruffled Flower Clip
Item: #7
Available: x1
Cost: $4










Black & Red Spotty Ruffled Flower Clip
Item: #8
Available: x1
Cost: $4











Sage Green Ruffled Flower Clip
Item: #9
Available: x1
Cost: $4










Green & White Ruffled Flower Clip
Item: #10
Available: x1
Cost: $4










Gold Rosette Fascinator Clip
Item: #11
Available: x1
Cost: $12












Orange & White Stripey Rosette Clip
Item: #12
Available: x1
Cost: $4












Pink Tartan Rosette Clip
Item: #13
Available: x1
Cost: $4











Pink/Green/Blue Bow Clip
Item: #14
Available: x1
Cost: $4











Apricot/Grey Bow Clip
Item: #15
Available: x1
Cost: $4











Blue/Purple/Grey Bow Clip
Item: #16
Available: x1
Cost: $4








I have a few more I'd like to post, but will do it in a seperate entry. Hope you like them!

Cushions cushions cushions!!

My lovely mother has allowed me to borrow her trusty sewing machine for a few weeks (or until she decides she wants it back). I'm in no way an experienced sewer, but I am eager to learn more sewing skills. I did take sewing classes back in high school and had to sew this dreadfully ugly dress and blouse... but I choose to forget that. Besides that, my sewing experiences have been limited to mending and such.

Often as I Blog Surf, I see beautiful ideas of decorative scatter cushions. I've been eager to give it a go, and I have come up with a few designs myself. They are in no way perfect, I still have alot to learn with sewing but I'm excited about it.

So far I've made up 3 different cushions, all with their own characteristics. The majority of the fabric that I've used is cut offs that I bought from 2nd Hand Shops & the Fabric Store (bless you Bargain Box Fabrics - they have bins FULL of random cut offs of fabric, most of which are dirt cheap and beautiful!), so most cushions will be a one off because of the limited amount of fabric that I have in that pattern etc. Here's what I've done so far!


This was my first cushion... and I think my favourite so far. I love the brightness of the orange against the soft white lace. This one probably took me the least amount of time to make aswell...


Second cushion... I like it, but I don't love it. I guess it's very "boy's room"ish. Plus the patchwork took forever.



This cushion I decided to make double sided. So this is one side. Once again the patchwork took FOREVER. I think I worked out that it took me close to 7 hours to make this baby... mostly due to inexperience. But I'm happy with the result and learnt a few lessons on how to accomplish things easily.



I love the stripey fabric in the last cushion. I bought it from Lincraft on Saturday. I love the vibrant fun colours! I also made some little gift bags out of it... which I didn't photograph, so I'll have to do some more to show you. They were just SO cute.

I'm sure I'll make a few more cushions before I hand over Mum's sewing machine again and I'll have to remember to post them on here! Hope you like them.

Copy Cat!

I am flawed. There I said it! Haha!! As much as I LOVE crafting and creating, I have creativity blocks.. almost every day! So I draw ALOT of inspiration from what others make. I am a self confessed Copy Cat!

I found this great 3 magazine pack of Scrapbook/Card Making ideas at Coles a few months ago. I put them away in my folder where I keep all my ideas and templates, and pretty much forgot about them straight away. Yesterday I pulled them out and found a page which had these four great cards. I decided to copy them - and of course add my own little touches.



I don't own any punches. None at all. Well I have a few dodgy ones that I never use and should probably get rid of.... But I have none that are worth using!! So I had to make do with what I have, and this is what I came up with.

(I should have photographed them before putting them in the packaging.. sorry)

Bad news

Well, I have some bad news. I got a call yesterday and was told the Market I was going to hold a stall at has been cancelled due to there not being enough stall holders. I'm pretty disappointed, as I've been working towards this for some time now. But I have a few other Markets in mind that I'm going to look into. I'll let you know.

Preparations for the Market Day

Well I have been a slack blogger of late. I have limited my experimentations to Facebook only, instead of keeping my blog up to date. The Market Day is only 29 days away! I am getting excited to have my own stall for the very first time!! I have been experimenting with different things to make and sell at the stall, so as to have a wide variety of fun things to sell.

I found a GREAT tutorial one day whilst Blog Hopping, on how to make fabric rosettes. I took this idea and have been making headbands. I have gone a little cuckoo and bought a whole heap of scrap fabric rolls at my local Fabric store, and have been tearing up old clothes and things. I love upcycling!! It's much cheaper! :)



Whilst at Mathilda's Market last month, I came across a GREAT way to display hair clips. I had my husband take a sneaky photo of it and I have created my own board!



It took me a few hours to construct, but a whole heap of glue & staples later, this is what I came up with. It will hold a good amount of flower clips, and the rest will go in these cute purple and blue wicker baskets that I found at the cheap shop.



I have become slightly facinated with Buttons. I found these great big button bags at Aldi a few months ago for a really great price. They have been put to good use. I have used most of the big and medium sized buttons - now to figure out what to do with the 100 or so tiny buttons I have left from each pack! Here is a headband I experimented with. Some like it and others don't. I figure if it doesn't sell at the Market Day I can easily unpick all those delicious buttons and reuse them for something else!



I went over my friends house last Saturday. She is conveniently a Stampin Up! Demonstrator and she said I was welcome to come over and use her stamps and Big Shot to my hearts content. So I spent about 8 hours doing just that!!! I have some cute pillow boxes to sell that I will stuff with some MM's, and some awesome little gift boxes.



One last experiment to share...

Going along with the theme of buttons, because they are just so fun, I had an inspiration to make a button piece in a frame. Once again I've had mixed reactions. Some people think it's adorable, other's aren't keen. But I think it's cute. We'll see if it sells!!



I make the most of every opportunity to get some craft done. I take needle, thread and ribbon to work most days and sew flowers in my lunch break. Each night I try to get a few things done. I am amazed at all the little things there are to do to make sure that everything looks 'just so'.

I will be sharing my stall space with my sister. She is busily making little girls dresses, little boys tops, stuffed animals and some hair accessories. I was also over my parents house the other day and realised mum has gone Cross-Stitch mad!! What can I say, craft runs in our blood!! I love it!!

Sales on hold

So I am looking at having a stall at a Craft/Homewares Fair end of July, and need to stock up on my goodies so I have a good supply of wares to sell. Feel free to continue putting in orders for Father's Day cards as that is still a ways down the track and will be able to work on them after the Fair. As for the rest of my goodies.. they are officially being held for the Fair! If you want to purchase them, then you'll have to come and see me on the day! Details to follow :)