My first attempt at decoupage

Today I had headed to Damselfly and The Queen Bee to pick up a few bits of patterned paper for my resin jewellery. While I was there I found this stunningly beautiful decopatch paper. I've been meaning to try decoupage (or wrote as decopatch in some places)  for a little while. It is after all posh sounding paper mache, so it's something I'm positive a 5 year old version of myself would had a good go at. At Damselfly they have a really good collection of paper; in fact better than a lot of ebay sellers I've been looking at. This paper just jumped out at me and said 'buy me.'

I found a photo frame I've had lying around for a little while which I got from the pound shop; cause I'm classy like that. I've talked to a few people about decoupage before and PVA glue is cheaper and just the same as a lot of these special decoupage glues I've seen.

So I started ripping the paper into stamp sized (ish) pieces and glued them on. Pretty simple really.

It took a bit of time to do the whole thing but as you can see, it did pay off. All I need to do now is find something to put in the frame. Might make another one with a cupcake paper and put the chalk board for the kicthen in it.

I think this has given me the decopatch buzz - I want to decoupage everything! I'm actually itching to head back to Damselfly and buy all of their paper supplies.

The Life Craft

One of my favourite west end shops is closing at the end of the month, so thought it deserved a little mention on my blog. The Life Craft is a great little place for craft classes, children's parties, hen parties and buying craft essentials. On a rainy (or any day for that matter) you can pop in and paint some pottery. At the end of every month they hold a fantastic night called Paint It Up where you take along a bottle (or several) of your poison of choice and paint pottery. I've been a few times and it's always been a great night where you can be creative, talk rubbish and get a bit merry to boot. In fact it is very odd how on your third glass of wine you suddenly think you're an artistic genius.

On that note here are some of my artistic works from previous nights. I think on the last one at the end of the month I'm going to have to stock up and paint everything in sight.

It is very sad that Life Craft is closing its doors but they are going out on a high with their last month's calendar jam packed with events along with them selling off their remaining stock. You can check out what's going on on their Facebook page. If you have a chance to pop along this month please do.

All the best to Vonnie and everyone else at The Life Craft when it does close, but I will be along soon to buy up all their supplies.

Resin Jewellery making

A few week ago now I went to a resin jewellery class ran by Addison at Freak Carousel. It was a fantastic class that ran over 2 weeks. Addison was very enthusiastic and informative about her resin making; she obviously loves what she does. The first 2 hour class covered the basics of making the resin mix, colouring it, forming in moulds and adding details. Most things can be set in jewellery from paper designs, metal work and even personal items like baby teeth etc. I actually couldn't wait to return the next week to turn out my designs. The second class covered finishing our jewellery and involved a lot of drilling holes to make into necklaces and gluing on brooch backs or rings. Here's what I ended up making in the class:

                                         
 I think this one is my favourite one, even if it is slightly wonky. Addison was full of advice for getting things like this right next time, like doing a small layer of resin first before adding the pattern or paper.

 One of the girls at the class came well prepared with hundreds ad thousands which look amazing when put into resin.

All in all it was a fantastic class which I would recommend to anyone interested in jewellery making or doing something a little bit different with your Tuesday nights. There's another workshop planned for the end of April with one in Glasgow and one in Aberdeen. The Freak Carousel Facebook page is the best way to keep up to date with new classes happening in your area. The prices are £35 per person or £60 for 2 people. The last class was full so definitely book well in advance.

Since I have been inspired to buy all the kit for resin making and am currently working on some designs, I've already have a couple of achievements and disasters which I will post about soon.

New Blog Direction

Lately I haven't been posting on here (which is bad of me) however I have been going to and booking lots of craft classes and buying crafting goodies. So as a change of pace the next posts will be a mix of homemade crafts and reviews and info of the craft classes/shops I've been to recently. Glasgow is such a eclectic city of crafting wonders, just like a lot of cities I'm sure. My aim is to make the most of this, as should you.

Also I changed the layout to include a title stitched by my own fair hands. Prettys.

Odd and ends

The last week or so I haven't really been that productive to be honest. I haven't really finished a project but have been working on a few little bits and pieces.

Up-cycling
This is when you take something old and make something new out of it. Which is the main thing that I do. Most of my material is clothes I've got bored with or scraps of material. I've seen a lot of things lately using old zips to create rings and bracelets, so I decided to have a go myself using the zips off the dresses I've used for material.


Firstly I cut the zip out of the outfit. You only need one side to make a flower so you can make 2 items out of 1 zip (very handy).

Next you need to hold one end of the zip and start twirling it round, holding it in place at the back as you. I decided to leave a little bit of the material on for a nice effect. Remember to have the zip zig-zag side of the outside.

Continue twirling the material up into a flower, altering the shape slightly where needed to make it look less like a tube of material.

When in place pin it at the back.

You can now sew it into place at the back, making sure it won't unravel. you can also put a small circle of material on the back to neaten it up before adding a ring or brooch fastening to it.

I made a few of these while trying to get them right.

They do have a nice effect :)


While looking through my box of ribbons and materials I found a long bit of lace of which I used the same technique on.

I then added a back flower to add a little more detail.

Tea Cozy Take 2
Another thing I've been working on is a tea cozy for my mum for Christmas. It's definitely a work in progress and she might get it next Christmas at this rate.

First I cut out the material for the tea cozy (loosely using my teapot as a measurement). I also cut out the same shape in wadding.

I then used the sewing machine to sew the material and wadding in place, about 5mm from the outside.

My mum loves butterflies so I found some lovely lace butterflies in the craft shop. By themselves they didn't look like enough to me so I have decided to applique a butterfly on there myself. So far I only have it pinned down but hopefully I will get my act together and do it properly.

Cake Time
I think my main reason for not being productive is the fact I got distracted by cake, which is very easily to do. My wonderful flatmate bought me The Great British Bake-off cook book for my birthday (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-British-Bake-Off-Victoria/dp/1849902682/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320709592&sr=8-1) and I decided to make a Victoria sponge instead of sew. I added cream (which Mary Berry says is not a Victoria sponge) but it did taste nice. Tempted to spend tomorrow making Paul Hollywood's iced buns. Yummy.

Time for tea

Afternoon tea is back in fashion as we know. There's also nothing worse than a cold cuppa, so as retro way of keeping your teapot warm a tea cozy is definitely the answer.

A while ago I bought a small collection of small remnants of fabric which the only obvious thing to do with them is patchwork but there wasn't enough for a blanket so a tea cozy is the perfect solution. I started by laying out my rectangles of material and decided in which order I wanted them. I then started sewing them together like a patchwork.

View from the front

View from the back. As you can see they have all been sewn together with about 5mm at each side to make the view fro the front much tidier.

You want the pattern to be much bigger than your teapot as it needs to fit around it. I found it handy to keep the teapot handy. Once I had both sides done I then added a layer of wadding and another layer of material for the inside of the cozy. Trim into a rounded shape at the top and sew each side together. Then it's time to attach both sides. Lay the patterned sides out facing each other and sew around each side except the bottom side.

Turn the cozy the right way round. All you need to do now is tidy up the edges at the bottom, attach a handle if you want and use it

It does keep your tea all snuggly on these cold nights

Also can be used to keep a friend's head warm too.

Sorry about the lack of detail with the pictures. i got carried away in making it and forgot to take many. Doh!

Union Flag Cushion

Been a while since I posted on here but a birthday present and a week of work inspired me to at least do a little sewing. I got a lovely sewing box off my friend Claire for my birthday.

Isn't it pretty.

While organising my sewing kit I found the cushion I'd previously started and decided to finally get it finished. I had already cut the right size pieces for the flag pattern, they just needed sewing in place.

I started by pinning the white cross strip by strip and sewing them onto the background.

I then added the light green ribbon on top of the white.

Lizzie found it all very interesting, to the point where I had to lock her out the room since she thought the ribbon was a toy.

To add a bit if interest to the pattern I then did the background of the second cross in a dotty material. The great thing about the pattern is that you can personalise any way you like. For example multi-coloured or a colour scheme, flowers, polka dots, whatever you want.

To finish the pattern I just needed to pin, tack and sew the last cross of green ribbon.

Once the pattern was finished it just needed tidying up by cutting of loose threads etc and then I could start on turning it into a cushion

Cutting out a piece of green material the same size of the pattern is the next step. I sometimes add lining to make it neater but this time i didn't bother. Place the two sides of material that you want on the outside of the cushion facing each other. And sew around the edges about 1cm in leaving a gap from around 5-10cm on one of the sides This is for your chosen fastening, whether it a zip, buttons etc

I left a small gap and decided that I wasn't going to use a fastening this time. If using a normal cushion filler then I would probably suggest putting on a zip. As a money saver I used ends and scraps of material to fill my cushion. After the cushion is filled it's really easy to just sew up the hole.

After sewing it up then it is all finished and time to sit down drink tea and finish off my birthday cake I think.