a little crafting bird

At last!

2011-09-10T09:30:00.003+01:00

Well I've finally got round to updating my blog! I have lots of things to upload that I've been doing

I'll start with showing you my latest creation. I have used my ceramic paints again to paint a picture of my dog Monty onto a plate as a present for someone who really loves him.

I've tried as far as possible to follow his markings and I'm pleased with how the brush marks show his hair (he desperately needs a hair cut at the moment!)

Catching up!

2011-05-06T15:55:00.017+01:00

I don't know where time goes- I have so much to blog but never seem to get round to blogging it!
Firstly are some swap goodies that have arrived over the last month.
These gorgeous goodies came from LaaLaa

These Spring swap goodies were from Hales

And these Spring goodies were from Beki

and finally, the most recent to arrive were these lovely Easter goodies from Helen

Thanks again ladies and apologies for the time it's taken me to blog these! Now to find the time to blog everything else!

Why do my pictures always upload like this????

Birthday swap

2011-02-13T14:09:00.013Z

I had a wonderful birthday on Thursday opening loads and loads of gorgeous presents and cards from everybody on the birthday swap!
There were some lovely hand made bags, purses and hanging hearts, lovely smellies and great CK hand creams and soaps, fabric and button collections, card making bits, chocolates plus loads of other great presents.
Thankyou so much to everyone in this swap- I will be emailing each of you soon!

Sorry about the state of the pictures- blogger is playing up yet again!!

Montys taggie blanket

2011-02-09T09:25:00.017Z

In an attempt to stop Monty chewing labels and tags on things around the house I decided to make him his own taggie blanket.
I sorted through my ribbons for ones with nice textures and strong thick ribbons. I knotted a couple of them as he enjoys chewing clothes with tassles like that and looped the other ribbons.
I have sewn around the edges three times to make it as strong as possible.

I'm not sure how long it will last him as his teeth are very sharp but it was very quick and easy to make so I can make him another one if he wrecks this one- and I'm very pleased to say that he loves it!

Puppy Love

2011-01-30T14:39:00.003Z

This is who has been keeping me from my crafting lately!

He is a 9 week old American cocker Spaniel called Monty.
the house is now covered in bits of torn up newspaper and bits of plants which he keeps bringing in from the garden!

Twit- Twoo

2011-01-15T09:38:00.005Z

I've made another owl-this time using my own owl pattern. I wanted it to be used as a cushion but it's a bit small really so next time I'll make one more 'cushion' sized.

I managed to use just scraps of fabric from my stash for this owl but I may have to go shopping for larger pieces of fabric if I want to make larger cushions (any excuse to shop for fabric!)

Cornish driftwood

2011-01-12T13:52:00.006Z

Whilst on holiday in Cornwall last year I collected loads of lovely pieces of driftwood with plans to do somthing with it.
I spent ages playing with the different pieces trying to decide what to make and eventually after searching the internet for ideas I decided to make a heart. The pieces are lovely and tactile and so smooth and some even have bits of sand or small stones in the cracks.

I used my hot glue gun (for the first time in years) to glue the pieces together and I'm really pleased with the outcome and it is surprisingly very stable.
I've looked around the internet at similar pieces and they're quite expensive to buy- I'm sure they're better made than mine but I'm pleased that mine cost me nothing (apart from the glue) and is also a lovely reminder of a great holiday.
I have iton the wall in my lounge at the moment but i think it will look better in my bathroom.
Now to decide what to do with the left over bits!

Night night bunny

2011-01-09T11:00:00.006Z

This was another project that i had buzzing round my head before Christmas.
Knowing how much my niece loves her 'bunny' and looks after him I thought she (and he) would like a cosy bed to sleep in with his own little pillow.
The cosy bed and pillow:

Bunny snug and warm ready for bedtime:

It was surprisingly easy and quick to make and I'm thinking about making some to put in my folksy shop but wouldn't know how much to price them at and even if they would sell- any ideas???

A new addiction!

2011-01-08T16:15:00.004Z

I had an idea in my head before Christmas to paint each of my nieces a plate for their Christmas dinner. I wish I didn't always get these ideas going round my head because I didn't really have time to mess around painting plates that I thought would look rubbish anyway but the idea wouldn't go away so I bought a couple of cheap plates and some porcelain paints.
I traced an image of Peppa pig from a magazine and transferred this to each plate and painted it. It seemed very fiddly to start with and was looking a bit blotchy but the paint looked more even as it dried.
The childrens names were painted on each plate and some dots around the edge to finish them off.
I was very pleased with how they turned out and the children loved them and used them for every meal over Christmas.
I forgot to photograph them properly!

I am now searching round for blank pottery to paint-I think i'll look around for a white jug to paint to go on my kitchen shelves because i have searched everywhere for a colourful one but haven't been able to find just the right one!
I think all the children I know will be getting their own personalised plates soon too!

Secret santa swap

2011-01-07T21:07:00.011Z

These are the lovely gifts I received from Dana in the secret santa swap.

Thankyou very much Dana I love all the gifts especially the card organiser which will hopefully mean that I send less 'sorry it's late' cards this year!

More projects from months ago!

2010-11-24T20:36:00.004Z

These cupcake beads were made for part of a swap. It's ages since I've played with fimo but I think after making these I need to go out and buy more! After baking the fimo I coated the icing part with clear varnish and sprinkled with a sparkly glitter.

This is the needle case I made for my swap partner on the 'Quilting Gallery'. I received a lovely one back from my swap partner.

This picture was my first try at needle felting

It's been a while!

2010-11-23T15:44:00.011Z

I can't believe how much time has passed since I last blogged!
I have been busy crafting and have a few things to show here and a few I can't show yet as they are for swaps!

Firstly some felt brooches made for friends- there will be some of these in my Folksy shop soon!

A birthday card for my sister-I've never used lace on a card before but I was really pleased with how this turned out.

A seahorse made following a Tilda pattern. This was made for my partner in the seaside swap- something else to add to my list of things to make for myself!

More to follow tomorrow!

seaside swap goodies

2010-09-08T19:59:00.005+01:00

I recenttly took part in the seaside swap over here . It's just taken me ages to get around to updating my blog with the lovely goodies I got from my partner Nic .
The box of goodies ready to be opened!

All the lovely goodies! There were also some other things that I forgot to include in the photo- a lovely decorated jar of jelly beans, a box of polka dot buttons and some seaside scrapbook embellishments which have been added to my scrapbook of my Jersey holiday.
I really love everything especially the personalised notebook and the felt fish. Thankyou so much Nic!

Photo frames

2010-08-28T14:02:00.005+01:00

The challenge on Bubblyfunks Vanilla Sugar site this month is 'frames'.
I have made 2 for this challenge. The first has been made with one of my favourite fabrics which I sewed around the edges using my sewing machine (not as even as I wanted but most of the edges turned out ok). I then used some of my vast collection of laces to make some lace flowers, found some vintage buttons for the middles of the flowers and attatched these along with some swirls cut from vintage silk.

The second frame has been made using a technique I've just discovered and absolutely love doing! I needle felted the frame using some wool felt from Hobbycraft. I think I'll add a magnet to this mini frame so it can be displayed on the fridge.

My new folksy shop

2010-08-14T14:50:00.007+01:00

I have set up a shop on Folksy with keyrings(it may have other things in but for now that's what's there!)
Have a look and let me know what you think-just click on the Folksy sign on the top right

Here's what's in the shop now:

and these are the ones I've just added today:

Card for a man!

2010-06-26T11:02:00.003+01:00

I really dislike making cards for men!
Fortunately this man likes golf so it made it slightly easier!
The gold ball was embossed with a cuttlebug embossing die and the golf bag and umbrella were from an old decoupage set but I decided to just use them as one layer instead of decoupaging them.

storage box

2010-06-13T08:45:00.003+01:00

I made this fabric storage box for a friends birthday. It was from a pattern in a Tilda sewing book.
Yet again it is a project I want to make for myself but yet again just need to find the time to make it!

mmmmm what's cooking

2010-06-09T10:00:00.003+01:00

I have loads and loads of recipes collected from relatives, magazines etc and wanted to store them somewhere other than thrown into a drawer so I decorated this box to make it into a recipe box.
The cards were printed on the computer and stamped with an old woodware clear stamp set.

'H' is for Heather

2010-05-30T10:00:00.002+01:00

This is a birthday card for my niece who is fascinated by letters at the moment and loves finding a 'H' for Heather on signs and food boxes etc.
It has been decorated using die cut shapes from cuttlebug dies and sizzlit dies.

A couple of bags!

2010-05-29T14:41:00.005+01:00

The challange on the Vanilla sugar site for May is to make a bag. I found some nice patterns that I was going to use but couldn't get the fabric I wanted locally so I will make them when I have found the fabric I want on-line and also when I have more free time!
The first bag I made was for a present for a friend- I still need to get around to making one of these 'buttercup' bags for myself!

The second bag I made is to store some of my puppets in which I used to use for teaching- I love the alphabet fabric and it's really thick cotton.

Christmas robin

2010-05-27T15:19:00.004+01:00

This is my card for the Bubblyfunk 25th challenge for May.
The challenge was to make a card with red and green as the main colours and then as a bonus you could include your own background- mine has been stamped using a roller with a holly pattern, a tag- the circle may not be tag shaped but they are tags! and inchies- my inchies have been cut in half diagonally to make the corner triangles- triple bonus points!
The robin and holly leaves have been curved and slightly decoupaged- I love the effect and will be trying it with a lot more stamps.

beaded dragonfly

2010-05-26T10:00:00.001+01:00

This beatiful dragonfly was made as part of the bubblyfunk cyber crop. I found the tutorial on you tube and was surprised at how easy it was to make!
I will be making a lot more of these and may try using double the amount of beads to try making a larger dragonfly.

Oliver Owl

2010-05-25T09:00:00.000+01:00

I have wanted to make this owl for ages after buying the pattern from a seller on etsy. It took me ages to decide what fabrics to use but I'm very happy with how he has turned out.
Although I think his eyes look a bit too big- the pattern said you could cut round them with pinking shears before attaching so on the next one I make I'll buy some scissors and try that.

Twit Twoooooo

2010-05-24T18:56:00.003+01:00

I made these little notelets as part of a swap.
The owl is a Dawn bibby design stamp which I paper pieced to make each one different.
The scalloped edge was then embellished using card candy.

Bubbly cyber crop

2010-05-20T21:17:00.003+01:00

I made this desk-top caddy over the weekend during a cyber crop on Bubblyfunk. It was my second attempt as the first one went completely wrong and is now in the recycling bin!
I used double sided card and glass beads to embellish the caddy.

felt birdhouse

2010-04-25T18:59:00.004+01:00

The challenge for April over at bubblyfunks Vanilla Sugars site so as I've made a card birdhouse before I thought I'd do something different.
I designed some little birds and a birdhouse and made them from some lovely new colours of felt that I have recently bought.
I added some small flower sequins to the threads and on the front of the birdhouse and I may add a small bell to the top of each bird so it makes a bit of noise as it moves.
For now it will hang in my craft room but it may be given away at some point as it would look lovely hung in a little girls bedroom.
It wasn't the easiest thing to photograph as the pieces just would not stay still!

flowery birthdays

2010-04-18T21:22:00.005+01:00

It's been so long since I blogged! Sometimes life just takes over and other things have to take a back seat!
This card is one I made for a family birthday. I used a cuttlebug die to cut the petal shapes and decided not to emboss them with the other part of the die. I like the effect more like this than when I've embossed the petals on previous cards.

Cute snowman

2010-03-14T16:28:00.003Z

This is my card for the Bubblyfunk '25th Club' challenge for March. The theme for this month is snowmen and sparkle.

I made a snowman template and drew round it onto white pearlescent card. I then made his hat and scarf using light blue glitter card scraps. I made the darker blue stripe by sprinkling glitter onto double sided tape which had been stuck to a strip of card, and the nose was made the same way as I didn't have any orange glitter card.
His eyes and mouth were printed using black acrylic paint on the end of a thin stick.

Hanging heart

2010-02-28T19:55:00.003Z

The February theme on the Vanilla sugar blog over at Bubbly Funk is 'hanging hearts'. And yet again it's a challenge that has been done at the last minute!
I decided to make my heart using wire and beads something which i love working with.
I used silver wire to form a heart outline. I then threaded 5 long lengths of thin wire with pearl beads, knotted about an inch apart.
These wires were then wrapped around the heart shape over and over again.
The heart is hanging from another length of wire threaded with more pearl beads.
I love the finished effect and think some beaded hearts will look good at Christmas time made using gold wire and using red 'berry' beads.

A closer view of the heart

Christmas animals

2010-02-26T20:12:00.004Z

Well I have finally got round to blogging my cards for the BubblyFunk 25th club for February. The theme this month was 'animals' and as a lot of my Christmas cards have animals on then I decided to make 2 cards this month.
The first was cut using my new big shot die which cuts a scalloped card blank. I also managed to cut the scalloped mat by rotating the paper in the die to make the scalloped edge all the way round.
The holly leaves and bird (which was supposed to be a Robin but looks a bit like a dove- I think it's the curved wing that needs changing) were drawn free-hand and edged with pen lines as were the edges of the scallop.

The second card was made using a chipboard reindeer bought from hobbycraft. I inked the reindeer using metallic pens and then covered it all with glossy accents. the white highlights were added to the reindeer using gel pens.

I am determined to do the March challenge in pelnty of time!!!

Coaster wall hanging

2010-01-31T14:29:00.005Z

Vanilla sugar is the new challenge blog over at Bubbly Funk. Each month they are setting a challenge dedicated to home decor and gifts with January's theme being 'Coasters'.
I made my coasters into a wall hanging with a beach theme. The coasters were cut using my new nestabilities dies and a 'sand' printed paper was cut with a smaller die.
I then decorated 2 of the coasters using a seaside themed collage kit which I originally bought for my scrapbooking but it had so many pieces in it that I thought I could spare a few for this project! For the other 2 coasters I used my nestabilites again to cut 2 photos from my last holiday.
I will change the top photo which is of a seagull by the sea because the sand on the photo gets a bit lost with the papers.

A messy experiment!

2010-01-30T20:56:00.001Z

I bought some lovely mica spray after christmas thinking I would be able to do some lovely things with it.
I do love it but it was so so messy and I didn't realise it would stain quite as much as it did! I love the mottled background it has created on this black paper.
I will have to have a try with it on white card next but I'll make sure all surfaces are covered very well!
The stamp is a Dawn Bibby design stamp which I love!

25th Club

2010-01-16T15:03:00.003Z

I have made my first Christmas card of the year for the BF 25th club. Each month you make a Christmas card using a theme each month.
the theme for January is turquoise and swirls and something sparkly or shiny.
I made my card using a piece of everyday turquoise backing paper (as all the Christmas ones are packed away!), silver swirls cut from a quickutz die and a snowman cut from a sizzix die which has been chalked to give him some shading.
I don't think I've ever really used this snowman for a card even though I've had the die for a few years but now I've used him I'm sure I'll be using him lots as I love how he has turned out!
The only thing I'd change about this card is that I'd make the silver swirls overlap the circle instead of going behind it.

A few cards

2010-01-15T21:56:00.002Z

These cards have been made using my new stamps and some papers from my scrap box.

I have also decided to make more mens cards to keep in my card box as I never seem to have any suitable and hate having to think of ideas at the last minute.
As I have so many dog stamps I thought I'd make a couple of cards which I hope will be suitable for men-I'm not too sure about whether the second card is 'manly' enough!
Both images are by Whipper Snapper (I think!)

A wintery walk

2010-01-13T20:46:00.002Z

Roll on spring!

2010-01-06T17:21:00.005Z

I have altered two tins today to make them into 'Seed' tins. One will be used for myself and the other one is for a gift.
I also made chipboard dividers decorated with the same papers as I've used on the outside.
I have made some seed packets for collecting seeds from the garden. I made a template on the computer and printed the details and personalised them. I then printed and cut each one out and stuck them together. To finish them off I used a woodware stamp set which I've had for ages to add a couple of pictures of garden tools to each one which I then coloured in. To complete the gift I have decorated a simple notebook for collecting 'garden notes'
This is the tin I've made to give away (the other tin is very similar so I haven't bothered taking a picture!)

Woof woof

2009-12-23T16:20:00.004Z

This is the present I've made for my other niece who is 2.5 years old.
The kennel was adapted from the design here and I just altered the front to make it into a dog kennel.
It was hard on the fingers sewing the panels together and it took a lot longer than I was expecting!
The dog is from a pettern I'd saved from an old quilting magazine which had a special on toys and I thought he needed some food and water so I made 2 little bowls from felt for him together with 'water' and 3 juicy bones!

Run, run as fast as you can...

2009-12-20T15:09:00.005Z

This little gingerbread man has now been packaged up to send to his new home tomorrow. Hope the recipient likes him as much as I do and looks after him well ( I nearly had second thoughts on whether to give him away as he looked so at home on my tree!)

Let's go fishing

2009-12-19T09:53:00.004Z

I have had the idea to make this in my head for ages and kept putting it off thinking that it would take ages to make.
However once I started it was quite easy and didn't really take that long.
To make the fishing rods I used a short length of garden cane and covered it twice in quilting fleece. I then covered this with bright material, sewed a length of thick ribbon to the end and added a piece of velcro to the other end of that.
The fish have the other piece of velcro on them. I thought for an 18 month old it would be better to use velcro rather than small magnets which could come loose or could be swung around!
I made a little fishy themed bag to store all the pieces in.
The complete set:

Packed and ready to go fishing!:

cards and gifts

2009-12-17T16:09:00.004Z

This is the engagement card I made for little brother who got engaged recently- I've never made an engagement card before so needed a few ideas from friends first!

I have made this calendar for my boyfriends parents (it is of their dog 'Hugo' which we looked after earlier this year).
I used a friends bind-it-all machine to make the blank calendar and then decorated each page with small stamped images of dog bones, paw prints etc. I then added photos, calendar pages printed from the internet and dog themed embellishments.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

2009-12-05T10:18:00.004Z

This is the felt tree decoration I made for Sarah for a swap. I thunk I may make some of them for myself now as I was pleased with how it turned out.

I made this snowman for my friends little girl to hang on her tree. I don't think you'd be able to buy a decoration from a shop with her name on so I decided to personalise the decoration.
The snowman was cut with a sizzix die and then the pieces sewn together and finally, after embroidering the letters on the circles, they were securely sewn on.

And finally this is the inchie decoration for the swap. The squares were very fiddly to do and sewing on the glass beads took ages but I'm really pleased with how it has turned out-I just hope it arrives at it's destination safely!

Woof, woof

2009-11-25T20:48:00.005Z

This is the first time I've made a card where I've decorated the inside as well as the front. I had two stamps from elzybells that went well together so decided to use one on the inside of the card as well.
I think I will try decorating the inside of cards more often as I like the 'finished 'look of the card.

Twinkle twinkle little star

2009-11-20T15:23:00.005Z

These stars have been made for a Christmas decoration swap-I need to make just one more and then they are off to their new homes in America, Canada and Australia.

I tried to photograph them to show off their twinkliness (is that a word!) but it isn't showing up much in the photo- they look much nicer in real life!
They are made using beautiful glass beads and using very fine wire.

A Christmas gift

2009-11-11T09:15:00.004Z

I have made this counting book for my little niece for Christmas.
I bought a blank board book and covered each page with patterned paper. I then used various sizzix and cuttlebug dies to cut out the animal pictures. These were then stuck onto each page along with a number.
The pages were covered with sticky backed plastic to help keep it clean from grubby fingers! I'm not completely happy with how the plastic has 'bubbled' a bit around the pictures but overall I'm pleased with it and it'll be a book that I know she hasn't already got!
I haven't taken pictures of all the pages-just my favourite! The counting pages go up to 10.

Next time I make a board book I think I'll search around for bargain ready-printed story books and decorate over the pictures on them as they are a lot cheaper than buying a blank book!

Christmas is on it's way!

2009-11-08T11:12:00.009Z

I've got quite a few Christmas cards made now. Usually I don't start until at least the beginning of December but this year I seem to be more organised (at least with making cards-the rest of the projects are still in the design stage!)
These are a few of my favourite cards so far.

This one is made using a stamp from a set which came free with a card making magazine, my new cuttlebug cut and emboss snowflake which I love, and various embossing plates to create the background.
This is my favourite card so far so I think I'll be doing quite a few more in this style.

This card has been made using a pad of papers which came free with a craft magazine. The mouse and decorations on the tree have been decoupaged and the greeting is a rub on.

The last card for today has been made with scraps of paper from my Christmas box and a decoupaged bear image (can't remember where this came from). The corners are cut using a thin cut die and the snowflakes are using a punch.

finally...

2009-11-03T20:07:00.008Z

At long last I've got round to posting about my hug swap goodies. I received the beautiful mug wrap and mat from Renata. They are beautiful and the sewing is so neat!
I've decided not to use them for their proper prupose as I'd hate to spill tea over them so the mug wrap is being used round one of my pencil pots in my craft room and the mat is on display in my craft room.
So thankyou again Renata and I hope mine sent to you arrives soon!

Today I recieved my goodies from the Autumn swap so thankyou very much-they are lovely.
I recieved a lovely autumn mat, a coffee themed teatowel which will look great in the kitchen and lots of lovely autumnal ribbons.

And I know my Autumn swap partner has recieved her goodies. I only took a photo of the mat I made which I did machine appliqué around the leaves. It's the first time I've done that technique and I was really pleased with how it turned out. Unfortunately I can't find the photo anywhere on my computer! I know it was on here because I was looking at it earlier but I can't find it in any folders now! So I have put the photo on which was on Paola's blog-i hope she doesn't mind!

I think I might make some similar place mats for the Christmas table like this. I'll add it to the long list of projects I want to get done by Christmas!!!

golden angels

2009-10-28T09:41:00.003Z

This is my card with an angel for the bubblyfunk challenge. I'm not sure i like the colouring on the angels dress- it's come out a bit too orange so may have another play leter with different colours of glitter pens.

fluttering fairies

2009-10-25T10:45:00.002Z

I made this card for my nieces first birthday. The fairy stamps are from two different packs of stamps by 'Red Hot Bed'. they have been coloured with glitter pens to give them a fairy shimmer.
The paper letters were from a pack from qvc and I inked the white letters with lilac ink and then embossed them twice using holographic embossing powder.

A few cards

2009-10-22T17:22:00.004+01:00

Made for various friends birthdays- so many seem to have their birthday in October and November!
-and a thankyou card ready for after christmas!

Silver silhouette

2009-10-17T18:28:00.009+01:00

I made this card for a challenge on a forum with the theme of 'silhouettes'.

I initially used silver mirror card for the background but thought it looked too 'shiny' when finished so I took all the card to pieces and changed it to a piece of matt silver card. I also did the image again as it was starting to rub off the black paper-it is stamped with an embossing ink pad and then I used silver cosmic shimmer powder over the image- after wiping over the image lightly to remove any stray flecks i sprayed it with hair spray and there is no more smudging!

It doesn't show up too well in the photo but the powder creates a lovely shimmery silver which is similar to a foiled rub-on

The weekends results

2009-09-27T16:59:00.008+01:00

I have had to force myself to make 2 cards this weekend for birthdays that are coming up.
This is the first time I've used a pre-printed card. I added a stamped image by Penny Black and punched flowers, some of which are raised.

The second card was framed using a small stamp of different leaves. I have raised the outer end of each leaf to make them stand out more. The monkey was stamped onto different shades of brown paper and then cut and placed together to make the image-this is a technique that I haven't tried before but will be using a lot more as it makes the image bolder than just water colouring it.

I have also finally got round to showing the inchies I've been sewing for the swap. Don't look too closely at the red sewing around the edges as it is not as neat as the samples! I have used lovely glass beads to make the pattern on each of the finished ones.
Only 10 more to finish!

a new project

2009-09-21T16:36:00.009+01:00

A new project project I've started is the a melly and me pattern called Lottie and little lady which is lovely. The big ladybird has a little bag to hang around her neck which holds a little baby ladybird (little lady).
I couldn't find any brighter red spotty material for her body but this does look a bit brighter in real life than in the photo so I think it'll look good when it's finished.
It took a while to get the arms and legs looking right but the pattern overall is very easy to follow and make. I'm sure she'll look a lot cuter when she's fully stuffed!

I have also made a start on my inchie christmas decorations for the swap. Unfortunately my sewing on the edges of the inchies isn't quite as neat as the sample so I've added plenty of beading to detract the eye from the edges!
I'll take photos tonight and post them tomorrow.

owl template

2009-09-18T17:10:00.003+01:00

As requested here is the owl template for any of you who wish to use him on cards, applique etc. Feel free to resize him larger or smaller.
I would love to see what you do with him!
I don't know how to add for you to download directly but if you right click on the picture and save it to your computer you will then be able to open it in word or similar program (hopefully!)

a crinkly toy

2009-09-17T15:16:00.005+01:00

I finally found put how to make a toy crinkly sounding by using cereal packet bags.
I washed the bags that the cereal is in from inside the box and layered 2 pieces of it with some wadding.
I sewed eyes and a beak onto the front piece of material and sewed the wings which have 1 piece of crinkly bag in them.
I then layered a piece of wadding and 2 pieces of crinkly bag and then on the top the piece of patterned material with the eyes and beak sewn on, right side up and then the other piece of patterned material, right side down.
The wings were then pinned in the sides so they were inside the sandwich.
I then sewed all around the outside leaving a small part unsewn in the bottom to turn it the right side.
After turning the owl the right way, the bottom seam was sewn together on the machine.
Apologies for the blurry photo!
And for all those who have asked for a template of the owl I used on my clock- I haven't forgotten and will put it on here tomorrow.

a little bird house

2009-09-13T15:35:00.003+01:00

I have been wanting to make a little paper birdhouse for ages after seeing them in magazines and on other blogs. It was the challenge on the bubblyfunk challenge blog that gave me the push.
I started out making a birdhouse with just the large bird on and a circle of paper to show the hole but then decided to cut the hole out (not easy when the house was already stuck together!) and add a couple of baby bluebirds inside. Of course then mother bird needed some food to take to her babies so i made a red worm for her to hold.
This is the first photo of my work that i have taken outside- I thought it'd be a much nicer photo if I placed the birdhouse in a tree in my garden!

Twit Twoo

2009-09-11T17:26:00.004+01:00

I have finally got around to altering a clock which I've had for years. It previously had a picture of Winnie the Pooh on which was very nice but it was time for a change. I've had these papers and die cuts swirls in a pack from QVC for ages.
I drew and cut out the owl and layered him up with some 3D foam behind him and in between some of the layers.
He was then placed onto the board which I have covered in different papers, edged with ink. I have only stuck them on using double sided tape so if I ever want to re-cover the clock or have it back as a Winnie clock then i should be able to.
The clock now has pride of place in my craft room.
I still have loads of the papers from the pack left so I think i will cover and decorate a cheap wooden set of drawers which were bought from IKEA next.

couple of cards

2009-09-09T14:57:00.006+01:00

These are a couple of cards i have made recently after a visit to Stamp Addicts. Both the owl and bear stamps are by Judikins and are lovely to work with.
I wanted to make all parts of the owl card co-ordinate so tried stamping on ribbon with the same leaf stamp I'd used to make the background-I wasn't expecting it to turn out as nice as it did so it's something I'll be doing a lot more to make my own patterned ribbons!
The owl card is also the first card I've made in ages which didn't use any pre-printed backing papers-it has been sponged with ink and stamped using small rubber stamps (an idea i picked up from Stamp Addicts as they used small stamps to make the backgrounds on most of their sample cards in the shop)
I have started a couple more cards using this bear on mens cards and will post them here when they're finished.

Humpty

2009-09-06T15:02:00.003+01:00

This toy was made following an Alan Dart pattern which I spotted on ebay. I have only tried making one toy by Alan Dart before and found it very confusing and didn't finish it as it was all going wrong. Yet again this pattern was very difficult and it took a lot of extra stitches to get his body looking symmetrical and egg shaped! I made his feet and hands differently to the pattern as I wanted to get him finished and was fed up of the fiddly bits. I embroidered a nose onto him after this photo was taken.
He will be delivered to my niece next weekend.

tilda bunny

2009-09-04T16:06:00.006+01:00

This bunny was made from a Tilda book 'Crafting Springtime Gifts' -there are so many lovely projects in there. The actual bunny wasn't too difficult to make but the clothing directions were a bit confusing and the dress turned out too wide at the top (although doesn't look too bad once on) but the hat isn't at all like it should be-I don't know what I did wrong but I couldn't work out the proper way to make it!

baby quilt

2009-09-03T10:25:00.006+01:00

This is the first quilt I've made and whilst making it I was thinking it'd be my last! I didn't realise just how long it would take to make and how difficult it would be! Each stage took loads longer than i expected and I found it difficult to sew the squares together so that each strip of squares would fit toegther and have neat corners.

In the end i don't think it mattered too much as you don't really notice and I think it adds to the hand made charm of it. I love the end result-it was really snuggly and if it hadn't been in baby colours I think I would have been tempted to keep it myself!

The quilt was for my friends second and baby and my friends really loved it. Now to get started on a quilt for myself!

my first bag

2009-09-02T15:59:00.002+01:00

This was a bag i made for my sisters birthday. I followed a free pattern on the internet and found this gorgeous thick fabric in the local quilt shop. I was expecting the bag to be quite difficult to make but the instructions and diagrams are so clear that it only took me a couple of hours to make and was pretty easy ( the only thing I did wrong, due to rushing, was taping the pattern together the wrong way so my bag turned out smaller than it should have done but it still looked good when finished!)

the start...

2009-09-02T15:55:00.000+01:00

Well this blogging is all new to me so hopefully it won't be too difficult and hopefully i'll have the time to regularly update it.
I have a few projects already finished which I can post to start my blog off