Hedgehog Card, Stickyback Fabric & Spellbinder Dies

I got round to playing with some spellbinder dies I bright from eBay a few weeks ago. I brought two different medallion dies as I wanted to added more intricate designs to my cards. I decided to made some hedgehog cards using these and the DoCrafts sticky back fabric I brought from Hobbycraft last week. I used the apple print fabric (I also brought a tartan roll and knitted jumper style roll for Christmas)

I have quite a few hedgehog stamps and dies as I love hedgehogs, my real Pygmy hedgehog Spike Pricklepants especially!

These are 5 inch square cards and images were coloured with Spectrum Noirs and then I used distress ink around the outside of the image 

The bottom card isn't quite finished yet, I just need to add a sentiment.

The sticky fabric roll is quite hard to cut as when you unroll it and flatten it there are rucks in it where it's not completely stuck to the paper backing when flat and it won't cut in a gulotine (where you pull the arm down) so I used a craft knife to get a perfectly straight line but did get a bit of fraying as you will see on the pictures a little.

It does add interest to the card and more texture. It would have been helpful if they printed a grid on the backing paper so you can use it as a guide (like you do with some wrapping papers)

The very early cards which turned out to be late

In April this year I brought two mini kits from Hunkydory to make cards for my cousins son Finley. I couldn't find his birthday in my calendar for April, then realised it was because his birthday is in September.

Jump forward a few months and you'd think I'd have his cards ready...I forgot we were in September and its his birthday today! Luckily though him and his family are on holiday (phew) so he wouldn't get his card until he is back anyway. 

I just sat down in my study and make these two cards for him. I really love the pirate image as its made of pictures of different materials like felt and gingham (even though I hate sharks, I still like this card)

Makery Wrist Warmers

After making the key rings from the Makery book, I decided to try the wrist warmers. My husband was out Saturday night so I used some spare wool to check I could make the wrist warmers (as I only started knitting less than a year ago and didn't want to buy new wool and mess up the thumb holes).

I made this pair in one evening (ok I did stay up waiting for my hubby until 12.30am) 

After realising how easy they were to knit I brought some lovely denim wool from Sirdar in 'vintage'. It was just under £6 which I didn't think was bad for one pair of wrist warmers. While in Hobbycraft I did pick up some DoCraft Tilly Daydream and Country Christmas bits which were in the sale bucket (the patterned rolls in the background are adhesive fabric rolls)

Anyway, back to the wrist warmers...I started them on Sunday afternoon and finished the left hand, then did the right hand last night. I was worried Sunday night that one ball of wool wouldn't be enough but I shouldn't have worried as I still had a new metres left after completing both. While doing my right wrist warmer on Monday night I was sat with my hedgehog asleep on my lap and all cosy. I do like knitting when it's cold outside, it's very cosy.

Tonight I did the part I was dreading...sewing the wrist warmers up! I've only sewn up a few knitting projects and I'm not the best but I was very pleased with how I did on these wrist warmers. I then wanted to add some decoration and add a button to each wrist warmer but took a while deciding which buttons to go for. I was deciding between wooden buttons, fabric covered buttons (the ones from earlier in this blog post) or shell buttons which were free with a craft magazine. I went with the shell buttons as they have an iridescence to them and have a good contrast against the dark blue wool.

They are so nice and warm and will definitely be an essential for me I this chilly weather. I really wanted them for this weekend for the dog show so I can sell my dog bandanas while keeping warm and still being able to sort money etc so wrist warmers are more practice than gloves and also much easier with my walking stick as I can still grip it. 

Makery - My New Favourite Craft Book!

A few weeks ago my husband and I went on holiday to Somerset and visited Bath (my favourite place). While walking around Bath (well.....while walking back to the car park at Waitrose from the Roman Baths) we went down Northumberland Place, and stopped for a little rest (walking around Bath with Muscular Dystrophy gets tiring). While having a little rest I suddenly got a boost of energy after seeing a craft shop in the distance....The Makery Emporium! 

The shop has a table in the middle with bowls full of buttons which draws you in. The shop stocks crafing 'ingredients' and has lots of lovely fabrics, ribbon, washi tapes and lots of other bits to make fabricy crafty projects. The shop is small but perfect as you can see everything easily. I brought some little metal heart tags to add to jewellery and craft projects. I wish they had a shop nearer to me as they do small quantities of things so if you want one button to cover with fabric you can buy just that, or just one button.

We went back to the holiday cottage and I searched online for craft shops in Bath to find out the name of the shop to tell my Mum and found that they also have a workshop where they do craft workshops on things such as lampshade making, cushion making and many other crafts. My Mum and I are definitely thinking of planning a trip to Bath at some point and doing one of these workshops (any excuse to go to Bath). 

When I got back home I found that The Makery had a book coming out and was really interested as I love making things especially on my sewing machine. I then found that my Mum and Dad were going to Bath the same week the book was being released and my Mum kindly phoned up and ordered me a copy to pick up when she was in Bath. I'm so glad I preordered mine as The Makery were on Dragons Den the week of the book launch which lead to a huge rush on the book. When pre-ordering the book from The Makery were offering a free gift of ribbon, however when my Mum picked up my book it didn't come with any but she was offered a fat quarter of fabric and chose a lovely blue fabric with strawberries on (very Cath Kidston-esq). I actually prefer this to ribbon but no idea what to use it for as it's so nice and don't want to jump into any projects and use it all up.

I got the book earlier this week and it is amazing. It covers a wide range of crafts and has lots of lovely projects from glasses cases and jewellery to floor rugs and slippers. The crafts in this book range from knitting, machine sewing, crochet, paper craft and even a shrink plastic project.

The best thing about this book is that it comes with full size patterns in the back of the book - no need to photocopy and enlarge or download and print out on reems of paper (like some other craft/sewing books), all you need is some tracing paper or similar (I used some parchment paper I had hanging around for one of the projects).

The instructions are easy to follow and the book suggests alterations you can make and more ideas, such as on the fabric keyrings the designs used are initials with an alphabet included on the pattern sheet however they suggest looking for other alphabets or designs and suggest a larger seam allowance when using other designs which is really helpful.

I made a 'L' keyring for my sister with some off cuts of fabric I had in my fabric stash. I did also try and make a 'S' for myself but my attempt was rubbish as I sewed it incorrectly but will be trying again and taking my time and ensuring I sew it correctly (it was my fault, not the books). I changed the design of the 'L' slightly as the image in the book was of a lower case L which I thought looked more like an 'I' so I added the bottom line in. It was a really quick and easy pattern to follow for the L and I'm going to try and make a hedgehog shapped keyring next with some brown tweed type material I have.

This book is great for someone either new to crafting or who wants to widen their crafting skills as it doesn't repeat skills so if you can't crochet or knit (or don't want to, as it has tutorials in the back for crochet and knitting) you are not going to find there are lots of things you can't make. It's much better than wanting to try a craft, buying a book solely on that skill then finding you can't pick it up and then the book ends up gathering dust on the bookshelf.

I'm looking forward to making the bag and coasters in the next and really want to make the double knitted rug. 

Amazon lets you see some example pages from the book so go and check it out at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Makery-Over-Projects-Home-Wear/dp/1845337042/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I really wish they had a store nearer to me (although you can buy online) so I could go to all the Workshops. If I had a craft shop it would be just like this!

Squirrel Card

I'd forgotten all about this card until I found a photo on my phone while looking for another photo.

I got the idea from Papercraft Inspirations magazine but made a few tweaks. The squirrel was made from Centura Pearl brown card with details in white gel pen and for the bushy tail I used folded pieces of brown ribbon. The small hearts were handmade embellishments made from shrink plastic.

Not a great photo but I loved making this card

50 Bandanas Done!

Finally finished the bandanas for the dog show on 21st September 2013 at Essex Police College Field in aid of Dogs Trust Wickford and Essex Retired Police Dogs. Click here for more details about the show

All dog bandanas sold on the day and after the event until 31st October 2013 will have 50% of the cost donated to the charities.  

Also available gift wrapped in dog crackers (with no snap so they don't scare the dogs!) 

Check out Baileys Bandanas on Facebook for more info. https://www.facebook.com/baileysbandanas

Male Card

 

A card made with bits I had laying around, mostly from magazine freebies and Crafters Companion toppers.

Quick Card

Small card made with a doily coloured with Spectrum Noirs and digistamp from DigiStamp Heaven from Polkadoodles.

Polkadoodles Fairy Wings Challenge

This is my first entry ever in a craft challange. Polkadoodles challange this week is all about fairy wings and entries must feature a Angelberry digistamp, but dont worry if you dont have one as Polkadoodles are offering a randomly chosen Angelberry digistamp to send to you if you email them to take part in this challenge.

My digistamp arrived this morning and I received the Angelberry angel with tree. This looked a bit tricky given thr hairstyle with stars entwined through it but it was a good challenge (as it did challenge me).

My cutting out isn't perfect and due to the complexity of cutting this stamp out I decided I would try something different for me and put it into Craft Artist, doing all my matting and layering then printing it out to colour the image. I used the free Christmas digikits from Craft Artist and printed on nenah cardstock. One printed I coloured the image using Spectrum Noir pens and added glitter to the star going ontop of the tree and I foiled a gold belt onto the angel. I then added a bit of foiling to the corners using redliner tape and Stix2 foil, and added some gems to look a bit like brads.

I hope you like it! I had lots of fun trying something new!

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