Busy, Busy, Busy!



Look what I've been up to - Oswald the Owl

As the title suggests, I've been rather busy lately. My creative mojo is most defintley present and my head is full of crafty ideas for The Gingerbread Bunny. 

I have been planning my newest venture, Crafty Parties for children and workshops for both children and adults and am currently checking out venues to hold these in.  I am really excited about these as teaching is what I do.  I love sharing my knowledge and passion with others and empowering people to be able to do it for themselves.  I am hoping to hold my first workshop before the end of the year and then, come the new year, I can really get stuck into them.

I have also been working on some funky applique designs.  This all came about because I wanted a t-shirt with a russian doll on and I couldn't find one anywhere. So, I decided to have a go at making one.  I bought a vest and used the internet to find a suitable template and then set about using up scraps of fabric in my stash, some bondaweb, embroidery thread, felt and Suzie the sewing machine to put it all together.  I really enjoyed making it and loved the finished product.  My Mum thought I'd bought it! From this, ideas came into my head for other designs, including ones for bellydancers (my alter ego!) and it has taken off from there.  I have developed 4 designs so far, Rita the Russian Doll, Oswald the Owl, Fatima and Tania the Tribal Bellydance Doll.  There are plans in process for a Gothic Doll, a lotus flower and a yarn themed design.  So far, I am creating vests, tshirts and tote bags but again can see project bags for knitters and crocheters, children's tshirts and even babygrows in my applique future - if it stands still, it is in danger of being appliqued!

Rita the Russian Doll

I am still crocheting as well and have just completed a custom shrug for my aunty to wear to a wedding.  I used some lovely orange Sublime bamboo and pearls yarn which is so soft and has a beautiful sheen to it - ideal for a wedding!  The design was very simple and, to add a bit of something special, I bought 2 beautiful bamboo buttons from the Textile Garden which had branches and orange flowers painted on - they really finished it off.  I would highly recommend the Textile Garden for buttons, shawl pins, clasps and even funky ribbon. 

The new term brings lots of new courses to.  At the end of September I am starting a City and Guilds Felting Course with Artybird in Carnforth.  It involves me attending 1 weekend a month for around a year and I am so excited about it.  I have always wanted to learn how to felt and this is a great course.  At Woolfest examples of work and projects were out to look at and, I have to say, it was amazing.  I only hope my work is as good.

I am also hoping to do a 6 week dressmaking course starting in November.  My aim is to be able to make an A-line skirt out of the beautiful Amy Butler fabric I bought in the sale from John Lewis last month.  I am far to scared to take the scissors to it at the moment so this should, hoepfully, help me turn it into something I can wear.

And finally, at the end of November I am returning to The Tribal Sleepover (a bellydance event in Huddersfield) to teach 2 crafty workshops in Fabric Flowers and Art Journaling.  I have some exciting ideas planned and I am really looking forward to sharing my love of craft with others.

To add to all this, the full time day job has returned.  The summer holidays are officially over and my crafting has to fit in with my job as a primary school teacher.  For the time being, crafting is limited to evenings and weekends although change is on the horizon and 2013 is definitley bringing new starts and challenges for myself.  Watch this space!

Christmas Rag Wreath

Colonial Christmas Wreath courtesy of Wormwood_3 on Flickr

Christmas wreaths can be dated back to Roman times and traditionally are seen in Catholic churches during Advent, lighting candles to countdown the Sunday's to Christmas.  I have alwyas loved the wreaths that you see on peoples front doors, all bright and festive with pine cones and fir leaves, but have never been able to have one on my front door as it opens onto the road and I just know it wouldn't last 2 minutes! 

You may recall a few weeks ago I learnt how to rag rug in my night course.  The following week we all shared our work and one lady had created the most gorgeous rag wreath for Christmas.  I absolutley loved it and knew that I wanted to make one to hang in my house as a decoration so I asked her how she had made hers.

To make mine I have used the inside section of an embroidery hoop for my base ( which I bought this for £3.10 from Abakhan)  but you can use any circular base, even an old wire coat hanger bent into shape. 

I then cut my chosen fabric into strips the same length and width using pinking shears to create a pretty, unfrayed edge.  I had to test out a few strips to get the correct length first.  I used 3 different colours which match my Christmas tree and decorations.  The teal fabric is from a set of curtains I bought in a charity shop which have been in my fabric stash for ages, the purple is left over fabric from another project and the pink is from the skirt of my wedding dress! (I got married at Christmas so this is a really nice way to reuse it)

Next I tied the strips of fabric round the hoop, pushing them up next to each other tightly to get that really full effect.  I made sure all the knots where on the same side (the back) to get a really neat finish to the front.  This took me about an hour to do and I randomly grabbed strips rather than having a set pattern to it.

I chose to make a dangle for in the middle of my wreath although you don't really have to!  My dangle is a felt star with a shisha mirror in the middle and then beads stitched on to add a little bit of festive sparkle. 




My finished wreath

 I really enjoyed making the wreath and it is a quick, easy and really effective decoration for Christmas.  I can't wait to put my Christmas decorations up so that I can admire it!

Customisation, customisation, customisation!

Today I got up to a bit of impromptu crafting of the customisation kind!  Whilst in the new Abakhan store in Bolton last night (it is amazing!) I picked up some 3D textile paint.  I have had a blank canvas bag for ages, which I picked up for 99p in Hobbycraft, and just haven't gotten round to doing anything with it.  So, this morning I customised my bag all ready for taking my things to my textiles night class which starts on Monday.

I got bitten by the customising bug and also jazzed up the cover of my sketch book to! 

If you fancy customising something you have lying around, then read on !

You will need:
An item to customise
Some 3 textile paints (Available from the Range or any other art and craft shop)
A felt tip pen or fabric pen/pencil

How to:
1.  First, make sure the item you wish to customise is clean and dry.

2.  If you want to, use the felt tip pen or fabric pen/pencil to sketch out your design.  I started doing this and then got fed up and just went for it ~ this acheived a more random, doodley effect.

3.  Carefully, go over your sketch and apply the paint.  Be careful not to smudge it as you do (I had an accident and smudged some of mine and had to reinvent some of my design!)

4.  Leave it to dry for 12 hours!

When complete you will have a gorgeous customised item unlike anyone elses!