Bookmarks, lost socks, winding down.

Well the good news is that I finally have a computer after weeks without one, so hopefully I can get myself back into blogging regularly. It's been a struggle!

Here are a few things we've been making at our place lately.

It's been wet and rainy, so on the weekend we made some bookmarks using cardboard boxes and fabric scraps. Aidan is getting so grown up now!

 

 

 

As usual the button sorting provided another hour of so of amusement. :)

 

A retro cubby was made using Nan's table. It's a great table for this activity. A feast was consumed inside.

 

 

 

I added a bit of Nan's kitchen under sink vinyl to my little kitchen corner of love.

 

 

I made a cushion from recycled materials and the tiny scrap of Sarah Kay fabric I found at the op shop a while ago.

 

 

 

 

Liam had to make something out of trash for school, so he made a stool from an electrical cable I found on the side of the road last year while I was out walking. I only picked it up because I didn't like seeing it there and was annoyed at the trades person who had dumped it, so I brought it home, and it sat out near the front door for a few months. Inspiration finally came. Liam was impressed, and so was his teacher, who let him sit on it for the day at school.

 

 

And lastly, my lost sock wall, with a little play on words, on a topic close to my heart.

 

 

My making has slowed down a little, deliberately, and I've been in two minds about it. I needed to slow down, to actually get some sleep and stop from going mad, but I do miss my frantic creativity a little. I'm still finding my balance. I've started yoga, and actually started reading a book again, and loving it. So I'm a little sad to be making less, but very happy to be learning to relax again, and loving the transformative world of books once again.

 

 

 

 

 

Paper crafting with Ms Juliet

Ms Juliet and I did some Sunday paper crafting with a magazine poster from one of my favourite magazines Frankie.

First we tried to make a paper house. Here's the shape we cut out, and glued to some thicker cardboard.

Folding did not yield a house, but we improvised and made it into a pretty cute gift box.

Attempt number 2, the same shape was cut, but this time we actually made a house. How cute is it?

After a job well done, and with Mr Crafty having to work on a Sunday (Boo!), we decided to take a break for milk and biscuits.

This yielded some materials for our next project. It was all in the name of art really.

Milk cartoons are already waterproof, and make super cute vases. Cut pieces of paper up, glue them on, and then paint a couple of layers of watered down pva glue over the paper to waterproof the finish.

I think it looks adorable. Does anyone else want to try one? Cute mother's day gift perhaps?

Love shack t shirt merger

I have a pile of old t shirts that stay in a box. I keep them for sentimental reasons, and they have wonderful memories attached to them. Some are now more than 20 years old!

I wonderful year when I spent two nights a week and some weekends at acting school.

A magical place with a beautiful people who captured my heart and my soul.

My high school musical.

My first visit to Africa.

Our school rock eisteddfod when I was teaching.

I've been contemplating a use for these for some time now, so today was the beginning of giving them a new life.

So here is the t shirt I got at my first real concert. The B-52's in 1990. I was 17 and I remember every delicious second of it as if it were yesterday. The image is in perfect condition but the t shirt is all stretched and thin.

I'm combining it with an almost new t shirt that somehow went into the wash clean and came out stained.

I cut the first t shirt into strips and lay them on top of the orange one.

Then I pinned and sewed them on with a large and pretty rough zig zag stitch. I wanted it to be a bit grungy.

I'm loving the colours with my citrus skirt which I found in this awesome vintage and second hand shop in Rosebud, Victoria. Have a look around in there if you are ever down that way, they have some lovely things and the prices are really reasonable.

Easter egg love

Easter came a little early at our house tonight, just for fun. Impulsive me decided to make a decorated egg with a message inside for Mr Crafty. A bit of a comedy of errors but in the end it was lots of fun and all turned out quite nicely.

Here's how it went down.....

I used a drawing pin to put a little hole in this egg.

And a bigger one in the other end. Then I blew the yolk and white out from the egg.

Having no idea how to colour eggs, I just went ahead with my usual lack of planning and rolled it around in water and food dye.

It came out looking hideous. Not to mention my hands.

So I decided to paint over the top of that atrocity. Ok, still extremely unattractive.

So I moved on for a bit, to give my brain some breathing space. I found an old envelope, (looks like it has Vegemite on it) and wrote a little love note to Mr Crafty.

Cut it out, rolled it up like a scroll, and popped it inside the egg.

I'd had some time to regroup, so I dragged out some little golden book pages and chopped them up into tiny pieces and then glued them onto the egg.

Starting to look a bit better. Phew! Decided on a glass of red to calm the nerves a bit.

 I wrapped a recycled gift box with some of the book page too. Super cute picture.

Ready to gift.

Mr crafty was intrigued.

And then he was a little bit chuffed.

I think I just made a tough day for someone I love just a little bit more joyous, and that fills my little heart with joy too. If you are having a break over Easter, I hope you have a wonderful rest and relax.