Feeling inspired

I have had quite a creative few days spurred on by my desire to get rid of the silly amount of card making embellishments I have accumulated over the last 6 years! I can't throw a card I receive out before stripping it of all embellishments (and my family all know this and strip their cards for me....) so I have loads of the things. 

I think it is the first time I have made cards that are totally 'me'. I thought they may look awful but I am pleased with them, I can't quite believe I have all but 2 of the cards made that I need until the end of May!

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Quote

“We do not inherit the land from our ancestors, 

we borrow it from our children”

American Indian Proverb

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Gulp!

I have been eyeing up these 2 patterns for ages but thought they looked a bit challenging so have resisted.

Until now. I bought them last week and they are beautiful BUT I didn't read the back of the pack before they arrived and are advanced patterns with smocking and embroidery ( I have never smocked or embroidered before...). I think I may cut out size 4 so I have a year and a half to make them...!

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Ladies shorts to children's shorts

This is probably the easiest refashion/upcycle ever.. I have 2 pairs of shorts that I bought when I was about 15 weeks pregnant with Big E and they have been sitting around for almost 6 years so it was time they were made into something else!

Take one pair of adult shorts (forgot to take a photo of them before so here they are in action):

In front of the leaning tower of Pisa with luminous white legs! Oh to look that young again....

Cut them in half up the centre seams

Place the a pair of shorts that fit the little one they are for on the adult shorts, draw round them then cut them out (remember to cut a seam allowance round the pattern and add a couple if inches to make the waist band depending on the size of elastic you are using!)

Sew the inner leg seams

Place one leg inside the other, right sides together, and sew the two legs together:

Finish the top raw edge (overlock/serge or fold over about 0.5cm and press):

Fold top over again to make a casing for the elastic (will differ in size depending on the width of elastic)

Sew the waistband leaving about 4cm to put the elastic in (I also stitched really close to the top of the shorts just to make it look a bit nicer):

Thread the elastic through the casing:

Sew up gap you left to put the elastic through.

I stretched the waistband fully then put another line of stitching round the middle to stop the elastic folding over.

I plan to decorate them using a freezer paper template and fabric paint but Big E can't decide what he wants on them!

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Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 Hope yours was slightly more romantic then mine....

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Business card holders

I have just ordered some business cards in the hope that I can get some more wedding invitation orders so I needed a card holder for them. Luckily one of my sewing calendar pages is a business card holder.

This was the quickest thing to make, I made 2 in about 15 mins. I also made a matching pouch for my mobile to keep it safe in my bag, which is huge and I can never find anything in! I sound like I only have one bag...not quite the truth....I may have a bit of a bag 'problem'!

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Making a large felt flower

I know these have been done in a squillion different places before but thought I would show you how I do them (hot glue burns and all!). I will give you the dimensions I used for this flower which ended up 14 cm across.

First you need the following supplies:

• Hot glue gun or sewing machine or needle and thread

• Felted sweater, I used one for the petals and a different one for the backing circle (hopefully not your husbands favourite jumper that accidentally got washed on a hot cycle....)

• Scissors

Cut a felt circle ( mine had a diameter of 8cm)

Then cut some petals, for the big blue flower I did:

• 7 - 5cm (at bottom) x 5.5cm tall (but could have done with 8)
• 6 - 4cm (at bottom) x 4.5 cm tall
• 15 - 2.5cm (at bottom) x3 cm tall (2 layers on top and some to fill any wee gaps)
• Strip 7cm x 1cm

This is not the best petal I took a photo of, make the bottom slightly narrower but keep the middle the same width (hope this makes sense!)

put some glue on the bottom edge (and try not to get it on your skin, it is hot, the clue is in the name...!)

Fold the two bottom corners to the middle (you could also sew the petals closed)

then stick the petals round the felt circle (or sew them on), large petals round the outside, medium next, overlapping the joins between the big ones, and small ones in the centre. I forgot to take more photos of this stage, oops!

Then cut a small strip and roll it up

Glue the rolled up piece in the middle and you should have a fab fabric flower!

I ended up with rather large gaps round the outer edge so I made some more small petals and filled the gaps.

Here is another one I made a while ago (it is only 3 layers of petals) :

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Is it wrong to.....

laugh when your 2.5 year old decides to suck her thumb mid hand wash when she has soap on her hands????

She declared that she had "got bubbles in my mouth!" then started asked for a drink! The look on her face was so funny, she has done it 4 times now, her thumb is just irresistible ( I didn't laugh the first time but actually think distracting her with me laughing helps)!

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Me, addicted to fabric flowers, never!!

I have made loads of fabric flowers over the last few weeks, 9 for the headbands for Big E's party, loads for a valentines door hanger (which I will show you once it stops blowing a gale and I can get it up on the front door) and these few that have no home yet! 

I think the small blue ones will end up on some new wedding invitation designs I am going to do and who knows where the others will go...

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Photos

I am a total photo editing novice but I have photofiltre on the computer and have been playing:

Kid's tea party (which resulted in a rather large puddle of water on the dining room floor!)

I didn't realise what kind of cool things you can do, this could become addictive!

Forth Rail Bridge

Sky over Fife

Just need to work out how to do fancy rounded corners etc....

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