Fairy Slippers

During my weekend away Barbara had a pattern and article on making Fairy slippers. They looked so beautiful that a couple of us decided to have a go at making our own pair.

Now we didn't really have the supplies but Barbara also had a beautiful piece of painted silk with some pretty shiny sparkly stitching already adde. We attached the material to a piece of red felt and then cut out the two shapes from the template to create each slipper.

I then added some shimmer from a spray made of glimmer and alcohol and attached sequins and beads to the top piece. I stitched several lines on the soles.

Finally I had to hand sew the two pieces together to make each shoe. It was very fiddly and my fingers were still feeling sore the next morning!

They are just so cute, don't you think.

Thanks for looking!

Tracey x

Book Cover

So whilst I was away at my craft weekend last week, the girls were making some book covers for diaries and note books. They had made them at our previous retreats but this was my first time taking a sewing machine and trying some sewing projects for myself. Jacqui and Jo gave me some supplies and Jacqui also lent me her sewing machine for a couple of hours so that I could have a go at using it as I was thinking of upgrading and buying the same model (which I have since done).

Jacqui walked me through the project step by step which started with a piece of felt over which I laid strips of material and ribbon until I was happy with the result (the fabric Jacqui gave me was Tim Holtz so I was in my element)!

Jacqui's sewing machine had some fancy stitches so I spent some time getting to know the machine and adding a mixture of these stitches to my material strips in order to add some interest.

Once the base layer was complete, I added some extra elements just to the front of the book cover.

When I came to stitch the top and bottom edges, I included a piece of dyed ribbon to be used a place holder for a page plus some dyed elastic ribbon to help keep the book closed.

I am so pleased with the finished book cover and my new found love of sewing! I am using the book to note down all my future sewing project ideas and supplies!

Thanks for looking!

Tracey x

Advent Calendar (number 2)

So this time last year I made myself an advent calendar using the 12x12 Kaisercraft kit as the base. Since then I've received lots of comments and decided to make a second but this time for a friend!

Again I used espresso acrylic paint dabbers, brushed corduroy distress ink, gathered twigs distress stain, but this time I chose Graphic 45 'twas The Night Before Christmas papers. I then used twine, gems, pins, tissue paper and glossy accents.

Again I am really pleased with how it's turned out and my friend was absolutely thrilled when I gave it to her tonight.

Thanks for looking!

Tracey x

A new bag

So my first sewing project of the weekend was to create a small bag which was made from a 12x12 square piece of fabric.

Barbara gave me some very pretty fabric with small toadstools on it and I used a cream piece of curtain fabric for the other side. The two pieces were pinned together inside out and stitched around the edge leaving a small space to turn the bag the right way round. I then stitched up the small hole by hand. The fabric was then folded and stitched in ways to create 5 pockets of varying sizes. I added two matching buttons and a hair band to keep the bag closed.

It was a fun project and although I didn't quite follow the pattern with the final folds, I am happy with my little bag.

Thanks for looking!

Tracey x

Christmas Bunting

Well it's been a while since my last blog and to be honest I hardly craft nowadays, but I have just been away on a crafty retreat with my friends this weekend so have a few projects to share. I absolutely love these weekends as it means that I get to craft and spend time with my creative friends at least twice a year!

This time it was suggested the I tried something different as over the last year or so a number of the group have really enjoyed creating projects with their sewing machines. Now my Sister bought me a basic machine for Christmas 2 years ago and I have to confess that it sat in the box until this September at which time I needed to alter a costume for my Spartan Beast obstacle course race.

Anyway I decided to accept the challenge and take my machine but had absolutely no supplies. I found out about a sewing shop in the Town where I work and visited to buy supplies to create some Christmas bunting, I thought this would be an easy first project. They were very helpful and I came away with the 3 items below.

It was daunting being a complete novice and I did have to ask for some guidance and the girls were great help sharing their knowledge, time and materials to help me. To make my life easier I borrowed a flag template plus pinking shears and purchased some plain material and bonderweb to go between the 2 sides of each flag.

I created 20 double-sided flags and spaced them with a 1 inch gap between each flag.

In the end I found my way and I really enjoyed creating something for my home. I have lots to learn but it looks as though I have found myself a new hobbie (that I don't have time for).

*I will insert the photo of the bunting in place once it's hanging up.*

Thanks for looking!

Tracey x

Wendy Vecchi - Make Art in England

ScrapMap recently hosted a trip to England with Wendy Vecchi and on the last day here there was a workshop available for us Brits to attend. Of course I was desperate to go and have had a few Twitter conversation's asking Wendy to come to teach in the UK over the years so I just had to book up and was lucky enough to get a place.

So on Sunday 2nd August I was up very early and along with one of my crafting friends, Jacqui, we travelled to Central London with excitement for the day ahead.

I have to confess to having a few of Wendy's Studio 490 products in my craft room for a while now but I've never really used the art parts or clearly for art so had great expectations of getting some inspiration.

Well I wasn't disappointed, the table was already set out with the project and it looked fab. There were only 40 of us in the workshop and the hotel provided plenty of refreshments throughout the day. Wendy took us through each step as we went along and then we went away and had a go at our own projects before moving on to the next step.

In the morning we altered the box, I used new products and learned new techniques and the completed box is fantastic. No two completed boxes were the same as we had a choice of different ink colours, stamps and stencils (of course I chose brown)!

After a lovely buffet lunch we created 4 beautiful tags, again I used some new products and I learned some great new techniques which I'll definitely be using again! I am so pleased with these four tags and it was great fun creating them. I chose not to venture away from Wendy's originals as I just loved them.

We even got to bring the items in our workshop packs home, thanks to Ranger, Stampers Anonymous and Wendy.

It was an absolutely brilliant day, I got to meet up with some crafting friends and it was wonderful to finally meet Wendy. I loved using her fantastic products and learning some of her great techniques. If ever you get the chance, you should take it up.

Thanks for looking!

Tracey x

Advent Houses

A couple of weeks ago during my craft retreat I had one project in mind and knew I wanted to create 24 Advent Houses after seeing a couple of friends make them over the last year or so.

As soon as I arrived on the Friday afternoon, I set to work and die cut the houses from mount board. I didn't have many Christmas papers in my stash so went with a brown theme and my favourite Tim Holtz style. I used die cuts, stamps, papers, ribbons, punches, gems and lots of other products too. As I wanted to go over the edges of the houses I decided not to join them together in a row on a couple of pieces of ribbon. I completed the houses on the Saturday but sadly couldn't finish the project whilst I was there.

In the end and after a few different ideas, I decided to go with standing each house individually in a cotton reel using memo pins. I had to order more reels and pins when I arrived home and have spent the last week decorating these when I had a few spare minutes. I finally finished the project this morning and I'm rather happy with the end result.

Unfortunately I don't have a fireplace in my modern house so they are lined up along a windowsill instead. It's difficult to take a picture of all of them in a row so here are four photos to give you an idea of how I decorated each house.

I really enjoyed this festive project and think that it is something that could be adapted for any occasion such as a new home or a person's name etc.

Thanks for looking!

Tracey x

Advent Calendar

So after my inky crafty weekend last week I am well and truly hooked again. So much so that during the week I made an order with Papermaze so that I could finally make the Kaisercraft advent calendar (which I purchased about 3 years ago)! Needless to say I've enjoyed some of my weekend working on this project. 

I found a great tutorial on the Merly Impressions blog when I first bought the calendar, I found it again and read it through for any hints and tips that I needed to know. I used Adirondack espresso and gold acrylic paint dabbers, brushed corduroy distress ink, gathered twigs distress stain, My Minds Eye Joyful papers and embellishments, plus twine, gems, pins, tissue paper and glossy accents.

Unfortunately I've finished the project after dark so the photos aren't as good as they could be.

I am so pleased with how it's turned out and I know we're going to enjoy using it for years to come. Now to fill it with a mixture of Lindor balls ready for the morning.

Thanks for looking!

Tracey x

Baby Shower card

On November 1st we held a baby shower for my Niece. As often is the case I was a bit last minute and have to admit I didn't really know where to start for this type of card and my original thought was to go with something along the lines of a rain 'shower'. Thankfully on the morning of the shower I remembered that I had these Jolee's pregnancy dimensional stickers in my stash...perfect. I combined them with inks, gems, stamps, punches, flowers etc. and came up with this simple and individual card.

Thanks for looking!

Tracey x

I'm back!

Yes that's right, I'm back...

Except for the occasional card here and there I haven't done any serious crafting since September 2013! I know...over a year...I can't believe it either but I'm happy to say that all changed this weekend as I spent a really enjoyable time at a crafty retreat with friends.

Before I could pack up the car and leave home on Friday I had to venture into and tidy up my craft room in order to find everything I wanted to take. Now that was a challenge in itself (as some of my friends will know as my boyfriend once posted a photo of my messy room on Facebook)! It was like Aladdin's cave and I found a whole box of Tim Holtz items I'd purchased and not even opened!

So onto one of the projects I completed during the retreat. A while back my Niece asked me if I could make her a name banner for the little girl she was expecting last Thursday. I'm pleased to announce that Maisie was born on Friday so it was full steam ahead to get this project completed. I didn't really want to do anything too cute and wanted it to reflect my crafting style. I started with a piece of plain mount board and obviously used lots of Tim Holtz products, got very inky and enjoyed every part of getting back into crafting.

I'm thrilled with the finished piece and visited my great Niece to meet her this morning, she is absolutely beautiful. Her Mum and Dad were also very pleased with the gift I'd made for them.

It's great to be back so watch this space for the posts showing the other 2 projects I've enjoyed working on over the weekend.

Thanks for looking!

Tracey x