Rain cloud and film stamps

I fell i love with this little cloud stamp and this clever film strip stamp when i saw them on Pinterest and Design Sponge and I couldnt resist making them myself. I just need a grey stamp pad for the cloud and a black one for the film... But im on a making spending hold at the moment as i need to actually make the things ive already bought the pieces for rather than fall in love with new stuff and spending money making them!

Origami dress

Can you tell i had a bit of a paper love fest last wekeend as all my recent posts have been paper based!

This time its a little origami dress - how cute!! I first saw it at How about Orange and the tutorial for making it is on You Tube. Its really easy and very effective, great for a ladies/girls birthday card :)

Lace box printable

These little printable lace boxes are so cute and theres a brilliant free pattern for them at Packaging Tech, in lots of different colours. The website is great and has loads of free printables, its well worth a browse. I think i might use these little lace boxes as the packaging for some little origami tea bags im working on...

Silhouette SD

My new (to me) Silhouette SD turned up last week and i finally got round to having a go with it, and i love it! I'm a proper newbie so ive no idea about what settings to use etc but i did managed to print out a few freezer paper stencils, which is going to make my life so much easier! No more hand cutting stencils for me :) I also imagine i will lose a few hours of my life hunting the internet and pinterest for all kind of die cutting ideas now!

Origami cranes

When i saw this origami crane rainbow on Pinterest i fell in love with it. Now i doubt i'll ever make one (where exactly would that fit in my house!) but i did want to have a go at making some cranes. I followed this fab video on you tubes and theyre really easy. I think there will be a few more paper cranes in my future...

 

Handmade Handbag

Lisa at U-hanblog makes the most gorgeous bags and lets you have the patterns for them for free. Ive been trying to make this bag since January and ive finally succeeded!! And man do i love this bag :) Its probably the first thing ive sewed in a long time that im 100% happy with. I tend to be a slap dash with my sewing, something i always regret at the end, but a lesson i never seem to learn. Maybe this handbag marks a turning point towards more precise and accomplished sewing... i do hope so!

For Pleat's Sake Tote bag, pattern from U-handblog

Rodarte Inspired Hairclip

I love this diy Rodarte inspired hairclip tutorial at Refinery 29 so i thought i'd have a go myself. Love how it turned out, im going to wear it clipped at the nape/side of my neck when i have my hair in a messy side bun - my old faithful wedding guest hairstyle!

Lovely BM Makes

Apprently ive even inspired Lovely BM to start making stuff! He popped down to Hobbycraft and got himself a couple of model kits to make. This is the first one, a working model of a combustion engine - very cool! Good work Lovely BM :)

HRH The Queen

Her Majesty came to my town last week as part of her Jubilee tour and i got to see her! So very exciting :)

My cousins even got to speak to her - thats just crazy exciting!

Peas :)

The rubbish weather we've been having here in the UK (constant rain and very windy) has played havoc with my little vegetable patch but the peas seem to be coping well so i thought i'd have my first harvest today. Picked about 40 pods and only got a handful of peas but oh my god are they yummy, the most peaey tasting peas ever :)

Cat + Blanket = Happiness

Sorry ive been a bit AWOL rcently, ive got lots going on at work and at home but heres a picture of my uber cute foster cat who has become obsessed with the basketweave blanket i made at the beginning of the year!

Makes i like this week 12-Jun-12

Guinness chocolate at call me cupcake (yum yum)

Star wars baby blanket squares over at Angel Fire

Adorable kids rugs at Running with Scissors

Gorgeous glitter wire ideas at Oh Happy Day

Bed Caddy

As lovely as lovely BM is, he isnt very tidy! He loves to just drop his stuff (wallet, phone, receipts, season  ticket etc) on the floor by the bed and leave it there until he needs it. Most of the time this doesnt bother me but sometime it does. So, as im a great believer in changing stuff that annoys me rather than just getting more and more annoyed about it, i decided to make him a bed caddy. I used an old grey wool coat that has been begging to be upcycled, you can still see the shape of the back of the coat in the 'in progrees' photo. I added some pockets to fit the stuff he most commonly drops on the floor, sewed on some velcro and fixed it in place - ta da! My irritation levels have dropped and lovely BM has all his stuff in one place. Win win really :)

Moustache Mugs

I'm helping with a cafe themed event at work so i thought some moustache mugs might be a good addition!

I just found a moustache silhouette at the noun project (brilliant website!), printed them onto some shiny labels, cut them out and stuck them on. I doubt they'd last on a hot wash but theyre good for a laugh at least!

Printable Stationery Set

I saw this beautiful printable stationery set from That's Happy and i couldnt resist printing it out. As the envelopes dont have any glue on them i also printed some little stickers to seal the enveloped shut as well. So cute!

Print on fabric Update

So, as ive been posting about here, here and here, ive been trying to print on fabric using my home printer. The final issue i've been having has been fixing the ink. Heat didnt work so now i've tried pre-treating it instead.

I used bog standard fabric softener to pre-treat my fabric at 2 concentrations, neat and 50/50 with water. I just dunked my fabric in the fabric softener so it was all coated and then left it to dry. I printed directly onto the dried fabric and then washed the fabric (i used cold water in this test) to see if the ink stayed.

And i'm very pleased to report that it did :)

Both concentrations worked, i treated 2 bits of fabric for each concentration and ironed one aswell after i had printed on it, but that didnt seem to make any difference, in fact it may have been detrimental.

50/50 fabric softener and water, top piece unironed, bottom piece ironed

Neat fabric softener, top piece ironed, bottom piece unironed

The neat fabric softener made the fabric a bit crunchy after it had dried, it was fine once it had been washed though. But, as there doesnt seen to be a difference, i'll use the 50/50 mix in the future.

I think i need to check how well the ink stays after washing with warm water and soap, possibly even through the washing machine aswell, but im really happy with the results!

Stencilled Tote Bags

I had some fabric shopping bags hanging around the house so i thought i'd stencil then with some phrases.
Ive seen these 'big book' bags around, i think a book shop uses the slogan on their bags, and i couldnt resist using it, makes me laugh everything i see it!

I'm also a bit addicted to Guacamole at the moment (Jamie Oliver's recipe is my fav) and, as im constantly buying the same ingredients, i thought id make myself a little shopping bag for them!

Mitosis Papercut

Another biology papercut to add to the collection :)

Mitosis this time, another cell division process

Meiosis papercuts

Biology paper cuts