Not at all idle...

Apologies once again for the long gap between posts, but I have been busy! Firstly there's the advent tree - which I've had to wash and haven't yet sent to the winner of the bloghop because it was very sticky/tacky on the front.  I used always artichoke to make the background cloth.  I'm not sure what more I can do except iron the whole thing once again and cross fingers.

The next thing is a little bag I've been meaning to make for my nephew Terrence since Easter.  I made my kids and the Gibbs' cousins little bags for collecting their Easter eggs at an Easter hunt at our place.  I had promised to make a little bag for my brother's kids as well.  Terrence loves biplanes and I found a cartoon biplane online which I printed out and translated to fabric.

Lastly a bit of recycling (upcycling?)...  Many towels in my linen cupboard are developing holes for various reasons.  It seems a pity to just ditch them, especially as I do need bathmats.  It occurred to me today that there's no reason I can't chop them up with my lovely bigshot and make new from old.  This one is an old towel that has a velvety side and a loop side, so I've chopped it up into lots of squares with my scallop square and made a new mat.  If it frays I'm not too concerned as it will add character.  I'll do the same with other old bath-mats and make something slightly more colourful next time.  Considering I whipped this up in just under an hour, I'm slightly pleased with myself.  And now I know my bigshot dies will cut TOWELS!!!

More sewing

I finally finished the skirt I started at the Inklings team weekend away - strips of Flirtatious fabric sewn together (and overlocked and top-stitched - took FOREVER) and simply hemmed and a top hem with waistband-elastic. One happy little girl!
For these, I searched for a free pattern for pin-cushions. After discounting most of the animal patterns because I hate the idea of sticking pins into cute little defenceless pin-cushions, I found these fabulous Toadstool Cottage and Mushroom House by a Kiwi lass who publishes a great crafty blog called "The Little House by the Sea". She has a template/pattern for these mushies and although she uses felt and embroidery, I adapted them quite successfully for scraps of Flirtatious and Beau Château fabrics. And look, not a rooster in sight! For the stems, I used the inside of a wide-ribbon reel gently eased into the stem, stuffed toy-fill between the fabric and reel, put some barley inside of the reel and stitched it together. Well, actually, I stuffed the stems full of toy-fill first and they wouldn't stand up properly. Hubby suggested putting something firm in the bottom - the ribbon reel insides are perfect because they have a lip on one end which acts as a stopper for the stuffing, and makes it very stable on the bottom.

Hope you like!

A taste...

Very soon now Stampin' Up Australia launches its 2011/12 catalogue. One of the marvellous things that will be available in the new catalogue is FABRIC. The fabric patters coordinate with stamp sets and papers as well as using the delicious colour ranges only available with Stampin' Up products. Happily, I attended a team weekend retreat where everyone played with new products. The following picture features a bag I made based on card-bag pattern demonstrated by Joanna Wassens (not sure where Jo discovered the pattern). I am so glad I took my sewing machine along to the team weekend. I had loads of fun doing this bag - although some refinements are required. When I tackle the bag once again, I'll post instructions for how I made it.

Inklings Christmas in July Bloghop

Welcome to The INKlings’ Team’s Christmas in July blog hop. You may have arrived here from Michelle's blog or just be visiting my blog, whichever way once you’ve checked out my creations you can continue the hop through the link at the end of this post to the next team member.

How quick is this year going! Have you started to think about your Christmas cards and projects yet? The INKlings team has and we thought that this month was the perfect time to host a Christmas in July blog hop. You'll find lots of great ideas provided by 15 team members’ fantastic blogs.

Want to win some Blog Candy? Simply leave a comment on each blog and then email clare@crafty-cow.com (subject Inklings Bloghop) and let her know you’ve done so and you’ll be in the running for a fantastic prize of 15 handmade items plus other goodies.

Sorry Blog Candy prize not available to SU! demonstrators but you're more than welcome to leave us a comment!

Here's the start of my idea. I took some plain calico fabric and used the Scallop Envelope die to cut out 24 envelopes (2 at a time). I then mixed some Cherry Cobbler (and Always Artichoke) ink with textile medium and rolled the mix with a brayer onto the raised part of the Vintage Wallpaper textured impression folder and ran it through the big shot. When I did this, I left the flap hanging outside the edge of the folder (could get two on the textured impression folder this way!). It all looked to plain, so I mixed some gold smooch in with the textile medium and spritzed it across the envelope flap. Ironed everything to set the colours. The idea is to make an advent calendar with each of these little pockets stitched onto a backing fabric. I'm working on this! The background in this picture is my ironing board. This is also my blog candy - will update this when I've finished the project. I've laid out the envelopes in straight lines 5 rows with 5 envelopes (4 on bottom row), or tried a Christmas tree pattern. What do you think would work better?


Well that’s all from me. Next stop on the INKlings’ Team Blog Hop is the lovely
Fiona Brown. Have fun and don't forget to leave a comment on each blog to win some great Blog Candy.

If for any reason you find a missing link on the blog hop I've included a list below of all the members taking part.

1. Clare www.crafty-cow.com
2. Janice www.janicespencer.blogspot.com
3. Christie www.christiescreativecorner.blogspot.com
4. Kari www.karigail.wordpress.com
5. Joanna www.joannawassens.com
6. Michelle stampinground.wordpress.com
7. Alana www.alanagalagher.blogspot.com
8. Carol www.inkantations-and-inkarnations.blogspot.com
9. Cath cathdeanpapercraft.blogspot.com
10. Amy amyandersonsblog.blogspot.com
11. Vanessa stampness.blogspot.com
12. Michelle D stampinkpaper.blogspot.com
13. Ryn rynscraps.blogspot.com
14. Fiona B fionajanestamping.blogspot.com
15. Liz Halbisch lizhalbisch.blogspot.com