Just in time.

A pinch & a Punk for the first of the month!

An easy Advent Calendar made out of the same fabric as my wall decals; filled with surprise lollies – well, half filled. You may be able to tell that stockings on the end there are considerably flatter than those at the start… I ran out of chocolates (legitimately, I swear I didn’t eat any, I just didn’t buy enough!), but I’ve got plenty of time before we get that far into the month.

This is our third Advent Calendar, since Punk also wheedled her way into getting a Barbie one that was half off, & I found a gorgeous vintage one with pictures under the doors a few weeks ago at a fete (There were two, actually, but I sent one away in a swap, when my swapee gets it I hope she posts a photo so you can see it, it’s really cute & was hard to give up.), but I still wanted to make one.

It’s a sickness, like opshopping, I think. I was in a craft store yesterday & there were mountains upon mountains of Christmas Decorations & I didn’t buy one, thinking instead “I could make that”, even if there is no way on earth I will or could find the time.

Thrifted cheer is entirely different however & I picked up some cute things yesterday for a little festive mantle display, stay tuned for that & some other awesome finds.

Joining in here, perhaps with some more holiday crafters.

My Creative Space.

One great thing about heading off to the Brown Owls every fortnight, apart from hanging out with some super lovely crafty chickies, is that I will have something to share at least every two weeks for My Creative Space.

Not long after I posted about my troubles deciding on what to make for Softies for Mirabel, the solution came to me as if by magic.

I saw my gran down the street on Tuesday after she’d just left the opshop, she had a doll bed for Punk (that I had to buy off her for $2.50!) that I didn’t particularly want, it had pink & lace & if Punk never got another toy again for the rest of her life she would still have too many, but I felt obliged. I threw it in the back of the car without a second thought until it crossed my mind yesterday & a light bulb went off. Consider the above photo as the official “Before”.

So last night I start embroidering two faces for one doll. I bet someone can guess who I’m making…?

More spaces here.

My Creative Space.

Drawing & playing in Photoshop; two of my favourite things.

Before:

After:

I have been toying with the idea of getting my arse into gear & opening an etsy or madeit shop finally, but I just can’t seem to do it. I am at my happiest when I am making something for somebody else. I enjoy the process of creating & giving something so much, it gives me an energy & enthusiasm that I just can’t seem to harness with the thought of “this is going to be for sale” in mind.

But I don’t have any bloody money either…!

It’s all relative I guess, I could finally get in the right mindset & nobody would want to buy my wares. Maybe that is what is stopping me, if I’m honest. That deep rooted fear of failure that I think all but the strongest & most confident of us harbour… how do I get past that? Have you ever had to?

More spaces here.

Coasting.

We were given a random box of, well… junk, the other day, by the guy at the nursery; I thought it was sweet (he gave it to Punk to play with, I think) while Mr thought it was weird. It’s funny how differently we see things.

Anyway, there wasn’t much of use in there, except a really cool ice-cream scoop. There were a few coasters in there too which I thought I’d do something with.

I painted them with Gesso & wracked my brain; what would be something cool to put on a coaster?

When I think of coasters I think of pubs, bars, alcohol, music, glamour – maybe not the most child-friendly themes. I decided in the end to go with pretty girls, in the style of the Archie comics.

I went through a huge phase when I was younger of drawing people in this style & it was really fun to revisit that.

I covered them with a couple of coats of matt varnish, but even so, I don’t know if I want to use them as coasters after all.

More creative spaces here. (And, if you’re partial to a bit of meme, make sure to swing by Saturday, we have a bit of a homecoming….)

My Creative Space.

I saw this table at an oppy last week & Suspence loved it, it was the perfect size for him to stand at & scoot around, but I didn’t think it would fit in the car so I left it. Yesterday however I got to spend the day in town alone while Mr stayed home with the kiddos, so I managed to squish it in the car… along with a whole bunch of other opped goodies of course.

Punk was dismayed to wake up & find Pooh bear gone; she got over it though while eating her breakfast & trying to spot the Nursery Rhymes she knew.

Suspence was just happy, as usual.

Our Creative Spaces here.

Success!

Ignore the colour (& the tuckshop arms) that make this look like a canteen apron. This was a test run out of opped fabric… I think it may be more at home dressing a window than me.

Ignore the slightly wonky pockets.

Admire the as-perfect-as-I-am-ever-going-to-get bias binding.

Admire the bright fabric lining the wonky pockets, & …admire the first dress I have EVER made for myself.

Pattern; (I almost don’t want to tell you, to see if the lady herself pops by to say “Hey! That’s mine!”, but I’d probably forget to come back & update it) The Piece Of Cake Frock by Jody Pearl. Never has a pattern name been so correct. I know those big companies call half of their patterns “Sew Easy” or whatever, but look at this dress. Look at the things I normally make. Compare. I saw the tunic version made up on facebook using the bodice piece back-to-front so I did that. I also shortened the frock to my desired length.

Piece. Of. Cake (Forget about my first attempt at the tunic length that had the usual abhorrent bias binding & wound up entirely too short for my gargantuan self.)

I felt it needed pockets which is why it has them, & they don’t look quite right. I just drew them up randomly & had immense trouble getting them even on the skirt.

All in all though I declare this project a success & will, if I can ever wrangle enough time again, be making more.

More creative spaces here.

My Creative Space…

…has moved BACK up to the loft. A little Punk getting into things out the back made it a necessity; I wasn’t getting anything done out there anyway.

It’s taken weeks to get everything moved up that ladder again, in snatches of time & muscle.

My space even has a resident cat – he was an outside cat but an altercation with The Sausages has seen him move indoors to sleep on crochet rugs & oversee proceedings.

I think I want to live up here now. It’s tidy, and quiet, & full of things I love.

More spaces here.

Creative Space…

…waiting, impatiently, for glue to dry.

More here.

My Creative Space

Our Creative Spaces.

My Creative Space.

I have a confession.

I have no frikkin idea how to correctly sew on a button.

I have sewn buttons on before, but not with any particular method. I just kind of knot & stab & twist & stick & knot & knot & knot again until it stays on kinda ok when I tug it. It looks like a bird’s nest on the underside of buttons I attempt to sew on.

This afternoon I almost finished a magnetic wrist pin-cushion cuff thingy for someone… apart from the bloody buttons. I made an attempt but it just wasn’t working out. What if she, like, looks under there?

So this evening’s mission is to look up how to correctly secure a button. I shall absorb this vital information like a sponge & accomplish the task at hand. I will finally know how to do something my decidedly un-crafty Mr has known how to do since catholic school when he was made to sew shirt buttons ripped off in schoolyard fights back on properly…

Do you have an embarrassing craft-related confession? This is a long way from being my only one, but it’s probably one of the worst.

More creative spaces over here, with people who are much more accomplished in the button-sewing-on department, I’m sure.

My Creative Space.

Encouraged by how nice my dodgey old coathanger ended up looking, I’ve decided to cover something much bigger in my scrap yarn… hopefully it looks as good as the picture in my head.

More creative spaces here.

My Creative Space.

Today, my mission, should I choose to accept it (or, should The Boy find it in him to watch both kiddos for a bit after work..), is to make one or more of these old jumpers;

…into pairs of these…

…for this guy.

More creative spaces with the lovely Kirsty.

My Creative Space.

Late night drawing. Again. I have been drawing heaps lately & enjoying it immensely. I am thinking about offering up some completed illustrations on etsy or madeit… but knowing me, thinking about it may very well be as far as I ever get, although it would be nice to have some pocket money.

Last night I was home alone, bored & ready to draw so I asked on Twitter (I gave it another whirl & it seems third time is a charm) for some inspiration, Cam & Brianna were happy to oblige with the suggestions “A chook!” & “Gingerbread men & ladies” respectively.

Well the chicken is straight forward enough…

But the first time I read Brianna’s suggestion I saw “Gingerbread MAN & ladies”…

More creative spaces with Kirsty.

My Creative Space…

…is not working at all.

My bag is all wonky & my sewing machine…

…is broken!

*sniffle*

More, here.