tutorial tuesday

home decor

I'm currently in the throws of renovating our home- and what an expense that can be! My home needs a fresh, new updated look.
So here are some cheap and easy tutes to brightening up any bare looking corners in your room.

cover a lampshade- kirin notebook

photo credit: birds & trees

perfectly portable cushion- sew, mama,sew

photo credit: sew, mama, sew

placemats & napkins- wink design

photo credit: wink design

envelope cushion cover- craft blog

photo credit: craft blog

fabric wall art 1- bella dia

photo credit: bella dia

fabric wall art 2- how about orange

photo credit: how about orange

I think I'll give the wall art idea a go first, and give the walls a lift.

See you next week for more tutes!

Hannah x

beach bag

A new beach bag, for a little small someone to go to the beach for the first time with.


Using a super quick and easy tutorial from here.

tee-pee, pyramid or sunnyboy?

A tee-pee purse, a pyramid box bag or a sunnyboy pouch. It's all the same thing to me!

Having come across a pattern to create one of these contraptions here, I was eager to get started. However, in this pattern the purse was not lined. So after much sewing and unpicking, and more sewing and more unpicking (and a few curse words too), I managed to figure out how to line it.
Ta Da- My finished product!


Only now do I find a complete and well set out tutorial here on how to make it. %$#@! If only I had seen this tute earlier......

tutorial tuesday

Not so much as tutorials today, but rather uses for 'yo-yo's'.

I was recently put onto another sewing gizmo- a 'yo-yo' maker. These things should seriously come with a warning.

WARNING- YO-YO MAKING CAN BECOME A SERIOUS ADDICTION.

I'm finding myself 'yo-yo making' in bed, in front of the TV, when the little one is asleep, in the car waiting for appointments, whenever I get a spare moment. But I have not planned what to do with these little cuties. So, after a bit of research, the following are uses for your 'yo-yo's'.

photo credit: I am susie

pony tail holders-

photo credit: Julie Antinucci

hair clips-

photo credit: jilly bean designs

photo credit: hair fairy

embellishing purses & bags-

photo credit-b3designs

photo credit: dorathy

photo credit: skamama


photo credit: french knots

quilt-

photo credit: the tin thimble

And there are tonnes more uses for these nifty yo-yo's. But that is enough for one post. I'll do another yo-yo post another time.

See you next week with more fab tutes.

Hannah x

purse frame workshop

... the results.


And here it is. Purse number one- successfully completed.

This purse was made during Nikki's purse frame workshop. The purses we made are so nifty- I think they'd make great Chrissy presents. The workshop was heaps of fun too, and I would recommend it to...well... anyone who sews.

So much fun they were, that I bought another purse kit in a different size and a couple of extra frames too. That should keep me busy for a while!

Check out Nikki's other courses here.

this is...

...what I want to be when I grow up.

As a child, I would constantly change what I wanted to be when i was older, as often as I would change my knickers. Well, that's how dad once put it to me.

From every girls dream of being a vet, to a psychiatrist, marine biologist, air force helicopter pilot, landscape gardener, interior decorator, scuba diver instructor ( i can tick this one off the list), a linguist ( partially there), a PE teacher, a park ranger and the list goes on.

me!

Now I'm at stay-at-home mum, and I love it. I would one day love to go back to school/uni and study languages, but that wont happen any time soon. So for the meantime, I'll dream about maybe opening an etsy store.

Thanks to bug and pop for choosing this weeks 'this is' theme, and to Handmaiden for hosting while Angela has been away.

hi ho, hi ho....

....off to purse making class I go.....

I'm super excited to be going to my first ever crafty workshop.
Nikki from you sew, girl, runs heaps of sewing and craft workshops that look like tonnes of fun, so I booked myself in to the purse frame workshop - months ago.

photo credit: you sew, girl

I'm heading off there this morning. It's a bit of a drive, so I had best scoot.

Wish me luck!! :)

tutorial tuesday

Printing

Something that I have always wanted to try is fabric printing. But there is so many methods on how to do it.

Here are a few easy 'how to's' for basic printing at home.


lino/ block Printing- lizzy house (large PDF file)

A very simple and easy method of printing. All products required are available at your local 'Riot' art & craft store, and some bits and pieces can be found at Spotlight too (the bigger stores).

photo credit: lizzy house

cheap & easy screen printing- craft grrl

As the title says, cheap and easy- or so it looks anyway.

photo credit: craftgrrl

rolling pin printing- craft chi

An easy way to get a continuous pattern. Also a great one for the kids.

photo credit: craft chi

screen printing 2- instructables

This method is a little in depth than 'screenprinting 1' above. But still easy to do at home.

photo credit: tracy_the_astonishing

gocco printing 1- felt cafe

Now if we all had one of these-life would be much simpler! An easy home printing system for fabric, business cards... or just whatever. It's on the Christmas list for myself!

photo credit: felt cafe

gocco printing 2- the small object

And another gocco tute.

photo credit: the small object

See you all next week for some more great tutorials!

Hannah x

not tutorial tuesday today

This weeks 'Tutorial Tuesday' will be up and published tomorrow- on Wednesday. A day of chaos today, and now Little B has an urgent trip to the doctors.

this is...

...what I do in my spare 10 minutes.

Writing lists. I'm a compulsive list writer!

If I am not found at the computer desk blogging or checking emails, you'll find me up at the dining table with a cup of tea writing lists. Shopping lists, tutorials to try list , repairs to be done list, menu for the week list, my all important 'fabric shop' shopping list, any list at all.

photo credit: hydratante

I like to feel organised in my little world of chaos!


Thank you to Hoppo Bumpo for his weeks 'this is' theme.

this 'was' on my desk...

...yesterday.

A finished lula louise reversible shoulder bag.


A simple sundress I won from a giveaway at Habitual.


And a roll of this bright fabric I scored from a friend who was cleaning out her garage. I couldn't believe she was going to throw it away!! Anyone got any ideas of what to do with it?


Check over here for more desks.

tutorial tuesday

Buttons

I was recently given a truckload of buttons by the lovely Hollie over at Hokey, and I started wondering what other uses could they be put to -other than for being used for button buttons (if that makes sense).

So here's a few different options.


Button Bouquet- Kiddley

Photo: Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion

Button Bracelet 1- Creative Kismet



Button Bracelet 2 - Speckled Egg



Hair Clips- Paperseed



Hair Clips and Bobby pins- the dizzy daisy



Michelle of Leni & Rose has made these lovely hair slides which I think are cute. No tutorial there, but you get the idea.

photo: leni & rose

And to finish off, this spectacular piece of button art. There is no tutorial for this particular one but I imagine that it would be pretty easy to get the idea of how to do it. I think it is amazing!

Photo: a little bit of just because

I couldn't resit by adding another on of these beautiful button-y artworks. So much fine work has gone into these stunning pieces.

Photo: a little bit of just because

(eeek! while compiling this post I just discovered that someone else does 'Tutorial Tuesday' too. I honestly didn't mean to copy their idea.)

postman stalking

This I have to be the biggest culprit for.

I hear the sound of the motorbike coming up the street, and it's like I spring into action ready to attack! As soon as he has gone past the letterbox, *zoom* I'm straight out there investigating the days delivery.
But today he knocked on the door, and dropped off a lovely parcel of goodies from hokey, from her 200th post giveaway.

Oh- and what goodies they were! Oodles and oodles of lovely bright coloured buttons, a stash of pretty ribbons, some bright notepads and a ton of simply divine fabric! I think I have been well and truely spoilt!

These buttons are just gorgeous!

Thank you so much Hollie for your generous giveaway.

this is...

... my favourite band.

I cant say I have a favourite band. I've never been a great collector of music. I have probably only ever bought 15 CDs in my lifetime.
Don't get me wrong, I do love music, it's just that what I like changes from day to day. But here's a peak of what I generally like to listen to.

1. A Night At The Opera, 2. INXS - The Greatest Hits, 3. Crowded House Woodface, 4. David Bowie - Aladdin Sane (1981), 5. Confessions on a Dancefloor, 6. Pink Floyd The Wall CD

Thanks curlypops for choosing this weeks 'this is' theme.

when it rains...

...it absolutely pours!

That's how it has been with illness in our household over the past month.

From little B having a chest infection, me having laryngitis then the flu, and then this week the little one having gastro who has since passed it on to the rest of us. Hopefully that's the end of it for a while.

photo credit: sctag1015

So from Brooklyn to dad, "Happy 1st Fathers Day Daddy. Sorry I gave you gastro last night. I promise I will give you a better Fathers Day present next year."

on my desk

Sewing creations!

Having only milliseconds of time here and there, my sewing has been put on the back-burner for weeks and weeks and weeks . Life had just been consumed with... well, um... life.

So the new motto for Spring is, "more time for ME" (and my sewing).

On that thought, I got straight to it and pulled out Bert, my sewing machine.

On my desk today, I have the makings of a lula louise reversible shoulder bag. I just need to put the bottom in.
I have also cut out some lightweight cotton fabric to make Brooklyn a simple sundress from over at habitual.

(Sorry no photos today. The camera has gone on a holiday and will be back tomorrow).

Check out who else is playing 'on my desk' here.

the lucky 'H'

I think this week I have to be the most luckiest gal in the world! I've won, not one, but two blog giveaways!! Over at Habitual (post here) and at Hokey.
(Maybe it's something to do with the letter 'H'. My name starts with a 'H'....*hmmm*. I'm never this lucky- maybe I should go buy a lotto ticket).

Hollie over at Hokey had a fabulous giveaway for her 200th post, and the prize was every sewers dream.... fabric, ribbons, buttons- lots of lovely crafty goodies.


For a great crafty blog, please do go over and pop in to see Hollie and check out her crafty ventures. Even better, take a peep in her etsy store. There's lots of lovely things to be found there!

Thanks again Hollie. I'll be stalking my mail man!

tutorial tuesday

pin cushions

Something I cannot live without.

Here are both your conventional pincushions, and some slightly different ones. I think the mouse one is so cute!

Box pincushion - Bari J
This was the first pincushion I made for myself. You'll see it here. This tutorial was really easy to follow and very straightforward.



Segmented pincushion- living creatively
I like the idea of a segmented pincushion. Sometimes I use various pins for marking and like to keep them separated from my other pins.



Tiny pincushion tutorial- how about orange
Cute and tiny.


Simple Square Pincushion- paper.string.cloth
A standard straightforward pincushion with a very easy pattern to follow.



Mouse pincushion - my byrd house
These are my favourite! The are so adorable, and would make a lovely gift for a fellow sewer. Another one for my never ending 'to do' list.


Come back next week to see more tutorials.