Coptic Stitch Bound Journal - a WIP

A WIP. Made a couple of these journals today. My first time trying coptic stitch binding. The cover is a cereal box like suggested in a tutorial by The Long Thread. Also, they link to another tutorial available on Alpha+Mom.

I also tried my hand at handcarved stamps. Carving a design out of rubber is so much quicker and easier to do than using lino. It is really easy to tear though. Also, my carving tools are in storage at the moment, so I used a utility knife instead, which was really sharp. It's so much fun though, so now I have more ideas and need to get more rubber! (From the stamps shown above, I made the Polaroid, the heart and the dashes. The bull clip stamp is from Crafty Secrets and the "Happy Everything" stamps is from Red Lead PaperWorks.)

I'll post some more pics once I take more photos...

P.S. a faux Polaroid of a faux Polaroid!

Pendants / Charms

I just updated my shop with some new pendant / charms / key fobs. Thanks for looking!

A Ruffled Heart

Yesterday, I posted a simple tutorial on how to make ruffles. Today I'm going to describe how to turn it into a pretty heart accent for a shirt.

Materials:

- ruffle (premade)
- pins
- needle & thread
- t-shirt

Steps:

1. Lay out ruffle on area of shirt that you want design to be. Form it into a heart shape and pin it to the shirt as you go. Don't worry about the connections at the top. We can disguise that later.

2. Once ruffle is pinned to shirt, handstitch it to the shirt using a matching thread colour so it doesn't show. When stitching the ruffle to the shirt, try and go along the middle area where the original seam is. Take small stitches so it doesn't show.

3. Once the ruffle is sewn to the shirt, pick out a pretty button, a flower, or other embellishment and sew it to the top of the heart. You can place it over the connections for the two ends of the ruffle so that the messy part doesn't show.

Your shirt is done! FYI: For this project, I used a white turtleneck shirt that my son had outgrown. This project was perfect to make it a little more girly so my daughter could wear it too.

A Simple Ruffle Tutorial

If you've never tried to make ruffles before, give it a shot. It's so easy that you'll find yourself cutting out strips from all sorts of fabrics and making them up in no time. You don't need a sewing machine to do this!

With the trend of adding rough-cut ruffles to clothing these days, I thought it would be fun to have a bunch at the ready for adding to all sorts of projects. Here are the easy steps:

Supplies:

- fabric scraps

- ruler

- scissors

- needle & thread or a sewing machine

1. Gather some fabric scraps together. Cut two inch high strips (or whatever size you prefer) and in a desired length. Make sure they are long enough to gather. It will be shorter once it is gathered.

2. Sew by hand or with your sewing machine a straight stitch all the way down the centre. You can backstitch at the beginning only, or if you forget that is fine. It will still work.

3. By gently pulling the string ends with your fingers, you will gather or ruffle the fabric.

4. Pull out and stretch some of the fabric until you get it uniform and a somewhat even looking ruffle all the way along.

Here are some other ideas:

- turn your ruffle into a rosette by twisting it into a circle shape and handstitching together

- before gathering the ruffle, try sewing a narrow piece of ribbon to the centre stitch

I've got a ruffle, now what?

- attach it as an accent on a pouch or other handmade item (see photo above)

- sew it randomly to a t-shirt or skirt or the hem of a pair of jeans (see my next tutorial for that!)

- turn it into a headband by attaching it to a large elastic headband

- shape your ruffle into different designs

- use it as an embellishment for a scrapbook page or other paper crafting project

- sew it to the bottom of a lampshade

- sew it to a cushion or along the edge of a pillow

I hope you'll share with me what you've made with ruffles! I'd love to see! Come back tomorrow to see my ruffled shirt!

Crocheted Granny 'Square' Circle Shirt

I sewed one of my crocheted circles to a shirt of Eireann's. I like to think it's like a little bullseye for tickles!

Lived In

A makeover is in progress for the old dollhouse, but too bad it's at my Mom's so I can't work on it right now. She lives 4 hrs away so it will wait for our next visit. I'm sure I have a pic of the outside somewhere, but can't seem to find it at the moment. I painted the exterior and was hoping to show you before and after shots of that. Here are some interior pics.

This was before the living room makeover and before I glued the stairs back in. I don't have a pic of the after for this room yet.
The living room. I showed this on a ScrapScene post awhile back. I used stamps from Crafty Secrets to make the wallhangings and the bedding and curtains. (Stamped on fabric with Staz-On ink.) Note: I'm not sure if these stamps are still available as the link to them isn't working anymore. The wallpaper is original and although somewhat damaged, I like it so will keep it for now. I found the old furniture at a flea market. The bed needs some repairwork. It is missing the feet at the foot!

The handmade curtains and bedding which were stamped. I put eyelets through the top of the curtains and attached them with wire to act as a rod. You can see it's a little bent here. The floor will need redoing, but for now it has a piece of scrapbook paper layed down. You can see the older flooring in the pic below. The old pillow came with the furniture.

The kitchen before the wall renos. The furniture in the back I found at the flea market along with the old bedroom furniture. The table and chairs are from eBay. I recovered the table with a piece of scrapbook paper. I also made the chair cushions and stamped on them. The floor mat is a piece of scrapbook paper with fringe glued on. The wall clock is a printable I found somewhere... Miniatres in the background and the ice cube tray are from Rement. The Iced tea pitcher and glasses came with the table. The book I made using some printables from an old paper cut out doll book of Eireann's.

Close up of one of the chair cushions.
The new wallpaper! All is scrapbook paper. I should also mention that the old rubber dolls I found at a flea market as well.

The living room with it's new wall paper made using scrapbook paper. The trim is a piece of ribbon. There's that floormat again, from the kitchen. The floor here really needs some work. Someone took a crayon to it! (Not my kids, although they would be more than capable of that, LOL!)

The bathroom. I haven't done any work to this room yet. I like the fake pine walls!

That's it for now! I have a really fun project I'm dying to do today. Hoping I can get around to it. I must make myself go out and do laundry first!

More for the Fabric Stash

Got some more fabric to add to the stash. This is all from Pink Panda Fabrics. A Canadian company that has free shipping in Canada!

Little Deer

I ordered the tiny deer for the snowglobe Christmas project we did this past year, but they didn't come in in time to use them for that project. So I found these tiny little vintage matchboxes and they are perfect for tiny shadowboxes. I don't have any moss yet, but plan to glue some of that in too. Lochlan has been having fun making these with me! We will probably make one for each of his little friends.

"Love" this Project

Yes, I know Valentine's Day is over, but I still need to post this Style School project. One of my favourites. I made these pieces yesterday while watching the Olympics. (Speed skating.)

Happy Valentine's Day, Gocco Style!

Happy Valentine's Day! I thought I'd share some Gocco prints I made a few years ago. These first ones I made for Lochlan to hand out to his friends one year. They are all printed on my Gocco. Looking back at these makes me want to get it out again. I think I need to get more bulbs and screens first though.
Here they are hanging to dry. This pic is taken on our sailboat, where we lived before this one. Yes, we are living on a houseboat now. I will have to write more about that soon. One day!

These Valentine cards I made using my Gocco as well. They are of an old photo of my ancestors taking a boat ride. I made a screen out of the old photo with a single heart added to it. I am not sure exactly who they are, but I like to think boating runs in the family! I also like to imagine that this gentleman is courting the lady in the middle and the lady sitting on the right is a chaperone!

Fabric Sampler for Valentine's Day

I've been working on this little sampler for the past couple of evenings and it's finally finished so I can share it with you! Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow!

Thrifty Finds

I found some wonderful items at a recent thrift store outing. This small butterfly needlework is an oldy and so adorable. I love the colours they used together. (It's in my shop now, but if it doesn't sell, I will be happy to keep it!)
These Chinese game pieces came in a wooden carrying box. On the back of each square is an English word plus the Chinese character. The illustrations are so cute. They are really tiny and I think they are the makings of a really cool project. I just haven't figured that part out yet! Can't wait to start experimenting with them.

I have nearly finished with a Valentine-themed fabric sampler. I'm hoping to show it either later today or tomorrow. What have you been up to? Am I the only one who didn't watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics last night? Sounds like I really missed out!

Laptop Sleeves & Dolls

I've been meaning to post about my Mom's Etsy shop, Jemima's Workshop. Not sure if I showed you her dolls before, but she's been making these adorable cloth dolls with the longest stripey legs. They are nearly as tall as my 2 year old daughter!

On the weekend she added a bunch of handmade laptop sleeves as well. Some of my favourites are shown below. The best thing about these is that some have a sleeve on the outside to add papers, pencils, etc. and also some come with a little pouch that perfectly fits an iPhone.

See her shop here: Jemima's Workshop.