Things Discovered

Just a quick post with a few links for you.

I just came across this tutorial and am just waiting until I can try it. I like the idea of a carry strap and the lovely big button holding everything together. This is one of the positive things I admire about the crafty blog community - so many people are willing to share their ideas.

I also came across this art idea. The idea of breaking down complex patterns into easily repeated patterns that are then combined to create very interesting images was one that really appealed to me. I followed a few links and was amazed by the number of images being created.

Have you seen the envelope project coming together at Meet Me At Mikes. I am enjoying watching the window display grow. We sent our envelope off and it was very satisfying to see it in amongst all the others. Check it out over on Flickr.

Photos and Chitchat

I am still working on the ripple blanket. It is slowly growing in size.

Even though winter is definitely here there is still some lovely autumn colour around. Here is an autumn leaf photo collage of some leaves that found their way into my back garden from a tree in a neighbouring garden. The colours are just so rich.

Have you read about this little project.

Meet Me At Mikes are asking for decorated envelopes to make a window display and to be part of little bit of crafting goodness and sharing. Inside your envelope the folk at Meet Me At Mikes are asking for a little bit of crafting ephemera. One lucky person will receive all the goodies after a lucky draw. Avid Crafter and I are putting an envelope together soon.

In the mail this week I received my copy of Mettazine by iHanna. It is all about art journaling and I have been waiting patiently for it to arrive after I purchased it from her Etsy shop a while ago. I love it - there are definitions, explanations, inspirations, prompts and some ephemera to get you started. I like the wallpaper cover and the touches of colour sprinkled through it. Thanks very much iHanna.

I am making some recycled books as well. They are A5 in size and all the pages are old photocopies folded in half so that the print is hidden and there are lovely white pages ready for some drawing or writing to be added. There are 15 leaves which makes each notebook have 30 pages. The covers are made from scrapbooking papers or decorated watercolour paper and the back is a piece of sturdy cardboard. They are bound with a stitched binding. Each one had a piece of brown paper tape on the front for a label. They would not be any good for collage work as the binding would not have enough flexibility.

I am thinking of putting some in our Madeit shop - the poor neglected place. Would you buy something like this? What price do you think would be good?

Oh Dear - time passes quickly!!

There has been a long time since our last post - does anybody visit anymore? Full time work for Crafty Things and end of year school doings for Avid Crafter left us very busy. Christmas crafting was confined to creating this year's cards and some decorations for the tree using my paper and string patterns. Some robins and some reindeer were added to the tree. No scans of the card design yet. It was created using my Gocco printer with some added watercolour shading once the design was printed. I drew a little robin using Inkscape to help me and then added a hand lettered greeting.

The picture at the top of the post is a collage of some photos I took this morning on our walk to the shop from our shack - along the beach and up the track. Lots of stopping for photo taking and enjoying the scenery. I was lucky enough to be able to treat myself to a new lens for my camera and now must learn how to get the best out of it. Chasing butterflies and seagulls tests it out very well!!

Relaxing at the shack is the ideal time for some crafting to happen. Some crochet food is being trialled at the moment. The patterns are from a book called Tasty Crochet by Rose Langlitz. The only problems so far have been with not having enough colours to fully finish any one item. Taking the whole yarn stash to the shack would be very hard to do!

Maybe there will not be quite so much time between posts while we summer holidaying.

Ramblings, loooong ramblings!

Hello internet, I am finally back from my travels and all is back to normal. Very sad, I know.

Crafty Things mentioned in her last post that I was selected in the Tasmanian Junior State Squash Team and spent the last week of September in Sydney competing the Australian Junior Squash Championships. This of course was right after our family holiday (which included going to Sydney), which was fantastic. I have only one photos to share because I didn't take any whilst in Sydney for squash and all the holiday photos are on the other computer.


With all my to-ings and fro-ings with Sydney I managed to miss the spectacular dust storm that was in the news all over the place, but this is the dust haze that was around for one morning while I was competing. This is the view (of the Bunnings towers!) from my hotel window in Thornleigh. It was a little creepy, but all gone by lunchtime.

The squash competition was great. I had a fantastic time, and have gained so much from the experience. As a little bonus, my results were also quite good. I would never describe myself as a top squash player or as a particularly bad one; I play because I enjoy it and train hard to improve because I do wish to play as well as I possibly can. I suppose this is summed up by the saying "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well." The selection for the state team was a surprise and an honour in itself and going away to compete was even better. So I went into this competition curious to see how I fitted compared to the best players in the country, but not expecting to win. My goal was to gain points in every game of every match, to win one of those games if I could, to play the best shots, the best squash I could, to enjoy myself and the meet some other dedicated players my age.

I went into the opening round ranked 26th, the bottom in my age group, making my first match against the 7th seed. I warmed up for that match expecting her to be much better than me, but also hoping to stop it from being a complete white-wash. As it turned out, she did not entirely dictate the game play, I got points in all the three games, and some of my shots were ones that I could be proud of. So I came off that court having lost, but feeling as though I had won.

This continued all through out the tournament. I was getting points, although no games, and not being the player who really shouldn't have been there because they weren't good enough, one of my fears going into the competition. I came so close to winning a game in the fourth round match, and then in the warm-up for my fifth and final match something was a bit different. The girl I was playing was making as many errors warming up as I was and looking just as nervous as I was. It hit me then that this time I wasn't going in the underdog, we were at the same level.

I won that match in 3. I was amazed at elated at what I had done. I had discovered that I was good enough to compete at a National level in my chosen sport and do ok. I wasn't out of my depth. I had achieved above my goals, that I had thought were a mix of achievable and challenging. Turns out I could have set them even higher.

One feature of the Australian Junior Squash Championships is the MC Hazel award which is awarded to one male and one female player for the 'best performance' of the tournament. Each team official places votes each day for who they think should be given this award. The results are announced at the presentation function at the end of the individual events. When announcing it they read out the names of people who had achieved high numbers of votes, starting at 5 votes. I was surprised when my own name was read out as having 5 votes. 5 votes may not sound like much, but the winning level was around 11 votes and most of the players in the top groups were the players winning their divisions. Of course, winning is only a part of 'best performance', it includes many other factors, a large one being sportsmanship. I am guessing that it was my whole attitude at 'winning' even though I had 'lost' because I achieved higher than I had thought possible that was the reason for people to award me some votes.

As you can imagine, that really was the icing on the cake of one amazing week. The Nationals has left me with an ongoing sense of optimism and self-belief, that has continued past the bump of returning to everyday life (no more housekeeping to make the beds!). The whole thing was such a great experience. Now I have my fingers crossed that I will be able to compete at next year's Nationals in Alice Springs (so hot! Sydney was hot enough for this Tasmanian!) and be able to play the teams event as well as the individuals, some fundraising may be in order I think.


And to assure you that this really is a craft blog, the results of our little trip to a local handmade market :-)


It's a friend's birthday today, and since I have been away I haven't had a chance to make her a present so the next best thing was of course, buying something someone else had made!



The little cosmetic bag contains a bar of olive oil, rose and paprika soap and has a gorgeous little zipper pull:


Hopefully she likes the card and present as much as I do!

Sorry for all the crazy ramblings. it's amazing the amount of stuff that builds up in your head that you want to say!

Supporting other Bloggers

Just a little post about a giveaway at Clare's Craftroom. She is offering a lovely stitching design as a prize for leaving a comment. This is one of the very positive things that I love about the world of craft bloggers - the generosity of all.

Take a wander over to Meet Me At Mikes and read about her lovely book launch and then wander through the archives to see more of this generosity at work.

I seem to have come down with my first cold for the year - stuffy nose and woolly head! Just in time for Easter.

A potpourri of sites I have wandered across lately

Just wanted to share some of the sites I have explored lately.

Heather, from Ragged Old Blogger:Bits and Pieces has posted some pictures of her mixed media work. She has used photographs as the base but then extended these. I think I like the third one best.

If you like creating art with kids then have a look here. I love the way a lot of the art activities are related to an artist or piece of work. Another place for art ideas I stumbled across. In one of her recent entries she reviews a great picture book called "ISH" which I have on my shelf to remind me that things do not have to be perfect.

Then there is the wishing I had one of these on the bookcase. Another crafty book to put on the wishlist.

Knitting is still happening. Sewing has slowed down but ideas are gathering. Finally some photos just to give this post some colour.

Eating the apples in our backyard and looking so beautiful, bright and colourful.

Another shot of my mushroom. This one was taken outside in amongst the wood shavings.

Photo Sharing

As there is not much crafting happening I will share a few of the photos I took while we were holidaying. The weather was great for most of the time - we had some hot days but took refuge inside with the air conditioner when it was tooo hot. On a couple of afternoons a sea mist rolled in over the water and it was very beautiful. The water would go very still and the surroundings became muted and grey. Very peaceful. On one of these afternoons the pelicans gathered at the boat ramp to feed off the remains of some fish that were being caught. I grabbed my camera and spent a good half hour taking shot after shot - 187 in total. Here is a collage of some of them.


I like taking pictures of pelicans and by now probably have far too many but they are such great birds to photograph. I love watching them come into land and the way that they ski along the surface of the water.

Another day, Avid Crafter and I went rockhopping and came across this little fellow.



He scuttled away as we stepped on a rock and we were lucky enough to have time to take this shot as he squeezed into a crack between two large rocks.

One to leave you with. Pelicans can also look pretty silly when they need to scratch their necks!

Hello - We are still here.

Sorry for the long break between posts. we have had a great break. Three weeks of rest, relaxation and reading for me. Avid Crafter indulged in rest, reading and water fun plus a little crafting. I indulged in my love of photography by taking many photos. I hope you will indulge me while I share a few of these in some later posts. Unfortunately the break went all to quickly and then it was back home and into the routines of school and finding out what work I might pick up this year. I am a teacher and I pick up relief (emergency work) and short term contracts and as such my work load varies greatly.

Late last year Whipup posted about a site called Red Bubble. Red Bubble is a site which provides a place for artists and photographers to display and sell their work as cards, prints and calendars. Whipup.net created a calendar using the Red Bubble site which showcased 13 craftpeople who had been featured on Whipup.

I became fascinated by the vast array of amazing art and photography that is displayed on the site and joined. I have put some of the photos that I feel are the best I have taken up on my Red Bubble page. They are there for sale as cards and some are also for sale as prints.

On to some crafting. Before Christmas I created this card. If you need a card in a hurry then this is a very versatile design.



I used a page from an old atlas to get my map and cut this to create a rectangle across the front of the card. The rectangle looks best when it is placed just below centre. Two lines of silver gel pen top and bottom give it a border and then the tag gets added. The tag was cut with my very handy tag punch from Fiskars and then I just hand lettered my greeting. The idea for the clip came from a cardmaking magazine I was reading at the time. Sorry I can't remember which one. The thread is some pearle cotton and the tag is stuck in place with some foam tape to lift it up from the map.

Instead of the map you could simply use a pretty piece of patterned paper or even part of a photograph. The tag could hold a number, Thanks, Thinking Of You or any other greeting you might need. I also added an insert of white paper for ease of writing my message inside.

There is a stitching project in progress but no photos yet. The crafting bug lay dormant for a while but is slowly warming up again.

Yay - We got an award!

Clare from Clare's Craftroom was very kind and awarded us this:

Thanks, Clare.

We are supposed to pass this on to five more crafty bloggers but how can we possibly choose from our combined list of over 200 blogs we visit? We think you all deserve it so consider yourself tagged.

Avid Crafter and

Late - but I wanted to share!

This is a very late but as has been said on this blog before things just got hectic. Before Christmas I was lucky enough to win a giveaway. Paper-and-String was giving away three beautiful felt penguins and I was the lucky winner.



This parcel turned up in the letterbox just before Christmas. Inside were the three little penguins in their own little felt box and some other unexpected goodies as well.



Felt ric rac and felt flowers! Wasn't that a lovely surprise. Thanks so much, Sarah from Paper-and-String. The penguins looked right at home on my Christmas tree during the festive season.

Long Time between Posts

Wow, December has flown by!! Not much creating happening, serious stressing about unfinished Christmas cards and gifts!!!

I have been experimenting with some stitching after my success with the two little stitching kits I recently purchased. Being something of a fontaholic I get regular updates from a site called Lettering Delights. They recently sent a newsletter showcasing a Doodlebat font called Christmas Birds. (A Doodlebat font contains images instead of letters and can be used like any other font.) When I saw this one some of the images were just calling out to be used in a stitching. The font cost me about two dollars. I can create all the stitchings I want as long as I am not reselling them as this would contravene the license agreement for the font.



I used MS Publisher to create my templates, printed them out and then used various methods to put the image onto my fabric.

In my first try I got the size of the outline box a little bit too big for the image but was very pleased with try two. Tries three and four are here in this photo not stitched - they have been stitched but no pictures yet.



Apologies for the not so good image. Night time flash photo! What you can see at the top are the four finished stitchings and underneath are the next two ready and waiting. At the bottom are the printed doodlebats with squares around them. The one on the right had been traced over with an iron on pencil.

I am still not sure which tracing technique is the one I like best. So far I have tried fade-away pen and iron on pencil. Next on the list to try is a fine wash away pen and then after that a brown fine line pen like a pigma pen.

The iron on pencil is easy to use but the vivid red colour is hard to disguise when stitching - particularly with lighter threads. The fade away is only good if I can get all the stitching done quickly - not always guaranteed!

Hopefully after Christmas I will have time to try out some more Doodlebat ideas.

Will wish you all a Merry Christmas in this post as I am not sure how long it will be before I get back to post again. May your Christmas be all that you wish it to be!!



P.S. Check out these gorgeous critters at LucyKate Crafts. I really like the cat.

Tabitha

Today we farewelled a loved family pet. Eighteen years old - first child in lots of ways - and always cantankerous. She was an RSPCA kitten who turned into a beautiful cat with attitude!!!

The loudest purr, the kinkiest tail, the most awful piteous cry (able to be heard from houses away!!!!!!) and claws as sharp as daggers are all things we will remember and miss.

Unfortunately age caught up with her - going deaf, back legs becoming wobbly and a few dental issues that she seemed able to ignore but must have been hurting and an argument with our car. She came out seemingly none the worse for wear after the argument with the car but seemed to have lost all fear of big moving vehicles - quite scary really. It was time to give her a dignified exit rather than see her go through more pain.



Farewell, Tabitha twitchit with the question mark tail.



Avid Crafter and Crafty Things and the rest of the family

Some Stitching is Happening

No posts lately but some stitching has been happening. I recently found two little kits that I have been slowly stitching in amongst doing all the other things that eat into crafting time.

Both the kits are from Hatched and Patched's Simple Stitchings range. The first one is called Ladybug Romp and I have finished stitching it. It is going to become part of a set of bean bags for a little niece.



The second one is called Bear In There and it is still a work in progress. I am not sure what it might end up as yet.



The little pink hoop was a new find too. It is a spring hoop that has a metal spring section that fits inside the flat pink plastic section. It is much narrower that wooden embroidery hoops and I like the feel of it lots.

The list - in my head - of things I would like to make is growing proportionately longer as the time I have to craft is growing proportionately smaller!! I have bags I want to make, fabric buckets, bean bags, bibs, a baby calendar for a new niece, more discovery bags and then there are the Christmas cards that probably should be at the top of the list.

I have made a start on some of the Christmas presents but cannot talk much about them - you never know who might drop by and read this little blog. We went digital with a few things that have previously been much more hand produced. More about that after Christmas.

Many thanks to those lovely blog visitors who have dropped by and left comments. I am thinking of creating an applique pattern for the little owl from the felt book. I am not sure quite how I will tackle it yet. The final version would be a PDF file but I am still thinking about the best way to get a good end product. I have scanned drawings before but they do not look very clear sometimes. I am wondering how others may have done this.

We Are Back

What a long time since our last post. We are back from a little holiday to W.A. (Have been back for a week but what a busy week it has been - no time for posting and even less time for catching up with my overflowing Google reader). We spent time in Perth, Fremantle, Albany, Esperance and Kalgoorlie. The weather was not the best but we saw all manner of beautiful and interesting things - scenery, wildflowers, mining history, wild windy water, a whale, tingle trees, tall trees and lots of straight roads!



This is just a sampling of the many photos that were taken.

Will post some crafting stuff soon.

Sharing Some Gift Sewing

I have had a great time lately making things to give away. The best kind of making there can be!


First I made two bibs for a little arrival in our street. Lovely neighbours who have helped me out on a few occasions so it was nice to just make a little something. These are based on a pattern that I made when my own two were much younger than they are now. I used to make these out of terry towelling and thought that this time I would try something different. I joined some different cottons together to get the front fabric and flannelette for the back. The bibs have a ribbed neckline. Two pieces of fabric were sewn together, turned through and topstitched before the ribbed neck piece was overlocked on to finish them off.



Second was a birthday crown, pattern from The Creative Family book, for a little fellow turning two. This was great fun to make and lasted on the recipient's head for a grand total of two seconds before it was ditched onto the floor. No matter - hopefully it will gain a second life as a dress up item down the track. Gracefully modelled here by one of my treasured bears - Alexander Growly Bear.



I had lots of fun rediscovering the joys of hand stitching with this one. I tried out a variation of a French knot to create the stars on the blue piece of felt. I read about this in my newest collection to the home library. The book was blogged about here but I had to return the library copy. Luckily for me I came across a cheap copy in one of my local bookstores so it came home with me! The stitch has a French knot at the end of a long straight stitch and it is done all at the same time. (Terrible description but I am not sure how else to describe it.)



Being made at short notice I couldn't find any braid to put around the bottom so I settled for a piece of velvet ribbon. I quite like the regal feel that it adds to the crown.

Third, a quick card to go with the birthday gift. I opted out of a little boy type card and went with a design from another book on the shelf called Punch Art Fun For Everyone 3. Lots of great, quick ideas for cards in all of these books - I also have books 1 and 2.



Still working on a few other little things but will save those for another day.



P.S. We are going to Perth WA soon!! A family holiday and a Junior Robocup National competition to attend.

Flowers for Friday

Just a quick post - Friday has come quickly this week!

Here are a few photos I took recently of a flower in the backyard. I have cropped the original shots to get these images.



I loved the rows of water droplets on one of the petals and so cropped the image very heavily to get this picture.

Just liked the fuzzy bud waiting to burst open with luscious golden yellow!

The sun was shining through the jonquils and so I thought a back shot would be interesting.

Hopefully at the weekend I will get another page designed for my little felt book and maybe make a few bibs for the onslaught of babies arriving later in the year!

Online Selling Adventures

Wow - we have had our first customer at our madeit shop!! Avid Crafter's ladybug pincushion has found a home along with one of Crafty Thing's cards.

Avid Crafter has made a second ladybug pincushion and we have just finished listing this in the shop. This ladybug only has two dots and a red bead at the end of her cord legs.



Crafty Things is busy trying to get some more Helping Hands created. Two more were sewn this week and given away before pictures could be taken to say thanks to some lovely ladies who helped out. Two more have been sewn and will be listed in the shop soon. These ones will be listed as a pair.



Some more crocheted flowers have been made and some new dyes were purchased at the recent Craft Fair. I experimented with some more colours and had lots of fun. The flowers are now just waiting to be added to some cards or maybe a bag.

We have had some frosty mornings lately and inspired by some photos on Gina's blog, Gingerbread, I took a photo of the frost on my car's windscreen. What do you think?