Monday 22 July 2013

Crafty Creatives Box 13 - Happy Birthday!

This month saw the arrival of the Crafty Creatives box 13. It is a year since these two lovely ladies started their business, and so it's birthday time! To help us celebrate, the box included a special balloon!

 

Normally the boxes have one kit and as well as lots of other items ( as you can see here, here and here), but this special box has FIVE kits, as well as a few special little treats too! The box is floral themed (as was the first ever box!), so all the kits are to make different flowers!

The items for each flower were separated in the box (to not loose the 'rummaging' ability!) but i have photographed them as kits. So, what's included?

The art card, featuring the faces of different Crafty Creatives; A leaflet guide as to how to construct the kits.

1. Felt Flower
The box includes two different colours of felt for this kit. This looks like quite a quick and easy make.


2. Stocking Flower
Stocking flowers have intrigued me for a while so i'm excited to try these! Included is thick wire, stocking fabric (i got white), stamens and floral tape.



3. French Beaded Flower
Again, a technique I've never tried, but can't wait to. This flower appears pretty fiddly and seems like it would take a lot of time, but produces such a beautiful end result. The box came with thin silver wire, seed beads in two colours (i received pink-purple and light blue) and also requires the floral tape (as mentioned above).


4. Paper Rose Flower
I ended up making quite a few of these for our wedding, so definitely don't want to relieve that experience right now...! They are beautiful flowers, but quite fiddly and it is a skill in itself to not have the flower completely uncoil! Included for this kit was coloured card for the flower (my box came with yellow), green card for the leaves, and a hair slide to fix it all onto. I think i'll be gluing something else onto my hair slide :)


5. Crepe Paper Flowers
I've tried variations on these flowers, so will be good to try this way! a polystyrene ball and crepe paper ( i got cream) were included to make this kit.


The extra treats!
These included:
- 3 large, wooden, floral-patterned buttons. These are nice and chunky!
- a hummingbird charm. Would really suit a long necklace chain
- 15 diecut textured flowers from Stix2, mine were white. Not sure what to use these for yet...
- cream floral pendant. Would really suit a statement item, like a hair clip.


So, that was the box! Whilst I definitely do prefer the setup of the other boxes (with one kit, and lots of random items), I enjoyed receiving something a bit different for a one-off. What did you think?

Life has been a bit crazy here, and what with a busy term and then being out of the country for 2.5 weeks, it is very unsurprising to admit that i'm pretty behind on my craft projects, especially the ones from my Crafty Creatives boxes. However, a spare few weeks, combined with a bad ankle injury, means that i'm house-bound and looking forward to having time to tackle my to-do list, and hopefully catch up on blogging! Watch this space...

Happy 1st Birthday Crafty Creatives!

Fran xx

Sunday 14 July 2013

1st Wedding Anniversay

Today, I have been married to my wonderful husband for one whole year! We're spending our wedding anniversary chilling out in Sofia, Bulgaria for a couple of days.

I may do a mini-series about our wedding at some point, but for now, here are a couple of photos from one whole year ago, taken by our wonderful photographers at Mustard Yellow Photography...



And yes, we really are still that happy!

Thursday 11 July 2013

A Knitted Village

Driving through North Nottinghamshire the other week visiting the in-laws, we drove past this amazing display in Bestwood Village... so of course had to stop and explore!!


My lovely mother-in-law



A knitted washing line (with an inappropriate thong!)



I LOVE this!

A decorated bus stop

 
They even decorated the road works?!

'bunting' made from knitted Innocent Smoothie hats?!

We came across the person responsible who had organised it for a community village fair. The inspiration apparently came from a village in Germany. They had put it all up the night before around midnight, which explains why we hadn't seen it when driving through the night before!

Have you seen this anywhere before? So pretty, and very inspiring...

Fran xx

Monday 8 July 2013

Some sewing projects!!

Since receiving my sewing machine, i''ve been exploring with a few projects...

At first, I was a bit scared to use it, so i started simple! Here is my VERY basic 'patchwork' pin cushion...

Then I made some bunting... but my phone got stolen so I don't have those pictures anymore... but it was successful and pretty!

After that I decided to be a bit braver... and follow a pattern! Here is a tie-sided cushion...


Next up was a sewing machine cover. I based it on a tutorial i found here. 

BUT I wanted a hole in the middle for the handle and a patch pocket for the cotton reel. The pocket was ok... but WOW was the rest of it tough to construct! I just didn't REALLY think through what i was actually doing... I just sewed and thought and unpicked as i went along! BIG novice error, and I have learnt my lesson!

The lining

The outer

The biggest problem / headache came when i realised i couldn't hem the cover inside out as i had sewn-shut the middle... cue epic amounts of pinning and careful top-stitching! SIGH.


 
 The finished item! i LOVE it!


Next up: clothing! I have just cut out the pattern pieces for a top... so watch this space...!

What do you think? Do you have any top tip for newbie sewers?!

Fran xx

Wednesday 3 July 2013

A Journey of Sewing

My foray into sewing machine sewing has been a long and patchy journey.

I first started sewing for my GCSE Textiles (NINE years ago?!). It didn't start off so well, and i created this eye-sore 'cushion'....

 The ideas were good, just not the construction! I included lots of techniques...
Red: Marbling
Orange: Screen Printing
Yellow: Batik
Green: Fabric Paint
Blue: Tie Dye
Pink: Fleece (not a technique)
Purple: Cross Stitch on Waste Canvas

 It got better though, and I eventually created this Dream Team for my final project (which scored me an 'A' grade!).


Hello Mr Penguin!

Diffuser Inks! I loved these!


It's looking good, but it still hasn't been used for any real purpose...

After that, I didn't really touch a sewing machine for a long time... not because I didn't want to, but just because I didn't have one! I used friends machines over the years to alter dresses and make quick projects, but nothing major. I channelled my creativity into many different areas of crafts, and learnt to knit!


Some little knitting projects

Then last March, I spent a few days in Newcastle designing my wedding invites with one of my bridesmaids, the VERY creative Hannah. She had always fancied trying out sewing paper / card... and so my wedding invites were created!!


After that, i was bound and determined to own a sewing machine! I put one on my wedding gift list... but no-one bought it for us!

My sweet husband said we could spend some of our wedding money on it though! Roll forward 6 months to January, and i EVENTUALLY started to research... and this is the lady i chose!


I love her and all her purpleyness!I got her quite cheap in an amazing deal from Sainsburys (yes, apparently Sainsburys do sewing machines?! Free P&P too!), and being Toyota, i know she will last me well.

Since she arrived, I have been loving the chance to re-explore all things sewn. I will share my projects as i get round to taking photos!

Fran xx