Recent projects finished

Here are a couple of pictures of recent items finished.

1. Some reversible headbands

2. Some 'window' bags for my son's ever growing collection of little things.

Sheena Chapman workshop - Branching Out

I recently had the pleasure of attending a workshop run by Sheena Chapman, called 'Branching out and Hang ups', at Calico & Ivy in Balmain. It is still in my WIP (work in progress) pile - but slowly I am getting it done.

The technique was quite new to me - involved taking a rotary cutter to your fabric with no pattern - shocking but also quite liberating!! Then cutting out the pictures in fabric to create butterflys, leaves & flowers. I am in the process now of embroidering the details and hope to turn it into a cushion cover.

Easter Crafting at Calico & Ivy

Sunday week ago - (yes it has taken me that long to blog about it :0) - I went to an Easter crafting high tea at Calico & Ivy in Balmain. You may have read in previous posts how much I love that store... love it so much I would happily pay to sit in a comfy couch in the corner and just soak it all in. Anyway...

The gorgeous Kelly Doust of the crafty minx fame was there to host the afternoon with some lovely ideas for Easter crafts we could achieve in the afternoon. We each chose three felt pieces from the Heather Bailey range and some thread... decisions decisions. Then set to work whilst being plied with tea and delicious home baked treats... definitely the nicest way to craft!

Click here to see Kelly's blog post about the afternoon (I couldn't believe that my egg cosy made it to her site!! so exciting) and click here to see Amy of Badskirt's blog post about the afternoon.

Finally here is my afternoon's work.

Three little bunnies

I found this great tutorial on craft passion for these lovely 'Easter bunny sachets'. I made three and filled them with lavender for the kids to give their teachers. The packaging is a simple cello bag and fold over card stapled to the top for the kids to write a message. A great alternative to chocolate.

Sew it Together

On Saturday I went to the Sew it Together event in Sydney. I only found out about this event recently and was so glad I went. So much fun to be in a room full of other people who like to craft and sew and talk about fabrics!

I started making a door stop at the Sew it Together (SIT) workshop and am pleased to say I finished it!! As I was leaving Leah said - put it on your blog - so I credit her with the inspiration to finish my doorstop house - thank you Leah.

Whilst I am pleased to have it finished there are a couple of issues - firstly I think it is a little overstuffed! Secondly it is not quite heavy enough to be a truly effective doorstop. However having just finished it I think I will enjoy that for a while before renovating!

Also just wanted to put a really big Thank you out there to Sheridan of chaletgirl for organising the weekend - no doubt it was a lot of work - but a truly awesome event!

Buttons Buttons Buttons

I found a huge bag of buttons very cheaply in one of the bargain bins at a craft store. I sorted through them and found some pretty blues, greens, grey, white and clear ones that looked nice together. I strung them all on a string - does not seem to matter if some have four holes and some have two... here is my very simple button necklace.

Not the best photo - but you'd be surprised how difficult it is to take a picture of yourself in the mirror with one hand and keep your shirt and the necklace looking OK!!

Children's notice boards

I had some old magnetic boards lying around that were in desperate need of a face lift!

One I decoupaged in some fun paper from Kikki K to match these transport magnets.

The other one is covered in fabric. I made the magnets from fabric covered buttons. So easy and so much more interesting than plain white boards!