Saturday 28 April 2012

Photo a day

Soooo far behind, but will catch up!

Day twenty five...................


LOOKING DOWN


BLACK AND WHITE

Tuesday 24 April 2012

A little goes a long way

I have a fabulous customer who makes unique handbags and more, she is as crazy about wax print as I am and she recently sent me a picture of a her green boucle, while she had it wrapped around her shoulders she had a eureka moment, what could possibly make this snugly wrap better?

AFRICAN WAX PRINT OF COURSE!



I love how wax print is just as interesting on a small scale and I have a Grey wool blanket that needs some life injected into it so I think I may be stealing this idea.

Photo a day.

CATCH UUUUUUP!


Day twenty two............


THE LAST THING I BOUGHT

Day twenty three..................


VEGETABLE

Day twenty four.......


SOMETHING I AM GRATEFUL FOR

Saturday 21 April 2012

Photo a day

Day twenty....................


SOMETHING I DREW

Okay, so I didn't draw it, but I did help colour it in.

Day twenty one............



BOTTLE

I picked these up at the local car boot for about 50p. no idea how old they are but they are very pretty and have wibbly glass.


I finally found the time to finish my one off hand painted cotton. but I seriously suck at photography and out of all the shots I did, this is really the only usable one. which is still rubbish. Will have to re-do them all before it makes it into my shop.



Wednesday 18 April 2012

Photo a day.

Okay, it would seem I am not a post a day kind of girl, so here is two days worth again!

Day seventeen..............


SOMETHING I DONT LIKE
(Latex gloves, eeeew)


Day eighteen...........

HAIR

Monday 16 April 2012

Fabric printing

I have been working on different fabric printing techniques, I had a go at screen printing using home made screens, but I didn't like the way the ink had to be really solid just to get a print. Then I remembered when I worked at a T-shirt printing place a very long time ago, I was told that there is no variation in screen printing. You have good prints and bad prints. This is very true so I realised that I would probably never be happy with screen printing, I needed some thing that let you be more creative with the ink amount.

Stencils were the way forward. and any way, screens are just stencils...............on screens right?? 

So I have nearly finished my first yard. I have to say, I SERIOUSLY LOVE IT! I have been designing and cutting my own stencils, lots of angular stuff, but also some circular masks. Here is a little peek.



I love the way you can use the ink how you want, creating light and dark areas. My stencils are all temporary and will only be used for this piece so it will be absolutely one of a kind. I will post the finished fabric as soon as its finished.

Photo a day.

Day fifteen..............


SUNSET

(art work by my daughter)

Day sixteen...............


FLOWER




Saturday 14 April 2012

Photo a day.

Day fourteen.................


HOW I FEEL TODAY.

I am missing my cat Ozzy, hope he is okay..............

Friday 13 April 2012

Photo a day.

Day thirteen............

FRIDAY THE 13TH!


SOMETHING I FOUND

Found this after the munchkin had gone to bed. She is such a cheeseball.

Thursday 12 April 2012

Photo a day.

Day twelve...............


STAIRS

I have to say, I am a little obsessed with Instagram. so I took a few more, I liked the 'grunginess' of the bridge that goes over the railway and the monster enjoyed going a bit crazy. Here is my favourite.


You can join in with photo a day at any time. here is the list to follow.

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Photo a day.

Day eleven...........

The weather was good today, so much time was spent in the garden, Which means crafty stuff was saved for tomorrow when I am child free. Speaking of child...............


She was loving the sunshine and went all diva on me, I cut five inches off her hair and she spent the whole morning flicking it Miss Piggy style. Anyway, here is my contribution to photo a day April.


WHERE I ATE MY LUNCH

This seat is one of those bargains I just had to buy for a future project. It may take some time, I have owned it for nearly three years.

Monday 9 April 2012

Wax crayon print.

Today we tried wax crayon printing, the munckin drew a design on some fairly fine sandpaper, I went over any bits that were not very bright.

We put some card inside an old white school T-shirt, placed the picture face down and put a scrap piece of fabric on top, we set the iron to cotton and moved it slowly over our picture. after a couple of sneek peeks to check it had transfered enough we removed the sandpaper, put the fabric back on and ironed for a bit longer. aparently this heat sets it but its then reccomended that it goes in the tumble dryer for twenty minutes. but I dont have one.


I am rubbish at photography so the print looks a bit pale but it actually came out much brighter than above. These T-shirts are two for three pound in supermarkets and the crayons and sandpaper we already had at home, so this was a great inexpensive craft and she cant wait to wear her creation tomorrow!

Photo a day.

Day nine............


YOUNG ME

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Sunday 8 April 2012

Photo a day.

Day eight..........


IN MY WALLET

What more can you possibly need??!

Join in at any time using this list for ideas to follow.


Saturday 7 April 2012

Ink, stamp, fabric.

I have been doing another custom order today, so the rag rug has taken a back seat, I had a request for some Indian block printing. <------- video here! I don't have the speed of this guy, and a 36 x 60 inches piece of linen took me a looooooong time. I will definitely look into making some kind of ink pad like he uses for next time I do a large piece, I think it will help me get into more of a rhythm, right now I apply the ink with a small sponge. I took a quick pic while I gave my back a break, please excuse the poor light, had to wait until the monster had gone to bed.


I have bought a few new colours and plan on going to bed with this book. for inspiration on how I will use them. Its a beautiful book that I really recommend. Its written by the lovely MissPrint ladies and covers a broad range of techniques.

Photo a day.

Day seven..........


SHADOW

Join in at anytime and share your photos on twitter or flickr, here is the list of ideas to folllow.

Friday 6 April 2012

Cute custom order.

Today I had a custom order request,  I made these cute die cuts from an unloved childrens book, backed them with re-claimed pre-consumer waste white card (bit of a mouth full) and covered a match box with a picture and text from the same book. I'm so proud of them I had to share.



I think they would make really sweet business cards.
I may have to make some for myself!

Photo a day.

Day six.............


LUNCH

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Wednesday 4 April 2012

Photo a day.

Day four...............
This one was easy, even though she also drives me nuts.


SOMEONE WHO MAKES YOU HAPPY

For this photo I used Instagram its fun, easy to use and makes your pictures much more interesting. They have just released the Android version too so go get it now no excuses!

Join in a photo a day at any time, Here is the list of ideas to follow.

Tuesday 3 April 2012

'Rag rug' for the munchkin.

This is what I managed on day one.
It is definately looking more ruggy now. not sure how far this fabric is going to stretch.... but I am loving the colour combo and it will look fab in her room anyways.


I would love to see pics of rag rugs you or someone in your family made, or if you are making one right now why not post your progress too?!

Photo a day.


                                            Day three......


 MAIL




Monday 2 April 2012

Photo a day.

Through April I will be posting a photo a day, Following this list of ideas I am a day behind so heres two.  Why not join in and share your pics on twitter or instagram by using the hashtag #photoadayapril.


YOUR REFLECTION


COLOUR

'Rag rug' for the munchkin.

So.............................

I have been gone for ages huh? Well, I'm just starting a new project so thought it was a good time to return.

Last year we decorated my daughters bedroom, it was a "don't know if we are having a boy or a girl green with a hint of stupid enough to send your boyfriend to the shop to buy a second tin for the second coat and then be amazed at his terrible attempts at covering up his mistake by swapping the little stickers on the tin rather than go get the right one." you know, real yucky.

So we made it all Pink and pretty, used cupboard paint and made panels with the left over wall paper for the built in cupboards that were there when we moved in. It's now the nicest room in the house and
I am jealous as my room is dull and basically where we keep piles of laundry in various states. That room is my next big project but anyway, I have digressed.

I have been looking for a rug for her room as she can now play in there quite happily without getting a migraine, but they are soooo expensive! So I have decided to make her a crochet one, out of raw strips of material. I wanted the colours to be strong and not lots of little prints and colours so have not used scraps but inexpensive flat sheets from a large supermarket. I use these a lot for quilt backs if I cant find what I need in a charity shop, you can get a king size for as little as £6 and they are HUGE. so great value considering the average price for cotton is £12 a metre.

I set to work making the sheets into strips, cutting not quite to the end of the sheet one way, then doing the same back the other way, so that you can cut the sheet into one continuous strip. (yeah I am pants at explaining things but this is not a tutorial) First I tried making it into a ball, quite pretty and quick to do, the second sheet I wound round a toilet roll, not so pretty so went back to the ball method.


Next, I took my nice and chunky crochet hook and made myself a teeny chain, joined the ends together, then began to single crochet followed by a chain stitch into the circle I had formed. I did several rounds of sc and ch, it took a while to get the feel for this, you need to keep it loose, if you don't, your next round will be difficult, after pulling each loop through I  pulled extra through just to make sure and so my rug didn't turn into a bowl.  When I wanted to change colour I just cut the strip off, tied on the new colour and carried on, don't worry about the knot, because you are doing this nice and loose you have a you will be able to poke the knot through to the underneath of the rug later. This is after about eight rounds....................
Nothing too spectacular yet, but I will keep you posted on my progress for this, I will just keep going until I get bored or run out of fabric. not sure which will be first right now.