For the past two weeks now I’ve been coming home each evening after work and finding that I have lots of time on my hands. At first I thought it was just temporary but its stayed and Im left asking “Am I forgetting to do something?” Anyway Im also not complaining its great!

It all started when we got our Mac, ah yes what a fantastic machine. I was de briefed and shown the wonderful world of podcasts by Mr.C, and was thrilled to see a whole podcast section on Crafts!!

So as you can imagine I am getting quite addicted to listening to them on the i pod and will tell you which ones I can’t get enough of soon. They are definitely making my evenings more fun as now I don’t mind as much when my To Do list starts with:

Unload and reload dish washer
Put washing on
Change bin
Make dinner (fish and chips?)

As now I get to listen to experienced crafters talk all about all sorts of creative things while Im doing the chores. Also another upside is that they keep me focused throughout my crafty projects, so I’m getting a lot done and some podcasts last up to 2 hours so when dinners not till 9pm there’s a reason why, not that Mr.C minds- the sweetie!

Crafty Links

Okay, so before I show you what crafts I have been busy doing this month I will give thanks to three great podcasts produced in the US, freely available on i tunes, so you too can have a listen! Usually I would do this in my links section at the end but I just can’t hold onto this information any longer!

Craft Magazine- Is the first podcast I started listening too, my internet connection dropped out for an evening and I remembered I had downloaded a few How To video podcasts. Those ‘few’ quickly turned into none, great projects shown step by step, pick the ones your interested in, then get to it!

http://www.craftsanity.com Craft Sanity is perfect if your crafting or doing chores for an hour or more, as Jenniffer Ackerman-Haywood’s podcasts are as entertaining and informative as they are addictive. The 31 year old writer and mum of two chats away to those creative folk who have made a name for themselves as a crafter or artist. And tells their story, shares craft projects and new craft books for your shelf. An awesome hour of my time!

http://www.craftypod.com Crafty Pod is brought to you by Diane Gilleland, also known as Sister Diane (yes there is a Church of Craft!). I listen to Crafty Pod on my way back from work or when dinners cooking as they are usually just 20 minutes long. Diane’s podcasts are different than the above as speech is practiced to sound different from her usual voice and they focus more on How To’s than interviews. A lot of cool projects can be found here and fairly discussed topics too. Worth listening too to get your creative cap back on!

My projects

I’ve never had a lot of space to sow or make cards in my home before so I was thrilled when I was able to make the dinning room area that we hardly ever use into my own little space of creativity! You’ll see a picture of it coming up soon, the thing I like about the area is the big pale yellow wall in front me while I sit at the table as its quickly being filled with pieces I have made for everyone to see.

Paper Mache biscuit tin

My first project was paper mache! And although I thought of it as the easiest and most straight forward creation, I had a tiny amount of materials and I really wanted to do something involving fashion!

I got together: an old biscuit tin, a set of paints, magazine cuttings of outfits I thought would look great on me, a newspaper, a few sheets of plain white paper and a normal stick of glue. I covered the tin in newspaper and glued over that, plain paper; then painted, waited a little and stuck on outfits I liked the look of and fashion trends and tips round the sides.
I stayed away from pictures of celebs to make it known I was interested in the fashion not wanting to wear what celebs wear.

The inside of the box I also Paper mached, in the bottom I placed a piece of felt and inside the lid I played around splashing paint. And walah my first craft thing! Its sat by a stack of books and is handy for keeping little things that I would otherwise lose- like stamps! 

Kitty cat box

Often we have big boxes left over from buying things (Mr.C’s sporty equipment usually) and our cats love to play in them and brush their cheeks against them, so I decided to make a cat box. They already have one but you know cats, they just like newspaper and card board boxes! Here is my finished piece, although I made a few changes along the way.

It may not look like a royal palace for the two little darlings but it doesn’t need to be, sometimes simple is better, it didn’t cost me a thing and they love it!

To make your own kitty box get a big card board box (stay away from plastic for obvious reasons) and decorate the sides however you wish.

I chose to stick felt down one side, for comfort, cut out shapes at the front, so they could catch toys through the hole with their paws. I also drew cat eyes to make it known- cats only! I included three different elements for variety, carpet to keep there bottoms cosy, a smaller box cut at two sides (as they would not have fitted in something so small…they would have tried though! And in that cut out box I put an old jumper that whenever I wore it they thrived on stretching their nails by clawing and clawing, they still do it now so they haven’t got bored.

Originally at the very far corner was an easter egg box paper mached, which had a hole in the middle and before I started using it one of the cats popped his head then his whole body through that hole then out the other side! So I paper mached it and put newspaper in it but alas he hasn’t done it again! Since that photo I’ve just put a sheet of newspaper down and it has been very popular.

On a wooden stick that I found in the kitchen I attached a mirror that never gets used and put tinsel on top to add a bit of sparkle! On the carpeted side I added things that our cats get exited with, so there’s a string of beads, bouncy ball, folded up paper, tin foil and pretend flowers.

I’m quite pleased with the end result, even though they stayed in it a long time at first and I got worried it was making them sad- all I kept seeing was sweet kitten eyes! But it was the only ‘cool new thing’ in the room and when I took it away they went looking for it. Now there always in and out of it! The whole thing just started with me thinking ‘What do the cats like in the house and what can I make out of it?’ and going from there!

My scrap line

My scrap line was introduced very early on in my crafting month but it took a while to gather up all my scraps and decide on a thread too. It took this idea from Craft Magazine and made it have my own little difference.

Getting the scraps was actually really fun! I went around my own house and my mum’s loft searching for clothes that nobody wears with a pair of scissors in hand! All I did was get a bit of material that I could get rectangle out of and cut a little line from the top down and ripped the whole thing facing away from me! I then did the same a little bit further along my material and cut the bottom to make a rectangle!

After all the ripping I had about 18 different scraps and its amazing what you can find. Some are obvious if you’ve seen them a lot, but others like the first scrap in the close up shot you just find already in a rectangle and think.. ‘Wow- cool pattern, I wonder what garment you used to be?’

After all the scraps were laid out and put into an order I liked, I was given a dark pink rope…‘Hmmm..well thats handy!’ Scrap lines are supposed to be hung by a thin thread and sown then pulled then sown some more by a sowing machine. Not gunna happen, no way- I can’t even use the dam things!

I had to come up with a cheats way, so I got the dark pink rope and laid out each scrap a few centimeters apart from each other, then I stretched the piece of material over the rope and sowed it into straight in. So although you can see the rope and it took me a while, its a pretty colour and it looks good hanging up on the wall.

I made the scrap line because I like lots of different types of materials and patterns, the wall looked a bit bare too and I really needed something to make it stand out as an arty place. Hopefully it will give me some inspiration into what materials I will use in the future and perhaps designing fabric patterns of my own!

Birthday cards

For family and close friends I nearly always make occasion cards and Aprils a busy month! So I thought I would share them.

The first two are my ‘cartoon cards’, as I am not so advanced that I can do a quick water colour or silk painting. No, cartoons are fun and I can experiment with themes too. The first, aimed at my 17 year old brothers is designed to create humor and I couldn’t think of a ‘manly’ card! So i pulled an image of a voluptuous woman of Google quickly traced it- Mr.C actually took that job! Added a speech bubble and some stars then left to see my bros- thats why I was late that night!

The other cartoon card was for my mum and is made to make her feel good! The girl on the front is supposed to look like her, whether she saw that I have no idea! But the speech bubble says “Another birthday….Yet I’m still as young as young as I feel!” Very true! Women should feel good about themselves not matter what age, in fact, there’s no such thing as age.

The last card was for a close friend, hello Emma! And was a total experiment. I bought some card, which was cheap and a bit too flimsy but I made it work. I chose some scrap material, stuck red at the back, then, put purple on the front and for the first time ever i sowed on card! Down one side I included beads too then in the middle I did my own thing with gold paint, resembling leopard print.

Birthday cushion

On to my last craft piece and as with all my projects there usually not just for any reason. Some things I need and others i make for special people in my life!

Another April birthday was that of Mr.C’s sister and I don’t have much money so instead of getting a voucher I had asked if I could make her a cushion. So when she said yes I was a happy bunny!

I wanted to come up with something spiritual but my budget was £10 and I had to do it quickly! I saw an old cushion that needed a new life and was just the right size. So I did an internet search and found a set of angel wings which were perfect and went from there

I tried to stick to colours related to Taurus but Hobby Craft wouldn’t allow it, so I chose rich colours to match the gold paint and I was turning our room into the prosperity corner of the home at the time, bringing together a blend of gold, purple and red. I attached a zip at the top (my first zip!) and some sequins too.

Top 10 craft sites to go to and remember

I have been on so many cool sites recently that I can’t believe what a crafty world were in! Most of them are American, lets start with the UK though, here they are:

10. http://www.milgilounge.com - When in Cardiff, our new friend took us along to Milgi a bar/ resturant where food, drink, music and art happen all in one place!

Not only do they have a super cool outdoor teepee to sit in and serve interesting cocktails but they have an art club too! Every 2nd Monday of the month from 7pm-10pm creative people get together and make new projects.

Also on the 1st Sunday of each month rails of vintage wear and unique jewelery is sold at Northcote Lane Market. For more information on this short introduction go to the ART section of the website.

9. http://churchofcraft.org - Promoting all acts of creation to live life in the best way! This is a sweet site to see what people are doing around the globe for inspiration. The only place in the UK that features is Manchester.

8. http://www.amybutlerdesign.com - Amy Butler produces lovely printed fabric- something I really want to do myself in the future! Take a look at her free patterns and how to get hold of her fabric.

7. http://angrychicken.typepad.com - Now and again I go to this site, as the blog is well presented and pictured with original ideas.

6.  http://www.mypapercrane.com - I love looking at the creations of Heidi Kenney’s Plush range. Handmade pieces of toast, sad cakes as there going to get eaten, a life size toilet and even fabric funny faced tampons! Her blog also has great pictures of new crafts too. Check it out.

5. http://www.52projects.com - My first mention of a man crafter and a totally different perspective! Although I find the site a little confusing, I get the idea of thinking outside the craft box.

Why not find a picture of every place you have ever lived in? Could you do it? Or just your walk to work in pictures? Maybe a good shot of your sandwich, its Art right?

I’m looking forward to getting my hands on Jeffery Yamaguchi’s books; Working for the man and 52 Projects.

4.  http://www.etsy.com - This site, also created by a man, in simple terms, is a bit like Ebay.
An online market place for buying and selling all things handmade. Which is great for crafters as they can sell items without having to make loads of stock, which can sometimes turn something you love doing into a chore and get recognition for it too.

3. http://www.crafster.org - Crafster is an on line community of people sharing hip projects and crafty DIY. The site is easy to navigate and it takes no time at all to join the crafty nation.

The Community forum has no category left unnoticed, I still have yet to go through them all, in ‘Re-using/Re-cycling/Re-crafting’ I’m hoping to finally find a use for my empty wine bottles! A definite site to visit to for new ideas!

2. http://www.craftychica.com - Arty, quirky and funky Kathy Canno-Murillo shares her glittery world of everyday crafts, Crafty Chica craft range (I am already tempted to buy the colourful art glitter) and has published a total of 6 craft books! Wow! If this site isn’t inspirational I don’t know what is.

1. http://violette.ca/ - My faveourite site and interviewee of Craft Sanity, is the wonderful woman Violette Clark. A folk singer and artist who lives in a purple house and drives a brightly coloured van, aims to inspire people to embrace their creativity and love who they are!

What a beautiful message! At 51 years she looks amazing and has motivated me to do my own visual journal- I can’t wait to get started! Please, please, please make my day and visit her site!

Ok, I know that was a countdown of excellent sites but through word of mouth I have come across another mind blowing site to take you to the peak of your colorful arty journey…drumroll please…and the winner…for an artist with bold, beautiful style, inspirational messages and more published books than I have fingers is…. http://www.planetsark.com

We’ve been up to exiting things this month, here’s some pictures to show you; all of it was really fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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