Soccer-Mad Brother-in-Law

I never know what to get my brother-in-law for his birthday, but I do know that he likes soccer. Here is a card that I made him one year, and a bookmark that I embroidered. The card was made by cutting the white parts out of the black cardboard with a craft knife, and then sticking some white paper on the back. Easy peasy!

Halloween Cards

I might have gotten a little over-excited at Halloween - I usually end up making more cards then I have people to give them to. These were pretty easy, I cut out the shapes with a craft knife and then stuck some red tissue paper over the back, so the idea is to have them back-lit. Maybe with a candle for the spooky flickering effect, but taking care not to let the card catch fire! The cut-out shapes can also be re-used to create a negative-space effect of the same image, but you have to be careful to cut it out neatly! You can see that I have done this method with the rattie cards right at the top. Some shapes work better than others though, so there were a few that I tried that technique with but they didn't turn out.

Bike Seat Cover.

You know how bicycle seats are so hard and uncomfortable? Well I fixed that with a bit of foam and bit of fabric, and a drawstring to pull it closed. I just cut it out in vaguely the right shape and it made it all oooh nice and comfy :)

Macrame in Modern Colours

This macrame jar holder is so quick that I think I made it an about an hour. You can use it to hang anything that is about the right size and shape - the string will move a lot in each direction merely altering the distance between the knots which makes it very flexible. Glass works especially well as you can see the light shining through the three dimensionality of the woven knots. The possibilities are endless.

Origami Bag

In March 2013 I went to the Sydney Craft Show and was lucky enough to be in time to book in for one of the free workshops - and got to make this origami bag! Fastastically easy pattern which makes perfect advantage of fat quarters (especially for non-quilters like myself) and it's a handy little bag to keep your sewing stuff in. Or non-sewing stuff in.

Here's a link to the pattern
https://mommermom.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/fabric-origami-bag-tutorial/comment-page-1/

Mobile Phone Cover with a difference

I just needed a little something to keep my mobile phone protected in my bag - some red velvet and black lace made the cutest little pouch.

Sewing - a dress made from ties

Yes this is indeed a dress made from ties - as in those things men put around their neck to keep those shirt collars in close choking distance to their necks. Many years ago I scoured all the Brisbane op-shops to find the most psychedelic old 1970s ties and combined them all together into one amazing creation.

Beadwork

This is a suncatcher that I made in March for my mum's birthday - I had no beading supplies so visited 4 beading shops in Brisbane until I found all the right beads to make what I wanted to achieve.

Here are some earrings that I made up for christmas presents a couple of years ago. The hard part was trying to work out which earrings suited which recipients! The cardboard backing is decorated by some embossed stamps which I hand-carved out of an eraser.

And some more earring that I made as gifts, though I did keep an identical pair as the ones below for myself :)

Things I made in June this year

My first attempt at crochet. Not sure what I could use it for at this size - if it was bigger maybe a beanie!

 I bought a art set at the West End State School which consisted of coloured powders, not unlike the shavings from coloured pencils. Very difficult to use and very messy too! I used them to create this background and then drew a fish over the top of it. I have to play around with those powders some more to try and work out the best way to use them.

The winter solstice festival at Northey Street City Farm in Brisbane had a lantern making workshop, with pre-cut out pieces of tissue-paper and lengths of split bamboo. Very quick and easy to make, and then decorated with clay slip. Some of the other lanterns were amazingly complicated, using the basic principle of the triangle shape and then building onto that in different directions. For example, you could make a star and then make it three dimensional. Simple but effective!

My first macrame which I learnt at a free workshop in West End, Brisbane. This is with the traditional use of stiff beige string, with a bit of red wool for tying at the start and finish. Very quick and easy technique which I have adapted to use for other uses - and with other colours which are a bit more interesting, and pretty!

This is a woven star which I made as part of the 1 Million Stars to End Violence project. I think I might have forgotten the technique by now but there are instructions online. The hard part is finding the right kind of ribbon - it has to have a certain stiffness to it in order to hold the folds and hold the shape. I found out that crepe paper ribbon is NOT the right kind of ribbon!

Pics of Made Objects from July

Here are some pics of things that I made in July this year.

 I decorated some tree seeds so that they looked like fairies when they dropped and span - gorgeous! Turned out better than I hoped!

This bottle cover is made using a very simple macrame technique, I adjusted the one that I learnt for hanging jars and started at the bottom instead of the top. Macrame has come a long way since the 1970s! It is a very simple technique of just tying knots, and I would love to teach other people how easy it is.

This is a mug-warmer which I hand-sewed when I was getting sick of a) my drinks getting cold too quickly on those cold winter days, and b) my hands getting burnt when I was trying to warm them on my hot drink mug. Both problems solved, and now I have a beautifully decorated mug!

Gift Cards Workshops

Hi my name is Sandy, and I love to create!

         I like to just grab whatever is around me to make something that is both beautiful and functional. I don't believe in spending money on special tools, but instead to make use of that which other people would otherwise throw away.

        I have recently escaped from the urban jungle of Sydney and while travelling for a year and half I still managed to find the time and the materials to create beautiful and useful objects. I like to just take what would otherwise be turned into rubbish, and manipulate it into something completely different. I like to do things which are very quick and easy, and just use everyday household items. I like to keep life down-to-earth, remembering what the important things in life REALLY are, and make the world a more joyous place for everyone to be in.

       I have made this blog so that I can put up photos of pretty things that I have made, so that I can share my ideas and experience with the world. I want to teach the world how to create!


            Below is a pic of some gift cards that I have made, merely by ripping up junk mail and then just sticking down the carefully arranged little pictures onto folded paper. In this case I found that furniture catalogues are surprisingly good sources of pretty little pictures which can be arranged into random pretty patterns. Suddenly junk mail has been transformed from rubbish into a precious resource!
    

 

          I am doing a FREE workshop on how to make these cards this Saturday at the Drake Festival - if you are in the area you should come and check it out! There will be market stalls, heaps more workshops, performances and loads of giveaways (including chocolate if the rumours I've heard are true!!!)

          Below is a pic of the sign I have painted for the workshop space in which I will be showing people how to make junk mail gift cards. It has been named The Green Room so I thought that I would match the green theme with some vines and leaves around the outside. I have never really painted anything like that before, so I just made it up as I went along! I only have a fairly large paintbrush with me at the moment, so details were difficult - I finished it off with a toothpick dipped in paint.

           Below is a pic of some Christmas cards that I have made out of aluminium drink cans. That's right, from empty cans of soft drink I have made some shiny pretty things. I saw a photo online and thought - yep that looks like a good idea! And ran with it - using a few different techniques which you can see here.

    
             The first card is about 5 layers of cut-out stars. the second is a cut-out and then embossed reindeer, the third is cut-out and embossed shapes, and the christmas tree is made a number of different cut-out shapes which are overlapping. The first card on the second row is actually behind a cut-out window in the card itself, with the shape inside the window embossed with patterns, and the two stars on the bottom row are folded three-dimensional shapes. This last technique can actually be used as 3D Xmas tree decorations.

        I did a bunch of research on the internet and found some handy tips and techniques, but I haven't copied anything exactly. The beauty of an idea like this is that your imagination is the limit - I couldn't find anyone who had already done exactly what I wanted to do, so I had to make it all up as I went along. Which is the way that I like it! I can't wait for other people to show me what their imaginations come up with!

         I am doing a workshop on how to make these spectacular Christmas Cards on Sunday the 14th of December at the Drake Village Resource Centre. I will be showing everyone how to make all these different different types of cards, so that you can take some home and then make some more when you get home! That's Christmas sorted! This workshop is only $10 so if you are interested you should get your bookings in sooner rather than later! Recommended for children over 10 as there will be some sharp edges on the aluminium. Starts at 11am and runs for a couple of hours - plenty of time to make multiple cards!
Contact me via the comment section here, or through my facebook group page below
All Laced Up  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1554763098072233/

Supported by and many thanks to THE NAKED BAKER

and his mate DON who do great cake and coffee,

and also the the DVRC Volunteers who make great community!

Have some of the Naked Baker coffee and cake on the day!