To Study or not to Study...

I do most of my uni work at the kitchen table as the desk in my bedroom is dedicated to crafty things. One morning as a way of procrastinating I decided to cover all my boring books and folders in pretty paper. Now when I sit down to study I am surrounded my beautiful books.

Here is how you make lovely covered books.

·         Place open book over paper and trace around, adding an extra 2cm overlap on the edges. Cut and use double sided tap to stick down the edges. Easy as pie!

·         Sometimes it is nice to try something a little different. I have used contrasting paper on the back and front covers of some books. The process here is similar; just measure one cover with a little extra to stick on the inside. Repeat for back cover. Then cut a strip the length of the book and a few centimetres in width. Stick this on the spine so it overlaps both the front and back. Lovely!

·         You can cover the inside of the front and back covers as well to make the book look neater. Just measure and cut a piece of paper a little smaller than the cover and stick down using double sided tape.

Footy and Crafting

While watching the footy last night (the Cats lost- so sad!) I was also making some earrings. They are up for sale on my Made It shop. A lovely little gift for yourself or a friend don’t you think?

 

 

Classic Charm

Recently I have loved the classical style jewellery made from cream pearls and clear crystals. This is my latest make. Bracelets like this are very easy to make. Here is how:

1.       Use clear stretch beading elastic. I buy mine from Spotlight. Instead of cutting the elastic I keep it on the real and thread my beads on. That way you do not have to tie a knot in the end to begin with. So unreal some elastic and thread the beads on. I use a bead board to lie out my design first and have a fiddle around.

2.       This bracelet alternates between a 6mm cream glass pearl and gold spacer beads. I was using up some odd left overs so there are a few different styles.

3.       Once the bracelet will fit the size of your wrist or a friends (when making for a friend I measure their wrist using string and use the string as a guide on how long the bracelet should be) cut the elastic leaving space on both ends so you can tie a knot. Tie a few to keep it tight. Then cut of the ends and voila! A lovely new bracelet!

Thrifty Glass Jars

Following my post Spotty Love on recovering cans and jars, I also like to use old jars to keep food stuff in. After a jar is empty clean it well and remove the label. Using eucalyptus oil helps. I put the jars in the dishwasher to clean them after. Or use hot soppy water. When clean and dry place things like rice, lentils and pasta in the jars. They look lovely standing together waiting for you to cook up something wonderful.

 

I also store my crafty bits and bobs such as ribbon, flowers and mini pegs (!) in glass jars as well. I think it fuels the creativity being able to see all your goodies around you as you create.

 

 

 

 

Spotty Love

I am having a love affair with spots. It has been going on for a while now and is getting pretty serious. Recently I found some gorgeous red and blue spotty wrapping paper. So of course I start covering everything in sight!

To make this groovy pen holder follow these steps:

·         Save a can of food after use and clean with hot soppy water and leave to dry. Measure the length of the can and cut a long strip of paper.

·         Stick double sided tape on one short edge and stick to can. Roll the paper along the can and cut off extra paper. Again stick tape on the edge and stick down. There we go- a pretty pen holder. Thrifty too!

·         With this glass jar I just cut a strip of spotty paper and stuck it on the jar the same way as the can. Sometimes I can’t be bothered removing the label on the jar so I just cover it with pretty paper!

Tick Tock Goes the Clock

Another collection of mine (a new one I am beginning) is pendent and fob watches, both old and new. I picked up this watch at a car boot sale over a year ago. I made this chain using glass crystals and pearls to go with it. It looks stunning sitting with my other jewels. It is very simple, I thread a bead onto a length of gold wire, create a loop with round nose pliers, cut the wire with enough room to make a loop at the other end, then join all the links together.

The second image is another watch I found recently at a market.

Hello Spring!

Time For Tea

Yet another collection of mine is teacups. I think this would be a favourite. My Mum also collects them and we love hunting around op shops for the next addition to our collections. My very favourite tea cup is actually in Mum's collection (for now!). It is made in Japan and is white with a very delicate hand painted Japanese garden on both the cup and saucer. The cup and saucer all have a scalloped wave pattern in the china. It is one of those individual pieces that you only come across once. I am yet to find one that rivals it for my collection.

My very favourite tea cup of my own would be one I found in a vintage shop in Ballarat. It was little, a pearly yellow colour with a bright gold handle. Yet another one of a kind piece. So of course I accidentally break it two weeks later. I still have not recovered from that incident yet! I have an awful track record for breaking favourite things.

Here are some of my teacups...