Sunset over the water

This was the lovely sunset last night from our beach.

Can you see why this is called "Monkey Rock"?

Having a wonderful, restful holiday

Judy

Breakfast by the sea

Beautiful - another start to a lazy day in Paradise

Judy

Hard life

It's a hard life, lucky I am getting to live it

Judy

More Finishes for Market Stall

I completed some more phone covers and chapstick holders for the market stall.  I like having a variety of little gifts on offer. 

Chapstick Holders:

 

 

Phone Covers:

 

 

 

 

The iPhone fits in so snugly.

 

 

I am really having fun, making all these little gifts.

 

Take care

Judy

Happy Valentines Day

Vintage Graphic from RaggedyScrappin

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY to all

Judy

Key Fobs

What a simple little gift this turned out to be ... key fobs.

 

All that is required is:

Webbing

Ribbon

Key Fob Hardware

 

 

I love them

 

I get my hardware from:  Little Red Raspberry

 

Simple, practical gift.   These are going towards my market day stall

 

Until next time

Judy

 

Valentines Gifts

I always try and make some little treat for Valentines Day - and this year is it very basic. Chocolate and Tic Tacs - but they look kinda cute.

 

I added a pack of stickers to the group and then packaged them up in a treat bag.

 

 

Simple but effective, what do you think? 

 

Judy

Sunday Sewing

I am nearly a week late with this post, no excuses.  Last Sunday my sister Sue & I had a day in the craft room.  The weather has been unbearably hot - 43 degrees, so since my air conditioner was now working it was an ideal place to be.



Sue's Sewing

My Sewing

We were testing out some small gift ideas, and we each completed four little items.

1.  Heart Pincushion from Moda Bakeshop
2.  iPhone cover
3.  Chapstick Cover
4.  Little Bunny Bag - seen on Selina Quilts Blog last Easter

The Heart Pincushion was quick and easy and used 2 co-ordinating fabrics, therefore both of ours were the same.  Nice and thick and will be capable of holding a lot of pins.  This would be an ideal little Valentine's gift for a sewing friend.

Front

Back

The iPhone cover, fits the phone snugly and securely.  It was extremely difficult to sew the final two seams on each side, due to the thickness of the wadding, fabric, interfacing as well as trying to contend with the seams. 

 

 

Chapstick Cover - don't we all need one of these.  Makes it easy to find and can be clipped onto the inside of your handbag.  This is a little different design from the ones I made here.  I think I prefer these ones.

 

Finally the little Bunny Bag - this was very easy to make, even if I had to pull out my sewing machine instruction book to check out how to sew a buttonhole.  It only uses 4 x 5" squares.  I can see these filled with little Easter Eggs for my nieces this Easter.

 

 

I will certainly be making more of each of these items, for the upcoming Red Carpet Market Day in Leeton.  Today, I started ... I made four more heart Pincushions and finished off another two little fabric boxes.

 

 

 

Tomorrow, and for the next week actually the heat wave conditions are going to continue, so I guess I will get a lot more sewing finished. 

 

I hope it is cooler where you are

 

Judy

Australia Day Crafting

I have used the Australia Day celebration as the theme for our crafts.


First up - a Australian Themed Fabric Box

 

The buttons used are available in store - Australia Destinations pack from Dress it Up.

Next - we painted a wooden Australia Mobile which consisted of a map of Australia, 2 x koalas and 2 x kangaroos.  This is what it looked like before we begun.

 

 

It was hard to take a photo of the finished item, as it kept on blowing in the wind.

Next, and my favourite, was a Cockatoo tin, this can be used to hold your pens & pencils, or scissors or just about anything.  We did not have any white feathers, and for one tin (RHS) we cut a set of Angel Feather wings in half.  My little cockatoo on the left, only has his little gold wings.

The instructions for making these really cute tins can be found here 

Lastly using a toilet roll and free printable we made this koala.  Super easy, check out the site as there are a lot of animals and characters you can use to decorate your toilet paper roll.

 

Nearly forgot - we also made a couple of gumnut  babies. 

 

 

A very creative afternoon, which resulted in one very tired Auntie.  

Have a good week

Judy

What a Week This Has Been ....

 

Fires, Tree Branches Falling, Sickness, Unexpected Travel, Flat Tyre, that is ENOUGH!

 

Till next week

Judy

Australia Day Challenge - 3

For the third week of my Australia Day challenge, I have three little repurposed ideas for you.

1.  Convert a wristband into a Cup Cosy - this is the ideal size to slip over a cup.  Enjoy a cup of Aussie tea with your own Aussie Green and Gold Cup.

 

 

2. Using a paper napkin, convert a empty tin into a flower container.  These beautiful gum blossoms are from my sister Sue's garden.  Using just the top layer of the paper napkin, modpodge it to the tin.  Once dry, place another layer of modpodge on top.

 

 

3.  Convert Australia Flag Luggage Tags into serviette place holders.  Take out the name and address card from the back of the tags and replace with a photo.  I removed the plastic ties and replaced them with red ribbon to wrap them around the serviettes.  I love the look of these.

The photo shows both the front and back of the luggage tags.

 

These would also make great gift tags.

 

 

 

Just as a little extra - I wrapped some mini Hershey Bar chocolates with Aussie themed graphics. 

 

 

My last challenge, a good friend Sonia, dropped of this piece of fabric this afternoon and asked what I could do with it?  Any suggestions?  It is not a cotton fabric, and measures approx. 48cm x 35cm.

 

 

All I can think of is to make a cushion cover or a placemat.  I do not want to cut into it, as I think you would lose the detail.

 

Close-up of gum blossoms to finish post

 

 

 

Still waiting for the cooler weather to get here, stay safe AND cool

 

Judy

Desperate Measures

After a trip into town this morning, I was told that the new remote for the air conditioner in the craft studio is at least a week away, it has not even left the factory in Adelaide!  Aghhhhhhh.....

As I also use the craft studio to pack the orders for my online store, this is getting to be quite a nuisance, therefore I made a little purchase today.

 

Remember those old-fashioned water filled coolers?  This one works on the same principle, takes about 13 litres of water to fill, fingers crossed it will do the job.

 

I have some tasks that I can complete in the house, where the evaporative air conditioner is working.

A big box of supplies for the online store to package, price and put away.

 

 

I will start on this, today, while watching a movie or the tennis. It's a hard life!

 

I also received my order for fold over elastic to make some hair ties as gifts. The colours are just so pretty.

 

 

These are very simple to make, and I will be able to make them in front of the TV.  Not much else you can do on these really hot days.  Although the linen cupboard does need a cleanout and tidy-up!

 

Until next time, keep cool

Judy

Just a Giggle

We are experiencing a heatwave with temperatures over 40 degrees for the entire week.  I found this little sign which made me giggle, knowing how hot it is outside

 

I do not think they were talking about the temperature, but it seemed appropriate

Giggles,

Judy

Australia Day Challenge - 2

For the second week of my Australia Day Challenge - see here - I have repurposed two plastic tablecloths into a sun shade.

 

Materials needed:

Tablecloth

Clips

Hoola Hoop

 

I found these little clips at a local discount store - they were ideal as they could slip onto the hoola hoop and clip onto the top of the tablecloth

 

 

Plastic tablecloths

 

 

 

Put them all together, hang under a tree, throw down a quilt, rug, blanket and you have a lovely place to laze protected from the sun.   Brandy did not waste any time, trying out the new space.

 

 

 

 

Until next time

Judy

Australia Day Challenge

I have set myself an Australia Day challenge

 

I am going to try and "repurpose" an Australia Day item into something other than what it was intended each week until Australia Day on January 26th.  That means I have set myself three challenges.

 

Just to show what I am talking about - I have converted two Aussie Silicon Wristbands into useful key chains ...

 

 

Now please take into consideration this was my first attempt, or I should say the keychain on the top was the first attempt and the Brad was not centred very well in the wristband.

 

All that was needed for the repurpose was to punch a hole through both layers of the wristband, insert a Brad and bend the ends of the Brad around the wristband to secure.  Thread your key ring on through the end loop, and you have now successfully repurposed your silicon wristband into a key chain. These key chains can easily be found in the bottom of your bag, or wherever you have left them. 

 

The silicon wristbands were purchased from "The Reject Shop" in Australia - pack of 2 - $2.00

 

If anyone else would like to take this challenge I would love to hear from you and see what you create.

 

Note: The little kangaroo with a joey in his pouch, is a "Teddy & Friends" soft toy.  What I really love about him is that he also has a little billy can and swag, which is very Australian.

 

Until next time

Judy