Tag Archives: Sewing

Summer Holiday Crafting

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While I’ve been off my feet for a while this summer and since the end of the Olympics, I’ve been encouraging Alice to get a bit more creative. To be fair, it hasn’t been that difficult as we’ve had a few rainy miserable days here and it’s always fun to empty the making box all over the kitchen table.

Alice traded in some of her lizard cards from Explore Learning for a set of t-shirt graffiti pens, so we ordered her a couple of cheap white t-shirts to have a play with. They arrived earlier today so she had a great afternoon finding her inner fashion designer.

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I love how she put a design on the back too!

I’ve also encouraged her to start making cards for her friend’s birthdays. Her friend Daisy was seven at weekend and she wanted to make a bird card like the ones I’ve been making recently, so I gave her a choice of some of the girly floral papers to make one with. This is pretty much all her own work with the exception of the mounting for the happy birthday flag. Her friend loved the card and I do too.  I think it’s great how she made the bird fly, adding in a second wing behind.

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Another craft I’ve tried to do with Alice is some basic sewing.  I think it’s a skill everyone should master, even if it only means being able to sew on a button.  I know it is a skill that will help with her Brownie badges.  So on a recent trip to Clark Crafts in Ramsbottom, I found this little kit.  As she loves cats at the moment, this looked like the ideal kit to start with.

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It’s a pretty simple kit and comes with everything needed to make the cat, including stuffing and a needle (plastic).  It took a few goes, but she finally mastered the basic running stitch to put all the pieces together, then spent a good half hour deciding where all the embellishment pieces would go.  She loves the finished cat and it has slept by her bed every night!  I need to make sure she doesn’t lose this liking for sewing and get out some of the other kits I have hidden away that she hasn’t been interested in up to now.

Well it’s back to school next week, so it’s time for me to get on with some more sewing – name tapes in uniform!  And I must remember to get a new dance uniform too.

Happy crafting
x

Looking for my Mojo!

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Today I have been to collect Guinness’s ashes from the vet which was quite upsetting. So I decided to take him for a walk around Bury. It’s been nice that the sun was shining and I felt better in the open air. I took a detour into TK Maxx, I always find it a great place to lose some time. I’ve noticed recently that they have been offering some craft items at pretty good prices, so I thought I’d have a look. As I am still looking for my mojo, I thought the selection of craft materials might inspire me to make something.

I found a collection of products from Papermania this time. It was a bumper pack of the Sew Lovely range – a sewing inspired paper range including ribbon, papers, decoupage and glue. So I bought the lot and came home to have a play. It’s pretty hard when you can’t find any inspiration, so the little inspiration card on the decoupage was a Godsend. I don’t do much decoupage normally, but I found the cutting out and putting pieces together very therapeutic. The kit is lovely. The papers all have a look of handsewn items – quilts, patchwork etc, and there were loads of little extras on the sheets – buttons, roses, pins. I’ve put together three decoupage elements and made them into some different cards for me.

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Thank You Sew Much

Thank You Sew Much

It was great to find my craft space again and to actually make something. These cards are a completely different style to anything I’ve made before. The colours in this kit are great, so bright, yet very subtle. And the extras like the tape measure ribbons and card buttons are great to work with. I will be looking for ways to use some more of these in future projects.

Happy crafting
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