March 2012 - Create for 365 days

I thought I would share a summary of my progress each month for my "Create for 365 days" challenge.

And what better way to present all my photos than as a collage... and then give you links to any tutorials I used!

001: My chunky blue beaded bracelet.
002: Tile coasters using a golden paper with Asian writing.
003: My painted mobile phone case.
004: Glittered photo frame - Paint on PVA, sprinkle with glitter, after it is dry paint over it with watered down PVA to keep the glitter in place.
005: Rhinestone letters (originally started for our wedding cake).
006: March, April, May and June calendars coloured in with watercolour pencils.
007: Gelatin air freshener in a bamboo etched glass bottle. Tutorial here: http://www.delightfulcountrycookin.com/2010/08/homemade-air-freshener.html
008: Headband for my mum.
009: Scrapbook paper clock - Cut the paper to size and stick on using double sided tape.
010: Tuna can pincushion for my Grandma's birthday. Tutorial for pincushion: http://weefolkart.com/content/tuna-can-pincushions
011: Felt flower hair clip.
012: Penguin cross stitch that my sister brought back for me from New Zealand.
013: Flower etched fruit bowl.
014: Glittered gift tags.
015: Winnie the Pooh and Piglet bookmark kits.
016: Pink baby bear cross stitch.
017: Felt flower hair clip.
018: Black dress slip.
019: Blue baby bear cross stitch.
020: Crazy bee cross stitch.
021: Crazy bee cross stitch pattern: http://krydasu.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/bee-cross-stitch-pattern.html
022: Purple ruffled dog collar for Trixie.
023: Felt flower hair clips - Tutorial by Yoonie: http://yoonie-at-home.blogspot.com.au/2008/09/peony-flower-felt-clip-tutorial.html
024: Ribbon covered pen... fail.
025: Painted xbox case.
026: Scrapbook paper card and envelope set.
027: Tuna can pincushion for my mums birthday - Pincushion: http://weefolkart.com/content/tuna-can-pincushions Felt flowers: http://heatherbailey.typepad.com/links/springviolets.html
028: Scrapbook paper peg magnets.
029: Zebra dog collar.
030: Signature tree for my SIL's wedding.
031: Tulle and poplin flower hair clip.

Covering a spiral notebook

I always have a pile of little notebooks sitting on my desk allocated to different things. I hate that they are yellow and that I have to look in them all until I find the right one!

I used to cover them in contact just up to the spiral section as well as folding the edges over - as if I was back in school covering my exercise books.

Now, I take the spiral off before covering the notebook which looks much nicer and covers all of the yellow!

If you are interested in covering spiral notebooks this way, here is how I did it...

1. Grab your ugly notebook (I used Spirax No. 560 - A good size to keep in my handbag, but it also fits in the back pocket of my jeans)
2. Flip the cardboard covers out of the way and using 2 bulldog clips, hold all the pages together near the spirals.
3. Take a close look at the ends of your spiral and you will notice that they are bent inwards to stop it twisting its way off the notebook.
4. Grab a pair of pliers and bend the wire on both ends so it continues on as a spiral shape.
5. Simply twist the wire out of the holes.
6. You now have everything separated as required. As you can see the back cover is plain white on the inside so I opted to simply flip it around rather than cover it with contact and cut out all those tiny holes.
7. Cut your contact slightly bigger than the notebook cover.
8. If you don't know how to cover books with contact, just remove the backing paper from one edge of the contact.
9. Flip the contact over and line it up with your notebook cover. Once you have the contact stuck to your table and the top of your notebook cover, just start pulling the backing paper off while rubbing the contact down with your fingers. Doing it slowly prevents air bubbles. Some people used credit cards or rulers but I don't like the way it marks the contact. If you don't want to use your fingers just use a cloth or sponge.
10. Using a craft knife, trim down the sides of the contact, using the edge of the cardboard as a guide.
11. Now you need to cut out all the little holes - hence why I opted to leave the back plain!
12. Hold your covers in place with your paper (still clipped) inside and twist the spiral back onto your notebook.
13 .Grab your pliers again and bend the coils back to their original positions, or twist it around as I have. 

Now you can remove the bulldog clips and use your customised notebook.

It is actually a quick project if you are used to using contact paper, even cutting out the little holes doesn't take too long.

You will find some contact (eg. the blue notebook I covered) is still rather see through, so you may want to test a scrap piece first. For the blue notebook I just used the back cover so the pattern would still show through - luckily there is no writing on the back!

Fancy Letterbox Numbers

We ripped out our rusty old letterbox a couple of weeks ago and put a lovely black and silver one in its place.

I had grand ideas for the house numbers I wanted - but of course I didn't think about it until after we put the new letterbox in. So, almost 3 weeks later after procrastinating and curing, we have beautiful rhinestone house numbers!

When cars drive past at night, my numbers sparkle and show up really well. It's an added bonus and I wish I could say it was the reason I spent a whole day gluing tiny rhinestones on pieces of wood.

I stuck them on using automotive double sided tape, so I'm hoping they hold!

Blobby female figure

After finishing my fox blobby drawing I decided to edit the female figure I blogged about previously.

While editing I realised how much my style has changed over the years. As you can see, originally I didn't try to make even outlines, I was making them as much of a feature as the blobs themselves. While editing this drawing I noticed that I was still trying to even up the outlines! 

For my next drawing I will try my hardest to do it "old style"...

Currently Working On...

My big project that I am working on at the moment is one of the cross stitch kits I bought before we even had our first house.

The finished size of this piece is 40cm wide by 88cm high - way bigger than any cross stitch I have ever started! I'm used to doing little pieces so I have no idea why I thought it would be a good decision to buy two kits this size.

As it was so intimidating I started the flowers, quickly got over it and put it away for a few years. After getting it out again I opted to focus on the bottom half, completing one colour at a time and as you can see, so far so good...

I found it took me ages to find my place again whenever I came back to work on it so I made myself a grid with pink thread. It means I find my spot quicker and it makes it easier to check and ensure I haven't made any mistakes.

Hopefully once I finish this cherry blossom one I will promptly get started on my bamboo one! Then I can try my hand at making matching frames for them...