Etched Martini Glasses

I love glass etching, but it is impossible to photograph glass thanks to all the reflections. Bumping up the contrast quite a bit helps the etched design show up a little better in photos.

These martini glasses were an 18th birthday present for my husbands cousin. I used my Silhouette machine and a feather design from their store for the stencils. 

Curved glass makes it a bit difficult with the stencil as it bubbles and causes the stencil to lift in some spots. Luckily this design was pretty forgiving where the cream leaked out.

I still need to try glass etching with my Dremel - I was so excited about buying one and I've hardly used it. I did try engraving a pet tag myself and I had trouble keeping the Dremel steady so it has put me off the idea of using it for glass etching when I can just use my etching cream. Although not all glass takes with the etching cream, so I'm sure there will be a day where I have no choice but to try it!

Crochet Baby Blankets

Awhile ago I asked my mum to teach me how to crochet, while there are heaps of videos online that teach you how to do it, I just couldn't figure it out. So I started with a chevron blanket for our couch using three colours. Then for some reason I decided that I should make a blanket for my youngest nephews first birthday. I finished it just in time for his birthday party.

I really liked the yarn with different shades of blue, it made a cute blanket. I decided to use the same sort of yarn for my niece's first birthday present - this one was a very, very late birthday present!

I've decided that I don't like crochet, probably why it took me so long to finish that second baby blanket. Unfortunately I still have to finish the chevron one I started for our couch. Oh and I have another niece on the way so I'm trying to decide if I should do the same for her first birthday - if I do, then I need to make one for my 11 year old nephew... maybe I'll get one finished just in time for his 18th birthday!

Easter Bunny Shirts

For Easter this year I made my little niece and nephew matching Easter bunny shirts.

I made my stencils on my silhouette machine with contact paper (vinyl), it makes it a lot easier to paint as you don't need to worry about the stencil moving. 

The super cute bunny image on the top shirts is from the blog Petti Bear - although the intended use is as a wall sticker. I think it is great for tshirts too :)

The bunnies on the bottom shirts were from the Silhouette Online Store - unfortunately I didn't iron the paint properly and some of it washed off. Luckily it still looks cute :)

Wood Burned Cat Spoon

I just had to share this photo...

This is Chaos, he is one of my foster cats (most likely that sentence will have the word "foster" removed). 

Chaos decided to "help" me photograph one of the wooden spoons that I burnt a cat design on. What normally happens is that I start clearing space to take a photo or start a craft and all of a sudden one of the cats decide it's the perfect spot to sit/lay/sleep/play. Luckily this time he was in a good mood and let me sit the spoon under his leg. Funnily enough the first time I showed him a wooden spoon he attacked it, I guess there have been enough of them around my house that they are huggable now.

This spoon and a second one I made were Christmas gifts for the ladies who run the rescue that I foster for (plus toys for their cats).

Mosaic Trivet

For my older sister's birthday last year, I had a brilliant idea to make a mosaic tile trivet.

Why is it a brilliant idea? Because I've never done mosaic before, or anything to do with tiling really. Turns out I didn't enjoy it that much, mostly because it was a bit of a pain trying to evenly line up all those tiles since they shifted when I removed the spacers. And because I have all these grand ideas in my head, I bought enough tiles to make quite a few trivets!

Luckily it turned out well, since my younger sister wanted one for her birthday (hence the buying of extra tiles). Even better, they both have the same colour schemes for their homes. 

Because I had basically everything I needed, I decided to make one for my mother in laws birthday as well - in greens of course as that is her favourite colour. I completely forgot to take a photo of that one.

While I was making a huge mess I also made one for myself. I made mine bigger with smaller grout spacing and I have a lot of tiles leftover...