Skirts, bath bombs and a flower...

So, while I may not be crafting with paper just now, I am certainly not short of crafty things to do...

I have toyed for a while with trying to make some clothes. I have done so in the past, but not since I was at university. I tend to be lazy, and not finish my seams properly, and literally make do and mend ;)
But, inspired by some blog posts, I have bit the bullet and made something. A skirt. A maxi skirt. With ruffles :) I found an excellent tutorial here and went to JoAnns to get some fabric. And this is what I ended up with...

I love it. It's not perfect - a bit wonky in places, but I am blaming my sewing machine which took great umbrage at sewing jersey fabric ;) I have fabric for another one, but will wait for the walking foot to arrive for my sewing machine, as maybe I will have better results.

One of the other Brit wives out here on exchange found an awesome deal on our local Groupon, to take classes at an organic studio - making cheese, candles, soap and other such things. A few of us decided it would actually be quite good fun, so we signed up. I took a bath bomb making class on Monday night, and it was brilliant :)

We came home with a tray full of bathbombs that we had made ourselves, and a small tub of jello based soap. It was really interesting, we made 3 different types of bath bombs, and came home with a booklet with all the instructions and recipes. The next class I'm taking is a soapmaking class, and we come home with a big slab of soap!

Finally the flower. Tomorrow is ANZAC day, and the Australian Air Force guys here are having a remembrance service on the squadron. I asked my Aussie friend, if it was appropriate for me to wear a poppy - in the UK on Remembrance Day the British Legion sell little paper poppies and we are encouraged to "Wear your Poppy with Pride". As this is a day of remembrance for Australian and New Zealand forces who have fought and died in World Wars, and other conflicts. Having a Great Grandfather who fought in WW1 and a Grandfather who fought in WW2, and being a military spouse, I always try to wear a poppy. Unfortunately, the Americans don't seem to have them, so I missed out wearing one in November. Today, I had a bit of a brain wave and decided to make my own out of felt.

I found a tutorial here, got some red and black felt, and a few seed beads, and set to work. I am quite pleased with how it turned out, and will definitely be wearing this poppy with pride tomorrow.

Today has been a very pleasant day, blue skies and a slight breeze, so I took the opportunity to go down to our community pool to swim a few laps and soak up some rays :) Sometimes it's hard work being me... :P

Sarah xxx

Beads and cards

Very unoriginal title I'm afraid lol.

Tomorrow we are off to dinner, to celebrate with our friends Monica and Chris on the occasion of their daughter's birthday. Leslie is now a Senior at High School, so I wanted to give her something a bit different for her birthday. I am not sure whether she will like it or not, but nothing ventured, nothing gained...

I got the beads from my local Michael's - gotta love that store. And even better, it is 5 minutes drive from my house. Maybe my husband doesn't agree that it is quite so appealing to our bank balance though...

And here is the card I made.

I used a sketch from the Sugar Bowl , and the image is a Lili of the Valley stamp, coloured in with ProMarkers. The papers are from My Mind's Eye - a bargain I found at a Home Goods store, as the 6x6 paper pad only cost me $2.00...   The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards, and I used my Spellbinders to make a lollipop flower. I went to town with my distressing tool, distressing all the edges - I looked like I had a bad case of dandruff afterwards lol.

I must go and make the dessert I am taking round for dinner - my Gran's pineapple cheesecake. I even found proper digestive biscuits at Publix for the base - no Graham crackers for MY cheesecake....

Teachers gifts

I can't believe it is that time of year already. So where has the year gone? It only seems 5 minutes since Tom decided that he was big enough to walk to school by himself, and that Jemma was looking forwards to her class residential trip to the Loch Insh Watersports Centre...  And now, she is ready to go up to the High School, and Tom is looking forward to starting Primary 5, in August.

Both the children have ended the year with different teachers to which they started. Tom's teacher had a fall in the autumn, and fractured her hip. Jemma's teacher gained a permanent position at another school (he was only a stand in teacher). But although they loved their original teachers, their replacements have been fantastic.

I made a card for Tom's teacher, to go along with her gift. I thought I would use my new Sizzlit Owl die. I asked Tom to find out what his teacher's favourite colours were, and he came home and told me "white". Seriously??? "Well, her car is white, and her phone is white...." OK, so I tried to work with that, and made a white-on-white card.



I used a Spellbinders Nestabilities scalloped square, and a Cuttlebug embossing folder to give some texture and dimension to the card. I used Papertrey Ink's "Take a Bough" stamp set, and some Colorbox chalk inks to give the owl a perch LOL. I even found a pair of googly eyes for the owl. The sentiment is from a Personal Impressions stamp set.

Jemma used my idea, and came up with her own card. She handcut the owl herself... I didn't get a photo before she had written it and stuck the envelope down, but I know her teacher will love it.

On to the gifts. I decided this year to have a go at making some jewellery. My local craft shop Papercrafts Boutique, has recently started stocking the most gorgeous beads and I was just dying to have a play. With a little help from my friend Christel, I managed to produce this...

Now this is actually the bracelet I made for myself, but it is identical to the one I made for Tom's teacher. I couldn't get white beads, so went for silver and turquoise instead. I made the same style of bracelet for Jemma's teacher, but in plum and dusky pink beads, as Jemma said that she would like those colours. Again, no photo of that one, as she was in such a rush to package it up for her teacher...

From the reaction of the Headmistress this morning when I popped into school (Tom forgot his dinner ticket in the excitement of taking in his gift!!) I think they went down very well....


TTFN


xxxx