Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day folks! Rich and I didn't really celebrate this year as we were stranded at an airport Monday and Tuesday, so didn't feel much like celebrating on actual Valentines Day - but we do have some plans on Saturday.

Although, I did come home to a "Snarky Valentines" swap package from a swap I recently did on Craftster and it was pretty great. First up is this snarky handmade garland with some conservation hearts.

I also got this cute handmade card (which I'm thinking I may frame) and some "conversation heart" jelly beans!

I've been trying to do Facebook/Instagram posts of Mia for each holiday/season, as we'd been trapped away from home in the days leading up to valentines I didn't have time to make/buy anything - but then this snarky garland arrived just in time!

I hope you all had a lovely Valentines regardless of what you did (or didn't do!).

David Bowie Craft Swap

I was pretty sad when David Bowie died and I'm not really one to get upset about famous people passing away, but David Bowie was one of my favourites. I grew up on David Bowie's music, one of my all time favourite movies as a child (and an adult) is Labyrinth and when I see cats with two different coloured eyes I always refer to them as David Bowie cats.

So when there when I saw that there was a David Bowie Tribute Swap happening on Craftster I decided to sign up.

I decided to make a couple of things for my partner, the biggest item was this bag. I  used the same pattern that I did for my Make a Purse and Fill It Swap, but this time I added some embroidery.

Here's a close up of the embroidery, I'm not completely happy with it but it is the first embroidery I've done in about seven years so I can live with it. 

I wish I could credit the designer of the pattern, but its a freebie and I cannot find the original design again! Anyway it came out a little bit wonky, but I'm happy with it overall.

I lined the bag with this fabric I bought a heap of at fabric-a-brac a couple of years ago as it seemed to work pretty well with the colour and the lyrics on the front of the bag.

I also made a cross stitch (obviously) there are a few David Bowie themed cross stitches on Esty if you're thinking of making one, this was my favourite. The pattern is by Jenny Savage Studio, the original design had the text in red, but for some reason I decided purple was better. Also the fabric is sparkly because sparkly is always better.

I was very lucky and received a pretty amazing package in return which included this button mosaic David Bowie, which I have to share as it is incredible and more art than craft!

I hope everyone's week is going great! I have finally sorted the photos from my trip and hopefully I will be able to do a post about that soon.

Make a Purse and fill it swap

Here's yet another swap I did recently, this one was through Craftster - I'm kind of on a "swap/craft kick" at the moment, which is a good place to be! Although I am doing less garment sewing - I need to fit this as soon as I'm fully recovered!

Anyway back to the current swap - like the title says - the basic idea of this swap is to make a bag/purse/tote/whatever and fill it. For some weird reason I'm always had a bit of a fear of making bags, I  don't know why. I have made plenty of simple totes but nothing more complex.

I wanted to do this swap for two reasons, firstly make a bag more complex than a tote and secondly use up some of my fabric stash. I primarily sew garments and so most of my fabric should REALLY be at least 1.5 metres, however, I got into the habit last year of buying smaller lengths of fabric from an online Facebook group, Usually because the fabric was so cute I HAD to have it!! But theswn as a garment sewer I never really used these smaller lengths - I mean if its less than a metre I can at least make something for one of my friends kids or my niece or nephew, however, what am I even DOING with fat quarters?

I was really happy with the things I made for the swap and I managed to smash (a little) of the little bits of fabric in my stash and concur my bag making fear.

This swap required a bag to be made for your swap  partner as well as three small items for inside the bag, when I received my partners questionnaire it said she wanted a messenger bag (yikes) and that she liked bright colours (YES! I had that part covered!).

THE BAG

 Look guys!! I made a bag and its actually pretty awesome! I got the instructions for this from "Love Sewing Australia" which has now apparently shut up shop (but there is still a UK version I think), the instructions for the bag were in Issue 9 if anyone is interested.

The outside fabric was bought from this Facebook group,  I bought about a metre and always meant to buy some other fabric to go with it as have it as a "feature" fabric on a garment, but that never happened. I'm happy it never happened now because it makes an AMAZING bag!

I added a front pocket in the same fabric, I didn't make too much effort to match the pattern as the pattern is kind of crazy. Plus I figure you don't want the pocket of your bag too hidden, right?

I lined the inside of the bag with some purple cotton from Arthur Toye Fabrics (RIP) and added another pocket as well - because bags need pockets! As you've realised by now, I really loved this bag and it was genuiely hard to sent it off to its new home. But that's ok, because I can make more.

COIN PURSE

One of the other things my partner said she would like in this swap was a coin purse - so I decided to make one. I had a flick through some craft books and dug through my stash and found a good pattern and some fantastic fabric,

I decided to make this change purse from Sew Retro which is a book I bought from a second hand store when we were in Oregon last year. My version is kind of deeper that the version in the book (I would recommend this book by the way, its a fun mix of history and fabrics). As my partner liked colours I chose this AMAZING bright star fabric I picked  up at a swap literally years ago. The other light blue star fabric is from fabric-a-brac and I've used it before here, I also decided to use this glitter ric rac which is also from fabric-a-brac and I used it previously here.

This was a pretty simple project, taken to the next level with both stars and glitter!

CRAFT SUPPLY ROLL

Another thing I wanted to make for the bag was a "craft supply roll" - I guess kind of like one of those jewellery rolls that some people take traveling but for craft stuff for projects on the go (or for when you are going to a crafternoon at a friends house).

I found what I was looking for in a book I've had for YEARS, I think I might have got it from Borders Books when it still existed. If anyone is interested this is The Crafter Culture Handbook and it includes instructions for a crafty tool pack - or craft supply roll as I like to call it! The next step was to choose some suitably bright fabrics.

You've seen three of these already, the neon arrow fabric was given to me by my friend Emma and the unicorn fabric (how good is that fabric) was from the same Facebook group I bought the main bag fabric on.

When I had cut out all the different pieces of fabric, this one was actually pretty easy to sew together. I included a few little crafty bits and pieces for my swap partner in the finished craft roll.

Here's a final shot of the craft supply roll all rolled up, the ribbon is from a pack of ribbons I bought years ago from Warehouse Stationary.

SNACK POUCH

The final, and probably least interesting thing I made for this swap was a snack pouch. There's not too much to be said for the pouch, its a drawstring pouch.

However, as it is a snack pouch, it needed appropriate food related fabric! I used a fat quarter I had bought from Pete's Emporium in Porirua at some point. This fabric is SO CUTE! Which is why I guess I felt the need to buy it, even though there was only a fat quarter - I'm glad I've finally put it to good use.

Well that's all for this swap, I do have a few others "on the boil" so to speak, here's to "smashing the fabric stash" in 2016.

Dr Who Swap

I recently finished up another swap on Craftster - this time it was a theme close to my own geeky heart, Dr Who. The name of the swap was actually "My favourite Doctor" which meant you had to craft a few things based around your partners favourite elements on the show. For example - favourite Doctor, favourite monster, favourite quote and favourite episode.

Here's what I made for the swap for my partner - two cross-stitches which were created by Rich.

Her favourite monsters are cybermen, so it only seemed right I made her a cyberman cross-stitch, this guy is a little bit friendlier that the average cyberman.

My partner was also a big fan of the tardis - so I made her a tardis cross stitch. Home is in fact, where the tardis is!

What did I receive in the swap - well as some of you know,  my favourite doctor is Tom Baker, so first up I received a Tom Baker scarf!

I also got this tee shirt with my favourite Tom Baker quote, although I'm considering turning it into a hoop to display. What do you guys think?

Finally, I recieved this pretty amazing bag - my favourite Dr Who monsters are ood, so I think this is pretty great!

Swap Failure - GIVEAWAY!

Happy Saturday guys - so I have some bad news for me and some good news for you guys! I recently signed up to a complete a "Box of colour" swap on Craftster.

However, my partner seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth and as such the organiser of the swap has advised me not to send the package of stuff I made, as I'm unlikely to receive anything back. I've done a lot of swaps and this is the first time this has happened, and it kind of sucks.

Luckily, I can use some of the package for another swap I'm currently taking part in, but it does leave me with a few handmade items with no home to go to - so I figured why not have a giveaway. 

My partners colour choice for the box of colour swap was black - so here's a few of the things I made which are now being given away right here on the blog.

First up is this apron - its the same pattern I used to make Jess' apron, the main fabric I received in a swap and the check fabric I picked up in the Arthur Toye closing down sale. It DOES need an iron, I had it all folded up for sending and it got a bit crinkled.

Here's a close up of the wee pocket - I'm getting pretty good at pockets!

I'm also going to include a whole bunch of buttons I made from fabric scraps I have - I bought a button making kit when I was in the USA last year. These are really fun to make. 

So if you want to win these things, all you have to do is leave a comment below and tell me about your worst baking/cooking related disaster! The giveaway will be open for two weeks, I will announce the winner on Sunday 23 May and I'm happy to send anywhere in the world. Good luck guys!

Affirmation Swap - What I sent

My partner FINALLY received her package for the affirmation swap I took part it - it seemed to take a REALLY long time to arrive. So I can now finally share what I made for her - a cross stitch hoop with one of her favourite sayings.

I knew I wanted to make a cross stitch hoop as soon as I joined this swap, when I received my partners details she told me one of her favourite sayings was "don't let the bastards get you down". I searched the phrase on esty and I found the perfect pattern almost immediately. I bought it on instant download and started stitching!

This pattern was generally pretty simple, although I would be lying if I said that border didn't drive me a little crazy. Here's a close up of some of the stitching, the fabric is actually grey rather than white, I picked it up from one of my sewing blogger friends at on of our many WSBN swaps.

I added a bit of green ribbon and my project was finished and ready to hang (actually - it was ready to be posted to the USA and then hung).

I have to say I've become more enthusiastic about cross-stitching since I took a break from the epic cross stitch project I was working on last year. I think I'm more of a "quick win" kind of crafter, long term projects kind of make me lose interest. I'm currently working on one of Rich's designs, which I will share once I've finished it up and its reached its final destination. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Craftster Swap: Affirmation Swap - What I recieved

There was a time, many years back when I was more into general "crafting" and less into sewing and I used to take part in about a million swaps on Craftster.

Perhaps you've never heard of Craftster and the craft swaps they run before, but the premise is pretty simple - someone comes up with a theme for a swap (it could be almost anything you can imagine) and then people sign up to join in. The sign up period stops at a certain time, the organiser of the swap assigns partners and you have a period of time to craft some items and send out to your partner. It's a lot of fun and in the past I got a little addicted to these swaps - doing up to five at a time (the maximum you can do via craftster) which was WAY too much.

I decided I wanted to get back into swaps again this year, but take it easy and only really do one at a time - so in January I signed up for my first swap which was an "Affirmation Swap" - seemed like a good way to start the year. I can't share what I made yet as my partner hasn't recieved her package. But my package arrived yesterday in the mail - so I thought I'd share it with you guys.

Obviously the best part of taking part in swap is when you first open the box and see all the treasures inside.

The handmade item I received were these two really fun hoops with embroidery - "You Rule" and "You Rock". I think I need to start a wall for all the fun hoops I have made and received.

I also received these stickers - I really, really love stickers and these are kind of perfect for the "Top Five" journal I am trying to keep this year.

I also got a whole bunch of tea to try, I don't even remember telling my swap partner I love tea - but I do!I drank a lot of tea on my trip to the USA last year (obviously) but I didn't try this brand. I had a English Breakfast Tea after work yesterday and it was pretty good.

Finally, all of the other treats! My partner sent me some valentines treats as it was around valentines day she sent the package. The heart shape wand is filled with reeces pieces, I also got some junior mints and girl scout cookies.

So there you go - my first swap package of 2014! I really want to show you all what I made, because I'm pretty proud of it, but that will have to wait until it arrives in its new home. Have a lovely weekend xoxo

Fox and Owl

I've been feeling a little bit down and pretty exhausted this week - nothing in particular really - just a bit "over it". I suspect that winter is playing a fairly significant role in this - I'm over grey days and rain and wearing jackets and scarves and hats.

I just want to have a day where I can hang out in the sunshine with my friends - unfortunately everyone seems to be sick due to winter bugs and the sun only seems to come out for a few hours on work days.

Oh well - at least my crafting skill are totally bad-ass - I just thought I'd share a couple embroidery hoops I did a while ago for an "Owl & Fox" swap on Craftster - I thought they turned out pretty well.

I have also been reading about comic con quite a lot this week - mostly because I like to look at all the cosplay outfits. It's further ignited my desire to make another costume, but I have no reason to make another costume. Perhaps I need to host a wee soiree as a reason to dress up?

Well, I best be going - I hope you've all had a rad week and I am SO happy its FRIDAY tomorrow!

Spell my name swap

Thanks for all your love for my new skirt on my last blog - it made me feel rather special! I'm hoping this week will be slightly less crazy for me and I don't end up wasting my Saturday afternoon snoozing.

So I thought I'd share with you all the goodies I sent and received in a recent swap - the swap theme was "Spell my name swap" and the premise was pretty simple - make your partner one item for each letter of their name.

So my for real name is actually "Teresa" not Trees (but most of my friends call me Trees or Tess in real life, so it's not just a name for the interwebs) so here's what I received.

T is for Trio of interchangeable hair bows

E is for Extra Cute "Create your own stuff" - My partner included a kids colouring book with all kinds of cute characters in that I can use as patterns for embroidery and the other guy is a "blank" doll that you can personalise.

R is for recycled yarn coaster for two - I really like the vintage look of this, I think it shall spend it life in the kitchen stopping hot things from burning the bench top!

So for the next photo I need to put "E" and "A" together - because they are made to be worn together and are simply amazing now that autumn is quickly turning into winter.

So the letter "E" is for my new "Every which way cowl" and "A" is for "All day beret" - You can't see it in these photos but the wool is actually SPARKLY! 

Finally the letter "S" for Sanrio Art - Hello Kitty and my other favourite Sanrio character "Kuromi".

So what did I make my partner you may ask? Well here it is (well most of it) my partner's name is "Andrea" so here's what I made for her -


A is for - Accessories for your hair! I actually made a third hair accessory - but I forgot to take a photo!

N is for - Necklace! I made this necklace from an old scarf and some polystyrene balls.

D is for Dollars and cents -My partner collects coins, so I sent her some coins from nz as well as other coins from my travels.

R is for Rectangular Pouch - I made my partner this rockabilly style pouch, complete with chocolate inside.

E is for elephant - my partner collects elephants, so I made her one out of felt, its all hand stitched - sorry the photo is a little rubbish.

for the final "A" I sent my partner "A whole bunch of accessories" but as they were store bought I didn't bother taking a photo.

I hope everyone had a super Monday - I'm off to do some Monday night crafting, I have more swaps to work on and more clothes to sew!