More knitting

Here's another jumper I've been knitting for my niece. Just love the Sublime wool and patterns. This is the baby wool but they do a range for adults too. Just itching to do something for myself, but sadly the cost of wool is prohibitive now.

Sailor jacket

Over the winter I was doing some knitting for my niece. She's on the 99th percentile of the growth chart, so I've made a 2-3 year size to make sure she can get some wear out of the items!

Here's the first one, a cute sailor jacket:

My Project Life 6x8

Here's another PL spread. The cards on the left are from the October 'Cozy" card add-on. Some of the cards are very much focused on autumn or winter so I've put them aside for next year. But these coffee ones were bound to feature in my album!

My Project Life 6x8

Back with another couple of October pages.  Love the colours in these kits. The nice thing about the SC kits is that they are not too seasonal. Yes there are some cards or embellishments which are autumn/fall related, but a lot of the kit contents are more versatile. Very important when you're experiencing seasons in reverse!

So I thought these colours actually work quite well for spring:

My Project Life 6x8

Work has been busy, and suddenly it's November! But I have been doing a few more pages in my own PL album - just highlighting a few events this month.  Here's the first spread. I'm pleased to report that my hands have healed up completely which is a good thing as it was the marathon last weekend!

This month's pages use The Underground kit from Studio Calico:

My Project Life 6x8

Oops don't know where the time has gone. Sorry for the absence!

Here are another couple of pages from my PL album. This spread is from September and uses Studio Calico's Poet Society kits.  I bought a variety of page protectors, including some instagram ones. The 2x2 page on the right was perfect because I actually ended up with a lot of photos this month!

My Project Life #22

Here's a spread from this month's pages. On the left are some pictures from a holiday on the boat. I've incorporated some Studio Calico PL cards and embellishments. On the right is a 12x12 layout using a couple of photos from later in the month. I 'scraplifted' the layout from Paige Evans and love the effect.

 

And here's the layout up close:

 

My Project Life #21

Must be time for another peek at my niece's PL album. Can't believe it's nearly finished! I've done month 11 and am just waiting for the last few photos to do month 12. Must say that I've really enjoyed the PL process and getting back into scrapbooking.  Here's a recent spread:

And a closeup of a couple of the cards:

My Project Life #20

Here's a lovely photo of my brother and niece. I used PSE and a fantastic script font to add the cute 'You & Me' title. You can download the font (plus others) at Kal Barteski's blog here.

My Project Life #19

Look how fast my niece is growing up - 10 months old now. Can't quite believe it! Here's another spread from my PL album. I've used some Tracy Larsen PSE templates and kept the embellishments pretty simple. I like the look of all the white!

Here's a closeup of the butterfly card which features PTI's A Beautiful Life dies and some grey doily washi tape:

The Great NZ Cookbook - scones

Recently I bought a new cookbook which features recipes from 80 of the country's top chefs and restauranteurs - everything from afghan biscuits to fancy three course dining. 

I turned my hand to scones today - caramelised onion and cheddar - yum. And still lots more recipes to try ;)

My Project Life #16

I recently ordered another fabulous Make it Market Kit from Papertrey Ink. It's the beautiful Brushstrokes kit with lots of watercolour inspiration.

I made a couple of filler cards for this month's PL. Love the flower stamps included in the kit and the scripty sentiments as well:

My album is a real mixture of page protectors, colours and styles but I love the variety. I really like the PL concept but got bored quite early on just using one kit. Much more fun to mix and match!

My Project Life #15

I've been busy with my niece's PL album. Getting it up to date for when I go to visit later in the year.

Here's a very simple spread from month 7 - lots of white space with Tracy Larsen's Simply White templates, one lot of journaling and a filler card which uses some Heidi Swapp acrylic embellishments:

Felt coin purse

I've had a go at some more coin purses using PTI's coin purse and coin purse pocket dies. Think this one one turned out better than the last, but I'm still making improvements!

For this one I used a 5 inch zip and made my own 'stopper' by sewing across the zip a few times. That way, the metal stopper isn't visible. I also used a snap fastener for the front pocket as the velcro dot I used last time wasn't very sturdy. Plan on making some more as little gifts and stocking fillers for this year!

And here's the back with contrasting fabric:

Sew sweet

Time for something different.

I recently bought the PTI coin purse dies off a forum member (thanks Audrey) and this weekend spent a few happy hours making my first little purse. Great fun!

As promised, it is pretty easy once you die cut everything.  Erin Lincoln has designed the dies to be very user friendly - even for putting in the zip. You can check out her video here.

I made this as a bit of a test, using up some orange felt and some left over quilting fabric. I used heat-n-bond on the fabric so I could die cut it, but the felt cuts fine without it. Here's the front (with the extra pocket fasted with velcro)

And here's the back with a contrasting piece of fabric glued to the felt using heat-n-bond.

The stitching holes make sewing everything a cinch and you can put the zipper where you like - I chose to have mine at the top.  I used a 4 inch zipper like Erin recommends, but I actually feel a 5 inch would be better. I don't like the way the stopper is visible at the end of the zipper. So next time I'll try the slightly longer size.

But I think this will be a great little gift item - either as an extra little gift or to hold a gift card. So if you know me, just watch out because you might be getting one too!

I'm back

Oops sorry for the absence. No excuse really. I was away and then busy with work but I think I just needed a bit of a break.

I've been busy with scrapbooking (including a new Project Life album) but what I want to show you today is some jewellery I've been making. One of my Christmas presents was a kit for making tray pendants and I've been having a great time choosing images, preparing them and turning them into cute pendants I can give as gifts.

I didn't like the images that came with the kit, but there are loads of collage templates on Etsy, or to download for free. I got my images from Piddix and Digitalya on Etsy.

I also found a really helpful tutorial on how to prep printed images for use in glass tile pendants. One of the best tips was the need to seal trays made of certain kinds of metals because they react with the diamond glaze. You can check out the details here.

And here are a couple of examples.  This one was made using some scrapbooking paper:

And this one uses an image from one of the collage sheets I bought:

I'm really pleased with the results!

Altered muffin tin

I got the idea for a Christmas muffin tin from Melissa Phillips. A bit like an advent tin, or countdown to Christmas, although with this mini muffin tin, there are obviously only 12 holes.

Fun to decorate something other than cards and to make something which I hope can be put out for a number of years to come.

I spray painted the tin and decorated it using Melissa Frances paper, Kaisercraft stickers and doodads, My Mind's Eye brads, Echo Park stickers, mini tinsel pipe cleaners, mini jingle bells and holly leaves, a Melissa Frances tree, vintage sequins and buttons and Martha Stewart tinsel glitter.

And a couple of close-ups:

Garden delights

Not much time for crafting at the moment as I'm trying to get the house and garden organised for going away. So I thought I'd show you some of my roses which are starting to come into bloom.

I have several rose beds - four with cottage and old fashioned roses and one with a mix of hybrid tea and floribunda bushes. Not sure what most of them are called as they were planted by previous owners of the property, but the colours and scents are lovely. Spring is definitely a beautiful time of year!

This is a damask rose with an amazing perfume

A cottage style rose bush which is just covered in pink blooms in the summer:

This is a self-sown banksia rose (no thorns!)
 

 

 A pink floribunda 

 And a new rose I bought this year - a hydrid tea called Paul Gauguin - love the stripes!

More knitting

I've been doing a bit more knitting for my niece who is due any day now. This is a cardigan to go with a little purple outfit I bought. The wool is an alpaca merino mix and is super soft - perfect for babies.

I'll be working on some summer things next :)

Oh Christmas tree

I was inspired by this post from Melissa Phillips to create my own 3D Christmas tree and here's what I came up with:

The tree is sitting on a papier mache box which I decorated with patterned paper, glitter and buttons:

I made flowers out of zipper ribbon and also used vintage buttons and glitter leaves:

A wired ribbon was used to tie to the double bow on top:

 
Supplies 
Paper - Bella glitter paper; Melissa Frances patterned paper
Accessories - Polystyrene tree; papier mache box; muslin; vintage lace; Melissa Frances zipper ribbon; Maya Road trinket pins; Prima Flowers; satin ribbon; Kaisercraft pearl brads; PTI Harvest Berry dies; PTI buttons; Cricut; glue gun