Tag Archives: handmade

May 16, 2013

Fabric painting with buttons

I thought it would be fun to use my buttons in a different way and decorate some tshirts for Little Sis. I chose a handful of buttons which were unusual and made them into stamps, using some corks and a glue gun.

I left them overnight to dry and then dipped them in fabric paint before carefully applying them to a blank piece of fabric to practice. Some worked better than others and gave a clearer result so I ended up using two of the buttons on two blank tshirts. One dark tshirt was stamped around the neckline and bottom of the tshirt, the other was decorated with the letter N.

After the fabric dye had dried I ironed the tshirt underneath a clean tea towel to fix the dye. Little Sis was quite pleased with the end result which is good because she has plenty of space to grow (just like the last time I tried using fabric dye!).

The toddler wanted to have a go with the button corks so I let him loose with them and some paint. They didn’t work very well on a flat surface but he still had lots of messy fun.

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Filed under crafts, handmade

Tagged as buttons, crafts, handmade

May 15, 2013

Reloved magazine giveaway

I came across a new magazine last week called Reloved – the creative guide to upcycling. The cover immediately appealed to me so I bought it even though I have little time for reading at the moment. I love to recycle and upcycle and am always on the lookout for smallish items which I can put my own stamp on.

I have a couple of half-finished projects which I’ve never got round to blogging about (mental note to write about them soon). One of my favourites is a small wooden box found boarded up in our old house. It was in pretty good condition and stamped Adam’s Furniture Polish along one side. It was just asking to be turned into something useful so I painted the inside white and added a small shelf and two rails to hold spools of ribbon, washi tape and bakers twine.

Reloved magazine is packed full of inspiration with 116 pages of craft projects to transform homeware, clothing and jewellery. I’ve already made the kitchen blackboard and love the idea of a ‘scraps of history’ curtain panel which would look great in our bathroom.

Giveaway

If you fancy getting hold of the first edition of Reloved magazine, leave me a comment below – just for fun tell me how many pages of craft projects feature in the magazine.

Small print:

There is one prize consisting of one copy of Reloved magazine. The giveaway ends May 22nd at 8pm. The winner will be selected at random from all correct entries received and notified by email or their twitter handle. The prize is as stated: no cash alternatives are available. UK and ROI only please.

ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions

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Tagged as competition, crafts, handmade, recycled crafts

May 12, 2013

Crafting with Post-it Notes

We love taking inspiration from everyday items and the stormy weather has been perfect for staying indoors and getting crafty. 3M have just launched Post-it Notes Colour Cubes, packs of Post-it Notes in a range of vibrant hues. We were sent a selection of the new Post-it Notes Colour Cubes and challenged to create a piece of Post-it artwork with our favourite colours.

Over the last week we’ve been inspired to have some fun indoors and so far we’ve made a photo booth backdrop, origami boxes and a temporary racetrack for cars!

We decided to create a London picture as the toddler loves maps at the moment. I let him pick the colours so we used the blue/green Post-it Notes Colour Cube.

First of all we copied the outline of Greater London onto a number of Post-it Notes and cut around it as closely as we could.

Then we chose our favourite London landmarks and copied them onto green Post-it Notes.

Finally we covered a canvas in the remaining colours to give a colourful backdrop to our picture and placed everything on top. A London picture created from Post-it Notes and a pair of scissors. What do you think?

Don’t forget to check out the Post-it UK Facebook page for more ideas. This post has been sponsored by 3M who provided a blank canvas and selection of Post-it Notes.