Day 331 - Map of hearts

Valentines day is almost upon, and although I'm not hugely into it, I thought I would do something small and silly.

I found this guide to winning scrabble at the op shop the other day in the half price shelf, for $1.50. Mr Crafty and I used to play scrabble a bit, but he could never beat me, so it ended up becoming a bit of a thing. Most of the time these days we are too tired to do much at night but it would be fun to play some games together again, and I thought he might get a bit of a giggle from the book.

I decided to wrap it using some of an old map (used last week too).

I made some hearts to go on top. It was really easy.

First I cut strips about 1cm wide and folded them in half. Mine were about 15cm long.

Then I used a little bit of tape to stick together the two ends, then poked the creased bit at the top downwards to make a heart shape as shown below. I put a little bit of tape near the top of the heart here to make it stay in the heart shape. You can see the tape in the picture.

And here's a completed heart.

And then I glued them to the top of my wrapped book.

Day 321 - Pretty decoupage shoes

Since the 2 big kids have been back at school (three days last week) I have a little bit more time to think, to have thoughts of my own. More ideas for projects have been coming into my head now, after a month or two of struggling. 

Today's inspiration comes from this stunning pair of boots by Michal Negrin. Seen here on polyvore. Brought to my attention by PenelopeHangerRefashions facebook page. They are simply stunning, but at $800 a pair, the likelihood of me ever owning a pair is reduced to a zero.

I purchased these comfortable but boring and plain shoes from an op shop about 4 months ago for $3, with the idea of a decoupage project, but no idea what to use to decorate them. Awesome! Now I had an idea. OK so they're not boots, but we are in the middle of the hottest summer on record where I live, so boots are not really a happening thing right now.

I printed and cut out some pretty pages I found using google images.

Glue. I put masking tape on the rubber around the sole first to minimise glue drops where they weren't wanted.

 These have been glued under and over the pictures.

 After the glue dried I applied 4 coats of polyurethane gloss. I've got a crush on these shoes now.

They went outside to see what a gorgeous day it is today.

Day 320 - Ripped book dust jacket recovery

Dylan ripped this dust cover of one of our favourite books. I love the illustrations so I decided to change it into a framed picture using an embroidery hoop. I think it's just a little bit cute.

Day 242 - Bath mat trousers

Before I share today's craft I want to share with you what my 5 (almost 6) year old daughter did this week when I went to Melbourne for the Coldplay concert. As she is one of my frequent models on the blog you may notice something odd going on with her hair.

Here's what she did to it when she was supposed to be going to sleep the other night.

She did this with some small school scissors, cutting a little and liking the shaved feel, she kept going. She's a trouble maker this one! Now she is bald at the front for about 5cm :-/.

Sadly there is nothing the hairdresser can do for us. So here's my solution for the foreseeable future. We are looking at a fair bit of time for her hair to recover.

So today the little rascal got another of my creations. Last weekend I found this chenille bathmat / baby mat at the thrift shop for $2. It's got a little bit of patchwork and I knew Juliet would love it. My love for vintage chenille is well documented I think, and things made out of it sell for an absolute fortune at craft markets.

It was double thickness, so I cut three of the sides and opened it up.

Then cut some 3/4 pants pieces and a pocket choosing my favourite sections of fabric for the front of the pants. I took the size from one of the the other pair of pants I had made for her earlier.

It they came out looking pretty cute!

And here are the boys getting in the act too. 

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

Day 208 - Little Golden Book Bunting.

We love books in our house and have hundreds upon hundreds of beautiful and well loved children's books. Sometime I come across one that has been damaged, or that we bought second hand with damage done to it.

I have been thinking of a way to recycle this particular book for a while, and decided today to combine my love for bunting with my love for children's books.

The book in question.

A scribbled on page.

This was so easy to make.

I cut out identical shapes from all of the pages. I chose this shape because it showed off the pictures best and didn't waste too much of the page.

Then I simply sewed it to some ric rac with a small zig zag stitch. If you can't sew a hot glue gun would work just as well.

I love it! Aidan had a bare wall in his room that it's just perfect for. The pictures are so bright, interesting and colourful.