Craft Addictions!

I’ve said it before; some of these crafts should have a health warning. Not because they are unsafe, but because they are so bloomin’ addictive!

I mean really, mug rugs!

The hubby thinks these sound like something from a Harry Potter book, odd fellow my hubby, but then he doesn’t drink tea or coffee, so what would he know about the necessity of mug rugs?!

Who’d have thought that those tiny little quilts could be so darn addictive?

Aren’t these just the cutest most ‘oh my gosh, I could just make a gazillion of these’.

My addiction with these is 2 fold, firstly, how the heck can anyone stop cutting mini fabric squares, something about 2x2 inch squares is just so therapeutic, I now have a stash of little squares just screaming to be sewn back together!

Secondly, each one is like a mini quilt, and who doesn’t like quilts, let alone mini ones?!

I have 3 more which I’m part way through, got a feeling I’m going to end up with a ridiculous number of mug rugs!

I just realised, whilst sorting out the photos for this post, that I have a problem other than mug rugs, there are dots and spots, and bunting, I have a bunch of other projects I’m working on which also include dots and bunting, me thinks I might need some more inspiration!

Linking to some of these blogs

Home work, Making the World Cuter, French Country Cottage More the Merrier Monday Craft o Maniac Monday Organising Mission Monday Pinkapotamus Beneath the Rowan Tree, Home Stories of A-Z, Todays Creative Blog, Show & Tell, Power of Paint Party, Someday Crafts, Sweetpeas & Bumblebees, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, The 36th Avenue, Fireflies & Jellybeans, 504 Main, 30 Handmade Days, Funky Junk Interiors, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sundae Scoop, Craft O Maniac, ABC & 123, Beneath the Rowan Tree, A Round Tuit, Serenity Now, Freckled Laundry, Homemaker in Heels, Spunky Junky, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots & Jello, J & M's Eye Candy, Organize with Sandy, The Creative Itch, Rook no.17,  Creative Spark, Gingersnaps, Blissful & Domestic,Keeping it Simple, Craft Junkie Too, Simply Designing, Making Lemonade, Truly Lovely Blog, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Cherished Bliss, Your Whims Wednesday

Scrapbook Paper Bunting

Having spent the past weekend tearing up carpet, laying new flooring and painting the craft / playroom I needed to do something a little less stressful.

I decided some bunting would be a nice addition to the newly painted room, as its a dual purpose room I didn't want anything either too toddlerish or too mummyish, and decided this would be nice compromise, I was about to sort through my fabric stash, when I remembered my scrapbook paper stash.

I have a ridiculous amount of paper which I’m just not using, so I decided to make the bunting out of this instead.

I selected a few pages and using a template cut out 3 flags from each 12x12 page.

I knew I wanted to add a few words to the bunting,

{Create}

{Craft}

{Play}

{Laugh}

I used scraps of paper to cut out the letters.

And attached them using sticky foam pads.

Once I was finished I strung the flags on to some bakers twine,  using a hole punch to make 2 holes in each flag, I placed two words to one piece of twine.

I then attached the bunting to some pins in the wall.

I think it looks pretty good against the new blue wall!

Linking to some of these blogs

Home work, Making the World Cuter, French Country Cottage More the Merrier Monday Craft o Maniac Monday Organising Mission Monday Pinkapotamus Beneath the Rowan Tree, Home Stories of A-Z, Todays Creative Blog, Show & Tell, Power of Paint Party, Someday Crafts, Sweetpeas & Bumblebees, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, The 36th Avenue, Fireflies & Jellybeans, 504 Main, 30 Handmade Days, Funky Junk Interiors, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sundae Scoop, Craft O Maniac, ABC & 123, Beneath the Rowan Tree, A Round Tuit, Serenity Now, Freckled Laundry, Homemaker in Heels, Spunky Junky, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots & Jello, J & M's Eye Candy, Organize with Sandy, The Creative Itch, Rook no.17,  Creative Spark, Gingersnaps, Blissful & Domestic,Keeping it Simple, Craft Junkie Too, Simply Designing, Making Lemonade, Truly Lovely Blog, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Cherished Bliss

Bakers Twine, Wooden Spools, Slippers and Sky!!!

Well this is a post of randomness!

This morning I had one of those random thoughts

“How have I gone from the gal who would wash her ‘delicates’ by hand to the knackered mother of two who washes her slippers by hand”

Yep, I actually looked at the label and it said not to machine wash, so I did it by hand, a few years ago I’d have just thrown them away!

Anyway, moving on, I’m a sucker for bakers twine, the colours and simplicity of it are wonderful, as are its many uses to make something just that little bit sweeter! But I’ve got myself all in a tangle when I use then, mine came wrapped in these paper strips,

 which don’t work so well once you actually need to start using the twine!

You end up with this knotty ball of mess!

So I decided that, once unwrapped I would wrap the remaining twine around a dolly peg, these are stored in a cute box ready for their next project.

But, I’ve realised that with much of my craft stash being stored in boxes I’m actually forgetting  what I have!

 Which is not good, neither for my crafting or my purse, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve either bought or been about to purchase something I already have!

I knew I didn’t want all the dolly pegs out, I don’t have a whole craft room so space is tight, but I did want a visual reminder of the colours I have, so raiding my stash of odds and sods, I found a bunch of mini wooden spools.

These are lovely just as they are, but can you imagine how sweet they would look with a little bakers twine!

I spread a little craft glue around the spool, and then wrapped a piece of twine around the spool.

Once the spool had a layer of twine,

 I snipped the end and easy as that I had a pretty little reminder of my bakers twine.

I did the same with each colour of bakers twine, until each colour had its own spool.

I wrapped the remaining bakers twine around some more dolly pegs, and then placed these back in the box.

The mini spools now sit on top of my mini button stash, out the way, yet still a visible reminder as to which colours I have!

Speaking of colours, I snapped a quick photo of the sky as I was bringing in the laundry, isn’t it pretty!?

Linking to some of these blogs

Home work, Making the World Cuter, French Country Cottage More the Merrier Monday Craft o Maniac Monday Organising Mission Monday Pinkapotamus Beneath the Rowan Tree, Home Stories of A-Z, Todays Creative Blog, Show & Tell, Power of Paint Party, Someday Crafts, Sweetpeas & Bumblebees, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, The 36th Avenue, Fireflies & Jellybeans, 504 Main, 30 Handmade Days, Funky Junk Interiors, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sundae Scoop, Craft O Maniac, ABC & 123, Beneath the Rowan Tree, A Round Tuit, Serenity Now, Freckled Laundry, Homemaker in Heels, Spunky Junky, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots & Jello, J & M's Eye Candy, Organize with Sandy, The Creative Itch, Rook no.17,  Creative Spark, Gingersnaps, Blissful & Domestic,Keeping it Simple, Craft Junkie Too, Simply Designing, Making Lemonade, Truly Lovely Blog, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

I'm back, and I've been crafting!

After a few 'low' weeks I'm starting to feel a little more alive, I've found some great inspiration  to reignite my 'creative side', I've gone from being a blank canvas to having so many ideas I don't know which to do first! But I know which I would rather!

A quick, but huge 'thank you' to all the lovely, supportive comments, you gals are just amazing at lifting a person when they are down, I will be getting back to you all personally in the next day or so.

Anyhoo, moving on....

We’re in that odd phase between summer and autumn, but its close enough to autumn that I thought some autumnal bunting was in order.

I saw some totally gorgeous bunting by Melissa over at Shabby Love, you really need to check out her fall mantel, and finally decided to make my own.

I found a template I liked and cut out a bunch of leaves in different coloured felt.

I then cut some pennants,

 and sewed the leaves and pennants to a piece of red cotton tape.

I hung this up over the mirror, 

and then decided that the mantel needed a little something.

I found a simple ‘how to’ on Martha’s website for these fun little pumpkins, I made 4, one for each of us!

I thought the mantel looked a little wonky sided, so I added some of these decorative balls to the other side.

Like a novice mantel decorator I thought I was done, but then remembered this little shelf underneath the mantel would also need a little something!

I found a bunch of these wooden maple leaves in my stash, and using a bunch of various coloured paints, painted them in autumnal hues, well at least I think I did!

Once they were dry, I used hot glue to attach them to a piece of string and hung them up between these sweet little tin lanterns.

So these make up my autumn mantel, what do you think?

Linking to some of these blogs

Home work, Making the World Cuter, French Country Cottage More the Merrier Monday Craft o Maniac Monday Organising Mission Monday Pinkapotamus Beneath the Rowan Tree, Home Stories of A-Z, Todays Creative Blog, Show & Tell, Power of Paint Party, Someday Crafts, Sweetpeas & Bumblebees, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Beyond the Picket Fence, The 36th Avenue, Fireflies & Jellybeans, 504 Main, 30 Handmade Days, Funky Junk Interiors, Under the Table and Dreaming, Sundae Scoop, Craft O Maniac, ABC & 123, Beneath the Rowan Tree, A Round Tuit, Serenity Now, Freckled Laundry, Homemaker in Heels, Spunky Junky, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots & Jello, J & M's Eye Candy, Organize with Sandy, The Creative Itch, Rook no.17,  Creative Spark, Gingersnaps, Blissful & Domestic,Keeping it Simple, Craft Junkie Too, Simply Designing

Still here, kinda

You might have noticed I haven’t been ‘around’ so much recently, or not!

Nothing major has happened, we’re all still here plodding along, but I’ve slipped backwards.

Just over 2 years ago I was diagnosed with severe postnatal depression and PTSD; I’ve been struggling every day since to find my ‘normal’.

Since starting this blog I’ve come to realise that this is my ‘therapy’, having projects to focus on has been oh so amazing at distracting me from the ‘darker’ thoughts which were all too consuming. You guys are also a great distraction, sometimes too good, sharing all those amazing ideas and inspiring stories.

But just lately I’ve lost my ‘craftjo’ I have a bunch of things I want to do, I just can’t ‘do it’, and in losing my ‘craftjo’ I’m slipping back.

I don’t want to, actually, I can’t slip back too far, not sure I could ever climb out of ‘that’ again, so, whilst I may be a little quiet, I’m still mooching around your blogs, getting ideas and inspiration. I don’t always comment, and I know I’m slacking on replying to emails, ‘talking’ whether through speech or type always gets messed up when I’m ‘slipping’ but please bear with me.

This blog and you gals have been like a breath of fresh air

I just need to catch my breath

 Breathe a little calmer

 Let go of the insignificant

 And start again.

Which I now know I can do.

I just need to pick the pieces up and start again.

I'm going to end on a sweet note

Imagine Ahren and Ethan in the garden, jumping up and down, shouting at the clouds being blown away in the wind

“Clouds, clouds, come back!”

Soooooooooooooo cute!