Spa mini album

I decided to make a mini album of spa treatments for my niece whose birthday happens to fall on Christmas Day. I wanted her birthday present to be completely different to her Christmas present. It took me a very long time to pin all those recipes and I wondered who else I could give it to. So I am halfway through her album, plus one for my mom and this one that I made for a friend. She is leaving in the new year to travel around Australia with a tent trailer. So I had to rework this one to make it smaller. It is a 6x6 album but I made the cover from scratch to keep it as thin as possible.

I cut the back to fit the page protectors along with a front from chipboard. I then cut a thin strip out of the front where the hinge is on the page protector. I used a wide satin ribbon to make a space that would fold so that my cover is hinged. It is the black strip in the cover photo. I then covered the rest of the album with papers. I made this one with a new Teresa Collins range.

The album is divided into three sections. Body Scrubs, Face, Everything Else. I have also stamped blank journaling blocks for additional recipes. I kept the inside fairly plain as I didn't really want the pages heavily embellished. My friend is not one for unnecessary stuff!!! I should have hinged the back cover too and it would open better as the page protectors aren't double hinged (the extra plastic strip found along the spine of postbound refills). But I will put that down to a learning experience and a serious lack of time :-)

Now to keep cutting the pages of my nieces album.

Chipper

Busy, busy

Today was possibly my last day off until Christmas. So I spent part of it cleaning (YUK!) and the rest crafting at my house with a friend. I am still working on Christmas presents and have a few in various stages of completion and another two completed today.

Today's projects were sewing!! I made two pillow mattresses that I found on pinterest. I didn't really follow the pattern as at it's simplest it is just a long tube divided into four. I will link to the original post when I am back on my computer (I am typing this from my phone). Below are two photos. One is a completed pillow mattress stuffed with pillows. You fold the top section under to make a raised pillow. The other photo is the one I made for The Princess. When we were fabric shopping she kept asking me if I could make her one too. I told her she was too big. And she is, so I made hers an extra pillow longer. By the time she got home from school I had all traces of sewing packed away!

I hope you Christmas preparations are flowing smoothly,
Chipper

This is cool ...

I found this on Pinterest the other day and I am hoping to attempt to make them for our Thanksgiving table on Thursday.  I will have to do a few substitutions as we don't have candy corn :-(  but The LOML suggested M&M's instead so that should still work.  I will have to stop at the super expensive gourmet candy store to get the mini peanut butter cups but we all LOVE them so we need to have them!

Click here for full details and instructions.

I am making the pies tonight as I have to work on Thursday until lunch.  Then I am heading to my mom's to help cook the turkey.  For those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving, have a wonderful day on Thursday!!!  For those of you who don't celebrate it, have a wonderful day too :-)

Thanks
Chipper

I am still around :-)

I have had a very busy week and an even busier day. I made 8 more notebook covers today for Christmas, including one for myself. I altered the measurements slightly to allow them to accommodate an A5 book or diary if I so choose. The first three helped me perfect my new measurements and then I made the last 5 all at once. A much faster way to sew, but not a good idea if you aren't sure of the pattern!

The cover at the bottom of the picture is for me. I made it using the left over fabric from The Extrovert's baby quilt.

How is your Christmas shopping going?
Chipper

My first homemade gift of the season ...

Ok, so it is homemade but I won't be using it for Christmas :-)  While looking on Pinterest for things to make as gifts this year I found this pattern at a very nice blog called The Cottage Home.  It is a fabric notepad holder and was very easy to make.  I shall definitely be making more!  I made this one for my mom for her birthday today.  I hope she likes it :-)  I think she will.  I used one of my fav buttons that I have been hoarding for years on the front (sorry the photo is not great) and the solid red will bring back memories.  I wonder if she will remember where it is from?  It was a scrap left over from when we made a baby quilt when I was expecting The Extrovert.  We used it in everything from the bumper, headboard, curtains, diaper holder and quilt.  The Princess and I went fabric shopping yesterday and found the rest of the fabrics.  When we walked into the store they had just marked almost all their fat quarters down to half price, YEAH! 

Cover

Who would have thought that it would be so difficult to find a notebook to put in the inside!  I eventually found one this morning but it had a Disney Fairies cover, opps :-)  So I covered it to match.  No one will ever know if you don't tell them as my mom won't be reading this... shhhhhh.  The top is loose to cover the spirals but still allow it to open easily.

Inside with notebook on the right

Inside with notebook moved out of the way :-)

I stamped on a scrap of twill to make a name plate for the back.  It reads 'My Mom'.  I really need to get myself a tiny alpha stamp set so that I can stamp out longer messages.

The back

I really like the way it turned out and I can make more quite quickly.  If any of you like to sew I would recommend The Cottage Home as the instructions were very easy to follow and the cutting guides were explained properly.  I will modify a few parts for my next one as I have an overlocker/serger which will make the finished result neater.  But I always follow the pattern the first time :-)  Saves on mistakes!

Happy Birthday to my Mom!!!!

Chipper

P.S. Do you like my new music????  Does it feel like Christmas???  :-)  If your sound is off, please turn it on or you will be missing out!

Halloween Craft-a-thon

At the shop we are having a 12hr Halloweek Craft-a-thon!  I really want everyone to have lots of fun and it isn't really just about dressing up as only about half of the 24 people attending will dress up.  We are planning on using the dummy from my previous post as a scarecrow that will hold this sign that I made today at the entry.  I have made a few more things for the attendees that I thought I would share.

When each person arrives they will find a welcome pack at their place at the table.  It includes info for the day and some competitions.  There will also be a small pumpkin 'pick-me-up-pack' for those sugar lows during the day.  They are just pumpkin boxes with a few sweets in them.

We have both cardmakers and scrapbookers (and a few that do both!) coming to our craft-a-thon.  In their welcome pack they will find a BINGO card for each craft.  The idea is that they can cross off each box as they do them, but they can only use ONE box per project.  The first person to complete any 5 in a row wins! So there will be a winner for each craft.  Here are the BINGO cards that I made (I hope you can see them as they did not like being turned into a photo).

We have all sorts of other mini competitions planned and a few of us are decorating the room on Wednesday.  It is going to look so good!  One of the other games is a guessing game.  I got the idea of the net somewhere but it is great to help people new to crafting learn the names of some of the tools of the trade.  We are putting 12 random craft items into paper bags.  Each bag is then labeled 1 thru 12.  Everyone can feel the bags and try to work out what is in each without peeking.  I wonder if anyone will work out all 12?  I still haven't even decided what 12 items to use!

So lots to get done around here by Saturday morning.  The LOML even cooks them all a hot lunch!  We cheat for dinner though and get in pizza.  And I have promised them all that I will bake them Black Eyed Susans for morning tea.  There are some wonderful ladies coming and I am sure we will all have a great time.

Chipper

A crafty project ...

We have all been really busy here with work as it is my long week. But tonight The Princess and I wanted to make a soft bodied fabric dummy to turn into a scarecrow. Thankfully my mom gave us a huge box of fabric a week ago that she was going to throw away. We found a large piece of calico in it perfect for our dummy.

First I laid down on the fabric and The Princess drew around me leaving a seam allowance. We then added quite a bit to the head as we wanted a big head. After I sewed the two pieces together we stuffed the body and sewed 'joints' as we went. So here is our 'dummy' ...

And here she is with clothes on. Not a bad few hours work and heaps of fun.  Now to decide what she will wear for Halloween.

We might even add more stuffing for Christmas and make her into Santa!

Chipper

P.S.  I haven't forgotten about my Pretty Paper Party :-)  I have been working on it and will share after my day off.  Loving it!!!

J-Rock

The Princess is performing in a schools dance competition today called J-Rock.  They have been rehearsing for over 4 months and we got to see the final dress rehearsal yesterday.  She is a bootscootin' meerkat!  A few years ago she wouldn't have even set foot on the stage let alone joined everyone in dancing at the Convention Center in front of 100's of people!  We are so proud of her.

They are at the center all day today and each school has time to rehearse at the venue, and then there are activities for the kids.  The theme this year was 'tropical' and they were asked to wear grass skirts or leis for the activities.  So for the past week The Princess and I have been making a grass skirt out of raffia.  I sewed the buttons on last night and here she is this morning ready to go.

She has a multi coloured grass skirt which is sure to be a hit with her friends! Although I am not sure how long she will wear it for as she says it tickles her legs LOL  I wonder how much raffia will still be attached to the waist band by the time she gets home?

I can't wait to see all the performances tonight.  She is there for over 12hrs today.  They even had to take a pillow and blanket for rest time.

Chipper