Monday, June 27, 2011

Pink Snow...summer of colour

Her is where she sits in my house, with very bad lighting and my dodgy phone camera...lol...

So...far removed from what I usually do, well from what I have been doing for the summer of colour, but I must admit I did enjoy doing this...Yes, I could point out to you all the imperfections, but that is what makes it mine..lol...

The wax that I used was a pupleish birthday candle...I went around the outside edge of herand highlighted some spots...the highlighted spots are the quite deep puple ones...hard tpo see over the top of so much texture...she is on an inch and a half thick, 15 by 15 inch canvas.....

Thanks Kristin...I am not a pink painter but I did enjoy splashing texture paste and other bits and pieces all over her...

thanks for all the wonderful comments you have been giving me..it keeps a girl going...and I am certainly looking forward to seeing all your wonderful work again IN PINK!!!

until next time
lots of it
Mandy
xxx

Sunday, June 19, 2011

It's not easy being green

Or so Kermit the frog sang many years ago...But I disagree....I LOVE green...green is my colour of choice when its comes to decorating...I have had all manner of greens in my house, now in my back room there is a very pale green on my lower walls...I occassionly  splash out and try different colours, well blue...(like when we were building our house 12 years ago and I went blue for all the wet area tiles!!!!!that was pregnancy brain decision!!!!)I like to wear it too...though I generally have black and denim...lol...for this weeks colour assignment over at twinkle twinkle in the summer of colour I have been inspired to create 3 items....
1. My little chair cover...it looks like a skirt don't you think...I have had these amy butler fabfics for years now, and I only had a very small amount of them, so I am going to make 4 of these covers with different colours as inspiration...as I have stated before, I am certainly not the best sewer in the world and just invent as I go along, thus, a creation...I am pretty happy with it...


2. All we are saying is give peace a chance...I am a huge beatles fan and always have been....I wanted to show my love in a simple piece that will go into my back room...these frames from ikea are fabulous...they make anything look good...these are all individually diecut on my cuttlebug and stuck down...it took me forever...the turquoise butterfly as opposed to the green shows that one person can make a difference...well that's what  i wanted to say in this piece...lol...


3. My journal page...i wanted to express something that has been really getting to me lately...with all the beautiful blogs out there, art blogs, home decor blogs etc...it is so easy to feel inadequate, not good enough, hopeless, jealous...this page was to remind myself that what I have is very good indeed...to try and appreciate what I have and be happy...
it says the grass is greener...so they say ...but...be thankful for what you have what you can do...list...family friends love life playing being able to create listeniung to music parenting etc...

This page is from the blue week...i forgot to post...i am sorta new to the whole journaling thing and get a bit anxious putting pages out there...''ok...looking forward to seeing what everyone else posts...don't forget too if you want my little cat cushion let me know...i have 3 to give and only one person said they want it...otherwise I'll just throw them out...

until next time
lots of it
Mandy
xxx

Friday, June 17, 2011

Tea Towel Tote Plus Giveaway

How's that for alliteration!!!

As promised here is a very simple tutorial on how to make a shopping tote/bag out of a tea towel and a small piece of fabric or two...I am really not a sewer as you will see...lol...

you'll need
a tea towel
another piece of fabric 14cm wide x width of fabric
a piece of fabric the same size as the tea towel
scissors
sewing machine
iron

1.Take your t towel(tt) and your piece of fabric and cut the fabric the same size as the tt.
2.Cut a piece of fabric the whole width of a piece of the fabric 14 cm..I just tore mine...makes life easier...

3. Fold onto itself and stitch down the length of the strip using a 1cm seam.

4. Turn inside out and iron. Then cut in half...this creates the 2 handles.

5. Fold the tt in half good side facing in and then sew down the 2 sides...I just stitched at the edge of the tt seam...
6. Around 7cm up from the bottom corneryou need to fold the seem over onto itself and about 7 cms up sew across the corner...best l;ooking at the photo..its hard to describe it...lol...
7. Do the exact same for the lining.
8. Join the two bags together folding down a 1cm(or so) hem and pin together lining uip both seams and placing the handles in as shown.

9. Sew around the top about half a cm from the top.
10. Give it a shake and there you have it. I am probably going to sew the handles in a bit more actually, although it has been holding my shopping all week with no problems so far...



Would love to hear if you make one of these.

Ok...A quick giveaway too. Yesterday whilst out shopping for a book Target was having a flurry of pallets of bits and bbs on sale...Needless to say the mention of sale drew my attention as I was passing by a whole heap of women so I hung around and got a couple of bargains..I picked up a dozen cushions for 87 cents each!!!!!Seriously some were beautiful and some not quite my style but I still grabbed them for the inserts... A couple were like this, cats not being one of my fav thing on a cushion, but when they rung them through at the checkput the sales assistant goes...OHHHH!!!AREN"T THESE LOVELY...so...I know many of you love cats out there...I thought maybe some of you girls might like one...just the cover though ...just let me know and I am happy to post anywhere...I have 3...if more than 3 of you want them I'll just draw out of a hat...

Ok...
Well
until next time
lots of it
Mandy
xxx

Monday, June 13, 2011

Summer of colour...lessons in life


LESSONS IN LIFE

Mama bird said...stay away from those trees without the leaves...I mean...seriously...who wants to rest on electrical lines???!!!
Well..I have been so excited about Kristin's Summer of colour party she is having over on her blog twinkle twinkle...

I had to sneek one of my birdies in...just for you Kristin...hee hee hee...and I had this dream wooden word there for a while...the colour in the photo is a little different in real life, but honestly...it matches beautifully!!!





I actually made this bunting out of a whole heap of colour sample swatches I got from bunnings, I have been contemplating all manner of colours on my walls...and these are some of them I was looking at...well, the mid to lighter ones anyway...



I love to draw, and love to watercolour and love to stick bits and pieces on paper...I guess that makes this a mixed media piece...lol...

This photo is how it is sitting on some cupboards from ikea!!!LOVE THAT SHOP!!!!...will aim to get t up on the wall and fix up all the other frames around it...

ok...on another front...remember those tea towels that I showed you a few posts back...the blue inspired me as well and I made an earth friendly shopping bag...I am getting a good collection of bags now...this bag really didn't take long to make...I'll give a little tutorial later on in the week...so so easy....it cost all of about $2.30 for the tea towel...I got them on special from target and I had all the other material at home...






Well...I am really looking forward to seeing what everyone else does..



Until next time
lots of it
Mandy
xx

Sunday, June 12, 2011

save our earth by jacob...

Hi there...
For Jacob's English work he had to read the book FERN GULLY by Diana Young. As part of his unit he had to make a poster or some other form a media to present to his family, community, and show how important it is to do useful things to help stop global warming. After a whole day of researching and recording this is what he came up with...



it features a bag that I won off dianapantz...this bag has traveled with me nearly every day I have been out...it holds my bits and pieces for the day, and then every other day its holds my groceries...well...some of them anyhow...thanks dianapantz...
until next time
lots of it
Mandy
xxx

Monday, June 6, 2011

I am excited...


Sometimes you need a kick in the pants to get yor creative juices flowing...and Kristin over at twinkle twinkle has done just that...
She is having a summer of colour...(even nthough its winter here in australia!!!lol...)
So...today we must tell what we are working with...and guess what!!!!
I am doing a bit of everything...I just can't decide what media to use, so...Ill be doing a bit of it all...from scrapbooking to drawings, to bits of paper on more paper,,,,lol...maybe even a little bit of fabricy stuff...(you can tell I am such a professional with all my technical terminology...lol...)
So...if you want to go check it out...click on the photo or the words twinkle twinkle and it will take you there,
so
until next time
lots of it
Mandy
xxx

Sunday, June 5, 2011

big plans....





  • I must admit I am a sucker for pretty tea towels...I takes alot of self control not to buy them...but I really couldn't pass up these beauties from 3 separate trips to target recently...my dear husband is great help in the kitchen but he has a bad habit of using the tea towel he wiped up with to wipe down the sink and bench as well...thus the once beautiful tea towels get stains...so I thought these ones are just too pretty to stain..they are more like designer fabric...so with this in mind I was thinking...cushions.. does anyone have any suggestions or tutorials that they could recommend?..I am all ears....aren't the colours just beautiful....hopefully the next time you see them they will be something pretty...until next time...lots if it...mandy...xxx:.

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