How to Zipper Tutorial at twelve 22

Many of you probably remember the Breast Cancer Awareness shower cap and make-up bags I made from a thrifted pillow case. Well I was planning on creating a tutorial for the zippered pouches, and then I found this tutorial over at twelve22.com. It is basically the same as the way I sew mine so I thought I would share with you.

The tutorial is easy to follow and great for new sewers wanting to become confident using zips in their projects. These zippered lined pouches are great for gifts and are relatively quick to make.

I have made lots of these in different sizes to use for all sorts. Toothbrush and paste, make-up, medicines when traveling, first aid kit, books, and pencil cases.

Whether you are new to sewing or not, these are fun projects to make that are handy a quick to sew.

Orange Sweet Vine Bird Cricut Card

I will have some sewing posts coming shortly, but for now, here is yet another Cricut card! I made it a week or so ago and have only just remembered to post it!

I cut the leaf frame using the Design Studio and my cricut expression. I then used a green marker to outline all the edges, as I used white core textured card and to create veins on the leaves. It seemed to take forever, but it was worth it to give some depth.

I glued the frame to some patterned card and then added the flowers and bird using foam dots. I rarely make anything using orange and this turned out to be more fun than I expected.

The flowers are made using EK Success whale punches and a glass nugget designed for using in a vase of flowers or fish tanks. It was clear and I coloured it using permanent whispers markers.

The bird is from Kaisercraft Flora and Fauna clear stamps sets. It is stamped and then embossed with black gloss embossing powder onto patterned card. This is a great way to use up scraps of paper and to save time on colouring images in.

Tragic Bushfires in Victoria - Australia

I imagine many of you have heard of the horrific devastating fires in Victoria - Australia that have changed the lives of so many people recently.

The last I heard over 200 people had died and over 1000 homes completely burnt to the ground. It is just so hard to imagine. I am in Australia, but can't begin to understand what these people are going through. The Australian and Victorian governments have declared a National day of mourning for the 22nd February.

During so much tragedy there are also many miraculous stories of survival including those like the koala in this video Sam the Koala.

Many of the heros that risked their lives to save and help others during the fires are also victims, losing loved ones and also homes themselves. Volunteers and emergency care workers are all giving tirelessly to help those in need.

So many people from all over the world have come together and donated things from money to clothing, toys, bedding and even hobby materials to help victims that have survived get back on their feet. Many are sleeping where they can or in tents borrowed from the army.

If you would like to help out then make sure you are donating to a genuine charity as there have been a number of reports of disreputable people collecting donations for their own personal profits!

If you are able to donate please do. You could get together with a few friends and send your donations to one of the groups below. There are more, but these are the best known charities helping out at the moment that I know of. I will add more as I become aware of them.

The Australian Red Cross

The RSPCA is helping all animals affected.

The Salvation Army

St Vincent de Paul Society

New Looks for 2009 - Blog Template Changes

I have been wanting to make a few changes to my blog template for a while and finally sat myself down and did it!

I didn't do this all on my own I had some help from Amanda at Blogger Buster over here, and found the lovely patterned background here.

I read somewhere that with the tiled background images you can use them to create your own papers. This will be great if/when I can work out how! :)

Let me know what you think.

Valentine's Day Cricut Cards I have made!

I designed the heart with the flourish base on the Design Studio software for my cricut, then cut it out. I wanted it to look a little like a Cinderella carriage! Maybe I should take a photo with a horse in the front!

I covered the heart in opal glitter and then added pink pearl dimensional paint dots. I glued this to pink patterned card and cut around it. Can you see the the light shine through it? Then I added the flowers and beads. The back looks just like the front only without all the bling! Can you tell I really like this card???

Here is a red and white Valentine's Day card, similar but different to the carriage heart card, but the swirls at the base of the heart are smaller. I don't normally create with red, so this was a nice change from my usual colours.

I do have a Design Studio cut file for these cards, but I am not sure yet how to share them on my blog. I have used the Storybook cardtridge. If you are interested, email me with Valentine's Day cut file in the subject line and I will email it to you.

Travelling ATC's in my ATC Suitcase!

Here is a little suitcase I made to store and display ATC's sent to me from around the world.

ATC's are Artist Trading Cards that are miniature pieces of art that you make and swap with others. They are so much fun to collect and it is a lovely way to see creative works of art made by other like minded people. They are only to be given or swapped, never sold and are to be 2.5" X 3.5" in size.

I tweaked a suitcase template I found here to make it the right size for ATC's and made a couple of other minor changes to make it easier to put together and allow for the felt lining. The suitcase is approximately 2.75" X 3.75" X 2" ( 7cm x 9.5cm x 5cm) to give you and idea of how small it really is.

I didn't have any antique style brads, so I inked some gold ones with brown Staz On and now they have an old worn look to them. The lid and the base of the suitcase are lined with a rich burgundy felt and the strapping is made from dark rose coloured velvet ribbon.

I had a ton of fun making this tiny suitcase even though it seemed to take forever to get the ribbon and brads in the right places. I even had some help from one of the puppies whilst her sister was sleeping! Here is Tinker at 6 weeks sitting on one of my A5 cutting mats. She weighs approximately 900g in this photo! A bit over 2 cans of cool drink!

If you find inspiration from my ATC suitcase, I would love to see your photos. You can email them to me with ATC Suitcase in the subject line or add a link to a comment below so that others can come and see them too.

Bye for now.

xx