Craft Prize - Blog Competition

Yippee! I have reached 2000 visitors since I started my blog back in mid December.

To celebrate I am holding a contest.

The prize is the box and everything contained within it. International entries accepted and very welcome. I will also pay the postage. Entries open to male & females. This would make a great gift for a crafty person.

The noodle box contains lots of craft items suitable for cardmaking, scrapbooking and what ever else you can think of. Great value - Over AU$30 retail. Some items have been removed from their packaging in order to make room for more in the box! There are silk flowers, foamies, ribbons, sequins, mini bells, organza bags, stranded beads, 1m lengths of wool and more.....
How many? Well that's for you to guess!


BLOG COMPETITION RULES:

* All you need to do is guess how many items are in this box. Just leave a comment below with the number of items you think are in the box. Only one entry per person.

* The winner will be the one with the closest answer and will be announced here on the Friday 14th March.

* BONUS: Would you like to have an Extra entry to this competition?:
If you post about this contest in your blog and link to it you are permitted a total of 2 entries! This will be checked before announcing the winner.

* Don't forget to check back or subscribe to my blog's feed, just in case you are the winner.

PLEASE MAKE SURE I CAN CONTACT YOU. Email me through my profile page if you wish to remain anonymous.

* SewDelish reserves the right to disqualify persons not abiding by the rules of this competition and the judges decision is final.

Please note:
If you want post your guess anonymously please Email Me with your guess and a reference name.

Don't be fooled, I have managed to fill it with lots of crafty items, ribbons and embellishments.

Have you found all the HINTS yet?

Easter Craft Project - Eggs and Chicks

Here the tiny eggs lay waiting.......

...Then the hatching begins!

These Easter eggs and chicks in a nest are an easy and fun activity to do for kids and adults alike. These tiny eggs and chicks are just a mere 1 1/2" (3cm) tall.

1. Collect some small twigs and sticks and arrange randomly in a circular brown paper-mache bowl or container. This will help give the nest it's shape.
   
2. Paint some polystyrene eggs or real ones with pretty paints.
   
3. While the eggs dry make some baby chicks with pom poms, tulle for the wings, cardboard for the beak and joggle eyes.

These wee chicks are waiting for tucker!

Now the baby chicks are fed and ready for bed!

Click on the Holidays link at the end of this post for more Easter Holiday ideas...

Vintage Knitting and Crochet Patterns

Look what I bought today from a local thrift shop. A few vintage and not so vintage knitting and crochet patterns. Actually I bought more than this, but these are my favourites. It is so hard to find anything like these in stores today. A treasure trove of beautiful patterns.

I just adore this baby knitted pixie bonnet.



A cute star and flower doily.
The original price of 35 cents for the
whole booklet still on the front.
I wonder how old this is!



This crochet butterfly doily looks like it is tatted.

I want to get knitting again as soon as this sweltering hot summer is over.

Genie or Princess Jasmine Costume

My DD wanted to have an I dream of Genie come Princess Jasmine costume for her birthday party a few months ago.

I went on a hunt both online and offline to find a suitable outfit.

Keywords I used:

• Genie including Jeanie
• Princess Jasmine
• Arabian Princess
• Belly dancer
• Costume
• Outfit
• Dress-up
  

It needed to be something modest,(bare midriffs were out, thank goodness!), the colour had to be turquoise or close to it, and something suitable for cool weather. I somehow had to also incorporate each of the four different fabrics my daughter had chosen into the costume without it looking odd. I found a few costume styles that I thought Little Miss would like. WRONG. None of them were pretty enough.

I then set about drafting a pattern, to DD's specifications of course! I used some pattern pieces from several different sources and altered them to create just the right outfit. Did I succeed? According to my daughter I did. Yay!!! What a relief!

The fabrics I used were plain turquoise satin, sequined teal satin, sequined turquoise stretch, and turquoise organza. The trims were some beaded ribbon and some pretty buttons. The left over trims I used to decorate DD's hair and create a genie type headband (i'm not sure of the correct term). All in all It was a success and a fun challenge for me to make.

Make SewDelish Chocolate Bars

I have been chocolate making again and I had some melted chocolate left over. I poured it into a large chocolate bar mould. After it had set I remembered about some chocolate bars we made for gifts last year, so I decided to share with you the process. If you are not up to melting chocolate or can't find a mold, then you can use a purchased bar of chocolate and decorate that.

1) Melt chocolate over a double pan, then pour into mould (mold for those of you from US)

2) Allow to set while you clean up and prepare the wrapper. I downloaded some background papers from the Crafts Beautiful website . You need to be a member, but it is free to join. There are also some sites that have printable wrappers and even software you can download to make your own designs.

3) Once the bar is set, wrap it in some aluminum foil. This gives a professional touch and also helps with the next step.

4) Measure the height of the bar (your wrapper will be this high) and then measure the whole way around the bar and add 2-3cm(1") for overlap. Cut your paper to these measurements.

5) Centre the chocolate bar in the middle of the wrapper paper and use tape, glue or sticky dots to adhere the overlapped ends of the wrapper together. Try not to stick it to the foil. Then you will be able slide off the wrapper and turn it into a card front later.

6) Decorate the bar with other embellishments if you wish. I used lace, ribbon and buttons for a real feminine chocolate bar. The paper and embellishments can be changed to suit the taste of the recipient (haha no pun intended).

Happy Valentine's Day 2008

Today is a day to celebrate Love and Life. Whether you have a significant other or not at this time, enjoy living the life you have and loving yourself for who you truly are.

These gorgeous flowers are from my husband (Thank you honey if you read this!). We are apart this Valentine's Day due to work circumstances, so we will celebrate in a few days time.

Have a look over at Make and Takes, she has some great ideas for Valentine's Day. I particularly like these craft paper animals, and these fabulous activities to do for your loved ones too.

Antique & Vintage Singer Sewing Machine Information

This is my 1951 Singer 99K. It is operated by a knee bar that I could get very accustomed to using. Much more control and fun too! It takes low shank attachments, which means is will fit attachments that also fit my Singer 201's and those from my puzzle box.

I spent quite some time researching old sewing machines, online and offline and have decided to share with you a list of links that I use. From these links you should be able to identify the model of your antique or vintage Singer sewing machine, date it and also find out the attachments it will take. There are also free manuals on a few of them for you to download. Which provide loads of information on the machines themselves.

If you have a link you would like to add, please leave a comment and I will add it to the list once I have checked it out.

( have updated these links 9th January 2012. Some have expired, but I was able to track some of them down through the web archive. I have left the old links in should they become available at a later date)

Sewing Machine Photo ID Walkthrough Very useful**

Dating Antique and Vintage Singer Sewing Machines 
For detailed manufacturing dates and model numbers

Singer Sewing Machine Serial Numbers
 This information in no longer very detailed and does not show models numbers.

Singer Sewing Machine Company From ISMACS - machines, cabinets, manuals & attachments

ISMACS International Free manuals and lots of information**

How Much is Your Machine Worth?

Treadle On

Needlebar Need to become a member to read messages

Seized Machine Treatment (Information No longer Available)

Sewalot

Antique and Vintage Sewing Machine Virtual Museum

Featherweight Information

Free Download for Singer Manuals 15, 28 and 66

Sewitgoes Sewing Machine Collector's Gallery New Link
(Old Link Sewing Machine Collector's Gallery)

Part and Attachments for Singer Sewing Machines - New Link
(Old link Parts/Attachments information)

Featherweight 221 Factory

Yahoo Singer Attachments Group - Need to be a member to view messages

Yahoo Vintage Singers Group - Need to be a member to view messages