DIY: Harry Potter Sharpie Mug

I will be the first to admit that I am jumping on the sharpie mug bandwagon a little late, but I swear I have good reason for it! You see, while Pinterest almost imploded with sharpie mug DIY tutorials over christmas, it was about 40 degrees C here in Australia, so you can imagine how un-excited I was about hot chocolate at the time! Even now, as I type this in Autumn, it is still about 27 degrees. Nowhere near cold enough for hot chocolate!

Nonetheless, sick of the sticky humidity we are experiencing in Australia right now, I am dreaming of cool winter days snuggled up on the lounge with a good book or a movie, mug of delicious, warm, milky libation in hand. Cue Pinterest and this little project!

If you know me at all, or have been reading this blog for a while, you will know that I am a HUGE Harry Potter fanatic! So of course, when I thought of doing a movie-themed sharpie mug, that was the natural choice of subject!

Now, if you have been living under a rock (don't worry, I can frequently be found under rocks) here is how you do this:  write/draw whatever you want on your mug, then bake at 180 degrees C for 30 minutes so that the sharpie design won't wash off.

I decided to incorporate a few things from different Harry Potter books/movies into my mug:

Deathly Hallows symbol

My next tattoo favourite quote ever

And my favourite part of the mug:

The Grim! (and a little lightening bolt on the handle)

This project was super quick, easy and fun to do and I'm stoked with the results. I might have to whack on a Harry Potter movie this afternoon when it cools down, and whip up some hot chocolate to enjoy in my new mug! What would you draw on your mug if you gave this project a go? Or have you done it already?

DIY Coaster Tutorial

I don't know about you, but I hate the look of water rings on wooden surfaces! It is so disappointing to come across a nice table with little, dark rings mottling the surface! After spending a week refashioning my dining table, the last thing I wanted was for people to plonk their drinks down on it and create water rings, so I set about making my own pretty, blue and white coasters for my dining table to protect that pretty, wooden surface!

I also made these cute vintage bicycle ones for my non-existent coffee table (hopefully we will find one soon!)






















To make your own pretty coasters, you will need:

Blank Wooden Coasters 

(Mine were from Kaisercraft and were less that $1 each)

Scrap booking Paper 

Mod Podge 

Foam Brush

Spray Sealer

(highly recommended)

Exacto Knife/Rotary Cutter

Cutting mat

Pencil

Scissors

Here's the how to:

1. Turn your scrap booking paper upside down and trace the outline of the coasters onto it.

2. Cut around the outlines with scissors, making sure to cut outside the line! This is important so you don't end up with wood showing on the top side of your coasters. You can trim off overhang later with your exacto knife.

3. Mod Podge your scrap book paper cut-outs to your coasters, using a wide, foam brush. Let it thoroughly dry.

4.  Turn your coasters upside down on your cutting mat and trim off any overhang using an exacto knife or rotary cutter.

5. Give your coasters a few coats of Mod Podge to seal them, letting each coat dry before applying the next, and making sure to seal around the edges. I gave mine about 5 coats, but I was probably being excessive.

6. To eliminate tackiness, spray your coasters with a light coat of acrylic sealer once Mod Podge is dry, and they're ready for you to enjoy!

I hope you found this tutorial helpful. You don't have to use the spray sealer if you don't want to, but I would highly recommend it. I haven't gotten my hands on any yet, and my coasters are constantly stuck together when I stack them! I used matte finish Mod Podge for my coasters, and some people have told me that the shiny finish is less tacky, but I'm not entirely sure whether this is true.

Happy crafting!

Little felt cupcakes!

Could there be anything cuter on this Earth than these little felt cupcakes I made?

Seriously, so cute!

I followed this tutorial and of course, tweaked it a little to suit myself, and I think they turned out great! Well, all except the first one. It somehow got glued to my fingers and now has glue stains on the pink felt :( If ever there was a time to rob a bank it's now because I don't think I have any fingerprints left! Hot glue isn't very kind to the ol' fingers!

I'm going to use mine as a pin cushion, but I imagine they could also be used as fake food for tea parties or as decorations in a little girl's room. What do you think? Cute enough for you to have a go? They're super easy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pins look like sprinkles when you push them in - I'm totally in love!

Crochet Necklace Tutorial

Look what I've been making!

Aren't they cute? And so easy too! if you know the basics of crochet, you will have no troubles with this tutorial, and even if you don't - grab a crochet hook and watch a YouTube tutorial on basic crochet techniques and off you go! If you have any troubles, just leave a comment and I'll get back to you, or if you're not keen on crochet but still want a cute little necklace, I may just put some on Etsy for you, if you ask nicely! I will also be selling these little beauties at The Corner Store in Evans Head.

I am self-taught at crochet and therefore may not be using proper crochet terms (any that I do use will be Australian terms, more than likely, but I hope you get the gist of what I'm saying!)

Sorry that I haven't taken any photos of the process... I usually crochet at night and my camera is super crappy at this kind of thing. Maybe now I've entered the blogging world it's time to get a digital SLR? I know the thrill-seeking boyfried wouldn't mind me having a good camera to catch him in action!


You will need:

• A crochet hook
• Some yarn
• Fabric stiffener
• A length of chain (I use about 50cm, but just make it however long you like your necklaces to be)
• Four jump rings
• A lobster clip
• Scissors 

Instructions:

 

1. Start your crochet however you usually start it (I make a loop then pass some yarn underneath it and pull it up with my hook, making a slip knot). Chain a length of yarn to the width you'd like your finished panel to be. I usually chain about 28 with the thin yarn I use, if you're using thicker yarn, chain 20. Make sure the amount of chains you do is a multiple of four.

2. Chain three and turn your work. Now treble into every chain you have made, skipping the first three chains. 

3. Chain one and turn your work. Chain three, then treble into every fourth stitch you made. Continue this along the entire work, chaining three then trebling into every fourth stitch below.

4. At the end of the row, chain one and turn your work. Now you need to treble six into each chain four gap to make a scalloped edge. If you wish to make the smaller of the two necklace designs, once you have done this, fasten your work and you are finished your crochet panel. Move on to step 6. If you wish to make the larger, fasten your work and start your crochet on your hook again. 

5. Chain into the first gap between your groups of six trebles to attach your new piece of yarn to your work again. Repeat step 4, trebling six into each gap between the groups of six trebles. Fasten your work when you have trebled into the last remaining gap. 

6. Sew your end threads into your work and cut short so that you can no longer see them. 

7. Stiffen your crochet panel with fabric stiffener. Most labels will give you directions to follow with the choice of dipping your panel into the stiffener or working it in by hand. I find working it in by hand to be most effective and less wasteful. To do this, pour a 50c piece worth of stiffener into your hand and massage it into the panel. Make sure the panel is completely saturated. If it is not, pour a little more stiffener into your hand and work it into the drier areas. On the bottle, it should say to leave your panel in a tray to dry overnight, however, I find this makes it a little too stiff, and am extremely impatient, so I zap mine in the microwave for 30 seconds instead. Don't leave it in for any more than 30 seconds, because you will burn it! 

8. After your panel has been made stiff, open your jump rings and push one into each side of your crochet panel. Cut your piece of chain in half and thread an end loop of each piece into the opened jump rings attached to the crochet panel. I just use crappy scissors to cut my low-quality chain, but if you're using a good quality chain, use pliers. Attach another jump ring to each end of the chain, adding a lobster clip on one side for fastening your necklace, and voila! You did it! You made a necklace! :)

 

I love making these gorgeous little necklaces. They are relatively quick, look super cute, and you can knock up the crochet panels while sitting in front of the TV - and who doesn't like craft projects which can be done while watching TV? It lets you be lazy and productive at the same time! Happy crocheting everyone, and I hope you love your necklaces as much as I love mine!

Big News!!!

Sorry it has taken so long for me to write this much anticipated post, but I was kinda hoping that I'd have a climax to this story a little sooner.

I've been making these little hair clips out of vintage scraps of material and buttons for quite a while now, occasionally mixing it up by using lace instead of fabric, and that is how I came by the idea to make my own fascinator for race day. The pile of clips has slowly been getting larger and larger, and as I don't often wear hair clips they have just been sitting in an old make up case in my wardrobe completely untouched this whole time. I've often thought about selling them, but then I have argued that the price of market stalls would outweigh my earnings and I don't have enough stock to make an impressive-looking stall anyway, but over the last few months while I have been on the pension and have had so much time on my hands, my craft projects have become more diverse and more frequent.

First off, I started sewing again.

Then, I started this blog.

Then, I started to crochet necklaces (I will be posting about this extremely soon, I promise)

Then, something amazing happened! A craft co-operative opened up a store in Evans Head, my hometown! The shop is called The Corner Store and it is filled with wonderful handmade goods. There are currently 12 members of the co-operative and my big news is...

I've joined it!

Freshly printed labels! (how exciting!)

I went to their monthly meeting the other day and sent samples of my work to the shop for them to look at before they evaluated whether or not I would be a valuable addition to their team and my products would fit in with the products already in the shop. I bribed them just a little bit with loaning them my peek-a-boo dolls to use as mannequins in the shop, and finally it has happened - my membership has been approved!

For me to be accepted into the co-op all the members had to approve me, with no objections. Most of these ladies are mature, sophisticated crafters who have been doing this for an extremely long time, and here I am - a nineteen year old who mucks around without patterns on her sewing machine knocking up things she hopes will fit someone. Needless to say, I was extremely nervous about this, and eager for them to make their decision!

Are there any craft co-ops where you live, and would you consider becoming a part of one? I think they are a great idea.

For the price of a small joining fee and 20% commission coming out of your sold products to run the shop (electricity, rent and insurance) you can have your products on display all the time, just waiting for customers to buy them! It certainly works out much better than paying for market stalls and market insurance, and you only have to volunteer one day a month at The Corner Store, rather than spending every Sunday at the markets!

 

 

 

Spring Races!

Hi everyone!
For those of us in the southern hemisphere, spring is finally here, and that means racing season! I don't know what it is about horses, but they absolutely enthrall me and that is why I am super  excited to be going to the Ballina Cup on Friday! It will be my first ever race day experience and I am super keen to frock up and sip champagne by the track! (or at least pretend to sip champagne, I am  definitely not the biggest fan!)

It was sort of a last minute decision for me to be going on Friday, so I am just wearing a dress I already had (black, vintage inspired with pink roses and tulle underlay - perfect race day dress, no?) but I did knock up a quick home made fascinator to tizzy it up a little bit :)

Want to see?

Of course you do!

 

The big flower is black nylon lace gathered with a running stitch and the small flower is black cotton eyelet trim gathered with a running stitch. The cotton trim is quite stiff, and I think that helps it to keep the petal-like shape it has taken on. The button in the middle is a vintage one i stole out of mum's sewing box. It looks as though it has been hand beaded! The beads are glass and faux pearl. I added in the organza ribbon "petals" for extra dimension, although they aren't all that easy to see.

 

I originally was going to hand sew the whole thing together, but the weird shapes formed by all the different elements made that kind of hard - in the end I just hot-glued it all together, including the (upside down) alligator clip on the back.

 

 

 

 

 

This last picture is just to give you the idea of how big it ended up. Please excuse my lovely spewed on work shirt and messy hair! I'll do another post on Saturday to show you the complete outfit and tell you all about the races! :)

 

If you're also from the southern hemispere, do you plan on going to the races this spring? If you're not, tell me about race experiences you've had in the past or any fascinators you might have worn or made :)

First post!!!!

Hi guys, if you're reading this I'm eternally grateful because I have this weird feeling that blogging without readers is akin to talking to oneself - something which I am starting to think I do a little too much of already, lately!

My name is Sunae, and I'm a crafty 18 year old from  a small town called Woodburn, not far from Byron Bay in Australia. I guess I'm starting this blog as a sort of time-filler because I am on a gap year and don't have much use of my brain without anything to study, but I am also starting this because I have recently taken up sewing, and would like to (eventually) start selling what I sew on Etsy, which is absolutely the best website EVER, and at a few of the local markets where I live.

At this stage, I don't think this blog will completely be about sewing, as I also do a bit of other craft and cooking, a lot of op-shopping which I get super excited about, and I love to read so i'm guessing you'll hear a bit about books too! In a way, I guess you'll hear a far bit about different aspects of my life. I hope you enjoy what I write about if you read it, and I hope you'll comment on my posts because I'm quite a friendly person who loves to chat and connect with other like-minded people!

I think this shall do for an introductory post, and I'll try to post something exciting later!

Inspiration!!!

So, I have decided that starting a blog is excellent motivation for actually making things to put on the blog (also makes me want to buy an amazing, expensive camera  - but that will have to wait) so tonight I made a bit of a springboard of crafts/sewing projects I want to make.

Here it is!

I'm posting it so that I will have to follow through and actually make these things! As you can probably tell, I'm absolutely loving sewing things for kids at the moment and am actually hoping to start up my own little business soon selling things on Etsy and at the local markets. So far I only have a lot of hair clips and brooches, but I did do a variation of the pillowcase dress for my neice the other day, and am in the process of doing another for my stockpile. Also have ordered a fat quarter bundle off Ebay cos I couldn't find one cheap enough that I liked from my local Spotlight or Lincraft to try a variation of the fat quarter pillowcase dress pictured, of which there is a great tutorial on The Mother Huddle. I think I'll be making a few of those, with different variations are they are super quick, a great thing to make to get used to my new overlocker, and extremely cute and sellable! Also excited to try the super easy lace crowns which you can find on the website given in the picture, the doily bottomed curtains, and the lace skirt which is courtesy of girl. Inspired., although she doesn't offer a tutorial or pattern, so I'm going to have to make that one up as I go. Definitely making myself one of those, as well as a few mini ones to sell, and possibly larger ones to sell too? Still not quite sure whether to limit what I sell and focus on a target audience, or just go for broke and make whatever the heck I feel like! (I'm guessing I'll probably do the latter).

Anyway, after all this ranting, I still dont feel like'I've done a "real" post yet, so I better get cracking on a project tomorrow after work!


NOTE: edited on 9/9/12 due to picture not being visible. Originally posted on August when I started this blog.