All posts filed under: Crafts

Pom Pom ghost

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Halloween meets pom poms and out pops a ghost! I had the bright idea of making a ghost using pom poms this morning, so I did! Want to make your own pom pom ghostie friend? Easy peasy. You need to make two pom poms the same size. When you have two pom poms, sew them together using the same wool. Then the fun part, you get to play ghost hair stylist. Trim trim trim away to get a ghosty ghost shape. Final touch is adding the eyes. Choose two buttons and sew them where you want the eyes. Add a length of wool to hang him and you are all done. Now you can make lots of ghosts and make a spooky garland or fill a glass vase with ghosts or just run around scaring people with them.

September 2013 photo a day

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It’s nearly nearly nearly October which surely means we are all gathering pumpkins and making apple pies with freshly picked apples.  You know, with the apples you picked at the apple orchard and ended up with a quadrillion pounds even though you told everyone to only pick a few! I haven’t been apple picking yet, but I am sure we will and I am also sure we will bring home the required quadrillion pounds of apples! In the meantime, September whizzed by and brought us a few cool mornings and plenty of afternoon sunshine and here are the photos I took this month.  I have been playing with Flipagram too, so the photos are also all on Instagram zipping past your eyes in the new video format.  I am @catseatdogsmakes on Instagram, go and see what you think. Day 1. Together Day 2. My name begins with. Day 3. Lines Day 4. Alone.  Had I eaten the rest?  Or was this one the only rice krispie treat which wouldn’t fit in the box? Day 5. …

Free motion machine embroidery

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This week is ‘Selfish Sewing’ week thanks to Made with Moxie and Imagine Gnats and I promised myself I would embrace it.  One hour a day at the machine, not much to ask of myself, especially as I want to make more fabric lovelies like scarves and bags. Today’s project was my very first go at machine embroidery.  Presser foot off the machine and feeder teeth gone.   Just me and a sewing needle. I did a quick sketch of a tea cup and found instructions in my sewing machine’s manual.  The fabric went into my embroidery hoop and off I went. All of my sewing experience and knowledge was to be ignored and my sewing mind had to expand to welcome this new and strange technique. Drawing with my machine needle became easier as I practiced and practiced.  It is super weird to be able to move the fabric so freely, forwards, backwards, around corners with no stopping and starting to keep the fabric where I need it. My trust was in the embroidery hoop …

Spirograph and new library book

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I have had my Spirograph since at least nineteen seventy something.  Now we like to pull it out every so often to make some cool and usually surprising patterns. Today I thought I would make some notecards using my old faithful Spirograph. I recently bought some coloured biro pens which work great to make the colourful patterns. While I was getting the Spirograph pieces out I found the pretty lady who needs Spirograph hair, I do remember that I could never make her hair because I loved the face so much that I didn’t want to use it and  run the risk of ruining it.  So she still has no seventies hair. I have been struggling to find a book to read lately, I started ‘Sisterland’ by Curtis Sittenfeld, but I didn’t finish it before I had to return it to the library and then I started ‘The Truth’ by Michael Palin which I didn’t like, so now I am going to start this one tonight, I hope I like it!  If I don’t like …

Granola cookies

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It is a hot week this week, humid and sticky, not ideal for putting on the oven to bake cookies, but bake I did.  I am linking up with Poppy Fox at Home for a foodie gathering, so I had to bake!   What choice did I have?  I wanted to test these granola cookies and Poppy Fox needed a recipe post, so yum yums all around! This is the second granola cookie recipe I have tried and the best by far.  I used granola I had made rather that store bought which I think also helps. The recipe is from the book Breakfast for Dinner by Lindsay Landis and Taylor Hackbarth.  I borrowed it from the library last week and there are some fab recipes in it, including this one. Granola Cookies 2 1/4 cups flour 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 cup (8oz) butter room temperature 1 1/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup light brown sugar 2 eggs 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 2 cups granola 1/2 cup …

Whatcha doin’?

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We have been experimenting and spraying beads gold and watching lots of ‘Wild Kratts’ this week as my smallest has been sick. I have been keeping up with the A Beautiful Mess 30 day self portrait challenge on Instagram, it has been a tricky one, I mean not much changes from day to day! It does force creativity though, so I have enjoyed that so far. I am at day 23, nearly done. This experiment came from the new ‘Martha Stewart’s Favorite Crafts for Kids’ book. I was lucky enough to get a copy at the New York Alt summit and I have to say it is chock full of great crafts and experiments. Lots of ‘what a great idea, why didn’t I think of that’ ideas. For this one, you just fill a jar with clear water. In a separate bowl mix one tablespoon of vegetable oil with drops of food coloring (we didn’t have red, which I bet looks cool). Mix up the oil and colour and pour onto the water. It just …

Want. Smell. Love.

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I want this bag so badly, love love love it!  It is in the new Anthropologie catalogue, but I can’t find it online.  What a bunch of teasers!  It is out of my league anyway, so I will just gaze upon the picture of it. I am loving this summer fragrance. I waft it about generously! It is very light so can be wafted without anyone fainting.  I am not honestly sure what Salt Air should smell like, but this smells light and summery and just like salt air…. I bought these fab items at a sale last week. I use the yellow jug to water my hanging baskets and I just like to look at the colours and pattern on the mat. These are my very favourite bracelets to wear this summer. They are five wood elastic bracelets I got at Buddha and Beads in Cape Cod for $1 each and they are the best. This pile of summer is going to be a lovely bracelet this week. Snacks.  I don’t get my paws …

July 2013 ‘photo a day’

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July was a lovely weather month, it started off cool and ended cool with a few hot days in the middle.  Very nice. During July we completed reading clubs at the library, saw Despicable Me 2, visited some local parks and made lots of muffins! The future king was born and has my Grandad’s name – George. I made lots of notes about things to make when the boys go back to school, new jewels and scarves for the fall season. Here are the photos from July as usual using Fat Mum Slim’s prompts.  Here are the August prompts if you want to join in. Day 1. Happiness is …  Finding treasure in the woods, not sure what this is, maybe part of a fireplace or picture frame or mirror. Day 2. Shoes. Day 3. Cold.  Ice Cream Factory. Day 4. Red, white or blue. Day 5. Love.   Day 6. Fave smell.  Sweet Peas. Day 7. Where you are.  Maramec Springs State Park, MO. Day 8. Path.  Throwing seed bombs on the path through …

Shell pendants and button bracelets

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Remember these beauties?  Found on Chatham beach in Cape Cod, holes and everything. I utilized those handy little natural holes and made some pendants and added a freshwater pearl for a little bit of fancy. I have also made these simple button bracelets which are great all layered up.  I use one fabulous vintage button on leather and let it be. I think I am liking these so much I am going to add them to my Etsy store for sale.  Want one? I found a new funky photo app for the phone, I am still playing around with it, but I do love it.  I used it to make the button bracelet photo.  It is the Rhonna Designs app and it lets you add text and icons and phrases and all sorts of bits and bobs.  There are lots of options and a great colour choice which I think is missing from alot of other apps. Check out the website (that’s the link a few lines up), it is a thing of beauty and …

Sun prints revisited

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We are getting into the sun prints this summer. Might as well put the scorching sun to good use! The prints we made last week have been made into new pictures with the help of me, some markers and my eight year old son! As we finished drawing on the original prints, Bodhi told me he had already put some more items out to ‘print’! What projects have you got up your sleeve for the summer holidays?