A belated happy Christmas

Hello everyone and Happy Christmas.  Ok i'm 4 days late but i have been having some well deserved rest and relaxation with my family. Things during December have been so manic this year and i never expected my crafts to be as popular as they have been.  This of course is a really good thing but has meant up til Christmas Eve i have been working full time at my day job then coming home and working full time making up orders from my Folksy Shop, Facebook page and sales for friends and my unit at Botany Bay.  In between that trying to fit in family life and special moments like watching little Miss G in her Nativity play(Which she was awesome in). All this has meant i haven't had chance to stop and catch a breathe let alone do the other things i love like baking, catching up on everyone Else's blogs etc etc.  So i apologise if i have been absent from the world of blogging but i promise to be much more organised next year!.  Anyway here's a few pics of some of my recent makes and orders.

 Fred the sock devil was for a lady who's husband is an avid Man United fan and she wanted a devil made from socks.

 Memory box

 These decorations were for a lady who's whole tree is decorated with my makes.  How cool is that i am so flattered that she likes my crafts so much.

 

20 days to go.......

Ok can someone please tell me where the last 11 months have gone!! Suddenly it’s the 5th December and I’m not half as organised as I thought I was!!!.  So I thought it might be a good idea to write a plan/list. Now I am a woman of lists. I live by them so writing a Christmas list will be a walk in the park – when I get round to doing it!!.  I am going to make a real effort tonight (once I have finished my orders of 3 sock monkeys, 2 door hangers, 2 wooden hearts and a dad’s shed sign!) to get it done and I will post it on here tomorrow. For now though I’ll share some of my recent makes....

Bella and izzy the sock monkey's. If you want to make some and want a copy of the instructions i used drop me an e-mail to scratchy.cat@hotmail.co.uk

 Bruce,Emily and susie again made from socks.

 This glasses case was made on request for a lady.

 This wooden tree decoration is for one of my neices. These are so easy to make. You can buy blank wooden shapes off ebay and then decorate them however you want with paint,glitter,ribbon, stickers. the options are endless and the result is usually effective.

 These wooden tree's are an order from my folksy shop

and this final one was an order from a friend from my Facebook page for her daughters teacher.

Memory Box

Today's post is to show you all a memory box i made this weekend.  One of my friends is looking for a gift for her god daughter for Christmas and had seen a memory box on my facebook page and asked if i could make her a girly one.   This is how it turned out. 

  I have only made a few memory boxes previously as finding suitable boxes at the right price is usually difficult.  The box i used for this was from TKMaxx and i added pink satin ribbon, the wooden castle that i painted and embellished and a little wooden butterfly. 

Christmas countdown weeks 3&4

Ok due to being absent for a couple of weeks i haven't had chance to do my weekly Countdown to Christmas so I'm doing two in one today!.  First up are Pots of Snow which is a revamp of something i did last year.  This idea came from the fab forum on Moneysavingexpert and is essential white bon bons in a jar with a little poem and embellishments.  Super easy, super fast and a great stocking filler that looks nicer than just a boring pack of sweets.  These 2 pots were for an order but i have some more empty jars so i might make some more up.

 The caption says " I'm dreaming of a white Christmas just like the ones we used to know but in case this doesn't happen here's a pot of snow.

This second project is again a revamp of one i did last year (again the idea came from the moneysavingexpert forum).  This poem really makes me chuckle and these make fab stocking fillers for friends.  All you need is a cookie cutter,some scrapbook paper and a cellophane bag.  You don't even have to use a bag you could just attach you poem to the cutter with some nice ribbon.

I'm still alive!!

No I’m not dead even though I have been absent for a few weeks. Sometimes life just gets in the way and its been pretty hectic in the Glover house over the last 3 weeks. Miss G had 2 weeks off at half term and it was her birthday and things have been really busy with Scratchy Cat too. On top of that we have found out that Mr G is being made redundant for the third time in 18 months. I really feel for him as at the moment he is always the last in and then the first out. We are both in the construction industry and things just aren’t stable (and I can’t see them becoming so in the next year or two!). A lot of the projects Mr G was working on were part of the Governments Building Schools for the future. Most of that funding has been withdrawn meaning the projects aren’t being built. Anyway there is no point feeling sorry for myself as that won’t change things so I will be really busy trying to make sure my Scratchy Cat shop stays busy to bring in some extra pennies whilst something else comes along for Mr G. I’m sure it will as he is a very talented and well respected guy (ok I may be biased but he is!).

Anyway no more woe is me lets get looking at what I have been making recently. I have been busy with orders and making stock for my Folksy Shop and unit at botany bay. Here’s some of the items.....

 Mavis the sock monkey

 This little fella sold as soon as i had made him!

 This is my first attempt at making Christmas bunting and i love it.  i have put this in my folksy shop but i'm tempted to take it out and keep it as i think it goes great on my fireplace!

 I have made a few kettle chalkboards and these have been popular.  I only have one left so i'd better get making more.

Finally this plaque was an order for a lady at work. i also made her 2 girlie ballerina ones.

 

Christmas Countdown week 2

This weeks Christmas Countdown post is two easy peasy 5 minute projects that are great if you have little kiddo's. For the first one all you need is a plastic or old no longer needed key, some card or a wooden tag and some stickers and glitter. Put them together and you have a magic key to leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve. 

There are lots of thrift/ discount stores that sell Christmas Santa keys though most of the ones i have found look cheap and a bit ghastly.  You could use one of those and just pimp it up a bit with extra glitter and a tag to make it look nicer.  I found my plastic key on eBay then just added glue and glitter and painted a wooden tag and used a gel pen to write on it. 

The second project is reindeer food which is basically oats with added edible glitter added for a bit of sparkle.  Now please make sure you use edible glitter in any you make to ensure its save for wildlife that may eat the oats you sprinkle.  There are lots of different ways of storing your reindeer food. Some people use sealed bags, some use drawstring bags and i have used round cardboard boxes painted before embellishing.   

Now i can't say much more yet but very soon i will be holding a fabulous giveaway so keep your eyes peeled early next week to get your hands on an amazing prize.....

Cute little owl

I love Owls and i love to make anything owl related so the other night i picked up a pile of felt i have been eyeing up for a while and decided to make a cute owl keyring.  Its Miss G's 6th birthday in a few weeks and i thought i might make some keyrings to put in the party bags and this one was easy and quick to do.  All i did was draw an owl body onto felt then drew wings and feet and a an eye patch and cut them all out.  Now you don't have to make it up like i did you can just google owl pictures and print out one that you want to adapt.  Once i had cut out my pieces i sewed and glued the bits together and added a key fob to make it into a keyring.  you could make it even easier by gluing it all instead of doing any sewing.

Picking your brains!!

Ok fellow bloggers i have a quick question which i'm hoping someone can answer.  When i leave a comment on someone Else's blog i usually get a lovely reply in my e-mails from the blogger which i think is lovely.  How the hell do i do it?  I can't seem to find any link or any way of replying to any ones comments on my posts other than to reply as a comment on the post under the post's comments!  Now i am technically challenged so someone please tell me in simpleton terms how i do it so i can send you an e-mail reply to any comments you leave on my posts??

Christmas Countdown Week 1

Well it is just under 11 weeks till Christmas so I thought I had better start getting organised!. I have about three quarters of my Christmas Shopping done so far so I’m fairly organised on that front but need to get started on all my handmade gifts. I made myself a rule last year that everyone would receive at least one handmade gift from me even if all their presents aren’t handmade. The problem I have this year is that with constantly making things for my unit at Botany Bay, Craft Fairs, a shop in Devon that stocks my items and orders through my folksy shop and work I don’t get much spare time to do any other crafting at the moment . I think I am going to have to draft a plan. Now being the lady of lists this bit will be easy – actually doing what’s on the plan may be more difficult!!. Anyway I am going to give it a whirl and I will post my plan on here next week to try and motivate myself!. I also thought to try an motivate everyone else I will do a countdown to Christmas. Each week I will post atleast one Christmas themed project on my blog. Each project will be easy and might give you some simple idea’s for Christmas gifts/projects.

So lets get the party started with Countdown to Christmas week 1. This project is as easy as it can get!. Wooden reindeer tree decorations. These could also be used as fancy gift tags. All you need is a wooden blank reindeer ( you could cut one out of card instead if you can’t get hold of any wooden ones!). I got mine off EBay. If you do a search for wooden shapes there are lots of sellers who sell them. You also need some paint ( I used white spray paint but acrylic or emulsion works just as well). Finally a gel pen and embellishments and your good to go!. Paint your reindeer and when its dry glue on any embellishments. I used buttons and red pom poms as noses. I used ribbon and craft wire for hanging and I used a gel pen to draw lines around the edge of the reindeer.

Easy Christmas keepsake decoration

Today I thought I would share a cute Christmas Keepsake I have made for a craft fair I am doing next week. As with everything I do its easy peasy and doesn’t take long!.

I used a wooden bauble shape but if you don’t have any you could always cut a bauble shape out of stiff scrapbook card and that will work just as well. I sanded down the blank bauble then painted it pink. Once it had dried I used a gel pen to add the text and then I used a reindeer topper as an embellishment. I tied a cute ribbon round the top for hanging and that’s it – done!.

Shabby Chic Memo board

This weekend i did a 2 day craft fair at Backridge Farm near Clitheroe.  This is the second time i have done this venue and the people are lovely.  This time there were some new cake ladies who had made some amazing cakes and bakes!.  I had taken a mix of items with me but ended up selling out of sock monkeys in the first half an hour. I then spent saturday night finishing off half made ones to take on sunday and those sold out just as fast!!.  Overall it was a good weekend and although it wasn't constantly busy i did rather well overall. 

I have made a number of new things recently but didn't get chance to photograph them before the fair at weekend and most have now sold!.  However i do have a picture of a pin board i have made that i didn't take at weekend as it wasn't quite finished.

It was a trial and error experiment but i love it now its finished.  Underneath the dotty fabric is a cork mat (which was a cheap wood noticeboard from wilkinson's originally until i pulled it apart!)  Just need to make some fabric pins for it now.

IPAD COVER

I have had some dotty upholstery fabric sat in my cupboard for ages. It was an offcut that came in a mixed bundle and i was holding on to it to make a nice sturdy handbag. This weekend i decided to change tact and make some IPAD covers from it.  They were dead easy to do and when i get a min i'll post some instructions...

 I made one with a velcro fastening and one with a button fastening.

More adventures with machine embroidery

Anyone who has been following my blog for a while will realise that when i try out something new i tend to become obsessed with it for a while.  Machine embroidery is no different...... Following on from my recent post i have been experimenting and made some lavender scented hanging cushions.  For anyone who hasn't tried freehand machine embroidery give it a go.  Its like doodling with a machine and is so easy. The best bit is it's not supposed to be neat so anyone can do it. 

Baby's first tooth box

Today I thought I’d share my latest make which is really easy and would make a cute gift for a baby.  I started with a wooden box and sanded it down then painted it pastel pink.  Once it had dried I got my gel pen out and added the wording on top and a little heart sticker from accessorise. Then I made a little organza drawstring bag to pop in the box to keep the tooth safe.   That’s it – can’t get much easier.  If you fancy having a go and are looking for small wooden boxes have a look at crafty crocodiles.  They have a fab range of really reasonable priced craft items and delivery is really quick.

Freehand Machine embroidery is the future!

Earlier this year I bought a freehand embroidery needle for my sewing machine but have had hardly any time to have a play with it. Yesterday Mr G took Miss G to Jodrell Bank (the big ear as she calls it!) to look at lots of space and science stuff. I grabbed my opportunity to have a play. I thought I would start with something simple and this is the result….

I made it into a lavender scented cushion for hanging.

After that I made a glasses case

Then I started a snowman which isn’t finished but I’ll post some pics when it is.

Finally I made a bib that my best friend has ordered from me. I now have the bug. I can see a whole load of freehand machine embroidery items making their way to my folksy shop soon!!