What a lovely couple and my latest experiments!

Today is one of those days that makes me feel proud to be British!.  The Royal Wedding was just amazing.  It was so obvious by watching it how in love William and Kate are. And how stunning was Kate's dress!! William and Harry seem to have grown up to be well grounded sensible men and I'm sure Princess Diana would have been very proud.  As well as being able to celebrate a monumental day in history i have also had chance to work on a few experimental projects....

 This fabric hanging cushion has dried lavender in.  I hand stamped the image onto the fabric before constructing the cushion.

 More attempts at machine freehand embroidery wording.

 I have to say this notebook is my favourite.  I love how it as turned out and only took 5 minutes to make..

Last minute inspiration and some shabby chic keepsakes.

Today at school Lili has to go dressed in red white and blue as they are having a Royal party to celebrate the wedding of William & Kate tomorrow. Last night whilst getting her clothes out I had an inspirational thought to jazz up a plain white t-shirt. Out came some felt and my rotary cutter and 10 minutes later tad ah…

Now it looks wonky on the picture but its just how Lili is stood. She is chuffed as mint balls and said I’m going to tell everyone you made it mummy – Mmm I suspect they may guess that sweetheart!!!

This last week I have been working really hard to get my Facebook page up and running and updating online shop. I feel that I have been neglecting you all as I haven’t been able to catch up on all the blogs I follow (350+) but I promise to get back with it this weekend. We have a couple of weddings coming up over the next few months so I have been making little keepsakes. Here’s a few I made this week.

I have also been making more stock for my online shop and some craft fairs I have signed up to. What do you think?

Anniversary giveaway

On 5th May it will be a year since i started my blog.  I wanted a place to record my craft projects and to be able to look back on my sewing attempts and hopefully see an improvement.  I never realised that i would get so much more from blogging.  I have met some lovely people (virtually!) and have found so many amazing pages and projects that have inspired me.  I also never thought for one minute that other people would actually be interested in my blog or what i was doing but so far my blog has had 30,000 page views and now gets around 200 page views a day which amazes me.  To celebrate my upcoming anniversary i have decided to do a giveaway.  I will be including a big bundle of mixed items including:-

Sew and save book

4 lots of bubble pressed flower stickers

Accesorize owl post it strips

paperchase owl notepad

A large selection of 6" x 6" scrapbook papers

A sheet  of Laura Ashley rub ons

A wooden sheep hanging keepsake

A Felt heart

A Post it note board

a few other handmade surprise items...

If you want to get your mitts on this bundle of goodies you need to leave a comment on this post.  I will leave the giveaway open until Friday May 6th and then put all names in a hat and Little Miss G can pull out a winner.  I will include your name once for each of the following.

Commenting on this post

Including details pic and link on your sidebar of your blog

becoming a follower if you aren't already

Putting a comment on my facebook page click here to do this and like my facebook page.

Each of these will get your name included once in the hat.

Bunny pencil case

Whilst blog hopping earlier this week i came across the lovely Jessica's blog.  She has some fab makes on her blog but what caught my eye was a fab bunny pencil holder tutorial.  It was so cute i just had to give it a whirl.  I did make a few changes. For instance i sewed my ears down so they look floppy. I'd like to say it was intentional however it was actually to stop my bunny looking like a goat when i cut his ears too pointy!!.  I also stitched around the edge of my case for completeness. This was because i used cotton fabric so it just finished it off nicely.  I then added a wooden heart that i had made which unties at the back so can be taken off. 

 Anyway have a pop over to Jessica's blog and have a peek round her fab world.

Free Easter printable

I just had to share with you all this last minute gift tag I have done to add to the Easter gifts lili is sending to cousins. I designed it using Picnik (I love that software!!). I might also print of the label and use it as a topper for some chocolate egg bags... If you want a copy to use for your own projects then just drop me an e-mail to scratchy.cat@hotmail.co.uk or you may be able to right click the image and save to your pc. If you do use it I'd love to see your projects so please link back.

I love this fabric!!

 

Recently i indulged in my addiction to shop for nice fabric and purchased some fab pieces from Fabric rehab.  i just love this shop... Anyway one of the fat quarters i bought was a retro caravan print.   

I couldn't wait to make something so thought i'd make a phone case to put in my folksy shop.

What do you think?....

Easter Top Ten day 3

Day 3 of the Easter top ten is an experimental project.  I recently purchased a freehand machine embroidery foot for my sewing machine and have been dying to try it out.  I thought i might as well make something towards Easter so i used it to freehand applique a chick and some writing and then made it into a fabric gift bag.

 i have to say it is really hard to get used to at first as the needle goes all over the show! 

 I used the same grey fabric for the lining to co-ordinate it.

Easter Top Ten Day 2

Today's Easter project is a little something i was experimenting with for my little niece who is too young for chocolate treats this Easter.  For anyone who is following Scratchycat on Facebook you will have already seen this. Its a bunny in a bag!. i had no idea how scruff the bunny would turn out as i roughly sketched an outline on some cotton and then added bits as i went along. I have to say i love her and she looks miles better than i thought she would!.

i will try and do a pattern for her over the weekend and upload it for anyone who wants to use it..

cute little keyrings

This week is Easter holidays so the chance of me getting much crafting done is pretty slim! Most of what i do will probably involve Lili's artistic talents!! Mr G would probably say most of my projects look like that anyway but hey ho!.

To get me motivated with all the Easter gifts i have to make i thought i would start a Easter top ten projects where i will post an Easter project everyday (ok don't shoot me if its not every day!!).  Ok what are we waiting for then lets start with an easy peasy project - Easter keyrings....

 These do become addictive to make . You have been warned!!

Ok want to make one?...

You will need:-

•  a plastic type sticker or other embellishment. I used bubble stickers for this.
• 2 pieces of felt bigger than your sticker or embellishment
• scrap piece of ribbon
• lobster clasp key fob
• thread
• fabric glue
• wadding
• scissors

1. take your 2 pieces of felt and lay them flat on top of each other.  Place your sticker or embellishment in the centre of one piece.
2. sew around the edge of the sticker/embellishment leaving a space at the top for ribbon and stuffing.
3. cut around the edge close (but not too close) to the stitches.
4. gently stuff the shape through the hole
5. Loop your ribbon through the hoop of the keyring and then place the 2 ends of the ribbon inside the hole at the top of the felt shape.
6. stitch over the gap closing up the shape making sure the ribbon is firmly in place.
7. peel the sticker off slightly and apply some fabric glue to the underside then place back flat and let glue dry.

Scratchycat hits facebook

After months of meaning to get a Scratchycat facebook page up and running i have finally done it!!... Its still working progress but go over and have a peek and let me know your thoughts. Oh and feel free to choose "like" if you want to be kept up to date and make me feel special :-).  i will be doing tutorial links to here on there and posting lots of ideas and crafts so i'd love you all to join me. If you want to follow me click on this link and then click on like on my page.  If you pop over now there is a sneak preview of some cute bunny keyrings i just made...

Felt Easter booty bags

Ok why is it that i get myself organised months in advance for things but then right at the last minute still seem to have loads to do!. I have been making experimental easter gifts and accessories for weeks now which given Easter is a couple of weeks off i thought was ok. Then it dawned on me whilst sat soaking up the sun yesterday that Lili's last day at school is tomorrow and that i had promised we could make to make her 20 little easter presents for her classmates. Uh oh panic stricken i grabbed my sewing machine and some fabric and ribbon scraps and set about making little bags big enough to hold mini eggs or mini cadbury bars. In the end they have worked out quite sweet..

 I used poundland stickers on the front and attached them with fabric glue to make sure they don't come off.

I thought that will i was at it i might as well make some extra so i have listed them in my folksy shop.

If anyone wants to make them you will need 2 pieces of felt 3" x 4.5" 2 pieces of scrap ribbon or cord and some stickers or embellishments for the front.

Take one of your felt pieces and along the short edge sew the ribbon on like a handle ( i did 2 rows of stitching for strength) and then repeat with the other piece of felt.

Take your 2 pieces of felt and place them with wrong sides together inside and sew around the 2 long sides and the bottom short side.  Then stick your embellishment on the front and that's it....

More wooden tags...

Well most of you will know by now that once i start a particular type of craft i tend to get a little obsessed!!This week i started making some Easter gift tags out of Wooden shapes and scrapbook papers. Now i can't stop!. Here's some more i made last night!!.

I have used paper flowers and brads to embellish them

 How cute is the wooden sheep.  I bought the wooden shapes off ebay and you can get so many different shapes and characters the options are endless.

 I used a sparkly card butterfly to embellish this one.

This bright floral duck is covered using a scrap of scrapbook paper. It is just right for spring.