Tim Burton Swap pt 2 - What I received!

A few weeks ago I blogged about Apryl's Tim Burton swap and what I'd sent out to my partner Trudy in Canada. Today I finally received my parcel from her (which she sent out about 2 weeks before I sent mine! Thanks Post Office!), and it was truly awesome!

When I opened it everything was beautifully wrapped, but because I love presents so much I couldn't resist opening them all before I could find a camera!

First up was the chocolate! Pretty much anything made by Reese's is the best thin ever in my opinion, so these things really made me grin!



Then I opened this truly gorgeous notebook! It's a cover as well, so when I've use the notebook up I can move it to another one of the same size!



Next up was probably my favourite thing - a bag made from Beetlejuice fabric! I have decided to use it as a make up bag and it now has pride of place in my handbag!

Outside:



And even better, the inside:



And finally paper, which one can never have too much of!



This is one of the best swaps I've ever been involved in, so huge thank yous to Apryl for organising it, and huge thank yous to Trudy for being such a great partner!

Etsy Update

I joined a new team on Etsy this week. It's called April's Army and is made up of people who read the site Regretsy and despite what some people seem to be saying it's actually really quite awesome. I've been featured in so many treasuries and all of my items have had so many new views and quite a hearts, and I even sold something last night! So Etsy is really quite fun for me at the moment. And I plan to do a few posts linking to some awesome team members in the coming weeks.

I listed seven new items there today as well. My favourite is these hairslides:



Click here to buy them

I finally got around to listing some hair bands as well. My favourite is this one:



Click to buy!

Other things you may notice about the shop: I have a new banner! It was made by another member of April's Army and it is awesome. Click here if you're interested in your own! I'm also adding sections to the shop, so you can browse by brooches, hair bands, rings, etc!

New Items!

I haven't done too much in the way of making items in fabric over the last few weeks, but I have been making quite a few in paper! And so today, as the weather is so lovely and I've been able to take photographs, I've listed three paper origami items in the shop


Buy Me!



Buy Me!



Buy Me!

I've also listed three new sets of hairslides


Buy Me!


Buy Me!


Buy Me!

I'm working on a fair bit craft wise at the moment - I'm making a sock monkey for someone, knitting some socks for my dad's birthday, and working on another secret present for him, which will be revealed here at a later date! So I really should get on with it all!

Nightmare Before Valentines Day Swap

Back at the start of the year ever lovely and cool Apryl organised a Tim Burton themed swap, called the Nightmare Before Valentines Day swap!

I was partnered up with Trudy, and this was her first ever swap!

Now I know she's got her parcel I can share with you what I sent!

First up were these wrist warmers, which I loved and wanted to keep myself! Will have to get around to making myself a pair soon



Then I embroidered an interpretation of the tree from Sleepy Hollow for her:



And finally I sent her some cool Japanese Alice in Wonderland fabric:



I didn't take a picture of all the items together, but Trudy did, and so I've borrowed hers! I hope she won't mind!



My parcel from her hasn't arrived yet, silly post, but I shall blog as soon as it does!

Origami Flower Tutorial

A few days ago I made a bouquet of origami flowers to cheer myself up.



They're not too complicated to make, and so I thought I'd share the method with my blog readers. This is the first tutorial I've ever written, so I hope it makes sense, and if you need any further clarification please post in the comments and I'll do my best to help!

So, without further ado, here is my tutorial for making an orgami flower!

What you'll need: 2 squares of paper per flower, 1/2 of paper for a stalk, glue (I'm using PVA as I had it to hand, but pritt stick works just as well!), and a pair of scissors.



Step 1: fold one square of paper in half, and then unfold it again.





Step 2: fold both edges into the centre line you've just created.



Step 3: fold your paper in half the other way and unfold it again.





Step 4: fold the ends into the line in the middle you've just created and then unfold.





Step 5: This is the most complicated step! You'll need to put your finger on one corner:



And push down so it forms a triangle. This can take some practice, but the joy of paper is that you can always unfold it and start again! 



Repeat on all four corners.



Step 6: fold the triangles you've just created up to the points above them.





Step 7: Turn your paper over 



And fold the triangular flaps over.



Step 8: 
Fold your paper in half.



Step 9: repeat on another piece of paper - you should now have two boat shaped pieces of paper.



Step 10: cut a slit in the middle of the top of one piece, and the bottom of the other. 





Step 11: slot the two pieces together.



 Step 12: fan the petals out



Step 13: Put a spot of glue on the loose petals which touch and stick together.  



Step 14: for the stem of your flower you'll need half of a square of paper. 



Step 15: roll up your rectangle into a tube, from one corner up to the other



Put a dab of glue on the loose end to stick it together.

Step 16: cover the end in glue 



And insert between two petals on your flower



Leave to dry, and you have the first flower of your origami bouquet!

Tips:

 I folded this flower so the patterned side of the paper faces outwards. If you want the patterned side on the inside, so you can see it slightly better, start with the coloured side of the paper facing up with the first fold. 

Practice with squares of printer paper or magazine pages if you're unsure - practice really does help, especially on the tricky triangle folds!

If you need to cut paper, you can do it with scissors, or my personal favourite method of folding, and wetting the paper and tearing it!

Paper Origami

Although my main crafty projects all seem to involve making origami items in fabric these days, I do still love to play with paper. Today has been all about the paper origami!

Last week my friend Sarah, who is a great lover of Sock Monkeys (I think she has five I've made!), asked me last week if I could make her an origami dinosaur brooch. After some discussion we decided it would be better made of paper, and so off I went to find a pattern. Here are the two finished dinosaurs - I'm just waiting for new brooch backs to arrive so I can send them off!




It has been a rough few days here, and although the daffodils are starting to bloom in the garden, and the crocuses are coming out in the grass on my walk to walk, I thought some flowers here in the bedroom would make me feel better. What with our new rule of not spending any unnecessary money (we've got a mortgage deposit to find!), I did the next best thing and made some!



These are really easy and fun to make, and hopefully over the weekend I'll find the time to write a tutorial for making them!