Flower Tutorial

Hi! Woke up this morning at 12!!!! I know I'm a teenager but 12 is too late for me! Especially as I had work to do grrrr... didn't feel too great, kinda headachey and coldy, BUT I got my essay done wooooh wooooh! and have finished reading Tess of the D'urbevilles which is the book I was set to read over christmas. Downside is that I still don't feel too great but blogging isn't too stressful lol! Anyway enough of my woes, a tutorial as promised...

I have been making these for ages cos they are just sooooo simple and really cute. I use them on scrapbook pages or sometimes attach a safety pin to the back and they work quite well as a funky extra on a bag!

You will need:

42cm length of Pretty material about 4 inches wide

28cm of net or co-ordinating material about 4 inches wide

Big button for the middle

cotton and a needle

Strong glue

Get your longer strip of material and fold it in half wrong sides together. As you can see it doesn't need to be neat! The reason I fold it in half is because that folded edge becomes the outer edge of the flower so it will be lovely and neat and won't fray.

Start sewing along the raw edge (the one that isn't folded) use a simple running stitch, try and make the stiches long and even. A good rule of thumb is the smaller the stiches, the tighter the pleats. After each stitch give it a gentle pull and it should gather up pretty easily and form naturally into a circle shapeWhen you have sewn to the end of the strip, you should have a gathered circle rossette. you should now have two open ends. Put one end into the other and sew up the seamsYou should have something that looks like this. You now need to do the same with the smaller strip of material. I used netting so had to be careful not to rip it by pulling each stitch too tight.You should end up with something like the above...

Now attach the smaller rossette to the larger one. I just used a simple running stich again

Voila! It should now look like this! I attached a big button in the middle with glue but you could just as well leve it plain. On the cat page on the previous post I just left them without the netting middle or a button. If you want a smaller rossette just cut a smaller strip of fabric! If you want to attach it to a bag just add a safety pin to the back.

Enjoy! Thanks for reading
Loves xxxxxxxx

A few layouts

I thought I'd put a few layouts on my blog today. These are ones I have done over the last few months but just haven't got round to photographing! This was page made just expressing all my feelings about a close friend moving on to a new college for sixth form. I experimented with hand sewing and lots of little detail as well as a lot of

paint!

A page on my brother turning thirteen. I had never scrapped a picture this big before and found it quite hard as my style is usually so busy, however I love how it turned out!

Our cute little kitten! She was playing with a glue stick! She takes after her owner! ha ha! I really experiemented with ink and paint on this page and just had a play around with the effects.

one of my most recent pages. The background of the picture was very distracting so I layered newspaper up to calm it down slightly. I had great fun distressing this page with tearing off the top layer of the paper. I wanted to create a vintage and girly look and loved the explosion effect I managed to create. I also ripped and curled the edges of lots of the elements.

Sorry, this isn't the best picture! I hardly ever create double layouts, but had so many lovely pictures for this page that I had to. As a result, the page is simple but pretty, documenting our amazing picnic for a friends brithday.

Just a little look into my scrapbook, he he! Please check back tommorow cos I'll be posting a real quick tutorial on how to make these simple rossettes. They look cute on bags or make them small for a scrapbook page!

Thanks for reading! Happy Monday

Loves xxxxxxx

Just to stop by..

Thank you to everyone who left such lovely comments about my last post, It was such a great encouragment! I will probs do a proper post tommorow as I have been away at The boys house! he he! We had a wonderful relaxing weekend together, just enjoying spending time with each other. Brought along the camera as well...scrapping never ends! ha ha!

The only decent one of the two of us! Lol! Self timer was being funny grrr...Yeah I know it's blurry but it's that look that makes my heart skip a beat. He so incredibly caring and lovely. I am very lucky! Oh n the playing the guitar. That makes me very happy! Lol!

Anyway hopefully a longer post tommorow! Thanks for reading!

Loves xxxxxxxx

New year thoughts

I'm not one to make new years resolutions cos I fail within the first week anyway, but this year I was really inspired to make one from reading this: They are so inspiring with a little passage from the Bible each day and thoughts on it. Well..yesterdays was a question.. who first introduced you to christianity? I've been a christian really since I can remember because of my family, but one person really stood out. They changed my outlook on being a christian...This girl. She showed me that being a christian isn't just about reading your bible, it's about practically demonstrating your faith to others, whether that's telling them about Jesus or just smiling and being a friend. Her whole life and attitude just bursts with the love of God and through her you can see just how incredible christ is. This girl has made me think, made me try and look at how I live so that people will look at me and say that I truly am walking with Jesus. Through her example I am inspired to show Jesus to others.

So. That is my new years resolution. This year to show my faith in a practical way. I guess this is the first step.. to all who are reading this and are unsure about faith or don't know Jesus, i challenge you to question it. Pick up a daily bible reading, a great free on is "The word for today" which also includes free podcasts you can listen to each day. Think about it.

Sorry this is quite deep but it's something I really wanted to express! Thanks for reading!

Loves xxxxxxxxxxxx

Calm...

I thought I would share some of my favourite piano music today. I have most of it on my I-pod and it is so so lovely to just sit and listen to when I'm feeling stressed or want to just chill out. I also have the sheet music for most of it so if anyone plays the piano and wants the music just leave a comment and I will try and send it to you (it's not too hard probs about grade 6ish) Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to add the video to you tube so here are the links!:

Kiss the Rain by Yiruma

River flows in you by Yiruma-This was supposed to be in Twilight, if your interested, as Bella's lullaby. It should have been, it's so lovely!

Le Onde by Ludovico Einaudi (just search any of his music cos it's all heavenly!)

Speaking of music, I thought I would just show two photos from this christmas. Whilst I got a knit your own monkey in my cracker, my brother got...a Ukelele! ha ha! He is actually getting quite good but has a problem with the chord A7, (don't ask!) This was the face he pulled when trying to play it...

And this was the face he pulled when he had got it right! Priceless! Yeah he is a bit of a joker! Lol!

Thanks for reading! Hope everyone has a really lovely new year! ( I will probs blog cos we don't really do a lot for it but to everyone who does celebrate, have a lovely lovely time!)

xxxxxxxxx

Monkey Mania

I am beyond happy cos my lovely friend Lizzie has just posted a tutorial for sock monkeys! How awesome is that?!!! I do have a minor obsession with them, I dunno they are just so cheeky and fun. Maybe we should go back a few years to understand this...ok?

Once upon a time there was a little girl who was about 18 months old. Being the first child her mummy and daddy had filled her cot with lots of lovely cuddley toys. All the grandparents who came also brought soft toys. She was very loved but hadn't found a toy she really really liked. The soft cat was nice but she wasn't too fussed.

Then her mummy and daddy decided to move house. Her nursery teacher decided to give this little girl a leaving present. She gave her a small, brown, furry monkey with velcro paws that stuck together and a long tail. He was the perfect size to hold and had lovely dark eyes.

The little girl fell in love with him and named him.."Monkey" she took him everywhere, even to her daddy's ordination...

Dolls were nice but monkey was just the tops. He even went in her dolls pram and in the carry cot. Monkey did everything with her. monkey even came on holiday, and the little girl who was growing up to be a big girl got very upset if monkey wasn't there with her.

A few years later the little girl had two family cats. They committed a horrible crime. One day after school she came home to find that monkey's nose had been almost bitten off and the stuffing was leaking out, the little girl screamed, which freaked her mum out, but she decided she had good reason to! The marks are still there today...

When the little girl learnt to sew, her first attempts at clothes were for her monkey, he still wears the shirt she made for him today. When the little girl became a big girl and then a rather little women she learnt to knit and made a scarf just the right size for Monkey's neck. Monkey is still cuddled most nights even though he is just a little bit thread bare! THE ENDJust look at how much fur he has lost from the first piccy! ha ha! Oh n in case you are wondering his velcro paws do still stick together! I guess this now explains where the monkey mania comes from, anyone else have tutorials for a crafted monkey, I would LOVE to hear of them to add to my collection! Thanks for indulging in a little story time!

Loves xxxxxxxxx

The aftermath!

Christmas is over..sob sob. We had an awesome time, very quiet on christmas day. Just the five of us but it was great to have family time together. I got some wonderful presents, a few of my fav's in my stocking were: Noel Streatfield books. I got this for my very own, after 10 years borrowing library copies! Lol! several of these..Mmmh, I think I might have squealed in delight!

The Amy Butler pattern for this bag..and some gorgeous material, pink and lime green, flipping awesome combo of colours!

miss-matched knee socks. I mean, how cool is that???!!

we have a tradition of my mum making her own crackers. Rather than a little cheapy present, she puts a small note telling us where our present is hidden. After the main course we all race to find the presents. They are normally jokey or something we can play like a board game. This year my brother got a Ukelele! and I got a knit your own monkey!!!!!! (age 8-12, ok it's difficult!!!) This was my reaction when I opened it. For the record, I LOVE monkeys!

My main present was a new lens for my camera! It's lush, f/1.8! woooooh. Pictures below were all taken with it, check out that depth of field!

anyways, it was a lovely lovely christmas, hope u all had a fab time!

Thanks for reading Loves xxxxxxxxx