Today I need to finish designing Issue 6 of *bespoke* zine, upload a gallery to a client website, call the blinds people and organise installation (yay!), clear off the dining table, and make Potato Bake for dinner (YUM). I mght try watch a movie this arvo when Rafa goes down for his afternoon nap too, it’s very rainy, perfect movie weather =)

Join in the Point and Shoot fun over at Sunny + Scout.

“What was it that really got you excited this month? What inspired you? Did you start anything creative? Have you got any creative goals for February?”

My answer is, a dangerous new hobby.

Scrap booking.

*cue dun dun dun music here and visualise dollar signs sailing out the window*

It makes sense, I love photos/photography/snapshots, I like being crafty, and I’m a graphic designer. So a hobby that combines all three is calling to me. I’ve only just started my Project Life album, and still have to create a few more pages detailing what went on in January, but I’ve got a title page and I guess that’s a good start!

I’ve made a couple of notes in my diary about what I can put in it for January (having a blog helps, I can refer back to old posts when my memory fails me heh). So what did we do in January 2012? Rafa met his Great Grandma; We went to Sydney for the weekend, to the beach and Ikea; I hosted a Crafternoon Tea Party; I made a “Don’t Forget” Chalkboard; I went to the January Brown Owls catch up; We got Raf on a good sleeping and napping routine; I did my nails!; I participated in January Photo a Day; I went and had a Massage & Body Pamper session with mumsy & watched an amazing sunset afterwards; We went to Katie’s BBQ for Australia Day; and I seemed to do lots of shopping.

So I think my creative goal for February will be to just keep doing it! I plan to have 2 double page spreads per month, I guess that’s a page per week, but I’m not aiming to do it every week, just every month.

The sources of inspiration for this are Pinterest, Studio Calico, and Allison’s blog.

Do you do scrapbooking? Are you addicted?

If you’re in Canberra on the 4th Feb, please come and say hello!

Next time I think we will make some memory shadow boxes =)

Over a few days last week I finally got around to doing something with a gold picture frame (op-shop find) I had lying around the house (forEVER). After the dog and husband had knocked it over several times and scared the bejeebus out of me, I decided I had to do something with it. Prompted by my Cameo acquisition and the fact hubs kept forgetting one item that he needed for the day (keys, phone, lunch, pass, wallet) and I kept forgetting the grocery bags, I put together a quick and easy “Don’t Forget” list board for the back of the front door.

This was a really quick and easy project, and I really really love how it turned out =)

I spray painted the frame satin white, and for a bit of colour I stuck green striped washi tape around the inside ledge (a place for the chalk). I then painted a piece of thin mdf I had in the shed with a few coats of black chalkboard paint. I attached the mdf to the back of the frame using liquid nails (that stuff is awesome) and some gaffa tape for extra hold.

To create the heading “Don’t Forget”, I used my brilliant Cameo cutting machine with some adhesive backed card stock. All I had to do was type out the words in the Cameo software, send the file to the machine, and it cut out the words for me! I peeled off the backing paper and voila, I have word stickers to use in my project. Of course you could use any scrapbooking supplies to do something similar without the fancy machine!

I used a roll of double sided mounting tape ($2 from Top Bargain) to mount the board to the door, and that was that! I think it took me longer to find where I’d put my stash of chalk than to actually put the whole thing together =P

Total cost for this project for me was $0, because I had everything lying around already, but if you were to start from scratch it would probably look something like this (and you would have lots of supplies left over):

Op-Shop frame – $5
Chalkboard Paint – $16
Paint brush – $4
Washi Tape – $4
Spray Paint – $8
Liquid Nails – $10
MDF board – $5
Card stock/letters – $2

This thing is AMAZING. Think laser cutter, but for paper, cardboard, vinyl etc. It has a tiny blade, and will cut your designs from the computer. These are really popular among scrapbookers, but my main incentive to buy was the fact I could cut my designs from paper or fabric and apply to my bamboo or acrylic pieces.

Little did I know how inspiring this thing would be, the moment I turned it on!

To give you an idea of just some of the things you could make with this machine, here are some examples from other people:

1. Gift Wrapping – Callaloo Soup
2. & 3. Glass Etching, T-Shirt stencil – www.makeit-loveit.com
4.Kids party decorations – Happy Life Crafty Wife

But really, the possibilities seem endless!

I’m working on a quick little DIY project right now that I’ll post as soon as I’ve finished, something to help husband remember to take his phone, keys, wallet, lunch etc in the morning.

And of course my first test cut was the baby’s name ❤

Which I will put in a frame and add to another house idea for the hallway!

So, along with the Cameo inspiring me, I’ve been following Allison Waken’s blog and really love what she’s been doing with her photos lately, collating them in a fun way as memories to keep. She is planning to do a scrapbook featuring something from every day of her family’s life this year! That’s probably a bit too full on for me, so I’ve decided to try and chronicle each month. I’ve bought the Project Life kit and protective sleeves (along with some generic sleeves) and plan to use the Cameo to cut out labels, shapes and words to use in the scrap book. Hopefully each month I will be able to share what I’ve put together for my own Project Life =)

Wish me luck!

You only need 3 ingredients, salt, plain flour and warm water. Mix them all together to make a dough, roll it out, cut out some shapes and bake for a couple of hours on a low heat. Easy as that!

I’m not sure why but mine didn’t turn out looking like gorgeous porcelain like the example. JA opened the oven and thought I was baking him some cookies, and they definitely turned out more cookie looking than ceramic looking.

I spray painted them white and added a bit of paper twine with red and green Christmassy beads.

They turned out pretty cute (and quite “handmade” looking), but for a quick and easy Christmas craft I think they were a success =)

I’ll be there both Saturday and Sunday 10am-4pm, with all the pieces from my NEW SUMMER COLLECTION (woop!) so please come and say hello!

I’ve been told by many mums that the old cloth nappies are fantastic for just about everything when you have a baby (wiping up messes, shielding yourself from rogue weeing, using as burp cloths and the like), and I was lucky enough to receive 2 big packs of them at my baby shower (thanks Erin and Tom & Milly!). I’ve also been eyeing off this gorgeous burp cloth set made from funky fabrics and beautiful soft chenille, which I plan to buy once bub arrives.

So, inspired, I’ve decided to back a few of the colourful flat towel nappies with cotton fat quarters I had in my (super tiny) stash, to make the burp cloths slightly fancier (you know, for special occasions like picnics or parties where you want to be stylish while the baby is vomiting on you…)

And here is today’s creation! Blue and Grey =)

I cut rounded corners on the fat quarter, then laid it face down on the towel nappy. After pinning them together, I cut around the cloth nappy about a centimeter larger than the cotton fabric, to allow for fraying. I then did a zig-zag stitch all the way around, leaving a hole of about 10cm. After turning the fabric out (to show right sides out) I did a top-stitch (I think that’s what it’s called!) all the way around, about 1cm in from the edge, sewing up the hole in the process.

And that’s it! Pretty easy, and gives the cloth nappy just a little bit of pizazz =)

So here it is! I’ve broken everything down into sections, to make it easier in my own head.

DECOR

Wall Decal – Etsy, LeoLittleLion, with shipping total cost $120, DIY installation
Lamp – Red Berry Designs on special at Mathilda’s Markets, $40 (handmade!)
Cloud Mobile – DIY Project, total cost about $6 (handmade!)
Green mobile – Ikea Kids, $10
Elephant Mirrors – Scoops Design at the Handmade Markets, gift from my muma =)
Elephant LED Mobile – Little Night Delights at the Southbank Markets in Brisbane, $35
Green Baby Owl – Plushka’s Craft, $30 (handmade!)
Teddy Bear Playmat – Babies Direct, another gift from my lovely mum =)
Wall Flowers – Unit Concepts in Braddon (or find them online here), $40
Giraffe Growth Chart Mirror – I’ve had this since I was a little kid! No idea where it came from, sorry…

ROOM

Carpet – Bunnings, approx $250, DIY laying
Walls – Bunnings, “Dulux Plunge”, approx $65, DIY painting
Blinds – Metal Venetians on sale at Spotlight (not the right size for the window), $45ish, DIY installation
Curtains – Spotlight eyelet curtains by the meter, 3.5m (I actually should have bought at least 6m in hindsight), $150ish (including rods etc), DIY installation
Doors & Trims – White Enamel paint from Bunnings (to go over a pink trim, we tried using water based and it sucks, stick with enamel for this), $40ish, DIY painting

FURNITURE

Crib – Toys’R'Us on sale, $150 down from $400-ish originally
White bookshelf – Aussie Junk (2nd hand at the tip), DIY repainting, $5
Chest of Drawers – Malm Chest from Ikea, $99
Shelves – Lack Floating shelves from Ikea, $70 for 3, DIY installation
Glider – 2nd hand off GumTree.com.au for $20, DIY seat cover and new cushion, total cost $85

So, by my calculations (which could be slightly off), this entire room cost only $1240 to complete, top to bottom. That’s pretty damn good if you ask me. Especially if you think about what it looked like before:

YIKES!