School jumper to sequin shoulders

Sequined shoulders seem to be the current thing so here's the run down of how I produced the look myself.

The jumper I used was my old P.E. sweatshirt from school. It has an ugly neck and the school logo on it. They had to go. 

I cut off the elasticated neck for a more flattering look and unpicked the logo, which made a few holes but they're barely noticeable.

Then I made a pattern (from my essay notes...) for the area I wanted to fill with sequins. I made mine straight along the seams at the top of the arm and then curved around the shoulder.

First I sewed on little black sequins around the edge of the paper pattern and then filled in the space with large silver sequins. This pack came from Poundland and is great as you get many different shapes and sizes, not just a whole bunch of similar circles. 

I then sewed on smaller sequins to fill in the gaps. This takes a while. I suggest putting on some good tv and getting comfy. I went through several episodes of CSI, House and Firefly.

For an added extra I sewed on some chain on the front side of the sequins.

This jumper is now definitely too cool for school. Agreed?

Embroidered faces

Have y'all seen this awesome portrait of Tim Gunn by Lucky Jackson?

Ode to Tim Gunn is a mix of paint and applique on vintage fabric. I love the mix of paint and embroidery.

The Lovelies is another cute piece by Lucky Jackson so be sure to check her out on Etsy.

These reminded me of the work of Caroline Kirton who exhibited at the arts centre where I work a few years ago.

She combines applique and free embroidery to create pieces based on teenage life.

'My Mum's a proper weirdo!'

'Do heels go with this?'

And here's my attempt at portrait embroidery if you haven't already seen it.

Sewing sister

Now for some craftyness courtesy of my sister.

The following softies are from this book which is full of projects that can be made from just one metre of fabric.

This funny little elephant was made from an old pillow.

This dog was made from a dress my sister didn't wear anymore.

This sequined dog was made from fabric that my sister bought to make herself a dress.



I scrub up well

Last week one of my best friends who I've known since playgroup turned 21 and her Mum threw her a surprise party to celebrate.

I've never been part of a surprise party before so it was very exciting, and even better the party was doctor/nurse/patient themed since my friend is training to be a nurse.

Which meant I got to wear my scrubs. But when I put them on this happened...

They're way too big! I also put my put on my Mum's imitation crocs from IKEA but they made me feel ill just having them on my feet. I am not a fan of crocs.

But never mind because changed into my second scrubs top. Yes, I have two, because I'm cool like that and am a pretty big fan of medical tv shows. 

Here I am with some fellow doctors at the party.

And here's the birthday girl, sitting on a wheelchair with a bandage round her head and arms. Classic

In Scrubs related news, I went to see Ted's band from Scrubs, aka The Blanks, last week and they were amazing!

If you haven't seen this clip of them on Radio 1 I suggest you do so right now.

Ok, I'm off to hand in all my work for assessment now, let's hope they like it.

Wondered where those miniature books would go?

Here's my almost-finished-but-could-always-do-a-bit-more-to-it newest miniature piece.

It's a shoebox. With a hole in it...

Here's a rather blurry view through the hole.

And here it is with the lid off. It's a pretty messy office of some old guy who does a lot of research and has a lot of books. I'm not sure on the specifics yet, but that's for you to decided for yourself.

I made a lot of books, like these.

My tutor said I only need to make a few books to give the impression of there being a lot of books, but I think having a lot of books will be a better way of giving the impression of lots of books.

I think I've made 23 so far. I'll probably make more.

View of the desk.

Let's talk about that lamp for a second. I took apart a 99p credit card torch from QD and using my middle school circuit skills and some aluminium foil I made a switch on the outside of the box through a hole hidden by that desk drawer which is where the batteries are kept. Sneaky.

And did I mention I made a lot of books?

The globe is probably one of my favourite things from this piece. I painted a pretty convincing globe! Mission! Go me.

I'd also like to point out the wet cup ring on the table and all the post-it notes. Fun fact; when I was doing the writing for the notes and the open book I just wrote words I picked out from whatever song I was listening to at the time.

I like how one of the post-it notes on the side of the filing cabinet looks like it says 'New Glee' underline, underline, like the old man is reminding himself to watch it. Who can blame him.

Another new hairband

I've been making hairbands again. This one is just pretty things sewn onto felt which was then sewn around a hairband

The brooch was from this box of jewellery and the gems were from this bag of beads. 

In other news, my number of followers now exceeds my age! Wahoo!

Welcome new followers, and holla at my old ones, thanks for being here.

Love related lovelies

Obligatory Valentine's Day post?

Here's some love related lovelies
(and here's last years lot)

Love stitched on to leave over at Family Chic.

Fun fruit stickers showing some love from Twig and Thistle.

Look at this computer keyboard!

Do Americans have Love Heart sweets, or only Conversation Hearts? Cos I think Love Hearts are better.

Did anyone else read this in a Dr. Evil voice? Just me? Ha. Found at Craft:

This music video is awesome. Yay balloons! And the song's pretty good too.

Miniature books

For my latest miniature scene I've made a tiny bookcase with tiny books.

I made the individual books based on a tutorial from Dollar Store Crafts.

It's pretty simple and I love how realistic they look.

I'll let you know where they'll be going once I've made more of the scene.

I also came across this. Miniature leather bound book necklaces by Margaux Kent.

I don't think I'd need a whole library around my neck like that mannequin but one might look cool.

Bottle Top Valentine

Remember the bottle top christmas tree? Here's a version for Valentines Day.

A door hanger heart.

You'll need 8 red milk bottle tops. I got mine from my friendly Starbucks barista.

Then fill them with PVA glue and anything pretty you have on hand. I went for glitter, buttons, beads, sequins, pipe cleaner, lace, netting and felt.

Cut out a heart from card and paint it white. Stick the bottle tops on it in a heart formation.

Put a hole in the top and thread ribbon through, or you could use the heart for the front of a Valentines Day Card.

Even more tiny little dark things

Here's the rest of the work from my exhibition.

This is Men In Suits Make Mistakes. My tutor said this is his favourite. Did I mention he also said that he finds me fascinating? He totally did. 

Up one end of the box- which used to hold cling film- is a tiny box of matches.

At the other end is a suitcase packed with papers and doused in 'petrol' (dried PVA glue) which runs all the way to the matches.

This piece is called Dirty Playground. The title comes from a quote about Las Vegas from William Petersen who played Grissom in CSI, "Guys lose their wives and money, women end up deciding to stay and become strippers. It's the dirty playground for the Darth Vader in all of us."

*Shudder*

Here's the interior of the club.

And here it is with the lights on.

Thank you reduced price Christmas lights from QD.

And did I mention the lights are colour changing?

Check out the footage.