Plain white t-shirt

Boring shirt --------> Less boring shirt!

I saw this post on Trash to Couture about adding crochet trim down the sides of a t-shirt which is what I was going to do with this plain white t-shirt, until I thought that putting the crochet trim round the middle would look better.

This piece of crochet has been in the fabric drawers forever, so it was nice to finally find a use for it.

I cut the t-shirt across the middle as straight as possible and hand-sewed the crochet to the two pieces.

Bit more skin on show. Goodness!

I also cut a new neckline for the shirt and gathered the middle for a more flattering fit.

My Mum very kindly crocheted some new trim for the neckline to match the original stuff.

She's got skills.

Have you got an favourite ways to fancy up a plain white t-shirt?

New beach painting

During my last week in Norwich, back in June, I took a spontaneous trip to the beach with some friends who were visiting to see my degree show.

As with all my beach trips I take a lot of photos with the intention of turning some of them into paintings.

This is one of those paintings.

I altered the image from the photo slightly, as I found I couldn't paint the girls face very well so I just painted her hair going across it. Sorted.

Also, in reality there was no dog, but my Dad thought it might be nice to add one in and create more of a story to the painting.

So off I went to Google to find a suitable dog.

I also added a red lead in the girls hand to fit with the story.

Now, according to one of my friends - the one who appears in this painting actually - just posting a new painting isn't enough content for one blog post.

So here are some more photos from the trip to give her more to look at.

As you can see it wasn't the nicest day for the beach, but that's what happens when it's spontaneous!

We went to Cromer by the way. Standard.

We searched for crabs.

And eventually found one.

Fun times were had by all.

I'm on the case

Ages ago I bought this case from a flea market in Norwich for £3.

Boom. Bargain town.

I liked that it has a strap as that means I can use it as handbag, in a quirky kinda way.

Even though I planned to re-cover the case I tried to get the square of pen ink off the front.

Water didn't work so I tried some alcohol hand gel and it got some of it off.

The pen had been put there to cover up some writing. I can only make out the words 'steam cleaner' so I have no idea what it's previous use was.

The reason it'd taken me so long to re-cover this case is that I was waiting to find the perfect sticky-back plastic.

I kept checking in Wilkinsons but they didn't have any patterned stuff that would match the red corners of the case.

Until one day I went in and discovered a new pattern!

A red and black New York themed pattern.

The inside was white plastic that was a bit grubby so I re-lined that too with some blue sticky-back fabric stuff.

I can perfectly fit in all my bag essentials; phone, purse, keys, pen, tissues, hand gel, brush and mirror.

This is the closest to a 'what's in my bag' post as you're gonna get.

Now I have a lot of New York themed sticky-back plastic to use.

If only I had a New York trip coming up so I could do something with the photos using this stuff...

Oh wait, I do!!

End of September. So excited.

Photo holder friends

Remember this guy?

Well now he's got some friends.

I made two more animal photo holders out of Sculpey.

The shape of a cat is hard, but the tortoise is where it's at.

Look at this guy! He looks a little angry but I like him.

Any suggestions for what animal I should make next?

And speaking of weird look cats, who likes this teapot I had to buy for the arts centre the other day?

The grey cat's head is the lid!

Oh, the things you can find in charity shops.

Switching up a long dress

My Mum was throwing out this long black dress (age 12 from the 90s!) so I kept it with the intention of switching it up. I'm 5 foot almost 2 so long dresses aren't my jam.

It was only a matter of time before I tried the dropped hem/high-low/waterfall/fishtail style.

If someone could just pick one name for it, that would be great.

(It would have been sooner but I forgot where I put the dress. I discovered it when I was looking for my old jumpers for camp.)

I made the top part of the dress a little fancier by plaiting strips of the fabric that I cut off the bottom and sewing them to the top.

I also made two more plaits for the back which attach to the straps.

I first saw a diy for this style on a pair and a spare, where they fishtailed a long skirt, but there are tutorials all over the internets.

Oh, and this dress gives me the power of levitation.

Whaaaaat.

Latest painting

My friend Lizzi recently commissioned me to paint a portrait of her and her boyfriend for his birthday.

Lizzi was really pleased with the painting, and her boyfriend loved it too.

Yes, this is the same friend I made the plushie Starbucks cup for.

Geometric beads

I've seen a few things around the internet about making geometric beads from polymer clay, so I decided to make some myself.

I started by rolling small pieces of Sculpey into balls, and then flattening the edges against a ruler.

Once I'd baked them I made the sides flatter and more angular with sand paper.

I painted the beads with silver acrylic paint and used some of them to make this bar necklace.

I can't decided if I like it better as a short or long necklace.

Thoughts?

With some of the other beads, after I'd painted them silver, I then painted them with nail varnish for a metallic look.

Oh Sculpey, you're so full of possibilities.

Camping style

 I'm back from a wonderful week camping so I thought I would share my style when living in the great outdoors.

Jumpers are a must. The outdoors can be chilly!

I like to dig out my old school jumper because I don't mind if it gets muddy, and it still fits so I might as well use it.

The school logo is very small; just a little yellow antelope I think.

Finding shorts to match is a bonus.

The outdoors can also be wet.

We were quite fortunate with the weather last week but we did get caught in the odd shower so having a plastic poncho stuffed in my pocket ready to go was a great idea.

I've got so many dresses now that I'm able to demote some of them to 'camp clothes'.

My criteria for camp clothes include; if was a hand-me-down, if it's damaged, if it's ill-fitting or if it's just pretty old.

This blue dress is both a hand-me-down and damaged as it has a few small holes in it.

Let me also draw your attention to my wellies. Shiny red cowboy boot wellies!! 

And while we're on the subject of footwear; I woke up to this one morning.

Ew.