Day 243-I am Batty!

Another of my handmade silhouette blackboard's,

 I can relate to this little dude!

 The final touch I need to add is to attach a hook on the back so he can hang on the wall

 my cheeky blackboards so far!

Craft out!

Day 242-What a hoot!

Hello friendly crafty folks!

This week I am featuring a range of handmade blackboards which i whipped up with mdf, an electric jigsaw and some blackboard paint!

Check out my Mr Owly blackboard....

In the process of cutting

 feeling right at home on our bird feeder

 first for the undercoat

 and then the blackboard paint! cuuuttttee!

How much would you pay for a handmade blackboard to hang on your wall?

craft out

xx

Day 241- Guest Blogger for charity

Happy Monday everyone!

Today's guest blogger is Angela Mezzatesta, Angela is a co-worker of mine and she has just quit her job and is heading off to Uganda to help set up and run a sewing school. Angela spent 6 weeks in Uganda last year helping to build an orphanage as well as starting this sewing centre (see photo below). Since then Angela has stayed in touch with these woman and this time is heading back to set up and run a sewing school for one year.
I am truely inspired by her commitment to this project! she has quit her job indefinitely, rented out her house and is self funding much of the project with her own savings! I also love that instead of throwing money at a problem she is going to help teach life skills which will enable these woman to earn an income in the future.
She does however need some help, she needs to raise money to keep this project running. If you can spare even $10 this will go a long way to help (see below what you money will pay for and the link to the charity site).
Angela is going to email me updates from Uganda which I will put up on the blog here to keep you informed about her journey.

Help support The OrphFund Sewing School by donating today. OrphFund is running a one year programme, in Uganda, to teach six young women how to be proficient dressmakers in their local village, Kasese. These women have been impoverished since early childhood. Some are Internally Displaced, abandoned, orphaned and/or homeless. By providing these young women with a skill they are given the chance to become self sufficient by earning a living, which in turn, will remove them from the poverty cycle.

Your donation will make a real difference to their future. What your donation will do:
$10 = Sewing materials (for one student) per month.
$20 = A student's study allowance per month.
$30 = A teacher's wage per month.
$90 = A brand new sewing machine.

It only takes a few minutes to donate via my web page and is completely secure. Please feel free to also leave me a message when you donate, which will be posted on my message board!

To donate, simply click on this link and follow the instructions: http://www.onlinegiving.com.au/pages/httpwwwonlinegivingcomaupages.aspx

Please feel free to forward this email on to others so that OrphFund may benefit.

Thanks in for your support!

Regards,
Angela & the OrphFund Team

My Online Giving page is: The OrphFund Sewing School.
Please visit: http://www.onlinegiving.com.au/pages/httpwwwonlinegivingcomaupages.aspx



Day 240- Black cat

Finally the cat is ready for the blackboard paint

I have done a few layers of paint to ensure good coverage

you are not supposed to draw on the chalkboard paint for 24 hrs after drying (because the paint needs to harden) so i just lightly drew some whiskers for effect!

Craft out crafty cats!

xxoo

Day 239 step 2 for the cat blackboard

Today I have applied the undercoat, I am slowly learning to pay attention to things like applying undercoat first! especially after we painted the exposed beams in our bedroom about 7 times because the paint kept seeping into the wood (due to no undercoat!)

ready for painting

undercoat done

hopefully tomorrow she will be ready for the black board paint layer/ layers...

craft out

xxoo

Day 238-I heart power tools

I have had a very productive day today which involved power tools and MDF

 I had this idea to make some mini blackboards in the shape of animal silhouette's.

I started by saving some silhouette shapes off the internet and then re-sizing them in illustrator.

 then tracing around the silhouette onto the mdf

 I then secured the mdf to the table with clamps

 then carefully using the electric jig saw cut around the shape (avoiding my hand, the table and the electrical lead!)

 yay step one complete! ready for the primer coat, followed by the blackboard paint and

finally attaching a hook to hang from the wall! check in tomorrow for progress...

Craft out

xxoo

Day 236-fantastic elastic continued

Tonight I have tried out the swirl scarf again but this time with a different technique.

With last night's scarf I was hoping the scarf would twist around more.

Tonight I am using some red sheer fabric

 cut into a large circle

 and then cut the fabric out in a swirl

 instead of attaching the elastic straight away I have run a gathering stitch down the centre of the fabric first, that way when i do attach the fabric it will be twice as frilly and hopefully twice as curly

 this is how long it is with just the gathering stitch

 then i stitched the elastic down the centre, using tension on the elastic the whole way

 here is the final product, a super frilly fun scarf...

although its no really a scarf for practical purposes, its more like a fascinator for the neck,

perhaps a "scarfinator"

craft out

xxoo

Day 235-playing with fantastic elastic

Tonight I decided to trial making a frilly dressy scarf with a sheer printed mesh fabric and some elastic...

i love this floral sheer mesh fabric

 i cut a long strip of the fabric,

really long!

 and then stitched some elastic down the centre of the scarf (putting tension on either end of the elastic as i sewed)

 once i finished stitching i was left with this! a frilly stretchy scarf

what do you think?

craft out!

Day 234-another day another decoration!

In early prep for my chrissy market stall i have made another decoration

Today's is a heart

sketch your heart shape onto cardboard to use as a template

cut x2 out of felt

place a loop of ribbon between the two pieces and stitch together

use your glue gun to decorate

 at first i was planning to cover the whole heart with buttons

 and then i decided it looked better with just a few to one side

how much would you pay for a handmade decoration??

let me know your thoughts in the comments section below....

Craft out

xxoo

Day 233-Guest blogger-my sister

Tonight's guest blogger is my sister Rachael, you may have seen her photo earlier in the year when she got married. Rachael put her crafty pants on and made a little paper hat for our other sister (Megan's) hen's night
see pics below...

draw a circle onto some cardboard at the base of a rectangle to create the funnel for your top hat

 cut around the outside

 stick the funnel together

 add tape to the bottom for the brim

 cut out the brim

 top hat base is complete

 decorate

 glue on the comb and hold in place with pegs

 enjoy!

 the middle two are my sisters

would you like to share your creative project or website?

email me at broncobowerman@hotmail.com

craft out

xxoo

insightful insight

Ever wondered why handmade items seem expensive? check out this article for a helpful insight
http://whatthecraft.com/overpriced-cant-afford-handmade-pricing/

Day 232-to market to market to buy a fat pig...

Today I again ignored my cold and took advantage of the good weather! A friend and I headed to the Ivanhoe centre for the "Magnolia Square" craft market.

Today's Magnolia Square market was held at the beautiful art deco hall in Ivanhoe

 it was great to chat to fellow crafters and designers

 when I got home later in the day I went thru some bags of donated fabrics 

I want to send a massive shout out to Polly from the Knox council and her sister for donating 4 garbage bags full of fabrics from the 70's/80's. Apparently Polly's, sister's, neighbour was going to throw these out!! and they were rescued and donated for my project! Thank-you so so much! it really is a great help and has my mind bubbling with new ideas!

below are just some of the retro prints and florals from the bags of fabric

 back to tonight's craft!

after a long day driving her there and everywhere I am just going to feature another decoration for my christmas stall

 how much would you pay for a hand made decoration???

message my your thoughts below

craft out

xxoo