[CUSTOM} My Teeny-Tiny Coco Chanel Doll®

Firstly, I miss blogging! It was only this Thursday that I truly realised I went back to work full-time, outside of home & Cook You Some Noodles® that is, which was over a year ago now.

I thought I’d still be able to maintain sewing and creating My Teeny-Tiny Dolls® at least on a regular basis. But alas, time outside of normal 9-5 I spend napping or doing more “work”. Don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoy doing extra time on work stuff some nights, it’s not that I have to, but it’s ’cause I want to.

Just need to find some balance as I do miss sewing and creating new things.

So today, I got started on a custom request from one of my regular customers.

She bought a book for her little one – Little People, Big Dreams – Coco Chanel by Isabel Sanchez Vegara, illustrated by Ana Albero

Photo courtesy of Angus & Robertson Bookworld

And wanted a My Teeny-Tiny Coco Chanel Doll® version. So here she is

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Picture Ledge Art

Continuing the pretty-ing up my place project, I’ve moved on to another wall at our place.

After taking down our fabric Christmas tree …

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… the wall is looking empty and bare. So off to Pinterest I go to get some inspirations.

Photo courtesy of Decoholic Interior Designs

Photo courtesy of IKEA

Photo courtesy of Smart Furniture

Photo courtesy of Very First Apartment

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You can see more pics in my Ledge Art Pin Board.

Now here’s what I have so far.

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1. Armchair, black picture ledge, lamp, wooden figurine, black picture frame and corner TV table from IKEA (can you tell I love IKEA)
2. Ottoman from Kmart (holds more of my fabric stash)
3. Cushion (on sale for $10) and faux succulent pot plant (1 of 3) from Typo
4. Plain white canvas that I put a vinyl typography “but first, coffee” using Picmonkey to create the words and my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the transfer vinyl.

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5. Free Flamingo printable from Oh So Lovely

Photo courtesy of Oh So Lovely

I cropped it into a square to fit the square picture frame.

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2 more items I want to get to complete the wall is a big letter “C” from Typo and a set of 3 faux succulents pot plants from Kmart

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One of the things I want to do more in 2016 is to have friends over and just enjoy some good company. So having my place all nice and pretty and welcoming will push me to pick up the phone and invite friends over.

Now as for the sewing table side of my work area that I put the peg board up on – original post here …

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… it’s still a work in progress, but I have added a few things on it.

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Rail with hanging buckets to house the tools I need, thread and thread holders, scissors (I used wooden golf tees and cut them short to hang the scissors in place) and other pretty things (wooden house, mini buckets and clipboard with felt swatches). I am adding to it organically, seeing what items I need while sewing but also making it a little artistic.

So there you are. Very happy at the moment that I will welcome 2016 with a nice apartment to look at.

Do you have any goals, plans that you want to do in the New Year?

Peg Board Storage

Today’s tidy and organise area is my sewing machine desk. I used to have 2 cork boards there, but since I used them on the vision board desk side of my work station, I was left with a blank wall. Below is the finished vision board.

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I had a couple of peg boards I bought a while back from Bunnings that I had up at one time, then took it down when I rearranged my work space for the nth time. So, got I got one of them out of the cupboard and screwed it to the wall.

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I gathered some inspirations from Pinterest for ideas on how I can set it up.

Photo courtesy of Fabric Paper Glue

Photo courtesy of Ginger Snap Crafts

Photo courtesy of Bloglovin’

Photo courtesy of iHeart Organization

Photo courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens

Photo courtesy of Craft-O-Maniac

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I’ve pinned some more pictures in my Creative Space Pinterest board. Before I get started though, I have to find all the hooks that inserts into the peg board. I must have cleaned up so well, that now I can’t find where its new home is …. hmmm!?

Going to try my best to get everything sorted in my work space before Christmas, if not before my younger boy’s birthday on the 30th … or before New Year’s Eve … fingers crossed!

 

 

Desk Area Update

On Saturday, I posted about making one desk in my work area nice and pretty – original post here.

Later that day, I did put up some prints just to get the corkboard started.

Here’s where I got up to.

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The art work are all free printable downloads and here is a list of them.

1. “dreams don’t work unless you do.” by Salt and Paperie
2. Bear Hug by Lena Dor
3. Ferris Wheel postcards by Oh So Lovely via Paisley Vintage
4. Wheels on the Bus by Kinderkamer Stylist
5. Love glitter by Love from the Oven
6. “do more of what makes you happy” by Beauty & the Beard
7. “Light up my world” by Charlotte Ananbar
8. Flamingo by Simply {Darr}ling

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Once I started to print a few, I customised the sizes to fit the spaces left on the corkboard. Other items in the picture include picture ledge, 3 battery operated lights, cork boards, wooden figure and circle cork mat all from IKEA. Lamp, candle and tulips in vase from K-mart, wooden house from Cotton On, twine by The Wrapping Paper Co., 365 Notebook from Kikki K, tree jewellery organiser from Dymocks Stationery and nail polishes by Chi Chi Cosmetics from Target. Necklaces are my own (well the one on the right is my Mum’s that I am yet to return LOL).

Please note, mention of retail brands are not sponsored and are of my own opinion.

So getting there. If you have any favourite free printable, let me know in the comment section below.

Oh P.S. I took down the calendar from the corkboard because I was taking it on and off to write on it, so I just keep it on my desk.

Okay, chat to you later!

Desk Area

I have officially signed off the “creating” schedule. So now concentrating on “beautifying” my creative space and have been spending a bit of time today on Pinterest checking out the beautiful desk spaces out there – you can check out my pins here

I’ve rearranged my cork boards so that 3 are above my “looking nice” desk (this won’t be my actual work desk – that one is just to the right of this that house the big mess). This one will be the one I hopefully keep nice and neat for any picture backdrops.

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So now I’ve been looking around the place to find things to use as little displays. I’m not very good at styling so am really using my pins for lots of inspiration.

I was looking for a free printable 2016 calendar to add to the corkboard and came across Kate’s version from Small Paper Things

Photo courtesy of Small Paper Things

I love how she uses washi tape to show length of certain events. I’ve printed December’s one and getting January’s ready for a couple of weeks’ time (adding my own special events on it)

Additional prints I will add as I go along so it’s a bit more organic rather than forced!

In the meantime, wishing you all the best over this holiday season.

Merry Christmas!

Teachers’ Gifts 2015

Here are the gifts I gave my boys’ school teachers this year. You can find previous years’ here (2014) and here (2013).

This is “Sally the Deer” made using my own pattern.

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Rose wrist Pincushion made using a pattern by Michelle Patterns

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Felt Sorbet Pincushion made using a pattern by Umecrafts

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School Uniform Tissue Holders made using a pattern by Sewn Ideas Patterns

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Mirror backed Keychain with lovely quote made using my badge maker and felt gift box made using a pattern by Curbly.

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And finally 3 cute little pouches like these ones (without the bow) – I forgot to take a picture of it before wrapping them up.

Clutch (and bow) were made from patterns by Michelle Patterns

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And for Christmas Favours for their classmates, I made these cute little gift boxes with Smarties in them and a little “glad you were in my class” message – inspired by this Tic-Tac Gift Card idea.

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And that everybody, are my last scheduled arts and crafts creations for the year. I’m spent!

SALE! SALE! SALE!

Most items in my bigcartel shop have been reduced (approximately by 20%). So have a look and items purchased today will be posted tomorrow.

Have a great day!

DIY Lace Eye Mask

A friend of mine had a birthday party yesterday and the theme was masquerade. So, as a do-it-yourselfer, I looked on Pinterest for some ideas on how to make your own eye mask.

I did venture into Lincraft to see if there were any already made eye mask that I could maybe embellish myself, but non were to my liking. Then I saw this one tutorial on Pinterest.

Photo courtesy of Sprinkles in Spring

 This Chic Masquerade DIY Mask blog post by Kara of Sprinkles in Springs not only has the step by step instructions on how to make one, but she even provides you the template of the mask.

So, I printed the template (I manipulated the size by stretching or squashing it so it would fit the measurement of my face and eyes, and so give a more custom fit – you can do this on PowerPoint Presentation).

Armed with the template, masking tape, Glad Wrap, tule and paint I did a couple of test runs earlier in the week.

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The paint I used was a dimensional paint, but I found it a bit thin and so was a bit runny and the lines spread and bled into each other, which meant I lost a bit of detail in the lace lines.

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Then I remembered I had puff paint in my paint stash

The consistency of the paint was much thicker, so it didn’t move and kept it shape.

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So once the paint dried, I cut off the excess tule and tested it on myself. Happy with the overall shape and size, I did another one but this time on black tule (which is the one I ended up using).

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I didn’t add the ribbon to the ends (as per the instructions on the blog), instead I just used eye lash glue to keep it on my face all night long. I was happy with how it turned out and I didn’t have to worry about it falling off or sliding off my face throughout the night. It was a lovely night and a beautiful way to spend by friend’s birthday and to be a part of her special moment 🙂

By the way, I made hubby a Batman eye mask. My friend had a photographer take photos of her birthday celebration, so hoping to get some shots from her of hubby 🙂 Have a great Sunday all!

Josh’s Halloween Costume 2015

At first, Josh just wanted to be a ghost and put a white sheet over him with holes for the eyes. I, however suggested that that was too simple and how was he going to eat the food at his school Halloween disco with a sheet over his head and no arms!

Still not having made up his mind yet on what he wanted to be, it was a stumble through Spotlight on Sunday afternoon that he decided he wanted to be a zombie when he saw a top hat with a knife through it.

So all of this week, I got ideas together in my head on how I was going to put the outfit all together. So, we had the hat *check*

Next, zombie clothes! Hmmm? … off to YouTube I went and got great tips from the costume designer of The Walking Dead TV series (LOVE that show!) Eulyn C. Womble. In this documentary Inside The Walking Dead, at 7:57 (minutes) into the clip, she shows how she zombified an outfit.

How she cuts into the clothes. Here I am with the bread knife serrating into one of Josh’s old t-shirt.

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Next, the clip shows how she sprayed the clothes to make it look like it had mold, puss, vomit and blood. I got my acrylic paints and mixed the colours to make mold (green and black), puss and vomit (yellow and brown) and blood (red and black) and diluted them with a bit of water.

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Then I got a pair of his old sneakers, cut into them and also sprayed it to make it look old and muddy with blood splatter.

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So that was all done yesterday morning while Josh was at school, and in the meantime I searched YouTube for zombie make-up inspiration. The videos that I liked and drew inspiration from was this one, this one, and this one.

So once Josh got home from school and had his afternoon snack, I got started on the make-up.

First, I added tissues on his cheek so I could cut into it to make a gash. I mixed a tiny bit of modge podge (or you can just use craft glue) with water to fix the tissues on his cheek – no face latex necessary.

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I used the hair dryer (cool setting) to help speed up the drying process.

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Once dry, I applied foundation on the tissues to blend the colour into his skin, then cut a slit in the middle of it (very carefully as not to cut into his cheek). Then opening up the tissues to make it look like a gash, I coloured the inside with a red (stay-on) lipstick as well as some black eyeliner to make the outer part of the gash old and dried up.

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I then applied purple, grey and black eye shadows around his eyes to make them look sunken and dead!

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After a bit more use of mixed dark grey and taupe eye shadows for the sunken cheeks and lifeless lips, he popped on his zombie costume.

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And off he went to his school Halloween disco.

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He walked the street …

 

…. terrorising the living

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Trying to get to the little kids at school … Aaaaaaarrgghhhh!

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If you haven’t got a costume yet for Halloween, I hope this inspires you to make a zombie outfit with what you have at home – easy and just use what you already have at home (apart from the hat).

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Friday Finds!

Hello everyone. Today is FRIDAY! Yay! Oh and I only realised yesterday that there is just one more week of this school term. Yikes! And that it’s only 3 months and 2 weeks until CHRISTMAS! Honestly, where has the time gone. I still remember when my youngest started Kindy this year.

Anyway, with *whisper* Christmas coming towards us, I really should start thinking and planning better about Christmas presents. Now I love making things for my Mother-in-Law and in the past I’ve made her purses, bags, coasters … things I knew she would like and use on a regular basis. Now she’s a Mum of 10 (my hubby being the youngest) so she always has a lot of the family over for Sunday lunch at her place, and when I saw this lovely DIY coaster, I think it’s something that she would like. The tutorial can be found here by Thirty Handmade Days – A creative project for everyday.

Photo courtesy of 30 Handmade Days

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I first saw this on SewCanShe, which I subscribe to, which feature different tutorials from around the blog crafting world.

So if you want great ideas for crafting projects, make sure to follow SewCanShe.

Once I’ve made the coasters, I’ll show you the end product. If you’re going to make it too, show me by sending me pics of your project 🙂

Not a lot from me today as I am still not feeling too well. Remember I was ill on Wednesday, well hubby ended up sick too and last night, my older boy woke up in the middle of the night sick. So, not the healthiest household here at CYSN, but thankful it was only a 24 hour thing with the little one. Now hoping the youngest can fight off the bug.

Have a wonderful Friday though and hope to catch up with you later on Facebook land.