easy peg bags

The other day I found myself with time on my hands...

HAHAHA. As if.

Actually I didn't find myself with spare time, on my hands or otherwise. I had to make the time. But this was one project I'd had sitting in a bag on the floor of my office for months. I wanted it gone. Seemed like it'd be a waste to just get rid of these tiny little pants since what I planned to do was a simple little conversion: from tiny people pants to peg bags.

I added patches to them to fancy them up a bit, make them cuter... and buttons on the loops.

I secured them to bits of wood or sticks and make hooks out of wire for hanging them on the clothes line.

This blue jean one is my favourite with its red star patterned fabric patch and the stitched star on the other side.

I even had a dress so I included that in my burst of industriousness. That one has been waiting longer than the tiny pants.

The dress actually is a much bigger peg bag, you know, for those heavy duty washing days. 

z

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laundry powder tin to dog food container

Sharing a quickie this morning. Lately it seems my life is a series of routine chores, work and making things. Which is great. Except that all day, while outside in the garden, in the workshop or in the grooming room, I'm looking forward to the evening, after the chores are done, I've showered and had dinner, when I plan to spend some time doing inside craft type projects.

However reality is so rude. At the end of the day, once its all done and I'm inside, in clean clothes and should be looking at what to do next I find myself deflating like a balloon with a pin hole. First I sit on the couch to eat dinner while watching a bit of TV (and yeah, I know that'd bad for digestion, tell that to my butt which you can land a 747 on) and then, without even realising it, dinner is finished and its 2 hours later and I haven't stirred.

Last night was different. Mainly cause I hadn't worked all day. I'd been a social butterfly, running around the countryside doing errands and visiting friends. So last night, once the animals were fed and the car unloaded, I still had energy. Not a lot, but some. So I did a small project I'd been thinking about doing for a LONG time.

I converted a plain old Kmart laundry powder tin into a dog food container.

I've had this in the corner of the kitchen for at least a couple of years now, with the Laundry side to the wall. I wanted to do something to make it fit into the kitchen better, plus to label it as a dry dog food container.

I did some googling and found a few dog food ads I liked the look of. I had to find one big enough to fit over the lettering and which would look good in the kitchen. I loved this one, but I had to cut the bottom off as it was too long. That's ok, the ad works without the details at the bottom.

Using Modpodge I stuck it to the front of the tin, and done!

How good is it to finish one small project that's been in the back of my mind for years? 

Its like one of those things you nag your partner about for years, then, when he finally does it, you say 'Well, that wasn't so hard, was it?' Meaning he didn't have to avoid it off for so long and force you to turn into a nagging fishwife. Then you duck.

So here it is - in the corner of the kitchen, next to the free feeding bowl.

And here's the beauty of ruthless creative cropping. Cause this is what the rest of the kitchen looks like at the moment.

The surfaces were clean about a week ago. I swear. Then I began to put project bits on them for things I meant to work on 'tonight'... and never did obviously. Instead I chose to do something completely different. But hey. At least I did something. Maybe that will lead to more creative evenings... I can hope.

You may notice the yellow frying pans on the pot rack. Lovely in a minty green kitchen. They were Wayne's purchase. When he goes away I knock down walls, pull out cupboards and carpets and swap rooms. When I go away he buys kitchen appliances and frying pans.

Oh well. At least now when you look that way you get the yellow dog food ad which sort of ties in with the frying pans. Which are great stone non stick pans on the inside, but the outside... ugh.

So, how much better does the cropped version look? 

It makes me look like a good housekeeper. 

Keeping the illusion alive.

z

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mounted pug head

Thought I'd share a little project I've had sitting around for a while now.  This is Pugsly. A mounted pug head.

The best kind of mounted pug head: a fake one.

This little guy is made from old newspapers, diluted PVA glue, air dry clay, old comics and an old cheese board as a mount.

Talk about recycling.

Doesn't everyone need a wall mounted pug head? Especially one as cute as this little guy!

I've listed him for sale on a Facebook selling page but no nibbles so far. I'm keeping it a secret from him so he doesn't feel rejected and unloved. You have no idea how much a depressed pug head can bring down the mood around the house.

z

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make an easy lightbox

I'd like to share my dodgey easy lightbox. You know, for when you need to photograph something small and need to be able to do it without glare or shadows.

Well, I failed in that. But I think its the lighting rather than the box that's to blame.

But first, lets explain the term 'dodgey' for those who don't speak Australian. The Urban Dictionary defines it as:

Australian term.
1. Something or someone that is a bit suspicious, doesn't seem quite right. Doesn't seem the real deal.
2. Slack, broken, worthless or useless.
3. Not very appealing.

1. That car salesman seemed a bit dodgey.
2. This old car is pretty dodgey.
3. That band last night were pretty dodgey.

As you can see, dodgey is my middle name.

So, how to make your own lightbox?

Get a largish cardboard box. Cut out 3 squares - one on top and one on either side, but not the back or the bottom. Well, you could, but it'd be a waste of time.

Now the first time I did this I threw an old white sheet over the box as my light diffuser (yeah, I know technical terms!)

This time I got more professional. I cut out squares of white fabric and taped them onto the box. Real professional. I was going to use hot glue but tape was easier - ie it was there on the table next to me.

Note the overabundance of bits of tape in the picture. I used the box flaps to reinforce the sides and top, using tape to attach them. Classy.

Almost there. Get a large sheet of white paper. Glue or tape that to the top of the back, curl it where the back meets the bottom to create that no horizon look, then lay it down flat at the bottom.

Voila.

Now all you need is light. 

I collected all the spare lamps I had in the house. One tall reading lamp. Two smaller lamps. Ideally you want bendable lamps you can angle at the windows, and you need them to kind of match light-wise. Strength I mean. I didn't have matching ones. Hence the uneven lighting in my images.

Whatever. It was better than taking photos with a flash.

That's it. Your lightbox is ready for masterpiece photos.

Mind you, you really do need a tripod for taking photos, so if you have one get it out and set it up in front of the lightbox.

Surely you can do a better job than mine, but hey, I now have a lightbox, dodgey as it is, set up in my office for every time I want to take photos.

I'd say I've done well,

z

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cowpig and other ceramic animals

Its been years since I did any work with clay. High school in fact. And back then I didn't think I really enjoyed sculpting.

Well, I tried it again a little while ago and I LOVE it.

This little pig bowl was my first foray into the world of pottery. He's called a cowpig cause that's what a friend called him when she saw the colour. Ok, so I got the holstein patches on a pig, ok, I stuffed that up... but he's still darn cute.

I picked aqua blue for the inside cause pink would just be wrong... and disturbing... plus I love aqua.. The idea is that its a little bowl I can plonk bracelets or such in. For now its sitting on the air conditioner (which is a floor model) in the living room where I can see it every time I walk past.

Love his little face...

And his little tail!

Next I made some little critters. I made a chicken, two bandicoots and a wombat. The chicken is not here, neither is one of the bandicoots, but the other two are.

Let me introduce the brown bandicoot and the common wombat.

I gave the little bandicoot a copper wire tail.

I'm loving this. Both the building up and the carving out. I want to buy a slab of this paper clay and make a ton more stuff.

The paper clay is clay mixed with paper pulp. It dries completely white and is easy to work with. I then take it to a place in Hobart to have it fired, paint (glaze) it with the right paints and have it refired.

I'll get onto that soon as I find some time...

After the huge garage sale at the end of October. After moving the grooming room to the storage room.

When I find time.

z

little paper suitcase

This is just a quick and easy little project I thought I'd share for the fun of it.

I've got photos waiting to be downloaded off the camera but was too busy (sore and tired) to tackle it yesterday so you'll have to make do with this pititful little project for now.

I've made little suitcases before, I even made one out of felt last year but unfortunately I don't think I have a photo of it. This one is made out of a ready meal box. You know the kind: Put the contents of satchel 1 into the container provided. Pour the the contents of satchel 2 over the top. Heat for 2 minutes.

Healthy stuff.

We have a lady at work who loves anything to do with going away on a trip. So I made this little suitcase for her as part of a project I have going where she can decorate her entire bedroom ceiling with 'mobiles' of trip related items (planes, suitcases, caravans, etc).

You can see the 'tear here' strip on the side. Since its going to be up high I didn't worry too much about making it perfect, I just wanted it to look like a real suitcase.

First I glued it shut, then sprayed it with flat white paint. I found some old vinyl in our fabric box and cut the strips I needed for the handle and strap.

The corners, buckle and handle ends were made of plain cardboard. Ordinarily I'd paint those gold or silver but decided I liked them in their natural colour this time.

Cute don't you think?

Not that there's much use for little cardboard suitcase in every day life... Unless of course you made it so it opens and you can keep small things in it, like USB sticks, paper clips, jewelry....

Unless you do this with a shoe box that offers actual storage:

Sorry, no link for that one. But the ones below are way easier and do have links.

How cute are they? I've always meant to make some of those boxes for around the place...

z

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rag peg bag

Another quick and easy sewing project. This time its a peg bag with a crazy quilt heart. The pic above shows the front - the heart is the opening you reach into. It's made of scrap curtain fabric I had on hand and colourful tiny scraps for decoration.

I used the cut out heart on the back for extra interest, using orange scraps.

In the end all I had to do was fit in a wire hanger and its ready to use.

z

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easy fabric wall hangings

Does anyone remember the little bird project I did a long time ago? I made the little bird by hand stitching the fabrics onto a piece of felt and I really enjoyed doing it.

When I was trying to think of a project I could do with a group of participants at work, I thought it'd be a great idea to do something similar. I mean, we have tons of fabric... Some of it is even halfway decent!

The main problem was that doing it the way I did the little bird involves a lot of hand stitching and the people I work with are disabled. Their abilities are mixed... some have the dexterity to do fine work, others have no fine motorskills to speak of, and none of them can do fine stitching.

My first attempt involved ripping fabric into strips and asking one participant to select the colours she wanted, then lay them out on a piece of fabric to create a picture. She chose the colours and laid them out in colour blocks.

The plan was that I would then use the sewing machine to sew the pieces down.

Of course, the minute I picked up the backing fabric all her scraps moved or fell off so I had to stitch them back one by one. As a result, I couldn't help myself... I added a few accent bits here and there... Kind of defeats the purpose of getting people to do their own art!

I couldn't help it! It went against my grain to leave it in plain colour blocks... the fabric got mixed up. Yeah. That's my story and I'm sticking with it!

Given that I'm trying to let the participants make their own art, this method wasn't an ideal way to do it...

I found a video on YouTube of a lady who does crazy quilting. She recommended using thin iron-on fabric to keep the pieces together!

Now, why didn't I think of that?

Well, for one thing I'm no expert in sewing and I'm pretty sure I've never used iron on stuff before... In fact, I'm not even sure I'd heard of it before! 

So, I went out and bought some. I got the second thinnest (cause the lady on YouTube said 'thin') and got to work.

I had a bag of scrap fabric which was given to me by a friend. It wasn't ripped up in long strips like the first experiment so the pieces were different shapes and sizes. This gave the participants more variety in shape as well as pattern and colour.

Once they had their pieces laid out, I ironed them in place, then stitched them down with the sewing machine.



It worked much better. I'm sharing three of the creations we've made so far. There are a few more which I'll share when they're done.

Aren't they fabulous? I want to make some cushion covers for my new couch using this method!

For the work project I've made these into wall hangings by sewing the art to a backing piece of fabric with pockets for dowels top and bottom. It makes it easier and much quicker. They can now go home and be hung on the wall straight away.

Mission accomplished. We found a way to let the participants create their own work with minimal staff input in the creative part.

z

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another record table

Yes, I mentioned a new record table. It was in the photo I shared in my last post. I forgot I hadn't actually posted about it...

Honest mistake.

So, here it is, in a rustic setting.

I don't know if you remember, but I did make a record table before. I had a stool base with hairpin legs but no top and thought a record would make a great top for it.

It was great. I sold it at one of the markets.

I regretted it.

I made another one. Not as pretty. No hairpin legs. This one was a stool with a top when I found it. A ratty top which I promptly dispatched to the great broken stool home in the sky.

All I did to make this table was give the legs a wash, buy new rubber stoppers as it only had one left, dust off the old gramophone record and use a crapload lots of liquid nails to glue it together.

Simple.

Effective.

Cute.

I put it in the living room and for ages I used it to hold my coffee cup as I watched TV or worked on the laptop. Then one night I forgot myself and put my feet on it.

I don't recommend you do that. Gramophone records are really brittle.

Out came the liquid nails again. This time I glued the new record to the old one, making it double thickness.

Its back holding the remotes right now. And I have a footstool for my feet.

It pays to remember what things are for. Footstools are for feet. Brittle 33.5 record side tables are for a cup of coffee. And perhaps a bowl of popcorn. A small one.

z

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