Big Green Dinosaur Slippers

Less a tutorial and more “LOOK WHAT I FINALLY FINISHED!” 😀

So the back story here is that one of my most awesome internet friends Miss BGDino is getting married soon and I had to make her and her equally awesome partner a wedding present which is as great as they are!

James came up with the idea as Miss BGDino’s partner is called Mr Slippers on her blog and we needed a name to call them collectively and thus DinoSlippers was born. How could I not make their wedding present actual matching dinosaur couple slippers? Seriously.

And this was the result:

Mrs Dino Slippers

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And Mr Dino Slippers

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I didn’t bother with a pattern because I had an idea in my head and it’s a fairly easy shape. No pattern because I didn’t count stitches but here are the basic shapes. The bottoms are made in one piece and then folded over and stitched around the side.

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Some more during shots…

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Straight stitches for the win!

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Next I added a top part so the foot could slide in and then went about shaping the head.

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I totally underestimated how much yarn it would use and I ended up going out to Lincraft like 3 times to get more XD

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Lastly I needle felted on their faced! Moustache for the boys…

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And bows for the girls!

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Before I sent them off I used puff paint to write “Mr” and “Mrs” on the bottom of the slippers for a non-slip effect. It dried a lot harder than I was expecting but it still looked cute ^_^

This is probably one of the biggest projects I’ve done this year so I’m really glad that it turned out well and was for really lovely people. It’s a really nice feeling to be finished and know that they loved them!

How To Needle Felt Rose Gloves – Tutorial

Recently I have been making a lot of presents for people! I like making presents because it means getting to craft and not having the results taking up a lot of space here 😀

The only down side is I have to wait for them to receive it before I post photos and tutorials haha!

I needle felted these gloves as a birthday gift for Christina who rocks.

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So how to needle felt flowers? Let’s start!

You need:

  • Felting needle
  • Felting backing thing, I used to use foam but Kim gave me her brush thing which is waaaaay better as it’s actually specifically for this.
  • Wool roving
  • Gloves or whatever you’re felting to

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I decided to do different colours per glove so one purple and one yellow with green flowers.

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The gloves!

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Stick the brush or whatever you’re using for backing inside the glove. It can be a bit awkward depending on the size. By actually putting the brush inside the glove the sides won’t stick together when we felt them.

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Now let’s make the flowers. Felt a small yellow ball to the glove. Poke more around the edges to secure them.

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Now punch a spiral pattern into the circle.

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Next add a tear shaped petal and poke in the middle as a leaf shape.

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Add a second one just overlapping it.

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Repeat all over the glove in varying directions!

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Cute!

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All done! I want to do this to the edge of my cardigans now, it’s so sweet ^_^

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Hope you guys enjoyed and I hope Christina enjoys wearing them!

 

 

How To Jazz Up Sunglasses For Summer! Tutorial

 

Well it’s not Summer here but I think I’m a bit tired of Winter so I’m pretending it is >_>

For someone who only ever seems to wear one pair of sunglasses I sure have a lot of them hanging around the house. So on a mission to get rid of the things I didn’t use I decided to give some of the sunglasses a make over and actually start using them!

The end result is pink and green, perfect for a warm Spring day out! Now if only we had some warm days!

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Originally the sunglasses were clear and pink. Cute but for some reason I never really wore them.

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All it took was a few coats of nail polish!

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I got some polish on the lenses because I was a bit careless it it was easy to poke off with a toothpick once dry.

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Easy!

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Super cute!

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It’s inspired me to be a bit more creative and try to dress up my other sunglasses too!

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I’m on a roll with my crafting! I’m going to start some new knitting projects this weekend, what are you guys crafting at the moment?

 

DIY Spiked Shoes! -Tutorial

Oh my god… two tutorials in a row? Unheard of recently! To be fair, this is such a self explanatory tutorial it’s more just inspiration really…

I am super picky when it comes to flat shoes. SUPER picky. I spent months trying to find ones to replace the ones Lottie killed.

So eventually I found some but I didn’t think they were quite fancy enough so I took a few minutes and added some extra spikes, and this is how they turned out!

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Originally they came like this, the little dots are grey diamontes on top of a lacy cut out. Cute but not over the top enough for me.

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That is something easily fixed though.

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To do this you will need prong backed spikes. I bought mine on sale at Diva for $1 a pack but you can buy on ebay too. For other ideas what to do with spikes I made a video on making a cute spiked headband too.

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Step one… place studs where you want them. I played around with several designs before I settled on one.

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Step 2… press studs through the material and fold the backs over. DONE! Seriously.

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It can be a little tricky to shove the spikes through without hurting your fingers especially if the shoes are very thick. I found that placing a layer of felt over the spike then using pliers to shove it through worked best for me. The felt protects the shiny finish from the pliers. Easy!

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Shortest project ever but it’s one of the ones I’m happiest with because I now love these shoes and have been wearing them so much this week to break them in! Double win 😀

 

 

How To Silk Paint With Sharpies and Copic Markers – Tutorial!

I go through seriously obsessive craft phases. I think you’ll all remember the last cable knitting/crochet one that lasted a good couple of months right? I’m still kind of in that obsession but I had to take a little break after completing some really big projects. In the mean time I decided to try something that I hadn’t done since I was at school: silk painting!

I loooove silk scarves. In fact this craft combines my two favorite things in the world: silk scarves and painting. But I didn’t really have any supplies for it and I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money on something I wasn’t sure would last longer than the obsession stage. So after googling around and looking for different techniques I discovered something fun: alcohol based markers like Sharpies and Copic markers can be used to permanently colour fabric and you can create interesting designs by breaking them down with rubbing alcohol. Did I want to try this? HELL YES!!!

Unfortunately in Australia you can’t buy straight rubbing alcohol (because apparently the government thinks people want to drink it… seriously). You can buy Isocol but it’s not a high enough percentage of alcohol (and super expensive). As it turns out though, alcohol gel hand sanitizer is just high enough for it to work and you can water it down to liquid or use the gel consistency to create a water colour like effect. YAY!

Let’s do a really basic design to start with:

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So let’s get started!

You need:

  • Fabric to paint on. Silk is best but you can use satin, blends, cotton, whatever
  • Sharpies, copic marker any alcohol based marker. Test it out on scrap first
  • Hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol
  • Water based resist if you want to control where the colours go, more on this in a minute
  • A frame to hold the fabric tight.

First thing to do is pin your fabric to your frame. You can buy fancy special silk frames but I didn’t want to spend the money so I used some old packing foam and hot glued it into a square shape. Pin the fabric to it so it’s completely taut and the back isn’t touching anything. If the back touches a table/whatever the inks will bleed through any lines you make.

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For this design I’m using water based resist to draw lines. Sometimes it’s called Gutta but actual Gutta requires you to dry clean the fabric to remove it later. This one washes out in warm water.

Resist does what it sounds like, the fabric it touches will resist the dye and stay it’s original colour (in this case pink). You can use it to create barriers or several layers for details. In this design I’m using it to make the actual pattern.

Rather than buying actual resist I experimented with a lot of things before I took the plunge including water colour masking fluid and wash out glues. They kind of work but it’s really better to just spend the $6 and buy real resist because it’s SO much easier to work with.

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So use the resist to paint on diagonal lines. Make sure you use enough to soak through the fabric.

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I wasn’t careful with my application because I thought it would make it look rustic and special etc but you can get some really clean lines if you take the time to do it well.

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Wait for the resist to dry completely… or be impatient and use a hairdryer to dry it quickly.

Now break out your markers. I’m using a set of Sharpie knock offs from Bic.

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Colour in each square.

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You can get fancy and use several colours blended but I just did the basics here.

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In itself this is quite a pretty finish but I really wanted to do more water colour stuff so time for hand sanitizer.

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Apply it over the entire scarf using a paint brush. You’ll notice the dye trying to run away from the sanitizer as it breaks down so you can create really interesting patterns. Try not to leave it wet for too long or the resist may get wet and not be an effective barrier anymore.

I removed mine from the fame and crumpled it in a ball to dry to create even more interesting shapes.

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Allow it to dry then dump it in the sink with some warm water. If you find your markers run in warm water, heat seal your silk with an iron before washing.

Wash thoroughly and you should see all of the silk resist coming out.

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Let it dry then iron it flat.

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Taadaa! Done!

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Some close ups show the patterns in the dyes and the way they blended together.

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The resist leaves really clean lines once you get the hang of using it.

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Really, this is just the beginning! I am completely in love with this way of painting. I want to buy real supplies now and make amazing silk scarves.

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Here are some of the other ones I’ve made so far:

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The blue areas were done with Copic markers, they really react heavily to the alcohol and make beautiful patterns.

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I did a little random bee one to try a combination of resist and then ink over the top of it:

 

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This one was my biggest project so far but it was on a different fabric type so the results weren’t as impressive as I’d hoped.

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I’m going to use this design again though and keep trying!

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My favorite piece so far as been this mini one with little flowers. I love using a lot of shading to get great texture.

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Now that I’ve played around I can safely say I’ll be doing this for a very long time to come so I’m planning on taking a trip to an actual silk supply store and buying traditional supplies. You guys should give it a try too, it’s really so much fun!

What do you all think my next design should be??

Fun Printing Shirts

I’ve been experimenting with painting different fabrics lately. Later this week I’m hoping to get some silk painting supplies to play with which I am super excited about. My two favorite things in the world: painting and silk scarves!

Back on topic, my first attempt with printing was for BraveBirdFly’s birthday last year. I made her a kitty shirt!

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This isn’t going to be a real tutorial, more of just a rough guide to what I did on my first few tries.

I made a basic shirt out of some nice drapey fabric.

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I made a stamp by cutting out a piece of cardboard in the shape I wanted and sticking it to another piece of cardboard.

I tried a few of the inks I had to find the one with the most staying power after washing.

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The process was really simple: paint ink on… then stamp!

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Because the cardboard absorbs some of the ink each print is a little different and it looks really vintage-y.

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After a few test runs I decided on a pattern and stamped away!

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Once it was done I ironed it to seal the ink and then washed it to get rid of any ink which didn’t take. Make sure you put it in a load by it’s self so it doesn’t transfer to any other clothes!

Yay kitties!

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I enjoyed this so much that I decided to do something similar for myself. I used an old shirt James didn’t want/would notice was missing.

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After cutting the seams off it to make it more feminine, I made my stamp. This time I printed hearts.

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Lottie found watching me work very tiring apparently.

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I snipped at the neckline and wove them together to make it a bit cuter.

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Done!

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I loved making my own fabric, I want to try doing some more using different colours and techniques. I can’t wait to get my hands on some silk!

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