Brainstorm: 2015

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Em's Jumper/Sweater Cushions #2

I made these cushions from recycled jumper/sweaters. I chose 2 jumpers in the same shades for each, one for the cushion base and the other ribbed ones to make the flower rose. I got the idea from Old Made New and also on this and this Etsy shop, but had to make up the process of making them myself. I played around with various ways to create fabric roses and ended up cutting numerous semi-circles from the jumper and then sewing them in a long line along the straight edge before sewing the line in a spiral onto the first jumper, which I had made into a simple cushion. Once that was done I made a small fabric rose for the centre and hand sewed a cushion inside. I also hand stitched the floppy petals down at various points so it stayed more in shape. They go really well with the orange jumper/sweater cushion I made previously.

Em's Latest projects

Hedgehog Doorstop

I made this hedgehog doorstop as a Christmas present out of calico and an old striped shirt. I based it on the pattern from Do Crafts. Hand sewing on the strips of fabric took a while and I ironed them folded on an angle to try and make it look more haphazard rather than formal. I used Jasmine rice (all we had) to fill it, which actually made it smell nice (I was thinking of adding essential oils but the Jasmine rice was fragrant enough). I then sewed on two buttons for eyes and made a tiny pompom on a fork for the nose! I already have people asking me for orders for next Christmas!

Hand Towels

I bought these tea towels a while ago to make hand towels for the kitchen for everyone for Christmas. This year I made two for my aunties with scrap fabric. I love the retro yellow fabric one, I nearly kept it for myself! Originally I was going to use the more traditional pattern from Creamer Chronicles but really like the clever "big button hole" design from here, so tried it. I sewed the middle of the towel to the fabric to create a double thickness. I still have a number of tea towels in all different colours so will have to make a few more. Maybe for next Chrissie!

Mugs

I made these mugs for my cousin who had their first bub this year. I used an oil based paint texta and used the instructions from Something Turquoise to set the design. I waited 72hrs after drawing on the design, then put them in a cold oven and turned it on to 200C for an hour, turned the oven off and left it to cool down over night. They came out a little darker but otherwise the same.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Painted Bicycle Bells

These painted bells are so cute and clever. There are endless ideas to make the bicycle bells into something else.. food, fruit, animals or other unlikely accessories, or even just a cool pattern. Most of these are by Dring Dring. I want to have a go but I can't choose what to do!

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Em's Lego Crafts

Lego Head Gas Bottle

Ever since I saw this idea on Pinterest I have wanted to paint our gas bottle to look like a Lego head! And how effective it is!! Such fun! Using up some left over yellow paint our BBQ gas bottle now looks like this:

Can't wait to see the look on the persons face when we have to swap it in! :)

Lego Tissue Box

A very simple project but very effective. A bought plain tissue box cover and wooden beads from the craft shop, glued them on and painted it red! Cut up pieces of dowel would have a better ratio for the knobs but was 20 times the price of these ready made beads. I think it still gives the right idea. Inspiration from here.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Fabian Oefner- High-speed Photography

Fabian Oefner, amongst other works, uses high-speed photography to create these awesome images caught in a millisecond. The unseen is once again captured to be preserved in time.
His Black Hole series paint was flung from an electric drill and the split second result captured with a perfectly timed camera hooked up to a sensor. See the process here.