Brainstorm

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 here and here, 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 some for presents 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.

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.

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.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Derek Gores- collage

Derek Gores creates these fantastic collages! Wow! So clever, intricate, detailed and realistic! I also love the subject matter!

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Shamekh Bluwi- Paper cut out fashion illustration

"ShamekhBluwi is an architect and fashion illustrator based in Amman, Jordan. Shamekh mix his passions for architecture and fashion illustrations by creating beautiful paper cut-outs fashion sketches with women whose dresses become whatever you hold them up against that comes across on the streets." -Creative Spotting

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Similar to some of Edgar Artis work:

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More Edgar Artis

Em's Pirate Party

I have made various pirate themed party food and costumes and a full pirate party would be great. So many food, game and decoration ideas. The costumes can be so simple too. These are pirate cookies I have made from here. Not only do they look great but they taste yummy too! I used a block of caramel chocolate instead of Rollo, which still worked great:

My version

My Pirate chest cake: Tried to find those edible necklaces to add but couldn't. I think it worked better with the limited colours/lollies! I also thought of kit-lat or choc finger biscuits to create the wood but think the frosting works really well!

Our go at Jack Sparrow! People thought he was drunk all night but he was just in character

Arrr me hearties! Another chance to dress up

Friday, April 17, 2015

Em's Jumper/Sweater Cushion

I have been waiting for winter to arrive so the op shops put out their winter stock so I could find an orange jumper/sweater to turn into a cushion. I wanted to make cushions from jumpers for a while, especially since we bought a bigger lounge. I needed more cushions. They had to match the retro print ones we already had and I thought orange would be perfect, with big buttons, maybe orange plastic ones. Well I couldn't believe my luck when I scanned the jumper rack in the first op shop and saw this one in the perfect shade AND it had big buttons!!! I love the wooden buttons and think it works really well.

The jumper before

It was very simple to make and took all of 20mins? I also had bought a cushion from the op shop and used the existing cushion cover as a template, worked out what part of the jumper I wanted and cut a square from the front and back. Then sewed the two right sides together all the way around, turned it the right way and hey presto! Done! The beauty of it is I can use the buttons to put it on the cushion so their was no need for a zipper or any hand stitching.

Friday, February 27, 2015

Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik- paper mosaic

Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik cuts up and rearranges paper from different literary and media texts, including comics, collaging them, mosaic style, into new images using strong lines, shapes and colour. I love how the negative space creates clean lines with a mosaic effect.

"My work is visual biblical commentary; I call it “paper midrash.” I always begin with text — often bible and other traditional sources, but also the words of poets and musicians. My work is influenced by elements of the natural world and how tradition understands its connection to the Divine"