I am Making a Costume........

My daughter text me Saturday night to ask for ideas for a fancy dress costume for Granddaughter who is nearly 11 months old. She said this was for Monday, I asked if there was a theme and what was it for? I was told it was for the end of term baby group, nothing like leaving it till the last minute I thought. My daughter doesn't dress Granddaughter in anything girly let alone anything pink so this was narrowing choices for the costume, no pink fairy/princess outfits for little one lol. 

Sunday evening I text and said have you sorted out a costume and she replied no, not sure what to do! So I asked her what time was baby group. I was then told it was for Wednesday morning! 9.30am. I replied with “let me think of something overnight, I have plenty of stuff in the studio to make something if that helps" reply from daughter " Thanks Mumma night night"  

I guessed I would have to come up with something. What do you make a nearly 11 month old who's only interested in chewing everything to bits because of teething or pulling everything apart? I resorted to Pinterest for ideas. I was thinking along the lines of a white baby grow, something like drawing on cow patches or black and yellow stripes for a bumble bee, then I saw the Dalmatian costume. Not girly or princessy, perfect. I had plenty of black felt, a die cutting machine and circle dies, glue gun and sewing machine, hey presto a plan was coming together. One thing was missing though, some white baby grows lol. So a quickly trip to the "Every little bit counts" supermarket and 3 white baby grows for a fiver, result.

I cut the back from one baby grow and cut into two hood shaped pieces then I took the collar cuff off and machines it onto the hood then attached to the costume baby grow.  The circle die I have cuts 3 sizes of circle in one go, biggest being about an inch and a quarter. I hot glued these onto the baby grow and made some little paw prints for the feet. The ears I made from the feet from the spare baby grow which I cut off, stuffed with a bit of wadding and attached to the hood.

Now the tail took a bit more thinking. Do I make it so it hangs down and she can pull it off or do I stuff it but she can't sit in her car seat ! I made the body of the tail from the leg of the spare baby grow and stuffed it then I added the spots. I snipped the base of the tail, splayed it out onto a black felt spot and hot glued it. I took another black felt spot the same size, cut a circle from the middle the same size as the base of the tail and slipped it over the tail. I hot glued the two felt spots together which created a hard disk. Now comes the clever bit lol, I cut a circle of Velcro, one bit I attached to the costume baby grow and the other bit to the base of the tail ha. One stiff tail but detachable to get her in the car seat.

 

                                  

 

 

 

Well I was impressed with my efforts and at nearly 11 months Granddaughter didn't really care, I think lol

I Am Moving In....

 

 

 

 

We have all had one of those days, no not the bad ones lol the ones where you wait in all day for a delivery and it doesn't arrive! Well last Wednesday was one of those. It was the furniture for the studio, 8 units so not just a single item. I had been promised it the week before so I wasn't holding my breath but I was getting a bit frustrated as I wanted to unpack my stuff and get on with crafting. I was having severe withdrawal symptoms lol. Anyway after a few phone calls I was told my furniture was on the lorry but the lorry was delayed and wouldn't reach me that day. I was promised it would arrive first thing Thursday morning. I was beginning to think I would never see this furniture but as I had spent the day rushing to the kitchen window every five minutes at the sound of every vehicle, I had worn myself out and slept quite well!

The big day arrived and I received a call from the driver of the lorry, he would be with me in an hour. Woohoo.  I spent the next hour sat at the kitchen window! The lorry duly arrived with all my furniture, he only managed to drop one unit but the damage was just a few slight dents in the top that wouldn't be seen anyway. Everything fitted in perfectly after taking off the endless amounts of packaging but I am over the moon. It has taken me 3 days to unpack and although I am more or less done I have yet to sort out my fabric. I can't believe how much stuff I have accumulated over the year’s lol So as promised here are the pics yay.

 




  

 

 

   

 

 
Getting the hang of this pic posting lol. All the units with the plastic drawers are school furniture, I thought they would be ideal for storing my stash of fabric and all my crafty bits.

I was wondering how I was going to store all my cottons so they were easy to see and use. I came up with this lol.

I used an old cork notice board and some golf tees which I hot glued to the board and now I can store them all in one place yay.

Time to sign off, I have to get back to the real world tomorrow and go to work!!

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

New Studio

Well here we go, as you can guess my name is Amanda and I am....an unrecovered craftaholic. I have a passion for crafting and I really do try hard at it but sometimes  I have really thick moments and it all goes wrong lol.
I have always had some hobby on the go, I did pottery for about 10yrs then had an allotment for 7yrs but I have always meddled in crafts. All the usual stuff like card making, felting, enamelling anything that took my fancy but mainly these days its anything to do with fabric. I have developed an obsession with fabric, buttons, ribbons etc. sometimes I can't use the stuff cos I love it too much to use it lol.
I am not much good at computers either and certainly have no idea about how to use this blogging page so it will be a slow process making my page look pretty and full of useful information.
So lets start at the beginning of my desire to blog again ( I used to keep an allotment blog but it was simples back then!).
I had an old shed in the back garden about 12' x 12'. It was originally my pottery studio but when I finished with the pottery due to arthritis in my shoulder it gradually turned into a crafting studio.
As time went on, the studio became more leaky and drafty and the wood started to rot, the shed had reached the grand old age of about 35yrs old according to my next door neighbour as he remembers it being hand built. The government/council in their wisdom have doubled the permitted development for the next 3yrs which meant we could build a bigger extension on the back of our house.
This all came about when my hubby and I were on holiday last November, he suggested knocking down the old wooden studio and building a proper extension, not thinking it would cost too much lol. I do not like change and I am not good at being dragged into the 21st century but eventually I learn to adapt. When the quotes came in for the extension I think hubby regretted that extra drink by the pool and mentioning about a new studio lol by that time I was excited by the idea.
The building work started on 22nd April 2014 and took just under 10 weeks to build. The worst part for me was packing all my stuff up into boxes and moving out of the shed lol.

Packing up !

The old shed/studio

Foundations

Demolishing time 

Hey presto new studio fab lol

When I get the hang of this I will tidy the pictures up! As you can imagine the inside of my studio is a bit upside down at the moment as I have ordered some storage furniture and have to wait for it to be delivered ( long story of why its not here yet!) so I can put all my stuff away neat and tidy (not for long lol) ready to start crafting. I will then post pics of the interior.
I always seem to have at least 5+ projects on the go, I lose concentration or interest then start something else so when I finish something its quite an achievement for me lol But now that hubby has paid for the new expensive extension and keeping a blog will inspire new finished creations. Cheers sweet.