That old adage of the apple not falling far from the tree.

Some 10 days ago, very randomly, the 13-year old Dinoboy casually asked if I would take him to buy some spray paint cans. Now I instantly thought "Oh, he wants to have a go at graffiti art." So I prodded some more and asked a ton of questions. After several monosyllabic replies to my inquiries, he eventually said that he didn't want them for graffiti art and that he just wanted to have a go at spray paint art. Also, he intended using his saved up pocket money to purchase said cans. I have to admit, I was initially a little skeptical.

 Off we went on Saturday to scope out a couple of specialist spray paint shops in the city. He went in asking for a very specific brand of paint. He had obviously spent some time researching this online. When the chap in the shop asked "So you've used those paints before?" and got a "No" from Dinoboy, I got a raised eyebrow look from the chap who then proceeded to try to steer Dinoboy towards more 'beginner' paints. Dinoboy was having none of that - he knew what he wanted and his mind would not be changed.

 We left the shop sans cans since they didn't have any of the ones he wanted in stock. So we traipsed on over to Hobbycraft where he bought 4 pretty pricey Plasti-kote cans and some foam-board to start with. I had decided I wasn't going to interfere - it was his project and he obviously knew where he was going with this. We got home and he went out into the back yard to set up his new stuff. I left him to it and went off to do some chores.

When I came back some hour and a bit later, he proudly showed me this.

I was stunned to say the least and he was so proud of what he had achieved - so was I! It was the first time he'd ever picked up a spray paint can. Pretty awesome first painting, right?! Once he started, there was no stopping him. Here he was the next day making more art. 

This is his piece from Sunday afternoon. His second ever painting. He'd gathered a whole bunch of supplies, raided the recycle tub for pot lids and took possession of my old painting palette knives and sponges.

So far he's done 4 paintings - the third one was a bit of a dud because he hadn't accounted for a slightly faulty cap. It is very encouraging to see him pursue this creative outlet. I have so far steered clear of experimenting with his cans - I want this to be something he 'owns'. This is his art. 

Here is the last one he did just the other day after he got home from school. He did his homework first, then headed outside with his box of supplies to paint. He was still outside when I got home from work. I believe he is only going to get better and better with practice. I am hugely proud of his initiative and his obvious talent. 

I hope this interest continues. He was talking the other day of possibly selling some of his work to pay for more cans of paint. His sister has already bought a foam board with her pocket money and has asked him to paint something for her.

I hope your week has been going well. The weekend is almost upon us, friends. What are you up to this weekend? I will be at work instead of being at market this Saturday as we have an open day happening. Until next time, happy crafting!

Pin and Do

Sarah London (she of the wonderful wool-eater blanket pattern) recently blogged about making a start on doing all those wonderful things she’s pinned on her Pinterest boards. “Stop pinning start doing” was what she said and I thought “Oh yes! I can go with that completely.”Sarah also shared this ... (number 3 made me smile - I can spend hours on Pinterest)



Pinterest is a new thing for me – I’ve only been on there for a few weeks and I love it! I haven’t got as many pins as some people but I find it a great source of inspiration and a fab way of bookmarking projects.

One of my boards is a ‘Things to make’ board. This is where I pin stuff that I have seen which I think I might like to have a go at making.



Once in a while, I will share with you my Pin projects as and when they come off my creative space. I actually have a few to share and will do so shortly.

Do you use Pinterest? Have you done or made anything from your ‘To do one of these days’ board?

A whole new take on pumpkin carving

For some months now I have been thinking about trying out pumpkin carving ... and not just the regular sort of pumpkin carving. I've been spending a lot of time thinking about 3D pumpkin carving. I have been very inspired by two guys in particular. I'd like to introduce them to you.

The first chap is a friendly and incredibly talented guy named Ray Villafane. Here is the link to Ray's website, Villafane Studios.

Here's one of Ray's amazing pumpkins ...



And this one is one of my favourite pumpkins carved by Ray.



The second chap is an equally talented and amazing carver named Scott Cummins whose website can be found here. Scott also has a great carving tutorial on his website.

Here's one of Scott's pumpkins ...



And here is another. Cool, huh?



Pumpkins started appearing in our local supermarkets some 2+ weeks before Halloween. I had found a ribbon tool as part of a clay modelling kit in a local craft shop. Armed with the ribbon tool, a vegetable peeler and a small paring knife, I decided to have a go myself after studying Scott's tutorial and watching a whole bunch of 3D pumpkin carving videos on youtube. Here is Dinoboy with my very first 3D attempt - Sir Percival Pumpkin.



Missy Moo liked Percival a lot too.



Percy taught me the value of a good plan (mine was not a good plan as I broke through into the middle whilst doing one eye so decided to cut both eyes out as a consequence) and I learnt what I could or could not do with the tools I had. I tried scraping the skin off with the ribbon tool like Ray and Scott do but that did not work for me - I struggled a lot so decided to use a vegetable peeler instead which worked a lot better for me. I also got quite excited once I had one 3D pumpkin carving under my belt. So off I went to the supermarket to hunt for more pumpkins to mutilate. I'll show you my other efforts in my next post.

Hope you are having a good weekend, friends.

Psssst!! Freebie alert!

I just spotted this on Grosgrain's blog and thought I'd bring it to your attention too.

Sarai of Colette Patterns has got a freebie pattern to download from her blog. Check it out here.


Photo borrowed from the Collette Patterns website.


Cute, huh? I've just downloaded it and am off to try to figure out what fabric I have in my stash which would be good to use for this top.

Taking a brief moment to drool

Aren't these just the most perfect shoes for those who love sewing?!!

Sorry but I couldn't help but have a shoegasm moment when I saw these and thought I ought to share them with you.



These are Christian Louboutin's Measuring tape sandals. They come in white too ...



There is of course the signature Louboutin red sole peeking out from under that 4-inch heel.



Drool-worthy shoes, don't you think?
I don't think my fear of very high heels or my unfortunate bunions will permit me to 'rock' these shoes. Given the Neiman Marcus pricetag of $795, I don't think my bank manager will permit me to 'rock' these shoes even if my feet were up to the task.

They are unconventional but utterly fun and sassy. Mr Loubi, I salute you!

Now if you'll all please excuse me, I need to go wipe my keyboard dry and lie down for a short spell.

The Noodlehead Gathered Clutch

I saw Noodlehead’s Gathered Clutch pattern ages ago and have been meaning to give it a try. I finally got around to it last week and here are my two gathered clutches.

I made them from fabric I had leftover from my zipaway tote projects.
One side features the gathered fabric and the contrasting band. The other side is plain.





They are rather lovely, don’t you think?
Thanks for the tutorial, Anna!

A nice-smelling loony

Mr CraftyAdy rolls his eyes at me .... a lot.

Every time he sees me try to learn a new skill (latest being crochet) or start a new hobby or pull a saucepan or baking tray out of the cupboard whilst declaring my absolute certainty about trying out an experimental recipe, he rolls his eyes. Sometimes the eye-rolling is accompanied by a few comments. I think the words “crazy” or ‘loony’ feature fairly frequently.

Anyway, several months ago, whilst visiting Jessica Jones’s fabulous What About Orange blog, I came across a tutorial for making one’s own deodorant. I got quite excited and decided I wanted to have a go at making my own DIY deodorant.

(Did you roll your eyes just then? Haha!)

I like the idea of making my own deodorant. I like that it has no aluminium and I know exactly what goes into it. I’m not a particularly sweaty person so I don’t mind that it’s not an anti-perspirant – plus we’re getting towards autumn and winter now … not exactly sweat-inducing weather.

Here is my small collection of ingredients.



I am surprised at how easy this is to make – no stove-top cooking necessary.

I followed the recipe on Jessica’s blog and added my own essential oils. I used:
¼ cup bicarbonate of soda
¼ cup arrowroot powder
4 tablespoons of coconut oil
15 drops of essential oil (I used 10 drops of Geranium oil and 5 drops of Lavender oil - two of my favourite essential oils.)

I mixed the powders together, then added the oils and mixed them until it all blended together into a creamy gloop. I found it a little difficult to mix up in the beginning so I zapped it in the microwave for 25 seconds. That softened the coconut oil enough to mix in with the powders better. When I was happy that it was all nicely mixed up and there was a lovely smelling creamy gloop in my mixing container, I poured it into a couple of metal tins. These are from Lush and are perfect for the job. I stuck them into the fridge for an hour and it set into a nice firm block. See?



To use, I scooped a bit out of the tin and rubbed it into my skin. Several hours on, it still smells lovely – my skin that is.

Mr CraftyAdy came into the kitchen whilst I was stirring my concoction.
Our conversation went a bit like this:
“What on earth are you doing, woman?”
“Making my own deodorant! See?” (I show him my tub of gloop proudly.)
He gives me this withering look, rolls his eyes and walks off saying "Deodorant? Ha! Crazy woman."

There is one small problem with this DIY deodorant … it smells so nice that I keep catching myself sniffing at my pits ever so often! Mr CraftyAdy walked past a few minutes ago when I happened to be doing a quick spot of pit-sniffing – that earned me a double-take and more eye-rolling. Poor Mr CraftyAdy - I am sure he thinks he is the only sane one in our slightly loony household.

I might be a loony – but at least I am a nice-smelling loony!

Hope your weekend is going great, friends.

New Dress A Day ....

.... is a terrific blog by the very creative and resourceful Marisa. Back in December 2009, Marisa decided to take up a challenge which would allow her to be creative and build her a whole new wardrobe without stepping into the mall. Each day for the entire year, Marisa intends on introducing a new piece into her existing wardrobe which she has found in flea markets, thrift shops and garage sales. She has also limited herself to spending just $1 a day. So the challenge is simply this - 365 days, 365 items of clothing and 365 dollars. Today, she is on Day 220 with 145 days and $143 left to go. Marisa never ceases to amaze me with what she can do - the muu-muu refashion projects are the best!

So I was in our local thrift/ charity shop the other day when I spotted this dress. OK, so it wasn’t quite £1 … it was more like £2.50.



There were small holes at the bottom by the hem on the left side and it must have had a belt at one stage because it had belt loops on the side. I liked the print but did not like the length or the small holes. So I decided I would spend £2.50 on the dress and cut it up in true Marisa-style to make myself something new to add to my wardrobe. So I got it on my desk, pinned it and marked a new hem out.



Then snip-snip-snip ...



Sew a new hem at the bottom ....



And Ta-da! I have myself a nice, very comfy top to wear over jeans or work trousers. I kept the sleeves long so it would be a piece I can wear into autumn. Today I just rolled the sleeves up and wore it to work.



I was lucky this dress was a reasonably good fit so I didn’t have to do much else apart from cut 10 inches off the bottom of it. I think I'd like to find a nice belt to go with this.

Now, what do you think I could do with this ?!!

Bike basket number 2 ...

... was made by special request of Dinoboy who liked the idea of a bike basket very much after seeing Missy Moo's. The bike basket is from this tutorial by Anna on the Noodlehead blog.

We looked through my fabric stash together and found this old fat quarter print of colourful cartoon dinosaurs. I remember making Dinoboy a pillowcase from this fabric when he was about 2 years old (he will be 8 in a couple of months). We found a plain blue cotton fabric for the lining and a vibrant green batik print scrap for the binding and the tab at the back.



It's roomy enough for a drinks bottle and a fluff companion, with boy treasures like a few Pokemon trading cards and the odd small rubber bouncy ball hidden inside too.







Dinoboy is pretty pleased with the bike basket. Thanks for the tutorial, Anna!

New bike and a new bike basket.

Missy Moo had a bit of money left over from her birthday. Last week, I drove past a guy's house and he was having a garage sale. He had this cute little bike parked outside his garage. I thought about the bike all week and promised myself that I'd go look this weekend to see if he still had it. He did! It was in really good condition and was just the right size for Missy Moo with some growing room. We haggled a little and for £20 I got the bike and a pink floral helmet to go with it. Missy Moo loves her bike.



See that little basket on the front? I saw this tutorial on Noodlehead's blog and thought it was just the cutest thing and exactly what this pre-loved bike needed.





The main fabric is a thick cotton-linen Japanese print. I've had a small piece of this in my stash for ages just waiting for the right project to come along. The pink floral binding fabric and the green floral lining fabric are cotton bits from my off-cuts bags. I had enough left to make a matching strap for the carry-chair at the back of the bike.





I have to go make a second bike basket now as Dinoboy would like one for his bike too. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

My stylish pen case ...

.... as inspired by Ayumi from Pink Penguin and her cool tutorial here.

I used bits off my Moda Love U layer cake and scraps from my stash including a grey pinstripe Italian wool fabric.





I keep my felt tip pens and my drawing pens in it. This pen case makes me happy. *Smile*