Day 325 - A bonnet - repurposed old bed sheet

Wow! It's been such a busy week, but busy awesome. Lots going on with the kids as the year gets going, and Aidan starting preschool, a gym class and swimming lessons. I'm feeling very lucky right now, but I sure have been falling into bed each night in a state of exhaustion.

The heat is still on in a big way, and it seems like such a huge chunk of our state has burnt, floods and cyclones up north, these are crazy times. We can't get a drop of rain in our part of the world, and will have to order in some water for our tanks some time in the next week.

The kids have some celebrations happening next week as the school turns 140. On Thursday they are dressing up in 'olden day clothes' and experiencing the classroom of the past.

I've been busy working out what they should wear. Emphasis is not really on authenticity of the era, it's just a bit of fun.

Today I made Juliet a bonnet using this super easy to follow tutorial. I used an old bed sheet for the fabric and some tartan ribbon that has been around for decades for the ties. I think it looks adorable, but she thinks it looks like a baby so I am still trying to convince her to wear it. We started watching Anne of Green Gables today to see if it would help persuade her. It's one of my all time favourites. I'd love to be Anne's bosom buddy :-).

What do you think?

Day 324 - Floor length skirt

Today has been a huge day. So tired I can barely type. Huge in a good way though.

I was hoping to get more than this done but today I made a simple floor length skirt which part of a costume for Juliet to wear next week for the school's 140th birthday celebrations. More to follow tomorrow.

Day 323 - A picture to tell a thousand words.

This is a special picture for Mr Crafty. It's our 10 year wedding anniversary this year. It's not until April, but I will be making him a few things to celebrate and this one came to me so I decided to make it early.

I like the way it has layers and textures, symbolising the many layers and facets of 10 years of marriage.

I began with an old map of the alpine area. This is an area where we went hiking about a month after we met, lugging our heavy packs up the side of a steep mountain, and camping for 2 nights, one of which we awoke to find our tent covered in snow. I glued this map first to a canvas.

Then I photocopied these birds from a skirt I have (also used early in my 365 project to make a card), cut them out and stitched around the birds with some embroidery thread. Mr Crafty is a bird lover. Bird nerd.

Glue went under and over the birds, and then came the next layer, with some help from Frankie magazine. The birds got their colour from the magazine pages.

Ten words popped out at me from an old dictionary, randomly, just thoughts about our marriage.

I added them to my picture. Then some button eyes. The glue is still drying in the picture so it has a little white haze, which will dry clear.

My crafty and the kids made me these fortune cookies this morning. :-) What a beautiful morning it was.

Day 322 - More transfers on pants

After my transfer comedy of errors from the other day, I decided to do some more transfers today. I am also working on a couple of other things. I may have too many things going at once. My mind is working overtime.

I had a fabulous day today. My eldest son went to school saying school was awesome, after a terrible teacher last year made him not want to go for the whole year. I'm hoping this is his year. I did a little happy dance this morning, I'm just so happy for him.

The little ones and I had a lovely day, with our preschooler music class, Aidan's first swim lesson and some hammering.

Here he is doing his hammering. Little A felt the need to fill every little piece of his board (my beautiful effort is in the bottom of the picture).

And I must do some more bragging about Mr Crafty and the family. Look at the beautiful dream catcher they made me. I got it this morning as day 26 of my presents.

I transferred the bottom of these leggings for Juliet. And the next few photos are of her rocking them on a bike ride tonight.

Day 321 - Pretty decoupage shoes

Since the 2 big kids have been back at school (three days last week) I have a little bit more time to think, to have thoughts of my own. More ideas for projects have been coming into my head now, after a month or two of struggling. 

Today's inspiration comes from this stunning pair of boots by Michal Negrin. Seen here on polyvore. Brought to my attention by PenelopeHangerRefashions facebook page. They are simply stunning, but at $800 a pair, the likelihood of me ever owning a pair is reduced to a zero.

I purchased these comfortable but boring and plain shoes from an op shop about 4 months ago for $3, with the idea of a decoupage project, but no idea what to use to decorate them. Awesome! Now I had an idea. OK so they're not boots, but we are in the middle of the hottest summer on record where I live, so boots are not really a happening thing right now.

I printed and cut out some pretty pages I found using google images.

Glue. I put masking tape on the rubber around the sole first to minimise glue drops where they weren't wanted.

 These have been glued under and over the pictures.

 After the glue dried I applied 4 coats of polyurethane gloss. I've got a crush on these shoes now.

They went outside to see what a gorgeous day it is today.

Day 320 - Ripped book dust jacket recovery

Dylan ripped this dust cover of one of our favourite books. I love the illustrations so I decided to change it into a framed picture using an embroidery hoop. I think it's just a little bit cute.

Day 319 - An owl bag

What can I say? I've got a thing for owls. I love this fabric. I made this bag. Have a great weekend!!