Dylon Dye 68–Powder Pink

Dylon’s original Pink is a bright, intense colour. This pastel shade will be a welcome addition to the range.

From left to right: Washed Silk, Sari Silk and Cotton.

Cotton singlet top.

The Crafter’s Way 206–Flower Christmas Decorations

I’m sure you all diligently collected toilet rolls to make the wreath from 2 weeks ago. If you have some left over this flower decoration will look great on your tree.

You will need: Toilet Rolls, Coffee Filter Bags, Paint, PVA Glue, Clothes Pegs, Ribbon, Black Permanent Marker.

Step 1: Cut the rolls into 1 cm circles, you will need 5 for each flower.

Step 2: Paint the inside and outside of the rolls. Paint both sides of the filter bags. When the rolls are dry pinch the end to form a petal shape.

Step 3: Pour some glue into a flat dish. Stand one edge of the roll in the glue. Remove and place glue edge down on the filter bag. Repeat with rest of petals.

Step 4: Once dry cut the petals out. Form into flower shape. Glue joining edges. Hold with pegs until dry.

Step 5: Outline the top edge of each petal with the Black pen. This gives a ‘stained glass’ look. Attach ribbon for hanging.

Options: I love bright, dare I say garish, colours on my Christmas Tree. Skip the painting and leave the rolls au natural; combine with pretty scrapbook or gift paper for an elegant or shabby effect.

Dylon Dye 67–Rosewood Red

This one is my new favourite colour.

From left to right: Washed Silk, Cotton, Sari Silk. To date this colour has dyed to the most similar shade. Not as much variation across fabrics.

A cotton rich singlet top. I do believe this will be a popular colour.

The Crafter’s Way 205–Gift Wreath

This week’s Messenger column.

What can you do with a wooden hoop, a few clothes pegs, teabags and lollies? Create a Christmas Gift that is also a Christmas Decoration.

In addition to the above items you will also need some glue and ribbon. The type of glue you use will depend on whether your pegs are wooden like mine or you choose to use plastic pegs. I used PVA Glue for mine. Plastic pegs have an advantage of coming in assorted colours.

Step 1: Position the pegs evenly around the hoop. I clip mine on at this stage.

Step 2: Once you are happy with the peg placement unclip them and place under the hoop. Do this carefully to ensure that you maintain the placement. Also double check that the clip part of the pegs is on the outside of the circle.

Step 3: Place a drop of glue on each peg then lay the hoop on top. Wait until the glue dries.

Step 4: Attach the ribbon for hanging.

Step 5: Clip the lollies or tea bags into pegs.

Hang and display. Try not to eat the lollies until after Xmas.

Orchid for Mum

Mum carried an orchid in her wedding bouquet. I stitched it for her quite a few years ago now.

I even did the framing. Boy, Framers earn every penny.

Now I’m going to bore you with detail.

I left areas of the aida cloth unstitched, to add depth.

Mum was trying to decide who she should give it to. She offered it back to me but together we decided to give it to her neighbour, Linda. Linda is a wonderful friend to Mum and never hesitates to help my Sister and I out. She also grows orchids. Together we gave  it to Linda. Linda said “now I have a little of both you”. I believe we made a good choice.

Vintage Fabric

From Mum.

Each piece is 5.5 metres long.

I love the green in this one. No idea what I will make from them yet with so much fabric I’m a little spoilt for choice.

Is Dyeing Popular?

This is my usual dye display.

They tick over but they are certainly not what I would call a big seller. That is until the last few weeks.

For the fourth week in a row this is what is left of my dye stock after Sunday Trading. I’m not complaining ( maybe a little when I was packaging at 5.30am this morning) just curious. Has there been a dyeing project in a magazine or on TV lately?

The Crafter’s Way 204–Christmas Wreath

 
From now until Christmas I’m going to be giving you tutorials to make your very own handmade Christmas. The first tutorial is a Christmas Wreath made from toilet paper rolls. It is super easy.
You will need: a heap of empty toilet rolls, PVA glue, clothes pegs, bucket (optional) and paint, scissors.
Step 1: Using the scissors cut your rolls into 1 cm wide circles. The circles can be wider but remember you will need more toilet rolls.

Step 2: Pinch both ends of the circles to form a ‘petal’. You need 5 ‘petals’ per ‘flower’ shape.
Step 3: Form the flower shape. Glue the edge of the petals where they touch. Clamp with a clothes peg until dry. Repeat with rest of petals.

Step4: Glue the flowers together along the edges where they touch. Clamp all glued surfaces.

To form the outer circle of my wreath I turned a plastic bucket upside town. I placed the flowers around the edge, removed the bucket then started glueing. I waited until the outside circle had dried before filling in the centre.

I spray painted my finished wreath. If you wish to paint by hand do it before you start glueing your petals together. This would be a fun way to include the children.

If you would like more inspiration for art activities for toilet paper rolls simply ‘google’ images toilet roll art. Just brought to my attention by Rebecca from edwardandlilly are these fun owls. http://www.creativejewishmom.com/2011/11/toilet-paper-roll-owls-great-for-a-rainy-day.html

Dylon Dyes 65- Dyeing Corks

When I finished with the Burlesque Red in this post I decided to do some exhaust dyeing, with a difference.

I dumped a heap of champagne corks into the mix. mmmm????? Problem, they floated on the top.

I needed to find a way to weight them down so they were immersed in the dye. I left them overnight.

Here they are drying. They are more stained with red than dyed a solid colour.

I’m quite happy with the way they turned out. I actually had a reason for trying this, there is a project floating around in the back of my brain somewhere. Stay tuned. More to come.

The Crafter's Way 203 - Paper Delights

Paper is such an affordable craft product it is little wonder we are seeing so many amazing creations. Lucky for us many of the creators are choosing to share how they do it.

Tutorials for paper flowers abound, here are a few of my favourites. Gorgeous Paper Roses which will never fade: http://www.happyclippings.com/2011/02/diy-newspaper-rose-gift-bows.html Crepe Flowers for all seasons. http://anestforallseasons.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-make-tissue-paper-and-crepe.html Ranunculas in your choice of colour, http://diyordont.blogspot.com/2011/06/tutorial-paper-ranunculus-flower-free.html

Make your own unique wrapping and packaging. Make your own Pillow boxes to coordinate with your chosen theme: http://bellsinspires.blogspot.com/2011/07/tutorial-tp-roll-pillow-boxes.html these ones are made with a toilet roll base. The kids can help with this project, http://greeneyed.com/2011/01/crayon/ Thirty different gift box tutorials for every occasion, http://www.printradar.com/2009/12/01/36-do-it-yourself-gift-box-tutorials-for-your-christmas-presents/

All I want for Christmas is ...paper. Use your glossy magazines to add a personal touch to your  Christmas decorating http://greeneyed.com/2010/12/diy-magazine-christmas-tree/ Christmas Wreaths for doors and walls, http://raegunwear.blogspot.com/2011/04/tutorial-upcycled-book-pages-wreath.html , Combine your paper roses with a wreath, http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2010/11/diy-faux-curled-rosewood-wreath-made.html

Give a gift of Paper. I love these chess pieces, http://collegelifediy.com/2011/09/15/diy-rolled-paper-chess-set/ A perfect ‘Teacher’ present your children could make, http://omiyageblogs.blogspot.com/2010/08/diy-pretty-pencils.html Tile coaster for every seasons, http://thecreativeplace.blogspot.com/2011/08/diy-tile-magnets.html Another project suitable for younger folk, http://bejeweleddesignsbychelsea.blogspot.com/2011/06/try-it-out-tuesday-colorblock-handmade.html

Usually I only post sites that include tutorials however I’m going to break my self imposed rule to include some truly amazing oooh aaaah paper creations.  Polli’s paper cuts blog includes amazing paper arts, http://www.polliblog.com/2011/04/papercuts-shop.html Join a paper factory tour, http://louloulovesbooks.blogspot.com/2011/04/day-they-let-me-loose-in-paper-factory.html And from Japan, http://brisbanealamode.blogspot.com/2010/09/paper-installation.html#!/2010/09/paper-installation.html

Happy Paper Crafting.

Shell Collector Card Series

Last week I spent a bit of time with Mum sorting through bits and pieces. We found these stashed away in the back of a cupboard.

These were available at Shell Service Stations. the idea was you collected all the cards, then inserted them into the book.

This book had a weather theme. Note: I didn’t try to spell meteorology.

Butterflies and Moths.

Australian Beetles.

Shells, Fish & Corals.

Citizenship. This one is a bit dated, many of the jobs/roles simply don’t exist anymore.

Birds.

There are no dates on these books. Does anyone have any idea when they were printed and how many were in the series?

Dylon Dye 63–Burlesque Red

Great name for a lovely colour.

The feather on the front cover is a good representation of the colour but as usual there is some variations due to fabric and weave.

The top left fabric is cotton, the bottom left is washed silk and the fabric on the far right is sari silk.

This t-shirt was cotton rich with 5% Viscose.
I also did some exhaust dyeing with a difference. Will share the photos when project is finished.

Macramé Giraffe

I keep reading that macramé is going to be the next big thing. I even wrote about myself here.

Maybe what’s stopping it is memories of  pot plant holders and wallhangings.

Maybe it was the owls?

I picked up the  above booklet at a garage sale the other day and it had the instructions to make this  cute giraffe. If this doesn’t scream  craft comeback I don’t know what will.