The "No Gifts" Rule

Let's get things straight. I hate the "No Gifts" rule given by well meaning friends and family. I know it's given as a means of controlling the intake of crap, it's often a heartfelt "please don't spend your hard earned money on us" plea, and I don't know, is there another reason?

Well, I have a loop hole. Homemade gifts.

It can't just be Handmade, like you can't pay someone else to make it, that's cheating and and not covered by the Loophole. The aim is to give a gift that you made. That's the loophole.

The buying of supplies doesn't count, so shop away.

Unfortunately, or fortunately (we are trying to save for a house now. Remember my dream house?) I had all I needed for this little project.

First, I checked with the hostess on the colour scheme for her home. This is when the "No Gifts" rule was proclaimed and I hit back with my loophole (while also promising that I would only make something if I had the time. Pfft! I make time for crafts baby!)

Next I grabbed an inherited-from-a-friend, mini square canvas.

I covered it in a grey/white scrapbooking paper, using double sided tape to stick it down.

Add another strip to that thing and it's covered!

Then I printed out An Irish Blessing, using grey and yellow ink.

I stuck it on my covered canvas with tape.

It looks like it's coming off, but I assure you I fixed it!

Then wrapped a yellow ribbon around it, taping it all around.

Cute enough to display and small enough to stash in the cupboard if they hate it.

Voila!

Wrapped it with some inherited-from-a-friend wrapping paper, tied a bow with a strip of scrap fabric, and That's it!

I love this green paper... but I only have a little bit left *sob*

Gratuitous bow shot.

I did fail to make a card, but I wrote on the back of the canvas. That'll work.


What do you think of the No Gifts rule? Do you bend it, or smash that sucker?

Pressed Metal, The Not Quite Tutorial

Remember these box/shelf thingy's?

My Wedding Expo display

I thought they looked great at the wedding expo. Black and white, bold, simple. Mr Frog/Mr I-Always-Have-A -Bloody-Opinion thought they looked too modern. "Your style is "Vintage"" he said.
Damn.
He's right.
Although it did look great, something a little more vintage would look even better.
But what? For awhile, I was thinking black and white damask scrapbooking paper. Easy Peasy.
But then I remembered something I saw on Bloody Pinterest.
Pressed Metal.
I adore pressed metal. I dream of having a Silver Pressed Metal splash back in my kitchen.
I didn't actually go to the original source. It seemed pretty simple. And it was.

Simple, yet I think, incredibly effective.

First, cut your cardboard to size. I used a random piece of cardboard and stole the giant box of un-opened Cornflakes. (Remember, Already had = Free)

Then I marked out my pattern. You know me, I kept it simple. This is a little less fancy than I imagine in my dream kitchen.

I then went to town with the hot glue. If you're doing this with kids, you could probably use P.V.A glue, it'll just take longer to dry. So scratch that, and just let the kids design while you take command of the glue gun. (There's gotta be some perks to being the grown up).
Be careful not to make the glue to high/thick. It'll tear the foil.

Next, lay the foil shiny side down and put your cardboard glue side down. Fold over the edge of the foil, carefully, and tape down.

 Flip it over and gently rub your hands over the foil.

 Then go over again with more attention to detail.

 Now remember when I said gently and try not to make the glue too thick...? This is why. The foil won't like it. And neither will you.

 Nevermind. Pretend it didn't happen and continue with the next two pieces.

 It's about this time I heard a little voice in my head saying " It doesn't look as good as you thought huh?".
Doubting bitch. I Ignored her and carried on.

It looked promising. I had such high hopes.

Hmm. Not quite how I imagined. I stared for a bit. Maybe it'll look better with a bag in there?

 Maybe up close?

Hmmmm.
Maybe with the black bags instead. Yes, that's it.

 I couldn't work out why it didn't look like I thought it would. The first piece I did was awesome. I even posted it on Facebook. (So it must be true).
Then Mr Frog chimed in.
In his "I'm trying not to sound like the critical pain in the arse you think I am" voice, he said "Do you like it babe?". I paused for a second too long and he continued with "It just looks like foil".

GAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

He is a critical pain in the arse, but when he's right, he's right.

Now it just looks like a conspiracy theorist has gotten a little fancy with the foil on the windows.

Sometimes, things don't work out the way you think/hope/wildly assume they will. And part of the "fun" of being a crafty minx is working out how to fix things when they don't quite work out fail completely.

I went back to plan B. well, plan A really.
And I got to go to Kaisercraft. So, that's a win.

 A black damask acetate (After Five Collection,  Champagne), on white paper.

Simple, black and white, bold, Vintage.

And I didn't swear once.

What have you stuffed up and then fixed lately?

MC

A Pretty Bathroom, Eventually.

The bathroom has become the first finished room of the house.

All we needed was something for a funny spot on the wall, in between the shower and the doorway. I contemplated going the French "Le Bain" (or la, I never know!) route, but it just didn't really fit with how the room had already evolved (without a fight). We'd gone the textured, natural look and it was soothing and clean, and pretty, without being "girly". I'd already made this Tissue box cover so it was only natural to continue in that vain. Another trip to Kaisercraft where I spent my $20 loyalty gift card on random scrap pads and some very specific papers. The Basecoat range was perfect for my project. It features great colours and texture up the wazoo. Once I'd chosen my papers and bought my canvas, I was ready to go.

I started by mixing some white paint with PVA glue and painted the edges of my canvas. I don't really know what I was hoping to achieve by doing this, maybe a bit of texture, or the opposite? Anyhoo, it didn't make too much difference, so we were all good. Then it was a case of working out how exactly I wanted to use my papers.
 I was really expanding on what I did in Tadpole's room, but I didn't think squares were going to cut it, plus my canvas was 51x51cm, too tricky to do even squares. I considered some kooky patterns, but in the end, I went with my usual style; Simple. Stripes it was. After a few practice line ups I was ready to get gluing.

Never glue things in a hurry.

 You end up making a mistake (gluing whole sheets down instead of cutting one) and having to pull it all off while it's still kinda wet. You end up with a lumpy mess on your canvas that needs to be sanded back. Of course you'll have to wait days to do this because you have a Tadpole.

Anyhoo. We start again, and this time, even though I was pretty fast at it ( but in a fun I can't wait to finish this kinda way) I did a pretty good job.

But something was missing. It kinda faded into the wall a bit.

It needed something more. So, I painted the edge of the canvas (again) with brown paint, carefully matching the browns already in the papers. The PVA from my first attempt actually made the texture of the canvas stand out more, and considering this thing was all about texture, I rolled with it.

 Now see that bit on the far left? That's what happens when you stop paying attention and cut the paper the wrong size. I still need to go back and glue it down better, but you can't tell once it's on the wall.

See how the bottom is curved? That's what happens when you buy your canvas from Dollar King. Whatever. Mr Frog turned it up the other way and you can't tell.

This little section of the bathroom was the inspiration for the canvas.

The finished bathroom, before Mt Frog flipped the canvas, and complete with his P.j's hanging on the door. He's not impressed that I left them there to take the photo.

Pffft. I'm keeping it real.

This post wasn't sponsored by Kaisercraft. But Kaisercraft.... Call me.

MC

Odd Jobs

Since moving into our new rental, Mr Frog and I have been happily decorating all over the place. Trying out the stuff we already have, wishing for new stuff, making do, and occasionally actually buying when there's not much choice (for example, the pantry.)

Of course, my craftiness helps us out every now and then.

First up, a tissue box cover for the bathroom, which is really starting to look "finished". We bought a paper mache cover, then realised that the cheap tissues we buy from Aldi are not only shorter in length, but higher, if you follow. That means to actually have the tissues covered and not peaking out the bottom, I'd have to either buy more expensive tissues, or extend the cover.

So I extended the cover. Like an idiot.

It involved a bit of faffing...

First, eat an entire box of Cheezels on your own ( I did this over days, but I coulda done it faster!).
Raid the recycling bin for said box and start cutting.

Make a bunch of "planks" but glueing a few pieces together, trying to match the thickness of the cover.

Then get totally jack of the whole caper while having to stop and start while looking after the baby, and forget to take any more pictures.

Just finish the damn thing already.

That's a fabulous piece of scrapbooking paper from Kaisercraft.

 (Looks totally awesome if you ask me... no word from Mr Frog yet)

Next, we went mental with herbs, in pots on the deck. I love them.

 Mr Frog wasn't sure what was what, so, I made labels..

These were also made in stages, because that's my life now.

There was a bit of mucking about working out the best way to write in the clay (toothpick and water), and in the end I'm not sure I like them. Plus, I'm not sure if they'll disintegrate. I used air drying clay from the $2 shop, a bargain at $3.75. According to the packet, it dries to "earthenware hardness". I'll probably give them a coat of PVA or something just to help them out... but I'm not sold yet.

Do you think I should paint them?

Anyhoo, I had left over clay, so I made this...

Yes, that's a piece of wrapping paper in that frame. I'm so arty.

So that's what's been keeping me busy.

Now, I'm getting ready for this...

Come and see me!

MC

All wrapped up

I love birthdays. I love xmas. I love random, made up reasons for gift giving.
I just love giving presents., especially when a) I've managed to find the "perfect" present, and b) I'm able to wrap said gift in something fabulous. A well wrapped gift adds to the sense of occasion about the whole affair. Sometimes, I get too excited and get it wrong, sometimes I try too hard.

Sometimes, I get it right.

 

Clearly, I love a theme.

It all started with the card. Silly me forgot to take pics, due to the screaming tadpole I had in the background. I also made a mistake ("Happy Birthay"), which was rectified somewhat by just cutting the mistake away. (Nobody will ever know)

Take one paper bag from my favourite store. (To see why, head here) If I love anything more than gift wrapping it's making something plain, pretty. Cut two pieces of coordinating (or not) scrap booking paper big enough to cover up the advertising. Glue.

Then add gifts, top with slightly bunched tissue paper, and accessorise with matching ribbons.

Voila, there you have it. A colour themed gift.

For AMAZING gift wrapping ideas, head over to my idol, Rebecca. She rocks.

MC

Happy Anniversary

The other day, Mr Frog and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary. The fourth anniversary of the original wedding day (there were three in total).
Normally, we'd go out to dinner or something, but hubby had work to do and would be late home so it was up to me to make it special.
Normally, I'd go mad cooking all day, making something time consuming, delicious and best eaten at a leisurely pace.
Normally.
But this is the new normal. We now have a Tadpole, and my energy is spread pretty thin. So instead, I made only two canapes (boconccini, tomato and basil bites, and peach wrapped in proscuitto), bought a frozen pizza, a bag of salad, and a box of Bounty icecreams for dessert.
The idea was that I'd have more energy to actually spend some quality time with Mr Frog.
Normally it would have been a great plan.
Normally.
Tadpole had other ideas!

Anyhoo, Mr Frog also got ripped off in the gift department... Handmade chocolates. Not fancy ones from the shop, I mean handmade by me.

Yep, that's blue glitter. Don't worry, it's edible!

A little scrapbook paper, some red cardboard, a rub on and some black ribbon.

 He was very polite and is thoroughly enjoying them.

MC

Paper Craft

In between the constant feeding of the Tadpole, I've been making a few cards. It's been quite a process, due to the fact that all my craft supplies have been stored away in boxes up in a cupboard, which means lot's of ladder climbing and unpacking and packing.

Mr Frog convinced me to sell them (just head to the Madame Clochette Facebook page) because he thinks they're great.

 

What do you think? 

MC