I’m 30. I work in marketing in a shopping centre in Perth. I’m a professional creative who has learned strategy and gets along quite well in my career. This blog is my outlet for all things non- work related
I saw a stag decanter at Pottery Barn and it would have been a perfect gift for my brother, except I wasn’t willing to pay $60 for a fancy glass bottle. Sorry bro.
What I did have at home were some fancy glass bottles that were former homes to the whiskey everyone’s been drinking in front of me while I’m pregnant. Jerks.
A lot of my crafts tend to involve me decapitating a plastic animal, so it was no great step to the decision to purchase a Christmas stag to complete my gift.
We’ve all done it, got a jumper that was just a little bit too short. It looked good in the store because you pulled it down and wedged it on your hips then didn’t move while you surveyed it. Then, the first time you wore it out, the bugger pops up over your hips and shows your crack.
Fashun, hey?
If you’re lucky enough to have wasted your money on a knit jumper, and if you know how to crochet, you may be able to rescue your poor choice with a couple of hours of quality couch time.
2 x balls of wool in a ply that matches the weight of your jumper, a crochet hook (I used a 4mm hook).
4 hours.
under $10 of yarn.
You might find it hard to match the exact colour of the wool like we did, so we decided to go for a different colour in the same tone and hem in a colour that almost matched the jumper.
Starting at one of the edges, chain two stitches like you were starting a new row.
Double crochet all around, counting the stitches as you go or when you finish the row.
Chain up and put a double crochet into that stitch, then two doubles into the next stitch on either side of the seam. Do the same when you reach the next seam. We just want to give a little extra room for the hips.
Do the same for the next two rows.
When you get the jumper to the width you’re happy with, work on the length. We crocheted 10 rows before we were happy with the length.
Use the alternate colour of yarn to single crochet the hem of the jumper and tie off.
I’m usually too cheap to buy the cheese that comes in the wooden box, so that’s why I never thought of this DIY before. It was on special when I went shopping late on Friday night for something to go with my wine, so here we are!
Not sure what type of wood the box is made from, but the sticker came off easily so I’m going to go ahead assuming yours did too. Sucks to be you if you have to soak off a stubborn sticker. Just go out and buy some new cheese, you deserve it.
Want to hear something cool? This was the first project made and shot completely in my new craft room! By ‘new’, read ‘picked things up off the floor and put them on a shelf’. More on that later!
1 x brie box, 1 cute paper pattern, 1 x door knob, hot glue gun, pen, piece of paper, scissors, double sided tape and a scalpel.
20 minutes (not counting time it took to eat cheese).
Approx. $20.
Eat cheese.
Peel off the stickers off your sadly empty cheese box.
Measure the width of the outer lip and cut a strip of paper to that width. I had to cut two strips to cover the whole lip.
Cover the lip completely with your double sided tape.
Press the lip down firmly on the reverse side of the paper and roll it along the strip. Don’t be too worried if there’s a bit of extra on the edges.
Take the scalpel and gently trim off the edges of the paper so they’re flush with the lids edges.
Take your piece of paper and trace the edge of the lip with your pen. I held the paper up to a window and folded it in half twice to find the middle, then punched a hole in it with the pen.
I had a really hard time coming up with a title for this one! It is what it is, though. Use a piece of cardboard to support the stem of your plastic plant in a pot. It will stand up straight and you won’t have to faff about with scrunched up pieces of paper or what not.
Interesting fact: want to learn how to speak Spanish? Simply spell out the word ‘socks’, letter for letter. S. O. C. K. S. There, you’ve just said ‘It is what it is,’ in Spanish.
Mind. Blown.
Cardboard, pen, scissors, pot, plastic plant and stones.
10 minutes.
Dependent on the cost of the pot and plant, which I already had lying around.
Upturn the pot onto the card and trace around the outside rim.
Draw a second circle within the first that’s narrower than the lip, then trim. It doesn’t have to be perfectly round, just wing it.
Stabby stab a hole in the middle of the circle. Stab. Stab.
Upturn the cardboard and ease it into the lip of the pot, you should have a couple of cm’s leeway to pile up your stones. If not, give it another little trim.
Load in the stones, and then the succulent. It will stand up perfectly!
I had some Sugru left over from my test pack, and I wanted to make some stag earrings. By the time I finished with my stencil though, it would have looked like I was wearing a branch on my face… and while I’m not adverse to big earrings, I’m not into animal cruelty.
So the project became an ‘embellishment’. I chose to attach it to a notebook, but you could use it in scrapbooking, attach it to a photo frame, or turn it into a magnet.
I sketched out the stag on a piece of paper, but I only detailed one side. This is how I get a symmetrical stencil. Cut out the detailed side and put it onto a piece of card.
I used two different paint colours to outline the stencil by dabbing my fingers on it. It would have gone a lot smoother if I’d used card to make the original stencil so you might want to think about doing that. Flip the stencil and outline the opposite half.
Cut out the stencil.
Roll the Sugru out flat on a cutting board; I used a carving tool with a level surface. Put the stencil onto the Sugru and use the scalpel to cut around it, scraping away the bits that you don’t need.
Leave to dry .Don’t worry too much about messy edges; you will trim these off once the stag is dry.
Once your stag is dry, use the edge of your scalpel to ease it off the cutting board and glue to your notebook!
My family have been stepping up while I’ve been busy with annoying life related things (My birthday celebrations really got in the way of my blogging lately. Having friends and family who want to spend time with you is such a drag!).
I just can't rely on image quality...
This one’s from my sister. I think we can all tell who the better looking one is!
Decorating a mug with nail polish is something that’s going round right now, but if you haven’t seen it, here’s my sister’s take on it.
"It sticks like white on rice"- Jodi.
Under $10, especially if you’ve got a bunch of leftover nail polish or a random mug hanging around.
A mug, a selection of nail polish, a plastic container and a tea towel.
15 minutes, tops. My sister’s attention span doesn’t extend longer than that.
Fill your plastic container with a couple of inches of water.
Spread random drops of nail polish into the water, but be quick. It will start to set pretty fast. It pays to prep by opening the tops of the bottles before pouring.
Dip your mug steadily in and out of the water on the pattern of nail polish that you like best.
Wait for it to completely dry then hand wash before using.
I got this skull at Kmart for just $6, then used Mexican inspiration for the sugar skull design. Sugru is something I heard of recently, and I was keen to give it a try.
It was a great product to work with, malleable and bright!
sugru, skull, white spray paint.
$25
3 hours.
I gave my skull an extra coat of spray paint because it was a bit beat up, then waited for it to dry.
In the meantime, I researched sugar skulls on Pinterest and pinned a whole board with inspirations. Then I drafted my patterns on paper, working out what I wanted to use on my skull.
I then opened each packet, moulded the Sugru and pressed it on the skull. A couple of hours, and it was dry!
A while ago I posted that I’d been asked to make a Daredevil mask, and here are the results!
My friend wore it to Supanova in Perth last month. He has solid cosplay history. Here he is as Rocky, and Arrow.
We wanted to make something that was authentic to the costume, but that was easy to see through at the same time.
Although fabric could be thin enough to wear over your face and see through, if you walked into a shaded area you’d be as good as Daredevil-ed in real life.
Stretchy black fabric bandana, 30cm strip of black tulle, black thread and a sewing machine, several safety pins.
$20 (ish)
1 hour for a novice sewer.
Fold the tulle over itself until you get the desired shade. I folded mine 8 times.
Pin it to the inside of the longest side of the bandanna and attach with the sewing machine.
Tie the bandanna around the head, then use the safety pins to secure in place without hair showing through.
Kmart hacking has overtaken Ikea Hacking as the thrifty DIY’ers favourite hashtag. Kmart has really upped the game in their home wares lately, and the pricing is almost too good to be true.
I took a $2 tote bag and a $ 10 white frame from Kmart, and a $7 bottle of fabric paint from Riot to make this artwork that’s now on display in my bedroom.
As above, plus a paint brush, pencil, small bowl, white backing card and some scissors.
45 minutes.
$19
Undo the frame and take out the white cardboard surround. Use it to frame up the section of the bag that you want visible, then use a pencil to trace around the outer edge. (If your bag is crumpled, a bit of pre-tracing ironing is in order).
Squirt some of the fabric paint into the bowl and use the paintbrush to paint sections of the pattern on the bag. Don’t paint the whole thing, just parts of it.
Once the paint has dried, cut the bag along the traced line and insert it into the frame with white card at the back to make the paint really pop.
When you’ve hit a busy pocket in your life and can’t find the time to sit down and have a good craft, you find other ways to hit that sweet spot.
I got some gold leather thong on a trip to Beads and Bangles in Fremantle that I turned into a plated ring while on a conference call on day at work.
It was like crafting while watching TV, you’re taking in all the info while using your eyes for something else. It sure beats staring at a walls while conferencing.
Gold leather thong, needle and thread (I used back but in hindsight would recommend gold), bra elastic.
25 minutes.
$15.
Cut three equal lengths of thong. Use the base of your finger as a measurement and cut a tiny bit short, but not too much.
Cut a length of bra elastic half the size of the thong.
Begin with the top length of thong. Attach it to one side of the bra elastic and stitch into place. Then stitch the middle and the bottom.
Stitch the other ends of the thong together to form a ring, measuring on your finger before attaching.
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