Craft Schmaft

New stockist: Free Range Living

Claire — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:52:32 +0000

There’s a new store on the shores of Kurnell in Sydney called Free Range Living. Not only are there beautiful things like resin bangles and stunning quilts to lust after, there’s a whole table set up for workshops and crafting. Bliss. The best part of all… they’re now stocking Craft Schmaft patterns with kits to come very soon. Hooray!! Thanks Laydeez!

Have a peek over here for details of their school holiday workshops …

A little owl rattle

Claire — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 11:04:05 +0000

I got busy crafting a baby owl rattle for my tiny new niece, Olive. A couple of bells in a kinder surprise container created the rattling effect and then the baby owl went right on top of a “sock donut”. I used a colour variation embroidery thread for the eyes which was gorgeous – although the instagram photos don’t quite do it justice.

Final lick of paint

Claire — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:35:45 +0000

The Craft Study is almost there. I don’t think there’ll be a moment when I say it’s completely finished because I know I’ll fiddle with it forever. Storage is the main issue in here so I’ve revamped some ikea drawers to store all those little bits of felt, fabric and buttons that seem to multiply. While I wait for the husband to drill them into the wall the gnomes are being cross-stitched and there’s a guest bed in the corner that needs to look like a big chair rather than student bed. I went all out on ebay and bought a vintage box.

Before:

After:

I’ve always admired the Design Sponge rolling storage box, so thought I’d have a go myself. After purchasing suitable box on eBay my step dad kindly offered to pick it up while out for a scenic spin in his mate’s new convertible. Suitable box turned out to be very dirty and couldn’t be placed on the back seat without destroying the new leather. With no boot in the convertible poor step-dad had to take off his shirt to protect the new leather. In his words “you owe me… we looked like a pair of poofs driving around in that thing shirtless!”. Love a good pair of poofs on a vintage mission, I do indeed.

A superhero start to the year

Claire — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:35:32 +0000

My mantra last week was “start as you mean to go on”. I dusted off the machine (yes, it really was dusty) and despite the craft study not being fully operational got stuck into some sewing. Only straight line sewing, granted, but sewing that made the big kid beam from ear to ear. Nothing gets my boys going more than superheros, so mighty masked doona cover and pillow case it was. I luuurve this fabric – gorgeous detail close up and reminds me of a comic book from a distance. It’s called supahero, designed by Susanne Firmenich on spoonflower. She also has a very nice Fox and friends collection on there too which I would be tempted by if I wasn’t on a mission to reduce the stash this month.

Hello 2012, year of The Craft.

Claire — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:21:08 +0000

There were moments when I didn’t know if I’d make it through 2011… what a crazy year. Too crazy. Looking back (insert compulsory New Year reflective moment) it was the year of the wrong turn. I was driving along the freeway of life when suddenly I saw a big shiny exit sign. A sign to the bright lights of madtown, a place I’d spent my roaring twenties. A place of good times, great people and gargantuan parties. “ooohhh….It’ll be great” I told myself ” Let’s go there!”.

Umm… no.

See madtown, for all it’s shiny, cool, creative, hip-ness, simply isn’t kid friendly (no matter what the new sign says). And in the choice between reading pitch documents and reading bedtime stories… I choose bedtime stories. I’m also choosing fish fingers over very fancy dinners but let’s not talk about that.

Hello 2012!

This is the year of The Craft, people. This year I will be focusing on Craft Schmaft and I am so excited about getting stuck into it. I plan on releasing new softie patterns, heading to markets around Oz, doing lots of blogging and even branching out into other areas of crafty design. I’m also going to be running The Craft Room for the northern beaches which I’m very pumped for. It’s going to be a year of family, friends and lots of fun.

So thank you for sticking by me in 2011, I hope to be far more fun to be around in 2012.

xoxoxo

Mod gingerbread house 2011

Claire — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 12:45:40 +0000

Merry Xmas to all, and to all a good night…

The gingerbread recipe

Claire — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:31:54 +0000

As promised to many, here’s my gingerbread recipe. It’s been lovingly tweaked and tested over the years and works really well for houses and biccies like the Reindeer cookie above (inspiration from Meet the Dubiens via pinterest). These were devoured at work when I took them in, thanks Lizi for the photo!

Gingerbread Recipe

Ingredients:

180 g Unsalted butter

210 g Caster sugar ( 1 cup)

300 g Golden syrup (almost one cup, 220mls)

1.5 Tsp Cinnamon

2 Tsp Ground ginger

1 Tsp Ground nutmeg

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Bi-Carb Soda

620 g Plain flour (4.5 cups)

Method:

Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan over low heat. Stir until completely dissolved then remove from heat and set aside to cool for a few minutes.

Combine cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt and bi-carb soda in an electric mixer bowl and add the cooled butter/sugar mix. Combine.

If you have one, use the dough hook on the mixer. Using a medium speed, add the flour to the other ingredients. Mix until well combined. If you don’t have a dough hook, use beater attachments until the dough becomes too heavy at which point bring the dough together by hand.

Roll out between two sheets of baking paper until it’s around 8mm (1/4 inch) thick. Cut out desired shapes and bake in an oven at 180 degrees for between 8-20 minutes depending on size of pieces. I find 8 minutes for biscuits, around 15 for larger house pieces works well.

Gingerbread dough can be used immediately or can be frozen (wrap tightly in cling film and put in a zip-lock bag).

Enjoy!

The craft study paint job

Claire — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:49:02 +0000

No sooner had we torn the study apart than I realised I hadn’t taken a before shot of the craft study. Luckily for me the 4-year-old has a habit of taking random photos on my phone so here’s his version of a before shot. I think chaos would be a fair description. Also shows the big kid’s “reportage” style of photography. Note to self to watch that early in the morning when coming out of the shower.

Game on…

According to Mr Schmaft I’m terrible at painting. There was a moment of being mortally wounded by such a comment. Relief quickly followed as the Mr insisted on finishing the job himself. ummm…. OK!

Thank you Mr Schmaft

The big kid and I are very taken with the aqua (it’s Dulux Gondolier). Now onto a new desk and some mid-century accessories.

There’s no place like gnome

Claire — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:05:50 +0000

So cheesy, I just had to use it for a post title. In the spirit of vintage Tuesday here’s where my little gnomes are at:

Beginning to look a lot like Xmas

Claire — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:44:19 +0000

I love Christmas. I the carols and the candles, the presents and the pudding, but most of all I love the creativity (just call me Wombat Devine). There’s no way on earth I’m going to get through the list of things I’d like to make this year but I’m happy to report that the advent calendar is in full swing and the ALL important gingerbread house has been designed. Sadly last year I missed the house making because we had to move house on the 21st of December. Well this year I promise to go completely over the top to make up for it.

Sketches have begun, templates have been printed. I’m going with a Mod Gingerbread House (2o09 house here) again but upping the ante. This year it’s Seidler house inspired and involves a rocky outcrop of rocky road and a pool in the backyard. You heard it here first sista…