Craft Schmaft

Gnoming along…

Claire — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:45:23 +0000

There has been progress (despite Ingrid’s “what???are you STILL doing that” at Craft Room meet up on Thursday :))

I blame this lot, by the end of a day with these munckins all I’m capable of is collapsing on the couch. Between superheros, rescues, soccer, bike riding and beach time there isn’t even enough energy to pick up a needle… but I wouldn’t change any of that for the world.

Beginnings of balloons

Claire — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:25:02 +0000

The past couple of days have been all about hot air balloons. I’m turning Frankie’s balloon mobile into a pattern which should have been fairly straightforward … at least it would have been if I didn’t start tinkering around with the balloon shapes and sizes. Tall… short and round…. how to finish off the base… I think the chevron shape is the one to go with but definitely more work required!

Being on hold on the phone for 40 minutes induced doodling on one of the white prototypes. It felt kinda wrong drawing on that fabric, like I was defacing my own handiwork. Perhaps it was that I’d stolen the nearest kids coloured marker to do it and had my own “only on paper Franklin… do NOT draw on the walls” mother voice to contend with. Thinking about it (whilst slowly going insane with kenny G type music) I like the idea of hand drawn fabric. I may even just have to give that a go over on spoonflower.

Summer colour inspiration

Claire — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:43:11 +0000

Maybe it’s summer. Maybe it’s spending so much time with my munckins. Or maybe it’s the new found creative freedom. Either way, it’s all about colour here at the moment. It started with a felt ball rug that my sister in-law has in the nursery. It snowballed with brightly coloured socks and old copies of wallpaper mag … and now here we are… designing fabric.

God only knows why I feel the need to design my own fabric with about a gazillion designs already out there BUT… I’m going with it. Swatches have been ordered from spoonflower and, with the impatience of a four-year-old, I can’t wait for them to arrive. I have THE perfect pale grey sock, just crying out for colourful wings.

Baby Zilla

Claire — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:36:03 +0000

I’ve been playing with the Baby Zilla over the past week. This little guy has been driving me crazy – the shape just wasn’t working for me and while he got very kooky. One complete redesign later and I’m pretty happy with his chubby little body and cuddly factor, bit more work to do on the face.

Anyone into instagram? I’m loving it for documenting crafting, snapping and posting as I go (find me @craftschmaft or the feed through facebook). Dangerous because, let me tell you, my crafting ain’t always pretty but I love looking back at the iterations of a creature. Here’s some snaps of the Zilla I took in progress…

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…