Word Art Journal

Here is a great project that teens will love! They can customise a plain spiral bound notebook to suit their style.

Raid your paper recycling pile for old junk mail catalogues and magazines. Clip out any words that take your fancy. Try and get a range of colours, sizes, and fonts.

Arrange them on the front and back of the journal. When you are happy with the layout, apply some Mod Podge to them to stick them down. Allow for the glue to dry, and then paint a couple of layers of Mod Podge over the top to seal them. Allow the Mod Podge time to dry between coats. Alternatively you could use some clear contact paper over the top to protect your Word Art.

Posted by Lisa

Keeping Crafty...

I wanted to do a quick project on the weekend and I was inspired by this travel journal I saw in a papercraft book. 

I didn't have any old Atlas's or maps to use, so in my version I used some encyclopedia pages. I was really pleased with how it turned out. I used a combination of plain paper, lined paper, and graph paper in the journal. 

I also made up a batch of cards to have on hand for some birthdays we have coming up.

Mum asked me to bake something low fat for a change, so I made up this Chocolate Cake. It is a recipe that came from my Great Nan - it is a never fail cake and is very light.

Here is the recipe:

Low Fat Never Fail Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup self raising flour, sifted
1 cup sugar
Three quarters cup milk
2 eggs
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
Vanilla essence

Icing:


Method:
Preheat oven to 180 °C. Grease and line a 22 cm ring pan.
Combine dry ingredients in bowl. Make a well in the centre and add milk, eggs, butter and vanilla.
Mix on low speed until just combined. Increase speed and beat well for 3 minutes or until changed in colour.
Pour into prepared tin and bake for 30 -40 minutes, or until cooked when tested. Place tin on wire rack to cool. Spread cold cake with icing.
Serves 12

Posted by Sarah

When Life Gives you Lemons....

.... make lemon butter!

When I visited my parents a couple of days ago, I left with a huge pile of lemons from their tree. This morning I turned some of them into Lemon Butter using a recipe I found in an old cookbook belonging to my Nan - she used to make the most delicious lemon butter. I hope mine tastes half as good!

I have a confession to make - I think I suffer from Obsessive Craft Disorder. When I see something that takes my fancy, I need to stop whatever project I am working on, and start on it immediately! My condition was triggered this week when I saw the sweet felt sachets at Checkout Girl.  I have made a start on some (it is the perfect TV craft) - these could be the start of my Christmas crafting. But be warned - you won't be able to stop at one.

Posted by Lisa

Patchwork Doorstop

It is a cold and wet weekend here and yesterday I wanted a quick project to fill my afternoon. I flicked through some books and magazines for inspiration and decided to make a patchwork doorstop that was designed by Elizabeth from Oh! Fransson  and can be found in this book. 

It is perfect to keep my laundry door open while the clothes dryer is on. I love the use of natural linen with the Midwest Modern. 

I have also made this little coin purse. I love the cute coffee cup fabric which I found at Calico and Ivy recently. 

There is no time for sewing today! In a couple of hours I have Sarah's TOM team coming over for a costume making session. The kids are all aged between 9 - 12 and have to make their own costumes from a list of approved materials. This is the 5th year that my children have been involved and it always amazes me how creative the kids are when it comes to designing their costumes and props. Should be a fun filled afternoon:)

Posted by Lisa

This and That

Thanks for all the wonderful comments on my String Quilt - you made my day with all the lovely feedback. Sorry I am a bit behind in my comment answering lately - life sometimes gets too busy - but we wanted you to know that we always read and appreciate every single comment!

I have been working on a few quick projects since completing the quilt. First up was this tote and matching tissue cover for my Mum to take to the library and shopping. Many of the stores here in WA are encouraging us to be more eco-friendly by charging for bags. The tote I made my Mum last year was in need of an update. 

I am most excited that Spotlight is now stocking some Heather Bailey scrap booking supplies and Martha Stewart products. I used the Pop Garden paper and fabric to make this little gift. You can find the "how to" here.

My fabulous son celebrated his 15th birthday last week. We have a tradition in our family that the birthday person gets to choose their favourite meal on their birthday. This year a lemon meringue pie was requested - I must say it was a great choice! My son is also creative in his own way - on the weekend he competed in the state finals of Robocup (computer programmed Lego competition) and his team came third! I knew all those years of lego building would come in handy one day!!

Posted by Lisa

Waffles and Winner

Sunday morning I made some waffles for breakfast as my brother had some friends staying over for his birthday. They have become a favourite breakfast treat recently. I have experiemented with different waffle recipes and this is our current favourite as it makes really crisp waffles!

• 150 g butter
• 250 g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• salt
• 300 ml cold water
• 200 ml milk

Melt the butter and let it cool. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Add water and milk and beat to a smooth batter. Stir in melted butter. Cook the waffles in the waffle maker for approx 3 mins.

Using the random number generator we determined the winner of our Du Jour Giveaway is Jenny from Daisy Chain. Congratulations Jenny!!

I have pupil free days from school today and tomorrow - yay!! 

Posted by Sarah

Midwest Modern String Quilt

I need to think of a better name for it - don't I?

This is the fastest quilt I have ever made - it came together really quickly and I absolutely LOVE it! For those that are interested in the details, I was inspired after seeing the colourful string quilts at Film in the Fridge    and the Daisy Chain Strippy Quilt at Amy Butler.

I made 48 blocks that were 8 1/4 inch square (because that was the size of the A4 printer paper that I used for the paper piecing). The white strips measured 1 1/2 inch wide. I used mainly Midwest Modern fabric in the blue/green/lemon colourway and white homespun.

The finished quilt measures 64 x 78 inches.  I quilted it with horizontal lines, one inch apart. I used the blue/cream honeycomb linen on the back, with a scrappy border on the two long sides. The left over fabrics were put together in a scrappy binding.

I can't decide whether this quilt should be used as a throw in our bedroom....

or in the living room...

but either way it is going to be used!   

I wanted to give a special thank you to Sheri Howard who has featured our His PJ's to Her project on her blog. Sheri has lots of fun projects on her blog and has a book coming out soon. She has just given her magazine holders a make-over. 

If you live in Australia, you still have time to enter our giveaway!

Posted by Lisa

Paint Chart Notebooks

I was tidying up my sewing room last week and came across a project that I made last year when I was going through my paint chip phase - the Paint Chart Notebook! What I love about these notebooks is that they are great little gifts and can be made up in lots of different colours and sizes.

Firstly, I cut the outside cover to the size I wanted. On some of the notebooks I made a pocket on the inside cover by sewing another piece of paint chart that was the same length as the outside cover but only  a couple of inches wide. I clipped this in place using paperclips and sewed right around the perimeter of the cover.

To make the notebook pages, I cut some printer paper so that it was slightly smaller (about 1/4 inch) than the cover. I found I could sew through around 8 pages. I clipped them in place on the inside of the cover and sewed through the middle of the paper from top to bottom, through all layers.

Then I folded the notebook in half and added a sticker in a co-ordinating colour to the front of the notebook.

Tips:

• use an old sewing machine needle as it blunts the needle.
• increase the stitch length and reduce the tension

Here are some other paint chip projects:

Quick Christmas Gift Tags 

Handbag Gift Card Holder

Paint Colour Card Crafts

Christmas Balls

Posted by Lisa

A Week in Review + Giveaway!

There hasn't been a lot of time for creative pursuits this week - activities such as weeding, housework, helping out at school, work etc have got in the way. Don't you hate it when that happens? It doesn't look like the coming week is going to be much better either. However I have managed to squeeze in a few things though such as.....

Visiting the Made on the Left Markets last weekend with Janelle where I couldn't resist the vibrantly coloured ceramics by Sarah May

and the amazingly scented bath bombs by Delight Society

Working on my string quilt - I have nearly completed 75% of the quilting - can't wait to finish this one!

Decorating some pencils with paper scraps after seeing the tutorial at Design Sponge

Baking some Anzac Biscuits - always a favourite at our place 

Visiting the Good Food and Wine Show - unfortunately there was more of an emphasis on the wine rather than the food. We were hoping to see some of our favourite celebrity chefs but all the demonstration sessions were fully booked.

Now onto the giveaway! Regular blog readers may recall that late last year, I had some of my recipes published in a local cookbook Du Jour. It is a lovely cookbook with recipes for different occasions such as dinner party, family feast, pizza night, afternoon tea, breakfast in bed etc. 

I would love to give away a copy of the book to one lucky reader. Due to the weight of the book (hardcover and it is close to 1 kg), this giveaway is open to Australian Residents Only (sorry international readers!). The book is available for $59.95 from leading Western Australian bookstores and select gift shops, or online from the publisher. 

If you would like to enter, please leave a comment on this post. For a bonus entry, link to the giveaway on your blog and then leave me another comment letting me know. I will draw the winner on Sunday August 9. Good Luck!

Posted by Lisa