Creative Life Round Up

Hi there! My creative-life-round-up posts are just a round up of random creativity that's happening in my world at the moment. 

Christmas is a-coming! I have just finished this little elf for a special little niece in my life. Her mama has extremely good taste and loves all the same fabrics and colours I do, so basically I made this with her in mind! I got the pattern from Wee Wonderfuls. 

I chose to make the elf on the left, and I used real wool felt for the felt components. Real wool felt is SO much better than the acrylic stuff.

Aren't they just so cute!? I really would like to get this animal pattern and make each of these cute little animals too! They are smoochalicious!! 

Food. Food is always happening here, and no, it's not always this pretty! This was for the girls' birthdays not too long ago. Right now I'm starting my Christmas cooking. My first project was shortbread cookies which I just burned. *Cry*

The husband-man and I recently took a trip... BY OURSELVES... no kids!!! Into Melbs. (Melbourne.) We saw a show, had some dinner, strolled around the streets, saw a couple of celebs, and basically felt like teenagers again. We went on our first dates as youngsters together into the city, so it felt strange to be walking around there for fun again together post having children. We don't often do things without the kids, but I could really get used to more of these outings! I like some of the creative laneways that are covered in art. Should've taken more photos!

Here's a landscape painting I started that is really not my style but was compelled to do it from a photo I took when out walking the dog. I have to say it's quite refreshing trying out a different style and I'm happy with where this small painting is heading. 

And another painting I've started! I had an image in my head of a pegasus painting, it's not turning out quite how I imagined, but I'm happy with it all the same. Maybe I'll have to keep painting pegasus paintings until I get it right!? A whole series perhaps??

And here's a terrarium I made for a good friend!

Hope you enjoyed my latest creative life round up. 

Jules :)

DIY Christmas Craft: Fabric & Glitter Christmas Tree Decoration

Time for a DIY Christmas craft!

We are staying home this year for Christmas, and I'm excited not to have to get up and rush all around trying to fit in all the visits to various family members. That may be a tad selfish, but it's been a busy year and just want to see out the end of the year moseying around my home.

Lots of sucky things happened this year, nothing terrible, but I got to the point of being over the constant flow of problems. I'm really hoping 2018 will be the opposite of this year! I'm not going to dwell on the negatives and list them all here, I must try and think positive thoughts and perhaps that will help bring some more positive experiences into my life :)

I did get to the point of everything compounding and I dropped my bundle! My blog slowed down, and I've hardly been able to seem to find the time to be creative. It's slowly coming back and I really need to make art and creativity a priority. I have been creating here and there but I haven't been sharing a whole heap here or on social media. Not deliberately, just because of shifting priorities, and my time was taken up elsewhere. 

Consequently, I've been thinking about where I want to be next year, and what form I want my creative business to head towards. I'm planning on doing a fair bit of work around this house decorating, so I can blog about my progress and share other things I'm getting up to creatively. I'll add new products to the shop when they eventuate. But I'm going to slow things down a tad and just share when I can. That may mean a lot if I'm going through a phase where I seem to be able to fit it all in, and others times it may slow down a bit, depending on life. 

So I'm going to forget all the negative stuff that happened this year and enjoy the heck out of this Christmas!! A lot of ace stuff has happened too! So I am going to focus on those things. 

Enough of that, let's get into some craft! I created this tutorial for Alisa Burke's wonderful blog, but I like to share them here for my readers too :)

I just love super colourful decorations. So I delved into my fabric scrap collection (I can never throw out small pretty pieces of fabric- the always have a use!) and came up with these christmas tree decorations. I then accentuated them with glitter, because it’s the perfect time of the year for an excuse to use the sparkly stuff!

You’ll need:

Stiff card
PVA glue
Assorted fabric scraps
Silver glitter
Toothpick
Masking tape
Baking paper or sheet of plastic
Tiny amount of stuffing

First, we’ll make the cone out of the card.

Start by making a centre point (top anchor point) at the top of your card and measure 27cm (10.5”) straight down (bottom middle point), then mark again. Then, using your top anchor point, swivel your ruler to the sides and mark with dots using the same length. Join the dots up and you will have created a curve for the bottom of the cone. From the centre bottom point, measure an equal distance straight out to both edges. I chose 16cm (6”). Draw lines from your top anchor point down to those side marks for the outline of the cone shape, adding a flap to the side that will be used to glue the cone together. Cut out.

You can see using this method of creating a cone that you could make play around with different sizes.

Curl the card around so the flap lines up to the other side, glue, and use masking tape to hold in place.

Make a template out of some card for the scollops using the diagram as a guide. Place onto the wrong side of the fabric, outline and cut out. You can keep placing the template side by side to get longer lengths. As you go, check by wrapping your fabric strips around the cone to make sure you have enough lengths.

Lay fabric strips out over baking paper or plastic. Mix some PVA glue and water with a ratio of 1:1. Paint it on to the back and front of the fabric strips and leave to dry.

Once they are dry and stiffened, use your fingers to curl up the edges of the fabric.

Start by gluing a strip of fabric along the bottom of the cone before you start with your scolloped pieces.

Run glue along the top edges of the scolloped fabric strips and start wrapping them around the cone. Make sure when you go up a layer that the cone is covered by the fabric so that you can’t see the card underneath. Continue until the cone is completely covered.

Using 2 small scraps of fabric, place wrong sides together and lightly draw a star shape. Sew all around the star leaving the bottom two edges open. Lightly fill the star with some stuffing, and then sew the two remaining edges closed, leaving a small gap in the bottom middle. Trim around the star close to the stitching. Pop some glue onto the end of a tooth pick and insert it into the base of the star, and then place some more glue onto the other end of the toothpick and poke it into the top of the tree. (If there’s no hole there use your scissors to snip off the very tip of the cone so that there is.)

Using a brush, paint PVA glue onto the very edges of the scolloped fabric and the edges of the star and sprinkle silver glitter all over, tapping off the excess.

Then enjoy your colourful christmas tree decoration! I’d love to see yours if you make one!

Jules :)