Boards for the Forgetful

The finished result!

As my other half can tell you i'm a big believer in equality, i'm also an organisation lover... there's nothing more satisfying than seeing things all neat, tidy and organised!

When dealing with people who are not very organised (my other half...) it becomes essential to create ways in which you can communicate what needs to be done to remain organised... without it being forgotten again five minutes later!

So, to combat this problem in my household I came up with an ingenious plan that gave me a chance to get my paintbrush out and have a go at some DIY.

Messy creativity and organisation in one task... HEAVEN!

So the plan was to create the following....

• Reward Chart for the small boy
• Chores Boards for myself, the big boy and the small boy
• Important Dates Board
• General Notice Board

As blackboards are "in" at the moment and the perfect medium for boards that change on a daily basis I thought I would give making them a go.

To make the boards I used....

• 6 Mismatched Picture Frames (purchased from a car boot sale)
• Sanding Block
• Wet Cloth
• Blackboard Paint/Spray Paint
• Gloss Paint (in a colour of your choice, I used Ivory to match my wall)
• Paintbrushes
• Small Nails
• Hammer
• MDF (cut to fit inside the picture frames)
• Gaffa Tape

Before you read the instructions please be aware I am no expert at all in DIY, My boards aren't perfect but they serve a purpose!

Instructions:

• Take out the pictures, glass and backing boards from the picture frames. 
• If the thickness of MDF you intend to use is more than the thickness of the backing board, glass and picture you will need to remove the pins that held them in place.
• Sand down the picture frames to score the surface and wipe them down with a damp cloth afterwards. It is recommended that you clean anything due to be painted with sugar water, I didn't do this, which caused come problems so I recommend you do!
• Paint the MDF boards with the blackboard paint, you may need several layers.
• Paint the frames using the gloss paint, again you may need several layers.
• Leave everything to dry between layers and after the painting process has finished. Believe me, it is extremely messy and annoying if you pick up a frame before it is dry.... I did! It involved lots of touching up of paintwork!
• When everything is dry put the MDF boards inside the picture frames, blackboard side facing outwards.
• Secure the boards into the frame using the small nails and hammer - I found this quite tricky, but i'm no picture framer!
• Secure and cover the nails using either gaffa tape or picture framing tape. I used gaffa tape because it was easier and cheaper to get hold of.
• Hang the frames!

The image at the top is what I ended up with! They may not be perfect, but they are extremely useful and look lovely on my wall!

Teacher's Pet

Lucy's Pencil Case

This was a Christmas present for my sister, albeit one that only finally got finished in *cough* July *cough*. It took me that long to find a fabric that I felt suited her and would inspire her to use the it... we all know how uninspiring dull pencil cases are! I love this fabric and thankfully my judgement was right and so did she!

I used a tutorial that I found on a lovely blog, here is a link Terrie Sandelin Blog. There were certain things that I didn't do from the tutorial but despite deciding not to have the contrasting fabric and adding and ribbon detail the blog was still very well written and easy to follow with some knowledge and the photographs very useful.

The pencil case was finished in no time, despite the delay!

Christmas Bunting

Christmas Bunting

Yes yes yes... I am very aware that we are at the time of year where the mere mention of Christmas is punishable by death. But fear not... this is simply another item that I have made in the past. I am not on my Christmas mission...yet!

I used the following fabrics:

• Red & white stripes
• Red with white polka dots
• Red with gold stars
• A "Noel" design
• Plain Green

To the plain green fabric I added contrasting stars using the other fabrics and used a tight zig zag stitch to attach them and seal the edge to stop fraying. Make sure you sew the star on before sewing the two triangles together!

If you are just starting out with a sewing machine then bunting is the project for you, it is very very simple.

For those that want to give it a go, here is a tutorial that appears to use similar methods to mine... Craftaholicsanonymous Tutorial.

Happy bunting making!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Superman Star Chart

This project came out of necessity mostly!

The star chart system is well known and quite widely used. In my stepson Cyrus' case the wait between good behaviour and reward was a little too long as his concentration is not great. So... instead of having a large chart that brought a large reward we were advised to find a small chart of five stickers or less that brought a smaller reward - like an episode of his favourite TV program, a snack or a go on his favourite computer game.

To keep Cyrus interested in the star chart system I wanted to find something that was not only a character he liked but was interactive, to allow him to get involved. It also needed to be reusable so that we weren't hunting out packs of stickers on a regular basis. There wasn't much out there that fit our criteria so I decided to make my own.

Cyrus is a big lover of super hero's so I searched out some pictures of superhero's and came across an image of Superman that was perfect as it's bold lines meant it was easy to use as a template.

The stars attach with velcro and can be easily removed and placed back on... this was great for Cyrus as he loves to put his star on himself.

I also added a handle so that it could be carried back and forth between nursery and home for consistency.

A little drawstring bag is attached to the handle to store the stars that aren't in use.

The star chart works a treat and holds the attention of a three year old with the desire to be a super hero one day like Fireman Sam perfectly (his definition of superhero is anyone who saves people... or anyone in a suit!).

Floral Make-up Bag

Floral Make-up Bag

I made this make up bag for my beautiful friend Sian who, like me, loves girly things.

It was nearing her birthday and I noticed when rumaging in her bag in the car that her make up was stuffed into the very small pocket at the side and was spilling out everywhere... she'll be the first to admit she loves her make-up!

I'm certain that at this moment ladies reading this will be nodding furiously in agreement. Handbags without pockets or extra storage are a nightmare and inevitably lead to either rummaging around furiously at a till or emptying the whole thing out on the floor/desk/sofa in frustration.

So here is a solution... a small make-up bag.

The beautiful and very feminine rose fabric and the navy blue lining fabric were sourced from a stall on Leicester market. The blue zip was purchased from Button Boutique, a lovely habadashery store in Leicester where I can often be found coo-ing at beautiful things.

Here is the tutorial I followed to make the bag Queen Of DIY Tutorial. Some areas were a little confusing but with a little measuring and fiddling I managed to figure it out.

Crochet Bear

Cyrus' Crochet Bear

The bear project was rather self indulgent one to start with. I love bears, especially teddy bears...yes I am aware that that is a strange statement at my age!

So I decided to make a bear... but then realised that the poor thing would just end up on the top of my wardrobe and would never be cuddled at night. Out of guilt I decided the bear would be a present for my stepson Cyrus instead. Here he is...

The pattern I used was purchased from Etsy store sockmonkeykook. It was meant to be a red riding hood bear but as this was my first attempt at amigurumi I decided to forego the fancy bits and just made a simple bear.

For someone attempting this for the first time this pattern was a fantastic guide and the bear was complete in no time. Check out http://www.etsy.com/shop/sockmonkeykook for this and other patterns.

I'm afraid my other helpful item in making the bear was a Louise, who kindly guided me through my first attempt at working in the round despite my cries that I was useless at it. Unfortunately you can't buy her anywhere... sorry!

But isn't he such an adorable bear! I love him and thankfully so does Cyrus!

You're Lame, But I Like You

The finished product

It was an honor to work on this project for my sister Lucy. She got married on the 5th August 2011 and asked me to create the present for her husband to be as she wanted something unique painted on canvas.

My sisters fiance, Tom, is a big fan of Scott Pilgrim so it didn't take me long to spring an idea of a personalised Scott Pilgrim painting.

I found an image in one of the books that was perfect and made it paintable using GIMP, for those that are design illiterate (there's no shame in this) GIMP is a free design progra,. I highly recommend having a play with the program.

It took a little longer to find the quote, but with a little searching between us we decided on "You're lame, but I like you anyway... which we thought was perfect.

Armed with chalks and a freshly painted (and dried) canvas the work began.

I used the chalk to transfer the image across to the canvas - chalk rubbed away easily with an all purpose eraser so it served it's purpose well untilo no longer needed. Then I began to paint the image using black acrylic paint. Finally the quote was added using white acrylic.

Here are some work in progress images...

The purple in the background was the theme colour for her wedding, lovely Cadbury purple... yum yum!

Here is a lovely picture of my sister and her husband on their big day with me on the far right in my beautiful purple bridesmaid dress :-)