The Homemade year ; Halloween

So the clocks have gone back and we're all enjoying our extra hour in bed, which can only mean one thing. Yup autumn is here and its Halloween. Time for our Halloween Party!!

As usual there was much to be done and as usual there was much running around at the last minute..lol. At least I didn't have tonsillitis this year though. So without further ado lets have a mooch at the pics....

 

clockwise from left;

 Party bags. Yay I actually managed to remember to photograph them this year! Handmade by myself using my craft programme and some ace printables from gwynn wasson designs. Hop on over to her blog to have a look at the Halloween party on there. Its seriously awesome and puts mine to shame!

Skull shot glasses

Eye ball cupcakes, again made by me. Vanilla and chocolate marble cakes, orange butter icing and a jelly eye ball.

 

 

Boo Sign ; I wish I could take the credit for making this but I bought I from Asda for £1.00 and seriously you can't make it that cheap so you may as well buy it.

Glass pumpkin votive from Waitrose.

 

 

Dual iced witchy cupcakes.

 

 

Jacks beware sign which he bought with his pocket money to help me. bless him.

 

 

Rogues gallery; I intended to do this last year but due to being ill never managed it so I'm pleased I was able to do it this year. This is a wall of Halloweens past, there's pictures of jack in his costumes from each Halloween and pictures of past party guests. I made these myself by printing out some Halloween backgrounds found on google and gluing them to black card. I messed about with the pics a bit to give them an old, dark halloweeny look, printed them out and stuck them onto bright card. I plan to add to it every year.

 

 

Top; Pumpkins of course, and luminaries. I love those they look fab at night when the tea lights are lit.

Bottom left; Tree scene setter from party delights, made an otherwise empty wall look ace.

 

 

Graveyard cup cakes. these again were chocolate and vanilla marble cakes with green butter icing and had such residents as Eileen Dover, Claire Voyant, Uma goner, and Hugo First.

 

 

left; Aaargh there's a monster at the window. We also had one of these in the shower lol.

Right; bat votive.

 

 

 

Now these are as close to selfies as your ever gonna get from me, but I had four Halloween functions to attend this year and yes I know I could have had one costume for all four but wheres to fun in that???

So clockwise from top left; Witches cat for my own party.

Top right; Toil and trouble witches for the school spooktacular with the lovely Stacey.

Bottom right; Sugar skull for my dads party on 2 November which is actually Dia de los muertos (Mexican day of the dead) so it seemed a bit more appropriate and secondly because I'm a little bit obsessed with sugar skulls.

Bottom left; broken dolly

 

but of course no Halloween is complete without the pumpkin king himself.. the one and only jack Skellington.......

 

 

and here he is my very own Jack Skellington, with his ghost dog zero.

 

So what now? Well I'll be enjoying some fire works in our back garden this evening and I've already started to plan for Christmas so I'll be showing you some of the things I always make at Christmas and some new things too.

 

Thanks for stopping by

 Vicky Xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sew Sunday ; Easy Halloween blindfold and FREE pattern

Every year at our annual Halloween party we play a 'pin the something on the something' sort of game. Last year was pin the nose on the witch, the year before pin the bow tie on Mr bones, you get the idea, but every year we end up using a black woollen scarf as a blind fold, and as much as this works it looks a bit rubbish. so this year I set about putting that right...

here's how. I decided that I wanted to make the blindfold a cat face copying a design I drew for a brooch. So firstly I changed a pattern for a regular sleep mask by adding some ears and making it more cat like. You can download the pattern below. Just right click on the image and save then print off as A4.

Not the most professional pattern I know, but still, it works!

Cut out two cat shapes in black felt. One would probably be sufficient seeing as your adding eyes but I cut out two just to be sure the little monsters really cant see!!

cut out your eyes and nose shapes and pin into place on one piece of the black felt. Stitch over the eyes in straight lines. I used a straight stitch in black cotton but you can use any colour or stitch, I think a zig zag stitch would look cool, or you could hand sew it. I used a zig zag stitch to sew around the nose which was a bit fiddly so in hindsight it might be better to hand sew this bit.

 

Next you need to stitch your elastic onto the back of your black felt. I recommend doing this bit with a machine as you want the elastic to be secure when using the blindfold.

Then stitch the spare piece of felt to the back using a zig zag stitch around the edge. If your hand stitching I think a blanket stitch would be nice, and voila there you have it an easy peasy blindfold to play all your Halloween games.

 Seriously this took less than an hour and in my opinion looks way better than a woollen scarf tied around your head!! Don't forget to check to back for my home made year post to see what pin it game we are playing this year!

Xxx

The homemade year......I'ts my party

 

Yup it's my birthday...

 

and you know when you think of something and think that's a great idea then when you start to do it, it turns out it's not that great after all?? Well I definitely did that this week.

 

I always make cakes for my birthday so this year I thought I'll make a gingerbread house seeing as I never find the time at Christmas. BIG mistake, take it from me if you ever decide to make one put aside a lot of time and definitely practice first. I made 2 lots of gingerbread and both ended up in the bin. So what did I do to rectify the situation?

 

Made cupcakes of course.

 

Play to your strengths that's what I say..lol.

 

 

So hear they are. Yeah I know they don't LOOK that special but they ARE. These are margarita cupcakes with tequila icing!! oh yes!

 

Mmm margarita and cake two of my favourite things mixed together.

 

 

and these are for those too young to enjoy a good margarita. White chocolate chip with vanilla icing, and those things that I always call jazzies, but have no idea if that's the real name!

 

 

 

and no birthday is complete without a badge, here's mine. Made by me for me. Am I gonna wear it all day??

Hell yeah!

 

So you might ask why I've called this post the homemade year. well I was thinking about all the things we celebrate throughout the year, and it gave me an idea for a new feature/content/section, whatever you call it and what better way to kick it off than with my birthday. So I'll take us through the year and show you all the stuff that doesn't really fit into any other category.

 

 

 

So I'm off to open presents and eat cake but before I do I found this birthday questionnaire on good old pinterest and I thought it would be fun to answer it so here goes....

 

1. How old are you.

Mmm, mentally or physically? Mentally anywhere between 15 and 21, physically, old enough to know better!

 

2. who is your favourite person in the world?

Has to be my little man no question.

 

3. what is your favourite colour.

Predictably, pink.

 

4. what is your favourite TV programme?

Not really got one and it changes all the time. at the moment I'm loving The returned, and me and my little man love regular show. Mordecai and rigby are the coolest.

 

5.Favourite sport?

None, I avoid doing any sport at all costs!

 

6. what song do you love?

Oh there are way too many. I listen to loads of different music but I particularly love Drive by Incubus, pretty much anything by the wonder stuff, or frank Sinatra

 

7. Who is your best friend?

my husband, nobody makes me laugh the way he does.

 

8. what do you want to be when you grow up??

So many answers to this, what's a grown up?, I don't intend to do that anytime soon, see question 1.

 

9.Favourite book?

To kill a mockingbird by Harper lee. Read it too many times to mention.

 

10. Favourite ice cream flavour.

Banana but only the one sold in Rhodes old town, Greece.

 

11. what really annoys you?

Narrow mindedness, really grates!!

 

12.what do you hope to do before your next birthday?

Mmm lets think, win the lottery and jack my job in lol

 

 

 

So I'll be back soon hopefully with something exciting to share X

 

 

Well August is almost over, but what a lot it brought with it. Special birthdays, Weddings, seaside holidays and, oh yeah Bunny ears!

The decorating, or project house as I like to call it has been put on hold and I've been crafting at a slower pace than normal in order to spend more time with my son over the holidays.


So without further ado....

left - my cousin Shaunis 21st birthday cake. Those of you that follow me on facebook will probably have already seen this, and making those roses has taught me that I definitely need to wear my glasses more!!
Right - 21st birthday card. I don't really go in for card making anymore, unless it's a special occasion. I still got a whole cupboard full of stuff though lol.

Left - Wedding card for my babe Stacey who got hitched. It was a lovely day and they all looked beautiful.
Right and below - THE best bunny ears ever. FACT. I love everything by crown and glory and it's no secret I've been cyber stalking Kat at Rock 'n Roll bride for the past couple of years. So when they announced a collaboration between the two I nearly wet my pants. I couldn't order the Liberace bunny ears quicker! Sophie who makes them is massively talented, check her out and she also wrote a great post on how to wear them.

 

So I'll be back in September and I've got some cracking ideas to share with you, and it's this bunnies birthday, so I'm going to try something a bit different. Xxx

 

Thursday Crafternoon....shrinky madness

Hi so I know I've been missing in action for a while now since I got back from my hols. It always takes me a little while to come back down to earth after a holiday and especially when Ive been to Lindos. We had a great time and its still every bit as beautiful as it was when we were married.

That said I have not sat and done nothing since I've been back. Oh no I've been busy busy busy. Jacks bedroom was in serious need of a face lift, he still had a border and curtains that he had when he was born!!! Its still not quite finished and when it is I  intend to move on to my bedroom and carry on until the whole house is just the way I want it. I'm calling it project house. If any ones interested in seeing the before and after let me know and I might blog about it.

But in the tiny amount of time I have had I've managed to make a few things. I'm still having a love affair with shrink plastic (hence the title) but its definitely been a period of experimentation, which is another reason for the lack of posts. Any way I'll stop waffling and show you the pics........

 

This little lady is Rubie. I love her so much shes so cute, and in my mind I can see her in lots of different vintage outfits. This Rubie is a brooch but she can come as a necklace or key ring too.

 

 

I wanted to do some key rings in the style of those old vintage tin signs, these are what I came up with.

 

I cant decide which is my fave the beach huts or the ice cream.

 

 

All the nice girls love a sailor...These two honeys are both called kitty. Again I see them in lots of different retro outfits and I'm dying to do one with pink hair. They have come out a lot smaller than I expected so I might have to do a bit of a rethink. I thought maybe I could put them on a heart background or something. It would also make them more sturdy as I managed to drop another one and her leg fell off..lol. I did say it was experimental!!

 

 

I am totally in love with this one. I wanted to do something with a rockabilly/tattoo feel. then I saw a tattoo sketch by one of my favourite tattoo artists Leah Moule , and the cogs began to turn. I changed the traditional rockabilly swallow into a seagull, and I can see it with a lighthouse or helter skelter instead of the ice cream too.

 

So there you have it, I hope it's been worth the wait. I'll try not to leave it so long next time, and I might have a new collection coming up too. Stay posted and don't forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, pinterest, and Instagram.

 

Xxx

 

 

 

 

Holibobs

So as much as I would like to stay at home and craft and blog this froggie is hopping off on her holidays to here..............

 

 

This beautiful place is Lindos on the Greek island of Rhodes. one of my favourite places in the world,

and this is St Paul's Bay where I was married 7 years ago...

 

 

 

I'm so looking forward to going back, but you can be rest assured that I will be taking my sewing bag and my paper and pencils, so we will have to see what projects the Greek sun and sea inspires me to work on.

I know one thing for sure it will definately inspire me to lie back on my sun lounger and work on my tan. lol ;) 

 

Have Fun and I'll be back in a couple of weeks

Vicky Xxx

Thursday Crafternoon...shrinky plastic

Well we're back to rainy cold weather again. Two days of warm sunny weather and out came the shorts and sandals and dinner was a barbecue. We all went a bit mad, as we do, and then in true Brit style it disappeared as quickly as it came. Oh well I suppose we should be used to it by now!

Unfortunately, just to rub it in, I'm going to make you think of sunny days again now. The bad weather has not stopped me making, and I've been banging on about shrinky plastic on my facebook page for a while now. So I think its high time I showed you what I've been doing with it.

keyrings

 

 

 I'm not going to lie, it was more challenging to work with than I thought and is definately still a work in progress. Having said that this stuff is magic. Honestly you put it in the oven close the door and when you open it again, poof its shrunk. Its amazing!

I'm so easily pleased lol.

 

Brooches

 

 

The keyrings have definately turned out better than the brooches. Which is a shame as I was so excited about the brooches. Like I said its a work in progress, the white shrink plastic is difficult as its really shiny and hard to colour on. I'm trying to find a way of colour it without seeing the pen marks.

 

oooh as I type the postman just bought me some more, yay. Right then that's me off to play and make more shrinky magic, lol

 

Xxx

 

sew sunday......a work in progress

Yay spring/summer is finally here. How nice is it to have some sunny weather for a change. Its so nice not to have to wear loads of layers to keep warm. I even managed to get out in the garden to plant some seeds, potatoes, and have a general tidy up. Its also great to be able to photograph things outside in the natural light.

So its Sew Sunday and I'm sew sorry! This fortnights Sew Sunday is a work in progress, it took a little longer to work out than I thought. But I'm guessing you can all tell what its going to be.

 

Yep its a beach hut. 

 

I looked around for a pattern but couldn't find one so I made my own.  Ive started to attach the stripes with blanket stitch and I'm hoping to get the door and roof on over the bank holiday, and then add a few extras. All this might be easier said than done as no doubt my six year old will have different ideas! :)

 

Vicky Xxx

 

Thursday crafternoon......beside the seaside

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.......

At last were finally starting to see some sunny weather which makes me dream of summer holidays. Which has inspired me to begin creating my 'Beside the seaside' range, but I'm not talking about exotic holidays in the Maldives (although that would be nice) no I'm talking good old fashioned kiss me quick bucket and spade British seaside holidays. Blackpool, Brighton, Skegness, Margate, every Brit has been on them.

 

 Me and my six year old business adviser sat down and made a long list of all the things that remind us of the seaside. Beach huts and boats were definately on the list along with ice creams, shells, and sticks of rock, and so I made these fridge magnets.

 

 

Normally when I make stuff I'm a bit like 'yeah it's nice' but I've got to say I'm a little bit excited about these as they turned out loads better than I imagined. I even put a little sneaky peek on my Facebook page.

 

 

The beach hut one is definately my favourite, but I love the decoupage sea on the boat. Every year we go to New Quay in wales for our own seaside holiday with my mom and step dad, last year on the way there Jack declared 'New Quay, where the sea tastes like lemonade'. What a cute thing to say!

Maybe next time I will make a glittery lemonade sea. It would certainly taste a lot nicer than all that salt. lol

 

OK off to dream about more holidays.

Thanks for looking and don't forget you can now follow me on Facebook. Just click the link

 

Xxx

 

 

 

 

Sew Sunday ... scotty dog

This little scotty dog was actually a gift for my mom last christmas. I know its a bit lazy but the new stuff i'm working on is still a work in progress, but it will be ready soon. So back when it was very cold and wintery I made this. Yes I know its still fairly cold and wintery now but rest assured the new things im working on will remind you of warm sunny days!!
We did have a name for him or her but I honestly cant remember what it is, so any suggestions let me know.

I think I might have wanted to call him 'button' due to his button eyes, or maybe petal. But honestly who knows, it was christmas and ive slept since then. Anyway I guess its up to my mom to name it really seeing as he lives with her now.

I also wanted to show you this fab new magazine I found 'Ruby loves'.

 

I know anyone who has little girls will love this. Its packed full of stuff to make and only costs a fiver. The best of it is everything you need to make the projects inside is in the bag, apart from the eggs and flour for the cookie pops because that would be stupid lol, but theres no need to buy anything. In this the first issue you can make a bag, cards, a ring, a keyring and loeds more. I cant think of better way to get young girls interested in craft, and yes I know its aimed at young girls but I couldnt help but buy it anyway. So if you've got little girls who love to craft I suggest you check it out.

 

Love Vicky

Xxx

thursday crafternoon...vintage caravans

Well thank God most of the snow has gone, although there's still some bits that are refusing to go and its still bloody freezing.

So lets think about sunnier days, picnics, the seaside and vintage caravans. I love vintage caravans and would love to have either a tiny little British one to renovate or a huge American airstream. But for now I'll just have to make do with these.

 

Mixed media vintage caravan

 

Mixed media art is great, its like collage for grown ups, I used some old scrapbook paper, paints, pens and an old book I have no intention of reading again. which is a good job as its got pages missing now....lol.

 

If I had a caravan I'd call it Dolly. I could even cope with one at the bottom of the garden. I could do all my crafting and blogging in there, not to mention hide away from the boys when I've had enough ;)

 

 

Jack asked me to do one with a british theme in red white and blue, he's fast becoming my most important advisor and harshest critic. You can always rely on a child to tell you exactly what they think. Bless him.

 

I'm hoping to open an etsy shop in the next few months and doing a whole seaside range, hopefully some variations of these will be available along with some other stuff.

In the meantime I'll just have to dream of one day owning a 'Dolly' of my own!

 

Love Vicky

xxx

 

 

 

In my Kitchen....Easy Peasy Easter Bark

Well I just read on Facebook that all the shops have sold out of Easter eggs!!!!!! So it seems that this post has come right on time.
Easy peasy Easter bark, honestly this is so easy and idiot could do it and its super quick too. I made some for my little mans teacher who retired this week and it seriously took less than five minutes.

you will need

 6oz chocolate (I used white but whatever you choose)
12oz mini marshmallows or big ones chopped up
sprinkles
greaseproof paper
baking tin

 

How to.....

 

Melt the chocolate in the microwave or on a double boiler. If using white chocolate, be careful it burns easily I suggest 30 second blasts.

 

When completely melted pour in the marshmallows and mix to cover them. Do this quickly as the marshmallow will begin to melt.

 

Pour into your lined baking tin and spread out to the corners

 

Decorate with you chosen sprinkles

 

 

 

Transfer the tin to the freezer for 20 mins (to stop the marshmallows melting)

 

Remove from the freezer and cut into squares, or shapes using a cookie cutter.

 

Pop into a bag or jar and voila and easy peasy Easter gift.

 

 

 

Oh and its really yummy too!

 

Happy Easter

Vicky Xxx

Craft Show haul

Thank God I chose to go to the craft show at the NEC on Thursday before we had all this snow!!! Now I love a good dollop of snow, but not in March! I mean honestly we should be packing away our thermals not pulling them on again.
But luckily the weather wasn't too bad on Thursday so I made it to the show, and thought I would share with  you some of the bits I got.

 

Halloween theme Fat Quarters.

 

I bought a lot of Fat quarters as the sewing bit there is great, with loads of different fabrics you don't really see anywhere else. I've also come to the conclusion that I could spend a fortune on fabric. Seriously I had to drag myself away from the pirate themed ones, and I still went and found them on eBay when I got home.

 As some people might know were big on Halloween in our house so I plan to make bunting with this (yes I'm big on bunting too). I'm thinking I might go for a different shape with this instead of traditional triangles but we'll see.

 

 

More fat quarters...

 

No idea what I'm going to make with these, but they all went together so well. I love the stripy one it reminds me of a stick of rock!

 

 

Easter fat quarters.

 

I think these are Easter themed and at least that what I thought of when I saw them but everyone I've shown them to thinks they look more baby themed. Either way I'll be using it in an Easter related way.

 

 

Alphabet stamp and clock stencil thingy

 

Its not often I buy stamps, I normally use digital, but I was looking for something to use in a project I'm working on at the moment. I got this one one as I love typewriter font and will probably use it in a lot of tings, the clock thingy is a thingy because I just can't remember the companies name but I'm hoping to use it the same project.

 

and last but not least

 

 

bits and pieces from the crafts a pound shop.

 

This is the best shop, loads of stuff all for a pound. You can pick up loads of bits for your stash, the only draw is that its the busiest shop at the show. Honestly they need to operate a one way system! its just a massive free for all, how they keep a track on who's paid and who hasn't, and don't even get me started on women with trolleys. Those things should be banned..lol

 

So I'm off to moan about the snow a bit more, and put my Easter decorations up.

 

Vicky Xxx

 

 

 

 

sew sunday...

Just a quickie today to show you these fun little hair clips. I'm busy busy busy at the moment trying to sort out stuff for the little fellas birthday and Easter.

 

OK so there isn't an awful lot of sewing to these, but they're easy peasy to make and would look so cute in a Little girls hair. And there really cheap too, I bought a pack of 30 hair clips for £1, the felt I already had but that's not too expensive either.

 

 I really like the bright pink one, Its such a pretty flower. it looks complicated to make but its really easy when you know how. maybe if I get around to it I will do a quick tutorial.

 So now I'm off to bake Star wars cakes in preparation for my little mans tea party and I'm off to the craft show on Thursday to spend some of my hard earned cash lol.

Thanks for stopping by
Love Vicky Xxx