Dyeing for a change.

On my last post I had been doing this......

...I had found ( whilst sorting and moving things) a pile of damaged vintage linens. This piece is a large oval tablecloth. The lace is torn in a few places. I had initially put it aside for a project which I want to do later on in the year. I need quite a few different fabrics and was going to keep them in a box or bag until I had collected everything I needed.
This is quite a big tablecloth, it must have looked stunning on a large table when it was in use and dressed with gorgeous tableware!
Anyway, I decided that I wanted to crack on and get it coloured.
I used the tea dying method which we did as children. I saved the used teabags in a plastic container, and when I had enough, in a large bowl I emmersed them in boiling water. I gave them all a good squeeze ( rubber gloves on) I wasn't bothered if any of the teabags burst. Once mixed I immersend the pristine white tablecloth into the bowl and it stayed there for over twelve hours. I did agitate it a few times.
Then I rinsed it out and it had a gentle hand wash, and I hung it on the line to dry....

Because it was a lovely warm sunny day it dried pretty quickly. On the picture it looks a lot lighter than it actually is...

...it really has turned out lovely.
Following on from this, on Saturday we went to our local farmshop for our fruit and vegetables. I bought some beetroot and cooked it as soon as I got home. When it was cooked I looked at all that gorgeous red liquid and had an idea. I had another damaged piece of vintage lace, beautifully bright and white, but very badly damaged.
It went straight into the beetroot water complete with the peelings...

...in the liquid it was a gorgeous deep pink. But this is only a stain/discolouring process, and when I wash it out it will fade to very pale.
It turned out like this....

......again it looks very pale and cream on the picture but it is a very pale dusty pink. If I was going to use it in a piece which would need washing often then this method would not be suitable, but as it's going onto a decorative piece it doesn't matter.
I have more pieces of fabric and lace to colour, and I shall be trying quite a few other things to stain with, spices, plant leaves and maybe some inks.
Watch this space, there's more to come.

A compendium of crafts.

I seem to have been on a roll this last couple of weeks. It must be down to the lovely weather we've been having.
I've been continuing with my grand reorganisation of my little room. My button and bead collection is more organised now...

...they aren't all sorted, but I have utilised my glass jars and they now hold various collections in colourways....

....when they are all on the shelf together it will look really neat and tidy, a rainbow of jars which I can get to when I need to ( at last!)!
Whilst I have been sorting and shifting I came across some bits of old oil pastels, really nice colours. So I put them aside for when I'd done for the day so that I could sit down and have a play.
Here's what I came up with....

...I hadn't done any wax art for a couple of years, and I am pleased with how these turned out. All I used was the old pieces of oil pastel on some glossy photopaper which was given to me. The paper had been bought from one of the £1 shops, and for printing pictures on, it was awful apparently, ( no surprise there I suppose) but for wax art it was great!
I have some art frames and I may put these together in the frame.
I have also been going through my magazine collection. To be honest I haven't bought a magazine for a good few years, I feel they are far too expensive, have way too many advertisments and repeat the articles too frequently. So from the ones which I had saved and the ones which have been given me I sat and removed everything I wanted, the rest went into the paper recycling. Any that were complete were sent to the local charity shop and library.....

.... I have saved some lovely images, some which will be going into a collage on a wooden tray.....

.....and some are going to be made into tags and bookmarks....

.....I'm also trying to sort my collection of vintage linens and fabrics.
There are some pieces which are really old and have seen quite a bit of wear and have damage to them. But I'm on the rescue of these pieces and will be making something with them later on in the year. In the meantime, a couple of pieces have been given this treatment...

...they've had an overnight bath in tea, then rinsed out in salt water, then a gentle hand wash. Now they're on the line...

...they've turned out just right. ( Tea bags in compost bin of course!)
I've had a birthday this week, and I've had a Sizzix Big Shot as a gift and some Bigz dies. I'm having a whale of a time with them. Will I still be using my original Sizzix machine and Sidekick? You bet I will! But now I have the option of using the bigger dies it's going to make things even better.
On the agenda for the next couple of days is a knitting project to finish off, some background pages for scrapbooking, I will use my Craft Artist software to manipulate some of the pictures I've taken. The sewing machine is ready for action, I have some patchwork pieces to sew together, which were done a while ago and have been waiting for the " right" backing fabric, which I have now found.
This afternoon I shall be baking, I was going to do it earlier this week, but didn't get the chance.
The weather is still nice so I might just try to get a few seeds sown in trays too!
Who needs the tv when there are so many more exciting things to do!

From Grandmothers Attic

I have decide to set up a blog in which all my vintage items and collections that I have for sale will be posted. I said in my last post that my collection of buttons was about 12,000+! Well I've spent some time sorting through the first huge box.

....so shortly you will be able to see all of the items which I shall be selling....

You will find vintage linens to lace, buttons to stamps, postcards to fabrics.
The first collection of items should be posted shortly. Here's the link

Springing forward

Well I'm hopefully getting back on track now.
After having a couple of weeks of doing very little crafting ( well I did have other things to occupy myself with!) I'm getting back on track and feel like I'm springing into spring, so to speak!
With the brighter weather and the fact that the days are getting longer it's certainly a big boost. It also reminds me of the gardening jobs I want to do. I haven't yet sown the sweet peas. Not to worry it will be done this weekend.
On the knitting front I have completed these...

....as you can see, these ones are for chocolate lovers....

......at least they're all calorie free!
I've also added these flowers to my Folksy shop today...

....I love the colours...

...I'm so pleased with them..

...I'm sure there will be more!
I've been reorganising my little room, again. It's not quite finished yet, I have streamlined a few things. It's almost done, I shall put pictures up when totally complete.
I've been taking loads of photos this last couple of weeks, so I will be spending some time working on scrapbook pages..

.......I shall be using my Serif software...

....for some of the pages....

.....some will be hybrid pages....

...whatever I come up with, I'm sure I'll be happy with them.

I have been a collector of buttons and beads for most of my life....

....It begun when I was very young, and used to play with my mothers' collection on the kitchen table. I must have at least 12,000 buttons alone in various shapes and sizes...

......some belonged to my grandmother and were passed to me, some were my mothers, she kept hers in one of these tins...

...well I found more boxes of buttons in the loft and have begun sorting them (occasionally), I really can't keep them all. Now the grandchildren are growing we need the space for when they come to stay. So I shall be puting some in my Folksy shop shortly. That will be a task in itself!

Once we've had some butternut squash and roasted red pepper soup for lunch,( I made it this morning) I have some housework to do. It's so nice today I hope I get the chance to do a couple of things outside before it begins to get dark. Then later I shall be catching up with my knitting project, something from my "design" book that's been on the backburner for a while.
let's hope the good weather holds out for the weekend!

Playtime, of a different kind!

There won't be much crafting done by me for the next couple of weeks. This little chap....

...and his big sister....

..have come to stay, and they're keeping me very busy!

Box clever

I've been given some boxes....

...actually, there were a few more than this, but I gave them to our son. He's going to put some of his artwork on them.
Here's a closer look...

...they are all different sizes....

......the hinges and clasps are all in working order...

....all the labels will come off and I shall have to leave a couple of the boxes open for a while to eradicate the cigar aroma.
But this one had something divine in it...

I have eaten some of this delicious Turkish Delight and it's absolutely yummy!
There are also these boxes..

..I though this one would make a lovely "treasure chest"!
This one...

...I may try some pyrography on. I do like the image on the top.
I haven't yet decided what method to use on every box, but I'll be trying a few techniques, paper, paint, mosaic, maybe even stamping!
These are some eye shadow palettes which our daughter has given me..

...They are all unused, and some really pretty shades. I shall be using these on paper and card projects. I once heard a well know tv craft presenter say that eyeshadows could not be used for paper projects.

....well I'm of the "anything is possible" school....

...and it is!
I'm still knitting and working on some springtime flowers....

...I'm also working on some new cupcakes, larger ones, like these...

these will be in my folksy shop, shortly.
Happy crafting!

Die cutting on a budget

There are so many die cutting machines on the market nowadays. Which one do you choose if you want to buy one, and why? There are so many things to consider, how much do I spend, how much will I use it and how many dies will I need/buy?
A couple of years ago I bought this.....

.....the original Sizzix machine. It was advertised in a local newspaper for £15.00. The lady who I bought it off was treating herself to a Cricut machine. This machine also came with extras....

...so I had something to practise with. Up to this point I had always cut out my own templates and shapes with either a craft knife or scissors.
My question to myself then was "Am I going to use this and what other dies will I need?" I didn't want to just buy them for the sake of it. They had to be ones which I would use time and time again.
A craft shop in Derby was closing and the owner was selling off all her stock. I bought these two dies....

.... for £4.00 each. These have been invaluable and are still used now.
A couple of months later I went on to the Sizzix website. From time to time they have reduced items and on this occasion there were quite a few for less than half price.....

....so hubby treated me to these. These have been used many times too, and still are.
Last summer I bought a new pair of cutting plates....

....these cost £3.99 with free postage on Ebay.
At the end of summer I thought I'd take a look on the Sizzix website again to see if there was anything which took my fancy and anything which was to be discontinued and reduced. Once again, they had to be dies which can be used in multiple ways. So I bought these...

.....the cost of these dies in total was just short of £27. I was a happy bunny.
A few days later I was browsing on Ebay and I won these little gems....

....my winning bid was £7.99 and I paid £3.50 postage.
Now all I needed was the cutting plates for the Sidekick....

.....as you can see from the label I paid £2.99 for them.
Last week I again went onto the Sizzix website. I still had some Christmas money which I hadn't spent. Here's what I bought...

....

....

...those 7 dies came to just under £26.00. I have chosen ones which will be versatile and give me a lot of mileage. I had looked on Ebay (again) before I bought these but the prices were higher and some were used ones.
I am really pleased with my haul and once the housework is done tomorrow I shall be sorting my papers and card, ( and fabrics) ready for some scrapbook pages and birthday cards.
I do love the nesting shapes and have been looking at the relevant dies. But I can't justify buying them. ( They are quite expensive) and I'm used to cutting those shapes with a template and knife. I use the method we were taught in school.
I shall regularly look out for dies, but only if I know I can get a lot of mileage out of them, and the price will have to be right.
Will I ever upgrade to a new machine? Maybe. I do like the Big Shot, in fact they all look good with some fabulous dies. But I shall never let this one go, it really is brilliant. There are bargains out there, if I look hard enough!