Let summer begin

 Let's talk cars, or rather car air fresheners. Many moons ago when I first bought my heat press and sublimation printer I bought a few of these air freshener blanks to make my own. Of course me being me I think I made one and lined it up wrong and didn't bother using the blanks again.  With summer on the way I decided it was time to brighten up the car and change the scent too. 

I grabbed what was needed, downloaded and printed out with sublimation ink and grabbed my blanks. Errands had to be run and grandchildren picked up from school so it was later in the evening before the project got finished.

It made things so much easier to just have it all prepared and ready to go. Maybe that's the key for me, being prepared and not feeling to overwhelmed. 

All that was left to do was line up the images either side of the blanks and attach them with heat tape.  This was a little fiddly and took a little while but well worth the couple of minutes playing to get them lined up.

Into the heatpress for 50 seconds a side and they came out beautifully, I grabbed the palm tree one and infused it with parma violet oil and it smells devine.  And really did the job of brightening up the car.  So come on summer we are ready for you!

The print files were from Design bundles here and here and the air freshener blanks were from Amazon.

They are great for rooms and wardrobes not just cars.  I have had a wonderful branded one in my downstairs bathroom for a while now and will replace it soon with one I make up. Fragrance oils, perfumes and essential oils are all useable.  Of course be careful to not get them on your skin and keep away from children etc.  Fun fairly quick project.

Day 1 of crafting not endlessly surfing complete.

Let's drop the wasted time and create

It's been a fair while since I last seriously blogged. I've tried youtube and tiktok and realised I am not comfortable on a camera. I am not to good at putting myself forward. However, I craft because I love to do it and because I'm spending hours on Pinterest or losing hours watching others craft I haven't crafted as much as I enjoy doing. 

Today I cleared my desk and will start a fresh.  My bullet journal to hand for planning and lets see how far I get. 

For those of you who don't know me I identify as a multicrafter, Anything that takes my fancy on the day is what usually gets played with.  Everything from embroidery, sewing, papercrafts to crafts with a cricut, and many others. Love to bake and cook too.

My plan so far is to drop hours of scrolling through media and using that time to plan, oraganise and actually craft. I have a facebook page and will update there and here. Who's with me? Can you clear a space, grab thr nearest project that is half finished or start a new one you've been planning for ages?  Put some music on, a film in the background or an audiobook and just lose yourself to the joy of crafting instead of just scrolling endlessly

Things I learned over a few years crocheting

A few years ago I finally worked out how to crochet. These granny stripe blankets were all the rage at the time. Me bring me I jumped right in and decided to use up my odds and ends I had and do a single bed size blanket. Did I manage it? Nope! But I did learn so much as I went along. 

1. Not all yarn weights are the same over different brands or even colours 
2. Starting smaller wouldn’t of had me looking guiltily at this project every time I saw it
3. That pretty yarn with the sparkly lurex thread is a pain to rip out and gets caught up and breaks if I’m not fully paying attention
4. My ability to count to 3 is not as good as I thought it was. I have a few 2’s and 4’s in groups instead of a group if 3 here and there
5. The randomness of the colours look a lot better than I thought they would 
6. My granddaughter seems to think every time she sees me working on something that it’s for her :-)
7. Working on a project this big sucks big chunks of time. When I craft I tend to watch a series or listen to audiobooks. I’ve watched and listened to a lot while working on this 
8. Keep a looser tension when doing the foundation chain or it will curve and not be as long as you need it to be
9. Weave your ends in as you go. The pile below is what I weaved in today

                

10. I’ve loved every minute 

I may add a border later to even put my wonky edges. This blanket is a perfect size for snuggling up on the sofa with. I’m so glad a persevered and kept going. Even though I’ve improved my crochet and am more advanced I wanted to finish this and display it proudly on the back of a sofa ready for the cold evenings to snuggle under. 

What have you learned lately. 

Fabric flowers

On Sunday I took a zoom class with Clare Mackaness from Beautiful Things. You can find her on youtube and Facebook or her website. I love how Clare makes everything achievable and fun. She teaches crafts, sewing and crochet to name a few things I’ve learned from her. Definitely recommend her if you are looking for something to learn online. 

The flower was made with circles of fabric, some machine sewing and some hand sewing. It could all be done by hand if you don’t have a sewing machine though. 

A button is used to finish it off and hot glue or fabric glue also comes into play. I yet again survived using my glue gun. Some days I just impress myself 😁 

I used a hair alligator clip to finish it off and for it to be able to wear it. In fact I put it in my hair and forgot it was there until I got ready for bed that night. 

A very fun class that leaves me ready to grab some of my scrap fabrics to make more. It’s and excellent project to use up scraps and odd pretty buttons we keep hold of. Great coordination items to go with home made items. Or even up cycling some well worn favourite clothes. 

After my last craft failure it was great to do something that worked well and came out well. Thanks Clare