Entries for the Royal Show

Tis that time of year again in Brisbane when the Ekka comes to town. The Ekka is the Agricultural Show when ‘country comes to the city’. It’s also the most competitive show in the State for Crafters. This year I’ve opted to enter three categories:

• Funky Fabrics and Wearable Art
• Christmas Decorations
• Childrens Toy

And for once, I’m actually somewhat organised.

So I thought I would share with you what I am making. The first is the Christmas decorations. Given many people celebrate ‘Christmas in July’ now is a good time to share with you my Burlap Christmas Trees.

Here’s the final product:

If I were displaying them around the home, I would probably sit them on top of wine or champagne glasses at varying heights, but for now, they are just sitting on the table.

To make, they are really simple. Take a large sheet of cardboard (I used old manilla folders) and roll them around using one corner as the point to form a cone shape.

Sticky tape the cone shape to hold in place, and trim the bottom with scissors so it is level.

Paint the cone with PVA glue. Lay on a corner of Burlap and roll to cover. Overlap the end about 1 cm then trim the burlap. You will need to apply more PVA to the Burlap where it overlaps so it sticks together.

Trim the Burlap at the top and then the bottom leaving a 2cm edge at the bottom. Then apply more PVA glue around the inside bottom edge and fold in the Burlap and glue down.

Once dry, you can then embellish with ribbons, sequins and beads using a hot glue gun to apply them.

As Burlap comes in so many great colours, you can make trees to suit any colour scheme. And the best part is how affordable they are. So if your celebrating Christmas in July, get busy with these Burlap Trees for your centrepiece, or you may like to get an early start on some fresh decorations for this Christmas.

Next week I’ll show you my funky fashion, wearable art entry.

New Tea Cup Pin Cushion for the Studio

Whilst my studio was completed almost 3 months ago now, I still find myself adding bits and pieces to it every week. This week I decided I needed a new Pin Cushion, as I have been storing my pins in a tupperware container for the past few years so they could be stored between projects. Now that I have a permanent studio where I can leave things out, it was the perfect time to create somewhere more permanent and user friendly to store my pins. So I created this cute little tea cup pin cushion.

It was so quick and easy to make. I had found three of these cups in a box of my Grandma’s things. The  matching saucers were missing, but I will continue to search thrift stores until I find a suitable replacement.

I cut a circle of Burlap about 10cm wider than the top of the cup.

I then inserted polyester stuffing into the cup and packed it down until it reached the top, so I knew how much I needed to fill the cup. I then took is out again and wrapped it loosely in the burlap circle.

I then inserted the whole bundle, open side down into the teacup.

I then glued the burlap in place to contain the stuffing using a hot glue gun, pushing it down into the cup as I worked my way around the edge. If I had of had a matching saucer, I would have used the hot glue gun to attach the cup to the saucer as well.

And voila! One practical and pretty pin cushion. I especially love that it’s a little reminder of my Grandma in my studio everyday, making it extra special!

Easter Egg Lavender Sachets – An alternate Easter gift

With Easter fast approaching, Burlap comes into it’s own. Burlap is the king of Easter. What could be a better fabric to celebrate Spring, Nature and New Life than Burlap. Not to mention the meaning of Lent and going without, the humble Burlap fabric is the perfect companion.

Easter Egg Burlap Lavender Sachets

Burlap Lavender Sachets are the perfect gift when you don’t want to give chocolate for Easter. These sweet little sachets can be hung in the wardrobe to keep your clothes smelling fresh and bug free all year round – and best of all not a calorie to be seen!

To create your lavender sachets cut two Egg shaped ovals (mines about 12cm high) of Burlap.

Two Egg Ovals

On one of the ovals of Burlap stitch rows of ribbon in complimentary shades and patterns.

Place Burlap Eggs right side together and insert a 15cm length of satin ribbon, folded in half, inside the top of the egg to form the hanger. Pin in place. Stitch around the circumference of the egg leaving a 5cm gap on the side.

Stitch around the circumference leaving an opening

Roll an A4 sheet of paper into a funnel and insert in gap in Burlap, fill egg with Lavender. Stitch opening closed.

Fill with Lavender

Fray the edges back to the stitching line. Your Lavender Easter Egg Sachets are now complete.

So quick, so affordable and so easy! The perfect Easter gift.

Burlap Wrapped Mason Jars great gift for Valentines, Mothers Day, Easter

These Burlap wrapped and stencilled mason jars were originally created for Valentines Day, but would be easy to adapt and use for Mothers Day, Easter or any other event.

Janis from Rust blog posted a great tutorial on how to create these gorgeous jars for Valentines Day. But I think they are too cute to save for Valentines and should be given more frequently throughout the year, so use your imagination and add and image or saying you like to create a special gift year round.

To get the low down on the ‘how to’ visit Janis’ blog Rust for the full tutorial, it’s super simple and makes for a fabulous last minute gift idea. Thankyou Janis for sharing such and adorable idea with us all!

Burlap Christmas Gift Tags

Things have been a little slow on the blogging front lately as all my attention has been turned to my new studio. Hopefully, all fingers crossed, it will be ready for Christmas and be the best Christmas present ever!

So my Burlap adventures have been curbed somewhat, however I couldn’t resist a little burlap for Christmas.

This year I decided to go with brown paper packaging tied up with string (these are a few of my favourite things!). So for the gift tags I made some simple Burlap tags.

Here’s the how to:

Cover a piece of A4 cardboard with spray adhesive and lay your burlap over the top. I then placed a piece of baking paper over the top and weighted the burlap down to make sure it sticks. I used a box of champagne bottles – after all it is Christmas time!

   

Once stuck down (about 15 minutes) I then trimmed the Burlap from the edges of the card and put the card into the guillotine and cut various random squares and rectangle. You could make them all even if you wanted to measure, but I think random adds to the charm.

I then took a stamp pad and red ink and stamped some stars and the word Joy on the burlap side of the tags. I also cut some stars from red burlap and using the spray adhesive, sprayed the stars and stuck on the tags. The stars also need to be weighted down.

Finally hole punch each tag and tie onto your presents.

Simple and beautiful.

Even the Chickens are Crazy about Burlap – a perfect laying bed!

In the June school holidays the boys convinced me to get some Chickens. We bought 4 Black Chickens from our local produce store all 5 weeks old. We had had chickens about 2 years ago so we already a hutch fitted out with 6 laying cabins which we thought would make a perfect home.
The chickens however had other ideas and since they were about 12 weeks old have continued to fly over the 6 ft fence everyday to explore the backyard. So we soon gave up on the fence concept and left the gate open so they could come and go as they pleased.

Anyway after several months of waiting for eggs we had come to the conclusion that they must be laying them in the garden somewhere. They boys and I have repeatedly searched every bush and garden bed in search of the eggs with no luck.

They are a friendly bunch of chickens and regularly come up into the house looking for food. So last week when my Mother in Law mentioned there was one on the back table I didn’t think anything of it.
Later that day we noticed there was an egg on the table. Hooray finally our first egg!!

What was even funnier, was that I had recently been cutting Burlap for a sewing project and got distracted. So I had left the Burlap in a pile on the table. They chicken obviously thought that was the perfect place for her first egg and laid it right on top of the Burlap!

Two days later she returned and laid another one. So we left it there thinking the others might get the hint, and sure enough two days later we were rewarded with another 2 eggs!

So if your looking for something to line you laying areas with, I highly recommend Burlap. It’s a natural fibre, and nice and soft, making it the perfect lining.

We have now replaced the Burlap pile with a small container filled with some Burlap. This way slowly over time we can move them further away from the house. But for now we are enjoying free eggs delivered daily to our back door table!

Silverware Caddy Tutorial

I recently stopped by the lovely Mary Beth’s Blog Cupcakes and Crinoline. She had created the most delightful Silverware Caddy. 

Mary Beth lined a metal tub with some Burlap to safely store her Silverware in. I just fell in love immediately. To get the low down on how to create your own follow this link to her tutorial.

Inspired by her tutorial I set out to create my own.

 I thought it would be just perfect to store on the kitchen bench near the dishwasher. After each load just refill the tub with cutlery, and then at mealtimes for casual family dining just take the whole tub and put in the centre of the table so everyone can choose their own. It’s pretty enough to actually make the table look better, and it’s easier for Mum (gotta love that!).

So here’s how I went….

I couldn’t find my metal tubs, but I did have an old stone vase. I made my decorative flowers from cream jute webbing.

It was such a quick craft and I think a really practical one. We just keep it in the middle of the dining table so everyone can help themselves at each meal.

P.S. I will feature a how to on the flowers on my next post, as they are easier to show by demonstrating so I have put a little video together as a how to – just need to upload.