Craft Challenge With Abakhan

When I heard Abakhan were looking for some crafty bloggers to take on a craft challenge, I couldn't wait to get in touch with them and hear more about it. The idea was for crafters to showcase what items can be made on a reasonably low budget, and lets face it, not many of us have mucho extra cash floating about in this current climate. I am one who also likes to get as much as I can out of my hard earned pennies. Abakhan kindly signed me up and I found myself heading over to their website with a £15 credit to spend....

I love shopping for haberdashery, fabrics and trimmings etc and it is never a chore for me so I had great fun choosing what items I would get with my £15, and also what I would make. I first decided on a theme for my makes and of course it had to be the Queen's Jubilee. After some very careful planning and choosing, all in all for my £15 I purchased 27, yes 27 separate items. I made sure I spent every single penny and was delighted at what arrived....

    

I chose....

1 metre UJ fabric

3 squares of felt ( red, white, blue )

4 UJ buttons

3 plain buttons ( red,white,blue)

UJ ribbon

Stripe ribbon (red,white,blue)

Ric rac (red,white,blue)

White elastic

Pom pom trim ( red)

Jubilee lacing cord ( red,white,blue)

White cotton tape

Spun paper balls (8)

Cotton thread (white)

A really inspiring selection I thought for the Jubilee celebrations, and I wanted to make some little items for all my family to enjoy on Jubilee day. Many of the items were purchased within Abakhan's Great Britain section and being the thrifty gal I am, one or two items were at clearance prices too. Firstly I made some traditional Union Jack bunting and as the print in the UJ fabric I purchased was quite large I cut out some rectangles and sewed them along the white cotton tape. I was really pleased with it and I have to say is already up in my home, helping us get in the jubilee mood....

 Next up I wanted to make a pretty UJ inspired necklace with the spun balls, so quickly wizzed up a fabric tube with a long piece of the UJ fabric, popped each spun ball in, tied a knot and so on and so on until I was left with this little number....

I love it, and it really does add a splash of colour to my outfit. Miss. Poppins decided she would like a special little bag to carry her things around in when she goes to her Jubilee party at school and was eager to make it herself. Using some of the UJ fabric, UJ ribbon for the handles and the red pom pom trim for some pretty detailing, I was very proud when she came up with this....

I wanted to make a pretty and colourful corsage for my mum, and so with some of the red, white and blue felt, and one of the UJ buttons, I made this generous sized one....

And what did Master P want, a little tooth pouch. He lost his first milk tooth not long ago and seems to have many wobbly ones right now and he wanted a little bag/pouch to put the next one in. So it rests on his bedside table awaiting the next tooth....

And for the man of the house, he simply asked for one of these....

Zzzzzzzz....

So with not a big budget at all, many crafty things can be made and I have yet to use up all the craft ingredients. I have more ideas of what to make and I really am a fan of Abakhan, in fact I remember going with my own mum when I was a little girl, so if you are indeed of a crafty nature you should head over and see what they have to offer in store and online. .

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Disclosure: I was given a £15 credit to spend on Abakhan's website for the purposes of this blog post. 

Pretty Fabric Covered Pin Board Tutorial

Whilst I was feeling a little crafty I decided to make another fabric covered pin board. These are quite easy to make, don't take much time at all and I think make perfect gifts for friends and loved ones. This time I thought I would take photographs as I go to share with you how you yourself could whip one up....

Gather your ingredients:

Cheap pin board ( mine came from Tesco ) 

( Pretty ) Fabric to cover front of board with spare to fold over the back edge to staple 

Wadding to cover front of board with spare to fold over the back edge to staple

Ribbon

Drawing pins ( I used map pins )

Tacks/pins and string to hang ( optional )

Fabric glue and calico/similar ( If you want to cover the back ) 

Staple Gun 

Measurements of fabric and ribbon etc shall of course depend on what size pin board you have, mine measures approximately 16 x 24 inches. So, I think it is time for some photographs yes? 

One rather bland looking pin board....

Measure enough fabric ( I used my prettiest Greengate fabric ) and wadding to cover the front and also to fold over the edges....

 Then fold over an equal amount all the way around the pin board, pull quite taut and staple in place....

 You really don't have to make it look too neat and tidy as this shall be the back and like me you can always cover it up with some calico or similar fabric. Once you have finished stapling gather your ribbon....

As I was using my ribbon from a roll I just roughly measured and cut to size as I went. So measure out your first X mark with ribbon going from one corner to the other....

And then staple in place at the back....

Continue with the stapling of your ribbon. You can be super accurate and measure out even gaps in between each length but for me I just measured roughly as I went. I also found it worthwhile popping a pin at each cross point on the edges of the pin board to keep the ribbon safely in place and you don't notice them when you have finished....

You should then finish with something that resembles this. Pop your drawing pins/map pins carefully in place and be careful too as the sharp point can pop through to the back if you push to hard, I just flattened the backs with a hammer..... 

Pretty huh, you can then choose whether you want to cover the back for a tidy finish....

You can display your pretty things horizontally or vertically....

Oh hang on, we need some pretty things....

I would love to know if you make one, do come back and let me know if you do :)

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One Unfinished Job Finished

I wonder sometimes why I am absolutely fantastic at starting little makeovers/jobs etc around the home, yet am absolutely rubbish at finishing them. Please tell me I am not the only one who has this trait. Take Master Poppins' feature wall in his attic bedroom. I was brilliant at getting the Cath Kidston wallpaper out and started wallpapering with gusto and enthusiasm. As the room has a round window in it, it became quite a difficult task getting past that window, lots of workings out and careful cutting. If any of you have ever wallpapered around a round window, you shall understand. Anyway a couple of widths before the end of the wall I just flaked out and had had enough. Yes I know, why give up a job nearly done, daft isn't it. But there we are.

Anyway he has had a big gap behind his bed for longer that I wish to admit, until today. As he was relaxing on the couch as he is off school under the weather with a bad cough I cracked on, mixed my paste, cut two lengths of wallpaper to size and did it. I actually finished the job I had set out to do yonks ago. It looks so much better and of course I am cross I didn't finish it sooner, as it really didn't take long at all....

Now to crack on with the other trillion things left unfinished ;)

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