Ding Dong the Bells are going to Chime - Home Made Dress for a Wedding

My little brother got married a couple of weeks ago in VEGAS! We all had the most amazing holiday and I couldn't be happier for them but before I write my post with all the crafty things I made for their wedding I wanted to ease myself back in with a simple post about the dress I made myself for their big day

note: the back picture was taking before I painted the diamonds on the dress

So the pattern I used is a Vogue Pattern and I picked mine up at Remnant Kings but you can get yours on sites like Ebay if you don't have the same store near by

I also bought my material at remnant kings - 5 meters of this Light Mint Cotton (although think I only used about 4 meters for the dress). This pattern isn't easy peasy but I have very limited sewing machine skills and managed to knock it up in a day so it can't be too bad!

Once I finished the dress, I made a diamond shape with my Cricut software (check out my cricut projcets page for the diamond template) and then I printed out 3 different sizes of the diamond on vinyl and laid it onto lino blocks to make a stamp like this tutorial

I then used my white fabric paint on the lino block and then printed diamonds in a triangle formation at the bottom of the dress, largest at bottom getting smaller as they go up. In retrospect the white paint didn't work very well with the lino block and I had to go over a lot of it with a paint brush - so I'd probably use proper lino paint if you have time to buy some. I also took the smallest diamond and placed one near the top of my dress, painting two lines out of it so it looked like a diamond necklace.


To finish of the dress, I look a piece of lace and hand-sewed it round the middle of the dress.



I love the final result and I hope you do to - it just shows that you should judge a pattern based on the image you see on the front, there is so much you can do to it if you use a little imagination!!!

I'll be back,

Cricut Projects

I'm getting into my Cricuting grove and I've made a few projects from the basic shapes to show you guys it's not as hard to make your own as you might think!

Now don't get me wrong, I'm up for buying their digital image packs but only if there are a lot of images in the pack I want - but when there is just that oooooone image you want, is it really worth that £30 price tag!?!? Well maybe if you are mass producing an item but not if you like to do lots of one of items like me.

So here you are you lucky ducks - not only do you not need to buy these images, you also don't need to make them from scratch, best of both worlds. Just download the files by clicking on the links below and then on the download button or arrow

To import them into your Cricut craft room, click on file, then open and you should see an import option at the bottom

I use Cricut Craft Room for my Cricut mini so if you use the same then please click on my large links above the images. However, for those using design space, I've also attempted to make an .svg vector file so you can import it as well, which is the small link below the image. Some of my files would not convert into .svg but I've done my best to support both.

I've worked hard on these images and I'm happy for you guys to use them for personal projects but

PLEASE NO NOT USE THEM FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS!

Get in contact by emailing me on craftalavista@gmail.com if you would like to use it for a commercial project and we can discuss

Nerd

Design Space File - nerd.svg

Diamonds

Design Space File -diamond.svg

Pop Up Box Card - Instructions & Templates (.ccr and .svg)

Superhero Face (SVG file ONLY!!!)

Ten Sided Yin Yang Globe

About to Pop Baby Shower Decorations

Cat

I have done this image in layers so that you can cut out on different coloured card

Design Space Files - cat.svg

The .svg file has the same shapes, just in black and white, so you can still put the shapes on different layers to cut out the correct colour

Superhero

I have done this image in layers so that you can cut out on different coloured card

Design Space Files - superhero.svg

The .svg doesn't have the same amount of detail but I think it still looks good in the black and white

Love Birds

Design Space Files - LoveBirds.svg

Penguins Mate for Life

Design Space Files - Penguins.svg 

(the eyes didn't appear on the .svg file but just take two small circles and put them in the eye positions)

Birthday

Design Space Files -birthday.svg

Bicycle

Design Space Files - bicycle.svg

Peacock

Wedding Image

Design Space Files - WeddingCake.svg

Rose

Design Space Files - petals.svg     leaves.svg

Shine bright like a diamond - with home made diamond soap!

I have a friend who's name inspired my newest bathroom beauty! Ms Tatum Diamond (I know - it's an awesome name) is my bezzie London mate and fellow crafter / artist! She's always a ray of sunshine in my life so both her personality and name are shining through in this diamond soap I've made for her

What you will need:

Clear melt and pour soap

Essential Oil - I got mine from Essential Oils Direct on Amazon for super cheap

 Fine glitter

Diamond silicon tray

Small heat proof tub if you want to make the larger bar of soap

Plastic wrap

Step 1

Melt your soap down like I showed you on the Voodoo Doll soap tutorial!

Step 2

Add the glitter to the soap. How much you put in depends on how glittery you want your soap to be. I only put in a little to begin with and once my soap has set I noticed that all the glitter had drifted to the bottom - that's fine though as you can just put it back in your melting bowl and add more glitter before trying again.

I also added some orange & ginger essential oil so make the soap smell lovely and fresh.

Step 3

Pour the soap into the mould. I made sure the soap goes right to the top and I used the blunt end of a knife to take the bubbles off the top so that the soap sets clear. 

You can also apparently spray a little rubbing alcohol on the top of your soap to remove the bubble but I didn't have any in the house to try this.

You can put your soap in the freezer for 15 mins or so to help quicken the setting process but don't leave it in for too long or your soap will sweat. 

Step 4

Once set, remove the soap from it's mould and you will have your own soap diamond!

Make sure the soap is solid all the way through before taking them out - The first one I tried had only set on top and when I tried to squeeze it out, the soap spurted all over the kitchen. whoops...

Optional Steps

Step 5

I wanted to make 1 large bar of soap rather than lots of mini ones, so I melted down some more clear soap and added it to a small container which is pre-covered with plastic wrap so you can easily pull your soap out.

You want to get the plastic wrap in without it being all liney as it will put creases in your soap. the easiest way I've found to do this is by laying the plastic wrap over the top and pressing it down slightly before filling the container slowly with water - this makes the plastic wrap stick round the sides. Scrunch up all the remaining plastic wrap round the outside and then pour the water out so that it is now ready for the soap

One the soap is in the container and you have left it to set for a few minutes, carefully place your diamonds inside. The reason why I leave it to set a little is so the diamonds don't sink right to the bottom of the soap, instead sitting nicely in the middle. 

Step 6

Leave the soap to set (again you can put it in the freezer). Press down on it gently and see if it is still squidgy - you want it to be a little soft but you don't want there to be any liquid that hasn't set in the middle otherwise when you remove it from the container your soap might burst open and you will get air bubbles inside, like you can see in the photo below.

Remove the soap from the container before it fully sets solid and sit it out to set until completely firm. 

Step 7

Package your soap up and give it you the friend that adds a bit of sparkle to your life!

I'll be back,