2014 - What a Blast!!!!

New nephew, new tattoo, newly weds, painted tigers, joint birthdays, MOD photography, Hellfesting, TV premiers, baby showers, screaming in the middle of the street once I found out my friends are having twins, musical bingo, new hair, not saying goodbye at leaving parties, road trips, new sisters, bridesmaid for my sister from another mister, pirate parties, Marge Simpson hair, lots of punk gigs, geeking out, celebrating 12 years of love, Lady Gagaing with my maw, meeting baby Ella and toilet roll snowmen 

2014 you have rocked my socks off and there have been too many happy times to name them all but I want to thank all my friends and family for making this year so special.

I also want to thanks all of you guys for supporting me through my new crafty adventures

At the start of last year I made a new years resolution to learn a new craft every month and for once, I managed to stick to a resolution...ok so December is a bit of a cheat but I tried new techniques I hadn't previously used so I am still counting that as a win!

Now I know some months are a little light on tutorials at the moment. I have the photos ready to go and just need to start putting pen to paper, so I promise even though it's a new year there is still some of 2014 to appear on your screens.

I ended the year on a real high when a few of us at work got together to organise a "Make your own Christmas Bauble Lunch" to raise money for a local children's charity. We raised £180 which will also be matched by my day job company (Sky) to bring the total to £360. Not only did I make some new crafty friends in the office, but I'm over the moon that we could use our skills to help buy children, who would normally go without during the festive period, some Christmas gifts.

So what's in store for 2015, I hear you ask? 

Well you may remember my boyfriend and I started a crafty alphabet challenge but unfortunately, because of all of the weddings, baby showers and other party organising, we didn't have much time left over to give this our full attention.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about then here's the haps:
Basically we put each letter of the alphabet into a cup and whimsically pulled out a letter from the cup when we were bored. We would both create something beginning with letter and I would put them up on my site for you to see

So this year we are starting afresh, 26 letters and counting - who knows, it might even get competitive....

Anything else?

Well that would be telling wouldn't it! I have a few things in the pipeline which hopefully you will see more of this year but I'm not giving anything away yet

Thanks again my little beauties. You have kept my year full of joy and I'm hoping this is the start of something amazing!

I'll be back,

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,

Bring your photographs to life

As you may has got by now I love photographs and this tutorial by Ashley Ann made me smile so much! I love the idea of personalising a lampshade with my friends and family.

  Photo lampshade by Ashley Ann

After a bit more digging I found some more tutorials for something similar:

                        

             Photo lampshade by Somedaycrafts       Film slide lampshade by PetaPixel

          

             Scenic photo lampshade by Fototiller             Photo lampshade by Susan Wasinger

Out of all of them though, this one is the simplest so if you are looking for one that is quick and easy then this is the tutorial for you

Photo lampshade by seventeen

I'll be back xx