Homemade Cat Tree

Our Cat Lemmy is always diving all over the place but always on places he should be going so we decided to make him a cat tree so that he could go up, without being told to get down!

Originally we were going to buy one from the shops but they are soooo expensive and never in colours that go with your decor so I got designing and before we knew it we had bought everything we need for it and got to work.

What you will need:

Plank of wood

black paint

twine - we used this bakers divine twine (2 rolls) to get a black and white effect but you can use any

shelves - we got ours from homebase and used 2 small, 1 medium and 1 large

doormat or rug - we got a long floor runner for cheap from The Range (pic used on the website is wrong)

Velcro

Glue gun

No more nails

Drill, Raw Plugs & Screws

Fabric storage box - Optional (again we got ours from The Range)

Step 1 - Scratching post

I got a large plank of wood that was long enough to reach from my roof to the floor and started by painting it black then leaving it over night to dry. I then took the no more nails and used a paint brush to cover a 20cm section of the wood, then wrapped the twine round the wood, on top of the no more nails. Repeat this step until you run out of twine.

I also had a section at the bottom of the wood where I had ran out of twine so I cut a small strip of my rug and used my glue gun to attach it to the remaining piece of wood. You could choose to do this all the way down if you don't want to use twine.

Step 2 - The Shelves

I took the mat I bought and cut it so it was the same shapes as the tops of my shelves.

I then glued Velcro in each corner of the shelves and left to dry (which doesn't take long if you use a glue gun). I stuck the other side of the Velcro on top and put a bit of glue on top of each, then quickly placing the mat on top of the shelf and press down. Once dry you can remove the mat from the shelf and re-attach any time you need to clean it.

Tip: don't use too much glue otherwise it will go over the sides of your Velcro and you won't be able to un-stick it later

Step 3 - Assemble the Cat Tree

We took the scratching post and placed it at an angle on the corner of the room then using a couple of drawing pins, we pinned it in place so it didn't fall down for the time being

We then measured where each of the shelves needed to go so that our cat could step in between them and we also made sure the were right up against the scratching post so that when drilled in place then post can't move and you can remove the pins.

The only shelf we didn't do next to the post as the small one second from the top - we did this one out a bit more so it was easier for him to position himself onto the top shelf.

Step 4 - Hiding Space

Lemmy loves hiding in cardboard boxes so we always feel bad about throwing them out. I wanted to incorporate this into his Cat Tree but thought just sticking a cardboard box on it would look messy so we bought this small fabric box and glued Velcro on the bottom, then filled it with cardboard and packaging paper. you can then use the Velcro to attach it to any shelf you want and can easily take it off if you cat doesn't like it or you want to clean the mats. When we had finished he jumped straight in this box and didn't come out until I cooked Chicken later on that night!

Hope your cat loves it as much as ours does!

I'll be back,

Tetris Chest of Drawers

I bought a set of drawers months ago from Ikea and spent ages deciding how to paint them. Every time I looked at them the shape reminded me of a game of tetris but I didn't think all the bright colours would go in my living room. Then it hit me - why do I need to stick to the traditional colours and then this idea was born!

What you will need:

Ikea PS 2012 chest of drawers

acrylic paint (white, black and red) - I got mind from poundland

Pencil

Ruler

Step 1

Take all the handles off your chest of drawers

Step 2 

Measure out your squares and draw them on your drawers. I had to make mine slightly more rectangular than square so that there wasn't any gaps on the drawer. You can use the same pattern as me or make up your own. If you want to use mine then just split the length and height of the drawer by the number of squares I've used in that space.

Step 3 

Paint your base coat colours on the squares until the front of your drawers are covered. I added white to the black to get the lighter grey colour and black to the red so that I had enough shades.

Step 4

Now for the tricky bit - doing the shading. For each of your base shades you need 3 colours to do the shading:

• One very light one (used on the top side)
• One not as light as the first but still lighter than your base coat (used on the left side)
• One darker than the base coat (used on the bottom and right sides)

I painted all the tops of that certain base coat first and then added a tiny bit of black to made it darker for all the left hand sides, before adding even more to make the other two sides, making sure that you paint the corners at an angle so they all join up together evenly.

I started out trying to draw all the shading on before painting it but I got bored and realised that my paint brash width gave me the desired effect so I just used that.

Step 5

Paint a thin black line round the outside of your tetris shape blocks (not the individual squares) and use the rest of your black paint to cover the rest of the drawers and handles.

Step 6

Screw the handles back in, then step back and admire your handy work before putting all your junk back on it!

I use mine as a TV cabinet as my TV is mounted on the wall so it looks like it's floating just above it and it's great for hiding DVDs and the Xbox (which fits in the tall cupboard on the right)

I'll be back,

Paper Rose Template

I has lucky enough to stumble on an amazing blog last month which is full of wonderful craft ideas

Elli is a fabulous shop for invitations and stationary and they also run a blog which is jam packed of tutorials and inspiration

One of my favourite tutorials on her site is paper rose. I have tried plenty of paper flowers in the past but this is by far the simplest and with gorgeous results.

They have already supplied you with easy to use PDF templates to print these out but if lie me and your scissor skills are not up to par then I have creates a Cricut project which will let your machine do all the hard work so all you need to do is put it together

There are 2 layers to this template - one for the petals and one for the leaves, so that you can cut them out of different colour paper/card. The petals layer makes 1 rose but the leaves layer makes 6 so if you are making multiple flowers you only need to cut out one leave layer for every 6 petal layers. I you only want to make one then just delete the spare leaves that you don't need and they won't be cut out. As for how to put this template together - head over to Elli.com for a step by step tutorial that is as simple as peas!

I've made a first attempt with some white card and it turned out not too bad if I do say so myself, so I'm looking forward to trying out some different colours!

and if you are using Cricut Design space then here are the .svg files for you!

   

Again I would like to give a massive thanks to Elli for the inspiration

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

Printed Loveheart Bunting

I love lovehearts, so when I got my Cricut Machine and saw this design for this heart I knew I had to make something from it.

This tutorial will take you through the template you need, how to make the lino stamp and also how to create the bunting so its a bargain 3 for 1 tutorial!!! 

What you need:

Cricut Machine & Folk Arts Festival template (or craft knife if  you don't have a cricut)

Sticky vinyl

Lino

Lino cutting tool

Super glue

Off cut of wood

Black ink

Small sheet of glass (I used a photo frame)

Rolling pin

Lino brayer roller

Linen

Hessian

Sewing Machine

Step 1 - Cut out your template

Using the online Cricut cutting room you can either create your own template or purchase ready made ones. I bought the folksy one as it has a really lovely font and lots of cute images. I loaded up my black vinyl on the cutting board and set it to the vinyl recommended settings.

Depending on how old your cricut mat is, might mean that the picture starts pealing away while it's cutting - this won't cause an issue unless a lifted piece catches the cutting knife and starts dragging it around. If this happens be ready to press stop on your computer screen quickly.

Step 2 - Cut your lino stamp

I then took my cut out vinyl design and placed it on top of a piece of cutting lino, after peeling the protective backing off. Once your sticker is stuck to the lino you can begin to cut it using your lino cutting tools (For those in Scotland, I learned how to do this at Edinburgh contemporary crafts). Once finished, your just remove the vinyl and your stamp is ready to go. 

Step 3 - Mounting your stamp (optional)

As an extra step I mounted my stamp on a block of wood with super glue so that when I was rolling ink on it I knew it was always on a flat surface and off of the floor/table. This is a step you don't need if you have a protective surface under your stamp.

Step 4 - Cut out your bunting

Take your Linen material and cut out a flag shape, which is big enough to fit your stamp. Then take the Hessian material and cut the same flag shape but slightly larger so that it acts as a border. Leave a slightly larger border at the top so you can fold it over later

Repeat this step until you are happy with the length of your bunting

Step 5 - Stamp your image

Put a little ink onto your glass - I used an old photo frame I had lying around. Then take your Lino brayer roller and roll it in the ink before rolling it across the top of your stamp.

Place the linen material on top and then roll on top of it with a rolling pin or glass for an even finish.

Step 6 - Sew your bunting flags

Pin your linen flags to your larger Hessian counterparts and then sew round the edge of each pair to attach them together. Remember to leave that larger border gap at the top!

Step 7 - Create bunting

Turn your flags over and one but one start dewing them to your twine. To do this I placed the twine near the top of the flag before folding it over on top of the twine and then sew the material in place.

Step 8 - Hang your bunting

Happily hang your bunting for everyone to admire and be dead chuffed with yourself! I know I was :)

I'll be back,

Cricut Mini Review

This month I bought a Cricut Mini and I've been having so much fun coming up with things to cut out. There are definite pros and cons to this little beauty though so I'm going to walk you through what I like and don't like before you go buy your own.

What is a Cricut?

Cricut's are die cutting machines which let you create an image on your computer and then the machine cut's it out for you. This is great for when you want to cut out the same designs multiple times or when you are looking to cut something too intricate for your craft knife cutting skills.

Software

Cricut's Craft Room software is the worst part of this machine for me. Not only do you not get to draw your own designs from scratch, but I've also found it slow and clunky to use. Don't get me wrong  - if you buy templates from Cricut and use those as is then it works perfectly but when you start getting arty this is where the problems lie.

As I mentioned you can't draw from scratch but you can weld shapes together to make designs. The Cricut mini comes with a basic font and geometric shapes - I've played around with these shapes and you can make your own designs from them but it can be quite time consuming and sometimes frustrating when it doesn't weld the way you want or freezes. So far I've manged to make a wedding cake, 3d paper flower templates, and a bicycle from the shapes supplied so it's not impossible to do your own images and save a bit of cash.

Cutting Mat

The mat used to feed the paper into the machine becomes unsticky very quickly and this can lead to problems when cutting out your deign. you can buy more mats at about £5 each but this will get costly over time. I've also seen tutorials on refurbishing your mat but I am yet to try this and apparently it can void your warranty.

Cutting Ability

I have tried cutting out different materials with the Cricut -some are easier than others and it's not always obvious about what cutting settings should be set. The machine will guide you at a high level of what settings should be used but sometimes this guide still means you end up with cuts in your mat or gaps in your design. On the whole I've been able to cut out some pretty intricate designs and as long as the paper is stuck well to the mat then it does a good job at cutting it out but I have had a few disasters already.

Size

The mini is the "light weight" version of the more advanced cutters in the range. I was able to pack it in my small suitcase and travel with it down to London but it isn't what I would call light. However looking at the other machines available there are not many you would be able to travel with so it isn't all that bad.

Price

The Cricut mini is one of the lowest price die cutters you will find at roughly £99. I found a trick to make it even cheaper for those bargain hunters out there (For those in the UK)

• Go to www.quidco.com and search for Hobbycraft
• Currently you get 10% off anything from Hobbycraft when you go through Quidco
• On the Hobbycraft website, scroll down to the bottom of the page and sign up for their Craft Club which will email you a 15% off code

• Go back to the Hobbycraft site and then put the Cricut machine in your basket
• At checkout enter the promo code to get 15% off your first order
• You will end up getting both  the money off vouchers applied giving you a total of £25 off the price ( although it will be £15 at the time and £10 cash back at a later date)

Overall

I think you get what you pay for with the Cricut Mini. It is not the best die cutter on the market but for the price and the size I think it makes a great first machine to play around with before splashing out on a more costly device.

The major downside is the fact that you can't draw images free hand and need to pay extra for each set of templates you buy. This is probably good for people who don't want to spend a lot of time drawing themselves but I don't like to be so restricted. However I have liked the challenge of making my own templates from the free shapes they give you and I will export my designs to this blog so that you guys can use them as well. You can download them from this page

Overall I would give it 3/5

I'll be back,