handmade kris kringle swap

Christmas is approaching fast and my xmas to do list is growing by the minute... yikes!! But I can cross one thing off the list... I have completed my gift for the handmade kris kringle swap!

I actually killed two birds with one stone... so to speak :) I made two little birds, one for my giveaway and one for the handmade kris kringle swap!

:: two birds
(one for giveaway and one for kris kringle swap)

I really enjoyed making these... hand dying the fabric with tea bags, cutting the stencils and doing all the screen printing... phew!! Quite a bit of work but well worth it... I'm so please with how they turned out!! I'm looking forward to sending them off into the world!

So now onto the next project softies for mirabel... among many other things :)

Have you entered my giveaway... don't miss out :)

Happy Friday everyone... xxx

my creative space: 100th post and a giveaway

this giveawway is now closed...

thank you to everyone who entered :)

It's my 100th post ... Woo Hoo!!! I thought I would have my first little giveaway to celebrate and say thank you for the wonderful support you have given me in my creative adventures on this blog... we are so lucky to have such a great little supportive and inspiring creative blog community! I am truely grateful... thank you xxx

In the midst of doing all my crazy screen printing this week... I have managed to squeeze in some screen printing for this giveaway!

So... you could win either a screen printed "home sweet home" linen tea towel or

:: home sweet home. please excuse the terrible lighting
due to grey and rainy day here in Sydney.

a "bird in the hand" softie which has been hand dyed, screen printed and handmade, using this pattern  :)

:: a bird in the hand

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below and let me know which one you would like a chance to win (or try for either.. if you fancy)  Please leave an email address so I can contact you :)

Everyone can enter... Australia, international and also friends and family! The giveaway is open until Wednesday, 30th November, 2011 midnight AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time). The two winners will be randomly drawn on Thursday,1st December 2001 - from a bowl by the fingers of my little man and then results posted on this blog!

Thanks again for all your wonderful support... I really appreciate all your lovely comments and kind words! 

Good luck everyone :)
lamina xxx

Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are loads more creative people over at our creative spaces...

a little bit busy...

Just popped in to say hi... I'm a very busy bee at the moment and haven't had a lot of time for blogging!  I'm trying to cram as much into my day as humanly possible! I have just a "FEW" things on my plate... mainly screen printing, some orders (tea towels and little people t-shirts) from friends, kris kringle swap and softies for mirabel... and there is more... a little surprise later this week :) I am giving myself a deadline of 3rd Dec to get everything done so then I can concentrate on the Christmas craziness :)

Here are just a few photos of what I've been up to... phew!!

:: feather arrow stencil
(I had a sore finger after cutting all this out!)

:: screen printing feather arrows 

:: screen printing tea towels

:: screen printing flowers

Hmmm... seems to be a lot of red happening :)
Hope you are having a great week so far!

softies and tea bag dying

I really need to get on with my next project kris kringle swap... time is getting away from me and I hate leaving things to the last minute! I couldn't believe my luck when I saw this book sitting on the shelf at the library....hop skip jump by Fiona Dalton! It is such a gorgeous little book, with loads of softies to make, patterns and really easy construction instructions! :)

For the swap I'm going to make the sweet little "bird in the hand" and do some screen printing for it too!

:: bird in the hand

I needed to get some linen for this project but I haven't been able to find exactly what I'm looking for... but I remembered I had some heavy-ish white cotton from Ikea in my stash and thought it would be perfect if only it was more off white... then in a light bulb moment in my head... tea bag dying!  I have never done it before but thought it can't be that hard! I looked it up in the Internet and it's actually super easy!

A couple of tea bags in a pot of boiled water and let it steep for a bit and then take tea bags out. Soak the fabric in water before putting into the tea dye pot. Stir the fabric around for a few minutes or longer - depending on how dark you want it. Rinse in cold water and voila!  Apparently different teas will give you slightly different colours too! Too easy... Love it!

:: big pot of brown tea and fabric

I dyed a couple of test pieces first just to check the colour!

:: original colour on the right

I am so happy with the result, it is exactly what I wanted! Now I don't have to go traipsing around the shops! Hooray! You can't really see much of a difference but it is quite a bit more off white!  I can't wait to do some screen printing on it now!

:: the finished piece of fabric - original colour on the right

Hope you are having a great weekend... I'm off to do a spot of screen printing :)

my creative space: it can work out for the better...

Sometimes things just go wrong but it can all works out in the end! I really loved the grey and red chevron fat quarter I screen printed for the fabric swap but when I went to iron it to set the fabric ink, some odd red ink marks appeared from the iron onto the fabric... arghhh!! I know you can't really see the marks that much but I can and me being a bit of a perfectionist, I just couldn't send it as it is! I was pretty frustrated.. grrrr!

:: bad marks!

So yesterday morning I got busy and made a new fat quarter of the bold red poppy-ish flowers that I created on the weekend on some white quilting cotton.

:: screen printing flowers

:: hand stamping flower centers

I hope the recipient will like it! I actually feel much happier sending her this as she does love bright red!

:: bold red flower on white quilting cotton

I do have plans for the good bits of the chevron piece.... Things do work out in the end!

Right onto the next projects - kris kringle swap and softies for mirabel! Yay I have lots of new fabric to play with too :)

Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are loads more creative people over at our creative spaces...

handprinted: a fabric swap

Today is the handprinted: a fabric swap deadline... phew I made it! I have been very busy over the weekend, screen printing the two remaining fat quarters.

fat quarter no. 3 - bold flowers
I really wanted to do a bright bold flower design and I'm really happy with how it turned out! I decided to screen print the flower petals and use a stamp for the center, to add a bit of texture!

:: flower - stencil cutting

:: flower - screen print

:: flower center - stamp calving

:: flower center stamp

:: flower center - stamping

The flowers are screen printed on linen and I love how it makes the print looks a bit vintage! I almost don't want to give it away, but I made sure I screen printed a bit extra for me :)

:: bold flowers - orange/red and chocolate on linen

fat quarter no. 4 - chevron - grey and red
For the last fat quarter I screen printed the chevron design in red and grey, as it seemed to be quite popular in the comments in my last post :)

:: chevron - screen printing

:: chevron - red and grey on linen

I have really enjoyed screen printing for this fabric swap and it was fun to experiment a bit too! Now all I have to do is pack them up and send them off to their new homes... hope the recipients like them :)

Hope you are having a great Monday!

my creative space: handprinted fabric swap

This week I have been busy freaking out over the handprinted fabric swap... The deadline is Monday 14th November!! There are too many ideas whirling around in my head! I can drive myself a little crazy at times... why can't I go for the simple option... Ohhhh Noooooo... I must do something challenging!! I can't help it.. I love a challenge :)

fat quater no. 1- chevron
I know this may look quite simple on the outside, but I can asure you it was a bit of a challenge! Two colour repeat... yikes! I always freak out when I'm doing the last bit part of the screen printing...

:: cutting stencils

:: screen printing and holding my breath!!!

:: chevron screen print - grey and mustard

Lucky for me it worked out just fine.. pheeeeewww!!

fat quater no. 2 - geometric flower
I just love messing around and making geometric patterns in Adobe Illustrator... this one happened by accident :)

:: stencil cutting

:: screen printing

:: geometric flower screen print - teal

Unfortunately I made a bit of a little boo boo when I was screen printing the top right hand corner... a bit of shadowing from ink leaking on the back of the stencil... grrrrr!!! So I will have to redo this screen print again... boo hoo hoo!!

:: a bit of a boo boo!

update: I re-screen printed the geometric flower fat quarter last night and it turned out perfect... I think I held my breath the whole time I was printing :)

I'm really happy with my little designs and I'm looking forward to sending them off into the world as part of the handprinted fabric swap!



Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are loads more creative people over at our creative spaces...

printerest: softies

hello hello... I've been enjoying a few days off from blog world, relaxing! I've just realised that I have quite a few thing on my plate this month, so no more relaxing for me!!! one thing on my plate is the "Softies for Mirabel" Christmas appeal, the deadline is not very far away... 5th December!!! So I better get my skates on :) I have been looking around for inspiration, there are so many cute softies out there. Here are a few I love from my pinterest... people are just so clever!

Source: wesaymeow.blogspot.com

Source: browndresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com

Source: adatine - etsy.com

Source: onepearlbutton.com

Source: keboniko.com

Source: donnawilson.com

Source: adatine - etsy.com

Source: ememem - etsy.com

I do love pinterest!! Hope you are having a great Monday :)

my creative space: a dress to wear

I have been doing a spot of sewing this week! After last week and my "a dress too good to wear"... I got stuck into making a wrap dress I can wear :)

:: a bit of sewing

I've had this fabric in my stash for probably years!!! I'm still not sure about it... it is quite flowery for me, but I do like... I think!  I thought I would make a dress out of it as I am still adjusting the pattern and didn't want to stuff up on some really, really nice fabric!

:: a flowery wrap dress to wear

I am really happy with how it turned out and I'm looking forward to wearing it out and about... though I do feel a bit like a 1950's house wife in her house dress.... I do love the 1950's style :)

ps. I have worn my "a dress too good to wear" to a birthday lunch on the weekend... hooray!

Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are loads more creative people over at our creative spaces...

inspiration: Chan Hwee Chong

It felt a bit weird not posting yesterday, after posting everyday for blogoberfest! So when I saw this on Creature Comforts blog I had re-post... line drawing by Chan Hwee Chong... Wow!!! People can do some amazing and inspiring things!

 Chan Hwee Chong -  Faber Castell from eric yeo on Vimeo.

A few other drawings by Chan Hwee Chong:

Wow it's quite mesmerising...how does he do that... amazing!!!