Two Crafty Brownies

Rainbow Love! : Clay Rainbow Brooch Tutorial

Hello lovelies

Hurrah! It is officially the Summer hols in our house starting this afternoon! We are all exhausted and need a break from the daily grind. We are going to spend our holiday relaxing, adventuring, washing clothes and dishes, cooking, reading, playing, bickering and gardening! I am sure there are more verbs I could add to that mix but I am sure you get the gist.

The other Brownie is already holidaying and having a fab time by the looks of it. Did you see Jenny's holiday pics and list of travel essentials last week? I love the handmade thank you cards that Jenny leaves for hosts along the way. What a lovely idea!

If you follow us on instagram, you will know that in June, we took part in a wonderful challenge, #colourmyeveryday, which was a celebration of all things colour. Each day, there were different prompts such as ‘tin’, ‘building’, ‘flower’ etc to encourage variety and to get us thinking. It was created by the gorgeous Jo of Adventures and Tea Parties. It was an absolute joy to take part in, I took photos I wouldn’t have thought to take without it and our gallery was so much brighter for it! Jo was so complimentary and enthusiastic about everybody’s entries each day. It must have been hard work to run but I am sure a pleasure too!

Inspired by Jo’s #colourmyeveryday challenge I have dug out the air drying clay again and made a rainbow brooch!

What you need is:

Air drying clay - such as this one.

2 plastic trays - one to roll the clay out on, one to dry the clay on.

Non stick craft rolling pin such as this one with the 3mm rings attached.

Template of rainbow and clouds - Download Rainbow Brooch Template

Craft knife such as this.

Small pot of water.

Nail file.

Dust mask.

Slim paint brushes.

Porcelain paints such as these - you could aso use poster or acrylic paint too but these porcelain paints created a lovely gloss finish.

Gloss varnish - I used Fimo (polymer clay) gloss varnish. You can find it here.

Brooch back findings such as these.

Epoxy glue such as this.

What you do is:

Print out and cut around the rainbow template.

Break off a chunk of clay (size depends on how many brooches you want to make). Wrap the rest of the clay up using cling film to keep moist.

Knead the clay in your hands for a bit. A few squeezes will do!

Put the 3mm thickness markers onto the rolling pin and roll out the clay until it stops getting any thinner.

Place the rainbow template onto the rolled out clay and cut around it with a craft knife. Use a cutting motion rather than a slicing motion. The latter will pull the clay out of shape.

Separate the shapes from the rest of the clay. Wrap up the spare clay in cling film to use at a later date.

Smooth the edges of each rainbow with a finger dipped in water. Don’t worry if it is not completely smooth. Once dry the clay can be filed to smooth out further.

Leave to dry on the tray covered in cling film, according to the clay manufacturer’s instructions. I usually leave mine for about 48 hours. Keep an eye on them whilst they dry and carefully press down any raised bits. You could also turn them over after about 24 hours to speed up the drying process.

Once dry, using a nail file, file the edges of each rainbow to smooth them further. It is advisable to wear a dust mask because of the clay dust this process creates. Blow off any excess dust and wipe with a tissue to be sure.

Place the template labelled ‘red’ onto one of the rainbows, so the bottom edge of the template lines up with the bottom edge of the rainbow.

Using the red porcelain paint, paint the exposed area of the clay and leave to dry. This is the first rainbow stripe.

 Now paint an orange stripe underneath the red, allow to dry, then paint a yellow stripe and so on until all the colours have been painted.

Once dry, paint the clouds white. This is optional - you could just leave them.

Once the paint is dry, apply a layer of gloss varnish to the back of each rainbow and allow to dry. Then paint the front. This gives them a little extra durability and a nice shine. Allow to dry.

Once dry, with the rainbow brooch turned over to the wrong side, add a small dollop of glue to the middle and gently press a brooch backing onto the glue. Leave to dry - 24 hours will usually do.

Your brooch is done! Isn’t it cheery and colourful?! Wear with pride (tee hee)!

Well my lovelies, that is it for me until September. Jenny and I are going to take a little break in August but Jenny is back next week so I will leave it to her to sign off properly! Have a gorgeous weekend whatever you are up to!

Lots and lots of love and cuddles to last all Summer,

Lucy

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Tin Can Alley Tutorial

Hello lovelies

How is July treating you? Here in Two Crafty Brownieland, we are starting to wind down already for the Summer hols. Jenny is off on holiday tomorrow with her fab laundry bags and her lovely family; and my brood, hubby and I are counting down the days! Summer term for my family means sports days, end of year performances, meetings with teachers, school fairs and local community festivals. Each year we look forward to celebrating the Summer by licking ice creams, eating burgers cooked on a barbie, drinking pimms and cold beers, jumping on bouncy castles and having a go at classic Summer fair games, such as hook-a-duck, the coconut shy, hoop-la and tin can alley. What are your favourite games to play in the Summer? We visited my family last year and had a go at croquet for the first time, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Some of us (the hubby and I!) were very competitive!

I’ve been wanting to make my own tin can alley for a long time and I have finally got round to it just in time for the kids' Summer fair tomorrow! This project was a lot of fun, very straightforward to make and has great recycling and upcycling credentials. I recycled empty food tins, used up dried lentils past their ‘consume by’ date and used fabric scraps too.

What you need is:

For the cans:

10 empty food tins, washed, soaked and labels peeled off.

Spray paints - I used 10 colours of this brand. Both my hubby and I are big spray painting fans (you may remember this tutorial?) so we had quite a few cans already, but they are pricey at about £6.95 each, so feel free to use as many or as few colours as you wish. Two colours would do! You could also stick strips of washi tape onto the cans, decoupage with paper, fabric or napkins (Jenny’s favourite!) or even decorate pieces of paper (or get the kids to do it!) and stick these on.

Newspaper for protecting surfaces and sticking into the cans when spray painting.

Template of a star. I printed out this image to the correct size (fitting 4 stars to an A4 page) and cut it out.

Masking tape - I suggest testing your masking tape on a painted tin first to make sure it does not peel the paint off. I tried sticky back plastic first and this did peel off the paint when removed, but masking tape was fine.

For the bean bags:

Scraps of fabric - enough to make 3 bean bags. Each bean bag uses 2 squares of fabric measuring 14 x 14cm (5.5” x 5.5”) before hemming. I used star fabric to match the star on the tins.

Stiffening/Interfacing to strengthen the bean bags which are going to get thrown about a lot! I used scraps that I had - you need the same amount as the fabric.

Dried lentils, beans or rice - I had lentils that were out of date. I used 150g (5oz) dried lentils per bag.

Two Crafty Brownies sewing essentials

What you do is.

Wash, soak, peel labels off and dry the used tins, being careful with sharp bits. If there are any sharp edges, bend them inwards so you don’t cut yourself!

Protect your surface with newspaper. It is best to spray outside or in a very well ventilated area and it is advisable to wear a dust mask too.

Stuff a piece of newspaper into each tin, with enough sticking out to act as a sort of handle.

Prepare the spray paint can by shaking it for as long as the manufacturer’s instructions indicate.

Holding the newspaper handle, the tin slightly off the surface and the spray can at a slight angle, spray an even layer of paint onto the surface of the tin, turning as you go.

Leave to dry and repeat with the other tins.

 

Whilst the tins are drying, sew the bean bags.

Cut out 6 pieces of fabric with the measurements 14 x 14cm (5.5” x 5.5”). I used a rotary cutter, long ruler and cutting mat.

Cut out 6 pieces of stiffening/interfacing with the same measurements.

 

Lay a piece of fabric right side up on top of a piece of interfacing. Then lay a fabric square on top of this right side down and a square of interfacing on top of this.

Pin together leaving a gap in one side which the filling will go into.

Starting at one side of the gap, machine stitch all the way round with a 0.5cm seam allowance. Stop at the other side of the gap. Remember to do a reverse stitch at the beginning and end to strengthen the seams.

Cut the thread ends and snip the corners.

Turn the bean bag right way round, poking out the corners. Press with a hot iron.

Fill with the dried lentils. I did this with a teaspoon but it may be easier to use a funnel!

Pin the gap closed and then machine stitch close to the edge, reverse stitching at the beginning and the end and cutting the threads again.

 

Repeat this process with the two remaining bean bags.

Once the tins are dry and you have sewn the bean bags, cut out the paper star and place onto the surface of a tin in the desired position and stick pieces of masking tape onto the tin around the edges of the star without sticking the star to the tin.

 

When you remove the paper star, you will have an exposed star shape on the tin. Now stick more masking tape around the tin, covering most of the surface closest to the star.

 

Take a contrasting colour of spray paint and spray the exposed star area. The spray will cover more than the star but that is fine because it is protected by the masking tape (in the step above).

Allow to dry. Once dry, carefully and slowly peel off the masking tape to reveal the contrasting star. I love this bit! In fact, I enjoy this part of the process so much, I got carried away and didn't take any pics! I am sure you get the gist!

Repeat with the other tins.

All that is left to do is to stack up your tins, gather some party people and have a fab game of tin can alley! Such fun!

 

I loved the process of decorating the tins and the final look of them. I think they would look great as plant pots, vases or desk storage containers. #somanyideassolittletime!

Take care my lovelies and have fun whatever you are up to this weekend.

Much love,

Lucy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzzzzzzzxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sew Your Own Travel Laundry Bag

Hello my sweetpeas! I do hope you've had a good week. I have been busy, busy, busy here in Two Crafty Brownieland. This week, I finished my very first crochet shawl!! I think it's taken about 2 months, 5 x 50g balls of wool, overnight blocking, and I am tremendously pleased with it!!

I did, however, forget to move the broom!! In other news, I have both my beloved boys home with me. J, who is 20, has just finished his first year at Uni. C,16, has just written his GCSEs and is so unbelievably happy to be done...... I am absolutely loving having them under the roof. As we have finished technically before the official school holidays, we are taking the opportunity to go away earlier than usual. We promised C his choice of trip, he has worked really hard the last few years, and we felt he deserved a good holiday. He chose America, so we are off in about 10 days time, eeeek!!

 

I have a little list of travel essentials, and one of those is a travel laundry bag to collect all those  little dirty items of clothing.. It's a very quick, easy sew. This is an unlined, zipped pouch. I decided not to make a lining so it folds up small, and you could make it in different sizes for all sorts of uses.

What you need is

A piece of fabric measuring 19" by 21" (or choose your own preferred size)

A matching zip, the same width as your fabric or just smaller

A pretty piece of binding for a hanging loop

Matching thread

Two Crafty Brownies Sewing Essentials

What you do is

Cut two pieces of your fabric. Turn a double hem along one short edge of each piece. Pin in place on the right side of the fabric. This is a bit fiddly but will make pinning your zip in much easier.

Lay your zip, right way up and pin this short edge of each piece of fabric to your zip. The fabric should be right side up, on top of the zip. Make sure the edges are lined up. Using the zipper attachment on your machine, sew the fabric onto the zip.

Now prepare your hanging loop, if you want one. I used two lengths of binding, and top stitched them together. You could also use ribbon. Fold the finished loop in half, and pin a few cm down from the zip. We will use french seams to sew up the pouch, which enclose the raw edges of the seams. Change back to your normal foot now. With right sides out, pin all around the sides and bottom of your pouch. If your zip doesn't quite meet the side, it doesn't matter. I just left little gaps there (for airing the contents out!!) Make sure your loop is lying horizontally, out of the way of your stitches, apart from the edge which you will sew over as you go.

Sew down the side with a 0.25" or 0.5cm seam allowance. Turn the corner by keeping your needle down, lifting your foot and turning the fabric. Sew along the bottom and up the other side, backstitching at start and finish. Trim any frayed bits along your seams so they don't poke out. Remember to open your zip to at least half way. Now turn the whole pouch so the wrong side is facing out. Sew again down the side, along the bottom and up the side, making sure this time your loop is horizontal inside the pouch and out of the way.

Turn the whole thing back the right way, give it a good press and admire your work!! This was really fast, I made 4 in a morning, and we are now ready for our trip!!

Do you make any travel items? Do tell! Have a lovely weekend, darlings!!

Jenny xxxxxooooo

Quick and Easy Magnetic Notepad

Hello lovelies! How are things in your patch? If you're in the UK, are you having a good half term? I just loved Lu's post on creativity. I am so with her on how calming and meditative crafting is. I read somewhere that doing something creative really does switch off the troublesome thoughts running through our head, and allows our thoughts to run free........ I also find it incredibly soothing to make things. And I too choose kindness, it is truly the key to everything, I believe. 

Now onto this week's make!

Ever since my boys were tiny, we have had a weekly meal plan. With both of us working, I couldn't have managed without knowing what I needed to buy and what we were going to eat. Our menu is written on a board on the fridge, and near it sits a notepad for us to jot down things we need to buy the following week. I usually buy these notepads online, but as this one is running out, (and with my newfound love of making books) I decided to have a go at making one myself! (And if you are admiring those rather gorgeous fridge magnets above, Lu has done a tutorial on how to make them here.)

What you need is

Your choice of paper and a piece of card. I used a cereal packet, I am trying to reuse card instead of buying it wherever I can.....

Cutting mat and knife

Self adhesive magnetic tape, like this

Glue, any liquid glue you use for papercrafts will do

Clips or clothes pegs to hold the sheets together when you glue them

What you do is

Decide what size you want your notepad to be. I wanted mine similar to the ones I buy. Remember if you want lines to cut your paper the right way! I used a notebook I didn't need, and just pulled out the pages and trimmed them down. Depending on the size of your paper A4, A5 etc) you might cut each page into several sheets.

Now cut your card to the same size. I liked the look with my card slightly longer. It's all up to you!!

Stack your papers on top of your card and make sure the top edge is flat. This is where you will be putting the glue to hold the pad together. Use clips, or lie the pad under something heavy to hold in it place while it dries. Then run a line of glue along the top edge and smooth with your finger. Leave to dry for a couple of hours and then apply another layer of glue to make sure it holds together.

Now cut two strips of magnetic tape, peel off the backing paper and stick them to the back of the pad.

Voila!! How easy is that? I made a few different ones, and of course you could embellish the top, bottom or edges with stamps, embossing, stickers, washi tape...... the sky is the limit!!

In other news, Lucy is finally realising a dream of hers of writing! She is telling her story over on her new blog Lucylu Dreams. Do go and check it out, lovely readers.

with much love,

Jenny xxxxxooooo

 

Creativity For The Soul...and Cake Stand How-To

Hello there lovelies

As I type this, news of the awful terror attack in Manchester on Monday evening is unfolding and I felt I couldn’t write my post without an acknowledgement or a mention of this tragic and senseless act that has and will change the lives of the victims and their families forever. Our thoughts are with all of them and we’re thinking of all of you too and sending so much love.

Each time these awful events happen at home here in the UK or anywhere else in the world, I feel so so sad and worried, but I also feel more determined than ever to spread kindness and love. I am bringing my kids up to do so to. To remember that even when someone is unkind to us, we have a choice. We can be unkind back, or we can show them a good example of a kind and loving person. This doesn’t mean we can’t be firm, have boundaries or feel anger. But breaking the cycle of meanness is more powerful than spreading hate. We choose kindness and love.

Did you see Jenny’s post last week? A whole year of making her own clothes! I am totally in awe of how much she has achieved. I am especially impressed with the ‘knicker count’!

This blog post was going to be a straightforward cake stand tutorial and you can still find a brief ‘how-to’ below, but it evolved into something else while I was decorating the plates because of the feelings the process evoked in me. And you know I am all about the process now don’t you? See this post for more on that!

My little girl (who is 6) was learning about Pointillism, a technique of neo-Impressionist painters, where the artist uses dots and dashes to create an image. For her homework, she was asked to create her own picture using this method, so I decided to support her by sitting alongside her and attempting my own at the same time. It had been such a long time since I painted or drew just for the sake of it. I started painting with no plan, just enjoying the process and I can report that I thoroughly enjoyed it! I decided to use this method to decorate the plates for the cake stands.

For a few hours over a couple of days, I sat on my own, with no radio on, painting little dots onto plates into the shapes of flowers and a tree. I did first drill holes in the plates which was definitely not relaxing!!!!! Whilst I was sitting there dipping my paintbrush into the paint and dotting colour onto the plates, my mind, which is usually very active and often saturated, relaxed and meandered calmly from thought to thought. My breathing and heart rate reduced, I noticed the sounds of birds and I found myself staring out of the window at the lush green of my garden. A kind of meditative state if you will. I had a vague plan of the design for my plates. I had drawn a couple of sketches, but I had not prepared any templates. Jenny may fall off her chair at this declaration! I just let my creative juices flow. Oh how rewarding it was and I love what I have created!

There is often an element of stress involved when making things isn’t there? When for example there is a deadline, or the quality of what we are producing needs to be really good, or dare I say it, when we are hoping to post pictures of what we have created on instagram so it has to be ‘insta-worthy’! I suppose sometimes that might be called ‘work’ and of course, work can bring satisfaction and joy too. Although painting the plates was ‘work’ for our blog, I felt like I was actually ‘playing’ and playing felt good! Perhaps it was something about the painting too that felt relaxing and good for my soul.

Creativity is good for the soul. I’ve said it and been struck by it before - it should be prescribed on the NHS. Drawing is often a tool that therapists use, especially with kids. I know that when my son draws, and he draws a lot, so much of what goes on in his mind, comes out on paper and it helps him to process his thoughts and emotions. In fact, he is often eager to talk about his drawings which is fantastic. There is more information about art therapy here.

I am going to pretend to be a doctor just for a moment, because unlike my Jenny who is a real doctor, I can only pretend. I am declaring myself a ‘craft doctor’ and I am prescribing you arty crafty play time, where there is no aim other than to thoroughly enjoy yourself. What you produce does not have to be perfect or even something you want to keep. In fact, I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is an artist and I asked her what she does with the hundreds of pictures her kids bring home from school. She said that she only keeps a few. The rest are destined for the recycle bin (unbeknownst to them!) after they’ve had a chat about them. She says that creativity is all about the process!

With that in mind, I can definitely recommend buying a few, cheap white plates from your local supermarket, some ceramic paints such as these and having a go at painting them.

If you fancy turning said plates into little cake stands, you will need to drill holes in them first. For this, you will need a drill and ceramic drill bits or you will need somebody else who has these things and who is willing to do it for you - much more relaxing! I used a 7mm drill bit.

To find the centre of the plate, I drew around the plate onto a piece of paper, cut it out and folded the circle in half twice. I opened up the paper and pushed through the middle point with the drill bit. I then placed a piece of masking tape across the middle of the plate, then the circle of paper onto the plate and drew through the hole made onto the masking tape with a sharpie to mark the middle point…

I followed this tutorial for drilling the holes. I found it quite tough and did make a few cracks which is not desired! But it is now a skill I feel I have and of course I have been drilling other things, such as a drainage hole in this cup so that it can become a little plant pot…..

Once you have drilled the holes and painted the plates, you will need to place the plates in a hot oven to set the colours. Follow the manufacturer’s guidelines on the paints for this.

For the ‘stand’ bit of the cake stand, you will need the cake stand attachments. I bought these, which are for a 3 tier cake stand but I felt 2 tiers were enough when I tried stacking the plates. So I have one double stacked stand, 1 single and some spare cake stand fittings! To assemble, place a metal washer followed by a soft white washer onto the bottom screw fitting. Place this through the hole in the bottom plate. Onto this, place another soft white washer and then screw in the next cake stand fitting. Place a metal washer and then a soft white washer on top of this and then place the next plate on top. Place a white washer on top and then the final handle attachment. I am hoping this pic might help....

You’re done!

I feel I don’t want to cover up the design on my plates but think it might be fun for the design to be uncovered as the cakes get eaten!

My plates were all the same size, but you could buy different size plates so that the bottom tier is larger than the top and if you fancied a 3 tier stand, I have seen clever people putting teacups on the top which looks great. The good thing about this project is the flexibility because the attachments can be removed.

That's it from me this week. The bank holiday weekend is upon us and there are rumours that it is meant to be quite hot here in London. So perhaps we will be having our first bbq and maybe even our first paddling pool of the year! Have a wonderful weekend lovelies whatever you are up to.

Love and kindness always,

Lucy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzzzzzzzxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Me and Crochet: Lucy's Confession!

Hello lovelies!

Gosh that other Brownie is a bit clever isn't she?  Did you see Jenny's fab tutorial on making bias binding and then using it to finish off her beautiful handsewn clothes? Such a great way to use up fabric and most of us have a stash of fabric don't we?

You may remember me being inspired by mini eggs and talking about my ‘speckled’ obsession? I had bought some speckled yarn or I should probably say that some speckled yarn found it’s way onto the counter of this shop and I found myself paying for it before I knew what was happening! Well, I finally got round to finishing the cushion cover I was crocheting with it and it was a journey let me tell you! In fact I had a bit of a revelation about my whole journey with crochet and where I had (or hadn't!) got to…..

When I decided I wanted to try and make it in the creative world, it was crochet that got me there so it holds a special place in my heart. I had seen my cousin make light work of crochet flowers and granny squares so I started there and bought a few books to help me along the way. I can tell you that I found it incredibly hard! Can you remember when you started crocheting, knitting or any other craft? New things are hard aren’t they? I am definitely of the ‘run before I can walk’ ilk, but some things I can safely say I have taken to like a duck to water, for example, cross stitch and playing with air drying clay, but crochet is not one of them!

I have now been crocheting for about 6 years and I still find it hard and contrary to what it might look like in photos that I take and post, here on the blog and on other social media platforms, I can kind of do the basics but as for the rest I am actually winging it! There I said it! I am not writing this post to ‘fish’ for compliments or as a ‘poor me, throw some sympathy my way’ exercise and I don’t feel frustrated and down on myself like I might have done in the past. You may have read this post all about me choosing kindness….looks like it’s working! I have actually had a good laugh about my realisation and it is important to keep it real, to talk about our processes, to log them, and learn from them. I also think this experience is a kind of metaphor for life! More on that later.

I hope you are with me so far! If there is one thing I can do, I can make stitches. I love stitching and crocheting in rows until the cows come home, although I was picking up only one strand of yarn not two for the first few years and wondered why mine looked different from the pictures!…...

However, even when crocheting in rows, I often can’t recognise the last stitch in the previous row, especially with more elaborate stitches, so my edges end up wonky.  I don’t post my wonky edges on instagram!!.........

Ahhh! my beautiful cosy stripe blanket, 2 years and 4 months old now. I am dreading the edging which is perhaps one of the reasons it is taking me so long to get on with it. I am completely lost when it comes to edging. Jenny bought me this fab project, from Little Box of Crochet, for Christmas and it had an edging. I did not do the number of stitches along the edge in the pattern because I just couldn’t figure out where to put the hook! I took a convincing pic of it though!

I find pattern reading hard and often get completely lost. I bought this book and attempted a couple of snowflakes. I wasn’t successful and I know I possibly should have spent a little more time trying and trying….but hey, that lead up to Christmas is busy enough without hours spent wasting time on one tiny, (insert swear word here) crochet snowflake! When crocheting in rounds, or squares for that matter, I get very confused about where the joining stitch should go even when I use a stitch marker. It may be those slip stitches - they out-fox me, so I guess a lot of the time and seem to get by!.....

Although I find it hard, I have decided I should always follow a pattern and definitely not try and make it up as I go along. When I made these cowls without a pattern or advice on the type of yarn or sizing, they didn’t quite fall right and they weren’t the right length to wrap around my neck…..and they made me itch! But my little girl loves them so they’re hers now! …..

Finally back to my cushion. This really sums it up. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to achieve, I just started double crocheting in rows, loosely measuring the first chain against the width of the cushion pad. When I thought I had stitched enough rows, changing colour along the way, I fastened off and hid my ends. Oh and I am also confessing to sometimes knotting ends together and cutting them rather than sewing them in when I know they won’t be seen! Gasp! You might want to call the crochet police now!

Anyway, I realised my cushion cover was a rectangle and my cushion pad was a square. Hhmm….but surely I can just stretch it into place? And by the way, right side, wrong side? Eh? I had to cut open the cushion pad, resize it and restuff it. You see? Winging it! I crocheted some flowers to pop on top too which I love, but they are slightly curling up now - could this have been sorted by blocking? Well if so, I didn't do it, because I couldn't be bothered/I am scared of it! But I love my cushion and it looks like it did in my mind when I imagined it, apart from it is rectangular not square! Tee hee!. .....

Possibly, this is just me learning but I am not really getting any better at it. You know what though?? That’s fine! As you can see, I am quite cheerful about it all! I do so love the process, I love making crochet stitches, I love trying and I love yarn and even though I get a tad upset only at points when I just don’t get it, I am usually almost happy when I have something to show for all the squinting, ‘umming’ and ‘ahhhing’, swearing, re-reading of patterns and feelings of being a fraud! Contrary to what it sounds like, crochet does relax me and I am most happy when crocheting endless rows of the same stitch which is why I love my cosy stripe!

What I really need is a crochet superhero squad made up of Nancy from Avocado Fairy, Ashley from Lazy Daisy Jones, Lucy from Attic 24, Amanda and Emma from Little Box of Crochet, Emma again from Moomaloom and Anna from Annaboos House, swooping in with their crochet masks and capes (someone make a pattern now!), emergency crochet hooks and genius crochet brains to sort me out. If any of you inspirational ladies are reading this, the kettle is on!.......

Ha! Phew! And breathe……..This is life isn’t it? Some things we can do, some we can’t, some we can do well, some just mediocre and some things we get better at. We all have feelings of self doubt, we can be utterly convinced we are on the right path one day and the next our hearts are not in it and we want to give up. For me, it is about the process. It is important to enjoy it, to do what makes me happy, to work hard, to try hard, to slightly ‘wing’ it if necessary, adapting along the way and if the outcome isn’t what I expected, if it isn’t a ‘success’? Pah! I’ll just learn from that and move on. I can see a new slogan catching on: 'Keep Winging it and Carry On!'....

I’d love to hear about your experiences. How do you learn? What do you do when you can’t quite get your head around something?

I’m off to do some gardening this weekend, a pastime where I don’t quite know what I am doing, but oh how I adore it and gosh how it makes my heart sing! Have a good one lovely people!

All the love,

Lucy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzzxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Fruit and Veg Clay Magnets Tutorial

Hello there friends!

It has a been a little while hasn’t it? As Jenny said in her post about her lovely craft room last week, we've had a little holiday from blogging and it has been so nice to take a break and slow down a little. I say a little because with the family around over the Easter break for 3 weeks in total, it hasn't been possible to properly slow down but it has been lovely!

So the Easter hols are now over and the normal routine has been resumed. The kids are back at school and my hubby is back at work. We all spent such a lot of time in the garden during the Spring break, each of us enjoying it in our own way. I have been getting very excited about growing some flowers, fruit and vegetables this year. So far, I have planted from seed, sweet peas, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots and chamomile and all look promising so far. It is amazing how much love and hope goes into every little seed that I have pushed gently into the soil!

Inspired by my new found love of growing things, I have been at the air drying clay again and these fruit and veg magnets have been such fun to make. This is definitely one of my all time favourite mediums (media?) to work with. I could squeeze, roll, cut, smooth, file and paint all day long! If you have read our blog for a little while, you will know this isn’t the first tutorial I have written using air drying clay. Have a look at our ‘Crafting with Clay’ category for more inspiration!

What you need is:

Air drying clay - I used an air drying clay from Flying Tiger UK, but if you haven’t got one of those near you, this one from Hobbycraft will work just fine.

2 plastic trays - one to roll the clay out on, one for drying the clay.

Non stick craft rolling pin such as this one with the 3mm rings attached.

Fruit and Veg shaped small cookie cutters with presser to make marks/patterns in the clay. I bought mine in Paperchase, but these are the same.

Cling film.

Slim paint brushes.

Porcelain paints such as these - you could also use poster or acrylic paint, but these porcelain paints created a lovely gloss finish.

Small pots or ramekin dishes to mix the paint in.

Gloss varnish - I used Fimo (polymer clay) gloss varnish.

Small magnets such as these.  

Glue - I used this.

What you do is:

Break off a chunk of clay (size depends on how many magnets you want to make). Wrap up the rest of the clay using cling film to keep moist.

Knead the clay in your hands for a bit. I love this bit of the process so I do it for far longer than I need to! A few squeezes will do!

Put the 3mm thickness markers onto the rolling pin and roll out the clay until it stops getting any thinner.

Press the different fruit and veg cookie cutters into the clay making sure to press down to make the patterns.

Peel off the spare clay once you have used all possible space in the clay and set aside to roll and make more if desired. If you have enough at this stage, add this spare clay to the remaining clay and wrap well in cling film and then foil to keep fresh and moist.

Now peel off each clay shape from the tray and smooth the edges with your finger.

Place on another tray covered in cling film.

Repeat with the remaining shapes and leave to dry according to the clay manufacturer’s guidelines. I usually leave mine for about 48 hours. Keep an eye on it whilst it dries and carefully press down any raised bits.

Once dry, apply a layer of porcelain paint, which you have mixed to the desired colours, to the sides and the top of each shape. I used a small slim brush which I found worked well in the grooves created by the presser on each cutter.

Allow to dry, again following the manufacturer’s guidelines.

Once the paint is dry, apply a layer of gloss varnish to each shape, giving them a little extra durability. Allow to dry.

Turn the shapes over and using a small amount of glue, attach a magnet to the back of each shape.

Once the glue has set and dried, your magnets are free to use! Aren’t they bright and fun?!

My favourites are the aubergine and the tomato…..

Well I’m off to read up about how to protect my tomatoes from the slugs and snails once I plant them out into the garden. At the moment, they are safe on my windowsill and doing very well!

Have a lovely weekend flowers! See you back here very soon, lots and lots of love,

Lucy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzzxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jenny's Craft Room

Hello lovelies!! How have you been? Did you miss us? Lu and I decided to have a little holiday from writing blogs, as our families were off over Easter, but we are back!!

I have had a lovely couple of weeks off. This week my hubby was off too, and because of GCSEs on the horizon, we decided not to go away. We have done a lot of lazing around, pottering, eating and drinking too much. We also had a little todo list of things to achieve, one of which was to tidy up my sewing room.

We live in a little house in London. We have what are called 4 bedrooms, one of which is tiny. When our youngest was little, this was his room, and he was very happy here. As he grew, it became tighter and tighter, and a few years ago we rearranged the rooms, losing our family study, moving the oldest in there and the youngest into his room. And I acquired this little room as my sewing room.

Darlings, in all the 20 odd years we have been a family, I have never had my own space until now. Like many people, I have sewn on the kitchen table, had my craft supplies stashed around the place in various hiding places, and had to tidy everything away every time there was a meal. So it was hugely exciting to have my own little room, and I got to work painting and sorting. It had a built in bed which my boy helped me take apart..... which made me realise a paint job was needed.

I was on a strict budget, so we headed off to IKEA for a couple of cheap pieces of furniture, and I managed to persuade the manager of my local Leyland paint store to give me a piece of pegboard (once I had bought some paint!)

May I show you around? 

As you come in, on your right are my little Ikea desk and table. My sewing machine and overlocker sit on here. Sometimes I work on my laptop here too. See that box in between the machines? I have altered this little gift box to hold all the cords which go down through the desk to plug in. I can just pull the appropriate plug out of the box and plug the appliance in.

On your left is this tall Ikea drawer unit, with the Bluetooth music player our friend makes. In the basket are my patterns and papers. I have two Ikea Billy's, this one here........

And another behind you here with doors in this little alcove.....

It's not too messy inside, is it?

I like everything to be organised, though in my head I am much tidier than in real life!! I keep packaging to use as storage, like this Molton Brown box that has all my cards in, and these little crates that held strawberries.......and of course the Ikea trolley everyone has!

Over the years Lu has made me some lovely things, including our very first blog challenge...... this Just Start bunting. In the frame is a pretty piece of wallpaper.

Recently my little room has become more and more messy and cluttered. I have been clearing stuff out, and rearranging.......and what better way than a planned blog post to get something done! I feel this room is too small, but I know I am so lucky to have this little space of my own. My boy calls it 'the room where dreams come true.....'  little does he know I have my eye on his current bedroom as my next craft room someday!!

Sending you loads and loads of love, darlings!!

Jenny xxxxxooooo

Inspired by mini eggs!

Hello dear friends!

Ooo things are warming up here in London town! The Spring has sprung, the sun has been shining a little more and the world is starting to look really colourful. Here in Two Crafty Brownies Land, Jenny and I are very excited about our very first workshops. We are holding them in such a wonderful setting, the Arbour Café at The Boma Garden Centre in Kentish Town. We will be teaching how to make your very own journal/planner on the 27th April and a floral appliqué embroidery hoop on the 8th May. If you are interested in either of our workshops, you can do so and book a place by clicking on our workshops tab above or follow this link! We do hope some of you can make it!

Whilst Jenny has been inspired to decoupage with napkins, yielding beautiful results, I have been slightly obsessed with Cadbury’s mini eggs! Maybe it goes without saying that I love eating them. Over on instagram, I described them as little eggs of joy with speckled, crunchy exteriors and melt in the mouth chocolate centres. This may sound like an advert but sadly I have not been sponsored to write this post although if you are reading this Cadbury’s, you may be able to twist my arm!

I’m mostly inspired to eat them straight away but I did have enough willpower to save a few to decorate some little spring cupcakes. The kids were sooooo happy when they came home from school on this day….

I even speckled the buttercream with sifted cocoa. Look, there’s a mini egg thief about!….

I'm not impressed that Cadbury's don't make a blue mini egg! Surely there should be right? I may just start a campaign. Who's with me?......Not important enough a cause you say? Hhmph!

As well as eating them, the pretty speckled shells of mini eggs has got me crafting. I just love this look. I mean, take a look at these socks,. Don’t you just love them?.........

Also, look at those little feet! They belong to my littlest girl (all the heart eyes).

I find myself attracted to all the speckled yarn and I have to try very hard not to purchase every ball of speckled wool I see! Occasionally though, yarn just has this habit of following me home. Have you been witness to this phenomenon or is it just me? Very strange…..

This yarn is from Rico Design and I bought it from here in cream and peach too as the cream needed a friend. I am in the process of hooking up a cushion cover……….the colours make me so happy as I hook….

I’ve also had the air drying clay out again. I have played with this before as you may know. Check out the tutorials here if you fancy having a go. I made spring themed shapes using these fab cookie cutters from Paperchase....

I painted them using ceramic paint which has a glossy finish and speckled them by dipping a paint brush in gold paint and flicking the bristles with my finger. Don’t they look cute?

I am going to make them into brooches, keyrings and magnets for my little cousins as surprise Spring gifts.

I've also got a bit crafty with fabric paint, a stencil I made earlier (of an avocado stone which looks very much like a mini egg), a sponge, a paint brush and cream cotton fabric…..

I am going to transform the speckled fabric into a pouch! I might have to keep this one……...

Phew! Are you all mini-egged and speckled out? I’m not sure I am quite yet…..

The kids break up today for their Easter hols and I am very excited about the next couple of weeks of pottering and larking about with them and the hubby. Have you got any plans for Easter? Whatever your plans, do have a smashing time my lovely mini-eggs! (compliments indeed!)....

All the love and hugs,

Lucy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzxxxxxxxxxxx

Junk Journal Adventures

 

Hello my lovelies! How are you doing? We are all good here in Two Crafty Brownieland. We have been making and creating, and generally feeling much happier with things this year. We have some new plans in the pipeline, read on till the end and you'll find out!

Lucy has been playing with leatherette, wasn't that pouch gorgeous!?! I'm so hoping I get to road test one, for research purposes of course!

If you follow us on social media, you may have noticed I have become a bit obsessed with book binding. I have been mulling over this and thinking back to how it all started.

I think it first began in this gorgeous little shop, Number Four, in our beloved Scottish Borders. This shop is near the little town of St Abbs and whenever we go to stay there we have a little visit. They sell lovely handmade things, and two little books (pic above) caught my eye. One was the little red notebook. It had obviously been made by hand, with a block printed cover, sewn in signatures and an elastic closure. As I examined this book, I began to wonder if it was as tricky as it looked to make. You know how it goes, darlings……..the Ideas Fairies start fluttering around in our heads…… then I saw the black sketch book, which has gorgeous Coptic binding (are you impressed?). This looked more tricky, but I had been toying with the idea of starting to draw and paint, so that one fell into my basket too.

Back home, I searched on the fabulous Creativebug site, which I subscribe to for the princely sum of $5.00 per month. They had several classes on bookbinding and making bookcloth and I was hooked. Things got a bit crazy in the run up to Christmas, but in those lazy days after, I decided to give it a go. I wanted to make a journal to round up Christmas and start off the new year. I dug out my favourite pointsettia fabric and started gluing and folding papers. The result was the book above, which I just love.

Quietly alongside this Lu and I have been dreaming of running some workshops. We love talking to people, and the markets we did, where people seem to be afraid to catch your eye in case they have to buy something just didn't do it for us. As you know, we are passionate about sharing what we have learnt. Coincidentally, our local garden centre, which is a beautiful little oasis in the city, approached us about running some workshops. We are so excited! I have been putting together a gardening journal to teach people to make.

I used an envelope and some gardening mags to make the collaged cover......

Pretty paper on the inside, and string to hold the pages in.....

The pages are from a selection of papers..... and slide under the string....

I have added some charms and a pretty ribbon.

I love the potential of these journals. They could be used for so much…..planning, organising, documenting, scrapbooking.

Meanwhile, Lu has been also working away, and on Monday I went over to hers to learn how to make this gorgeous wall art. Isn't she clever!!

So, darlings, that's it from me. If you are in or around London and want to be kept in the loop about upcoming workshops, let us know at [email protected], or send us your email via the contact tab at the top of the page.

Hugs and kisses!!

Jenny xxxxxxxxx