A well-balanced day

Today I:

* Did some housework
* Sewed some bags (I'm well on track for tomorrow's shop update)
* Made it to the gym (and celebrated by putting up my weights)
* Attended a lecture at National Archives (love this building)on Conserving the Griffins' vision (I saw someone knittingand was most nonplussed that I hadn't thought to take any with me. Where's Taph when you need her?)

I also saw some appalling grammar:but being able to eyeball the original drawings for the competition at such close quarters made up for that:* And now, to round things off nicely, I'm off to have a pot luck dinner with a bunch of friends.

Seven Things Spring week 4: The Great Kitchen Clean-Out

In:

* Sun Herald Sunday Soul CD (I almost didn't count this as it's part 2 of the CD I got last week)

* October 2007 US Vogue (subscription)

* Sept 2007 We Love Lundby Club newletter The Lundby Letter
* Black zipfront hoodie

* Black sheep needle holder courtesy of Chris at the newsagents who saw me eyeing them up when they were attached to the front of a knitting magazine I didn't want to buy.

* September 2007 Real Simple magazine (newsagents)

* November/ December 2007 Inside Out magazine (subscription)

Total In this week: 7

Out:

* Powerhouse Museum members' magazine Powerlines: recycled

* NRMA members members' magazine Open Road: recycled

Last week's addition of two serving bowls caused a kitchen reassessment:

* 2 blue & white chicken bowls, 1 blue coffee mug (vestiges of a time over 10 years ago in a another county when I had more colour in my life. You'd be shocked - I had a green sofa!): snaffled up by happyspider (I'm happy they're going to a place they'll be loved as much as I loved them once...)

* 2 cake tins (I bought a springform pan years ago to replace my normal pan. So why do I still have the old one? And speaking of old ones, it appears I have 2 identical sprinform pans, so out one goes...)

* 1 quiche dish. I can't remember the last time I made quiche. I have two quiche pans, one with a raised bumpy fruit pattern on the outside (circa 1989). That's one quiche pan too many, so off it goes.): adopted, along with the springform pan by Rachael at this week's SnB.

* 1 pair lacquered chopsticks. (these used to be special. Someone important gave them to me. The fact I can no longer remember who that person was plus that I have another 8 pairs of much nicer, less colourful chopsticks means they get the chop)

* 1 teeny tiny whisk. No idea what this is for. I've had it hanging round for years in the hope I'll work it out but so far no luck. Goodbye goodbye!

* 1 temperature probe for my microwave which I've had since 1992 and never used (the probe, that is, not the microwave) The really silly thing is I've been carrying this thing round for 15 years and have never used it. I'm a fish-eating vegetarian. I think this is used for cooking meat. Why on earth do I still have it?!

* 1 rest for a tea strainer I seem to no longer own. Good grief!

* 4 white Duraceram cups and saucers which were replaced earlier this year by my Maxwell Williams ones, of which I have 10 sets. Now the likelihood of having 14 people over who all want to drink their tea and coffee out of cups seems very very remote. So out the old ones go (even though I still remember buying them at James Smiths in Wellington before a rather fine dinner party)

* 4 white serving bowls which I've never used and now need to space to store my black and white bowls.

(All, apart from those mentioned above, given to Taph to liberate in an op shop far far away, except for the temperature probe which I threw out. I have an irrational fear of stumbling across stuff I've donated in an op shop.)

* 3 recent magazines, 1 exhibition catalogue for Fashion from fleece: 200 years of Australian wool in fashion : donated to Taph

* 2 pairs of green knitting needles to Barb to ensure she doesn't ever need to knit with skewers again (there would have been a third but I snapped one of them getting them into my bag...)

Total Out this week: 26

Shake-it-all-about:

* 1 mystery Christmas present made for my mother out of fabric I've had for almost a year

* 1 leafy T

* 1 secret squirrel birthday present for Princess B

Net items out so far during Seven Things Spring: 136

(Thus endeth the 1 month period I committed to this project for. But after a wee ponder and a wander around my flat I've decided to stick with it for the whole season. Well, until November 24th when I head off on holiday...)

Day Two of a 4 day weekend...

You may be pleased to hear that not a lot happened today.

I managed to get dressed in my gym clothes but never made it to the gym (having the correct outfit on has got to count for something, right?!)

I cleaned out my office and discovered my desktop, did 4 loads of washing, no sewing (but sorted through some old magazines.)

And that was about it.

Just what I needed after The Week That Was...

Request from Miss Daisy

I need a bath and Mummy says she refuses to pay full price for one.

Do any of you have a 2008 Entertainment Book and don't plan to use the 25% off coupon for Waves Car Wash in Gungahlin? If so, may I have it?

Yours ever so grubbily (and gratefully)

Miss Daisy

Day One of a 4 day weekend...

And here's what I've done so far:

* My weekly accounts
* Changed my bathroom & kitchen towels and my bed
* Staggered across to the Post Office to post a couple of eBay parcels.
* Cleaned up the mess of stuff on the office floor (and cursed the late arrival of stock from Sydney which means there is still stuff on the floor instead of having been packaged up, had invoices sent, payments made and also put in the post.)
* Worked on my blog Blurb book (at the rate I'm going I should have the first year of my blog Blurbed by, oh, 2017...)
* Was interviewed by The Sydney Morning Herald about IKEA Hacking (!)
* Added myself to the mailing list for the 2008 Jasmax Film Festival ("celebrating architecture") in New Zealand so I find out what's happening in time to arrange to get over there next year, rather than reading all about the goodies on offer in NZ Home and Entertaining a month after it's all finished.
* Sorted out the bag-sewing situation for the countdown to a shop update on Monday: cut out some missing bits, ironed a lot of bits, sewed a lot of bits together and made some more printer fabric sheets for pockets for the new knitting bags I'm working on.
* Did some work-work even though it's a non-work day. (This is getting to be a habit - I've racked up about 12 hours work-work on non-work days in the past 3 weeks...)
* Dropped off some free Powerhouse Museum passes to someone who's heading to Sydney for the weekend and staying just round the corner in Pyrmont.
* Delivered 5 bags of clothing from Taph to The Women's Refuge.
* Picked up my credit card which I'd left behind at Das Kapital last night (whoops!)
* Mowed the front lawn (it's only been on my To Do list since last Saturday...)

And now I'm supposed to go to a 5:45 Pump class at the gym.

Like that's going to happen after today...

I think the lawn mowing can count as aerobic exercise and I'll drift towards my lovely fresh clean bed with a glass of Banrock Station's finest, a pile of magazines and CDs. And spend an evening at home for a change this week. (I'd buy a Turkish pide for dinner but I don't think I have the energy to make it to the front gate, let alone over to Turk 'Oz...)

Mid week madness

Wubba wubba is all I can say!

The craziness started yesterday when I got a call from Princess B's sister saying she was in town for work and had a delivery for me. And I realised that she had A CAR. And was heading back TO SYDNEY. And if I got organised I could get her to drive Princess B's birthday and Christmas presents back up with her and, for a change, Princess B might get pristinely wrapped presents rather than the usual delivery of packages that have been through the hell that is 3.25 hours in the hold of a Murrays Bus.

There was just one small problem (of course!) One of the largest presents wasn't actually completed as I (working on the whole Just In Time Management theory) planned to finish it this weekend. So lunchtime yesterday saw me in a mad frenzy of making and wrapping (yep - a new record. I was wrapping Christmas presents on September 25th...)

But I got it all sorted and packed into the car in exchange for a collection of shipping boxes and, more importantly, packing peanuts - something I refuse to buy and which Princess B seems to be very good at keeping me supplied with...Just as well, really, as it would seem the wrapping of the Christmas presents was the signal of the start of the Christmas season. This is the view from my desk today:teetering piles of dolls house furniture waiting to be posted out once I get payment. Good timing on the packing peanuts, Princess B!

In the last 24 hours I've also managed to make it to Stitch 'n' Bitch in Woden (where there was discussion of a new home for the Northside meeting), promise Georgie that there's a new range of knitting bags due up in my Made It store on October 1st, cut out said bags, visit the vet with George and J (George the cat seems to have decided that having a pierced eyebrow is de rigour. I don't think he realised you're not supposed to piece it with another cat's teeth...), finally see the Miniature Magic painting exhibition at Yarralumla Gallery (which weren't miniature at all according to my definition but reignited by mad plan to hold a proper exhibition of 1/12th scale original artworks), buy some goodies for J's garden next door at the nursery, check out the new Sculpture Gallery at the National Gallery (plus have lunch with J & M in the members' lounge), have coffee with Barb at Exodus and then, err, stagger home and collapse.

And on top of that I'm excited to see that Remo is offering a Buy one get one free offer on its T shirts plus is launching a Design'O'matic "a place where our CustOMERS will be able to create, save, compile, manicure and earn royalties from the sale of their own deigns at REMO."

So I can cross Work out how much it would cost to bank a Cafepress cheque from the USA off my list of things to do and just wait for the local version. Excellent news!

On the other hand I'm grumpy to notice that the Italian Film Festival isn't offering Forever Vespa in Canberra and it's on the day before I arrive in Sydney. Rats!

Oh, yeah, speaking of rats, I have an invite to see Ratatouille as a guest at The ANU Film Group on October 21st. For free. Yay!

Tinker Tailor

Last week I was overjoyed to find new black T shirts to replace the ones I've had for an embarrasingly long time. In true frugal TSS style I popped the old ones aside to wear in bed over summer but this morning I woke up at 3am with an Aha! moment and so (once it was a civilised enough hour to get up) I whipped up this:

Front viewBack view

Using an idea from Pink Trees a few months back to create the leaves.

The only thing is I think I like it too much to wear to bed...

Modern miniature news

* I was contacted last week my Modern MC who has a blog full of modern miniatures with some stunning photos (see above) and lots of lovely links.

* Dolls House Emporium have released a new modern dolls house design, Lake View:Plus some new modern furniture and accessories. I'm having a hellish time navigating round their online store, their downloadable catalogue isn't available so I've sent off for a hard copy catalogue which, no doubt, I'll memorise lickity split.

* While reading the lastest Powerhouse Museum members' magazine I came across an article about their recent acquisition of a dolls house. When I pulled up the Powerhouse website to find a link to send to Tiny Times, I stumbled across something much more interesting:The Dinosaur Designs Dolls House, made for an auction at a charity function to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation of NSW in November . Apparently Akira Isogawa and jewellery maker Victoria Springs also contributed houses but I can't find mention of them anywhere online.* I discovered a new-to-me eBay store, Lakeside Miniatures. They stock a range of modern food packages plus birthday cards and wrap. Also check out their website for more modern and period pieces.

* I've set up a Modern Miniatures Flickr group and would be very happy to see your photos of modern miniatures added for all to view.* Lastly, has anyone tried using these small digital frames in a dolls house setting?

Seven Things Spring week 3: I made it (just)

In:

* 2 pairs canvas sneakers (Kmart was having a sale: buy one pair get the second half price. So 2 pairs of sneakers were $15. I just wish they'd had more in my size...)

* 2 black and white serving bowls

* 5 pieces of vintage fabric, 1 white toothbrush, 1 book (and a bottle of Baileys which doesn't count!) from Taph

* Sept/ Oct NRMA member magazine Open Road

* Oct 2007 Madison (subscription)

* Black plastic storage basket

* Sun Herald Sunday Swing CD

* Dress (in fact, a dress so cool I had to buy one for a colleague in Sydney and post it to her)

* Short sleeved swing jacket (cause I was cold just wearing the dress!)

* October 2007 Elle Decor (subscription)

* Batiky short sleeved shirt (OK, I don't really need this but was imagining wearing it as I leaned on the railing of my ship watching everyone else head off to look at big lizards)

* 105 cm length of black and white spotty ribbon, frugalled on my behalf by Taph
* US voltage hair straightener

* 48 things from Friday

Total In this week: 69 (gulp!)

Out:

* 29 bits of memorabilia from my memory box: farewell cards from jobs left years ago, funny postcards that I can't remember why I kept, cartoons ripped out of magazines (you know the sort of thing!): recycled

* 1 Queen Mary 2 cruise T shirt: sold on eBay (I have another in white if anyone's interested?)

* 1 knitting bag, 5 recent magazines, 2 videos: gift to Taph

* Howard's Storage World catalogue: recycled

* 1 set fridge magnets: included as an early birthday present with a book I'd borrowed from Princess B's library and had to post back to her.

* 1 pair of shoes that were always just slightly too small, 9 videos that I've watched and probably won't want to see again, 4 pillow cases, 1 cap, 6 tops and 1 skirt, 1 necklace that I've never worn and the tupperware container I bought for my buttons (when my stash was so small it could actually fit in such a small space!): donated to The Smith Family* 12 misc travel and cruise brochures for trips taken or trips that by the time I start planning them I'll need more up-to-date information: recycled

Total Out this week: 76

Shake-it-all-about:

* Miniature side table
* Soldier knitting bag
* Skirt

Net items out so far during Seven Things Spring: 117

I'm in trouble deep....

Oh dear oh dear oh dear!

It all started this morning with a trip to The Lifeline Bookfair. I felt I was pretty restrained and delighted in the fact that all my purchases toned nicely (and the Charles Schultz one wasn't even for me)So that's 12 In within 1.5 hours.

But since I was out at EPIC, I figured I should swing past Mitchell Salvos. And once I left there Miss Daisy sort of automatically headed up over the new Gunghalin Drive extension to visit Colleen at Belconnen Vinnies and Ken at Belconnen Salvos. It was Friday, after all...

I bought some patterns for Taph at Vinnies so had to head to Woden to drop them off to her. And once again Miss Daisy just automatically headed for Phillip Vinnies and parked outside.

But that's not all. In the spirit of a dieter who's just eaten a large slice of chocolate mud cake and ends up devouring the rest in one sitting as they've already falied, I finished the day by picking up the two guide books I'd had my eye on for months. Brand spanking new. With no discount.

*Sigh*

So let's have a count of the damage:12 books and CDs from the Lifeline Bookfair. Plus:

* 7 lots of fabric masquerading as linen (Hello, my name is The Shopping Sherpa and I'm a fabric addict.)
* 1 summer dress.
* 1 book to Book Cross on the cruise ("Hey kids! You're on a ship. Let's read about another ship which sank and lots of people DIED!") and another to read. Then sell.
* Spy Kids DVD. Yay! I love Spy Kids!
* The two guide books just mentioned...
* (Not really seen) a perspex pamphlet holder just in case I actually stop frittering away my days off work, make some bags and have a stall which requires some information to be displayed..
* (This is a killer): 15 pairs of knitting needles. Do I need them? No. Do I like my ever changing knitting needle sculpture? Hell, yes!
* Hangy thing for displaying err things somewhere like err a stall...

Total: 42 so far today

But wait! There's more!

* 3 very cool Enid Gilchrist pattern books (which I hope to eBay with much success very very soon, if only to redress the balance of my Seven Things Spring... (I'm desperate so also open to swap suggestions...)45

* The Life issue which covered Jim Henson's death. *Sniff*46

* Two wooden jigsaws - one about sewing (how cool is that?!) and one with Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Still deciding if these are swap material or eBay material.

48

As Taph so plaintively put it this morning as we had a coffee at the Bookfair "Why didn't we give ourselves a Get out of jail free card since we knew Lifeline was coming up this month?"

I hear you Sister!

A recipe for success

Take one part dogged determination.

Add:

* One Body Pump class
* One Trinny & Sussanah "yank"
* One pair of control top pantihose
* One holding in of the stomach muscles

Mix well and voila:

I'm so proud of myself

I made a skirt.

I made a skirt without a pattern.

I made a skirt without a pattern using frugalled fabric from my stash.

I made a skirt without a pattern using frugalled fabric from my stash and a frugalled zip which was from my stash too.

I made a skirt without a pattern using frugalled fabric from my stash and a frugalled zip which was from my stash too. And it went together beautifully.

I made a skirt without a pattern using frugalled fabric from my stash and a frugalled zip which was from my stash too. And it went together beautifully and looks fantastic.

I made a skirt without a pattern using frugalled fabric from my stash and a frugalled zip which was from my stash too. And it went together beautifully and looks fantastic. It would be perfect for summer.

Except for one little bitty incy wincy teensy weensy problem.

It's too small.

There's only one thing to do.

Eat chocolate to console myself? No - go to the gym!

Some random things I'm liking at the moment:

* Bell Shakespeare's The Government Inspector: OK, I figured I would enjoy this as I liked The Servant of Two Masters but Oh My God this was FUNNY. See it if you get the chance. PLEASE! (And if I hadn't already proclaimed myself Nigel Sutton's #1 groupie I might just have changed allegiances and decided that Darren Gilshenan was my main man after those two performances)

* The Rumble Strips: Thanks to a piece in US Elle which used the words "Soul" "Ska" "joyful" and the phrase "compared to Dexy's Midnight Runners", I was intrigued. Thanks to the joys of Youtube, I was hooked. Roll on the CD (or is that being terribly old fashioned in this era of downloads?)

* New Greg Johnson on iTunes:

(Video for Save yourself here)

* Supre's Ev Brushed Vintage Washed Tee. No matter if they're $5 each (Belconnen) or $10 each (Civic) I'm still very very happy that I've finally found a replacement for the Jeans West Ts that went out of production 4 (5?) years ago and that I've worn past death, to resurrection and back down again...

* Rob Ryan's blog (which I was alerted to by someone in my Bloglines who I now forget. Whoops...)

* Ratatouille which I'm still dying to see, but am being patient so other 642.4 people can come with their small people...

* Mark Ronson (especially when an animated Lilly Allen's involved)

* Snow Toffee Pops. Nuff said.

And the fabric pile grows ever taller...

Taph came over last night for a spot of Thai and a mini local pub crawl (that would be a 2-pub-crawl, not a crawl of dolls house sized pubs, just in case you're confused!) to check out potential new venues for Northside SnB.

She arrived at the door clutching a large Allens bag. "Put that away!" I cried, not wanting to count any more Ins than I needed to. But she changed my mind with the magic words "But there's alcohol in here.." and so I let her (and the bag) in.

Good thing I did too. Yes siree! There was a bottle of Baileys in there (oh WHAT a shame Taph can't drink the stuff, and that it doesn't count for Seven Things) but also lovely fabricy wonderfulness including the most fantastic red black and white chintzy print:another white toothbrush for my collection and a copy of The Art of Selling Craft in Australia. I always love Taph's bags of goodness...

In return Taph got her own bag of goodness (she informs me that Private W. Conway is known as Bill to his friends) which held a bar of chocolate (alas not counted as an Out), 5 magazines and 2 videos. Which means we're about even :-)

And I think the jury's still out on the venues. I like Trinity for its comfy couches, nice music and the fact the girl behind the bar is knitting-friendly. But as Taph pointed out, the lighting's pretty bad for people who need to actually see their knitting plus there is no cake and they made a point of telling us they're not crash-hot at using the coffee machine.

The Old Canberra Inn has better lighting but the chairs are pretty awful. The open fire is a plus but the two TVs (playing different things) are a bit of a drawback. Oh, and I don't think they have cake either...

I think we need to undertake some more research. Any ideas?

Shaker Maker

Once upon a time (almost a year ago!) I made a knitting bag for Taph. It's been well used but recently she mentioned that it was just a little small for much other than a Time Thief Watch Cap or a pair of socks.

And so it came to pass that Private W. Conway of the 9th Australian Division is featured on a second one-of-a-kind bag: This time, lined with knitting fabric:

Modern miniature meanderings

As I mentioned yesterday, last week Twitchy Fingers gave me a couple of pieces of that cheap unfinished furniture that you can get in most discount stores for a couple of dollars. I thought it might be interesting for me to share how I create a miniature scene, from beginning to end, using one of the pieces.

I decide to play with the side table first as it seemed to be in truer scale than the cupboard (which I no doubt will find inspiration for at 3 am one morning!)

At first I think I can just stain it with the wenge coloured gel stain I have. But after mulling it over for a while I come up with this rough sketch:Paint the base white (not sure if it's going to be "chippy" yet or not) and the top to look like zinc. I think I'm going with that whole "light Swedish" look.

Except my table top's got beveled edges. So I might have to cut a new one if it's to look like the sketch (and the photo)...

As for what to display on it I head to my trusty miniature supplies cupboard and pull out a pile of stuff I think might work in various combinations. Lay it out and stare at it while drinking a cup of tea.

I do a few test runs, with the table still in it's packaging, leaning against some brick plastic I think would go well with the slightly industrial feel of the table as I envisage it....

And decide version four has the feel I'm after (and uses the framed doily I made last week!). But I tuck versions one-three into the back of the brain for future reference. Just in case...

The fun bit finished, the messy bit starts:1. I decide the table top definitely has to be replaced. So the table goes into the microwave with a cup of water and is nuked in 30 second increments until the glue is soft enough that I can prise the top off (from the back edge so any marks will be hidden when the piece is finished. I think it took about 5 minutes in total)

2. I draw around the original top onto a piece of basswood the same thickness...
3. ...and cut it out with my scroll saw (if you don't have one of these a metal ruler and stanley knife would work just as well.)

4. I discover I do have a silver spray can lid after all (drats!), which happens to be attached to a can of silver leaf spray paint. I spray the table top with several coats, sanding well in between to get rid of the woodgrain.

5. After popping out to buy more off-white acrylic paint (mine is so old it has solidified in the tin) I paint the base.

6. After everything is dry I glue the table top back onto the base using PVA glue.

7. I consider giving the the top a well-worn look by carefully placing it onto a patch of concrete and pressing gently until it has the right amount of battering. But I decide I like the pristine look better.

And so it is that we arrive here: Bricks: Precision Products 1101, $15.95 from a show. Flooring: "Marble" contact paper. Side table: See above. Framed doily: See above. Jug: I have no idea. There's a mark on the bottom which is no help in remembering where or when I got it! Covered bowl: From eBay - I believe it was part of a dime store miniature tea set. Woven lidded basket: Ahhh... This is where I start to understand the thinking behind keeping track of your purchases as, again, I have no idea who made it or how it came to be with me... Wool: Yay! I know this one! Shell: From a box bought at a mini show years ago for $4.50. Shopping bag: AMEA freebie.)

_________________________________________________________________________

Read my other modern miniature tutorials:

Paint a vase with nail varnish
Make a floor rug out of a placemat
Turn stickers into modern placemats
Print an iPod, mobile phone or other electronic device
Print on fabric
Make a duck-board bathmat out of tongue depressors.

The second Sunday seven

In:

* August 2007 Wallpaper magazine
* August 2007 Living Etc magazine
* 4 yards Michael Miller K2P2 fabric (partly for a bag I promised to make for Taph)
* Burda pencil skirt pattern, courtesy of Taph
* Howards Storage World catalogue, also courtesy of Taph
* Small furry zebra stripe pouch, again from Taph
* Two raw wood dolls house furniture pieces from Twitchy Fingers (side table and cupboard)
* CD - Erasure, Light at the end of the world
* CD - Ben Watt, Buzzin Fly Vol 4
* 7 CDs from Cuzzie C

* Powerhouse Museum members magazine (Powerlines)
* 12 frugalled goodies as shown on Thursday

* Passport holder
* 8 black T shirts
* Summer dress
* Cable turtle

Total In this week: 41

Out:

* 1 pair laddered pantihose, 1 pair holey socks: binned

* 6 books: sold

* 17 records: sold* 3 scooter mugs and 3 pieces dolls house furniture: sold* 2 grey plastic file trays, 1 pink woven bag, 1 tin, 2 Easiyo yoghurt containers, 1 pair of shoes, 6 napkins, 1 pair earrings, 4 pairs sockettes, 2 pairs patterned pantihose: donated to The Smith Family
* 11 ancient UK marie claires, 15 books and 23 design supplements: donated to Lifeline Bookfair

Total Out this week: 100

Shake-it-all-about:

* See here, here, here here and here!

Net items out so far during Seven Things Spring: 110

My type of crafting...

More fun from Flickr (this is the last lot, promise!)

Here are the framed letters I mentioned yesterday:Box frames from The Warehouse (set of 8 various sizes for $20 - you seen me use them before), backed with black card from the newsagents (20 cents an A4 sheet)

And in another late night brainwave I made some personalised birthday cards:

A?

Love love loving Spell with Flickr! I produced the picture above, printed it off with photo paper and plan to head to The Art Store to get a suitable mount tomorrow.

In the meantime I printed off some letters accidentally which got framed in wee box frames - pictures to follow when the lighting's better....

Know someone with a magnetic personality?

Spell with Flickr has been doing the rounds of the blog world recently. As you might remember I love old letters so this is right up my alley.

This afternoon as I was cleaning out a drawer as part of Seven Things Spring I came across a packet of magnetic paper and since I was in a present making frame of mind I had an aha! moment.

I spelled out my friend's name on Spell with Flickr, changing the letters until I had a pleasing combination.

I then copied the code and pasted it into an empty blog post. Switched to preview mode and picked up the picture.

Opened word and pasted the picture onto a landscape format. Played with the size of each image until they were the same height as each other.

Chucked the magnetic paper into the printer and printed using best quality. Waited for it to dry, tried cutting the letters using a cutter but gave up and used scissors.

And that's it. I'm a genius, if I say so myself!

(Oh, and Princess B, if you're reading this you see noooothing....)

Trying a different tack

Made from How about orange's tutorial which I'd tucked away in the must do this one day file months ago.

I used Premier 12mm 2 part self cover buttons from Lincraft, made following the instructions but leaving out the plastic backing. I then superglued the drawing pin on the back using the button covering tool to press it together. Easy peasy!

This set is a gift but I'm very tempted to make another set for myself...

Friday faffing...

Saw this quizz over at Chez Shoes and decided it was the perfect time waster:

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Mohair.You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with others, doing your share without being too weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely refuse to change your position once it is set, but that's okay since you are good at covering up your mistakes.

Take this quiz!