Scraphappy Day January 2024

For the first Scraphappy Day of 2024 it’s over to Mr. Tialys for using scraps to make something new and useful.

For his sister and her partner’s Christmas gift he had made jars of chutney, pickled onions, raspberry jam and also some cordial he made from rosehips, as you do.  Instead of a basket or box like the usual hamper he decided to also make a special container.

It so happens that they have just finished having a mammoth, oak framed extension put on to their house as well as having a lot of groundwork done.  There were many pallets and crates destined for the tip but Mr. Tialys can’t resist a pallet or six and they found their way to our house awaiting inspiration.

My sister-in-law is a keen gardener so he thought it would be a good idea to use the wood to make a trug for carting things around in the garden. So he did.

He dismantled one of the crates and rubbed the resulting planks down roughly. Then he used his mitre saw to create some joints, used a nail gun to put it together and sanded the corners to round them a little.  Then a coat of danish oil and the body of the trug was done.

A piece of an old hosepipe was used to construct a handle which he then covered with braided scraps of leather and used hand peened rivets to attach it to the sides. (No, I don’t really know what hand peened means either – I’m just repeating what I’m told).

 

A special mention here for Cathy for telling me how to get my photos straight on to the post without going through my media library – which is full.   Turns out I might finally have to move over to the block editor after all 😭

 

Scraphappy Day is organised by Kate & Gun for anybody who wants to make new things from scraps of any kind – doesn’t have to be fabric or yarn.  Here’s a list of participants – both regular and occasional – if you want to have a look at the sort of things you can do with scraps.

Contact Kate or Gun (first names on the list) if you want to join in.

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy,
Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa, 
Lynn, Tierney and Hannah

Pondlife – Scraphappy Day October 2023

I made a felt frog using one of Cool Crafting‘s designs.

It was supposed to be a lady frog but I couldn’t get the green glass eyes and the amber ones made him look more masculine in my opinion so I decided against the suggested flower coronet and left him naked as most frogs tend to be.  I know this because we had thousands of tadpoles in our pond and the froglets I’ve seen so far are as naked as the day they were spawned.  However, I have it on good authority that, sometimes, a frog prince is born and he, of course, would wear a crown.

In case you’re wondering what this has to do with Scraphappy Day, I made the crown out of some lining left over from a dressmaking project.  It has quite a lot of body in it so I just cut the crown shape out in two layers, sewed them right sides together and turned it out.  Then I made the ‘jewels’ by practising my newly discovered (and still far from expert) French knots.

Even though I’d decided to leave him ‘in the nip’ I felt something was missing from the scenario so I made him a lily pad to sit on.

I had a green cashmere jumper that had gone bobbly beyond saving so I had previously put it in the washing machine a few times and saved the resulting felted fabric.  Perfect to cut out a lily pad shape.

I backed it with some green ombré fabric from my scrap box and added a ‘something special’ label.

Finally, my friend owns a craft shop and was getting rid of some excess bits and pieces and gave me a couple of fabric flower shapes, one of  which made the perfect addition to the lily pad.

So the frog, aided by a little bit of Scraphappiness, is now ready for a kiss to turn him into a real boy.

Or was that Pinocchio?

 

 

Scraphappy Day is organised by Kate & Gun for anybody who wants to make new things from scraps of any kind – doesn’t have to be fabric or yarn.  Here’s a list of participants – both regular and occasional – if you want to have a look at the sort of things you can do with scraps.

Contact Kate or Gun (first names on the list) if you want to join in.

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy,
Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa, 
Lynn, Tierney and Hannah

 

Scrappy Doo January

This post has nothing to do with that annoying little nephew of Scooby Doo but I couldn’t resist the title as there are both scraps and a dog.

A friend of a friend bought an old textile factory in our local town which used to be a centre for the textile industry in days gone by.  In fact, the one remaining working factory still produces upholstery for the automotive industry near and far.

The friend of a friend is converting the old factory into offices and is clearing out all the remaining bits and pieces. The friend didn’t want to see the stuff going to the dump so asked people she knows who sew and craft generally if they wanted to take some of it.  I have a few rolls of quite fine, plain coloured, slightly stretchy stuff I’m not sure what I’m going to do with but I also got some of these sample cards.

I have a sort of ‘woollen quilt’ in mind which I could achieve by cutting the rectangles into squares – there’s even some teeny squares showing the different colours that were available in each pattern – any ideas what I could do with those?

I wondered if I could extend my range of dog collars and make a sort of ‘Country Walks’ selection by covering the webbing totally in the wool mix fabric.  I had to join two lengths together and, instead of sewing the resulting band to the top of the webbing only – as I do with the ribbons and tapes I generally use – I made a tube of the fabric and threaded the webbing through so it was completely enclosed.  All the fabric has a slight stretch to it – possibly as it was produced for car seats – so worked well for this but not sure what implications that would have for a quilt.  Although it would probably be more a blanket than a quilt.

Here’s what I came up with

and here’s Stan doing a grand job of modelling it.

He is my own personal product tester and not nearly as annoying as Scrappy Doo.

Joining in again this month with Kate & Gun’s monthly Scraphappy Day where you too can use your scraps of fabric, yarn, paper, wood, anything to make something useful or lovely or both and show it off to the world.  You don’t have to join in every month, only when you have something to show.  Details and a list of other participants’ scrappy endeavours over on Kate’s blog.

Creative Gifts on a Budget

I belong to a great online group called Total Art Soul which is a meeting place for artists and crafters in all genres where they can share ideas, gain support, ask questions and gaze upon the talents of others in awe and envy.  It’s not a venue for selling but for encouragement and for meeting like minded people – a little spam free oasis in the world of art and crafts.

Anyway, Cathy, who set up the group, has a little series called ‘Gift Ideas for Poor Creative Souls’ and I really liked this one so am reproducing it here.  If you are interested in joining or just having a look at the site you can have a look here http://www.totalartsoul.com/

 

For the beaded vase you will need 

–         a vase (straight ones are easiest) 

–         glue that will stick on glass 

–         strings of beads (these could be old jewellery you have lying around) or you could string beads yourself 

All you need to do is attach them to vase using the glue.

Handmade Paper Vases

For this idea you need all of the above except the beads, but some gorgeous handmade paper.

You simply measure the circumference of your vase and cut your paper. 

Put glue all over the paper, evenly and don’t miss any areas and then attach to the glass ensuring there are no air bubbles by smoothing it out with your hands. 

Simple but effective don’t you think?  I’m going to give those paper covered vases a try.  I have some lovely handmade paper and also some drinking glasses with faded images on that I bought for the girls when they were younger – so a great way to recycle too!  If  I actually do get round to making any, I’ll take some pics but I doubt my vases (or photos) will look as good as those above so you may not see them!