Revamp!

I've been away for a month! I knew it had been a while since my last post but a whole month has shocked me! Unfortunately though I haven't really been crafting so haven't had much to share. That's the problem with being really ill is that even your favourite things become a chore :(

I have been dragging my butt into the shop and selling lots of things to some lovely people so I need to do lots of replenishing this month so hopefully there will be lots of posts over the next few weeks to catch up with!

The past 2 days have all been about revamping, upcycling, breathing fresh life into old clothes. There's never much need to throw things away, its a huge problem our society is conditioned with; if we don't throw things out then how will we have room for all the new things that we need to buy!! Oh how I hate the commercial, capitalist world we live in! Maybe this post can inspire some folks to take a step back and just update the wardrobe they already have rather than constantly buying new.

I went to town with some great charity shop finds and some screen printing. 

The first two pieces are a St Michaels shirt and a handmade vintage dress both on beautiful emerald green shades and I used a new screen print of mine 'happily ever after' to print onto the backs. I'd made the screen up to print some cushions with but decided it worked on these items too!

I picked up a few tshirts and vest tops on my collecting days and cheered them up with a few carousel horses, lions and zebras. The red and white tshirt below I also added a blue and white spotty pocket for a bit of extra colour. The stripey dress was also a handmade vintage piece that I added some balloons and also a big red polka dot pocket to.

I've also been working on a range of jumpers to sell in the shop. I wanted to combine my love of printing onto found fabrics with cosy jumpers and lots of lace and this was the result! Each is a one off piece.

Printing Day!!

So today was printing day!! I haven't had time to have a full day down at the PrintHaus in ages so made time to spend as much time as possible there today!

I started the morning cleaning up a few old messy screens and then exposed a zebra repeat onto a fresh one!

I've printed this design before but the cushions that I made form the fabric sold straight away so it only made sense to make some more! I used a waterbased ink first in a dark bluey green and then I messed about with mixing colours together - I went for a classic pink and purple combo. I think i need to make more of a gradient of the colour next time though.

I'd also put my favourite lion design on a screen before Christmas and still hadn't got around to using it so went to town printing loads of pieces in different colours.

  

I also took the opportunity to print on a pile of pashmina's that I'd picked up from eBay last week.

  

  

Ah I am now exhausted after a long day but feeling good. I can't wait for my next printing session, I'm definitely going to make sure its soon! 

Craftster Swap

I use a crafting forum called Craftster on a regular basis, I mainly like looking at all the things everyone has been making but it also hosts a huge amount of tutorials and nifty 'how to's'.

One of the girls I chat to about screen printing and embroidery asked if I would be interested in making some work to swap. What a fun idea huh! So I can finally share what we've both done as everyone has received their surprise packages!

This is the package I sent to sheepBlue; two screenprinted and embroidered hooplas a screen printed handmade tote bag and some mesh for making your own silkscreens.

I made a tote bag with some polka dot handles using fabric I printed with a lion repeat. Its an old drawing but I like the effect of the repeat.

 

 

The space hoopla is very similar to the last one I did, although I used a purple print on the line work instead of navy, there had also been a second layer of colour print in my original one as I'd mixed in some halftone texture that we had on another screen in a light blue. I wanted to try and give it a more 1970's feel with psychedelic rainbow colours =) 

Mr Zebra hoopla was just a bit of fun really. It's only a 3 or 4" hoop, so really small, I had a few scraps of the zebra repeat after making a knitting tidy for my mum ages ago. (I posted about it on Craftster). So I decided just to do some fun fill stitches into the zebra and a bit of scallopping too.

It was my first attempt at putting a felt backing on the hoops. It's not quite perfect for my liking but not the worst thing either.

sheepBlue loved her package, I'm super happy as mine was pretty awesome too! You should definitely look at her blog and Esty shop. I bought cat cards from her in the past that are a beautiful print.

Here are my beautiful gifts! A stunning printed embroidered flamingo print hoopla and some brillliant jaw bone printed pillowcases. You can read more about how she made the pillows here. She's a nutter and did each print indvidually, but she's working from home rather than having a studio so big ups to home diy crafts!

 

 

 

So I will end this post with something special as it's a long one and I'm impressed you're still reading =) Thanks to Lulu from A Vintage Daydream for this one! I can't wait to see my gift!!

What's going down:

The first three people to comment on this post will receive a little gift - something personal from me to you.

Within 2 months I'll create something unique to share with the first three people to comment on this post.

But in order to receive your present you have to play along.

Spread the love on your own blog promising to send a little special something to the first three people who comment on your post. You get 72 hours to re-post, or I'll have to move on to the next person. Please only comment if you're willing to pay it forward. If you want to receive something unique from me in the mail and if you are willing to do the same for others, leave a comment below!

Please leave your email address so that I can contact you directly! And blog URL so that I and others can visit your blog! Again, I want to emphasize that please only comment if you're willing to pay it forward. Nobody likes a taker.

Who's down for paying it forward craft style?