DIY: Bejewelled clutch

Bejewelled Clutch

No secrets inside

This is the perfect type of DIY-with-your-TV project. I promise that you will not even notice the hours fly by. Just make sure that you don't get too close to the project because the smell of the superglue might get to you.

Materials:
1 x sunglasses case
1 x cosmetic bottle cap
Gold nail polish (or another colour of your choice)
Lots of tiny rhinestones
Superglue

The cap

I got the tiny rhinestones from eBay and if I remember correctly, they cost me less than $10 in total. And the sunglasses case was $2 from a dollar shop. The cap was literally free because it came from a beauty product sample.

Steps:
1. Glue the rhinestones all over.
2. Paint the cap with gold nail polish.

3. Glue the cap on the top of the clutch.
4. Put on red lipstick and your favourite pair of heels. Go out and party. Take this clutch with you.

Now all I need is an occasion to use take this clutch out. xx

Gone thriftin'

The  op-shop

I went to Padstow today to buy a pair of Rock and Roll dance shoes and chanced upon the most lovely op-shop ever. There was something endearing about the dimly-lit shop and the organised mess. It's the kind of shop that whispers, "come, discover treasures." And so, once I got in, I put my stuff down, reached my hands in and dug. 

I went a little overboard with the jumpers. But I have no regrets. Besides, they were on sale for half the price! Behold, the most lovely jumper in the world.

Front and back of landscape jumper

And here are two other jumpers and a couple of other things I bought from the shop. 

Neon orange jumper without a tag and probably handmade

Tiffany blue jumper with amazing cable design

Pin

White shoulder bag

Last but not least, this was the look of the day. I am honestly starting to fall in love with my red lipstick. It might have something to do with how it looks with my hair...

Ciao! x

DIY: Felt flower brooch (and also other presents I bought for my friends)

In addition to the tiny little embroidered ornaments that I made, I also made (and bought) several other presents for my friends who came over to Sydney just a while ago. Here's the felt flower brooch that I made for one of my friends.

I made this felt flower brooch via the tutorial found on this blog here. I thought of making a brooch for her because she is often wearing cardigans and a simple flower brooch is the easiest way to dress up a plain cardigan! 

I also bought several other things during the post Xmas sale for my friends as belated birthday presents. This bright pink cambridge satchel is from Dotti and it was on sale at 50% off! What a steal. I couldn't resist it and bought one for myself too. I think my life is ALMOST complete. FINALLY!! I OWN A CAMBRIDGE SATCHEL (albeit a look-alike, not the real thing). A while ago, I was very very tempted to buy a bright yellow el cheapo one from eBay. Thank goodness I didn't, because it's likely that the quality would not have been as great. 

This is an eyeshadow palette from Sportsgirl. I like the variety of colours in this single palette. I think the beige (bottom row, centre) and grey-ish palette (middle row, extreme right) are great for a natural look. There's also black (top row, extreme left) and silver (top row, extreme right) for creating smokey eyes and bright colours for a more playful look. More importantly, there's a glittery gold (top row, centre) to enhance all looks! Dammit, the more I think of it, the more I think that I should have bought one for myself. But I really really shouldn't because I have a whole bunch of beauty products and make-up waiting to grow stale... T_T


Ok, that's all for now. My friends have left Sydney. I'm waiting for them to send me all the wonderful pictures that we took during their trip here. I'll write more about our trip around Sydney when I've sorted out the photos and stuff!


xx gwenstella

DIY: Refashioned Straw Bag

Dear Summer, I miss you so much. Winter has been cold and dreary. I want you back.

I guess you can tell how much I am missing summer right now. I could go crazy trying to keep warm in this cold and thinking about all the fun I had last summer. In preparation for Summer 2011, I made a refashioned straw bag! Whoopieee! I have always been inspired by Japanese fashion and this straw bag is a perfect example of its influences on me. Here are some of the pieces that inspired me:

(via)

(via)

I bought my mini straw bag from a thrift shop for just $4 over a year ago with the thought of making it look better, and finally got around to refashioning it this year. Do you like it? You can make a similar one following the steps below, or Google ‘japanese straw bag’ for more inspiration.

Materials:

Straw bag

Bits of different lace trimmings and ribbons

Glue gun

Steps: 

1. Use glue gun to glue a thick, ‘holey’ lace all around the middle of the straw bag. 

2. Use glue gun to glue another lace fabric slightly above the lace used in the previous step. 

3. Tie ribbons and glue them wherever you like. 

4. Add extra trimmings around the bag if you like.

I only used white trimmings for my lace bag because I didn’t want the trimmings to overwhelm the entire bag. Also, I was awfully scared of not being able to carry off such a feminine-looking bag. 

So, here you are, a very short and simple tutorial for the summer. I can’t wait to use this bag when summer comes!

Sewn: Cath Kidston Bag from Sew! Cath Kidston

A while ago, I wrote a review on the Sew! Cath Kidston book. The book came with the materials to make this floral Cath Kidston bag! Yes, it came with the fabric, the buttons and even the Cath Kidston label. (Sewing machine not included, haha)

So, here's my very own Cath Kidston bag! It's a really easy project that was completed within 2 days. Sewing it was such a breeze and a joy, such that I feel like making a few more with different fabric prints for my friends!

Where I added the interface

Work in progress

Work in progress, with pocket completed

I didn't exactly follow the original 'recipe' for the bag. I added some interface at the bottom of the bag because I wanted the bag to have a more defined structure. I think some interface at the bottom (rather than for the entire bag) is adequate, because erm, I don't want to make a box out of it! I also added a pink lining, complete with a pocket! Both the interface and the pink cotton fabric for the lining of the bag are additional things that I bought to make the bag because I really wanted this bag to be perfect. And... I think it's ALMOST perfect.

YUM.

The blue markings at the sides of the label are from my fabric pencil. I wanted to make sure that the label is right at the centre!

Why ALMOST? Well, I lost the buttons that were given to make the bag. I'm pretty sure it's somewhere in my pig sty (aka my bedroom), but I thought I should just forget it for now and simply buy similar ones to complete the bag. I'm sure the buttons will resurface sooner or later, and I will then be able to use them to make another of this bag! 

Look! Pockets!

Matching lining

But the buttons aren't the big issue here. What I am not fond of is the strap. The strap is of a weird length. It's not short enough to make the bag a handbag, yet not long enough for the bag to be worn as a sling bag. So, this Cath Kidston bag rests awkwardly in the middle of my torso, just slightly above my hip when I put the strap over my shoulder. To think that I was initially worried that I might have to shorten the strap because of my petite frame! Now I wonder how the bag would look when it's worn by taller people! What a shame for an almost perfect bag. Oh well, there's nothing I can do about it. I guess I'll just have to make it work out somehow with a good outfit! ^_^

FO: Mushroom Pickings

Yes, so I've made another crochet item, for another friend of mine as a birthday present, once again. Three crochet FOs in a month! I don't think I'm going to crochet a while... and I think these birthdays are going to stop coming for a while... phew!

What do you guys think of this bag? I gave it to my friend at her birthday party today and I think she likes it! :D I was thinking of using a bright yellow for the bag initially, but then I thought my friend would prefer this colour. The pattern is from here. But if you compare my bag to the original version, it's slightly different because I used 8ply yarn instead of the prescribed 10ply. I also worked in rounds and didn't turn my work, except when I was almost finishing at the top. My handles are definitely different too because by the time I got to the handles, I was like, "pattern? schmattern!" and worked it out myself. 


Nevertheless, I really like how the bag turned out! It's really surprising to see that it turned out to be sooooo mori-esque! Mori is a japanese style of dressing that I am actually rather into. But I haven't really dressed in that manner... yet... Anyway, I named the bag "Mushroom Pickings" because I imagined that is a bag someone might carry when s/he goes into the forest to pick mushrooms. Heh.


Well, my rambling will stop here. Sorry that I have only have one pathetic picture of the bag to show you guys. It isn't even the actual end product because I haven't weaved the ends in yet when I took this picture. I do have a couple of other WIP pictures, but I decided that they were too awful... >_<

FO: The Pur-bo Bag and The Be-red

For the past 2 weeks, I have been working my crochet hook like MAD because 2 of my friends' birthday are coming up this week and I planned on making something for them as presents. Actually, one of them is celebrating her birthday tonight (Friday) and the other one is having a BBQ lunch tomorrow. I'm only going for the one tomorrow. 


Ok, you're probably not interested in that much details. Enough of all that jabber. Now, photos! 


First up, the purple hobo bag, aka The Pur-bo bag:

I made a few changes to the original pattern by Stephanie Gage because I was running out of the purple yarn and there was no way that I could get a ball of this yarn from the same colour lot, since I bought the yarn ages ago. So I made a few changes to the pattern in order to accommodate my yarn shortage: 

Close-up

• 18 rows of the dc instead of the 20 in the pattern 
• 4 rows of sc at the top of the bag instead of the 5 in the pattern 
• 1 strap with the width of 7 sc instead of the 2 straps made using 4 sc each as stated in the pattern 

I thought it would look ugly with all the changes I have made. But it did not! I even feel like making one for myself now! But I shall not and must not, lest I end up with too many knitted/crochet hobo bags.

WIP

Next up, the red beret aka The Be-red:

This is the first time that I made a crochet hat. All my previous hats were knitted. When I completed this pattern by creativeyarn, I thought, "what!? that's it!?" I was quite disappointed as the opening was really too big and the beret did not have the slouch that I expected from the photos. Am I missing something about crochet hats here? Nevertheless, I continued with 1 more round to make the opening smaller:

• Round 19: sc 1, sc2tog, rep to end

Unfortunately, that did not help and I ended up with something that is slightly tight. It's either too loose or too tight... I decided to go with the latter. I guess it's cuter to see a little hat perching on a head? I might be wrong... >_<


So, I'm really not quite sure what I feel about this crochet beret. I have a feeling that it might not fit my friend's head because the crochet ends are quite tight. Maybe it's better to knit hats to give them the ability to stretch rather than to crochet...


But that said, I might still make one for myself...Might...

WIP

DIY: Embroidered/Cross-stitch Pencil Case

My oh my. I really can't believe that I'm actually writing a blog post here. I would have never thought that I would have the time to write here twice in a month! Enough of that usual blog post opening, it's time to talk about my embroidered pencil case. 


I made this a while ago before school started and my craft plans were thrown in complete disarray (or rather, completely obliterated). You should have seen my old pencil case. I should have made this new pencil case ages ago.

Oh right, I was also enjoying a small serving of frozen grapes...

It started out as this mini vintage embroidery/cross-stitch project that my friend passed to me a few years back. I did plan to create the oblong pouch that it was meant to be. But then I was too lazy to read the instructions in detail. So, I decided to screw the original project and make myself a badly needed pencil case instead.

You should have noticed that I keep typing 'embroidery/cross stitch'. I just can't decide which category this project belongs to. What are the differences between those 2 types of needlecraft anyway? No matter what it is, it sure is a lot of fun. I got the entire thing done in 2 afternoons while watching american drama on my computer.

Added interface to hide my messy work

Used a leftover fabric from another project for the lining

Sewed the 2 pieces of fabric, right side together, and then turned it out to get this

Folded it into half and then sewed the sides together

Turned it out to get an open pouch

The zip was painstakingly sewn on by my very own hands. That's all for now. No witty ending for this post because I am really tired now.