Post from Holland

Today was really exciting, because I received a parcel my mum sent from Holland. Together with Lucy I opened it and she gasped when she saw the Kinder surprise eggs, but I was possibly even more excited about 8 scrumptious balls of cotton that were inside the box along with all the other treats my mum stuffed into the package. I took a photo which you see below, the only problem is that it looks like I took the photo with a microwave.. I post it anyway. Possibly you can see through the blur and indentify 8 GORGEOUS balls of cotton goodness.

The cotton has a little bit of sparkle in it, which makes it very suitable to make something "Christmassy". I searched for a nice pattern for a table runner and came across this photo.

It's made by somebody called Leilani Pearce. I don't have any more info than that. With a bit more research I found out that it's made with a free crochet pattern from Red Heart (I think) which you can find here.

I am looking forward to start on this new project tonight! I'll show the result once it's done! :)

Previous Creations: Nintendo Part 2

Hello! Thanks for visiting my blog :) In this post I add the remaining Nintendo crafts I have done in the past. Hope you like them and don't hesitate to ask something if you would like to make something yourself! My next project now will definitely be a Yoshi amigurumi. After I have seen footage of Yoshi's Woolly world I need to do something to contain my excitement!

This big Animal Crossing New Leaf magnet I made just after the game came out. I picked up a free flyer from GAME and cut out all the little characters. Then I used Mod Podge to glue them all onto a wooden plague that I painted blue.

This Samus is quite big and very easy to make with Hama beads. How to use Hama beads you can find in THIS tutorial. It makes a nice decoration on it's own or would also be nice to frame, or stick a magnet on the back and you have a fridge magnet. Possibilities are endless! :P

These little Christmas ornaments we had in our tree last year, with a big Mario star on the top. Very easy to make and looks much nicer than boring balls haha. Just make them with HAMA beads and push a little hook through the top of them.

This pumpkin we made for Halloween 2013. There is not much to say about it really, except that my man Dave cut his finger while doing it.

This is a Zelda inspired hanger, which I made in the same way as I made THIS hanger. This one might be a bit easier and definitely faster to make than the Mario one.

That are all the Nintendo related crafts I have made.. as far as I can think of at the moment. If I find any more photos, I'll post them!


Thanks for reading! :-)

Siri

Previous creations: Nintendo

Hi guys, I am not sure what tutorial to do next, so I have decided to make a couple of blog posts with my previously made creations. Hopefully you will see something you like and you would like to see a tutorial of. As I am a big fan of everything Nintendo, this blog post will be about all the things I have crafted to do with Nintendo. 

Big Crochet Kirby Blanket

 The Kirby blanket has cost me blood, sweat and tears, but I am quite proud of it. It has a nice spot on the wall in Lucy's room now. Maybe we will start using it as a blanket again later.

Above are three of the canvases I painted and then I made Hama beads creations to go on top of the paintings to give it a 3d effect. On the photos they all have different backgrounds, but that was because that was in our old house. Now they are hanging all next to each other in our hallway and I think it's a nicer decoration than the ones you get in shops. 

Kirby amigurumi

Last one for this post is a little stuffed Kirby. It was one of the first 3D things I crocheted, so it's not perfect, but I think it looks cute anyway! :)

I still have more Nintendo related crafts to post, but I will do that in my next blog post. Please let me know if you see anything you would like me to make a tutorial of. Also I sell everything that I make, don't be afraid to ask for the price, because I sell it as cheap as I can!

Bye for now! :-) 

Siri

Super Mario Coat Hanger/ Key Rack

Hello everyone, today I would like to share the tutorial for the Super Mario coat hanger/ key rack. The rack I used I bought for £1 in Poundworld, so if you already have most of the materials that you need, it is cheap as chips to make this. I'll tell you know what materials you need, so you can tick what you already have.

-The wooden hanger. The one from poundland already comes with the hooks attached to it.
- Acrylic paint.
- Paint brush.
- Hama beads & Peg board. I used the ones from Ikea you can find HERE and you can also pick up the peg boards there and you can find those HERE. They are cheaper than the real Hama beads and have all the colors in the tub that you need to make the shapes, except for the skin color for Mario. That's the only color you would have to buy seperately. Alternatively, you could make another shape like the green 1 up mushroom. To save yourself from spending extra money. 
- greaseproof paper
- Iron
- Glue Gun with glue sticks.
- a black Sharpie or another waterproof felt pen.
- a screwdriver.
- a pencil

To start with, you unscrew the hooks off the wooden plank, which will make it much easier to paint. At this point you can decide whether you want to paint little drawings on the hanger, or if you don't fancy that you can also just paint it one color. I done that previously with a Zelda one and that looks nice too. If you do want the little drawings on them, start with drawing the shapes out with a pencil. Obviously I am not a pro drawer, but they are only simple shapes. This is how I drew them out.

Also draw a line on the bottom using a ruler. This will be the ground. Once that's done, you are ready to paint. You can see on the picture of the finished hanger the colors you can use. Try to be as tidy as you can, but I know it's hard with a paint brush. Don't worry if you go out of the lines a bit, as we make that dissapear in the end when we use the Sharpie for the outlining.  While the paint is drying we can move on to the Hama bead part. Don't use the Sharpie yet, wait until the paint is dry. It will be much easier then. This is how mine looked after painting it.

To make the hama bead characters, you simply take your peg board and start putting the beads on there. Just copy the ones I made, the photos are below.

Once you have finished those, heat up your iron. Once it's heated up, you put the greaseproof paper on top of your beads like this.

 

Keep moving the iron over the paper. You can just go round and round. Don't keep it on the same place or it will melt your pegboard and you won't be able to use it again. After about ten seconds it should be done. To check this, lift up the paper and check if the beads are all attached to each other. Especially on the sides, you don't want anything to come off. Once it is done you can take the shape off you peg board. It's best to turn the shape upside down, put the grease paper on it again and go over it with the iron a couple of times again. You don't have to put it back on the peg board to do that. Just to make it a little bit more sturdy.

By now the paint has probably dried and you are ready to give it the finishing touch with the Sharpie. Draw around the shapes you drew before, make shadows behind the blocks, make the lines a bit thicker at the places where you went out the lines with the paint. Also draw the line of the ground and make little 'z' like shape in the ground, to make it look similar like the game.

Almost done now!  Turn on your glue gun and wait for it to be heated up. Once it is heated up, put glue on the back of the shape and stick it on the hanger. Do the same to the other two shapes. You will glue one shape on the left, one in the middle and one on the right. 
The last thing left to do is attach the two hooks back onto the hanger and you are done!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that is was helpful to you. Please let me know what you think and I would love to see your finished result. If you have any requests let me know and I'll see if I can make a tutorial on it :-)

Siri

Upcycle your old table tutorial

What you'll need:

-A table (or any object you would like to decorate, almost everything works!) I used THIS one. 
-Mod Podge or Decopatch glue. (Not very cheap, but they go a long way, so it's well worth it.
-A paint brush.
-Paper. Any decoupage paper will do. You could do it all in the same colour, or like me choose different colours that go well together and mix 'm up.
-(Optional) varnish, which makes the table look just a little more shinier and also offers more protection. If you choose not to use varnish that is fine, since the Mod Podge or glue you use will already give it protection.
-(Optional) sand paper to sand down the surface of the object you are decorating.

I started by sanding down the table to take the layer of paint off. This is optional. I just find the paper stick nicer to the surface then.

As a preparation you take your decoupage paper and start 
tearing them into small pieces. ( I know that hurts, since the
paper is a bit pricey, but it will be well worth it in the end 
trust me ;))

Dip your paint brush in the glue and apply it to the table. Then pick up a piece of paper with your pencil (in that case you don't get your hands dirty) and stick it to the glue you just applied on the table. Once it's stuck on there, go with your brush over the paper and make sure it is nice and smooth with no bumps or lumps underneath the paper. Once you've done that, apply a little bit of glue on the table next to you first piece of paper and pick up another piece of paper and stick it on. Make sure it overlaps the first piece of paper a little bit, so you won't have any gaps. Repeat this until the whole object is covered. 
For the sides of the table I use the edges of the paper, because they are already perfectly straight and therefore will fit perfectly on the edges. 

Once the whole table is covered, put another layer of glue over the paper your applied to the table. Once this is dry it will form a protection. It dries pretty quick, so your table can be used within a couple of hours of making it. If you want to put an extra layer of varnish over it, make sure you let it first dry properly and then just use your paint brush to cover the table with a layer of varnish. This will also have to dry again. Once it's dry, you can use your new table!
Hope this was useful for you and please show me the result of your decoupage project!

Siri