Notebook (and blanket stitch) fun!

Lately, I have been smitten by notebooks. On my recent trip overseas, I purchased a few...one fabric covered (from the Changi airport in Singapore) and a couple made with recycled paper (from one of my favourite Philippine shops, Papemelroti - You can view some of the said shop's wonderful paper products here.).

As if I didn't have more than enough notebooks, I went on and made fabric covers for two more plain journals.



I used this book cover tutorial and had so much fun with the blanket stitch. I really love that handmade look!

And speaking of handmade, you may have noticed that my Etsy shop, Simple Things, is now up and running. I promised myself that this would be THE year I am getting my craft out there. Most of the items listed now you may have already seen as I have blogged about them before, but I do have a number of new things coming soon.

Another commitment I have also made to myself is that all sales from my shop will go towards helping fund my next visit to my mum. I gave her my word that I will be bringing my whole family to see her this year. She really longs to be with her grandchildren. I know this will not be an easy task as there are six of us... but this is one promise I will keep, come what may.

Can I count on your support?

Giveaway winner

And the lucky reader is...Rebecca who said, "Great patterns! thanks for the chance!"

Please get in touch me. I will ship your patterns as soon as I get your complete contact details. Congratulations and happy bag-making!

Thank you to all who took time to join my bag pattern giveaway. I have plans to offer more free stuff in the near future so please keep on reading!

Some 'firsts' for 2009 ( a new bag and a giveaway!)

As the creative juices haven't flowed in just yet, I decided to use someone else's bag pattern to get me started. I couldn't let that new sewing machine just sit there, idle...

The pattern is from Sweet Pea Totes. I've tried two of their designs before and have found the instructions for them very clear and easy to follow. This one, I believe, is the newest one they have - the Simple and Chic handbag. Here it is,folks, my first finished bag for 2009!

(Click to view larger images)

This bag is about 10 3/4" tall, 16" wide at the top and 11 1/2" wide at the bottom. The strap is around 20" long. It also has a flap with a magnetic snap closure and one inside pocket. I used 100% cotton fabrics, with the main bag lined with fusible fleece and the lining with stiff interfacing.

The whole sewing process was pretty easy. The only tricky part was stitching around the shaped top. Nice pattern to try out, even for a beginner.

Speaking of patterns, I am having a bag pattern giveaway, my FIRST for the year! There are two, actually...Favorite Things' Wallet Purse and Lazy Girl Designs' Chelsea Tote! Combined value - about $22 USD!


You can read more on these patterns here and here.

Everyone is invited to participate. I don't mind shipping these outside Australia. Here is what you have to do to be in the running to win:
1. If you have a blog, please mention this giveaway and provide a link back to this post. Don't forget to also leave a comment here so I would know that you've joined, ok?
2. If you don't have a blog, aside from leaving a comment, I would appreciate it if you could extend this giveaway to at least one friend. Ask them to join too! The more entries the merrier, right? There would be no way for me to check if you did your part, so I will have to trust you on this one!

Entries close on Saturday, the 24th of January at 12:00 noon AEST. COMPETITION NOW CLOSED. I will use the random number generator to determine the winner. Watch out for the announcement on Sunday.

So, that's it for some 'firsts'. Hope you all have a nice day and thanks for dropping by. Good luck!

~ Corinne ~

PS. With Sweet Pea's blessing, I might just sell the bag above. Please watch out for that!

I'm Back

Well actually, I have been since the 7th. Yes, I'm back...but not quite yet. Physically I am here but a big part of me still lingers thousands of kilometers away, wishing I could have had more time, hoping I could have done more. The future is so uncertain.

Life has to go on though. I have a family here who needs me as much.

The day I came back, it was my birthday. This beauty was waiting by the door...a welcoming present from my husband and kids...

Having just been used to a basic sewing machine, this Janome DC 3050 certainly seems pretty exciting. Let's just hope I can get myself together real soon so new ideas can start coming in. I do feel a great crafting year ahead of me!

I will be back, I promise...(and yes, I have got to change that Christmas banner soon!) DONE!

And before I forget, I will be having my first giveaway for the year shortly...please stay tuned.

Merry Christmas!

Just popping in real quick to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! This will be my last post for the year. Early tomorrow morning (1:00 am), I will be boarding my flight to the Philippines...just having a short holiday to be with my family and friends there. Will be back on the 7th of January (my birthday!). Please continue to pray for my ill mum that she may still experience Christmas joy and hope in the midst of her condition...and also us, her children, that we may be the Lord's instruments of that joy and hope for her.

Thank you all for sharing a wonderful crafting year with me. Enjoy your holidays! See you in 2009!

~ Corinne ~

2009 Desk Calendar Download - Yipee!

I made this calendar shortly after I wrote my previous post and managed to finish at 12:30 am this morning! The effort is well worth it (I hope!). Again, I used prints from A Print a Day for each month's image. Here's just three of them...

(Click to view larger images)

The calendars are JPEG files. My suggestion is to have them printed as 4" by 6" photos and then use a clear plastic photo frame to display them. This would make a pretty, practical and inexpensive Christmas present (under $5), don't you think?

Download the calendar from here. Please let me know if there are any errors or if you are having problems downloading, ok? I was understandably getting sleepy while I was making this....Enjoy!

Last Minute Christmas Crafting

With the kids now on school holidays, my computer time has been considerably cut. The only time I can go online uninterrupted is late at night, when everyone is already asleep.

I have slept short hours the past three nights or so working on desk calendars for my three older children. I found this Reader's Digest book from the local library called "Create Cards and Calendars using your Own Digital Photos". It came with a CD containing card and calendar templates for use with Adobe Photoshop Elements. I don't have Photoshop but a 30-day trial version can be downloaded from the net and so I gave it a shot. The desk calendars turned out great! I had customized each set with images appropriate for each kid. I saved them as picture files, then had them printed at Kodak this morning. I couldn't take photos of them (yet) because I am obviously hiding them from the kids. I will try to be a little bit more sneaky tomorrow...I'd really like to show them to you. If time permits it, I just might share a desk calendar set for you to download.

Here are my other completed handmade presents...

Rice Heat Therapy Bags made using the tutorial here. This is such a wonderful and practical idea...I love it!

I did not strictly follow the tutorial steps though. Each bag cover is made from just one fabric, neatly sewn with french seams and the rice bags have channels like these...

I used pure peppermint essential oil (10 drops to a kilo of rice) as I have always associated the 'minty' smell with pain relief. These bags will go to some of the significant elders in my life.

I also whipped up these simple cushions for two nieces this morning. Was inspired by this post. They were really quick and easy to make and I had all the materials already on hand. I'm sure the girls will appreciate them.



And lastly, here are the packaged glass bubble magnets. The printed papers in each package came from A Print a Day and they can be downloaded from here.

I do think I should stop making presents now...it's getting to be quite exhausting really. But the truth is, this handmade Christmas thing is so very fulfilling and for the first time, I really don't mind if I don't get any presents in return. I am happy and grateful even with just the giving part.