Things I Love...

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, I almost squealed with delight when I saw this cute wooden spool letter tutorial on the papernstitch blog!  I seriously want to make one for everyone I know (okay, maybe only the females I know, LOL) and am already in the supply shopping stages of making a few to give to the cheeky monkeys for their birthdays.  To whom would you give one of these sweet and original "letters"?

Happy Australia Day!!!

La Femme Jewels

Today I want to wish all of my Aussie readers a very happy and enjoyable Australia Day!  We'll be child free for the next few days thanks to my in-laws, so we will probably spend our Australia Day at the movies and enjoying our various pasttimes which are hard to do with little ones.  How will you be celebrating this Australia Day?

Embroidery Fun - Home Sweet Home

I recently saw a quirkily fun tutorial on the kojo DESIGNS blog for creating location/travel-oriented wall decor and thought I would try it out for my creativity journal.  Being someone who has lived in a few countries and also loves to travel, the idea of an embroidered memento of the places one has lived or travelled to really struck a chord with me.  Admittedly, my attempt is pretty rough and ready, having been completed in under an hour, but I had a lot of fun with this sewing project.  I've been thinking of the various ways this idea could be applied and can't wait for a chance to try them out!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Papercuts Studio

Wishing all of my Chinese readers a very happy Chinese new year!  I hope you've enjoyed all of your celebrations so far; we've only had a small family dinner this year as none of us felt up to going all out as we have in the past.  Do feel free to comment here with anything exciting you've done in your celebrations.   :)

Friday Finds - Home Storage Solutions

To celebrate being married to my amazing husband (yes, today is our wedding anniversary!) I thought I would share some clever home storage solutions which I'm sure my storage-crazy husband would love.   :)

Bike Shelf by Knife & Saw

Stairway Storage by Unicraft Joinery

CD Wall Rack by Anthologie Quartett

 

Hanging Rail Laundry Storage by Atypical Type A

What's New at Two Cheeky Monkeys?

As you all know, I have been trying to enjoy my summer break with the two cheeky monkeys by spending my days relaxing, sleeping in and trying out lots of fun new crafty projects.  I have also been slowly, but surely, working on new creations for Two Cheeky Monkeys, focussing particularly on my vintage "glam it up" range as well as my Pride and Prejudice range of jewellery and brooches.  I've started listing some of my new creations in both my Etsy and Madeit stores, but here is a little sneak peek of what I've been making as well as some works in progress.

1. Brooke, Morgana, Petronella and Eirenne vintage Glam It Up cocktail rings.
2. Pride & Prejudice rings and Darcy ear studs.
3. Siobahn, Valentina and Pansy vintage Glam It Up necklaces.
4. P&P brooches.
5. Teardrop vintage jewels which will be turned into rings.
6. WIP - I heart Darcy rings.

Repurposing a Vintage Book Into a Diary Cover

As if you needed further confirmation that I am more than a little obsessed with vintage books, today's post is about a vintage book I recently upcycled into a cover for my very cheap and, while not ugly, not very classy-looking diary for 2012.  I found a very straightforward tutorial for my project on the Just Something I Made blog and I have to admit that I now want to make vintage book covers for all my boring notebooks!

This repurposing project really was quite fast and simple, with most of my time spent waiting for my glue (I used the very handy Gutermann fabric glue) to fully dry and cure.  I did tweak the tutorial a little to improve the look and function of my "new" diary cover.  Firstly, I glued a strip of cotton fabric onto the inside spine of my old book to protect and strengthen it.  And secondly, I  cut the pockets for the diary's covers a little narrower than the cover of the book so that the spiral binding of my diary could sit nicely along the spine.  The best part about this project is that I'll be able to re-use my upcycled cover every year as long as a I buy a similarly-sized diary!

Kids Crafting Roundup

We are now at the end of week three of school summer holidays (or week four for youngest cheeky monkey as her kindergarten always finishes up a week before the schools do) and I have been madly researching ideas to keep my cheeky monkeys entertained all summer.  We've been having fun deciding on projects together and here are just some of the kid-friendly craft tutorials we've tried or are planning to try.  Enjoy!

Sunshine Clay

Making Prints

Iris Folding



Salt and Coffee Watercolour



My vintage book obsession continues...

I know, I know, you are probably starting to think that I might need some "help", but I really can't get enough of creating new and interesting things with vintage book pages!  I got the idea for this funky flower while surfing the web for repurposed creations and I love its quirkiness.  The book page flowers are strengthened and stabilised by being sewn onto felt and then a vintage button from my stash was added to the top for a bit of colour.

I haven't got a use for these flowers as yet, so my prototype flower is sitting in my creativity journal waiting to inspire me to make some more for a concrete purpose.  Perhaps I'll turn them into brooches or hair accessories for Two Cheeky Monkeys or string a bunch together to make floral garlands for Domum Vindemia.  What do you think?  Would you wear a vintage book flower brooch or hair clip?  Or are you more likely to hang a garland of these unusual flowers in your home or office?



Mango pudding - a gorgeous summer dessert

Quite a few people have been asking for my mum's super simple mango pudding recipe so I thought that I would share it on my blog with all of you!  I absolutely adore mangoes, perhaps because of spending the first seven years of my life in Singapore, where my aunt had an amazing mango tree in her garden.  One of the desserts that just screams "summer" to me is mango pudding!  Here's how you can quickly whip up your own sweet summery surprise.

A portion of mango pudding sitting in my bowl waiting to be devoured!

 Ingredients:

2 x 85g packets of mango jelly crystals

1 Tb gelatine

375 ml evaporated milk

425ml hot water

1-2 mangoes, diced

Method:

1. Dissolve gelatine and mango jelly in the hot water.

2. Thoroughly mix in the evaporated milk and mango pieces.

3. Pour your mango mix into a large jelly mould or other suitable container and refrigerate until set.

4. Unmould your mango pudding to serve or serve it in the container - either way, you will utterly delight your guests!

I'm back for the year! (aka Zentangling fun)

Hello!  I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and new year's with family and friends.  We have had a hectic time with several family get togethers as well as catching up with old work friends and various relatives whom we do not get to see very often.  It has also been a fairly emotional time for me as Christmas marked the six month anniversary of my dad's passing and it was this time last year that we first had inklings that he was seriously ill.

But, after a few weeks away from blogland, I'm back on a semi-regular basis!  I say "semi-regular" because it is still summer holidays for the two cheeky monkeys, so I am spending a lot of time crafting with them or otherwise entertaining them.  Although I haven't been blogging, I have managed to spend some of my free time trying out craft techniques and projects which have been on my "to try" list for some time.

My first zentangle which I drew while I sat on the beach watching the cheeky monkeys family playing in the ocean on new year's eve.

My favourite by far has been zentangle, a technique I was introduced to about 18 months ago but which I have only just had a chance to try.  Although zentangling seemed a little daunting to someone like me who does not draw well, it is not that different from the doodling my sister and I used to do to while away the hours (of course my doodlings were never so elaborate).  I've had a lot of fun with zentangling and have already started thinking about what designs to try next!  Have you tried zentangling?  If you have, I'd love to see what you've done!

A stylised toadstool zentangle (I have a thing for toadstools).