What's in store

We'll be having a private sale in November. These are some of the magnets that we've made in preparation. Fabric-covered with a mixture of cotton-linen blend, quilting cotton, flannel or oxford cotton (some with lace). The magnets were E6000ed so you know they won't fall off even in the washing machine, LOL! Packed in sets of 4 by colour scheme for easy gift-giving.

Fun and colourful scrunchies. These are large ones, about 15cm across when fully opened up. Mini ones available but will post pic later. 

Christmas 2012 orders will be taken till 23 30Nov and then we'll be taking a longer than usual break after finishing these orders. Some new items coming up so watch this space.

Have a blessed day!

How do you draw flowers?

I like the contrast of this ring. It's a simple flower design, like the type I used to draw when I was in primary school, paired with intricate silver tone filigree adjustable ring base. I stuck the base on with E6000. I accidentally washed a previous ring and it survived a full cycle intact. Not only did the fabric stay on the button, the base was still very firmly stuck. I used to use super glue. Not any more. :-)

Have a blessed day!

Letting go

Just posted these 2 on Facebook. I was hoarding cherishing them for a while 'cos of the colours of the elastic band. I like the colour combinations. These are the medium thickness ones. I have the thinner version too, the one I used in an earlier post with the 18mm buttons.

So, if you like these, please hop over to Facebook and leave a comment.

Comes with 24 fabric circles with your preference of colours and prints, if available.

Have a blessed evening

ps: DS asked me why I don't up the price of the Daiso products and I only charge for the fabric circles. He said, Daiso is like my supplier and as a reseller I can up the price before selling it to you. True but for now, I'll just stick to Daiso price. I'm not going into selling supplies. Not for now, at least, LOL!

Kanzashi, anyone?

This is part origami, part sewing. Fun :-)

I saw this in a book once and thought it'd be nice to make some. This is the 2nd one I made, the first had 8 pointy petals. I prefer this 6 round petal one. I ran out of 18mm cover buttons for the centre but found this blue button and it seems to go.

You can't tell from the pic but it's less than 5cm across. One petal was made from a square with that length. I'll practise a bit more then put these on magnets, elastic hair ties and snappy hair clips. Or maybe put them on totes?

So many ideas. Oh, since I'm dreaming up new stuff...watch this space for some bag organisers :-)

Have a blessed day!

Downsizing

These are 18mm fabric-covered buttons. The ones I used to use were 27mm buttons. I wanted to use smaller ones so I could pair two covered buttons with some coloured elastic that I found. These were so much fun that I'm out of 18mm buttons now though I still have a few more colours for the elastic. Hmmm, should I match the fabric to the elastic or the elastic to the fabric. Maybe the former 'cos I have lots more fabric than elastic, LOL!

Have a blessed day!

What happened to your magnets?

LOL! This was what a friend asked when I told her I'm making scrunchies now.

DD and I were at West Mall when we saw kiddie scrunchies going at S$3.90/pair and I commented that I could match that price and use better fabrics.

My first try was a failure. It didn't make it to the blog.

My subsequent ones were a struggle. This is because I want to have nice clean seams and so wriggling a piece of narrow fabric around and twisting it to the right position wasn't easy. :-(

Till I found an easy way out. Sigh, it's so simple. Well, I could have used the bodkin.

Anway, these became easy to make. I made them while watching X-men Last Stand. It's the nth time I'm watching so I could miss some parts to go sew and return to flip the scrunchies etc.

DD likes the mini ones. Which type do you prefer?

Have a blessed day!

ps: To answer the initial question, well, magnets are still around. I just don't take pics of everything I make. I'm also waiting for organza bags to arrive so I can pack them.

Huggable for a Rilakkuma fan

This is one very huggable bolster and case for a Rilakkuma fan. I had to jump queue to make this 'cos the fan's birthday is this Sunday. Sorry! To those whose orders are still pending. I'll be able to craft more next week when DD goes back to school after a 2 week break.

Refill pack for someone who already has the cover button mould and pusher. This is a mix of normal buttons and 'flat' backs. I removed 12 shanks out of the 21 buttons so that the magnets can be stuck behind. E6000 is not included but these magnets come with a sticky patch that can be used instead. I prefer E6000 'cos the bond's much stronger but for a normal magnet, the sticky patch should be ok. 

This is a starter kit for fabric cover elastic hair ties. Another Rilakkuma fan (not the same one as the bolster owner though). 

Have a blessed day!

Same old, same old

Yup, yup, fabric covered buttons again. Magnets this time :-)

I had this piece of oxford fabric that had multi-coloured circles. They were too close together for the 27mm buttons but I cut them out anyway. I think 27mm is much better at showing off the pretty lace than 18mm ones. I like the balance of the colour with the lace and the backdrop. Sadly, I only have the blue, brown tones. The brighter version of reds and oranges was made into this backpack.

Have a blessed day!

Bobby pins

Another version of the fabric covered button, this time on bobby pins!

Top is antique bronze while bottom is gunmetal. DD chose both combinations. I just stuck them with a large glob of E6000 glue 'cos I don't have a hot glue gun. Good thing it dries clear and solid.

Have a blessed day!

Charmed by Owl City

DS asked for Owl City for the charm for his bag.

Incidentally the colours go so well together with the antique bronze, blues and browns. I just hope the glass dome will be ok after a few months.

Have a blessed day!

ps: No rights infringement intended here either. Perhaps I'll go check what the copyright law is...

Fated

No rights infringement was intended when I cut this picture of a book cover out from a magazine to make this pendant. Antique bronze bezel with glass dome.

Now I just have to find a nice chain to go with it :-)

ps: If you're wondering about the post title, I didn't realise the English title till I zoomed in to make this pic larger. It's there, between the top 2 and bottom 2 Chinese words. 

Magnetised

We're in a fabric-covered button kind of mood.

These are the latest twist on the button...magnets!

Very simple to do, just remove the post at the back and stick a magnet behind. I used magnets from Daiso which came with a sticky patch but I removed this sticky patch and stuck the magnet on with E6000 (industrial glue).

Oh, if you want to remove the post, you can cut it but DD suggested to remove the post before even making the button.

I used two pliers, one to hold the post, the other to twist the wire on the other side so that I can pull out the whole post. It's a bit tricky at the start but it's much easier (and lesser effort) than cutting.

Have a blessed day making these!

Make your own : fabric-covered hair tie kit

This kit contains almost everything you'll need to make your own fabric-covered button hair ties. It's just short of needle and thread to help you get the elastic through the loop at the back of the button. You can try to squeeze the elastic through if you don't have needle nor thread.

There's a fabric cover button kit. You can get this from Daiso. This one comes with its button-making kit. There's also the refill kit at Daiso. Daiso has both the green and blue pushers but I prefer the green 'cos the mould that comes with it is transparent and you can see if the picture is centred. The blue pusher has an opaque mould.

I also included 15 elastic hair ties. Extra for just in case. Besides, it came in packs of 5, LOL!

I cut 11 pink hexagons. All different, all cotton-linen blend. There are also 4 circles from Lecien's Happy Chihuahua.

All you'll need is just the tutorial here.

Have fun!

ps: I'll be coming up with a scrunchie kit later. Very useful for classes or get-togethers, but DD doesn't seem to like my idea of a pendant making party, LOL!

Quick update

So the PSLE's over and we're in spring-cleaning mode. I managed to squeeze out some items though.

Antique bronze shepherd's hook bookmarks with full Persian chainmaille weave and charms. The squirrel and dolphin were a gift from a supplier so I only have 1 each. The Sue Bonnets and bunnies I bought from South Bridge road.

We finally bought E6000, the industrial strength glue for sticking the ring bases to the fabric-covered buttons. I like the filigree ones though DS said it looks too fat for the ring. I think it's so pretty that it can be worn on its own. :-) DD has claimed the butterfly, by the way, LOL!

More stuff coming, after the spring-cleaning. That's for sure. The postlady's been here quite often with packages for us that we'll be making into some pretty items in time for Christmas.

Watch this space.

Have a blessed day!

Sneak: customizable pendants

These glass domes and bronze bezels arrived while I was peeling the potatoes for lunch. DD took over preparing lunch and I had some fun cutting out circles from an old magazine, flyer and stuff. They're just over an inch wide so I think they won't be too big for a shepherd's hook bookmark or even a bag charm. Easiest way, of course, would be on a long chain.

DD's favourite is the one with the green heart. That's The Glimpse by Claire Merle. I think I like the chinese title most though John Maxwell's 360 Leader is very striking too.

Maybe I'll go find some really old photos of DS and DD and cut them out for my own bag charm pendants :-)

Have a blessed day!

Sweet dreams!

This is the first time I've bought fabric that's printed with crosshairs for a specific size cut. There were actually two prints, this and another one where Kiiroitori is in a strawberry but I couldn't figure out what could be made out of it except for small boxy cushions.

Anyway, I like this very much. The material was just enough to make two pillowcases and a cushion cover. It was a tad tight for the cushion cover so I used two purple resin snaps to keep the opening closed.

Have a blessed day!

In case you're wondering

middle - Rilakkuma

left - Kiiroitori

right - Korilakkuma

Tutorial - Elastic hair tie with fabric covered button

1. Gather your items for making the fabric covered button - lime green cardboard disc for measurement of fabric circle to cut out, clear plastic mould, green pusher, button cap and bottom, fabric circle (already cut in this case. A note about cutting the fabric that you'll want to centre the cardboard disc so that the picture you want is centred.

2. You'll need the mould, fabric circle and button cap.

3. Place the fabric in the mould and the cap on top and press down.

4. Fold the edges in neatly. Press tightly.

5. Flip over to check that the picture is as desired, else redo steps 3 and 4.

6. Place the button bottom on top of the folds like in step 4.

7. Press the pusher on top till you feel the button bottom click into the cap.

8. Pop the fabric covered button out of the mould.

9. Gather elastic, needle and thread. If your elastic in a long strip, tie a knot first so you have a loop.

10. Thread the needle through the loop of the button bottom, through the elastic loop and back through the loop of the button bottom.

11. Pull just a bit of elastic through.

12. Remove the needle and thread and thread the larger loop of the elastic through the smaller loop and pull tight.

Email me if you get stuck at any of the steps.

Have a blessed day!