Homemade cards

I mainly use pastels, with some acrylic and the odd bit of paper folding and cutting. Recently I have been experimenting with cards which include material and patchwork. They're good evening projects to get lost in.

Ape card for Alex on our anniversary (going to Go Ape) - using acrylics.

Peas in a pod for Alex's birthday, using pastels

Snowdrops for Jess birthday, with pastels.

Autumn leaves for Dad, with pastels.

Eric Carle style card for Claire's birthday, newspaper, pipecleaners and glass beads.

Settlers card for Dallas, using pastels

Picture for card for Rhiannon - in pastels

Horse card for Liz Pickup's 60th - acrylics

Mothers day card for mum, material sewed together with a button.

Thank you card for Liz and Mike, in pastels with folded butterfly.

Red oak tree for Liz and Mike's Ruby wedding, paper and acrylics.

Elmer cushions

Cushions are a good first step for learning to use a sewing machine. And I made a lot of them. The felt for these ones is from Felt Fairy on eBay and the zips from Our Patterned Hand on Broadway Market. The felt comes in squares anyway, so for these ones I just roughly quartered them using a wheel cutter then sewed them together in rows. I then sewed the rows into squares. I added the zips down one side, joining the two halves together, then sewed the squares round the edge with the front side together before turning it inside out to make the finished cushion.

Pimping the green chair.

I always wanted a really big cushion to lean against while reading in bed.

Knitting

I got a beautiful knitting needle case and some wool from Nat and Pete for my birthday and taught myself to knit basic stitch from good old YouTube.

My beautiful case from Nat, and my first rows of stitches.

Heidi, Alex's aunt and my mum patiently taught me and helped me with mistakes all Christmas.

The first scarf

We found a great shop on Globe Road in Bethnal Green called Prick Your Finger which sold handwoven wool - this one had plastic bits in too.

Scarf for Ben

Finally, a scarf for Jess for her birthday, with wool from Fun 2 Do in Carlisle.

Birthday scarf for Jess

A new toy - Super Galaxie 2000

I got a sewing machine for Christmas. Slightly intimidating at first as I've never used one before. It's a Brother Super Galaxie 2000 - bought by Alex from a lovely lady on ebay. Luckily, because it's electric and has a touch screen in the corner, it tells me when I'm doing basic things wrong - like trying to sew without the foot down. I had a number of sewing for beginners books, but to be honest, the operation manual for the machine was most helpful for getting started.

Looking a little nervous

My first creation - a thank you cushion.

I made a buttonhole - although it's only recently I worked out how to make it the right size for buttons.

First go at patchwork

Customisation & screenprinting

Clothes making and customisation feels a bit hard at the moment, but I tried a couple of small things.

Buttons added to a vest top - told you it was simple stuff!

Screen printing is a bit more complex, but Ben, screen printer extraordinaire showed me how to do it and we made matching tops for me and Alex's niece Ivy (well, she was excited about it!).

Make a template online using a black and white picture, print it out and use a craft knife to cut out the picture. Use acrylics to paint the template onto the screen. For the screen you can use thin synthetic material from a charity shop and an old photo frame, secured with a staple gun and duct tape. When it's dry, the acrylic acts as a waterproof barrier to prevent the printing paint getting through when you use it to print.

Yes, my top is matching one for a three year old...

Halloween pumpkin

I got slightly obsessed with this pumpkin, submitting it to Guardian photos of pumpkins (and taking a screenshot) and hassling everyone on Facebook to 'like' it so I could win an iPad. I didn't win, but the trick or treaters seemed to appreciate it.

Making plasticine people - for stop motion animation

Evidence that Alex and I came up with the plasticine pirates idea before Aardman! After a trip to 4D model shop on the CS3 cycle route we started our plasticine people experiment.

We made armatures out of wire twisted together using a drill.

We used plastic to cover the armature joints and add bulk. The plastic balls were melted in hot water. We added balsa wood feet so they stood up on their own.

Building the figures.

Finished products.

Me and my pirate.

Alex and his old man